Summer Wrap-up

The last two months did not go by in a flash, as much as a being a period of intense activity similar to those college days when there was no time to write home - the overarching schedule of classes, exam and term deadlines and extra-curricular activities that was a nagging reminder of things that needed to be done. This summer I had no time to collect my thoughts in a coherent manner to maintain a blog.

The first such intense activity was as a junior financial coordinator of a summer camp for girls aptly named GLOW for girls leading our world. This brought me in close contact with 80+ host country girls from high school and 17 PC volunteers for 10 days in July. Mentoring, new friendships, and demanding activities every day gave me no time to write a journal, let alone a blog! This was followed by a once in a lifetime experience of participating in an archeological dig at the site of “Bylazora”. This dig is at a stage where digging with spades and shovels in the hot sun is the rule. Very little of this city has been uncovered, so it is a physically demanding exercise, always done in the hot summer sun which dries the soil, making it friable and less likely to damage the underlying ancient construction.

By the first week of August, my much needed vacation to Turkey with Gita rolled around. Though Istanbul is an amazing city in itself and worth a whole blog, we didn’t only stop there. After 3 days we were off to a region called Cappadocia, south of the capital, Ankara. This roughly triangular plain lying between three, now extinct volcanoes about 60-100 km apart, was once covered with lava and later compressed by a sea. Subsequent receding of the water followed by wind erosion shaped this rock into very interesting formations. Driving through the vast collection of rocks and the cave homes in this rock, first built by the Hittites and now inhabited by modern Turks is equivalent to visiting the Grand Canyon. No pictures or language can capture that magical spirit of being there. We also opted to float over this landscape in a balloon, a highly recommended activity. This sensation of floating serenely over the land would be closest to the experience of ‘being’ a bird, because we were not rushing by as in a plane. Even a small Cessna bi-plane moves so fast compared to a balloon. Off again to the Aegean coast to the beach near Kusadasi and the Roman ruins of Ephesus. We visited the last home of the Virgin Mary – Meryem Ana Evi as well as the ancient city of Pamukkale further inland. Turkey was full of surprises in more ways than one – modern roads, no old cars on the roads, fancy buses and ancient history – a heady mix!

Now, as the weather is shifting from the searing hot days to cool early mornings (high 40’s to 50’s F) and with the schools starting on Sept 1st and my colleagues returning from their vacations, my pre-summer routine of morning walks and visiting neighbors in the evenings sandwiching the work day is back. A welcome change from the summer months.