Ashley: Turkey, reading, and speaking Romanian

I am so so so sorry I haven't been able to send you an email telling you about Turkey yet.  I really want to but I haven't even had time to write it down.  On Monday we had a field trip where we went to Jericho.  After that I looked at what I had going on this upcoming week and realized I have 2 papers and a test on the docket plus all my regular reading.  So I have been nose to the grindstone doing that.  Whoosh, we sure do have a lot of reading here.  Just to give you an idea, we are halfway through 1 Samuel, 400 pages of Old Testament reading, in one month.  50 pages/ class for Israel class, 50 pages/class for Palestine class (which are held 2 times/ week.)  And about the same for Ancient Near East Studies of which we have 3 hours/week.  I've stopped wearing my contacts.  Anyways, those aren't such great excuses to not write you for the past couple of days.

Say hello to everybody for me and give them hugs from me.  And pretend I'm giving you hugs right now too.  

I really enjoyed the Turkey trip.  Even though there were long hours on the bus, I quite enjoyed riding and watching out the window and seeing the scenery pass by.  Oft times I was reminded of Romania, but I've been saying that since I've got here, so I think really it is the foreign country feel.  But, I did run into 3 Romania girls.  We were in a resort type hotel in Ephesus and there were lots of people.  I ate dinner and all the students around me left and I was looking around for some of my friends in the group when I walked by a table and heard Romanian!  

As soon as my brain processed what I'd heard, I stopped mid-stride.  I debated going back, and decided to do it, turned around and approached them and said, "You speak Romanian!"  They were so surprised to find somebody else who speaks Romanian, and even more so because I'm not Romanian.  And they were so surprised how well I spoke.  (Somehow my ability to speak tripled in goodness since Sunday when I talked to the sister in the branch.)  They were really intrigued by how I'd come to learn Romanian and why I spent so long in Romania.   At the end of the conversation, they invited me to eat dinner with them the next evening so we could talk more. I met them the next night and we talked a bunch more.  Anyways, that was probably the best part of the trip.  There were some other really cool things too, and I hope to send you a more complete detail of the week soon.  It will probably have to wait until the Sabbath though.

Well, lunch is starting, has started, and I decided it would be good for me to get out of the Center with a few people before I get too stir crazy and grumpy doing all my homework stuff.  I've been throwing around a rampart walk idea to a few of the girls so maybe we'll do that.  And yes, I'll take pictures. I really am trying to take lots even though I have to constantly fight off the "sick of taking pictures" feeling which come mostly because everybody else is taking hundreds of thousands of pictures of the same thing.  Aahh, I'm looking forward to having a small adventure today.  

Ashley