Kurban Bayram

Kurban Bayram is the sacrifice holiday.  For Islamic Turks it means that it's time to sacrifice some sheep, goats, cows, camels, etc. in public places throughout the city or village.  For Hilary and me it meant our first of two vacations this year.  It began on Wednesday and today (the following Monday) is the final day.

Hilary and I certainly made the most of our time off.  With little preparation or forethought and a heap of incredible blessings, we returned home last night from our amazing adventures.  We celebrated our friend Can's birthday, went on a 3 day backpacking trip in the Taurus Mountains, and spent two days in the beautiful city of Antioch.  We will give a more in depth account of each trip in separate posts to save a little sanity for our beloved readership.

Today we are soaking up the blessings and acclimating back to life as we know it here in Adana.  Upon returning home, we really felt comfortable and content in our new place.  After vigorously exploring the mountains and Antioch, the streets, sights, sounds, and smells of Adana were familiar and endearing.

We are loving our new surroundings, friends, and lives here.  Of course we are also really missing everything and everyone at home in America (and China, Reuben), but we are so grateful for this incredible opportunity and these fantastic experiences.  We feel so blessed.

I'm sure we'll crash back to reality when classes begin again tomorrow morning.  Until then we'll relish the moment and the new memories that we hope to never forget.

Lots of love and warm wishes to our family and friends,
Mike and Hilary

A Brief Update in Simplest Form

Since our last blog post one or both of us have

• eaten liver
• rejected a brand new watch offered as penance from a student
• reluctantly accepted a humongous bouquet of flowers from the same student
• watched Taken: Istanbul at the movie theater and discovered Turkish movie theater's have 15 minute intermissions, even if it interrupts one of the most intense scenes of the movie
• gotten sick 
• recovered
• almost gone to a soccer match between two local, rival teams
• played ultimate frisbee
• played soccer
• grown more accustomed to teaching
• kicked 2 high school girls out of class in the first 10 minutes
• Played cards with some new friends
• Skyped with several of our favorite people
• Made friends with the lady that works behind the nut counter at our grocery store- She even learned a little English to ask ''How are you?''
• Gone to a symphony concert featuring the music of Beethoven, Wagner, and Liszt
• Eaten at Waffle House - a place that serves waffles exclusively as dessert with lots of sugary toppings
• agreed to go backpacking in the Toros Mountains for a few days and then go to Antioch for the rest of our Fall Break

Outside the Stadium hours before the local soccer match

Our neighborhood mosque - which often wakes us up around 5:30am with the call to prayer

At the Concert Hall