Turks!

We've been back from Turkey a few days now and after processing the trip and trying to tell everyone how my holiday was I think I've figured out what the trip was all about. I originally wanted to go to Greece this summer as a birthday gift to myself but after deliberation and concurrence with Ryan and Yunuen we decided on Western Turkey. I have to admit that I didn't know much about what I was getting into and I was a little scared of being an American in a predominantly Muslim country.

Kusadasi is a tourist town for lack of a better description on the West coast. It is near to a number of the ancient cities such as Ephesus, Didyma and Priene to name a few. While in town you are accosted by shop workers trying anything (especially the question, "where you from?") to start a conversation with you and get you into their stores. We talked to a few Turks who explained the situation to us which is basically that they work in Kusadasi for 6 months during "high" season around 15 hours/day, 7 days/week. Once you get the hang of just walking down the street you get a chance to talk to a few of them. Yusuf is the owner of a hookah bar near the bus pick up in town that we spent almost every night with. He was one of the nicest people we met, always with a smile and he even put American service to shame. Med was another young man who worked at our hotel and had brain teasers for us every time we saw him. Yunuen jokingly said we have more friends in Turkey than in Ireland and sadly, at least for a week, that was true.

We saw a number of great sites, my favorite being the library at Ephesus. We spent time on the beach and even took a boat cruise for a day. Really the trip meant a lot to me for several reasons. Obviously having Ryan and Yunuen along made it a lot more fun. Ryan and I smoked more cigars that week than I had the six months prior! I also learned to be weary of presuppositions about other people. The Turks were some of the friendlies most welcoming people we've met and I would have never gone if my travel companions hadn't wanted to go. That would have been a shame on a number of levels, but mostly because I wouldn't have learned this one valuable lesson. Surely Eastern Turkey would have been a different experience (or so I assume)...well, I guess it's a lesson that I'm "learning."