The Mediterranean Coast

We spent three nights at Onur Motel in Faralya on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. When we arrived, the owner of the motel pointed to himself and said Mike. We therefore assumed that was his name. We were mistaken and discovered halfway through our stay that his name was in fact Onur. We are still unsure of the explanation of our first meeting. We were treated to a delicious homemade Turkish dinner. Yay!
Our first night was a very noisy one. Between the very loud insects, roosters, and calls to prayer, I didn't feel like I got to sleep at all. The next day, we went in search of a different brand of malaria medication. After reading the frequency of the side effects (hair loss, hallucinations, depression, anxiety, hearing loss, etc.), I really wanted to find the alternative.
We took the minibus into the main town only to find that the brand of medicine we were looking for was unavailable in Turkey. One bonus: we found some awesome earplugs which blocked the "ooch ooch" (Onur's imitation of the insect's persistent noise).
We bit the bullet and took our original medicine. So far so good! We still have all our hair and I was already talking in my sleep before we took the medicine, so Im chalking up weird dreams to changing location every 3 days.
We recovered from our fruitless search by relaxing back at the motel. We sat up on their terrace, used the internet, read and enjoyed the cherries and gum (?) that were brought to us by Mike/Onur.
The next day, Brandon went diving and saw two octopi. Turns out the hectapus charm that he bought in Istanbul worked! I 'snorkeled' which consisted of looking at water and sand. Brandon thinks he got made fun of a lot by his dive leader and buddy because he would hear his name, some Turkish, and then a bunch of laughing.
Our last day, we tried to hike down to Butterfly Valley. It was more of a climb down a cliff which had ropes to help you down the harder parts. When we got to the part with the rope, I decided to turn around. Brandon said that if he had been there with his friend Matt Friar, he would have kept going. Sorry to not be as daring as Matt, but glad to be alive, I found us a restaurant in the next town called the Olive Garden. It was right on a cliff, overlooking a beautiful beach, and the food was delicious!
Onur drove us to the airport and when we shook his parents' hands goodbye (they help run the place and his mom does the cooking), I couldn't help but feel just like I was leaving my grandparents'.
Onto Jordan, but first a Turkish ice cream at the airport.

Capadoccia highlights

1. First ever hot air balloon ride over some really cool rock formations. These were caused by the eruptions of the nearby volcano. People lived in the caves in the rocks until the caves starting doing what caves do (caving in). There are also rocks that are called fairy chimneys. It was very neat watching the balloons get ready. When we landed we had some champagne. It seemed a little early at 7:30 am
2. Esbelli Evi : a cave hotel. This is my favourite hotel of all time. Our first room had a door to a cave with an escape tunnel. I told Brandon he was only allowed to hang out in there during the day and it went without saying that he wasn't allowed to scare me from there. The breakfast was amazing and it was so quiet!
3. Underground city! Super cool place where the Christians used to hide from their enemies. We both agreed that we would never be able to live there (especially after being semi lost and going in a circle twice) and that the enemy didn't have a chance. I'm not claustrophobic, but the longest tunnel (which involved some serious hunching) was way too long for me.
4. Ziggy's: awesome mezze and wine. This is where I liked an olive for the first time!

Long story short

Finally it was our last day in Istanbul. We liked it, but were ready for a break from the big city. So it was laundry time.
Power outage = 7 kg of steaming + wet laundry - affordable dryer < No help from hostel manager= taking to the streets in search of a laundromat
Streets= 2 self proclaimed Turkish actors wanting to help us out.
Search for laudromat= drycleaners = 20$ drying job =3$/kilo (weighed wet)
Time to take two of the nicest people in Turkey for tea.
Tea= facebook + email exchange + promise to find Mustafa a Canadian girlfriend - a bit of spray on sunscreen Mustafa wanted to try after seeing me use it
4 pm = laundry pickup time
Brandon convinces the dry cleaner to weigh the now dry laundry
Us = + $7.50 dry cleaner= - $7.50
Final answer: We are pretty glad the power went out :) Sometimes people's kindness is surprising and completely genuine. For anyone interested, Mustafa is the one without the mustache and judging by his enjoyment of spray on sunscreen, he'll fit into Canadian culture well.

Rooftops and concert

We have been enjoying the rooftop restaurants in Istanbul. We also went to the Zaz concert at a park. She is a French singer and some of the Turkish people knew the words to her songs. While waiting in one of the most polite lines ever, we saw some homemade grilling going on as well as some little cushions for sitting on for sale.
The concert was very fun and civilized. Even though it was standing room only and there was beer being served, no one pushed or tried to get in front of each other.
We have been treated to friendliness and helpfulness in Istanbul.
Now onto Cappadoccia!

Why are there so many cats?

This morning I woke up to what I thought was the sound of Brandon tripping out of the bathroom. When there was no reply to 'are you ok?', I removed my eyemask to find a pigeon had perched on our top bunk. We (Brandon) tried to shoo it out by clapping. It flew into the closed window a couple of times until it found the door.

We are really enjoying Istanbul. The temperature has dropped because of a rainstorm last night. Yay! With no air con in our hostel room, it is a great relief. We were spoilt by air con in Dubai. We have seen most of the sights we wanted to and are going to a hammam this afternoon.
We have also really been enjoying the food and the Turkish beer. Turkish ravioli and mezze have been the highlights.
The lowlight= the abundance of stray cats + fake cat paraphernalia (who knew that word had an r in it?!) Yesterday evening we were having some Efes beer at a very hipster bar. Brandon would get distracted by the FOUR stray cats in the street beside us. He made me watch them for awhile because he is so amazed by their reflexes. I, however, am grossed out by their dirtiness. I do not have any pictures of real cats.

Bye Dubai

We said goodbye to some of our favourite habibis and habibtis (darlings) today in Dubai. Brandon loves the people who work in the restaurant and grocery store in our building. I love these cute kids the most! First stop : Istanbul via the Sharjah airport which has the best airport food court ever.

Why this week rocked

This peanut coconut stir fry with soba noodles turned out to be delicious. Yes I do love milk with my Asian food!

Students learning about lenses and what they do to light.

Students enjoying Mr. Girard's guitar talent during lunch time.

The weekend started out with these two great things:

Flowers from a nice husband:

Awesome Indian food at a hotel nearby. They also had live music. Getting us excited for our trip to India this summer. This meal included vegetable qorma, paneer, and a chicken dish. The naan was also DELICIOUS.

Braved the beach in what felt like over 40 degree weather. I felt less hard core when I found out the temperature was only 38. But when you're just lying there and still sweating it's time to go...

To LimeTree Cafe. It is one of our favourites here. I got eggs benedict and a cranberry spritzer. TGFAC (Thank God For Air Conditioning).

Brandon learns how to skydive. His instructor was a very nice Scottish man who stopped counting the number of dives he has done after 1500 jumps. He estimates he's done 5000 in his life. What a crazy job. He says he doesn't get nervous anymore...

Brandon doing some skydiving:

I'm so glad he made it back alive :)