The beaches of Çeşme

After a long day in the sun I had to put up a post, but I'm not sure how much I can bring myself to write. We finished out the week of classes and had our first weekend day trip. We loaded onto the bus early this morning and headed west for a trip to the market in Alaçatı and the beach at Çeşme. After a long trip getting to Turkey and an intense first week of classes, the chance to just relax on a beach sounded great. I never could have imagined how great the beach would turn out to be. It combined the white sand and clear blue water of the Caribbean with the surrounding mountains and cute market towns of the Mediterranean. It was great to set my things down and head off into the water for a few hours. The town is on the outer edge of the peninsula on the Aegean Sea with the Greek island of Chios visible on the horizon. The water was warm and so salty that you could easily float on your back without trying to keep yourself up. I may be a little sunburned but it was a small price to pay for a day of swimming, sunbathing and beach soccer! We also had a trip planned for the Çeşme castle at the end of the day but we arrived just a half hour after it closed. Luckily Amanda and I are planning on traveling back this way on our trip in August so maybe I will have some better pictures then. For now I hope you enjoy the shots of the beach and the little town around it. I'm off to bed.

Bu akşam çay ve nargileh içiyorum (Tonight we are drinking nargileh and tea). I'm finally learning some things...

We had a long day today but one that was satisfying in the end. I overslept and missed breakfast and then made my way through a long day of classes. The material is interesting and we're learning a lot pretty quickly, but it's still very exhausting. And to add to that we were given a hefty pile of homework to do around the excursion they had planned for us between 4:30 and 9:00 tonight. Luckily, I was able to finish most of my homework before our trip and the destination was well worth it. We finally made it to downtown Izmir and got to see the bazaar and wander around the beachfront. I had seen some pictures of the waterfront before I left but they really don't do it justice. The bay is perfectly flat and ringed on every side by high mountains. The view is beautiful. We started out by wandering through the old bazaar and exploring some of the shops. I finally felt like I was back in a city like Damascus. The food and tea looked great and the variety of merchandise and shopkeepers who were eager to sell it to you were very familiar. On the advice of Ersin, one of our language tutors, I tried something called midye dolma. They are fresh mussels stuffed with cooked rice and some spices and served right out of the shell. They were delicious and very cheap. He said they're best when served with lots of beer at a seaside restaurant so I figured I would take up his challenge sometime this weekend. After we finished at the bazaar we wandered over to see the old Ottoman clocktower that is the symbol of Izmir. It was a gift to the Sultan (Abdelmejid? Abdelhamid?) from Kaiser WIlhelm II and stands in the middle of a square near the waterfront. Then we walked down the promenade next to the bay enjoying the sights and ended up in the area known as the Kordon where there were lots of restaurants and coffee shops with seating areas next to the water. Ersin, Tony and I separated from the rest of the group and capped off the day with some apple nargileh and tea at the Osmanli Kahveyi (Ottoman Cafe). A very relaxing experience and a welcome reminder of what I loved about being in this part of the world. Coming back to the dorm to finish homework wasn't my ideal way of ending the night, but it is the reason the government paid for me to be here so I guess I can make the sacrifice. Overall, it was a great day and a nice preview of how our day trip to the beach will be this saturday. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Campus Tour, Dinner and First Day of Class

The semester has started and my writing has fallen behind as a result. Yesterday we had a very long day with a campus tour and orientation most of the morning and afternoon and a long welcome dinner in the evening. The school is much larger than I thought and they have very nice facilities for entertainment, sports, fashion design, translation, and many more areas. We were introduced to our language teacher and given our schedule and course materials. We are in for a very busy and hopefully productive two months. Courses are roughly four hours a day with additional tours and cultural activities in the afternoon. We had our first day of classes and, though it seemed somewhat slow-paced at the time, we really covered a lot of material. We had about an hour off to do homework and then joined our language tutors in the auditorium for a performance by the school's rhythm club (which of course included a period for our participation). Overall it was a lot of fun. However, between that and finishing my homework at the dorm I have been busy all day and I'm already exhausted. I'm sure I'll find my rhythm soon (though if the drums today were any indication that is meant to be strictly metaphorical). We have some more activities planned after classes tomorrow when we will explore downtown Izmir and the shops at the outdoor market. I will be sure to bring my camera. Plus, there are many more trips planned for the weekends so I'll have a chance to see a lot of the surrounding area. I included some pictures of the sunset from my room, the view from the school's library and a view of the dinner we were treated to last night. They really took care of us with several courses of meat, bread, salad and individual Baked Alaska's for dessert. It was all very nice. I doubt I will be as skinny after this trip as I was after Damascus. I guess it could be worse.

Walking Tour on Day 2

End of day two and I'm entering another post. Most likely once homework picks up and I know the city a bit better I won't be posting as often, but for now this fills the time. We met up for breakfast with our language tutors this morning and went for a walking tour of the city. I am already amazed at how different this city is compared to Damascus. It's a bit more spread out than the Old City was, though I've seen shoe boxes that were roomier than Bab Touma. Damascus had an immediate charm that the suburbs of Izmir seem to lack, but it is partly made up for in the ready availability of creature comforts. As American as it sounds, it's good to have a shopping mall down the street with a movie theater and a supermarket. I was able to buy some tea, vişne (sour cherry) juice and some cookies to keep in the dorm room. After a long day of walking I came back to the room in the early afternoon and reacquainted myself with the two hour afternoon naps that are so easy to come by in a blistering hot city with nothing to do. I went out for dinner with a few classmates and enjoyed some roasted chicken over a tomato bulgur (or rice, I couldn't quite tell) and remembered that the one thing that could always get me to return to the region is the ubiquity of amazing, cheap food. We have our breakfast and lunch covered in the dining hall of the university, but if the rest of the trip is anything like today we certainly won't starve. The breakfast was the typical hard-boiled egg, tomatoes and cucumber, but lunch included chicken, fries, rice and a syrupy, sweet almond cake that could have filled me up even without the rest of it. Overall a very good spread and probably healthier than my usual diet in the states, cake excluded. Otherwise, today was pretty slow-paced and quiet but a nice way to ease into life in a new city. Tomorrow we have our real orientation when we find out what our weekend trips will be and I'm sure I'll have a post up then (if internet is up, inshallah). The pictures for today show the water park down the street, the central courtyard of the university and a nice view of the sunset over the water from my dorm room. There is a wedding across the street so I'll be falling asleep to the sounds of loud music and cheering (right now it's a woman singing a cover of "I Just Called to Say I Love You"!). Good night!

Day 1 in Izmir

Merhabalar! Day 1 in Izmir has finally arrived and I'm writing on a sticky note on my laptop because internet won't be up until Monday. Fortunately, that is just about the only problem I have encountered so far. After rumors at orientation that we would be rooming with strangers and that the accommodations were less than spectacular, the reality that we encountered on arrival put any fears to rest. I have my own room on the eighth floor of the dormitories with a view of the mountains to my left and the Bay of Izmir to the right. The room has two twin beds, a private bathroom, ample storage space, a TV and a refrigerator! Far better than I could have expected! And a welcome sight after a long plane ride from DC to Munich to Izmir. I'm tired and will probably leave exploration of the city for tomorrow, but for now I'm enjoying being settled in my new home for the next couple months. This probably won't go up until monday and by then I'll have a new round of updates and pictures. Tomorrow should be an exciting day!