ThreeBellesAbroad

Hey everyone, sorry we haven’t been updating the blog recently.   We’ve been meaning to.  Anyway I have spent a while putting these pictures on.  

 I’ve uploaded the best pictures of Cappadocia.  As many of you know, Cappadocia is in the middle of Turkey.  Cappadocia was the first place we visited in Turkey.  The people we met in Cappadocia were above nice.  They went far out of their way to help us.  If you get invited to someone’s   house, that means they trust you.  It was an honor for us when we were invited to the Özer’s house for dinner.  The Özers are a nice family that we met in Turkey, they are good friends of our host, Barbara.  Now they are friends of ours.  In the pictures we have crazy Ali, Kamile Özer and her family and friends and Momut.  All of those people helped us a terrific amount.  

 The women do every thing in Cappadocia, from making the beds to making the fire.  In Cappadocia we lived a traditional Turkish life, but our dad made the fire.  Usually Abby and I did the dishes.   

 There are so many things to do in Cappadocia.  One time we went to a place called Avano.  In Avano we got to do pottery.  That was very fun.  In other you can explore the underground city, tour the castles, clime into the fairy chimney, and stay in the cave dwellings.  In Cappadocia we spent a lot of time going to ruins, motorcycling, and most of all cooking.  Cooking dinner was the hardest because it was our biggest meal.  We didn’t have a microwave so even leftovers we hard to make.  Right after dinner we would be very tired because dinner was so hard to make.  

 I hope you like all the pictures.  Cappadocia is a great place, I hope you decide to go there for your next vacation.  Thanks for checking the blog.  Tell me what you thought about the pictures. 

-Eliza

Cappadocia Pictures

As many of you know, I am working on my doctorate in Education.  I am in my third semester at Nova Southeastern.  Aside from a short residency in Florida last summer, all courses are completely on-line.  Being totally on-line is how we have been able to travel the world while I work on my degree.  Mostly, it has gone very smoothly.  One thing that I have learned to do is to always keep ahead.  If I stay a least a few days ahead of assignment due dates and collect my research articles well ahead of time, things go pretty smoothly.  This way, I don’t get caught trying to turn something in while we are in a “transition mode” or have to stay in and work when there is something more exiting to do.  And mostly, I have plenty of time in case there is a problem with my internet. 

Well, the other day, my plan failed me.  Just as we were getting ready to go through a small transition (moving from one apartment in Sevilla to another), I realized I had an assignment due the next day.  So, in between preparing to move, I managed to get the assignment done on time.  The only problem, we were now in our new apartment which was supposed to have internet access but did not.  It is now 9 pm, pouring down rain and I need to find someplace to send out my assignment!  Bobby had scouted out a tapas bar earlier in the day that had wifi, so we got on our best foul weather gear (yeah, we don’t have very good rain-wear) and head out to the streets of Sevilla.  Aside from the pouring rain, we thought our timing was perfect since supposedly this is the hour most people eat dinner.  Wrong, the tapa bar was closed as was every other place around.  Just as we were about to give up because we were thoroughly soaked, we found an open tapas bar and ducked in.  After ordering some tapas, we thought we would just ask if they had wifi.  Score!  They lent us their passcode and I was able to send out my assignment on time (actually, a little early since we are 6 hours ahead of you guys back in the States!). 

The on-line classes have added another dimension to the adventure our sabbatical!  Ortahisar, Turkey presented the most challenges.  We took some pictures of the craziness we had to go through to be on-line for classes… here is a link to them.  Three A.M. classes in Turkey.

-Mayaugust

Bobby the Hero!   He has just got me an internet connection so I can send out my assignment.  Notice how wet his sweater is?  That is after he took off his soaked jacket!

Today is our last day in Ortahisar.  We have had a really great time.  Everytime I turn the corner to walk down to our house, I am shocked again by the amazing view of the valley just below with cave dwellings, the rock castle just beyond the valley and way into the distance, this huge snow capped mountain. 

We are off to Konya to see the whirling dervishes next and the sight of the earliest human settlement ever discovered (way cool).  We will just pass through Konya, staying two nights and meeting up with the owners of the next house we will stay.  That house is in Alanya where we will stay for three weeks.  Alanya is on the Mediterranean Coast and is supposed to be quite a bit warmer than Cappadocia.  We are really looking forward to the warmer weather, the ocean and seafood.  Also, we should have internet access in our house, so we can update the blog more often.

Eliza and Abby have new work on their pages.  You can link to it from their pages, or I made it easy by giving you a link here.

Lilly the Explorer of Cappadocia by Eliza Pelton

Where are you, Cappadocia? by Abigail Pelton

I hope you enjoy reading their work, they enjoyed writing it.

Mayaugust



 

Merhaba (Hello) from Cappadocia, Turkey!  On the dark side of things, we miss you.  On the bright side, we have a great house, a great town, and great people.

In the house, we all have our own beds and there's two extra beds in our parents' room (in case any of you want to join us).  Me and Abby share a room.  At night it can get cold, but once our dad gets the fire going in Abby and my room, it feels really cozy.

In the twon you can walk everywhere you want to go.  I think everyone around here is really nice.

The 3rd or 4th day we were here, we got motor bikes and rode around.  We had a big scare when we were about to start.  My mom was turning the motor bike she was riding and accidently hit the gas and she went right into the wall!  She still has the bruise.  After that everything was fine and we had a good time!  We rode around from 9 in the morning until 8 at night.  At night, it got freezing so we zoomed back!

Hugs and kisses,

Eliza =)

 

Hi Everyone,

Sorry about the problems with our website and the blog.  I can’t guarantee that these problems won’t keep popping up, but I think I figured out how to fix them.  Uploading pictures onto the cite seems like it is not going to work for right now- I don’t think I have a fast enough internet connection.   That is a real disappointment because we have some great pictures of this amazing area that we really would love to share with you all…

We are having a great time.  I think Bobby is going to run for major of Ortahisar soon- he seems to know everyone when we walk down the street.   He gets invited to sit with the men on the square and have tea almost every time he comes to the town center.  There seems to be a half dozen tea houses, and only men frequent them.  I haven’t quite figured it out.

Everyone loves the girls… so in case all of you were wondering what Eliza and Abby would do without all the affection, worry not longer.  I don’t think the Turks can help themselves; they have to squeeze the kids cheeks and tussle their hair.

This area is a paradise for kids.  We have caves built into mountains they can climb in and around.  There is a type of cave called a Fairy Chimney that are all over the valleys around here.  You don’t have to pay to go to a museum to see this stuff, just walk down the hill.  And there are Byzantine churches in many of these caves and fairy chimneys.  It is really out of this world.

Anyway, let me post this before my connection fails me…  we miss you all!

Mayaugust

We are in Ortahisar!  When we were in Istanbul, both Eliza and Abby’s reaction was that it seemed like New York City.  In many ways I agreed with them.  Our hotel was in the new section of the city so there were stores and streets that looked similar to NYC.  But driving into Ortahisar, there was no mistaking that we are an entirely different place.  The mountains and outcroppings look like they are the backdrop of a stage set.  We drove through narrow streets through cave houses that were like nothing we’ve ever seen before.  The van that brought us from the airport dropped us off at the top a of a cobble stone street that leads to Barbara’s house.   We pulled our luggage past the wooded carts with big wooden wheels, while everyone stopped and watched us go by.    I am going to attach some pictures of Barbara’s house, it is really incredible.  Very few people speak English in this town, so we are doubly motivated to learn some rudimentary Turkish.   I still can’t seem to master “Thank-you”, it doesn’t exactly roll off your tongue. But we have had a lot of fun attempting to communicate.  We were fortunate enough to be invited to dinner by a friend of Barbara’s.  She knows almost no English at all.  Somehow she was able to let us know that the next day was a national holiday, the Republic Festival and we got to see the school kids in a parade at the center of town this morning.  By the way, did you notice the graphic on Google today?!

Keep checking, and we will keep posting!

Mayaugust

 

Walking down the street to our house in Ortahisar