.turkey time.

Sunday we returned from our trip to Turkey! What a crazy trip. They had us going from 6am to 8pm. It was exhausting and I am glad to be home, but it was pretty fun :)

Quick flash through pictures!

Israeli airport on the way to Istanbul:

 Inside the Blue Mosque. TOTALLY beautiful

Huge Basilica cistern

The Grand Bazaar= some great shopping :)

Ferry ride up the Bosphorus Strait between the European side of Istanbul and the Asia side

The ramp at Troy.. if there was a Trojan Horse.. it came up this ramp....

 .

.. and this is exactly what it would've looked like!

 ... haha jk

We stayed at 2 beach front resorts on the Aegean Sea.. which was pretty stinking fun

 Beachside Turkish Dance Party.. the party ended when 3 drunk men showed up haha. Everyone got really awkward, stopped dancing, and then one of our tour guides grabbed the mic and said "OK! Time for bed!" 

This was my favorite site we visited in all of Turkey. Assos. This is one of the places that Paul visited on one of his missions. There were no other tourists, it was early, misty, and BEAUTIFUL.. You can see Greece in the distance. Too bad we couldn't hop on a boat!

 This is the theater at the Pergamon Acropolis

 Temple to Artemis.. This pic makes the columns look pretty small...

.. but that is a lie. They are HUGE

This is our traveling classroom-- us, sitting on antiquities, listening to Bro. Judd through our receivers, and taking notes.

 Library at Ephesus

Stretchy/Chewy Ice cream. Definitely the most bizarre ice cream I've ever eaten.... The flavor wasn't particularly unique, but it definitely was melting-- weirdest. consistancy. ever.

 Mosques=head scarves

Ulu cami Mosque in Bursa

Then one of the main attractions was the Hagia Sophia (pronounced "eye-a sophia")

Roasted corn on the street.. everyone was eating this stuff so we tried it.. it was not good.

Another highlight was going to a restaurant and getting this lovely treasure put in front of me...

 I won't lie it tasted pretty good, but I'm not a fan of scales and eyeballs.. Jim Gaffigan said it best:

"I am amazed that we're still serving fish with the heads on there. Don't you always feel like that eye is looking at you? Like, ‘hey, you don't mind if I watch while you eat my body, do ya? Don't be distracted if a little tear comes out. You can just tell yourself it’s just butter.’”

Then 7 days later it was all over. This is our awesome tour guide Yesamin (Jasmin, fitting since we were in the country of Aladdin!). She was with us the entire 7 days. She came with us all the way through security because she had so much fun with us and didn't want to say bye yet! She was awesome.

Well lots of people came home with a bad case of the "Turkey Trots" and a head cold, but I sanitized my hands and brushed my teeth with a water bottle so I came out unscathed!

This week has been a little more intense than other weeks. We had our Old Testament MidTerm and it was tough to study for because there is SO much information, but I think I did ok. Monday we went on a field trip to Jericho.. and and Monday we are going to the Shphelah, which is the the hilly mid lands between the Judean Hills and the Mediterranean costal plains.. anyway we're going to go to the Valley of Elah which is where David slew Goliath and you know I'm buying a sling shot for my future seminary/sunday school lessons :) 

Peace out!