This past weekend we went to a part of the Middle East...also known as Turkey! But first let me tell you about what we did the day before we left.

A group of Afghani refugees came to our hotel. We played a game of soccer with them, went swimming, ate dinner with them, and got to listen to their stories. It was the most eye opening day of my life. Growing up in the United States we have been taught to fear or dislike or even hate people from Afghanistan and the middle east in general. But spending the day with these boys and hearing about their lives made me realize there is so much I dont know. they are just like us...they have no idea why their government behaves the way it does. They are victims of something they can't control. I am proud to say I have many new friends from this day.

Well on To Turkey...

I don't know what I was expecting to see, but Turkey was absolutely amazing in every way. The people are so nice and so friendly. They want to help you in any way they can. It is also full of culture and GREAT for shopping! I did quite a bit of it there actually. Well, let me start at the beginning.

So we left for Turkey on Thursday. It's only about an hour and a half boat ride away from Greece. We were waiting in line for customs, all hot and sweaty. We were being herded like cattle and behaving like them! People were pushing and shoving and it was just one big mob. This greek woman kept trying to cut in front of my friend and I, like she was physically throwing her body into us. This would NEVER happen in America, we have a thing called "personal bubbles" where no one comes within a foot of you. Not in Greece, or Turkey for that matter. This woman was wiping her sweaty arm all over me trying to push me out of the way. Finally I decided hell, I'm in Greece, why not act Greek! So I started throwing some bows (elbows) around making sure this woman knew I wasnt someone to walk all over. Well somehow the sneaky little thing got past me, only to hold up the whole line because she had forgotten to sign her passport! It took a little restraint not to knock her down as I trampled through customs.

After that we went to a little town to shop. They had the coolest jewlery and for really cheap. It was all handcrafted and beautiful. I got some bracelets. We then went to the bazar. I'm not sure if you know what a Turkish bazar is...but it's basically like Walmart on Black Friday. People are everywhere selling stuff for great prices, but you have to push through people to get around. It was an awesome experience though. However, we were told by our professor that we were to say we were Canadian. (Seeing as how we were in the Middle East, better to be safe than sorry she said) So I spent the majority of the day pretending to be Canadian, while throwing an "eh" in my sentence every now and then.

A few friends and I were really hungry, so we decided to try and find a quick restaurant to eat at. We walked past probably a dozen places until we finally just walked in somewhere. Well...of course we walked in to a place that spoke absolutely no English. We sat down at our table....which was literally level with my knees and the stools were so low I might as well have sat on the floor. We were all sitting there awkwardly, like giants in a doll house with our knees pointing out at awkward angles, trying to figure out how to order food. We asked for a menu, but the man didnt seem to understand. So we said "food?" and he nodded. He walked away and shortly came back with one small bowl of peanuts for the five of us to split. Not really what we hand in mind. After much hand motioning and awkward giggles we managed to order a plate of fries and split it. We never did get full, but it was so worth the experience.

The next day we went to see ancient ruins. We first stopped at the Virgin Mary's house. It was the house Mary lived in after Jesus was crucified. She left Jerusalem and spent the rest of her life in this house. It was really cool to be able to see it. There was also a huge baptismal hole near the house, it was awesome to be there and see it in real life. Well Mary's House sits up on a hill, so you have to walk down steps to go back to the parking lot. The area surrounding her house is very peaceful and people are asked to speak lowly and keep the area sounding calm and peaceful. Well, I'm not sure how it happened...but suddenly I was tumbling down the stairs face first. Must have missed a step or something. Well it was quite noisy and everyone jumped to ask if I was okay. I managed to scrape my knees, hands, and twist my ankle on the way down. Right at the bottom of the stairs was the "fountain of health" which visitors are encouraged to drink from to keep in good health. Well, that would have been nice for me at the TOP of the stairs.

After my chaotic moment at Mary's House, we went to an ancient city. It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Most of it was still intact...the ruins were incredible. So it was over 100 degrees that day...and our professor got a little bit angry at us for not bringing hats to wear while we were going to be touring this city for two hours. So she made us tie our new pashminas we had bought (A large scarf) around our heads. So here we were, a group of American girls walking around an ancient city in the Middle East wearing turbans. I dont remember much of what the tour guide was saying...I was too distracted by everyone running around looking like they just popped out of "Aladin."

So It wasnt until the trip was almost over that I realized Turkey borders countries such as Iraq, Iran, and Liberia. Hmmm..No wonder we had to claim to be Canadian!