Wednesday update

Turkey won the soccer match that I mentioned in my post last week! That takes care of old news updates.

Last Thursday I had a normal day, since Thanksgiving is not a holiday here. But in the evening, one of the other Americans I know here invited Dersan, Duygu, and I over, and we had an excellent Thanksgiving Dinner. (And no, we didn't have turkey; apparently those are only readily available around New Year's.)

Saturday was a time of much frisbee playing; and in the evening, some friends with twin girls came over to visit. So, the picture is of D&D and I with the twins. :) Two cry twice as much as one... profound truth!
Those have been the main events outside of my continuing Turkish class. But today was the last day of lessons, and tomorrow we have the 4 major exams. Then, on Friday, Brad should get here in the evening. And then we will be doing stuff together for about 3 weeks. I am definitely excited about the five week vacation from Turkish and also looking forward to traveling and learning in different venues.
I may forget to post for a bit, but you can always email me if you want.

And a poem from July

Help, O Lord
7/27/07

In desperation, my cry goes up,
“My feet know not their way.
My heart is weak; my soul unsure;
O Lord, light up my way.”

In resolution, I seek His face,
“Thy hand I would grasp tight;
Yet if I slip, or if I faint,
O Lord, still hold me nigh.”

In calm assurance, I plead His truth,
“Thy promises are sure;
I will but cling and walk by faith.
O Lord, fulfill Thy Word.”

- MCC

Two Poems from June

My Lord Cares – 6/5/07 (by me)

“He careth for thee”
And not just for thee,
But for all of the “thee’s” on this earth.
He bled and He died;
He lives – glorified,
Declaring “thee” consummate worth.


I John – 6/25/07 (by me)
Love with
Holiness
The balance sought;
Pure with
Charity
Our life-work taught.

The happenings

So, what has been happening in the last while? Well, last Thursday, Dersan (one of my housemates) had a birthday, so we celebrated that. But the power was out, until just after the celebration was done. So, thus a picture of a candle-lit cake.

Tonight is a major soccer match of the Turkish national team, so that will be this evening's important event. A win is crucial for advancing to the next round.

Today I gave a speech in Turkish class on Davy Crockett, so my head is full of random trivia about him right now. (Did you know that he wasn't called Davy during his life? Did you know that he had 6 kids, three of whom were likely teenagers when he died?)

Final note, today is the beginning of Thanksgiving Break at NBBC. So, that's nice for someone special. Bethany's spending the break with a friend in Michigan.

A word or two

şüphelenmiyorsunuzdur - "(I hope) you are not suspecting me" (of the crime)

There was something of a collective groan when we read this word in class the other day. But the teacher rattles it off no problem. :)

şüphelen + m + iyor + sunuz + dur = main verb + negative + present continuous tense + 2nd person + "maybe" suffix

There has really been nothing outstanding to report here in the last week or so. The weather is getting cold and rainy; I've bought a coat for the winter. Other than that, it's been Turkish class as normal; and time with various friends talking and doing random things together. That's why there hasn't been a recent update, but I figured I should let people know I'm still alive... just in case they'd noticed the absence of posts. :)

There and Back Again... Bulgaria

So, details since Friday, the train to Bulgaria left promptly at 10PM, just as scheduled. I was not sensible and instead of doing something minor like homework and then going to sleep, I read The DaVinci Code which I thoroughly enjoyed until about 2:30. Then I slept till being awakened at 3:30 for a long stop at the border, and again on the other side of the border and by customs..., I think I managed about 4 hours of sleep in the 11-hour trip, since I squandered the best sleeping time.
Upon arriving in Plovdiv, I commenced walking about the city. This first picture is of an area of the city that reminded me very much of NC in the fall (weather and atmosphere). The general terrain of the country reminded of Ohio... boring, small hills, and kinda brown.
I wandered the city for basically the entire day, seeing a good portion of it, getting lost only occasionally, finding little eating or drinking spots, learning tidbits of the Cyrillic alphabet, reading more of my book, spending time at the local McDonald's, :) and other various things. The second picture is the Ancient Stadium of Philippolis, according to the sign. The third one is the statue of Philip II of Macedon for whom the city was named (more famously, he was the father of Alexander).
The trip back was far more restful than the trip there although, and although it left about 2 hours late, we were only a half hour late getting back. I got the visa I needed and saw a bit of Bulgaria; mission accomplished.

The only other news that comes to mind is that today we started learning the future tense in Turkish class; it's very difficult to pronounce, but not hard to understand. :)

And this is just an interesting picture I took.

brief update

Well, I have passed Level 2 and am on to Level 3 Turkish.
I am also off to Bulgaria in about 15 minutes... visa renewal and a touch of sightseeing, all in 36 hours.
TTFN