here they are.

In the past several weeks I have been asked by two people who are relatively new readers to my blog why there are only videos of Brian on the blog. How come Brian didn't turn the tables and take video of me. I have put videos of me on the blog, but it's been awhile. And right now if someone were to take a video of me all they would see is me scratching all my mosquito bites. So here are links to two videos of me. One by AG and one by Brian. Oh...and most of the posts with videos can be found under the video label in the side bar. Unless I forgot to label one which is entirely possible. Enjoy.

Ahhh...the great outdoors.

So we went camping. And honestly I don't have much to say about it except it was beautiful. The weather was perfect and the green was needed. It was nice to get out of the concrete jungle for a few hours. Here are some pictures and some commentary when necessary.


The road to the camping spot. This was the good part of the road.






One of my most favorite things about Turkish culture is their sense of hospitality. This particular camping spot doesn't allow you to build fires on the ground. They have these community grills set up so that all fires are contained in one place. While Brian was cooking the people you see behind him came over and gave us half of a watermelon. They cut it and basically made us all eat some.


Later another group of campers came and gave Brian this plate of rice. It was delicious! There were tiny pieces of shredded chicken mixed in. It tasted just like Cajun jambalaya. I almost went over and got the recipe! The next morning a man stopped by while we were having breakfast with a loaf of bread from his father-in-law's bakery. Seriously...we were sad we couldn't share our food. I mean we could have, but I'm pretty sure the bags of chips and snack cakes from a package wouldn't have been appreciated. I'm telling you...nobody does camping and picnic food like the Turks!

This little bird hopped around our table anytime we were sitting there. At one point he hopped onto the table to make sure we saw him. It was nice seeing some wildlife. This may not seem like wildlife to you, but we don't get much in Ankara. Lots of pigeons and not much else. We also watched frogs, tadpoles, and a snake swimming in the water, a little brown mouse come out of his hole to get some of the bread crumbs left by the birds, and a squirrel playing in the trees.

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Brian's take on our camping trip.

Having an evening snack. I think Jacob was in the bathroom!

The kids and Brian getting ready for our hike the next morning. Jacob was in the bathroom again. Doesn't Brian look thrilled!

Notice the rockin' camp hairdo!

This hollowed out log was next to the waterfall. They had piped water over to it so people could get a drink without actually having to walk in the water.

Dirt road to fun

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Where are all the troglodytes?

One of my favorite things to do when we go to Cappadocia is exploring the underground cities. These are basically caverns carved out of the rocks by hand. Some are a thousand years old or more. For more on the underground cities of Cappadocia you can read here, here, and here.

Brian and I have been to the two largest underground cities and wanted to do one that was less touristy.


We followed the signs for the village of Ozluce where there was supposed to be an underground city. When we drove up there was one lady in her doorway who pointed us to the parking lot/field/children's play place. We were the only people there. Yes! Much better than trying to explore an underground city full of tourists!


After we parked a man came running out of a building to meet Brian and point us in the right direction.


Brian standing at the entrance to the "under graund city".


Once inside the door we found these two delightful children. Mustafa and Aysegul were quite taken with us. Very giggly.


Ayhan, the caretaker, flipped on a light switch, handed Brian a flashlight, and pointed down this hallway. Basically we were left alone to go exploring.


At the end of the first tunnel we came to a large room. This is the doorway back out. These large stone doors were rolled in front of the openings to keep invaders out.


Wait...we thought we were being left alone. Aysegul and Mustafa were following us! Brian started asking them questions about different things in the cave. They were our tour guides. They had no qualms about going down dark passageways at all...quite impressive for a 2 and 3 year old. There were random light bulbs around. Some of them worked and some of them didn't.


All of these pictures were taken in the dark. I had no idea what I was actually getting until after I took them. Notice the nonworking light bulb in this picture.


There were kitchens, bedrooms, stables, wine and water cisterns, and all kinds of other rooms. They pretty much all looked the same.



Then I had to take this video because of how insane the whole thing seemed. This shows you how dark it was!


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And because the video is so dark here are some pictures of the actual tunnel we walked down.

Brian pointing the flashlight down the tunnel we are about to explore.


And we kept going...


And going...


Until finally finding this well. It did have a grate over the top of it so we weren't going to accidentally fall in. Notice the steps carved into the side of the well. And of course it wouldn't be Turkey if there wasn't trash thrown it it.


In the above video this is where we decided to stop. Who knows how much further we could have gone!


As we were leaving Ayhan took our picture in front of the wheel door. (I am wearing a wrap like thing that I had to buy the night before because I was cold. I know...I usually bring a jacket everywhere I go knowing that I will probably get cold at some point. The cave was quite chilly!)

This underground city is probably my favorite one so far. I loved that there weren't any other tourists. I loved that Ayhan just let us go exploring on our own. I loved that the kids were sweet and funny. And oh yeah...the fact that Ayhan told Brian that I had a sweet face didn't influence me at all!

I love Turkey!

Tuz Golu...or what is this stuff?

Here is a map of Turkey. With bits of Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Iraq, Syria, Cyprus, and Greece thrown in. But I don't want to talk about any of those places. I want to talk about Turkey.


Specifically this bit of Turkey.

We live in Ankara...noted by the star. It is the capital of Turkey. We were driving to Cappadocia to celebrate 17 years of marriage on Saturday. Cappadocia is the region where the Valley of the Fairy Chimneys is located. On our way to Cappadocia we had to drive by the Tuz Golu or the Salt Lake...noted by the nice, big blue splash of color under Ankara on the map.


We have driven by Tuz Golu many, many times. We had never stopped to see what all the fuss was about despite signs and roadside souvenir shops beckoning us with their wares. There are always quite a few cars and people out walking on the lake. Since we were alone and needing to pee we decided that this would be the perfect place to stop. We didn't have the kids with us so we could go splashing through the water like carefree adults not acting our age. Sounded like fun times.


Now I must say that the salt lake is very shallow and depending on the amount of rainfall quite a bit of the lake is dry. But it is nice and pretty and white. After walking out on powdery salt for quite a ways we decided to take off our shoes to feel the nice sandy feeling between our toes.


Hm...what exactly is this stuff? It doesn't feel like sand at all.


What it felt like...pieces of broken glass. No frolicking or skipping through the water for us.

The following video is what we looked like walking through the salt lake. It was windy so I have transcribed it for your listening/reading enjoyment.



Brian: In case you think I am the only one looking stupid out here....
Me: How does it feel...walking on broken salt?
Brian: This is well worth the time and effort....something, something...I'm feeling the cleansing.
Me: There's another lady doing...
Brian: So is everybody else.
Me: Ouch. I can't even move. It hurts. Are you glad we came?
Brian: Oh yes, it's just like walking on powdery snow from a billion years ago that turned into ice.
Natalie: Alright. Ok, bye.

Now I do see that some people are walking around perfectly normal in the background of our video. Either they had shoes on or they had big, nasty calluses on their feet! I'm telling you...it was painful. We pryed up a few pieces of the salt crystals so we could show you exactly what we were walking on.


And let me just tell you this picture does not do it justice. The sharp points are not prominent enough. The flesh-slicing edges are too blurred. Just take my word for it...okay? Okay.

The best thing about visiting Tuz Golu is now being able to say "we've been there" when we see something about it on the History Channel or National Geographic. We will seem like well-traveled vacation snobs. Ahhh...the joy of it all.

Water painting

On our recent trip to Kastamonu we met an artist. His medium was quite different than anything we had ever seen before. He had a pan of what looked like water. He took metal tipped sticks and dipped them into whatever paint color he wanted. He then dropped the drips of paint onto the surface of the water. He maneuvered the paint with the sticks until it looked like he wanted it to as it floated on the surface of the water.


He says "I draw rose." He also says the water is original. We are pretty sure he meant that the paintings are all original. Brian then asks him if he is using oil paints. He says no. He also says that the colors come from the earth, and he makes the paint by hand. He then talks about the liquid coming from the roots of plants. We left there not really having any idea exactly what kind of plants or water or paints he used, but it was quite fascinating.


After he finished the painting on the water he laid a piece of plain white paper on top of it. He left it there for just a few seconds.


When he lifted the paper off this was the result. This picture was about 13x11 inches and cost 40 lira...about $35.

I decided that I should buy something from him since we stood there for so long and since it was quite unique. I chose the following two pieces which are about 5x7 size. They were 5 lira apiece.



I have no idea what I will do with them, but I'm sure I'll think of something!

Brian is headed back to this town later this week. Maybe I'll have him pick up a couple more and I can have another contest...hm...now there's an idea! What colors would you be interested in?

Awwww!!!!

When I was in the states for my grandmother's funeral in April, I spent some time at my great Aunt Laverne's house. While I was there I took this little video of Aunt Laverne telling me what we were eating for lunch. I was reminded of this video yesterday when Aunt Laverne called me! She made a phone call all the way over to Turkey! Now we do have a Houston telephone number so it wasn't like she was dishing out the big bucks, but still...she thought to call me even though she knows I live on the other side of the world from her!
I love me some Aunt Laverne!

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the streets of Bartin

Are you tired of trip pictures? Or culture? If you are you might just want to skip over this video. I have lots more pictures and cultural anecdotes to share, but I'll try to spread them out a little more.


This is the town of Bartin. It is located a little inland from the Black Sea. I wanted to point out a few things you will see in this video. First of all you will notice the call to prayer in the background. I didn't take this video during the call to prayer on purpose. It just happened to be at the same time. I do try to explain things, but I am standing right next to the mosque the call is being broadcast from so it is a little hard to hear me.

We were in Bartin on a Tuesday. I was surprised to see the streets so crowded at 11am on a Tuesday. There were signs advertising a Culture, Art and Strawberry Festival, but that didn't start until Friday. Brian says that every time he is in Bartin it is a happening place.

About 40 seconds into the video you see a man with a tray of tea glasses. These are traditional Turkish tea glasses. This man delivers tea to different stores along the street. Later he comes back and picks up the glasses.

At 1:21 a lady walks by with a basket on her back. She was also wearing big baggy pants called salvar cepken. In villages you see both men and women wearing these pants. There were quite a few of these women in town. They were doing their shopping, and they used the basket to carry their purchases. We passed this same lady on the other side of town as we were pulling out. I remembered seeing her blue bucket in her basket while in town. More than likely she was from a nearby village.

At the end of the video you see some girls with plaid skirts and green sweater vests. This is a school uniform. All of the schools here have uniforms.

Ok. That is all for tonight. It is late, and I have neglected my bed way too much as of late! Night.

Yummy!

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While in Ulus yesterday I took this video during lunch. First the dough is rolled into a large circle. This thin circle of dough is called yufka (you-f-ka). Yufka can be used for many things, but my favorite is gozleme (goes-leh-may). Gozleme is very similar to a quesadilla. It can be prepared with many different ingredients. I had cheese and eggplant gozleme yesterday. It was yummy! I have tried my hand at rolling the dough like the Turkish women do, and basically...I am terrible at it! I never can roll a circle. My dough ends up too thin in some places and too thick in other spots. Somehow I manage to get the dough stuck to the rolling pin or to itself. It tears or holes form as I try to get it to cooperate. Thankfully yufka is sold in the grocery stores here so I can just buy it when I need it!

Oh...during the video I am talking to one of the girls visiting us from the states. Just so you know.