It's all in how you frame it...

Yesterday my kids called me via Skype.  They must have known that I'd been thinking of them a lot!  :)  They were so fun to talk with and it was a great pleasure for me to hear them excitedly talking about the details of every picture that I'd recently posted to facebook.  I'm always amazed at how much they learn every day but I'm most amazed by how much they understand and their logical thinking in problem solving and drawing conclusions!

  

One picture in particular was of some team members dancing at our Turkish Evening in Cappadocia.  The kids asked me if I was also dancing.  I admitted that yes, I'd danced a little but I really wasn't a good dancer!  After a few more comments back and forth, Christopher says, "Mom, were you embarrassed?"  I really had to laugh as he'd clearly drawn his own conclusion from the discussion and perhaps I'm a little taken back that he could be somewhat right!  :)

During our first weekend in Malatya, we spent a day in Derende and another at Nemrut Mountain.  While the distance in km, wasn't that far, the path to get there was a challenge...we couldn't go over it, we couldn't go under it, we had to go through it...through the mountains on winding, hilly, dusty country roads.  The joy ride was too much for me to handle so I burried my head and slept to avoid the oncoming car sickness.

Turkey is full of beautifully created rock formations.  These scenes were in Derende.  I'm amazed by nature's artistry as well as the craftsmanship of people so many years ago.

We went on about a 2 km hike along a riverway, the scenery was beautiful and the path somewhat adventurous.  Below you can see the trails running along the sides of the river...we didn't follow the path seen but suspect some people do to explore there.  To get to the other side, it seems to be this narrow beam crossing the river.

Our trip to Derende was with the main intent of river rafting.  While some people are technically skilled in rafting, I will declare that the technical skills we apply in working for IBM are no way related to the technical skills required for rafting!  :)  My boat was filled with water and laughter.  I believe we hit every rock, ran into every wall, and clipped every hanging branch along the way.  While we were often on the bottom of the boat in an attempt to be saved from branches launching us over board, the second boat's captain wasn't so lucky...the captain of all people was cast overboard.  Might I add, this was not white water rafting...it was minor rapids that proved to be a challenge for us even on the smallest scale.  None the less,  upon completion, there were media again waiting to debrief the team on their experience.  It was probably highly entertaining but hopefully they didn't travel far expecting to see a spectacular ride!!!  :)

The surrounding pictures are of our visit to Nemrut Mountain.  This trip was again through tough trails but interesting to get to see.  The artistry was amazing considering there were no modern day  craftsman tools available during this time.  It is best to visit this sight at sun up or sun down.  We planned for a sun down visit with the hopes of catching a beautiful sun set.  Unfortunately, there were clouds blocking the full view of that afternoon's sun set.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Nemrut

 

While I haven't seen camels in abundance in Turkey, this has been my first opporutnity to see one outside the zoo.  It's interesting to find that even a rock is naturally shaped as a camel.  For 10 Turkish Lira, we climbed upon the hump of an annoyed camel.  The ride was quite entertaining but not at all comfortable.  I'm thinking I understand why Mary rode a donkey to Bethlaham rather than a camel!  :)

Following week one, the team started seeking more economical means of travel through the city.  Thanks to Julie's exploration over the 1st weekend, we were given a boost of confidence to "give it a go"...  While some of our Turkish friends display great hesitation in hopping on the "mini buses", we've found them to be quite convenient and very cheap.  While the bus drivers usually don't know English, they do understand the name of the mall and our hotel...what more do we need them to understand...it's all working out perfectly!

Here are the links to some of my photo albums in Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=237975&id=711422678&l=809436a43f

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=239634&id=711422678&l=d4f1fdc2f9

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=241974&id=711422678&l=e6f90e6e6f

While things in Turkey may not always go as we expect, we can still enjoy the experience to it's fullest if we remember that it's all in how we frame it!