Too little, too late

Hello all! I finally figured out how to make albums, although it's frustrating so I won't be doing it all that often. There is too much to tell, and new things are happening constantly so, in order to not get behind, I'm going to give the highlights of my excursions, and hope that some of my favorite photos help elaborate on how wonderful it was.

Gaziantep: A wonderful town known for it's pistachio production (we had coffee made with pistachio grinds it was the most unique thing I've ever tasted). It was a beautiful artisan town (metal workers, carpenters, the best bazaar I've seen thus far) near the Syrian boarder, so it was fairly warm and dry, which was very nice.  It is also known for the Gaziantep Castle, which I cared significantly less about than the dried figs and turkish delight.

Antakya: People say, "after Jerusalem, there was Antakya" because that is where the first churches were built (St. Peter's Church, the very first, is pictured below) and essentially where Christianity took shape. Antakya is a place where, although it is 99 percent Muslim, different religious groups live in harmony. Janpiyer (pronounces like the French Jean Pierre) was a local 17 year old student who showed us around town and hung out with our group. The town reminded me so much of Stone Town in Zanzibar, I was glad to have a local leading us down the narrow alley ways. He came out with us later to dinner and a hookah bar, where he coined these phrases:

"my love is Ke$ha"
"You are drink vodka? I am drink lion's milk."
"Beer is for children."
"What's your purpose?"

Janpiyer participates in an interfaith chorus group, so he sort of embodied the accepting, peaceful spirit of Antakya. Although it's the birthplace of Christianity, only about 1,200 Christians remain in the area. 80 of which are Catholics, though many more attend Catholic church services because Orthodox services are performed in Arabic. The Orthodox Priest told us that he doesn't like the word "tolerate" and that people should embrace one another, instead of just tolerating each other. He thinks that to judge another person for their religion or for anything else that they were born as is to judge their creator.

Our last stop was the local synagogue, which was almost 200 years old. There are only 12 Jewish families left in Antakya and the rabbi flies in from Istanbul once a week, but that single synagogue has five Torah scrolls, all ranging from 300 to 400 years old.

We saw other things in Antakya - Roman ruins, Turkey's equivalent of a Rosetta stone, and a beautiful mosaic museum, but the par that stuck with me the most was our experiences with the religious leaders in the community. And the lunch the Janpiyer's mother made for us. Unreal.

Cappadocia: I'm so glad we finished off our trip here, in a cave hotel looking over the valleys and mountains in the distance. The natural beauty there was unmatched by anything I've ever seen. Our guide, Sevim, took us on a whirlwind tour of Cappadocia, but it was nice to be there (in spite of the snow) during the off season. We went to Red Valley, Monk's Valley, Imagination Valley, the Goreme open air museum (essentially a ton of churches carved into rock), an underground city, and we saw carpet weavers, ceramic workers, and the whirling dervishes, which is a whole separate emotional experience unto itself.

Here is the link to the slideshow of pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/112452655084581483071/Excursion1?authkey=Gv1sRgCOyS7IydxaatTA#slideshow/5575837383425353186


I will write more about Istanbul as soon as I get the chance! First day of classes tomorrow (which could be a problem because I am only officially signed up for one course, and it's graduate level), so wish me luck! Ciao :)