TMI

I'm not talking about too much information...this weekend I was a participant in the Tarsus Marathon International! To be more exact, I walked a 5k that corresponded with the half marathon that my friends ran in. Several friends of friends came in from out of town for a fun-filled weekend.

I think I actually walked 5k twice...on Saturday our knowledgeable friend gave us a walking tour of Tarsus, which I think took us from one end of the small city to the other and everywhere in between! We saw St. Paul's Well, St. Paul's church, the remnants of the ancient Roman Road where Paul walked, and many other lesser-known sites. For those of you who aren't familiar, Tarsus also includes the ancient gate where Cleopatra met Marc Antony and the site where Daniel (the one who went in the lion's den) is supposedly buried according to tradition. Of course, I had already seen most of it once before, so I didn't take as many pictures this time. I still soaked in the old Ottoman architecture, though. For lunch we had hummus and spicy chicken wraps with mint, a local specialty. Mmmm...

Today was the "big race." It really was international. The top 2 finishers were Kenyan, and I know I saw other foreign faces there. We walked past many of the sites we had seen the day before. The fun part was the spirit of the race, though, cheering on our friends at the finish line, as well as being cheered on by many of the "villagers" that sat outside their homes and tea shops looking for some excitement. One of the unusual things about the trip was all the attention we drew. I don't exactly blend in here, but when I'm around town at "home" people usually don't stare too much. In the smaller city of Tarsus, and with a large group of foreigners, we drew a lot of attention. While we waited for our friends to finish, a small group of pre-teen girls tried to become our best friends! You would think we were a group of famous actresses or pop-stars with the way the children treated us. All in all, though, it was thrilling to walk where Paul was born 2000 years ago, complete with Turkish hospitality.

Connecting with Home

It's been challenging going to the hort lab due to the language barrier. It's been good to stretch my language skills in new ways, but it can be frustrating to realize anew that no matter how much I've learned, I still have about the linguistic capacity of a 5-year-old in my new language--better than that in some ways, but much worse in others. And I remember the internationals I knew in the States. No matter how smart and capable they were, they always sounded dumb at first to the average person if their English was broken and their comprehension slow. So no matter how respected I am in the States, I sound dumb in the hort lab here because I don't know what the people around me are talking about unless they speak to me like they would a 4-year-old.

Fortunately, I've had connections with home to brighten my week. I had the opportunity to take a field trip with the hort lab to a greenhouse. Walking in there felt like I had walked into America through a wormhole. The sea of green was a sight for sore eyes.

After our field trip, my friend was preparing her begonias for research and started eating the flowers. She said they tasted like sour plums, and sure enough, she was right! Those of you who know me too well know that I have been known to eat flowers before. While in high school, my godmother in CT introduced me to day lily buds. They taste kinda like squash. Then in college, I was visiting my friend in NC and asked if I could eat one of her grandmother's day lilies... so okay, now all of you know me too well! But at least you understand why eating begonias took me down memory lane.

Then I got an e-mail today from my brother asking if I knew what kind of lizard our friend had found in his garage. (And the answer was yes). That just made my week. Partially because his lizard is the same one I found with my best friend when we were 10, but partially because, as my brother wrote, "Apparently your reputation as a lizard expert has endured since we were 10." Now I don't know if that's exactly the reputation I most want in life, but sometimes it's easy to think that you're forgotten when you live overseas. At least now I know that a guy I used to play video games with in elementary school hasn't forgotten me, and that I can still talk about lizards at home when I'm an ocean away. You have to admit, it's a pretty cool-looking lizard.

Springtime

The weather here is finally getting warm. A few brave souls have started pulling out the t-shirts and shorts, but the status quo is still long sleeves and pants. It just means I can leave the heavy coat at home and wear a couple less shirts. (Finally!) Where I come from, we don't have a "real" spring, so I still get excited every year when I get to see one. There's nothing quite like a tree without its leaves yet, covered in flowers. Of course, spring is the season of love, so we kicked it off with a Valentine's celebration with our friends at English club. Love being in the air is also apparently why I keep forgetting things lately according to the culture here. My friends say I'm "love-sick." So I can blame my forgetfulness on my boyfriend for once! People here also go on picnics when the weather's nice here, so we went to a restaurant by the lake for lunch one day.

Flower stands are common here, but they're even more colorful now that spring is here. They have every kind of bulb plus all the usual flowers in stock. Every corner has a street salesman with a cart selling bunches of narcissus or hyacinth. All the fields and abandoned lots are full of those little yellow daisies. Plus, there's all the usual (and not so usual) landscape plants. So the horticulturist in me is thrilled to be alive.

Spring is also a time of new beginnings. I've finally started to be able to put my horticulture degree to some use here. One of the plant biotechnology labs on campus has allowed me to come a few days a week to learn more about micropropagation. So far I'm just trying to get a feel for things and learn all the unique terminology, but soon I may start working there or at another company that they work with. It's great to be surrounded by plant geeks.