In Istanbul...

Busing into town across the famous continental divide bridge--Asia to Europe by suspension.

Takin the long-time-coming opps to be a tourist. Seeing iconic spots by day and falling asleep to the Aya Sofya from my spot in a rooftop hostel.

And the biggest Istanbul 'thing'? Saying goodbye, one by one, to the peeps who quickly became my whole world for a year. Antep BFFs 4 Eva!!!

Efes Chillin'

Though Efes is the name of Turkey's signature sub-par beer, I ACTUALLY saw it's namesake ruins today!! (And then drank one later.) Efes (Ephesus) is probs the numba 2 site to see in Turkey after Istanbul. Currently doin' the touristy thing solo (save for the tons of Aussies I keep running into) at this scorching but impressive place.
*pictured: the Celsus Library and stone

Hike 'n ...Hike! (and then swim a bunch)

Packed over "waterfalls" (really just dry stream bed cross training), through mountain passes, and in and around a big beautiful lake. The St.Paul Trail--a "cultural"/hard as shit trek in the alleged and quite rough footsteps of apostle Paul in his travels from Jerusalem--with 2 FBright friends was BOMB. And I saw So. Many. Goats. The most goats. Probably. And sheep. Ate cherries from the trees and from the hands of kind villagers. Fended off sheep dogs with rocks held high while passing by many a shepherd's hut. Tore up my unwisely Chacoed feet for four days, but it was SO worth it. What a trip!!

First up, ISTANBUL round one!

Mama's got a brand new (used) camera lens! And got to hang with Didem and her super cool Istanbullu family. And met up with our Iraqi students. And saw a production of Rocky Horror Picture Show (with the students...) And went out to some great bars (also with said students.) And had a great time gettin' my first real feel for the big city!

The Big Catch (up)

Alright. So here's the gist: I'm out of time for updating this blog baby thoroughly. Life's a movin' and Ima tryin' a keep up!  So here we are. Just you and me. Talkin' bout my past. Here are some photographic highlights of my weekend travels for the last, oh, 4 months. Hang in there! 

Makin' this move to get set for the next 2 months on the road. Yep, all packed up, moved out, and ready to do some fun stuff! And attempt to share it here. 

(Ima try to, at the advice of a dear friend, Instagram the hell out of my trip. You know me--We'll see how it goes.)

Student trip to Hatay area--old Antakya & seaside Iskenderun. A-15 rooftop ice cream and van dance parties, whaaatt?!!

Black Sea mermaid chillin' in Trabzon.

Vogue and dork posin' at Sümela Monastery and in Trabzon tea gardens.

Peering into Syria and checkin' out the Iraqi stone work in southeastern Mardin.

Digging religion in 10,000 B.C. at Göbekli Tepe archeological site. (Nat Geo it)

Driving the booze cruise vehicle with friends through monastery-dotted mountains on Greek Xios/Chios. Also ran under live for-fun rocket fire during the island's Orthodox Easter celebrations. (Greeks. Are. Freakin. Nuts.)

Roadtrippin' Cyprus with an allstar Antep crew. (Absolutely breathtaking.)

(And politically contentious--the only kind of touring my dear Julia-government-major-NATO-intern does.)

Zebra mountain driving in Van at the doorstep of Iran. (Once I got behind the wheel in Greece, there was no stopping my rental car obsession.) Also visited the base of Mt. Arat, Turkey's highest peak, on this roadtrip with Alaskan and Montucky-ian companions.

Good gal-pal chillin', historic Gallipoli touring, and seaside fish nights in Çanakkale. WAS ON SO MANY BOATS!! (Plus one of the best travel mishap sagas yet. But that's for another day.)

American Instructors' Goodbye Partying with fave students. (Oh hey, Uğur!)

Takin' pics of my ridiculous pals in devout Şanlıurfa.

And posing for some myself--duh.  
Balıkli Göl in the background--where prophet Abraham/İbrahim was thrown from the mountain
into the fire that turned to water full of fish turned from coals. (Holiness aside, carp are nastyass.)

Swam to a castle in the sea and randomly Memorial Day adventured with the American Air Force at Kızkalesi.

Finished teachin' 'em up real good at work.

Said bittersweet goodbyes to students. (Heart [a lot of] them.)

Spent quality time with the BFFs--my Antep Fulbright family!

Chilled with my top Turkish ladies!! (They dig peace.)

Hosted a few out-of-town buds and showed 'em around all the best places (like this Armenian house turned cafe/unrestored museum) and made sure they tried all the important foods (food is the way of life down here and I happily have the balcon to prove it).

And here I am. Saying goodbye to GAZİANTEP, my home sweet Turkish home. Ima miss ya truly. 

P.S. Currently posting from İstanbul. Been here for 2 days kicking off my summer odyssey. Got my camera fixed day 1 :)

Skiing in the Zrum

Some shots of-and-not-taken-by me from a pre-birthday celebration of the very best kind-

ski day Palandöken!!

Plus plenty of apres-ski activities hosted by our dear Fulbright reps in Erzurum.

(Not my usual by any means, but I'l take it!)

**I'm a little crazy in these. First out of country ski trip--understandably excited!

Hey, that's ma name! C-A-S-S-I-D-Y spelled out on a ski pass.

Like a champ. Totes gave the rental man sass when he tried to put me on 150s. And then I told him off for the chewed up surfaces. Actually, no. That's not what happened. What did happen is I managed to spit out, "iyi değil" AKA "not good." But I got me some new skis!

Me and ma Antep gal, Jules. (Notice the clever glove layering.)

I think I made a ski getup outa waterproof summer gear work. Jeez it was friggin' cold.

That's a happy birthday girl right there.

Verdict: I think I'd have done okay as a Fulbrighter stationed in the frozen tundra ringed by mountains at the doorstep of Iran. I'd have skied A LOT in the least. And that would have been quite alright.
(Ama GAZIANTEP 4 lyfe!)

Mid-Year with FBright: Ankara 2012!!

All 60 of "us" met up in late February for the mid-year review (read: cathartic bitch-fest with bar-hopping sprinkles on top). It was great to see some familiar faces and a little surreal to be back in the Niza Park Hotel in Ankara where it all began!

Fulbright Turkey 2011-2012. Some swell folks, I'll tell ya.

I'm quite clearly the insightful, clever one of the bunch.
(FALSE. Not. EVEN. Close. My Fulbright friends are effing hi-larious. And so stinkin' smart. And I'm, well, a mic-hog.) 

Mountain West kids!

Dancing Halay at dinner
(A sort of maddeningly monotonous revolving circle of small steps, but I'm getting into it. Yahne, tough to tipsy-ly embarrass yourself!!)

KKB comes to GAZİANTEP and cruises on over to KONYA

Sorry for the craycray India overload BUT they were the final photos taken on my beloved travel companion before it kaput. Plans are in the works to get the Nikon fixed up real soon in İstanbul, but that means the last four months have been documented on pals' cameras. Sometimes by me. More often of me. Meh, it'll give a new egocentric flavor to the blog.

AnyWHO. Here are some nuggets of Kylie's February visit to my site city and beloved home for a few more weeks,

GAZİANTEP

Shoppin' up a storm at the pazaar, babyyyy/canımmm. (Photo: KKB)

A visit to the Gaziantep Mosaic Museum--the best museum in all of Türkiye as far as I'm concerned. Euro-caliber f'sher.

Gettin' our Antep Eats on. MeatMeatBaby.

Gaziantep dessert: fruit and a pistachio covered sticky somethin'

Oh, YEAH, Kelsey's (left) college buddy Ramin visited too! And the four of us took a sweet trip to...

KONYA

The frozen heartland of religious conservatism. Tatlı!

Made sure ma girl got to see some real Turkishness. A Mevlana Dervish Sema did just the trick.
That's some mystical and spiritual stuff right there.