Living the Nightlife

But not like that. As a teacher there are many nights that I am up late working on lesson plans or grading papers. I decided to take a break from working on my porch to take a few pictures. I am only going to put up two.

The first is the view from my living-room/porch. (click to enlarge)

And this is a view of the school I work at. (click, click)

Cappadocia Round One

First and foremost I would like to apologize for the lack of posting that has been occurring on my end of the world. I say my end of the world, but there are about 5 million people in my city alone. I will resolve to be better at posting forthwith.

A few weeks ago I was able to travel with a few of my friends to Cappadocia. For those of you who do not know what "Cappadocia" could possibly be: it was the home of the ancient church from (300-ish to 1100-ish a.d. or b.c.e.,) and before that it was home to the Hittites.

It was really beautiful. We left Ankara on Friday afternoon and took a bus down to the modern city Goreme. Arriving as late as we did there was not much chance for dinner, but we made do and promptly crashed after a long week at school. Here is a picture of us making do:

Waking up the next morning was incredible as the hostel is surrounded by the remains of the cave cities that formed the historic Cappadocia.

After breakfast and coffee we hiked over to the "open air museum." Walking through the museum was fascinating. The early settlers carved their houses into the rock. Some people in the area still live in the cave houses. You can really see the development of architecture and art from the caves in the museum.

This picture comes from one of the earlier chapels:

After going walking around all morning I needed to spend some time relaxing and grading papers. I spent the afternoon in a really great bungalow behind the hostel with two of my friends. The rest of our group went to a nearby village that specializes in making pottery.

That night we went to a fantastic restaurant that was at the top of the nearest hill and I took a few photographs.

Here is one of my housemate (David) and UT friend (Kendall) trying to decide what to eat off of the excellent menu:

One last shot of the group looking over our menu.

Sadly the next morning we packed up and had to make our way back to Ankara. It was a really great and relaxing weekend. I will certainly be going back in the winter when there is snow on the ground. I can't wait.

London 2012

On my way to Ankara I was able to stop in London to see two of my best friends who had been biking from Berlin to London this summer. 

Bing and Daniel came to Paddington station (of Paddington Bear/commuting fame) to help me schlep all of my bags around.  

We stowed my bags at the cafe that Bing worked at when he lived in London and then were able to head to the Olympic Park. Through one of Bing's friends we were able to get tickets that allowed us into the park. 

Many of the buildings followed the imposing (maybe an understatement) style of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. You may know him from such things as: the Battersea Power Station, the building that houses the Tate Modern, and the ever iconic  British red-telephone boxes. 

 Some of them didn't. 

They set up a pretty neat system of mirrors that let you get your picture in front of the main stadium, but it cost money that I didn't have to spend, so we just took a picture of ourselves. 

Can you guess who didn't sleep on the plane? (Hint: see bags under eyes.) 

After the park we went to have tea with one of Bing's friends. We walked a block over after tea to stop by an area known locally as "the beach." To the British aggregate steps that protrude into a dirty river qualifies as a "beach." A nice old English woman walked over to us and said, "Pardon me, I hate to bother you gentlemen, but do you think that poor girl needs help?"

We looked over to see a girl (fully dressed) walk into the Thames and start to swim around. Within a minute she was yelling for help because the extremely fast tide had caught her. Bing and I can swim, but Daniel is a professional lifeguard. (He is a manager at the pool that the U.S. Olympic swimmers and divers trained at this summer.) So he shrugged his shoulders and stripped down to his boxers, and then dove in after the girl. 

Will and I ran down the side of the river in the direction they were being pulled. I was able to get access to a private dock and hurl Daniel a life preserver. I ran back to collect Daniel's clothes from the old lady who was watching them for us. Policemen were running towards the action as I ran to get his clothes from the old lady, so I pointed them in the right direction. 

When I got back Bing was being interviewed by ten policemen, and there were police helicopters circling. One of these boats was on the way:

(Not my photo)

The river pulled Daniel and the girl 1/3 or 1/2 mile down river in just a few minutes.

But Daniel had been fished out by THIS:

(Also not my picture)

That is the Thames Clipper. It is the overwater version of a bus, but way bigger. The pilot had whipped the clipper around against the current and backed up to them to help Daniel get the girl out of the water. Daniel immediately made sure that she stayed conscious while she asked him questions like, "are you Johnny Depp?" "Can we go get fish and chips?" etc. 

They gave him a jacket  and a cup of coffee to keep him warm. Seeing as none of us had phones we were unsure how to find him again, so the police transfered him to one of their boats and brought him back to us. 

Daniel was (and is) a hero. They told us that he certainly saved the girl's life. Everyone congratulate him when you see him. 

The next morning we went to go see the Olympic Triathlon in Hyde Park. It was really cool to actually get to see an event. 

Later in the evening we went down to Brick Lane (a really, really great part of London) for dinner with a friend we met in the hostel. We saw a new Banksy piece:

The next morning we took it easy and listened to music for a little while on the roof of our hostel.

(Soundtrack: Sigur Rós' Takk)

The rest of the day we just walked around. We went to the Tate Modern, and then had a late lunch at the Borough Market. If any of you go to London, the market is amazing. It is usually only open on the weekends, but this summer they made sure it was open every day. The foods and drinks were really, really good. 

The next morning Bing and Daniel saw me off again at Paddington and I continued my journey eastward.  

Trying to get ready.

Hey everyone!

Right now I am busy moving and trying to condense my life to 50 lbs. before I move to Turkey on Sunday (Aug. 5th.) I figured that I should put up a post and say that I will be updating regularly when I have time to think.

-Will