Mt. Nemrut, Chuck Norris, and Iftar

So much continues to happen. It's difficult to capture it all when I only have one or two hours a weekend to access to a computer I can post on. We continue to struggle with having a limited amount of clothing and personal belongings but still seem to find ways to find cool things to do and places to go. Let's start with Chuck Norris.

Karen and I got to shake Chuck Norris' hand and have our picture taken with him. Chuck had been in Iraq visiting the troops and came through Incirlik on the way back to Germany. He was very nice. We were at work in the 39th Medical group and they said Chuck Norris will be coming into the lobby around lunch time. I called Karen and she came up with the camera. There were only about 100 of us in the lobby when he came in. Chuck said he had been wanting to go back to Iraq and thank the troops again but he wanted to do a less formal tour and be able to go into work areas and shake every one's hand. So he said (paraphrase), "...so I only have a limited amount of time but I wanted everyone to know I am grateful for your service, we are thinking of you back home, we pray for you - and I hope to be able to shake each of your hands and you can get a picture if you want to. " They tried to make sure the Americans got to Chuck before the local Turks but I had to laugh when I saw our Med Group shoeshine guy, Jaf, third in line to get his picture with Chuck Norris. Chuck did serve in the Air Force and spent time at March Air Force Base. There is a whole cult thing that has built up around "how bad" or "how tough" Chuck Norris is. For example, "In fine print on the last page of the Guinness Book of World Records it notes that all world records are held by Chuck Norris, and those listed in the book are simply the closest anyone has ever gotten. " My favorite is, "Chuck Norris is so bad that at night the Boogie Man checks his closet for Chuck Norris." We did get one closeup shot of Chuck and somebody took a shot of Karen and I with some of my coworkers and Chuck. We hope to post if we ever get our computer and personal belongings.

As far as personal belongings we are now hearing that could be into November. We will be living out of our suitcases for three months!

Then came Mt Nemrut in the land referred to historically as Commagene; a spectacular must-do experience if you visit Turkey. We went on a Dulmus (small Turkish minibus) with a group of about ten and a tour guide. It was about a five hour drive east. Going east is interesting because a large part of south eastern Turkey is off limits to us due to instability with terrorism, Kurdish nationalists, and the PKK party. I noticed we seemed to be about 90 kilometers west of Diyarbikir, which is off limits. So it was cool to be going right up to that limit. What I like about Mt. Nemrut is that it corrects the idea people have that this continual east/west Asian/Europe conflict is a new idea. The statues at the top of Mt. Nemrut were built by King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene around 62 BC. I think part of what he saw himself as was someone who was able to bring together eastern and western ideas in peace. Ironically, Turkey still finds itself trying to fill the same role today. Here is the Wikipedia explanation: " Nemrut or Nemrud (Turkish: Nemrut Dağ or Nemrut Dağı, Kurdish: Çiyayê Nemrûd, Armenian: Նեմրութ Սար) is a 2,134 meters (7000 ft.) high mountain in eastern Turkey, 40km north of Kahta, near Adıyaman. At the top of Mt. Nemrut, King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene built his tomb-sanctuary along with huge statues (8-9 meters high) of himself, two lions and two eagles, and various Greek and Persian gods such as Hercules, Zeus-Oromasdes (associated with the Persian god Ahura Mazda), Tyche, and Apollo-Mithras in 62 BC. These statues were once seated, with names of each god inscribed on them. The heads of the statues are scattered throughout the site; the pattern of damage to the heads (notably to noses) suggests iconoclasm. There are stone slabs, with bas-relief figures on them, that are thought to have formed a large frieze. These stones display the ancestors of Antiochus, who were Macedonians and Persians both. This tomb contains stone carvings of gods, such as the head of an eagle. The same statues and ancestors found throughout the site can also be found on the tumulus at the site, which is 49 meters tall and 152 meters in diameter. The statues have the likeness of Greek facial features, in conjunction with Persian clothing and hairstyling. The western terrace contains a large slab with a lion, showing the arrangement of stars and the planets Jupiter, Mercury and Mars on July 7 62 BC, the possible time when construction began on this monument. The eastern portion is well preserved, being composed of several layers of rock, and there is evidence of a walled passageway linking the eastern and western terraces, from a path below at the foot of Mount Nemrut. Possible uses for this site might have included religious ceremonies, due to the astronomical and religious nature of the monument.
The arrangement of such statues is known by the term hierothesion. Similar arrangements have been found at Arsameia on Nymphaios at the hierothesion of the father of Antiochus, Mithridates I Callinicus. This tomb was excavated in 1881 by Karl Sester, an engineer from Germany. Subsequent excavations have failed to reveal the tomb of Antiochus. However, this is still believed to be the site of his burial. In 1987, Mt. Nemrut was made a World heritage site by UNESCO. Tourists typically visit Nemrut during June through August. The nearby town of Adıyaman is a popular place for car and bus trips to the site, and one can also travel by helicopter. The statues have not been restored to their original position, although this would not be difficult to do."

To give you an idea of how high up Mt. Nemrut is look at the highest point in this photo and that is where we went to. It is the peak that seems to come to a point:

I believe we stayed in Kahta were I took a couple of great photos of the local children playing underneath our window. We also saw a very old Roman bridge and several other sites of extreme interest. I just don't have time to go into all of them in detail. Mt Nemrut is 7,000 feet high. It can be a little scary going up some of the roads when they turn to gravel or dirt with no guard rail...but an unforgettable experience. It's hard to imagine people building these statues and a tumulus over 2,000 years ago at the top of this mountain:

The pictures are all borrowed off the internet as we still can't post ours.

We also found the nicer more progressive part of Adana when we went to the Iftar at Park Zirve. An Iftar is a large community dinner held during Ramazon at the end of the day's fast. Park Zirve, overlooks the lake at Adana and is truly one of the nicest restaurants I have been in. We ate outside and were entertained by Whirling Dervishes. I had hoped to put a nice pic of Park Zirve but I couldn't find one. Their web site is: http://www.parkzirve.com/ . And if you are wondering what a whirling dervish is here is a pic:

There is so much more to write, but I am out of time. Karen will probably be trying to return to work as cost are more than we thought they would be. I am playing in a fall softball league. And Karen is going to go back to Park Zirve this week for another Iftar with just the ladies.

Intersting Turkish Facts

Yes, it is true we now have a house. It also true that we may have to wait until the end of October before our household goods and car are here with us at Incirlik. So, we are comfortable - but we only have our suitcases, assorted dishes, and our papazon chair with us. Loaner furniture is provided but it is very small and cheap. Thus, the term "stick furniture." Karen and I barely fit on the same bed and the blankets we were given are only 5 feet long. We did manage to carpet the entire place for $300. I guess just a year ago the going price was $200. You can see how hard the US dollar is getting hit in Europe. Once we get our furniture things should really settle into a routine...and then we will have 19 months left before they pick it up again!

Computer access is still difficult to come by. It will probably be November before we can post any pictures. The only reason I have time to access the computer today is because they decided to shut the power off on base for 12 hours today. The Community Activity Center has a generator so here we are.

Ramadan, or Ramazon as the Turks pronounce it, started on Monday. I was awoken around 2am to the sound of drums being played through The Incirlik Village loudspeaker. The loudspeaker lives up to it's name. The drums are a reminder to everyone to get up and eat so they are prepared for the 12 hour fast. During fasting times the people have nothing to eat or drink - not even water. I have been reading a lot about Turkish history, the government, and modern Turkey. I read Ataturk: The biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey and The Turks Today, both by Andrew Mango. I also read a book about the last coup in 1980. Some interesting things about turkey you may not have known:
- The Turks are considered to have immigrated from somewhere in Mongolia
- Turkey is among several nations to have emerged from the former Ottoman Empire
- The Ottoman Empire included present day Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Libya, etc
- Ataturk described Islam as a "superfluous strategic necessity"
- Ataturk admired western culture, especially German and French
- Ataturk mandated the wearing of European style hats in the 1920s/1930s
- Turkish government is mandated to be secular by design
- Turkey was able to remain neutral in WWII
- Turkey rescued many persecuted Jewish professionals from Germany
- The modern Turkish alphabet was created just 80 years ago and is ingeniously simple
- The Turkish military has overthrown the government 4 times since WWII
- The current Turkish President is a former Islamic scholar and not viewed well by Kemalists
- Kemalists are those that ascribe to Ataturk's original nationalist, statist, and secular goals
- Ataturk's born name is Mustafa Kemal
- A few weeks ago The Turkish High Command refused to salute the new Turkish President
- Turkey is the most strategically important piece of NATO; literally the "tip of the spear"
- Turkey is the bridge between Europe and Asia.
- Turkey has the second largest Armed Forces in NATO after the USA
- Turkey is the home of the fabulous Efes Beer product

And one local note: Incirlik is pronounced "injure-lick." The "c" in Turkish is pronounced with as a "j" like in the word "injure" or "gist." Apparently, Americans kept using the Turkish spelling which looks like " iNCiRLiK." So we started pronouncing the c as an "s" sound. Properly it is "injure-lick," which means a holder of figs or an area of figs.

We Have a House Now

On Tuesday of this week we were told that our house was ready. If you would like to see where we live go to google.com and click on "maps." Drag the map over to Turkey and find Adana which is in southern, central, Turkey. It's almost on the coast about 90 miles from the Syrian border. Put your cursor on Adana and zoom in. A lot of people use the zoom bar on the left of the map. A shortcut is to just use the wheel on your mouse. Each time you role one click on the wheel, you are zooming in or out one level. Don't turn the wheel to fast though or you will confuse google map. When you get close enough so that you can see the streets of Adana, you will see "Incirlik" off to the east of Adana. On the upper right corner of the map click on "hybrid" so that you can see the sattellite and street view at the same time. We are in the housing area on the southern tip of the base. We live on the cul-de-sac just north of the huge grass circle. I can't see it right now as I type because this computer does not allow multiple frames.

Although we have the house we are still waiting for many things. When we moved in the toilet didn't work, the washer didn't work, we had no phone, and we had no electricity in one bedroom until today. We now have a toilet, washer, and electricty, but still no phone. We bought one phone but all the directions were in Turkish and the display was in Turkish. So we took that back but the only other phone they had plugs into American 110 electrical outlets and there are only Turkish 220 outlets in the room with the only phone jack. So currently there is no phone to purchase unless we want the Turkish one. Hopefully we will get a cell or landline (or as my father Jim Kuhn's calls it - "a walk around phone"). We have temporary loan furniture, aka "stick furniture", until our stuff arrives in October.

Karen is keeping busy reading, doing aerobics, coordinating the house repairs, and getting the house ready. We have been to the mosque in Adana and have some pictures. Tomorrow we might get to go back into Adana with one of my coworkers to see the mall and some of the nicer areas. Probably no pictures until November or December. Once we get the computer we have to buy a Turkish modem and then get DSL access.

Oh, a quick note about the Turkish hospitality. We seem to like The Moonlight Cafe best out of the few restaurants outside the gate - althought they are all very good. We forgot to bring cash last night. I went upstairs and asked one of the boys if it was cash only. He didn't speak English well, so he went to get who we think is the owner and he said it was cash only. I explained to him that we forgot to bring cash but we would be back over the weekend. He said, "No, no - please sit. You pay next time you come." This time we sat on the third level which is essentially the roof. We had fun watching the local cats move in on the chickens behind the The Moonlight. They would just to start to get close enough to worry when these water bottles would come flying out of The Moonlight and another building. The cats would take off running only to repeat everything again in 20 minutes.

We are headed to dinner, Baskin Robbins (no Golden spoon unfortunately), and to see the movie Evan Almighty right now. A nice 5 mile walk so we are staying in shape! See you soon.