Punk snowman

Here's the punk snowman Dorotea and I made up in the hills!

 

Cold hands = Fun!

Today I went for a drive into the mountains close to where I stay. I went with a family who have been helping me here a lot. We drove into the mountains to see if any of the snow from last week was still around. And we found it, only a 20 minute drive from where I stay! Not huge amounts, but enough for snowballs and little snow... dwarfs (can't call them men...) Of course the downside to playing with snow is that it happens to be freezing! I thought my fingers were going to fall off!

Despite the cold it was a fun afternoon out. Throwing snowballs, making scum angels...um...snow angels, building snowmen and appreciating the beauty of the surrounding mountains.

On a lighter note... I just finished double glazing the window in my bedroom. In an attempt to keep some of the heat inside! I went for the cheap option...2 strips of clingwrap taped to the inside of the window frame; trapping a layer of air between it and the window.

Don't knock it till you've tried it. I'm told it works...time will reveal the truth...

ADSL is here!

Well, it's only taken a few months, but I finally got ADSL installed. What a relief to be able to sit online and type emails and this blog and not have to worry that each second is costing me more and more! It's great!

The weather here has been absolutely freezing lately. That's all relative of course, since compared to most of Russia our weather is positively toasty. But I'm from South Africa. And South Africa doesn't get this cold! Ok, some parts do, but I never lived in them! We even had some snow fall which doesn't happen too often here. So I'm told...

Well I knew what I was getting into, so no use complaining.

My flatmate has returned to his home country for 6 weeks, so I'm home alone. I've decided to take the opportunity in his absence to do some spring cleaning. This place could do with a good all round clean. Round 1 starts tomorrow.

With ADSL in place I'm hoping these updates will become more frequent now. We'll see...

Friends

I've been thinking this past week how important friends are. You don't really appreciate it until they're not around. I have met a lot of nice people here, but none that I can really say I have "clicked" with. Cultural differences and age differences account for some of the issues. While being nice people, I just can't communicate with most of the people I know. It always seems to me like we're having 2 totally different conversations. I'm not even talking about locals here. I'm talking about other foreigners that I know.

I realise that I am totally missing real stimulating conversation. There's a big void and it's starting to get to me a bit. So like I said, sometimes you just don't appreciate your friends until they're not around.

Oh, and just in case you're all wondering... I'm not getting all depressed again. I just been thinking, is all.

Outside view

This is an outside view of one of the underground churches we visited. Erosion has worn away the walls, exposing some of the interior. I cannot even begin to describe how amazing this place is. 

The coolest place!

This is taken inside one of the underground churches in Cappadocia. The churches really are underground! Carved into the rocks like caves. Most of them feature really beautiful paintings of biblical scenes. I recon you should all be able to guess who the big guy behind me is. 

The Clock Tower in Izmir

 

Time for a rest

Well I'm off to Capadocia tonight for 1 week. I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing time where I can rest and reflect on the year past and the year to come. I'll also be able to meet some more people over here, which will be fun. I'll be meeting with some of the people I met back in February last year.

I expect it's going to be a lot colder than here!

Christmas trees do exist in Turkey!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ok, I'm 3 days late!

But Happy New Year anyway.

A big thanks to all the people who sent me greetings for Christmas and New year. And a special thank you to those who sent me gifts. I really did not expect anything so it was a wonderful surprise. (Even if the postage did cost more than the gift...)

This year start with no real excitement, but I expect life to get interesting again soon. Next week we're all off to Capadocia for a bit of a retreat. Should be cold. Should be fun! I hear they make some good wines there...