Merry Christmas & Other News

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM TURKEY! ! ! !

It has been over a month since I posted - so I have a lot of news. Things are slowly getting more organized at our house. We are having a big Christmas Eve party that's kind of forcing us to clean up quickly. 17 adults and 10 kids are coming...that we know of. Possibly as many as 15 more people. We didn't bring any Christmas decorations but the house actually looks pretty good. Pomegranate martinis will be the theme drink. We will take plenty of drinks...I mean pictures.

Speaking of pictures. Hopefully, soon I will be able to post more. We may not get Internet access at home for a while - if ever. But since the home computer is up, I will be trying to find time to put some pictures on disc and move them to the blog at the library. The only pictures I can access at the library are the ones that happen to be in our gmail. But it's been a while since I posted - so here are some photos from a trip we took in November to Anavarza castle within an hour of Incirlik. It's interesting to visit Turkish archaeological sites. There's no one around to say "...don't touch that." Most sites have never even been excavated, as is the case with this one. Now it may not look like we are high up in some of these photos so I downloaded this one below from off the net to show you how high up we climbed:

A quick description of Anzavara Castle from Mehmet Birbiri who writes a column called "Ask Mehmet" (clever ain't he) in the Incirlik newspaper:

"We have so many historical sites in our neighborhood, but very few know about Anavarza Castle, one of the most striking historic cities, which served as the capital of the kingdom of Armenia Minor for centuries. Anavarza was built by the Assyrians in the ninth century B.C. Built on a sheer rock ridge, Anavarza Castle is actually two structures; an outer fortification and an inner castle. Both overlook the ruins of a Roman city by the same name. Your first view of the castle may be daunting. While driving through the village by the castle, the structure can be seen at the top of the ridge several hundred feet above you. The castle can only be reached by climbing. What first appears to be a route fit only for a mountain goat quickly reveals itself to
be accessible because many steps were carved into the rocks. Still, it takes approximately 20 minutes to make the climb. Just a little way up the ridge you will see the ruin of an ancient amphitheater on your left. Climbing higher still, you see what looks a little like a street map. The actual city of Anavarza was swallowed by the great earthquake of 525 B.C. and has not been excavated to this day. What you are seeing are roofs of buildings and streets that outline a small city buried almost 10 feet below the ground. Once you are near the top of the outer castle wall, you will have a superb view of the countryside to the west. On a clear day
you can see several of the nearby towns and even Snake, Black, Tumlu and Kozan castles a few miles away. Reaching the top, you come to the main wall of the outer fortifications complete with intersecting rooms and underground chambers. For the more adventurous, try walking along the top of the wall. You can almost feel what it was like to be a sentry on that wall hundreds of years ago. This is also a great place for a picnic. As you look north from the main wall, you can see how the ridge narrows and rises with the main castle in the distance. Between you and the main castle are the ruins of an 11th century Armenian castle. Continuing up the gradual rise toward the castle, you will reach a dry moat leading to a tunnel-type building and another dry moat. Watch your guide carefully because he knows all the steps and handholds possible. You may tour and climb the castle by yourself or get one of the villagers who will ask you if you need a guide. If you decide to have a guide, ask how much it will cost before starting the tour. In every direction is a sheer drop of several hundred feet. My advice when visiting castles, ruins and ancient sites; either walk or look, but don’t do both at the same time. Around the right side of the second moat and through a tunnel is the main part of the castle. Fortified on the west and north ends, it is marked by two horseshoe like towers. This part of Anavarza is in relatively good condition. On your way down, the guide should take you along a slightly different route to show you the burial crypts."

Below, we are climbing to the top:

Below, you can see Karen and I having just completed the 15 minute climb up to the top of the mountain where the castle is. That's our friend Corina Gestring just entering the castle. Corina and her husband Ken were kind enough to let us go with them and get off base for a day. The guy is a local Turk. They try to tag along and get paid for being pseudo tour guides. Karen had just found out she was pregnant the day before this trip.

Below, preggo Karen looking fine at the top of the castle:

A black and white of Karen and I at the top:

Climbing inside a tower:

It's surprising to find sheep way up there when you get to the top. As you can see, they are very sure-footed and walk the stairs and edges without problems:

Baby news! We did have our first ultrasound and we were able to see an image of the baby and see the baby's heart beating. We still don't know the sex. We have another appointment on 7 January. We know we will be going to Landstuhl in Germany in mid June. I will try to get there in June as well. Karen is currently due 18 July. And the great news is Caroline Haley plans to try to come out and stay with Karen. Also, Karen's boss from Edward's NAF, Tom, has offered to put us up in his home in Germany and maybe even take us to Paris. Karen is excited.

Work is a whirlwind. There are only five mental health techs here including me. I will lose 3 of them between Feb and June with three new ones coming in. Wes Williams is leaving us for Canon Air Force Base (AFB) in New Mexico. His replacement will be Jennifer Hoag from Korea. Then we lose Seana Creech who is getting out. Her replacement will be Kanisha Carson from The Azores. I was Kanisha's supervisor back at Sheppard in 1999 and look forward to seeing her again. Then we lose Joe Thompson to Eilson in Alaska and gain a SrA Thompson from Ramstein in Germany. A Thompson for a Thompson! We also found out last week that our Mental Health Officer-In-Charge (OIC), Captain Edwards, has been promoted to Major. In 2006 she was passed over for promotion but they left one of her performance evaluations out - so she appealed the decision and just found out the Air force agreed and her promotion actually took effect Dec 1st but she is waiting for Congress to take some sort of action before she can wear the rank. And our Psychologist, Captain Henry, recently completed a short humanitarian assignment to The Congo. Our group is a GREAT bunch of people and it is going to be hard seeing us all get broken up.

What's on the way for 2008? More baby news! And hopefully more frequesnt postings. I also have to study for a big CLEP test, complete the Master Sergeant correspondence course, gain 30 online CEUs for my 08 CADAC recertification (drug counseling stuff), and hopefully start on the accounting degree. Once we actually get settled after the baby, we will have less than a year left at Incirlik.

And here is the big teaser for 08. I have a GREAT idea for another blog. It's a unique one. Stay tuned.

NOTE ON THE PICTURES: double click on a picture to get a better view!