Death of a Student

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful.  And believe me, I am thankful.  I am thankful I have known and taught so many children in my 15 years of being a teacher.  Some of my students are in 5th grade while others are sophomores in college!  But this blog entry is about one student in particular, Joshua Newman.  I taught Josh at ACS (American Community School in Athens) my first year here in Greece.   His family was here for 3 years - left after my first year (grade 4) and returned to Herndon, VA. 

First day of school Grade 4 - ACS

Joshua was the big friendly giant.  He was the tallest boy  in our class but he was so kind and sensitive - like a big teddy bear.  Joshua had epilespy.  Fortunately, he never had a seizure in grade 4 at school and only had some minor tremors but as he grew and his body was changing the seizures were increasing.  Josh was working with doctors to find the correct meds and dosages to help control his seizures.  But, on Sat. Nov. 20 in the middle of the night, Joshua had a terrible seizure and died.  His mother found him in the morning already gone.

Words cannot express how I feel and especially how the Newman family is coping with this.  My heart goes out to his parents and his two older sisters.

Terrific Time in Turkey

  I had my first vacation in 3 months!  I went over to Ankara, Turkey to visit my friend Flynn and do a week long road trip with him and another couple whom he works with in Ankara, Jonathan and Amina from Derby, England. We had a fantastic holiday! Not only was our weather perfect, we all got along so well and I laughed more than I have laughed in a long time! We particularly laughed learning about the American and British language of phrases and figurative language! After an evening out in Ankara on Saturday night, we loaded up the car (my suitcase taking up most of the room, as I am embarrassed to note... - but I was expected to pack for cold mountain air/snow all the way to my bathing suit for the beach!!!) Sunday we headed down to Cappadocia. It's difficult to explain Cappadocia. It's kind of surreal - a setting for Lord of the Rings or something in the sci-fi genre.

The Cappadocia area has these unique rock formations made 9 to 3 million years ago when ancient volcanos erupted and left the sedimentary rocks which formed from lakes and rivers. People carved into the rocks to form homes, churches and monasteries into the caves. Our hotel in Goreme was also in the rocks - our rooms were in caves! So cool!

The first night in Cappadocia we went to see the Whirling Dervishes.  I was unable to take photos of them, so here are some figurines of them.  The Whirling Dervishes symbolizes a seven part mystic cycle to perfection.  They vow to stay in poverty.  The Mevlini order is an Order in Turkey and the ceremony is Sema.  The Sema is only one of the many Sufi ceremonies performed to try to reach religious ecstasy.  These men basically whirled around in one place and then moved from corner to corner while one man twirled in the middle for 20 minutes at a time - with their hands in the air and their eyes closed.  And when they stopped, they were not off balanced or ill - as you and I would be!

Jonathan, Amina and I went horseback riding through some of the valleys of Cappadocia while Flynn decided to hike it.  After a beautiful day of discovering uninhabited caves and seeing the leaves change color we all went to the spa.  Again, all except Flynn, went for the traditional Turkish bath, mud mask and full body massage.  Heaven!  This "spa" was also part of our hotel.  After some time in the suana we lay on the marble stone in the middle of the room which was heated and we had warm water poured over us.  Then the ladies while wearing exfoliating mitts removed the dead skin off our bodies.  Rinsed us down again and then covered us with bags of bath bubbles - the cleaning portion included a full body massage too.  Then we were rinsed again, wrapped in a towel and went to rest in the resting room while someone painted our faces with mud!  After the removal of the mud, we continued our spa day for another full body massage.  It was heavenly!  All for 50 Euros! 

We had great food wherever we went and the Turks were all so pleasant, friendly and helpful.  On our way out of Cappadocia to go further south we went to one

of the 5 Underground Cities in Kaymakli.  These underground cities were mostly used by early Christians who were in hiding before their religion was accepted.  There were tunnels and rooms made in/under the mountain.  In this city, there were 8 floors - we were able to explore 4 of them.  The tunnels from room to room were quite narrow and low - we had to crunch and walk to get through them.

It was pitch black in this room - Underground City

Amina, Flynn, Jill

Jonathan and Amina

We stayed in a small town so we were close to the Ihlara Valley.  This area was breathtaking as well.  I do miss fall - the leaves were changing, crunching under my feet and it smelled of fall - lovely!  It was 360 steps down to the valley.  We hiked and saw a Greek orthodox church dating back to 325 A.D.  When I have shown some of my Greek friends my photos - they have commented instantly about the Greek pictures.We then made it down to the beach - and boy was it beautiful!  Since all Muslims were on holiday as it was the Eid al-Adha - the day of Sacrifice (I was in Egypt for this holiday last year!)  We hadn't done enough hiking so we went to see the Pit of Hell and Heaven Hollow - the Pit of Hell we saw from above and to see the Hollow of Heaven - we had to hike down 460 steps - down yes down into a cave!

Flynn and Jonathan:  Are these guys in the correct spots?

 

I swam to this castle with Amina!



Sunrise

It really was a fabulous trip.  Of course, I didn't plan anything, just showed up and went.  Thanks to Jonathan and Amina for making the plans and choosing the roads less travelled!  Thanks also for Flynn for letting me join you on your first of many adventures in Turkey! 
I, of course, have many more photos (took 423) so if you are interested, just let me know and I will send you more!!!!