Turkey Day 1

Yea, well now that we have a new group of students that are at this moment, driving to the Center, I'm going to tell you about our first two days in Turkey LAST semester. :)

Actually, the first day was flying to Turkey. Pretty uneventful. BOTH of Kent's shoulders are now hurting him, and I'm a gimp, so we had 2 wonderful students who helped us with our luggage throughout the entire flying ordeal. They saved us!!! I of course, had to wear my sleeve, which is a nuisance - but, you know!

We arrived in Turkey in time to check into our hotels [they had to put us into 2 hotels this time] and then we walked to dinner. I didn't take pictures of the actual meal [oh, except dessert], but here are the options you see as you walk in!

The meat selections:

The salad bar:

The dessert table:

 This was our dessert. All three of these were VERY sweet - all soaked in syrup. But good! :)

The second day was pretty much all walking. Kent and I left a little ahead of the students so we could take pictures along the way:

LOVE this city!

In Utah we see beautiful mountains in the background - here - beautiful mosques!!! :)

Our first stop today was the Topkapi Palace. This is where the Sultans lived for many generations. It is now a museum. We got to walk through the room where he held his audiences with the important men of the government. We saw artifacts, treasures, clothing etc. on display - including the largest diamond in the world! It was all really awesome. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed so you'll just have to imagine. I did take a couple of pictures of the view from the complex. This is looking out over the Bosphorus to the Asian side of Turkey.

Nice open air restaurant overlooking the Bosphorous. Well, not this time of year - it was FREEZING!

Walking up the street to our next site, we saw this - this is the entrance to what used to be a soup kitchen for the poor. I thought it was beautiful.

These homes are built right up against the wall of the city

We also visited the Blue Mosque

 And the Basilica Cistern

We took the bus to lunch. Here are some street scenes from the bus:

Some of our group at lunch:



After lunch we had a bit of time to wander through the Grand Bazaar. You could spend hours in there wandering around, it is so big!

We bought some Turkish Delight [see bag in hand]

We ended our day with a boat ride up & down the Bosphorus. Fortunately, there was an inside cabin - yay warm!! Marvelous day!

Around the Center

My Office

My office hallway

One of our students was engaged when she came and we had a bridal shower for her in the student lounge:

Here is the bride - she isn't normally this blurry! ;) 

Cumquat tree on the 8th level



Winter Semester home teachers - Dylan Bates and Alec Park - We're all wearing our memory shirts

   Cool bird in our patio garden - preroses as you can see

 On the steps going from the 7th level to the 6th. Mosaics are on loan from the Israeli Archeology Department

These are some of the awesome people that we get to live/work with here!!! 

This is the Harper family at our Arab Culture Night

Summer has come

Winter is over - the rain has stopped. Most of the wild flowers are gone. The grasses are dry and brown. But, the JC is a beautiful Oasis of color!

 This is our own rose garden on our patio

Can you believe I live in such a wonderful place? Me neither!

More front door

Here are some more apartment door decorations. Some for Easter:

[sorry this one is so blurry!]
When we went to the Lighting of the Flame, these banners were hanging all around Christian Quarter in the Old City and our friend Shaban managed to get some for us to have. Also, notice the lights we bought AND the door sign. It all says "The Jacksons live here!" :)

New one for Summer:

Palm Sunday

Easter is a great time of year to be in Jerusalem. All of us were lucky enough to participate in the Palm Sunday walk. We left the Center and walked to Bethpage. This is where Jesus got on the horse/donkey? to ride into Jerusalem.
Those who wanted to, purchased palm fronds to carry and we took a quick look in the small church commemorating this event.

The service, itself, was held behind the church. Lots of people. It was the first day since we've been here that we haven't had to wear a sweater or more. I was a little worried about Kent, because he was just getting over a terrible cold/lung infection. This is a LOOOOONG walk. But, he didn't want to miss it. We waited amongst Christians of all colors and tongues!

These are some priests gathering at the podium to help with the service.

The boys in blue in the far background are scouts that helped lead the procession.

More priests to lead the service

 

 Me with some of our students. Shealeigh, who is standing right next to me, is Barb Lettich's niece! :)

Flags, banners, palm fronds, olive branches and lots of happy people:

 

Here we are, leaving the church to begin the walk

More of our students

 

 Me with our very own Sarah Brown! :)

 

This banner was being carried right behind us as we began:

We moved forward through the crowd, joining different groups of Christians singing and even dancing as they walked. Most of the groups that we were with were Palestinian Christians singing in Arabic! Here the crowd is working its way down the Mt. of Olives into the Kidron Valley - just as Christ would have done.

 

 There were many spectators along the route, taking pictures or just watching this crowd of people go by their homes.

This is at the bottom of the valley, next to the Church of All Nations - Garden of Gethsemane.

We had both walked more than enough at this point so we walked home. UP hill!! Kent was so weak by then that I was pulling HIM up the hill!!

Even though we were hot, tired, and thirsty - we LOVED it! Part of the wonderful experience was sharing this holy experience with all our fellow Christians. Wow - what an experience.