Sledding!!!!

So for the last couple of weeks it has been relatively warm -1 or so centigrade - around 32 fahrenheit.  But, today, sat. it is cold  -15 centigrade, and so, naturally, we went outside....  the sky was blue, the sun was shining - just lovely!!!

There is a nice little hill right by our house and we went sledding.  

Look how brave Dora is going down by herself!!!  She really did love it - and Clari was down at the bottom guarding the lamppost and taking the pictures. 

The hard part was going up the hill afterwards, but Dora helped by pulling the sled.

It was a fun time!!!

x country skiing (even though downhill is better)

 anyoung from everyones favorite little sister! the weekend before exam week was brutal for me... i spent hours slaving away at math, social studies and physics (which didn't go well despite my best efforts... its like my brain just rejects anything that involves math...) anyhoo here are some pictures of my deeply painful weekend of endless study...

me and reyna (my friend and neighbor) looking extremely athletic =]

this picture was so NOT posed =]

A Christmas Quilt

This is a quilt I started last year, after Christmas, and finally just got it done for Christmas.  One reason it took so long was that I took time out and made three other quilts - baby quilts for grandbabies!!

clarissa speaking again =]

Anyong everybody!

(in case you don't know anyong means hello, and goodbye, in korean)

if ooma (korean for mother) and dad haven't told you yet i am currently OBSESSED with korea! and their amazing boy band Big Bang =] i love them! or in korean saranghe Big Bang =] so at them moment i am learning all the korean i can from every korean in my high school (there are actually quite alot of them). oh and by the way, teddie we are doing some serious korean learning when i see you next! =] so anyways if you haven't guessed the picture above is of Big Bang for yall... (sorry about the bad quality) but aren't they wonderful?! =]

but my korean obsession isn't my reason for writing this post even if it is my reason for living... =]

Kaitlyn wanted me to post some of my recent paintings. recently i have started oil painting in my art class in school and i really liked it! so this is my first ever oil painting =]

i have actually finished a second one but at the moment it is hanging up in school and i don't have a picture of it.  i've also started a third but i am debating using acrylics... =]

anyong all =]

The last pictures of Turkey.... maybe

Ahhhh, my hand disappeared.  Maybe this is what really happened to Paul's fingers!?! mmmm...

This is in the wine-making room in the under-ground cave dwellings in Cappadocia - apparently holes in the low ceiling were for hanging things on...

Frescoes in the ceiling of a church in the cave houses/churches.

this is at the rug making place.  The vat is filled with a solution of something (possibly just water) and silk worm cocoons.  The  solution kills the worm that is in the cocoon and helps the silk come unwound, then they put several - like eight strands together and wind it off the cocoon and onto the big round spinning wheel(??).  Each cocoon has at least a mile of super, super strong silk thread on it.  Clarissa is touching the strands of thread.  They have to get the cocoon before the worm comes out.  The worm makes a hole in the bottom of the cocoon and wiggles out (as a butterfly or moth?) - but, when he does that the thread isn't one long piece of silk anymore!!  It was fascinating learning about it - sorry I can't write it as interesting.  

Random pictures of Turkey

In the background, the rounded seats are the theater - it can't rightly be called an amphitheater because it is only a half circle - where Paul preached.  To the left is an olive tree.  I have no idea how old - but lets say it's old!! :)

A cool shot of the reconstructed library.

Another interesting angle of a monument to some rich person 2000 years ago.  We were commenting that these old, rich people thought to buy themselves glory and yet look, where are they now?  But, then, Clarissa reminded us, look they have left something at least - what are we leaving???

Walking down the main road of Ephesus - the two story building is the library.  The fields behind the town long ago would have been the water.  It was a port-side town, but the river has silted it all in and now the water is 4 miles away.  On the left the metal fence is where they are still working to excavate more ruins.

More Whirling Dervishes

The dancers really think of this dance as spiritual - and just look at the aura they have!!!!

Amazing!!

(Okay, it just happened that way when we took the picture - cool, huh?)

The dancers are dressed in white with a black sash - the lights were colored. 

It's not really clear here, but when they dance they hold one palm up to the heavens and the other down to the ground - signifying that they receive from Allah and give to the people. 

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

The family Christmas pageant was the smallest it has been for some time - no visitors to Moscow this year :( and because we held the pageant after we returned to Moscow on December 26 we did not invite others.  Nevertheless, it was a wonderful experience as always to read once again the story of the Savior's birth together as a family - even a small one.

This year Clarissa was Joseph and Dora was Mary.  Dora's costume is a Turkish wedding outfit that Lisa purchased in Istanbul just for this purpose.  It works nicely with all the Central Asian costumes.

Clarissa doubled as the angel(s) that came to the (frightened) shepherd(s) abiding in their fields and watching over their flocks by night.  The Afghan hat and scarf Kaitlyn gave us this year were perfect for the occasion.

The shepherds visiting the baby.

The story would not be complete without the visit of a beautiful wise(wo)man bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Dora was so excited that she just had to stand up and modeled her costume.  She was gorgeous!

Finally - the Dervishes

The Whirling Dervishes

Our last night in Istanbul, we attended a cultural show.  The show included some Sufi (followers of Rumi) who danced the Sema, a dance that is said to help them achieve "oneness" with God as they twirl rhythmically to the music.  This a short video we took of the performance.  Clapping and flashes were prohibited as being disruptive to the dancers.

Sailing along....

We are back to sailing on the Bosphorus - just some fun modern houses on the bank.

When we  got to the river we started looking around to find someone who could tell us about boat rides - it didn't take long, about one second before a man said "hey, do you want to take a boat ride?"  We said 'yes' and he said follow me.  We walked back from where we had just come, and then we walked away from the river and we said, "maybe we'll just go find another one".  "Oh, no, no, it is just here, 2 minutes, don't worry, they are ready to leave, come, come.... Well, we came, came and sure enough there was a boat with 6 other people on it, we paid and had a great ride.  A little excitement at first - but, hey, we're in Turkey!!!

Oh, and here is just a little palace - it stretched another couple inches on each side of this picture.  

It was a beautiful - cold - but, sunny Christmas day in Istanbul.  

Markets and Markers

On our walk from the hotel to the 'sights' we passed this one day fresh outdoor market.  The set-up was so artistic and colorful - it was amazing!!  

There Paul is (center, back) buying some mandarins for us.

Look how creatively he displayed his pumpkins!!!  And when we asked for his picture, he wanted Clarissa to join him.  

Also, it is kind of hard to tell, but the background on this picture is the wall of the hippodrome - we are talking almost Roman ages here and on top of the wall is a modern government building... it was just amazing to walk past all these ancient landmarks  that just become commonplace.

This marker is called 'million'.  It marks the center of the world.  And there we stood!!!

It was fun to hear our guides talk about all the things that originated in Turkey - turquoise, words, religions, tulips - of course, they were proud of all they developed and probably exxaggerrattedd (I have no idea how to spell it - on one of those consonants there is double) a little bit - but when we read about things - they were right.  Turkey was in the center of a lot of things for a long time.

Underground water cistern

In the underground cistern that was... old... where they stored water and where they have lots of columns - some they even brought from the temple of Diana - and a couple of Medusa columns - which one are you more afraid of???

Hagia Sofia

It is spelled Hagia Sofia, but in Turkish it is pronounced Aya Sofia.  This was built long ago, was destroyed then rebuilt in the 800's or so.  It has the largest dome ever - it is also starting to lean.... beautiful building - lots of paintings and tile work.  The vase is carved out of one piece of marble... yes, a thousand years ago or so.

More on Turkey - Now we start on Istanbul

My last attempt at blogging was my first ever and I wasn't so pleased with it.  This second try hasn't started out quite right yet, either, and so I hope my third attempt is better or there won't be a fourth!!!  :)

On Wednesday, the 24th we were in Istanbul.  It was freezing!!!  But, we had sights to see and we were tourists - what matters sleet or rain or freezing hands - on to the sights!!

This is Paul and Clarissa standing outside of the Blue Mosque with the Aya Sofia in the background

Inside the Blue Mosque.  The pictures don't really do it justice.  It has several, like 6 or more huge domes and they are all painted and/or tiled and it is really quite beautiful and peaceful.  We all had to take off our shoes and carry them thru the building with us.  The carpets are soft...

Not far from our hotel is an old hippodrome - or a big stadium where they would have held races and whatever else they wanted.  In the middle of the track (think Ben Hur) they had these tall pillars - this one used to be snakes wrapped around each other - they are a thousand or so years old.  The ground level is about 8 feet below us - it has built up that much throughout the years.

Looking carefully you can see the snake pillar and the tall one is an egyptian obelisk that was brought here looooooong ago.  I could make up a date.... it is from the 8th century!!

The Bosphorous and folk show

Sailing the Bosphorous - which means 'cow crossing' - the legend goes that Hera, the wife of Zeus didn't like one of Zeus' mistresses (I am not sure if she liked the others or what..) and so she changed her into a cow and then afflicted her with gnats.  To escape the gnats the 'cow' swam across the water.... hence the name.  Anyway, sailing the Bosphorous on Christmas day.  This huge fortress below is on the narrowest part of the water and guarded the way.  Across from it on the other side is the other part of the fortress.

We attended a great folk dance show - two of the many dances performed.

Turkey - Day Three - Cappaddocia

Late on Monday, we flew from Izmir to Cappadocia.  We arrived at 11:30 pm and then had a one hour drive to the small town, Urgup, where our hotel was located.  Cappaddoccia is famous for its landscape and for it cave houses and underground cities.  We reserved a "cave room" so we could get the feel from the beginning.  

Our Cappaddoccia visit included 1) a hike through the Red Valley; 2) a visit to an abandoned cave village; and 3) a visit to an underground city. 

Here is a view of our room in the cave hotel.

Clari poses in the "cave" bathroom.  There were sand grains on the floor that had fallen from the ceiling.

The hike up the Red Valley was wonderful.  The valley was filled with grape vines and fruit trees (see the small orchard behind us in the picture).  In the hills on all sides were rooms cut into the mountains.  You can see holes on mountains behind us.  These were mainly "pigeon houses".  The inhabitants used pigeon dung to fertilize their fields and used the eggs for eating and egg whites as mortar.

Clarissa and Lisa in the first cave room we saw.  There were also churches carved into the sides of the mountains.

Lisa and Clarissa showing the pigeon houses.

High above the Red Valley we had a wonderful view of the Cappaddoccian landscape.  Awesome!

A view of the abandoned homes in the cave village.

Erosion has created some very unique rock formations.

They told us that we should be careful around the rock formations but Clari and Lisa just had to try and push the rocks off their pedestals.

In the four story underground city.  There was a communal kitchen, sleeping rooms, storage rooms, a winery, a church and security and air circulation systems.  All of these were connected with by a maze of corridors . . .

Some of which were quite small.

This is a place known as pigeon valley because of all the pigeon houses carved into the hills.

Our last stop!  An ancient fortress built into the rock - it is called "The Camel".

After a busy day in Cappaddocia we drove back to the airport and flew to Istanbul where our fourth day adventures began.