Take a Breath

Okay, let's go.

That's what I feel like right now. Just after my last post we had our first tourist group show up. The group was made up of four men and a lady, all from MS. They took a tour of Tarsus, nearby Ceyhan, Yumurtalik, Konya, Lystra, and Derbe. They got to see Paul's Well, Cleopatra's Gate, and a host of other interesting Biblical and historical sites. I think they enjoyed themselves, but I doubt they enjoyed it as much as we did.

Personally, my favorite moment was when we were in Ceyhan. We were just walking down this street, meeting people, stopping into shops, and the like. We happened upon a butcher shop with some sheep hanging in the window. That alone I think would've been interesting for them to see, but to add to the experience, our butcher buddies had pulled the liver and heart out to display under the carcasses. If you're not in the mood for dark meat though, they did have the stomach hanging by the door and a coiled bit of intestine draped from the ceiling. But if you're looking for something just a little juicier (and this is where I thought my friends would lose it), they had not one, not two, but at least 8 fresh sheep heads, skin on and still bleeding, in a bucket out on the sidewalk. Honestly, it's probably better that they saw them that way rather than seeing them skinned and boiled like I see them being sold downtown. But the MS folk did real good and went right into the shop. Of course, knowing no Turkish, they let out a warm, "Hey Y'all, how y'all doing?" At that point, everybody in the shop just stopped what they were doing and stared. I explained that my friends were from America and that we were just looking around. In perfect form, the butcher offered us tea. This is my life. So the two MS folk head inside to sit and drink tea and I sit out on the sidewalk with an old man to talk and drink tea. Come to find out the old man is an Arab and is busting on Turks. When I asked him how long ago it was that he came to Turkey, he said he was born here, but that his family had come from Syria... 500 years ago! I can't tell you where my great grandma was from and this man is still calling himself an Arab after 500 years of living in Turkey. There's a cultural difference for you. It was a nice little sit at the butcher shop and then we were on our way.

They left on Wednesday and I had a couple days to recoup before another group comes on Tuesday. Luckily, I'm not responsible for a whole lot past just walking around with everybody and helping translate at times. But it still takes up a lot of time, especially when I have to teach English three days a week, in the morning and evening.

The workload of this week is looming over me. So in response to that, I bought some potatoes, green beans, and two healthy looking trout from the grocery store and I am feasting tonight. I'm listening to some relaxing music, reading a good book, and preparing myself for a full week. It'll be this time next week before I can take another breath.