MEM's adventures

My new bike!

2009-04-16T15:28:00.001-07:00

The shadows make her look like she has 8 billion spokes, but man is she beautiful!

Look at how beautifully the carbon fiber was laid!

my poor expired bike!

2009-03-14T14:11:00.001-07:00

I had a slight altercation with a car today - I am fine, but my bike is totaled. ugh!! Note that the right chainstay and right seatstay are completely gone.

even the seat came off -

and the top tube was completely cracked in two - with a nice hole in the top (the hole is hard to see because it blends in nicely with the black carbon)

Biking in Wisconsin (June 08)

2008-07-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from Wisconsin - one of my favorite places on the planet! It is an amazing place to just be - but it's especially amazing for biking.

Our house and the road leading away from it. It is actually hillier than it looks!

The farm across the way from ours, and another farm in the area.

a random road and a random calf - both beautiful.

LiLynn and Ernie's bash (14 June 08)

2008-07-23T04:57:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from LiLynn's festive affair last month.

Catch-up: Ontario, Stockholm, and final Turkey bits

2008-03-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I've been very remiss in keeping my Adventures up to date. So, I'm now posting photos from the end of Turkey, my trip to Sweden in November, and a trip to Ontario and Ann Arbor last weekend. (I know, Ontario and Ann Arbor doesn't seem like much of an adventure, but heck - I had to show my passport four times!)

I'll go in (chronologically) reverse order, for those who are too busy to look at photos from last June!

Ann Arbor - Ontario
Last weekend, I drove to Rob's house in Ontario (west of Guelph) and then we went on to Ann Arbor to see Geoff and others - and to eat like pigs. Very fun! The big gap however, was that Marn wasn't there. It's just not right without her.

Geoff and Rob at Leopold's- very typical. (I started to make a link to Leopold's - but their web site is so different from the L's of grad school days that I didn't even bother. They're closing anyway...)

The other bonus of the weekend was getting to see Rob's homeland. Dr. C has built himself quite the marvelous one-room house on some family property just spitting distance from his family farm. The house is straw-bale and off the grid - all his power is generated by the wind and sun.

The house with solar panels, wind turbine, and of course a barn.

Rob's 'bedroom' (left) and kitchen and bath (bathroom is behind that wall)

It was cold and absolutely beautiful the morning we left for A2 - so while RC went to do his chores on the farm, I took photos around his house.

and before I regretfully had to hit the road home, I got to see his cattle! In addition, we went to his parents where Mrs. C gave us hot tea and cookies; and his dad was watching curling on TV.

Sweden
Thanksgiving week, I went to Sweden to be the external opponent on a Ph.D. defense. That in and of itself is worth pages of description - but you'll just get the short version.

Before I went to Linkoping for the defense, I had a couple of days to wander around Gamla Stan (oldtown) Stockholm.

This is the Swedish Academy, where the Nobel Prize committee meets!

The defense experience in Linkoping was phenomenal. I loved the process (though it kicked my butt!), and the people.

Jennie - a very relieved defendant! Jennie et al. at her celebratory dinner. The man to her left is her advisor, Per.

The tradition with this crew is that the grad students plan the evening's activities and the defendant has no idea what will happen. We did a lot of singing - much of it with Per and Jennie dressed in chicken costumes. It was hilarious! (Jennie did her research on junglefowl - the wild type of chickens.)

Turkey - Cappadochia

Cappadochia is known for their amazing landscape. Inside these spires (which were formed by erosion), people have carved out homes and churches. In fact, this was one of the strongholds of Christianity in the 14th (?) century. (FYI, these Turkey photos were taken by Samantha L.)

Inside these ancient churches are extensive and well-preserved paintings - astounding.

Elbeyli

Here are some final photos taken on our last day in town.

The main family who took us in while we were in Elbeyli - Cemil and Halil; and the women and boys of their family. I'm sorry Dad isn't in this!

The fields looking very different than they did in spring.

Istanbul

The Blue Mosque at dusk.

Son güle güle

2007-06-11T00:04:00.000-07:00

Final goodbye.
I am in Istanbul and fly out today. I am in a real funk. Sam left earlier this morning, so I'm sitting here alone and I can't imagine leaving Turkey, Elbeyli, the people...The last four months have had more than their fair share of trials, but overall, this is an amazing place and I've made some wonderful wonderful friends.

When some people are sad they shop. I'm generally not one of those people, but I have to confess yesterday I engaged in some high scale catharsism. For my 40th birthday (don't tell anyone, but, yes, I'm about to turn 40), mom and dad said they would put money toward a very nice Turkish carpet. So yesterday Sam and I went from carpet shop to carpet shop. It was actually very fun. Because I was seriously looking, each shop sat us in their showroom, gave us tea and started to pull out rug after rug. I saw a lot of stunning rugs - most of them far too expensive. (My favorite was an all-silk for about $11,000!) At about 3pm, I was about to give up. I'd seen several rugs I liked, but none that said, "Misty!" I told Sam that we'd try one more shop, and then I was done. When we walked in, I (as I had done at every other shop) told the guy what I was interested in and what colors I wanted. So he sat us down, gave us tea, and then the heavy hitting salesman came in and joined us. We just sat around and chatted for maybe 30 minutes or more - not talking about rugs at all. Our salesman was very nice and funny - so we had fun chatting. Then he seamlessly moved the conversation to rugs, at which point the first man (who was in his late 20s and looked like a young Tom Cruise!) pulled out three rugs right away that were what I had described (which was not done at every other shop) and one undoubtedly said, "Misty!" So we sat there and chatted, and I stared, and said I couldn't afford the rug. Over the next hour of chatting, looking, walking around the rug, the price came down almost $600. So I am now the proud owner of a Turkish carpet! It has made an already problematic luggage situation even worse, but Sam and I will figure it out. (Sam gets tons of kudos for hauling all sorts of luggage for me on her journey home!!!)

All of my final photos are on Sam's camera, so I will post photos when I get them from her in a few days.

Cappadocia

2007-06-07T05:35:00.000-07:00

Hi all -
I will tell more and post some photos later, but for now - Cappadocia was amazing!

Now that we're back, I'm really focused on getting everything ready to go... I can't believe it's already time to go home. I'm going to miss Elbeyli, the people, and Turky more than I can say. I'm trying not to be too depressed about saying goodbye -

and FYI, I mistyped in my last post. We leave for Istanbul very early on 10 June, not 9 June. Our flight out is at 4:45am, so Sat night (9 June) we are going to Antep and will stay in a hotel. Then we will have an entire day in Istanbul. Unfortunately, my trip home includes a 20 hour layover in Frankfurt - and most of that is overnight, so not a lot of time to play. (With my baggage, it will be a pain to leave the airport, anyway.) I will finally be in Ithaca Tuesday evening (12 June).

Talk to you soon!

Our social whirwind

2007-06-03T03:35:00.000-07:00

Ok - this post is going to be unbelievably long! Before Safak, Ben, and Erica left last Thursday, we did a photo swap - and going through their photos, I realized I have lots of fun things to share. So bear with me!

Things here are rapidly winding down, but we are really enjoying our final days here. Last Wednesday, Samantha arrived from Ithaca. Yay! It is great having her here. Unfortunately, Safak, Benjamin, and Erica left on Thursday – so she didn’t really get to experience Team Hamster.

In honor of her arrival and their departure, we had a big kabob dinner on Wed night with a bunch of our friends. It was incredibly fun!

[Cumali (standing), me, Sam, Safak, Turgut, Erica, Makas, Halil, Yusuf, Camil, football friend (I can't remember his name); Photo by Ben]

Actually, over the past several days, we’ve been very social. Tuesday night Erica and I invited our neighbors from across the street over for tea. How delightful! It was Zeyrin who is probably about 30 and has a young son Yusuf, her sister-in-law (?) Fatma, Fatma’s daughter Tuba, and a friend of Tuba’s. They are all such energetic fun women – we really enjoyed ourselves.

[Tuba's friend, Tuba, Yusuf, Zeyrin, me, Fatma; Photo by Erica]

One of Safak’s good friends here is a man named Ramazan - his mother and wife had Sam, Erica, and me over for lunch on Wednesday. That was fun because we got to watch Mom make lentil köfte – a yummy Turkish dish. After lunch, we went and had a final tea (final for Erica) with Zeyrin.

Thursday was spent watching Erica, Ben, and Safak run around getting ready to go. They took off at 1ish, and after they left the house was so so quiet! That night Cumali and Zeliha had us over for dinner – it’s kind of like when I was a kid and Mom would go out of town. All of the neighbors invited us over for dinner!

That day we also went across the street to meet a brand new set of twins. Zehrin’s sister-in-law, Elif, had just given birth. I probably should say, “They were so cute!” but actually, they were just babies. I was, however, interested in their attire. They each had heavy black eyeliner around each eye – I don’t know the significance of that; and they were wrapped in little cocoons such that they couldn’t move at all. It was incredibly hot and not only were they wrapped, but when they were in bed, they were covered by a cloth.

On Friday, Sam and I had the neatest experience! In the afternoon, there was a knock on the door, and it was a little girl, Emine, who I adore. She was inviting us to come over and have tea at her grandmother’s house. We got there and her mother (Turgut’s wife - I can't remember her name!) was there as were her two sisters. They are possibly the most beautiful set of women ever. Before we had tea, Emine’s mom, took us into a small room with an adobe oven in the corner. There were two other women in there (Emine’s grandmother and a friend) – and they were all making bread over this oven. It was amazing to watch. I wish I’d had a camera – and I wish I could really describe the experience. But to watch these three women sitting on the ground, in their Turkish garb, in the heat, making bread… Emine’s mom was responsible for rolling the dough into balls; then friend rolled out the dough into big flat discs and threw the discs onto a big black circular metal disc that covered the fire; then grandmother took the bread off of the circular disk, draped it over a big metal rod, and slid it through a slot on the oven’s side into the fire. The entire process took hardly anytime at all. But the job was an all-day one as they were making enough bread to last for two months.

And believe it or not, I actually tried to make some! They let me roll out the dough – and I did a horrible job. It took me two tries, and the roller women still had to re-do it. But after my piece was cooked, mom gave it to me because it was the bread that I made. So I have bragged to multiple people here that I made bread (in Turkish: “Ekmek yapdum!”) – everyone just laughs at me!

[Turgut and his wife - this was taken at a tea we hosted a few weeks ago, but because I don't have any photos from the bread-making experience, I thought I'd include this one; Photo by Erica]

On Saturday, Sam and I needed to go to Kilis to run a few errands. Because we don’t have the van anymore (nor do we have a driver), we decided to take a dolmus (shuttle). That was a huge adventure because we had no clue where it would drop us off, nor were we sure where it would pick us up. We thought we had agreed with the driver that we’d be picked up at 12:00 at the vegetable market. Well – either we missed him, or he didn’t go there. Then when we asked if this was the right place for the dolmus to Elbeyli, we were told it wasn’t. So we ended up wandering to a bus stop on the road out of town – and waited and waited. While we were waiting, our friend Makas from Elbeyli drove by. Luckily he stopped and offered us a ride – because he said there were no more dolmus to Elbeyli! If we hadn’t seen him, we’d still be there! We were squeezed into the front of a truck with him and his mother (Sam sat on my lap) – which was very cozy. But his mother was adorable and kept smiling and hugging us. (Her incredibly good mood was probably due to the fact that Makas’s wife was going to give birth in a few hours!)

Then Saturday night, we went over to Camil’s house for tea. I absolutely love love love his family. They are all so warm and friendly – I feel like they are my own family here in Elbeyli. We had a marvelous time – and the fact that I could hold a conversation in Turkish for 2.5 hours is astounding! We have spent a fair amount of time with them. A week or so ago, we were invited to their house for dinner in celebration of Camil’s daughter’s first birthday. What an honor. After dinner, tons of other family members came over – and we all had cake and tea. So much fun.

[Ayse's birthday party- before the crowds arrived: Zeliha (not Cumali's wife Zeliha!), Halil, Camil, Camil/Halil/Zeliha's mom, Ayse, Yusuf, me, Erica, Ben, Dad)
Photo by Erica (or with Erica's camera)]

(If you haven’t picked up on the baby theme yet: Elif just had twins, Camil’s wife had a daughter a year ago, Makas’s wife had a boy last night, and Yusuf’s wife had a boy yesterday morning!)

In addition to the recent events, there are some not-so-recent adventures to share.
1. Yusuf invited us to a BBQ in his fields. It was wonderful. We sat under his trees and ate yummy kabob and enjoyed the company of our friends.

[Dad, ?, Safak, Yusuf, Makas; Photo by Erica. Camil and me; Photo by Ben]

2. A week ago Saturday, we went to a picnic with this same crew (Camil, Makas, Yusuf, etc) in Kilis and then afterward Camil, Safak, Erica, and I went dancing in Antep. That was an interesting experience! After spending four months in a world where women cover themselves (legs and arms and hair), going to a disco where the women were wearing virtually nothing was a bit of a shock! To be honest it would’ve been a shock anyway, but this was REALLY a shock! But we ignored them and just danced and had fun for ourselves.

3. A week or so ago, Ben, Erica, and I went to Urfa and Harran for the day. What an incredible trip!

According to wikipedia, Urfa "dates as far back as 8000 BC... It was one of several cities in the Euphrates-Tigris basin, the cradle of the Mesopotamian civilization. According to Turkish Muslim traditions Urfa is the biblical city of Ur, due to its proximity to the biblical village of Harran....Urfa is also known as the birthplace of Abraham, ...and the birthplace of Job." Amazing.

On the left is the very old mosque built to commemorate Abraham. The pond is full of sacred carp - because when Abraham was being burned for destroying pagan gods, God supposedly turned the coals to fish and the fire to water. On the right is the entrance to the cave where Abraham was born. I've been in lots of mosques, but never have I been in something that was so intense as this cave. There were many women inside this cave praying (they have separate sides for men and women) and it was the only time I have felt like an intruder on an incredibly private experience. (Both photos by Erica)

Harran was even more amazing. According to some sources it is the oldest continuously inhabitated city in the world - it is mentioned in the Bible (Genesis). It is also the site of the first University. Being there was indescribable.

[Remains of the first university, and one of the beehive homes that are common in Harran and down in Syria. Both photos by Erica]

Now I know it’s hard to imagine that we’re getting any work done in the midst of this social whirl, but Sam and I are walking the fields one final time just to get a count of potentially active hamster burrows – and I’m trying to get the house cleaned and organized for our departure.

And to prove we're working, here is a photo of me driving a tractor with Cumali! We are plowing up a field trying to find hamsters.

(Photo by Erica)
Tomorrow, Sam and I are going to Cappadocia for three days, and then we go to Istanbul very early on 9 June and fly home 11 June. I can’t believe it!

Yes, I'm still here #2!

2007-05-29T08:23:00.000-07:00

Apologies for falling off of the face of the earth. Depending on how you look at it, I either have nothing or everything to say... so I have opted for the nothing. The general story here is harvest. The farmers have started to harvest their fields, which makes doing systematic science very difficult. But the town is full of activity, which is in stark contrast to the first few months. For Team Hamster, life here is quickly wrapping up, which is sad on many levels. But I have to confess, I'm looking forward to being home. I'm really looking forward to seeing my parents for a week in WI at the end of June!

I hope all is well with everyone. After I get home (I land in the evening of 12 June), I will do a few more posts with lots of photos, so stay tuned.

It's a boy!

2007-05-11T04:49:00.000-07:00

The other day we caught another pup - this one was a male. Below are some photos that Bob took of the pup and the crew. All we did was weigh and dye mark this animal, but by looking at him you'd think we were showing him scary movies!

Rhododendron

2007-05-08T00:53:00.000-07:00

No, we don't have rhododendron here - though we do have gorgeous roses! We have a rose bush in our courtyard, and some neighbors gave us some roses from their garden, so we have a huge stunning bouquet on the table.

But Dad just sent me these pictures of his rhododendron, so I thought I'd share with everyone.

I'm still trundling along

2007-05-07T03:11:00.000-07:00

I must start out by telling you how much I love it here. The people are fantastic and life is very comfortable (most of the time). We have made some marvelous friends.

Last Saturday, Bob and Joan arrived. It's nice to have a bit of Ithaca here in Elbeyli.

The one negative thing I have to report is that my camera is broken. Last night Cumali took Erica and me to see part of a wedding party - and he tried to grab my camera to take photos, and the camera fell, bounced, spun, splattered... (can metal and plastic splatter?). Needless to say I am extremely disappointed. but such is life I guess.

PS. In my last entry, I posted two photos of a coffee shop in Antep. We went back there last Sat before picking up B&J at the airport. The flowers aren't in bloom, but the leaves have come out - and it is gorgeous! Too bad I can't take a picture of it...

random additional photos

2007-04-29T05:41:00.000-07:00

I have more space on here than I thought - so instead of deleting photos, I'll add a few -

A great little chai (tea) house in Antep. All across the courtyard there are wisteria (sp?). I can't wait to go back when they are in bloom! (Hopefully this Saturday we'll go - ). The group at the table is us.

Erica, Laura, Misty, and Alice - don't mess with us! (Photo: Safak)
Me and Nuri. Typical! (Photo: Safak)

Me implanting a transmitter in a little hamster. Mert took this photo, and I really like it. He actually got a great series of the entire surgery.

More Istanbul photos

2007-04-27T04:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know this is cheating, but here are some photos from Istanbul that I took last year. Enjoy!

AyaSofya; and SultanAhmet, or Blue Mosque

Inside of Blue Mosque; and woman in Blue Mosque (this is a lucky lucky shot - I didn't want to obviously take a picture of her but she was so beautiful, so I held my camera down at my side, looked the other direction and snapped several frames - and this came out of it.)

Hello from Elbeyli

2007-04-27T02:25:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Here are a couple of travel photos - again, I don't have many good ones, so these will have to do.

(L) Mary on the Bosphorous in Istanbul
(R) the tomb of Osman Gazi in Bursa (he is either the founder of the Ottoman Empire or the father of the founder - in any case, he died in 1392 (!) and is a pretty important fella in the scheme of world history).

Life in Elbeyli certainly is quiet compared to Istanbul. But I have to say, I love it here, too. As much as I enjoyed the city, it feels great to be walking the fields again with the green, blue, breeze, sunshine, birds, etc.

Since I've been back, I have been playing catch-up - and finally feel like I'm there. So today was going to be my "read journal articles" day, but I'm posting here instead. Life here has been very quiet. The day I flew in from Istanbul, Laura and Safak went to Ankara. Laura is on her way home, and Safak is due back here on Monday. Then on 24 April, Benjamin flew to England for a job interview and returned this morning - and he got the job! So for the past few days, it has just been Erica and me, which has been delightful. A couple of days ago, after we came in from the field, we went to Mustafa's because E had never milked a cow before and wanted to try. (Mustafa is one of Cumali's friends who owns one of the tea houses and the small market where we do our local shopping.)

Then last night she and I went with Cumali to Mustafa's tea house and we played cards and hung out for an hour or so. Also very delightful - though we do cause quite a stir being the only women in the entire place.

Erica milking the cow; Mustafa and Cumali.

Erica and Mustafa riding M's motorcycle back to town.

Random Elbyli shots taken on the walk from Mustafa's back to our house.

Istanbul adventures - revised

2007-04-23T02:43:00.000-07:00

I just got back from the most spectacular week. I have so fallen in love with Turkey - I may never come home. Mary flew over from DC and I met her Istanbul. There is so much to tell, that I'll say very little. In sum, we explored the major sites (Blue Mosque, AyaSofya, Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar etc.) and wandered in random neighborhoods.

We also spent two days (one night) in the city of Bursa. Marvelous! Bursa is in the mountains, so is stunning. It also happens to be the end of the silk road and the beginning of the Ottoman Empire. We saw the tomb of the founder of the Ottoman Empire. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that one!

In addition to amazing sights, we ate a never-ending stream of delicious foods; and everywhere we went we met fun and interesting people.

On our last night (Saturday) I was so bummed about leaving that I told Mary I was going to stay up all night because I didn't want to miss a minute of Istanbul time. When I said that, I didn't know if I was kidding or not. But I wasn't. We went out to a performance of the Whirling Dervishes (how do they do that?) then had dinner. After dinner, we went dancing with Erol, our adorable bellhop and one of his friends. At about 1ish, Erol and his friend left because Erol had to work the next day. M and I stayed at the bar chatting with some very cool New Zealanders - one of whom is a vet who works with international animal regulations and can possibly put me in touch with the appropriate Turkish authorities for sending hamsters home! Then, we actually closed the bar. Old stodgy me - closed a bar. So the four of us wandered Istanbul at 2:00 in the morning - and found another open pub where we sat and chatted until 4am, at which point I needed to get back to the hotel to get ready and catch my 4:45 shuttle to the airport.

P.S. My photos from the trip aren't so good so I've included some wikipedia links for more information and some photos.

Tomorrow I'm off!

2007-04-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. This morning spent several hours in the field, then this afternoon Erica and I went for a 5K run. Of course I made sure to eat lots of chocolate to counter any beneficial effects of the run and field work.

I can't believe it, but this weekend marks the halfway point. As a treat to myself, I am flying to Istanbul tomorrow to meet my best friend from 7th grade, Mary. We are going to explore and enjoy the city and its environs for seven glorious days!

I'm sure I'll have plenty of photos to post when I get back, so check back after 22 April. As a warning, however, I'm running out of room on here, so I will probably have to delete some of the older photographs.

Happy birthday, Erica!

2007-04-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

Today is Erica's birthday - so we went to the zoo in Antep for a sunny day of non-hamster viewing. It was delightful! The zoo itself was quite nice with huge enclosures for everything but the primates. The primate house was incredibly distressing, but the rest was marvelous.

Spring is here!

2007-04-09T03:49:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this is true for the rest of you, but spring has arrived in Elbeyli. It is a beautiful warm day, with blue skies, larks singing continuously, and incredibly green fields. Add to this the colorful shepherds with their flocks and the marvelous Turkish and Syrian villages that dot the countryside, and you have something out of a storybook.

Yesterday, as I was watching a hamster burrow, an orange, black, and white moth/butterfuly (I don't know which) sunned itself next to me on a mottled gray rock. We just sat in silence and watched nothing happen at the burrow.

And today, the flowers in our courtyard are starting to bloom. Any time now, our rose bush will burst forth.

I hope your days are as lovely as this!

Yes, I'm still here!

2007-04-06T02:32:00.000-07:00

So much time has passed since my last post that I'm sure no one is checking anymore. Anyone out there? Let me know if you are - I'd love to hear from you!

Life here went through a pretty rocky period, but we are now settled again. We're getting lots of good data on hamster activity - and are getting ready to start a couple of field experiments. So the science is progressing. Yesterday we went on a run - I ran 7k! I think I'm going to keep my runs to below 7k, however - I don't want to ruin my knees, and I can sure feel the effects of running on our paved road.

Unfortunately, Alice had to leave team hamster today. She is meeting some friends in Capadoccia and then she heads back to the States to start a new job. We are really going to miss her.

So on we go to the next phase of our hamster adventure!

a couple more photos from our hike

2007-03-30T00:46:00.000-07:00

Again, these are courtesy of Laura -

29 March

2007-03-29T01:03:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Sorry I've been so remiss in posting. The past week has been very full - of fun and stress. The brief version:
* We've captured a few more animals, but the cool part is we've recaptured some animals from before.
* We took a short hike near here that was full of floral and faunal surprises - wonderful.
* We took a trip to Nemrut, a cool mountain in Eastern Anatolia where some egomaniacal king in 64 BC had various statues built of himself and his god "relatives." When we arrived, the road to the top was covered in snow, so we hiked up - the views were absolutely stunning! I'll leave the pictures to tell the story.

Our hike:

the view; Laura and a tortoise

Our trip to Nemrut:

Here we are heading away from the car to the top of Nemrut (photo by Ben); the further we went, the steeper it got.

Laura and Safak working their way up; and a view from the road up - that is the Euphrates in the background.

The final steep snowy bit just before the top. I have to admit, I didn't have the nerve to traverse this stretch - so the photos of the statues were taken by others who actually saw them. (Photo by Ben)

Statue heads in the snow and Dietmar with the statues - the heads have fallen off, so they are on the ground in front of the bodies (photos by Ben).

Erica next to a head (photo by Ben) and Alice on top (photo by ? - it was on Alice's camera)

Here are a few more pictures of daily life here in Elbeyli and beyond.

Our house - taken from the street (photo by Alice); Cumalil and me in the field (photo by Erica).

Elbeyli as viewed from our field site (photo by Erica).

Street in Gaziantep and the women of Team Hamster with their new rugs (photos by Erica).

Additions to my earlier post

2007-03-23T04:12:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention a couple of fun things from the last couple of days.

1. Two days ago, Team Hamster went for a run. (Yes, that's what we're calling ourselves - we even have T-shirts! photos forthcoming.) When we came back, Alice and I practiced some yoga in the courtyard to cool down. I think Peter and Dietmar thought they had wandered into the twighlight zone.

2. Yesterday in Kilis we were standing on the sidewalk when a small truck drove by blaring music, its horn... everything. It was followed by a parade of 10 or more brand new big red tractors, followed by a police car with lights flashing. It was the craziest thing! Obviously Kilis just received a shipment of new tractors - and it was a VERY big deal. And we were there to witness it.

Update - 23 March

2007-03-23T00:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long - Where does the time go?? In general things have been very good and intersting on this end. I'll give some highlights.

Monday (19 Mar) we pulled an all-day watch of one of the female burrows. We broke the day into four shifts, beginning at 5:15am. We didn't see anything but it's still important information (although it's a bit boring).

Tuesday (20 Mar) we gave ourselves a much-needed day off. We went into Gaziantep and wandered the shops and just explored. We found a very cool little courtyard that had some rug shops. Erica, Alice, Laura, and I each bought a rug (or two). They are not the fancy Turkish rugs that you pay 1000 YTL for in Istanbul - these are marvelous throws that are about 6 square meters and only cost 15 YTL. After lunch, Alice, Laura, and I went to have another bath. Oh how we love a good Turkish bath! This time the women recognized us and took marvelous care of us. After our bath, we met up with the men, went out for Baklava, and then came home in time to set up cameras in the field and have dinner. Because the men's bath didn't open until 5pm, Ben and Safak skipped dinner went back to Antep for their bath. And the women had a delightfully quiet evening!

Wednesday (21 Mar) was supposed to be our work/organize day because our German collaborators, Peter and Dietmar, were going to land in Gaziantep Thurs at 1:00am. Well, guess what. At 1:30am on Wed, Cumali comes over to get Safak because the Germans were waiting at the airport! So we weren't quite ready for the Germans, but it turned out to be ok because they were exhausted and had a fair bit of prep work before they could get their stuff up and running. In the afternoon, we all went out to set traps and Peter and Dietmar put their activity sensor rings in various burrows.

Thursday (22 Mar) was a great day. I don't know why, but everybody was in a darn giddy mood. We went into the field at 7am to check traps - and got one animal, a female that we transmittered. After breakfast Peter and Dietmar needed to go do their obligatory permit thing with the police in Kilis and we desperately needed to do some grocery shopping, so everyone but Benjamin trapsed into Kilis for a morning's adventure. We actually got to wander around Kilis and had a marvelous time. Yesterday evening was more trap- and camera-setting; and some burrow ring checking.

Finally, today is shaping up to be a good one as well. We got another female, but she was small so we didn't transmitter her. And now we're all working on our own things - Erica: a survery for the farmers, Ben - a map of our study site, Alice and Laura - burrow records. We are so darn studious!! I will end with some photos of Lauras. Having Laura here is like having Nic around. She is a very good photographer and takes tons of photos - so I tend not to take many at all. I'm just grateful that she's willing to share!

Shots of our field site

The crew releasing a hamster

and off she goes! (isn't that the cutest butt you've ever seen?)

After a hamster release there's nothing like some friendly wrestling...
Where Cumali emerged as victor over Benjamin.

and the competitive spirit thrives even at home. Here Safak and Ben are concentrating on a serious game of tawula (backgammon). Laura is actually the major tawula fiend, but she's the photographer in this case.

Nic and Thomas's fundraising event

2007-03-18T22:37:00.000-07:00

FYI, Nic and Thomas (my brother and nephew) have organized a variety show in Morris to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation's work with cancer support and research. If you are interested in supporting their efforts, please check out his donation page.

Love -

Happy belated St Pat's Day!

2007-03-18T02:24:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful 17 March. We went into Kilis for dinner last night as guests of Turgut (sp?). He is a friend, and handily also the Mayor's Assistant. May I just say - the food here is so good!

I was going through photos this morning, and found this one of a hamster in which I implanted a transmitter (you can see the antenna coming out of her lower right side (i.e., the left side of the photo)). She is so cute I just had to share! She is already awake from the surgery, but is taking a little post-operative nap.

16 March

2007-03-16T08:08:00.000-07:00

First - I can NOT believe that this weekend I will have been here an entire month. It has flown by. Which is good, I guess. But that also means we don't have much time left and need to get cracking!!!!

Today we got FIVE hamsters. Count them: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Yes five. We are getting more animals than we know what to do with! Unfortunately, we're not getting the information from them we'd like - but hopefully that will change as the season progresses. One of our 5 was a re-capture - A male we trapped and tagged on 7 March. The disappointing thing is that he managed to rid himself of the evil transmitter! Why can't they just accept our invasions peacefully?

Also, one of our really zippy cameras (which are generally really zippy) has died. The guy who built it asked me to expedite it back to him so he could fix it - we did that today to the tune of 356 YTL (that's probably around $250!).

Here are some pictures of us getting ready to go practice with our telemetry equipment; and then Alice looking very much like the biologist extra-ordinaire! (Thanks to Laura for letting me post her photos!) The first photo was taken right in front of our house - that's our wall on the left, and the nose of Safak's car.

Miscellany

2007-03-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

We got two more hamsters today! A male and a female - both now have transmitters and are happily beeping away in the field. I'm a little worried about the male, though. When we released him, he wasn't so keen on re-entering the burrow at which we trapped him. So we suspect he was visiting this burrow in hopes of finding a female... so we just hope he made it back to his home in one piece (and that we can find him again). I realized I haven't talked much about our daily life. I'm really not going to do that now, but I thought I'd leave you with the fact that our shower water is heated by the sun, so if we have a cloudy day, we have no hot water. But if it is very sunny, the water is scalding. I also thought I'd leave you with a photo of our toilet. Enjoy.

Bicycle

2007-03-12T05:06:00.000-07:00

As much as I love it here, I miss my bike!

Quickie

2007-03-10T10:43:00.000-08:00

Today has been good, but exhausting. It was a very full field day - Finally! We were out by 7:30, had a break at lunch which wasn't much of a break because we ran 6K and then I worked, were back in the field from 2 until 5, then came home for dinner and worked until about 8pm. Whew. But this is what field work is all about! And we are all very excited because Safak comes back from Ankara in a couple of days and Erica arrives from the States on the 13th. For now, however, I'm going to sleep. Love to all.

Our permits are official!

2007-03-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

The past two days have been very good. Last night we finally got the phone call from the Army saying we have permission to work!! Yeah! But yesterday, since we couldn’t work, Nuri took us on a day trip to a town called Biricek, which sits on the Euphrates River and is home to the last remaining population of bald ibis. There are only 91 pairs left. And we saw them!

The drive to Biricek was amazing. We drove on this little two-lane road that was sometimes an extremely bumpy dirt track and other times a real road. It meandered along the Syrian border (and I mean right along the Syrian border!) until it hit the Euphrates. At that point we stopped, got out, and saw the most amazing number of waterfowl I’ve ever seen: coots, shovelers, little grebes, pygmy cormorants, great crested grebes, tufted ducks, widgeon, and pochard (another duck) with chaffinches flitting about as we watched. In addition to being amazed by the birds, we were awed by standing on the Euphrates. What an incredible thing to stand on the Euphrates – to stand surrounded by all that history.

[The Euphrates and tons of amazing birds.]

We then drove north along the river. We stopped a couple more times on the way to bird watch, but eventually reached Biricek and went straight to the bald ibis viewing spot. They have a protected area where they nest on a cliff. The area is blocked off with an interpreter (who of course interpreted in Turkish). I could have stayed there all day. But Nuri is not the most patient of tour guides, so off we went back into town. He and Cumali bought fresh fish at a fish market and then we had fish for lunch at a restaurant in the market – Dad you would have loved it!

[A bald ibis on a nest box!]

[An open air market on the water (the water is behind me) with the town and an amazing, very old, fort ruin behind it.]

[Cumali and Nuri buying fish (they are on the ones in the blue baseball caps - Cumali's on the left. The caps say Anakara University and Nuri gave each of us one.)]

We got home about 3:00 and Mert (a Turkish grad student) and I rushed out to the field because I wanted to observe a burrow that we think has a female in it, set up cameras, and set traps. We got the cameras set, and I got an hour’s observation in (though I never saw an animal) – but when we started to set traps, the Army told us that we couldn’t because the permits hadn’t come through yet. Good lordy! One day we have them, the next we don’t…

So we trundled back to the house – to find a fabulous meal waiting for us. Zeliha (Cumali’s wife and our cook) made dolma that was to die for (stuffed vegetables) and cooked the fish Cumali and Nuri bought in Biricek. I think it was some of the best fish I’ve ever had (next to yours, of course, Dad!).

After dinner we sat around while Nuri played the oud (a Turkish guitar) and Cumali sang. It was delightful!

[Mom, you said you wanted pictures of me, so here you go: Me playing the oud, with Laura in the background concentrating on an important backgammon match with Ben.]

During this musical interlude, Cumali got a phone call from the Army saying that our official permits have arrived. YEAH!!! We all cheered! So today, we (or various subsets of “we”) were in the field all day. I can’t believe it. And now I know our permission is official because today there were two Army guys out there with us. What a job, eh? To sit and watch people watch hamsters. Last year, we only had one Army guy, but he brought his 3-yr old son with him; and he brought us tea while we sat in the field. We’ll see if these guys are as friendly.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow – and another full day in the field!

a bit of home

2007-03-08T07:29:00.000-08:00

Today has been interesting, fun, and pissy all in one. I'll write more about it later. In the meantime, my friend Kay sent me these photos of Ithaca. I miss home. Love, M

Busy Busy Busy...

2007-03-07T12:43:00.000-08:00

Monday was rainy rainy rainy. No field work.
But yesterday and today have been beautiful and sunny - and we got the documentation for our permits! Therefore, the last couple of days have been very long and busy.

Yesterday morning Alice and I went to track our two males – but found that one is no longer of this world. We think he was eaten by a fox because we found his transmitter in a pile of fox poop. What do you think?

Then after breakfast we went for a 6K run, and after lunch we went into the field to map our study area, look for burrows, and take vegetation data.

Today we got another hamster who now has his own transmitter and various other accoutrements. We also took a lot of vegetation data and worked on our sampling method.

But guess what. Yes. The Army came and said that even though we have documents IN HAND that say we have permission to work in these fields – because they haven’t received their own copies of the documents, we can’t work. So once again, we have a transmittered animal that we can’t track or observe. I’m exhausted and I'm going to throttle somebody very soon.

My mood, however, was much improved this evening because I talked to Mom and Dad (Skype is just damn amazing) and we found some great hamster footage from one of the cameras we set out last night.

P.S.

2007-03-04T07:02:00.000-08:00

If anyone has skype or instant messaging, we actually have wireless here instead of a phone line, so I am online a LOT more than I thought I would be, so look me up - and we can chat!

3 March - Our Gaziantep adventure

2007-03-04T03:13:00.000-08:00

So we still can’t go into the Forbidden Zone, and yesterday it was crappy and rainy, so we took the afternoon off and played in Gaziantep. We drove in after lunch and went to the Gaziantep Museum. The museum was fantastic. It had a lot of artifacts from various Turkish sites dating as far back as 3000 B.C. But they had a huge collection of tile mosaics from the ancient city of Zuegama (about 2nd century AD; http://www.zeugmaweb.com/zeugma/english/engindex.htm) that were absolutely stunning. We weren’t allowed to use flash in the museum, but I took some flashless (and therefore with bad color) photos. I’ve attached a couple here.

These two photos are overall shots of the museum's main room.

On the left is a mosaic of Poseiden. I am standing a floor above it - it is huge! The mosaic on the right is the symbol of Zeugma - it is not very large compared to the others (2x1 meters?) - but she is stunning.

Alice took this one. Mom, I included it for you - several of the mosaics looked like beautiful quilts.

After the museum, we went to the Turkish baths! Because the men aren’t allowed in the women’s bath, we didn’t have Safak to translate for us. When we walked in, I had my camera in my hand because I had been taking photos on the street. Unfortunately, the women thought we were tourists who wanted to take photos of the bath, and they adamantly told us we couldn’t take photos – they possibly even told us to leave! Finally, we got across that we wanted to take a bath. Luckily, there was a young woman there who had just finished her bath and spoke a little English. After an interesting communication dance, we got our baths, a kese (where a woman scrubs you down to slough off all dead skin), and a massage. Heaven. When we were getting dressed, a group of women across from us offered us food, water, and yes, tea. Once everyone figured out that we really wanted to use the facilities versus just photograph it, they were extremely nice.

From there, we met the men at a food court in a nearby mall. The funny thing is, in the states I would never be excited (actually I would be the exact opposite) about a food court in a mall. But let me tell you – our food courts don’t have the dessert selection that this one had (though we didn't have any dessert, it was still a sight to behold)! Alice and Laura each got a latte, and I got a fruit smoothie. All of us, men and women, were all pink and clean. (Well, I wouldn’t call Cumali pink…)

The main discussion at the food court was, “What do we do next?” So we decided to go find food and drink. Safak made reservations for us at a restaurant that featured classical Turkish music. Then, we went to another coffee shop to hang out before our dinner. This coffee shop was very fun – everyone sat on big bean bag chairs and we had various drinks and learned Turkish.

This is everyone but Safak, who is our photographer: Alice, Ben, Cumali, Me, and Laura. This is just before dinner - so note how clean (and sober) we all are!

The dinner was incredible. The starters (mezes) alone were more than enough for a meal. There was hummous, yogurt dill dressing, and all sorts of other things that I can’t even describe. It was all delicious. Then the main course arrived – lots of kabob with salad. After that, they brought us various other savories. One was a kind of kofta (I don’t know how to explain what a kofta is) that was supposed to be eaten all at once after the eater had taken a shot of Raki (Turkish Ouzo). The food never quit coming. Luckily dessert was a huge fruit plate and not a bunch of heavy sweets!

All night long the Raki flowed freely. I had only one glass – and I’m proud of that given that I hate black licorice! Safak had more than his fair share, and needless to say, he slept the entire way home! [Chris and Meg – you’ll appreciate the fact that everyone here makes fun of me because I’m still on my first glass of Raki, or first beer, when they are well on their way to #3 or #4.]

During all of the gustatory exploits, we listened to great music. There was a vocalist, drummer (the drum looked like a small pinched jambe (sp?)), a fiddle, and a guitar-like instrument that had a very bulbous chamber made of different types of wood, so it was striped – it was absolutely beautiful. Later in the evening, Cumali requested a song that he’s been teaching me (I know one whole line!) – so that was fun to hear a song we all recognized. Alice took some movies so we would have the music (though she got some fun footage of us as well)!

Here are Ben and Safak at dinner - still looking clean (but I'll make no comment on the sober bit).

All in all, we had a fantastically fun time!

This morning, we got up a bit late, and spent a couple of hours practicing locating transmitters with the telemetry equipment. We’re still not the best, but we’re definitely getting better.

2 March - day 13

2007-03-02T07:28:00.000-08:00

Finally, I have photos for your viewing pleasure!

1. Alice, Ben, Safak, and Laura walking the fields looking for burrows (the hole is where I should be).
2. Laura, Safak, Ben, and Alice with Elbeyli in the background.
3. The reservoir we visited today.
4. Alice and Ben examining plants by the reservoir.

The news for today is that I've decided that I actually like this running thing (though it’s not as fun as being on the bike)! Today I ran 3.5 miles without stopping – and when I got back to the house (I was the last one back) I ran into the courtyard, picked up the Frisbee, told everyone to follow, and then ran to the soccer field where we played a very minimized version of Ultimate. It was great!

We also had a chance to walk some fields today looking for hamster burrows. We were unsuccessful, but it felt good to be in the fields again. After that, Safak took us to a nearby reservoir to bird watch. We saw some unidentified ducks and several black kites.

Though I wasn’t supposed to go (we still don’t have the permits to go into the good fields), I went with Cumali this afternoon when he went to set traps. I wanted to use the telemetry equipment to locate our two males. So far, every time we’ve tried to locate them during the daylight hours, we’ve gotten strong signals in their burrows – suggesting that they are inside. Today, however, one was tucked away as normal, but the other was not. I got no signal what-so-ever from his burrow, but faintly pickup up his signal near the first hamster’s burrow! How confusing! I wish we really could go in there and do some solid tracking.

1 March - day 12

2007-03-01T07:50:00.000-08:00

Yikes - It’s March already! Where does the time go?
Today has been another day without much field activity. We had lots of rain last night, which meant that our cameras didn’t pick up much but raindrops. And luckily, we didn’t get any hamsters – I was worried we’d find cold wet animals in our traps, which would not have made me happy. Because our permits haven’t come through yet, Cumali went into the field to check the traps, and said that four were plugged – which is a sign that someone lives there. That is fantastic!

We had another Kilis run this morning, but thanks for Alice and Ben, I was able to bow out. I stayed home and made notes about our activities and organized things.

When Alice and Ben returned, we all got into another great discussion of research ideas – and nailed down plans for at least two topics, and have methods for several others germinating quietly. Since then, we’ve each been on our computers doing lit searches and looking at journal articles. My eyes are slightly glazed, so I thought I’d write a post instead.

As promised, I will include a story from the past couple of weeks. Today’s topic: Tea. We drink tea constantly. Even the two Brits say the Turks are excessive when it comes to Tea. Not only do we drink tea with every meal, but we drink it whenever we are in a social or business situation. Safak and I went to pay the van rental and we drank tea. When we go to the army or police offices to see about the permits, we drink tea. When you walk into a store, they offer you tea. In addition to the tea while conducting business, we have the tea that is greasing the political wheel as it were. The other day we went to the Jandarme office here (local army office) to have tea with the commander. We also made a social call to the Mayor’s office, where, of course, we had tea. Turks must have enormous bladders!

These social calls are always a bit awkward because the English speakers just sit there while the Turks blab and blab. I try to take part, but I’m not very good.

I hope all is well with everyone –
I’d love to hear from you.

28 February - Day 11

2007-02-28T09:06:00.000-08:00

Merhaba to all –

Because I wasn’t able to post for an entire week, I have too many things to tell you about. So I think I’ll give small posts and include random stories here and there.

Today has been a great day. We didn’t catch any hamsters, but we got fantastic video of one of our males coming out and in of his burrow. We also successfully located both males with our transmitters. Other activities for the day: a trip to Kilis for cash (a daily occurrence), a 3.5 mile run (yes, I RAN - without stopping – for 3.5 miles!), sorting through owl pellets for rodent skulls, a short game of soccer/football, and a happy dinner with wine and baklava.

My random story for today will be about our evenings. After dinner, we usually yawn, look at our watches and say, “Is it really only 6:30??” When Nuri and the crew were still here, we would gather in one of the bedrooms, drink wine or beer, and chat while Nuri played the Cumbus (the Turkish version of a guitar). It was marvelously fun and relaxing. Now our group is smaller but no less festive. A couple of nights ago, Cumali and I played backgammon – he is VERY good, as backgammon is the national pastime of Turkey. He taught me a lot about backgammon strategy. While we were having our game/lesson, Safak, Alice, Laura, and Ben were embroiled in a hot game of Euker. There was lots of laughter all around! Last night Ben, Alice, and I did yoga for about an hour. Ben had a DVD called Yoga for Surfers – how's that for ironic given that I don't surf and that we are completely landlocked! Ben had never done yoga before, but a friend gave it to him as a gift so he brought it along. It was actually quite difficult – but very fun. At one point, Safak walked in and started to laugh so hard at all of us in down dog I thought he was going to faint!

Then tonight I think we’re going to watch a movie… but at the moment everyone is busy with their own thing – Alice is reading journal articles, Ben is watching hamster video from previous field seasons, and Laura is checking her email.

So for now, I’m going to sign off and actually do something work-related, or watch a movie.

(And I confess, I haven't taken a single photograph! The others have taken lots, so I'll snag some of theirs and post them soon, I promise.)

Hi again

2007-02-27T11:34:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd pop another post on here, even though I don't have time (strike that - I don't have the energy!) to write much. Big news #1: two major crises (a problem with my cash card and a problem with our telemetry receivers) are potentially solved. Whew!

Big news #2: we got to go into the Forbidden Zone tonight! Our permits must have come through - hallelujah. We walked fields for 2+ hours looking for burrows, and then set a traps at a number of the new locations. We also set up our zippy remote cameras at the two burrows that house our transmittered males. I'm very excited to see what the cameras catch tonight!

Not so big news: Today was my first officially cranky day. I'm sure the crew was thrilled for that experience... But Alice, Ben, and I did yoga for about an hour tonight and I feel much better now.

So for now, I'll sign off from hamster central -

Finally - a post!

2007-02-26T02:34:00.000-08:00

Hi all -
Massive apologies for not posting sooner. We just got our internet hooked up today.

So far, everything is going very very well. We have a great research team: Safak (Turkish grad student), Alice (American/New Zealander botanist), Laura (Scottish zoologist), and Ben (English behavioral ecologist/modeler). We also have a fantastic local guide, Cumali, and more Turkish collaborators who are in Ankara at the moment (Nuri, a professor, and his graduate students Duygu, Asra, and Mert).

So far, we already have two males with transmitters. Unfortunately, the day we caught and released the second animal, the army said we couldn't go into those fields - our permits hadn't come through. So we haven't been able to track the animals or set up cameras at their burrows. Hopefully, tomorrow we can go out. Today Alice, Laura, and Cumali went into fields for which we don't need permits, but didn't find any hamsters. Why do they only live in the "forbidden zone"??

Yesterday, Ben, Alice, Laura, Safak, and I had a brainstorming session - and came up with some good research ideas. I am really looking forward to working with this group - they are smart, energetic, and fun. If the hamsters cooperate, we should get some good data.

On the non-scientific side, everyone seems to be quite happy - the food is very good and we've eaten way too much; and consumed enough tea to sink the Titanic (though it's already sunk, I guess...). We've also eaten way too much baklava. Gaziantep (the city that's about 1 hour away) is the baklava capital of Turkey - and that says something so the baklava is to DIE for - I'm going to weight 8,000 pounds if I'm not careful!

I'm trying to learn Turkish, and feel I'm doing an ok job - but I should be working harder at it. Alice and Laura have notebooks for Turkish words and actually study! They are putting me to shame. Last night the Mayor's assistant came over after dinner for beer and I was able to participate (in a very minor way) in the conversation. He, Safak, and Cumali were teaching us bad words in Turkish; and we reciprocated in English. I actually learned some British words I didn't know. We were all in stitches!

The weather has been on the wet, chilly side (I don't know temperatures, though). When we first arrived it was quite pleasant, but I don't know if that was compared to what I was used to in Ithaca. In the evening, I was comfortable in a fleece and jeans and during the day is was actually warm. It has gotten colder and wetter, however, so now we tend to spend a lot of time inside with our space heaters. Yesterday was so rainy that we couldn't go outside much, though we managed a short run in the afternoon.

In addition to all of the good news from Turkey, the best news came from Arkansas. Dad emailed to say that his doctor looked at his throat and didn't see any cancer!!! whoo hoo!!!

Love to you all!

Four days and counting!

2007-02-14T10:52:00.000-08:00

So this is where I am - and where I'm going. I can't believe I leave this Sunday!

So far all of my final preparations, though unbelievably hectic, are on track. Unfortunately, today's snow storm (anticipated 30") is putting a damper on some things. Luckily I have enough to do at home - or perhaps that is unfortunate. I'd rather be outside playing!

Adding a photo

2006-12-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

So now I've tried to add a picture - and it is pretty easy! I just hope that my camera will continue to work while I'm in Turkey -

PS Aren't these the sweetest faces? The one on the left is my boy, so I'm a bit biased to think he's slightly sweeter - but they were both absolutely wonderful animals. and unfortunately neither is with us anymore.

My first attempt

2006-12-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I went and created a blog. I did it mainly so I can post info and photos from Turkey, so I'm testing it out now to see how it works. Wish me luck!