G-Tep stylin Sunday morning

Sunday morning here in the Fertile Crescent. It's sizing up to be a beauty of a day here. I'm back in bed thinking about purchasing a robot that can make coffee for me on weekend mornings... I should not complain as I was already out early on a super sweet, albeit cut a bit short, run through the ormani (forest) behind Gaziantep University. No wild dogs to chase after me either- winning.

I've been traveling for the past month and this is my first weekend back and just wanting to chill. Portugal was amazing. Castles galore. And pork. And wine. Yea I already told you guys all that stuff. So, last weekend I FINALLY had friends from outta town (Ist and  Kabak) visit me... Geeze, what across the street from my apartment that sells Bomonti Unfiltered- in addition to the requisite Efes). I kid. I kid. There is much beauty to be seen here in Gaziantep. Of course, though, the highlight was traveling East. We hit up Halfeti, Bircik (an absolute MUST is the Bald Ibis bird sanctuary that Mustafa Çulcuoğlu runs), Şanlıurfa, Harran, Mardin, Göbekli Tepe & loads of specks on the map in between.

Nothing like a road trip...Some of my best times ever have been on cross-country road-trips, either with family, friends or boyfriends- they are all memorable. I hope it never ends!

Here are some links to pictures:

 For Göbekli Tepe:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151302342688301.455394.595448300&type=1&l=4eb6daa307

For Mardin:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151302265708301.455388.595448300&type=1&l=b2f3bd8096

For Şanlıurfa:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151302224033301.455382.595448300&type=1&l=da3a721c9c

For Harran:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151302187453301.455379.595448300&type=1&l=e15d09a771


For Halfeti:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151302187453301.455379.595448300&type=1&l=e15d09a771

For Portugal:
coming soon...or soonish...

INTERMISSION: i-Robot is getting outta bed to make some coffee...

Ahhhhh. Okay. Not to harp on the subject, but I still have not really acquired a taste for Turkish tea... I just see so many people putting in loads of sugar cubes and think to myself, 'If you need to put 4 sugars into anything, this cannot be good.' Don't get me wrong now. I do drink the tea on occasion (w/1 cube MAX), but it is just so-so.  I dare someone to brew me the cup of tea that will convert me... So, in the meantime, I continue to drink my beloved cuppa-joe! Which, by the way, is like aromatherapy right at this very moment as its scent wafts from my brilliant French Press. It entices me outta bed once again (i-Robot) to pour myself the 1st of the morning. I've waited long enough. I am incensed- intoxicated even- from the smell. It leaves me stuptified. Okay, enough

INTERMISSION: you know the reason

Okay I was discussing travel I believe... So next weekend, perhaps, I'll trot off to Kayseri/Erciyes for a little snowboard action. A colleague went last weekend and lamented about the, well not lack of snow as much as icy conditions. Perhaps a better idea is to stay in Göreme and hit the slopes. That way, if conditions suck, we can play in that sweet village. I wonder if there is a yoga studio in Göreme yet. If not there needs to be...

Okay, here's an interesting kinda-correlation. Between Göreme and Mardin.  I've been to Cappadocia 3X in the past 12 years; 2001, 2007 and 2012. Each time it has a more 'boutique' feel.  Now Mardin, which I've been to 2X over the past year, has this same kind of 'feel' to it. I guess what I mean to say is that it envokes the same kind of feeling that I had living in Hawaii. It's like too much of a good thing, the natural beauty. It gets more difficult every year to see an increase in tourists, yet this is also a good thing for the locals. It's a catch-22 for sure. I wonder how the people deal with these issues as I dealt with it in Hawaii. Well, for me, I just kept moving deeper and deeper into the jungle- where less tourists were likely to come.

Speaking of Hawaii... I'm SO looking forwards to returning home for a bit this summer.

As you can read, my thoughts are all over the place this morning. Also on my mind is the fabulous weather we've had here in the southeast this winter.  I only recall 1 episode of snow, and hardly any rain. Last year was so bloody wet/rainy/snowy. I have not had the heat on hardly at all this winter, and have already started sleeping with the windows open! You all know how much I adore boots (yet hate having my feet covered up all day). I have amassed SO many the past 2 years, yet I have hardly worn any this winter-seriously, just my biker-chic 'go-to' Fluevogs. FYI boot lovers, Fluevog is THE name in boots for this boot lover. And a Canadian at that- Fluevog rocks.

Thinking also about Saklikent Gorge, near Kaş. It looks like amazing trail rides through there. Weather is warming up... Days are getting longer... Only 4 more months left of work until summer... Why is Kaş so bloody difficult to get to from Gaziantep?

INTERMISSION

Gaziantep funk: HollyMissBerry Presents...

Hey all,

Saturday morning still. Feels like the first day, again, that the weather is changing. Already had a false start a little over a week ago where it seemed summer was coming to a close. We had a cool day or two, and then the temperatures shot up again for another week. Or, perhaps my life is stuck in a Groundhog Day type-effect... However it all plays out, I'm cool with it. Though I have already gathered up the light-weight summer frocks to store away until springtime... I'm not ready to store them all just yet. They are still sitting in a pile on top of my backpack on the floor. I like to stare at them at times. Like a long good-bye kiss. Must savor this feeling...

So, I'm thinking that you all don't really have many pictures of Gaziantep. So this is HQ for me as of late: Gaziantep University neighborhood. I suppose that it is for this very reason that you all mostly only see pictures of other places... Take that as you wish...

A quick update though: the term has started. Things running as expected. another holiday (Hollyday) is coming up next week for about a week. Road tripping at this time. You will get some updates.

Let's see. What else? Oh, currently I'm watching 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'. It's good. Real good. In fact, I'm going to have to rewind right now so...

ciao for now,

Solo_ojo being profiled

Merry Pranksters of Gaziantep

tramve!

Gaziantep University tram stop

your storyteller

voom voom tram

I can almost say this is modern-futurist...

I'm thinking artsy-fartsy for this one... or making a dull view quite mysterious & cool

very pretty at dusk...

looking down onto University area

fading away

rolling hills make saw for rolling bulldozers...

in a haze

HollyMissBerry

springtime in the Fertile Crescent

It's so beautiful here in Gaziantep right now. Flowers are blooming everywhere. Grasses are green. The smell of sweet grasses wafts through the air on trail hikes up behind Gaziantep University, etc. I have been soaking it up, after a very long absence of all things sunny this winter, every moment possible. In doing so, I have forgotten to keep up with my blog.

Suddenly I realized that I need to update all of you on this wonderful occasion of spring! Being from Hawaii it is difficult to understand this concept as in the Islands there are 4 definite cycles of spring, summer, fall & winter, but the degree of change is minor. Living in Africa & Turkey the past few years has forced me to appreciate the changing weather patterns & I have never been so relieved of the coming summer season as I have been living in this part of the world!

Spring festivals are also sprouting up all around Turkey now as well. This weekend is Gaziantep University's festival and, fortunately, it is right across the street from my apartment so I am at this moment listening to the soundcheck from my living room. It serves a dual purpose as it drowns out the sounds of construction while are also across the street from me. The municipality here in Gaziantep loves to plant trees & flowers, as well as dig up sidewalks, tram lines & roads at every chance they can.

This week I find myself at the end of the school year at the university I teach at. It was a grueling year with learning how Turkish students learn basically. I learned classroom management here, yet it was frustrating every step of the way. In the end though, I feel comfortable with the style that I came up with & seemed to work most effective. No more babbling about work though because next week is FINALS!!!

My week should be relaxing as my classes are doing interviews/video & powerpoint projects for their final exams. I've seen a few previews and I am so impressed with my students creativity & dedication. After force-feeding students in the English preparatory school bookwork for 3 terms I have been rewarded with this 4th term and got to design my own curriculum for the coveted Level E students. They are definitely the cream of the crop. I mean, they understand my jokes- and even laugh at them! We have great discussions & debates and it has renewed my spirit for sure as I was a bit leery during the 1st term in terms of what I thought I could do with a group of students fresh from high school that get separation anxiety after 5 minutes of not holding their cell phones during class. Again I digress. No more talk of work...

I'm heading off to Amerika next week & totally looking forward to a few luxuries. They are:

1. going home to Maui & hanging out at the beach
2. Mexican food in NYC
3. shopping in NYC
4. yoga
5. just being with friends/family in general

My first stop is NYC. This feels like an annex home for me. I never thought I would live in NYC so going to graduate school there was a milestone & I somehow fell in love with that city. So, it's always nice to go back. There is so much I want to see/do there that I have a long list I've been compiling for a while now. As Turkey is so expensive to buy electronics (due to importation tariffs), I have a wish list to excavate through at Tekserve downtown!!!

I need to take care of all this stuff in NYC because during the Maui journey I want to do nothing but beach, surf, suck down exotic beers & other such shenanigans that are beneficial to me...

But that journey will end soon enough and I will find myself back here in full-swing sweltering summer teaching summer school courses. Normally I wouldn't find this such an attractive thing to do, but the foreign teachers are teaching high school kids from Eastern Turkey, so I am really looking forward to this. This year I didn't make it to far-Eastern Turkey so this is on my agenda for fall- perhaps during Bayram?

Speaking of travel, I have been doing a lot of this. Here are some pictures of my last Turkey Trot to Mardin. Mardin is further east/south-east from here, and another critical area in the development of the Fertile Crescent. It borders with Syria & Iraq. The architecture is beautiful & when the sun is setting, it refracts light in such a way that they (buildings) appear to be aglow w/gold glitter.

This camii was particularly interesting to me

... and one of my favorite peeps on the planet...