1 week down

Hey all! Turkey is beautiful, though very very hot, but I guess you get used to having sweat constantly dripping off you. Anyhow, just wanted to post a quick update on what I've been up to this week.

There's lots of short-termers here from several different places, so there's been a lot of cool people to work and hangout with. However, I didn't really come here to spend all my time hanging out with Americans, and they're all leaving at the end of the month anyhow, so hopefully I will start making more connections with Turkish people. I did spend all Thursday afternoon and evening with my friend Turkan, and it was awesome to see her after 4 years. There's been a few moments of just seeing how things have come full circle, where it's like, wow, I'm really back here. Wed was a service for all the short-termers here for the summer and we sang "God of Wonders," and the memories came flooding back of worshiping to that song with my team at Aspendos. At the same time, God's been reminding me that this is NOT going to be like my last trip. I tried not to have expectations for this summer, but I think I did have memories and images from my experience of Turkey rather than the place itself, and this summer is going to be a very different experience.

Speaking of Aspendos, I got to go back there on Friday night with the groups, and see the ballet Don Quixote. Awesome. And Saturday was a trip out to the ruins at Termessos, which was also really cool, and I was glad for a bit of hiking as I'd been feeling the need for some exercise. Oh, and this morning I had my first swim in the Mediterranean :)

In terms of work, last week I worked with a group from Texas doing a kid's camp at the Cultural Center for a few hours each morning. This week, if it ever gets sorted out, we should be doing some stuff with kids out in a village. I'm also leading some English conversation groups, which I find challenging, but they're going fine. And I'm spending some time training in the coffee house because when one of the volunteers leaves at the end of the month I'll be taking over in there for August.

So that's kind of what I've been doing so far, next time maybe I will have some deep insight or reflection to post ;)