Friends, family, avid readers, chance passersby, I am asking you to help me help someone. There is a girl from Mexico, Sofia, an aiesecer and trainee like thousands of young people around the world, who is critically ill. She had been doing a traineeship in Ghana when she contracted Septicemia. She requires medical attention and surgery that is unavailable in Ghana at the moment. Because of the extremely high cost, her friends and family have been trying to raise the money. Aiesec globally has also stepped in and is raising money from all over the world. If you want to read up on the situation or would like to contribute, make note of the following websites:

• Aiesec Mexico
  You can read updates in English and Spanish.


• Nomadlife
  The host of this here weblog. It also contains a PayPal link where you can directly contribute to Sofia's rescue fund.

Photos

Well I just got back from a fantabulous weekend in Ankara/Cappadocia. I'll be sure to fill you in on details, but in the meantime, check out the photos. They are only ones taken from my camera, but I know others took all sorts, too. I'll post links as they are uploaded, and soon y'all will have photos galore!

I'm supposing that informing you where "C" is, means you're curious about where Cappadocia is, but I must confess it took me a couple minutes to figure that one out. I kept thinking, "Cell phone? What? That doesn't make any sense.."

You can see in the map above that Cappadocia is in Central Anatolia, just south of Ankara, Turkey's capital. I will spend Friday in Ankara, then Saturday and Sunday in Cappadocia. I'm sure you're concerned for my safety after hearing about the bombings recently. Those are being targeted in the areas and regions in the far South/Southwest because the weather and beaches tend to draw more tourists there. On the map above, they are Antalya and places west of there along the coast, Fethiye and Marmaris (not labelled) and a place called Çeşme, which is just west of Izmir.

Oh man, I'm sooo looking forward to starting Half Blood! THANKS MOM!

Life is treating me pretty well right now, I suppose. One, it hasn't been sweltering the past two days in cool, cloudy, overcast anticipation of the rain we got today. Also, my company just got an air conditioner!! wooo hooo! Simple pleasures.

I've pretty much made plans to go on next weekend's reception tour. Where, you ask? Well, to Cappadocia. It should be pretty fantastic, and there are at least 4 or 5 other trainees from Bursa who are going, too. I'm really looking forward to it.

I also managed to upload the photos I took from the Karagöz Folk Dance Festival/Competition. Hopefully this weekend, I'll be able to post some short video clips, too.

Happy reading to all of you who'll be beginning Half Blood today, *cough*, brother Joe.

Check out this crazy story. Maybe they just couldn't handle their oh-so-difficult life in this cruel, cruel world. Or a sheep cult? Could be..

Sheep, or Lemmings?

First one sheep jumped to its death. Then stunned Turkish shepherds, who had left the herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1,500 others followed, each leaping off the same cliff. In the end, 450 dead animals lay on top of one another in a billowy white pile, the Aksam newspaper reported. Those who jumped later were saved as the pile got higher and the fall more cushioned, the paper said. The estimated loss to families in the town of Gevas, located in Van province in eastern Turkey, tops $100,000, a significant amount of money in a country where average GDP per head is around $2,700.

-- Associated Press

Cause for Concern

By the way, I know I haven't mentioned anything about the London attacks, but the way I see it is that there is a plethora of information being generated as I write this by people much closer to the situation than I. My well wishes go out to all.

Another very interesting article was brought to my attention pretty recently. The concept of video surveillance is not new, and has been going on for quite some time in other countries and our own. The reason I find this article so interesting is one specific statement that made my heart jump and race, and my eyes screech to halt and re-read it at least a few times just to make sure I had read and interpreted it as clearly as possible.

The price of keeping the community safe far outweighs civil liberty issues.

--Monique Bond
spokeswoman for the Chicago Office of Emergency Management

I'm all for safety. But something about that statement in and of itself really made me uneasy. That type of mindset is teetering on the line of what seems like could be the kind of situation that shouldn't exist in a place founded upon individualism, freedom, and civil liberty.

This week has been a combination of I'm so tired and hot I'm not going to make it days, and hustle and bustle all around days, but there has been no in-between. There was a Polish culture night earlier this week, and I got to sample some Polish caramel candy. mmm.

Yesterday during work, all of the folk dance groups walked down the major street (where my office is) parade-style, and I got to preview all of the different ethnicities. I was extremely tired yesterday and knew that today would be a long one as well, but after seeing that fantastic display, my mind stopped arguing with itself about how I really should go home and take it easy and I told myself to suck it up and go. Who knows if or when I'd get another chance to see groups from Greece, France, Lithuania, Bangladesh, Estonia, and an Ottoman-style band complete with soldiers doing crazy combat dances and moves, dance for me live under the warm night sky without leaving my little chair? And all that for 1YTL!! That's less than $1!!! I, unfortunately, couldn't stay for the whole thing because I had to catch the metro-d'oh!

Tonight there is a welcome party for the newbies, so I won't get to attend-oh, I forgot to mention there is folk dancing every night from the 7th-12th-but I would have loved to have gone. Tomorrow I'm pretty sure I'll go, and as many nights as I can after that. I really want to try and see the groups from Japan and Egypt.

Some points to note: Yesterday (7/7) was Will and Joe's birthday!! And today is my host sister, Bensu's birthday! She turns 13, I believe. This evening she will go with her father for summer vacation, but we're not sure how long, could be one week, could be one month. We'll see.

Stars & Stripes Forever

That's right. Today is the lucky day when Americans are enjoying themselves on the last day of a three-day weekend, culminating in BBQ's, parades, fireworks, fireworks fireworks, ribbons of red, white, and blue, and a grand fireworks finale to the sounds of Stars & Stripes Forever. Did I mention America is booming with fireworks right about now (that lasts at least one good week, if not a month after the holiday)? What's all this hoopla about? Why, Independence Day, of course! Happy Birthday America!

I, unfortunately, did not get to see any fireworks last night. I did, however, get to see a pretty unique flamenco and turkish/arabic concert last night. I went to see some hardcore flamenco action, and was surprised to see quite a bit of turkish/arabic music thrown in the mix, whirling dervish and all. I was a little disappointed that a concert advertised as a flamenco performance, contained just as much, if not more, turkish/arabic music; but, I was very grateful to have had the opportunity to see a dervish live. Also, the mix of the two types of music kept the night interesting, and the crowd roared and spouted energy and applause when the flamenco woman and dervish man joined each other in dancing to the same song.

What do DJ Spooky, Gertrude Stein, and Slayer's drummer have in common?

Just wanted to share a little something I found interesting. The article is a little dated, but interesting nonetheless.

It's so incredibly hot today, it's finally starting to feel like Turkey. Ugh. Even though I'm in a non-air-conditioned office on the third floor (fourth floor to those people living in the US), I didn't want to go out and get anything to eat. It's that hot that I'd one, not jump at the chance to take a break, and two, not jump at the chance to eat something. I can't pin it specifically on any one of the following: because I just didn't want to move, that I was subconsciously thinking if I went out I'd have to walk the three flights of stairs back up, or if the heat was just making me loopy. I finally couldn't take it anymore. Even though I was in a heat induced semi-hungerless state, I decided to walk to the small market about two blocks away; not too far of a distance. At least if I passed out, they could see me from the window.

On my way to the store, I was crossing one of the side streets when this mother tripped and came this close to falling on her face. Now, that's all fine and good, except she didn't let go of her toddler's hand during the process, so this poor boy was simultaneously whipped forward before he could possibly know what the hell was happening. Luckily, instead of being slammed on the ground and dragged across the hot asphalt, he only made it as far as my body. Now I can't imagine how pleasant it is to be thrown into someone's hip, but I can imagine that it's got to feel at least a little better than dragging your face across hot asphalt; therefore, it's going down in the books as my good deed for the day.

Walking back to the office, content with my purchases of two peaches and a banana, I happen to meander by one of the sidewalk ice cream windows. Who should I see outside but another poor boy in a circumcision outfit enjoying one of heaven's precious treats. Now, I've heard of ice cream making even the worst of days alright, or at least a lot better, maybe, though I'm not sure, I've had the privelege of ice cream self-medication first-hand; but never in the caverns of my imagination could I have fathomed a power as great as that which I witnessed today with my very own eyes. The world of wonders in which we live...