Officially Registered

Well...I am officially registered for the NJ State Championship Road Race. It's really no different than any other road race that I have done so far, so I am unsure why I am so nervous about it. I think that it may be that I have no other teammates in the race. Dana is racing on the day, but she is in Cat 3, so we will not be on course together.

I'm headed over there tomorrow to preview the course and see what exactly the promoter means by "New Jersey hills." I would imagine that he means that the course is essentially flat with minor, big-ring bumps in the road. This would be fine with me, and would play to my strengths as a big-ring rider. It's also 38 miles in length - the longest race I've ever done. I'm really not too worried about the length though...since it's not on Lancaster roads! :)

I think I may have a cheering section of Heather and Greg, which would be really great since I'll otherwise be all alone at the race! I really hope that they are able to make it!

Look for a race report soon!

Considering NJ RR State Championships

After looking over the NJ State Championship Road Race flyer...I sort of want to do this. I think it would be fun to race in NJ instead of Lancaster for once. So far, there are not so many people registered, although I'm certain that this will change in due time. It's a 19-mile loop that we would do twice to give me the longest race I have ever done at 38 miles. Wowza! It's in Bridgeton, which is between our house and the beach. I have to take Chuck down to the beach on Friday, but it would be easy to drive up to Bridgeton and then back down on Saturday. I have to talk to him about this tonight, but I think that I am going to go for it!

:)

Memorial Day Weekend

It's now Tuesday morning. Our first big summer weekend has ended...I have to teach my first summer class tonight, and Chuck is finished will full days of school! I'm always amazed by how fast the years go as I get older. It always seems like we've just begun a year and then it's over. This past semester was a little tedious due to the Strike, but all in all, it went by pretty quickly.

I also had another race this weekend, where I fulfilled one of my goals for the year! My two simplest goals were to finish a road race and to finish a crit. I was unable to finish the crit at Lower Providence due to a flat, but I finally completed one at Hellertown this weekend! It was a CRAZY race, too!

The day began with me getting up nice and early. Eating my breakie, and getting ready to head to the race followed by a good 3 hour drive to the Shore to see Chuck. On the way to the race, I encountered several omens (still not sure if they were good or bad!). In the distance of about a block, I saw a HUGE male turkey on the side of the road, a TINY chipmunk in the middle of the road, and a deer that raced across the road directly in front of my car! Needless to say, I slowed down a little on that road and made it to the race in one piece!

I came in 9th our of 25 riders, and was VERY happy with a top ten finish. The course was really short - only .49 miles to be precise - and we did 32 laps! It had four corners, one of which was a true 90 degree turn. Half of it was downhill and half was a minor incline uphill.

We knew what we had to do. Try to control the pack, keep an eye on Kristy Swope, and try and protect someone to the finish. Didn't exactly work out that way since Kristy took off from the start line like a bat out of hell and never looked back. She's a really amazing rider! Another woman tried to go with her, but didn't last long. At one point, Kristy had about 30 seconds on us...we pulled her back in to 11 seconds, but were never able to catch her. Essentially, what this meant for the pack was that we were hauling butt the entire way! No resting, no settling in, just constant hammering! It made the race really difficult. I didn't quite have my legs about me, but I feel like I did pretty well considering! It was awesome to hear from people after the race that it was the best women's race they had ever seen! This was partiuclarly directed to our team since we were often on the front working to catch Kristy! It was a great feeling to know that we had been part of such an intense race! We ended up with 4 Sturdies in the top 10 - Naomi was 5th, Jody was 6th, Doreen was 8th, and I was 9th. ROCK ON STURDIES!

Trials and Tribulations of Women's Racing!

Well, it appears that sometime between last week and this week, the Mount Penn race discreetly removed the women's category from the roster for next weekend's road race. There were only two Sturdies planning to attend the race (myself and Naomi), but it's a real stinker that we keep losing races rather than gaining them!

Tonight is going to be my last evening ride with the girls for a while. I'm going to make sure to enjoy myself immensly and try to make sure that I drink in the motivation of my teammates. It's going to be tough to train on my own for the next 6 weeks, but I am going to make sure to do it! I am doing really well so far this year. I feel good, I know that I can feel better, and so I have to keep myself on track.

Now, if I can only figure out how to lose a few pounds so that I don't have to drag all this weight up those hills, I'll be set! I'm trying to get some pointers from Zabriskie, who managed to weasel himself down to 140 pounds for the Giro this year! Hello!!! That's less than I weigh, and he's 4 inches taller than me! CRAZY! I'd love to be 140 pounds! In all honesty, I have no idea how much I do weigh right now...my scale doesn't work very well, I don't think! :)

Anywho...

Birthday Week!

Happy Birthday Week to my big bro - Aaron and my bestest pal - Karyn! I hope that you both have smashingly great birthdays!

Memorial Day weekend is upon us! Thus starts summer and the season of the Beach! Chuck's already counting down the days until his school year is over. And me...well, my summer semester hasn't even started, and I'm already counting down the days! :) I'm ready for a little vacation and to start planning my Humanities course and studying for my prelims! Should be an interesting year!

This weekend is the Hellertown Crit. I'm hoping for a nice weekend. The weather is set to be beautiful, albeit HOT. We've got some good competition, and I'm just hoping to settle in to a nice spot and try to hang in there until the sprint.

Union Grove

Wow...that was a tough race! We had a rough day as a team, with two crashes (one pretty minor and another that left Naomi with a pretty nasty road rash), an encounter with a runaway horse and buggy (we were in Amish country after-all), and Betty the Bear! It was a tough day. High winds kept you feeling like you were either being pushed off the side of the road or someone was standing in front of you pushing you back. The hills weren't too bad, although the "hump" managed to break the pack up pretty well.

The race promoter is an unfortunate butt-head who cares very little for racing and very lot for $$$. Therefore, he basically blew the women's race off completely. We were the only category on the day that did not have a winner's purse. They were taking up a collection at the registration table so that the winner could get something. However, after paying $30 to register, I really didn't feel as if I should be responsible for the creation of a winner's purse! We were supposed to do 5 laps (23 miles). At the start, the guy didn't even want to give us directions, he simply said, "Well, you heard what I said to the guys, right?" We all yelled "NO!" and he begrudgingly gave us directions. However, the directions did not include the number of laps, even though I yelled twice, "How many laps?" So, after the third lap, I hear a bell. I ask the rider that I am working with if that was for us, and we both decided that it couldn't have been because we were doing 5 laps. Well, turns out that it was for us! As we are climbing the hill to the finish, I get passed by three riders because I think I have another lap to go. Basically, in the middle of the race, they took a lap away from us and we only did 4. This is problematic for several reasons: #1 - in order to count for upgrade points to Cat 3, the race has to be a certain length. This one was advertised as an upgrade race, but since we only did 4 laps, it isn't upgrade worthy. #2 - the butthead screwed me out of three places higher than I was!

Other than that...I felt as though I rode a good race. I was the top Sturdy finisher, and even through I was not with the front pack, I felt as if I learned a lot. Most important lesson...LOOK AT THE LAP COUNTERS!!!!!

They're BAAACK!

My legs, that is! Last night, I had a bonking crisis! We did a team workout intended to get us ready for the race, and our jobs, this weekend. I totally BONKED! I had nothing in my legs, couldn't stick with my job up the hills, and found myself red lining the entire time! It royally sucked monkey butt!

I was really disappointed when I got home last night. Chuck did a good job of picking my sorry butt up off the ground and telling me that everything would be ok and my legs would bounce back for the race.

Expecting rain tonight, I got up this morning, ate a good breakfast (yummy, Grape Nuts!), watched a few minutes of the Giro and headed out for my workout. Immediately, my legs felt better. They felt loose, warm, and strong. What was supposed to be an E2 workout (easy to moderate pace with a few hard sprints) turned into a nice strong ride with bursts. I'm looking forward to the weekend again, now and hope that I can post about what a great sled dog I am! :)

Catch Up!

Ok...so it's been a few days, and a lot has happened! I'll start with the cycling update and then move on to other stuff!

This weekend, we have a race at Union Grove. I've been asked to be a major work dog for the day. Alison and I have been given the job of leading the race (we're supposed to sit at the front of the pack and drive the peloton throughout the race) in order to protect Naomi and Sally, who will hopefully make a great finish if all goes to plan. I'm nervous about this, but ready to put my butt on the line to see what I can do! I'm ready and willing to bonk out if necessary! :) My legs have been feeling less than perky, so I have to make great strides this week to eat a lot of protein and carbs and get them back into form.

School is now officially over for the semester! Yippee! I'm quite excited to be done and looking forward to getting a new crop of Summer I students in a little under two weeks. I like teaching in the summer. It allows for being a little more relaxed and goes by quickly.

Finally, Chuck and I finally built our vegetable garden in the back yard! :) So far, the plethora of bunny grabbits who live in our vicinity have steered clear of my veg, but we may have to call Anti-Pesto if they get all munchy-like! :) Here she is:

Basso Admits...

Wow...just read the VeloNews online and found this article. Looks like Ivan Basso is a big old cheater-butt! I wonder who else will step up and admit the truth. We know Jan Ullrich won't...but he has already conveniently retired so he managed to keep his name partially clean. I wonder what this means for Floyd and his defense? He wasn't involved in this Puerto stuff, but someone like Basso admitting to doping certainly changes the atmosphere for Floyd's case. I'm sure that the UCI figures, "Hey, if we got one of them to admit it, the rest (including Landis) will simply follow suit." I guess we'll just wait and see!

Top 10 Finish!

I finally have a great race report to share! After almost 26 miles on a GREAT course at Turkey Hill, I finished 9th out of 38 riders in my field! To top it off, the field was a Cat 3/4 race, so I feel like I did pretty well! Here's the proof!! Just scroll down for the results! :)

It was a great day and a great race. The weather was perfect and I was feeling really good and on form. I managed to stick with the main field throughout the race and when we crested the last climb, I held on and made a bid for the finish line. Considering that this was my first finish sprint, I was pretty happy, but I know that I could have done more. I have to work on my gearing for sprints and my form. Who knows, maybe I can pick off a few more at the finish line next time. There were 9 Sturdies in the race, and we all did really well! I'm really proud to be part of such a great team. Go Sturdies! :)

I got up this morning and did a 45 mile ride with Dana and Sally. We rode out to Devon, PA and back. It was nice with a few challenging hills. All in all, I'm feeling like I had a great weekend and am looking forward to my next race, which is Union Grove on the 19th! :) Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!

Ready or Not!

Here we go! We have been training hard for Turkey Hill this weekend! We did some hill work again last night and tomorrow night is flat threshold work on the Diamond. I'm actually feeling really great. I've been keeping a close eye on my diet for the last couple of days; really paying attention to protein and carb intake, drinking a lot of water, energy drinks, and recovery drinks, and staying away from sugar and junk carbs. So far, I am feeling GREAT! It's amazing what a little change in your diet can do to the way that you feel.

We are talking tactics about the weekend as well. We're hoping to break the group into two cells that will work to get one girl to the line feeling strong and able to sprint to the finish for a place. We'll have to wait until race day to see who feels the best in the group and who is ready to be the "Queen Bee," but I'm looking forward to riding a race with a tactic in mind. That should be a great change from Mt. Joy!!! :)

On another note, we are going to be an Aunt and Uncle two more times this year! Chuck's step-sister Kerry is having a baby, as are Ken and Cheryl. Looks as if they are both due around the same time (November), so we'll be welcoming new family members very soon. I can't believe that Ken and Cheryl are on number 3! Wow...I'm still having trouble considering #1! We'll be thinking about that sometime in the future, but not just yet! :)

Semester is Over!

My latest graduate semester has now ended. I am two classes closer to becoming a Dr.! Wow...that is such a strange idea to me still. I mean, it's still a long way off. I still have to take one more course in the Fall, pass my prelim exams next Spring, and complete a dissertation! No big deal, eh? Yeah, right! But, the closer I get, the more realistic it seems.

My presentation at the Penitentiary went really well yesterday. They set us up in the middle of CellBlock 2, which was great because those cells have the "dead eyes" in them that I use for a great part of my paper. Then, we had the chance to walk around and visit the rest of the site. It was a beautiful day and a really great time to walk around and talk about the construction of this really influential building. I can't wait to go back there and take the 'Rents and whoever else wants to visit! :)

I finished off my day yesterday with a Sturdy Girl ride. 27 miles of nice, easy paced riding with some decent climbs. Tonight is monster climb night with the Turkey Hill Racing Squad. I'm really working hard on getting my legs to go up these hills at a reasonable pace without futzing out after one lap of the course, but it's pretty tough! I'm looking forward to the race on Saturday, but I am also nervous about doing well.

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday to all,

Today, I have to give my final presentation for my 19th century Graduate Class at the Eastern State Penitentiary. I'm nervous but very excited because it has been a really fun project on which to work. I hope that the presentation and visit to the Pen go well and as planned.

Then, I'm going to ride with the club tonight. It should be a fun evening of riding with a group of ladies (not the racing team, but the club itself) and just enjoying a night on the bike. Tomorrow night is Turkey Hill Training Night on the hills in Fairmount Park. I really need to work on hills! While I love going up them, I'm not very fast at it, so I really need to work on that! Tomorrow will be another chance to do so. I need to start getting over to the city on other days of the week to work on this as well!

That's it for now....ta-ta!

One Sturdy Down!

Well, it looks as if Mary's crash on Sunday was worse than we first imagined. Turns out that she broke her clavicle and is unable to ride for about 4 weeks. She can spin on a trainer, but cannot put pressure on her arms and shoulder for a while. While the injury is certainly unfortunate, the worst part is that she has decided not to return to the team after her injury heals. She is a really strong rider and a very sweet woman, and I am sad to see her reach this decision; although I understand that she feels that it is best.

So, my best wishes to Mary and her bones! Weather these few weeks on the trainer and then get back out on the road, loving the bike!

Update on Mt. Joy Results

So, they finally posted the Mt. Joy results this morning! I was very excited to click on the link and scroll down to the Cat 3/4 Women...unfortunately, I was greeted with the same list that appeared the day of the race on site. Only 15 of the 30+ women who raced that day are listed. Yet, there are 59 men listed for Cat 5, and over 40 for several other categories. I guess women don't matter as much as the men at this race? I sent an email requesting the remainder of the women's results, but I am sure that I will be sufficiently ignored by this group of race promoters. What a shame...I will undoubtedly never ride this race again. If I do hear anything, I will be sure to eat my words and post another update!

Another Race Report!

Well...here I am, decked out in my Sturdy Girl Cycling Uniform! Awww...ain't I cute?! :) And here I am below getting ready for the crit today!

The race was AWESOME! I had an absolutely GREAT time...for the first 5 laps! After the last turn, my bike suddenly became very wobbley! Turned out, I had gotten a flat. The great thing with Crits are that you can stop, change the wheel/tire, and then get back into the group on the next go 'round. Of course, that is not easy to do when the spare wheels that we had DIDN'T FIT MY BIKE!!! Wrong cassette! So, I was done. I was feeling REALLY strong, having a great time, and working hard! It was a worse day for other teammates, though. Someone bumped Naomi on one of the turns and knocked her entire rear derailure right off the bike! And Mary crashed out on the first turn of the last lap. All in all, I can't be too upset about a flat!

I should add in the good news as well!! With 11 Sturdy Girl racers in the pack, we did a GREAT job controlling the group and ended up with our own Sally Poliwoda taking 2nd in the race!!
WAY TO GO, SAL! :):)

I've posted more pics of the team on the Photo Gallery. Thanks to my professional sports photographer...my hubby! He was so sweet to get up at 6am this morning to come with me to the race today. Because of him, we actually got some nice photos! :) Thanks, Baby! Enjoy!

First Crit!

So, a week has past since my ride at Mt. Joy. They still have not posted the official results, although an email was sent out to let us all know that they would be up early next week! Nothing like waiting a week and a half to find out how you did in a race! :)

Tomorrow morning is my first crit! I've been working hard this week to get my legs back in shape after Monster Hill! I was really amazed at how much recovery I needed to do to get them feeling better. But, I think that they're back. I spent all day yesterday working on my cornering skills. It's a little hard to do that when you're the only one there, but I was working on taking my turns straight and then pulling out of them with some speed (attempting to simulate what might happen in a race). I'm already nervous, as I know that the race tomorrow is going to be 15 miles of sprinting and pain, but I am excited to be riding with the majority of the team! 11 Sturdy Girls are riding, so we should have a lot of fun controlling the pack. And, Chuck is coming along, so I am very excited about that as well. He'll be in charge of getting some photos of me before and during the race so that I actually have something to post! :)

I suppose I'll be writing more tomorrow. For now...I'm going to be getting myself ready for bed. Nice bit of rest tonight for a big day tomorrow!

Happy Weather!

Finally!!! I have to say this quietly, so as not to jinx anything, but i think that spring is finally here!! We are going to hit the high 60s today, and be near 80 on Sunday! Even better, it looks as if the weather is going to stay pretty static through next week. Athena has been getting mighty peeved about being on her trainer, so I know that she is staring out the dining room window today anxiously awaiting my getting home from work! She and I are going to go out and do some cornering drills today for the race on Sunday. There are now 34 women in the race. 11 of them are Sturdies, but that is still a big field for such a short, quick race.

I actually had a funny dream last night about the race. I dreamt that I got there and it was on a high school running track, which meant that we were going to have to go around that damn thing 60 times to get in our 15 miles! There weren't any sharp turns, but I was so dizzy that I wound up catching my tire in the grass and going down! Not a good dream, I tell ya!

In other news...two bike thiefs were caught last night. They stole two bikes from Keswick (a Sturdy Girl sponsor!) in Glenside and tried to get away with it at a shop outside of Lancaster! When the owner thought that they might be the theives from Keswick, he called the cops and they were arrested. Turns out they were college students from University of Delaware and were ripping off high end ($5,000) bikes.

Finally, the Tour de Georgia is currently underway. It has been interesting to have the video feed to watch, although I am looking forward to the televised version in a few weeks. Dave Z took second in the Time Trial yesterday to Levi, so that's pretty cool! GO DAVE! He rocks!

Anyway...that's about it from here...enjoy the weather, don't steal bikes, and keep on rooting for CSC! :)

Rain, Rain, GO AWAY!

It started raining sometime Saturday night. It stopped this afternoon around 6pm! In the last 36 hours, we have had rain, sleet, snow, driving winds, and thunder and lightning! The nor'easter that clambered up the coast really popped us a whallop! The main drag along the Schuylkill River was completed flooded and shut down, as were a lot of other roads in the area. Rivers up north are still pushing their banks and causing some tremendous damage. To wake up to snow of the slushy variety on the ground this morning really stunk! I want to be out on my bike, not sitting in the living room on a trainer! Yucka-Mucka!

Anywho...I'm still waiting for the official results of my race to get posted on BikeReg. I must admit that I am getting a tad bit annoyed that it is not listed yet, since races that took place yesterday are already on there! GRRRR....I just want to know how I really finished. I'm happy regardless, but it would be nice to have a number to think on!

Race #2 is this upcoming weekend. The Lower Providence Criterium in Norristown. I'm really looking forward to trying my first crit and seeing how I do on this. This week, I have to practice cornering and busting out of the turns. At least I won't have to worry about hills this time! I won't have to worry about those again until Turkey Hill on May 5th! My cheering section is going to be coming to the race this weekend: Chuck, Greg, Heather, and Joey! It will be fun to have so many people there yelling and cheering! I just hope I do as well as I felt that I did at Mt. Joy! I hope I don't have performance anxiety :)

My first Road Race!

My first road race took place yesterday! It was the Mt. Joy Road Race in Mt. Joy, PA in Lancaster County. It was a little chilly and windy with temps in the mid 40s and a headwind down the first quarter of the race. A 23 mile race, the course was a 5.7 mile loop that we did 4 times. The course was pretty awesome with great rolling hills and one MONSTER hill on the back side. This thing kicked my butt right into the ground, after going over it four times! The course also had this great winding section in the last quarter that was really fun and made for a great way to pick off a few ladies for me at the end. I really enjoyed that section the most!

The field was a good size, somewhere around 30 women. We started out in typical fashion. Lots of moving around the group, people playing games with the pace at the front...speeding up, slowing down, lots of braking. When we hit the rollers, the pack slowly began to spread out. Still, we were climbing slowly and shotting down the hills fast. No one seemed to be making a big leap until we hit the Monster Climb. One woman took off the front and stayed out for the remainder of the race. Amazing rider. Anyway...the rest of us, plodded our way to the top and continued on. We weren't really chasing her, just holding our own. I stayed with the pack until we hit the Monster for loop #2. Not really ready for a climb so steep that you think the bike is just going to topple over, I had some trouble with it. By the time I hit the top, the pack was down the other side and I was officially dropped. I did consider for one brief moment that I might not make it up that puppy two more times, but I quickly pushed the thought out of my mind and lumbered on.

I managed to finish my first race! On the final climb up the Monster, I do think my bike physically stopped moving forward between pedal strokes, but I MADE IT! I'm not yet sure how I finished overall, but I know that I beat at least 4 women, plus those who did not finish the race at all. It was a really tough race. But, I had a GREAT time! I loved the pain and I loved the feeling of crossing that finish line and knowing that I had done EVERYTHING I could to push myself. I wish I could have stayed with the pack, but I learned so much about racing and myself that I can't be the least bit unhappy about my performance. I'll get 'em next time for sure!

Unfortunately, since I am the one with the camera all the time, I don't have a photo of me from the race. However, here is a photo of 3 of my 4 teammates who raced with me. Bonni, Dana, and Sally. Dana took 4th on the day and Mary (who is not pictured here) took 5th. ROCK ON STURDIES!

Car-Blooey

So, I have an important meeting this morning...in about an hour.

However, I am stuck at home because my car decided that it was an ideal time for the clutch to go! Not only that, but it's POURING down rain! So there I was, not too far from home (less than a mile), stopped in the middle of the road, calling everyone I knew to see if someone could come pick me up. I finally got the car to start again and drove home, without stopping at stop signs or red lights so that I could try to make it home. As I pulled into the driveway, the car stalled! Thank god I made it home!

Ah...the joys of automobiles! :)

New Photos

Just to let you know...there are some new photos on my site - click the Our Photo Gallery link on the right. Check out the 19th Century folder to see what we've been doing in class! Last week, we visited the Laurel Hill Cemetery, so the photos are there. Plus, I have put up a few teaser photos of the Eastern State Penitentiary. I am lecturing there on the 30th and already have several non-classmates who are going to be joining the group. I'm very excited about it....now, if I can only finish the paper!!! :):):):)

Sturdy Bar Tape!

So, here she is...new and improved! Athena got her new pink bar tape the other day along with a brief tightening of bolts, lugnuts, and other fittings. She is now set and ready for her first race next weekend! I just hope that we have better weather than they are predicting for tomorrow morning (snow!!!!). She's really a Sturdy Girl bike now, considering that the team colors are pink, yellow, and blue. She doesn't have the blue, but she is ROCKIN' the pink and yellow! I must say that we look pretty awesome riding in a group with our kicking jerseys and pink tape! Athena is totally pumped (no tire pressure pun intended) for her first big race, as am I. She's not nearly as nervous as me, so I'm hoping that her chilled attitude rubs off! :) I'll ceratinly have a race update for y'all after the day ends.

Dinner Party!

Here is our post-Mexico dinner party! Clockwise around the table are Maria Luisa, Stan, Chuck, Suzanne, Matt and Cara. It was a really great night with lots of good food, great conversation, and lots of laughing! We really enjoyed having everyone over and hope that we get the chance to do it again soon.

Next big social event at our place...Friday the 13th Movie Night! I have to make it a point to take more photos at these things than I normally do! For as much as I like to take photos, I never seem to do it at everyday types of events. I will do my best from here on out!

"Sir" Bono

Even though we can't call him "Sir" (because he's not from the UK), Bono has been knighted! Pretty smooth from a guy from Temple Bar who joined a punk band at 16! I mean, the guy has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, acted as a major human rights activist and fronted one of the best rock bands that has ever existed. He's certainly been a major influence on my little existence!

Congrats!

Three weeks Gone!

Well..as many of you know...I have had an interesting couple of weeks....here is the timeline, in a nutshell...

March 4-10th:
Sarah goes to Mexico! It was a great trip with facutly and students from CCP. We stayed in the city of Merida and visited a few beautiful Maya sites nearby. We spent a day at Uxmal, Dzibilchaltun, Chichen Itza, and another day visiting the villages in the area. I'm working on getting all of the photos downloaded to my Yahoo! page, so stay tuned for that. There are some currently on there, but only those that were on my digital camera. There are a lot more where those came from! Plus, I have promised to post some of my journal entries from the trip, so those are also on the way!

March 12:
I taught classes...only to find out that night that we were going on strike for a better contract.

March 13-23rd:
I spent several days a week walking out in front of the Mint Building with a placard on my chest! The weather was generally cooperative, fortunately. Although, we did have one day of rain and one day of snow/sleet. Ewww....
Certain aspects of the strike were actually fun! Spending time with my colleagues in an arena that was not work but not fun either. Marching on City Hall was fun, especially because I got to bang on an AWESOME bucket drum that we borrowed from a local street performance group! I have rhythm, people! :) It was a lot of fun, even if the situation was less than desireable.

March 26th:
The Union votes to return to work! YIPPEE!!

March 28th:
I have my first day of classes with my students. Everything went very smoothly and they were all very happy to be back in action! The semester has been extended, but they don't seem to mind too much. It was great to be back where I belong...in the front of my room!

Today:
I spent the morning cleaning the house and grocery shopping. I'm having a dinner party tomorrow with some of my colleagues from the Merida trip! I'm excited to have them over and to spend the evening just chatting and having a great time! Not to mention, drinking great Mexican beer that I picked up today!

In other news...I also signed up for my first bike races today! I'm very excited and very nervous! My first race is the Mount Joy Road Race on April 14th, followed by the Lower Providence Criterium on April 22nd. I will likely be doing about 8 other races this year...so I'll be sure to post photos and take videos! :)

Well...I'm off to a department meeting at school. I'll be sure to post some journal entries and get those photos from the trip up ASAP!

Bike Dork Returns!!

ESPN...what does that station cover? Oh yeah, anything "sports" related as long as it is Football, Basketball, Baseball, Boxing, and NASCAR. Oh, let's not forget Golf and Tennis. They certainly couldn't even run a bottom line tag about the Tour of California going on right now for those of us on the east coast who might just want to find out if their favorite rider, who crashed out of the race last night, is ok or in the hospital in traction! Dumb Sports Channels! :)

When All Else Fails...

Do something really, really weird and you'll be back in the spotlight! Take it from Britney...it works!

Amazing the things that become news!

Wilders Wrap Up

Whitney and I had an excellent evening last night, checking out the Wilders at the Sellersville Theater in Sellersville, PA! They put on a great show, as was expected and we had some time to chat with Ike and Beste after the show about the upcoming wedding festivities of Scott and Julie! :) Sounds like they will be in attendance for the wedding and the reception, so we will be rocking out to some Bluegrass music all day long! :)

The other band that played was the Red Stick Ramblers. They were also really really good. They played Cajun-style music, so a lot of it was sung in French. They were so good, I had to buy a CD on my way out. Great great!

I didn't take any photos, but it was an excellent evening. I hope they both make their way back to Sellersville or other points nearby soon.

The Wilders

Lucky for me...Chuck is much more attentive to certain parts of the newspaper than I am! Tonight, as he is reading the paper he says, "The Wilders are going to be in Philly?" And I say, "WHAT?!?! When?!" Turns out, they are playing a small theater venue in a city called Sellersville, which is about a 45 min to an hour drive from here. For those of you unfamiliar with the Wilders, please click HERE to find out more! For those of you who do know of them, you know how much they ROCK! :) After a lot of pleading, and the recruitment of my friend Whitney to go along, looks like Chuck and I will be attending the show. In an additional twist, the Wilders are going to be performing at my sister's wedding in September...so that's also pretty cool! Can't wait to see them...I'll post some photos if I can take pics!

YEE-HAW! :)

Really Pathetic

I have been a pretty busy young lady! The semester has begun...my classes have met once so far...second meeting is today. So far, they seem to be pretty great. The students seem interested and involved, the classes should really come along nicely, I hope! I have some challenges ahead of me...like the 25 page research paper for Dr. Gold's class, but I am thinking positive and feeling good about all of it!

Chuck and I were down at the beach over this past weekend so that he and Reuter and Barry could do the Polar Bear Plunge! I will post photos as soon as I download them :) Fortunately for them, the real cold (and snow) held off until yesterday, so it was actually in the 50s over the weekend when they did this. Although the ocean temp was only in the high 40s. They dove in and actually rode a few waves before coming back to the beach. Chuck was bright red from head to toe when he got out! Crazy! I stood on the beach with Reuter's girlfriend and laughed at them, while taking a video, of course! You can actually see footage from it on the Cape May County Herald Newspaper site.

Crazy boys!

Pre-Christmas Christmas Dinner Day!

Today is the pre-Christmas Christmas Dinner Day! Woo hoo! I have my 18+ pound turkey in the fridge getting ready to go in the oven...I have been cleaning the house for the past few days (except for the office, which is hopeless), and have already chilled my favorite wine for dinner! I'm really looking forward to having a bunch of friends and family over tonight for some good food, good company, and good times. I will be sure to post follow up pictures when all is said and done and everyone has stuffed themselves silly with turkey! :)

Recent Events

Well, here we are...on the verge of December, which is on the verge of a new year! Wow...I'm going to be 29 soon...that would be on the verge of...yeah, ok, I guess you get it!

We had a nice Turkey Day at the Mother-in-Law's house. Pretty uneventful from my point of view...which is a blessing considering the distasters in which I have found myself at previous Thanksgiving dinners! I even managed to get out with only one jab at the fact that we don't have any kids yet. I'd call that a successful holiday! :)

I have been riding a lot! This is a good thing, because it makes me feel good to be on the bike, and because it means that I have finally found myself a TEAM! :) Hooray...I am now a Sturdy Girl Team member and will be racing for them in the Spring and Summer of this upcoming season. It's really exciting to finally be able to say that not only do I ride, but I race as well. Plus, for my own sake, I'm really looking foward to the challenge of racing my bike. I personally think that I am going to SUCK ROCKS for at least the first year or so, but I don't usually give up easily and I don't plan to give up on this!

Christmas is just around the corner, and Chuck and I are excited for the trip home to see the whole fam damily!! Julie, Scott and Finch (the new puppy) are driving in from Fort Collins, Aaron and Liz are already there with the kids, and with us home, mom and dad are going to have a full house! I know that my mom is thrilled about it and can barely wait for us all to be together. Should be an exciting and fun trip...can't wait!

That's about it for now...Whitney and Caleb are coming over tonight to pick up their new puppy, so we have a trip to Petco ahead of us to buy him some goodies! Should be fun...but now...off to get a hair cut (Yippee!). Auf Wiedersehen!

I am a Bike Dork (Part II)

Well, I am still a bike dork...no big change there. If anything, I am now a bigger bike dork than I was before! I have officially joined a racing team for the 2007 season (and hopefully many years to come). So, how does this make me a bigger bike dork, you ask? Because now I have to go out and buy all my GEAR! :) Jerseys, shorts, socks, a skinsuit for time-trials, jackets, etc., etc., etc.!! Oh, the joy of spending hard-earned money on biking gear. Makes one get the chills with happiness! Unfortunately, I won't be seeing any of this stuff until February, so I have a long wait in store, but that's ok! I don't mind. I'm going to be riding with the girls tomorrow, so I'm really looking forward to a great winter and racing season.

On another note...the Pro Cycling world is changing a bit as Ivan Basso has just been picked up by the Discovery Team. This should make the Tour VERY interesting, considering that Disco now holds the contracts for George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, and Basso. They're going to clean house (as long as no one gets charged with doping!). Meanwhile, Basso's old team (my faves) CSC are banking on Zabriskie to kick everyone's butts in the time-trial and Carlos Sastre and the Schleck brothers to clean up on the hills. Should be a great race next year. Will Floyd be back? Time will only tell! :)

Check out the new photos of my mother-in-laws recent puppy adoption and my sis's new pooch! ADORABLE! Welcome to the family, Finch!

I am a Bike Dork

As the Bike Dork that Chuck always likes to remind me that I am...I have to post a very happy event in Pro-Cycling that was soon followed by a very sad one (for me!).

Happy Event: The allegations of doping against Ivan Basso are dropped. Yippee!!

Bad Event: Ivan has now "cut ties" with CSC, which is my favorite cycling team!! This makes me very sad... :( Hopefully, the rest of the team (particularly Zabriskie!!) will remain intact for next year. They are announcing the 07 roster soon...so I have to keep my fingers crossed.

Bike Dork signing off!!

No Excuses!

Absolutely no excuses for my lack of posting! I can give you a list...working 2 13 hour days a week, ususally working 8 the other three days. Weekends being taken up by trips, homework, and housework. Getting MONO! Yes, somehow I got myself a case of the sickies and was daignosed with mono. Funny that the day before the doctor went over my labs, I ran a great 5 miles on the road!?! Who knows...

Anyway, a lot has been going on with me...many things are good...

I have been accepted to be a part of a faculty/student Spring Break trip to Merida Mexico. Woo Hoo!! Spring BREAK!!! I have never gone away on Spring Break, so I'm excited to be heading somewhere warm...even if I am going as a teacher! :)

I was accepted as a part of a new NEH program for next Spring/Summer. It will be a 20 day long workshop dealing with the cross-cultural influences of east and west. Should be very cool.

While this one is not in the bag, I hope to be racing with a local women's bike team for next year. I have a few more steps to go through in order to determine my place on the team, but I will definitely be decked out in pink and yellow next year and riding with a team! I'll post more when I know the facts! :)

Other than that...work and school are going well. Only a few more semesters of busting my hump and all I have to do is write a book! :) HA! Then I will be a Doctor! Interesting...

Back to School, Back to School...

Well...here I am, spending the majority of my weekend doing homework!!! :) I feel right at home, sitting in my office, listening to Enya and reading until my eyes go numb (obviously just a euphamism)!! At least I am keeping on top of things...I have already translated the German article that I have to read and summarize for one class...and that' s not due for two weeks! Hooray! Of course, I still have one to translate from French...but I'll deal with that next weekend! :)

C'est la vie!

LiveStrong Challenge Wrap-Up

Well, the LiveStrong challenge was last weekend (I know, I know...it's been a week, post already!). It was a great experience. I want to thank those of you who helped me out by donating to my cause. I fully expect to ride it again next year (hopefully, with my Mom and Dad in tow!!), and will most likely be begging for money again at that point! Start saving your pennies in the nearest piggy bank! :)

The ride went from Montgomery County, PA down into the city of Philadelphia, and then back out to Mont. County College. It was a tough route...lots of hills and some road conditions that left a bit to be desired. Coming downhill on a road that had been ground down in order to be repaved, but not yet repaved, hurt like a son-of-a-gun!! I can now begin to imagine what it feels like when the Tour de France goes through those cobblestone streets...yow-za! Personally, I loved the hills. What a feeling to charge up one of those suckers!! Makes you feel like you're really working!

In addition to the ride, the experience itself was great. It was touching and highly inspiring to see so many people participating in a great event. There were people like me, who have lost close friends and family to cancer...there were people riding who were survivors of cancer....and there were those who were still battling the disease who were riding. It was so incredible to stop at a rest stop and speak to a woman who finished her last round of chemo 10 days earlier. 10 DAYS...and she was on her bike riding 70 miles! Incredible. Again, thank you to those of you who helped me to complete the fundraising for such a great event!

I'll try to get a hold of some photos that a fellow rider was taking and post them...we'll see how that goes!

Whirlwind Weekend

Well...it has certainly been an interesting September so far!!! I have been busy at school with many, many things going on. I am taking two grad classes at Temple and teaching a full schedule, so it has been an adjustment (that I am still making) to the life of a student again! :) All in all, things are good though. I am enjoying the courses that I am taking and my own classes seem to be going pretty well so far.

Yesterday was the LiveStrong Challenge ride. It was really great. The weather was perfect, the course was difficult but fun, and we had a great time. It felt so good to be involved in an event like that, and I hope to do it again next year with the 'rents!!! Some friends took photos, so I hope to get a hold of copies soon and post them. All I know is that I was in bed and asleep by 9:30 last night and did NOT want to get up this morning! :)

Saturday was Chuck's birthday, so we had a nice dinner and birthday cake...so it was a nice day for him! I have to get to class...I'll post more later!

Batton Down the Hatches!

As Tropical Depression Ernesto heads into town...we are faced with 40+ mile an hour wind gusts, incredibly rough waters, and (of course) RAIN! The wind is really the most incredible thing when you are on the coast during a storm like this. It shakes the windows, rips loose shingles and siding off houses, and basically makes you want to stay locked up inside with a warm blanket and a nice hot cup of tea!

I am going to head down to the beach patrol headquarters tonight to take some dinner to Chuck. He's working the late shift with a few other guards, so I will try to take some photos of the water and such and post them later. It really is pretty crazy out here!

The 'Rents are Coming!!!

So...I have been frantically cleaning my house because my parents are coming to visit! :) It's always nice to have an excuse to clean the inside of the fridge or get all those dust bunnies out from underneath the bed! :) It's very exciting to have them coming out to visit...plus, my dad built me an incredibly beautiful wine/liquor cabinet and they are driving it out. I cannot wait to get it out here, finish it off with a beautiful stain, and put it in our dining room! Hooray! Of course, I also am very excited to have my mom and dad out to visit! It's going to be so nice to have them here to do fun things and just have a great time. It's too bad that Chuck is down at the shore, but I think we'll manage to get down there for a day or two to visit!

Other than cleaning, I have been riding and running every day and trying to finish off a paper that I am working on for the Fall semester. I have about 12 pages written so far, and I'm shooting for around 15....so I am almost there. Plus, I think that the 12 I have so far are good pages, not crap...so that's a plus! In fact, I'm going to get back to work on that now instead of procrastinating by posting on here! :)

LiveStrong Challenge

Well, I tried to do this ride last year and it got rained out!! Washington D.C. was so flooded that though we could have ridden in the rain, we wouldn't have made it through the streets!

This year, the LiveStrong Challenge is in Philadelphia! Woo Hoo! Heather and I have both signed up to ride 70 miles on September 10th. We have to raise $500 each in donations in order to ride, and we're working on getting sponsorship from a company so that we can ride as a team. A two-person team, but what the heck!?!? Anyway...I figured I would post my fundraising website address here so that anyone who happens by could check it out and donate if they'd like. So, if you're feeling donate-y...click the link and pull out your credit card! Thanks!!!!

http://www.livestrongchallenge.org/06pa/siepson

So Sorry No Posting!!

Boy, have I been lax in putting anything on this site. Part of the problem has been that I am so darn busy! Not typical busy stuff like work, but fun-busy stuff like traveling and going to the beach and going to my 10 year high school reunion!!! It has been a wacky month!

I was in Colorado for a week and a half. It was incredible. SOOO much fun. My sister moved to Fort Collins, so we went out there to visit. We hiked up to 11,000 feet...we went fly fishing in Poudre canyon...we went to the Big Horn Mountain Music Fesitval in Buffalo, Wyoming!! If you like rockin' kick butt bluegrass tunes, you have to check out the Wilders. They ROCK!!! It was a blast because part of the trip consistd of surprising my mom and dad for their 60th birthdays. They didn't know that my brother and I were going to be there, so we showed up at their restaurant table as the waitress and waiter! I thought my mother was going to have a heart attack! It was great. There are photos of all of this trip posted in our gallery.

Then, I went home to Michigan for my 10 year reunion. It was very interesting to see how some people hadn't changed AT ALL...neither their looks nor their personality, while others were so different that you hardly recognized them. All in all, it was a great time, and I caught up with a few friends that I am really going to try to keep in touch with!!

Then, of course, we went to the wedding to end all weddings! It was incredible...sushi bar, caviar bar, open bar!!! :) We drank, we danced, we ATE, we had COTTON CANDY for desert from the cotton candy machine. Zach and Lori...that was an incredible night..thanks for inviting us!!! :)

Today was a busy day as well...although rather light on traveling. Got up this morning and ran...about 3.5 miles. Then decided tonight to go meet up with the Outdoor Club for a ride. It was my first ride with their B-class group, and I was alone, so I was a little nervous. It started out a bit rough with a small crash 2 miles into the ride. Fortunately, it was behind me, so I remained unscathed. Several people then decided to split into a B and a B+ group. Deciding to be adventurous, I sped off with the B+ crew, only to blow a flat about a tenth of a mile up the road! They all left me there, save for two guys (Thanks Ben and Andrew) who came back to help me change the flat and then KICKED my butt for the next 3o miles!! It was a great ride. Especially since I DID NOT run over the stupid shihz-tzu dog that ran out into the street 25 miles into the ride!! Dumb Dog! I will be sleeping like a baby tonight...can't wait....need a shower!

New Photos

There are some new photos added to the gallery! I added a folder of images of the work being done on the mural at school. This is part of a Mini-Grant project and the finished mural will be placed in the art history classroom!

I also added some photos to the miscellaneous folder of the Shark Tournament in Cape May over the last weekend. They caught a 480 pound Thresher shark and a 600 pound Tiger. Crazy what's in our water!

Finally, in the Istanbul images folder with the black and white Whirling Dervished on the front are some photos of my rockin', hand-made, Turkish boots that I wore tonight to my sister-in-law's 8th grade graduation...she loves them! :)

That's it!!

Return to Turkey Travel Posts

I guess that I should return to posting about my travels in Turkey. Sorry, it's just been a tad bit busy around here. OK...here goes!!!

Friday, May 12th in Turkey

Today was our big day off on our own! No official events taking place in the afternoon after our set of lectures this morning. We had two lectures, both of which were interesting...the second was from an art historian (yeah!!) who showed slides of the city and it's many changes over time. It was really interesting for me in particular...finally something to LOOK at! :) Once the lectures were over, we were set free on the town to spend the day doing whatever we wanted. And what a day I was about to have! Wow!

Today is the Holy Day for Muslims. Technically, this is the first day of the "weekend," and it was obvious from the numbers of people who were out on the streets today! The sidewalks are packed with people doing their shopping, enjoying the warmth of a spring day in the park, or just hustling off to pray. It was much busier than the past few days, but it was great to see so many people out on the streets.

I struck out with Mary, John, Cindy, and Suzanne again...our little group of adventurers!! Our first stop of the day was the Museum of Islamic and Turkish art. It was an interesting, but odd little museum. They didn't tell you much about the works, often not even listing dates or what the object was made of! I have to remind myself to look up the story of the two deer. Suzanne asked me about it, but I drew a blank...I just know that it is important symbology.

We then strolled down to the New Mosque and the Spice Bazaar. Wow! Both were pretty spectacular! The New Mosque was busy with worshippers and tourists alike and was really splendid. The Spice Bazaar was a hoot! It was so great to wander through the covered market and seeing the beautiful piles of vivid and fragrant spices piled up in every shop! We spent a bit of time bartering for tea sets and pashminas and even a bit of Turkish Delight (YUM!!!)!! I brough a bit of Turkish Delight home with me for Chuck and the family to try. They liked it! It's really a great little treat! The fruit flavored kind tastes a bit like Ju-Ji Fruits, but much softer in texture and covered with a sort of powdered not-so-sweet sugar. Really, really interesting.

We left the Spice Bazaar and headed to a small cafe that John and Cindy had tried earlier in the week. It had a sort of deli-style counter at which you could order a little spoonful of this or a little spoonful of that. The had sausage wrapped in grape leaves, pasta salads, sardines, raw octopus...you name it, they probably had it! The food was great, and soon we were off to visit a little local mosque called Rustem Pasa. It's a very small mosque raised up above the street level and built on the roof of the shops below. It was an amazing space. By far, one of the most spiritually charged mosques that I visited on the trip. It was covered in tiles from floor to ceiling and was a very quiet space, not normally found by tourists unless they are taken there by guide! While we were standing on the rooftop, preparing to walk back down into the throng that was the street, we realized that the Suleimaniye mosque (one of the largest in Istanbul) was not too far away. At least that's what we thought!! :)

We trekked up through the local area towards the mosque, which stands at the peak of a hill. The local area was full of shops and people. It was a nice area, and the everyday activity and local color made the walk all the more interesting. At certain points, I again got the feeling that the city was both oddly familiar and strangely foreign all at the same time!

When we got there, the tombs of Suleimaniye and his wife had just been closed, so we couldn't visit those. However, the mosque was open and we were able to spend quite a bit of time inside, just enjoying the space. The magnificence of the interior was partially created by the bareness of the walls, which suggested strong prayer rather than pomp and ostentation. Despite its enormous size, it seemed intimate and comforting. We sat quietly in the mosque for quite some time, just appreciating the space. Then, we started on our hike back down the hill. But...not before a run-in with some of the local gypsy children who wanted us to pay 1 lira for packages of tissues! We tried to decline, but they were amazingly persisitent. I think one of them may have cursed Mary in Turkish at one point for saying no!!!

We headed back through the winding streets of Istanbul. We literally just walked, not really knowing exactly where we were, but knowing the general direction that we wanted to head. (I know, Mom...you want to kill me for this!!!) Eventually, and without incident, we made our way back to the hotel and then decided on a dinner strategy. We headed back over to Taksim Square and Beyoglu. We surprised Mary with a birthday dinner at a nice restaurant down an alley off of the crowded Istiklal (a pedestrian shopping street). The restaurant alleys are interesting because they are very narrow and lined with outdoor seating areas. As you pass by a restaurant, the maitre-d, will harange you to come inside. This happens every 5 feet or so the entire way down the street. The best thing to do is walk quickly while scoping out the places briefly as you pass. Once you have passed them all, you discuss quickly which one you liked and then go back directly to that one! Otherwise, you'll be yelled at the whole time you're there! :)

The dinner was great and we were back home and in bed a few hours later, getting our beauty sleep for our next big adventure!

Kids Weekend at the Beach!

Over the weekend, we headed down to the beach...as is usual for this time of the year. Ken and Cheryl were down with Ava and Nicholas, so we got to spend a lot of time with them...which was great. It rained all day on Saturday, which was a bit of a shame, but by that evening, the sun had finally come out and we went up to the boardwalk to entertain the kids...who had spent all day indoors! Also to our good fortune, Sunday was a sunny day...although it was breezy and cool. We took the kids to the beach and they had a great time. I've added some photos to the gallery in the Nieces and Nephews folder...enjoy!

Thursday in Turkey

Thursday, May 11th was our second day with our guide, who took us on a bus tour of the old City Walls that protected Istanbul when it was controlled by the Ottomans and after the conquest. While they were really just big walls, it was interesting to see them and the portals through which people used to enter the city. Our actual destination was the Kariye Museum, which was a truly phenomenal site. In actuality, the Kariye Museum is a Byzantine Church which was converted into a mosque and is now a museum which houses some of the most beautiful mosaic and fresco work that I have ever seen. The fantastically preserved mosaics and frescoes were done between the 12th and 13th centuries and include a fantastic Last Judgment and numerous scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary. It was difficult to take photos, so I ended up purchasing a book with most of the images in it, because I was so impressed with the beauty of the work. This is a pretty decent website that shows a lot of photos...although the photos are not the best due to the awkward lighting inside the space.
http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/projects/geoweb/participants/dutch/Turkey71/Kariye.HTM

After the Kariye Museum, we returned to Sultan Ahmet to visit the Blue Mosque (the right-hand mosque seen off our hotel balcony) and the Byzantine Cistern. The Blue Mosque was a really splendid space. It is covered with elaborate Iznik tile work from floor to ceiling which really has an interesting effect on the space. On one hand, it takes away from the spirituality of the space (for me) due to the elaborate quality of the decoration. I'm used to the more sparse decoration of churches. At the same time, it feels like a truly animated space due to the vibrant patterns and controlled color palette. Most of the tiles are blue and white, with just a hint of red and green detailing. It was an incredible space, but did not affect me quite like Hagia Sophia or some of the mosques that I would visit later in the trip. The size of the structure was certainly impressive and the massive domes on the exterior were beautiful!

The Byzantine Cistern was a real treat! What an incredible space. Below the city is this large space which would have provided water to the city when it was under Barbarian attack. The underground space is supported by 336 columns and today, they play beautiful, coft, classical music as you wander along the suspended boardwalks and just become immersed in the space. Oddly, there are very large fish living in the cistern and swimming around the areas that pool with light, much to the awe of the people visiting the space! It was really pretty fantastic...a location that (like Hagia Sophia) I would have happily revisited, had time allowed. When we finished up at the cistern, we were again left to our own devices for dinner.

Though quite a few people wanted to head back to where we had listened to music the night before, it turned out a bit differently! Suzanne, Mary and I decided to take a separate cab over to Beyoglu, with the intention of meeting up with everyone else at the Galata Tower. When no one else showed up, we walked up the hill and found the same street that we had visited the night before. We settled on a quaint little restaurant to eat wonderful mezze and chicken kebaps! :) Happiness and joy! The others, it turned out...had a bad experience and ended up eating on the Galata Bridge (which has a pedestrian area underneath the span, full of shops and restaurants). While the food was ok, it was very expensive, and they were none to pleased! We, on the other hand, had a LOVELY dinner and a few drinks. We even headed out on a little adventure to the Para Palas hotel, which is a 19th century hotel where Agatha Christie and Ataturk stayed! We were taken up in the fantastic old elevator and shown a few of the rooms! Fantastic. We then caught a cab home without incident and made our way to bed!

One more funny dinner story. There are stray cats and dogs all over Istanbul. If you view my photos, you should see a few of them, including a black and white cat sitting on a restaurant chair. This cat eventually came over to say hello to us. He must have sensed that I was a cat person, because at one point, he simply hopped up into my lap! He didn't stay for very long, but it was a humorous event!

Our Night Out on the Town

After spending our first day in Istanbul seeing the sights, a small group of us decided that we wanted to check out a bit of local color. Mary, John, Cindy, Suzanne, and I hopped in a cab and went to an area of Istanbul called Beyoglu. Beyoglu is a really neat area with lots of small shops and restaurants and bars. When we got there, there were very few tourists, but LOTS of locals. We had headed there to go to a specific bar that was hosting live Fasil music that night. One of John's friends had told us about it. What we hadn't been told was that the bar was unmarked and rather small. Anyway, after finding it...we finally sat down to a beer and a dinner of Mezze (which is essentially a table-full of appetizers). We also tried Raki. Raki is a Turkish liqueur that you mix with water. When it comes out of the bottle, it is clear, but once you add water to it, it becomes a milky-white color. You drink about 1/5 Raki and 4/5 water in a tall, skinny glass. It smells like black licorice, although the taste is not that harsh. I personally didn't really care for it, although I did try it. The beer was great! I'm sure that we were drinking a US equivalent of Pabst Blue Ribbon or something, but it was refreshing and delicious. It's called Efes, and is served everywhere. Usually it costs about 3 lira (less than $2), but we did see it on the menu of a ritzy hotel-bar for 12 lira!! RIP-OFF! :)

Anyway...here we are sitting inside this little bar waiting for the music to start. Before we know it, the place is PACKED! Most of the people there were young (in their 20s) and as soon as the music started, they began to dance! The music was wonderful. Fasil music is essentially traditional music that uses a fiddle, clarinet, drum, and a stringed instrument that acted like a bass guitar. It was vibrant and amazing. Soon enough, we too were out on the make-shift dancefloor boogie-ing our butts off! It was excellent. There was one girl there who was clearly a trained belly dancer. She was dancing like crazy...lifting up her shirt to show her stomach...and having a great time. When she got ready to leave, she put on her head scarf and walked out the door! We were all floored! It was great. Suzanne and I ended up dancing with this crazy guy who told us he was a gypsy! Very funny. We got back to the hotel and finally to bed around 2 am, only to have to get up and go again the next day! :)

Big Turkey News

Crazy news...there was a huge fire at the Istanbul airport. A few of my colleagues got stuck at the airport and in Istanbul!! Hopefully, all will be well and they'll get home soon!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5012706.stm

Our Big First Day!

So, our first day in Istanbul began with a fantastic lecture from Nevra Necopaigul from Bogazici University. She spoke to us about the transition of Istanbul from the hands of the Byzantines to that of the Ottomans. This is a really interesting topic for me because the Turkish identity is really intriguing. They are a people that are not European, but nor are they Middle Eastern or Asian. Rather, they sit on the precipice that divides these continents and really have an identity that is also somewhat dichotomos. Once we had finished the lecture, we were bound for the city. Our first adventure into the history of Istanbul had begun!

We met with our guide for the day in front of the hotel. He was a dynamic and verbose man who liked to talk and tell us about history. Unfortunately, we were a bunch of academics who were already well-versed in the history and politics of the area and found him to be somewhat trying! On the docket for the day was the Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia (yipee!), and the Byzantine Cistern.

The Topkapi Palace: http://www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~history/topkapi.html

This was the residence of the sultans for almost 4 centuries! Built by Mehmed II in 1453, it has remained at the point of the Bosphorus and Sea of Marmara for almost 600 years. We walked through the gate leading to the palace, which was protected by armed military. Surprisingly, this was the only time that we saw armed military the entire time we were in Istanbul. I clearly got the feeling that it was a mostly ceremonial guard anyway...protecting the home of the sultans, and not really intended to keep people out or even monitor the comings and goings through the gate! Anyway, we finally get inside and enter the first of three courtyards that make up the palace structure. It was a beautiful space with huge cypress trees that tower over the visitor. It's an oddly non-monumental structure on the whole. Not very tall and looming, but lots of lower profile structures that allow for a more comfortable experience.

We first visited the Harem, which is a really interesting portion of the palace. This was the residence of all of the women that would have been part of the Sultan's entourage, including his wife, daughters, mother, concubines, and slaves. The interior would have been off-limits to nearly everyone. Only te Sultan, members of the Harem, and Eunuch guards were allowed access to the Harem. It was beautifully tiled and was am amazingly complex structure that was completely removed from the huge open courtyard that we had experienced. The open courtyards revealed private views over the sea. Even in modern Istanbul, you are completely hidden from view of any people when on these terraces and courtyards. This is really the main portion of the palace that has retained its original appearance and general sense of its function. Most of the other areas have been turned into exhibition space and house the treasury, art works, or other items.

It was very interesting to visit the Holy Relics area, which housed relics of Muhammed. Here, they also have men reading the Qu'ran 24 hours a day/7 days a week, which is a tradition that has been ongoing for years. It was so beautiful to listen to. The flowing language and rhythm of the text being sung was really fantastic! The relics (like Christian relics) were interesting ... including bones of Muhammed and pieces of his clothing, books, etc.

When we finished our tour of Topkapi...which was about 4 1/2 hours from the time we left the hotel (partially due to our loquacious guide)...we finally headed to Hagia Sophia!!!!!

Hagia Sophia: http://www.patriarchate.org/ecumenical_patriarchate/chapter_4/html/hagia_sophia.html

I was very excited to walk into this church. It was really a special experience for me that is still difficult to put into words. The enormous space of the interior, with it's huge dome and hemispherical side domes, is a work of MASTERY. It is amazing to stand underneath this tremendous space and feel so small and at the same time, so connected to a spiritual world. The Virgin and Child mosaic that survives above the apse from the 11th century is beautiful, but is no match for the fantastic images upstairs, and my FAVORITE image of Justinian, Constantine, and the Virgin and Child. I wandered around the church for a while alone. Wanting to just experience the space and be in a structure built 1500 years ago. I stood where the Empress Theodora once stood in the 2nd floor gallery looking down toward the apse and altar. I truly felt that this was a miraculous space. It was really fantastic. I had intended to return before the trip ended in order to sit quietly within the walls again, but never made it. My plan to go on the morning of my departure was thwarted by the fact that it was closed on Mondays! But, at least I experienced the magnitude of the site once. I hope to return one day in the future.

We returned to the hotel in time to be starved and ready for a meal...oddly enough, we didn't really get one! A story that will be told in my next post...Our Night Out on the Town!!!

The Swing of Things

Wow...getting back into the swing of things has been a bit of a challenge!! I've been home for over a week, and I still feel like I am trying to catch up and get ahead of myself! At least I am not falling asleep at 7pm anymore!! :) Anyway...I have been slacking, but I will definitely post some more Istanbul memories tonight so that some of those photos make more sense! I still have one final roll of film in my camera, so I think I will take it down to the beach with me this weekend for the holiday...finish it off and get it developed. I know that there are some great photos on there from our last day outing to Balat and Taksim.

Link to Map of Istanbul

Pretty decent map that shows parts of the city...Click HERE!

Pre-Istanbul

The week before leaving for Istanbul, I was a wreck. I was worried about flying to Turkey on my own. I was afraid that I would be alone at the airport and forced to catch a cab by myself through a city that I had never seen! Turns out, I was worried for nothing! I knew 4 other people on my flight, met up with Suzanne at the airport without any trouble, and made it safely to the Hotel without even a hitch!

The flights over were not too bad. I left Philadelphia at about 8:30 pm for an overnight flight to Munich. I didn't sleep as much as I would have liked due to it being very cold in the plane and the big TV was kept on most of the night. When they did finally turn it off, I slept soundly for an hour or two before the sun came up. Munich was a beautiful sight from the sky. It was so green and lush, with these small hamlets of red roofed houses dotting the landscape. I know that I was partial to the sights due to the fact that I am German, but I immediately knew that it was a place that I would like to return to one day!

In Munich, we caught our second flight to Istanbul. Much shorter, this flight had us on the ground by 4:00 in the afternoon. My first impression of Istanbul from the sky was that it was HUGE! I was floored by the size of the city. I guess I should not have been so surprised since I know that Istanbul is home to somewhere between 12 and 14 MILLION people. For comparison, New York city houses about 8 million. Istanbul is situated in an amazing place between the continents of Asia and Europe. I found a pretty decent map online...hopefully, it will help to situate some of my stories!!

The Bosphorus splits Istanbul into it's European (on the left) and Asian (on the right) sides. To the South is the Sea of Marmara and (not on the map) to the North is the Black Sea. The Golden Horn is the bit of water that divides the European side of Istanbul in half. On the map you can see at the bottom left, the Ataturk Airport. That is where we landed. We drove along the coastal road to the Old City section, also called Sultan Ahmet. There, our hotel overlooked Hagia Sophia and The Blue Mosque and faced Asia.

Getting through the airport was surprisingly easy. We purchased our Visas, got some Lira from the ATM, walked through the passport checkpoint, where they didn't even ask a single question, and then got to the luggage carousel just as our bags were arriving. Done and Done! We were out of the airport within 15 minutes.

The ride to the hotel was a beautifully scenic trip along the Sea of Marmara. The ships anchored offshore provided a beautiful foil to the crowded houses covering the hillside of the city. The coastal road was a four lane divided highway with typical city traffic. Between the road and the sea was a long strech of parks, in which Turks sat picnicking, playing soccer, or just spending time with one another. It was really beautiful, and completely different from what we experienced when we turned off this road and entered the city. Narrow, cobblestone streets would up the hill into the heart of Sultan Ahmet. In these tiny areas, you really have to put your faith in the crazy cabbies to get you exactly where you need to be! Not easy as they are consistently coming within inches (and I do mean INCHES) of other cars, buildings, PEOPLE! It's not the type of place in which you step out into the street and expect them to stop.

Our driver did get us right to the front door of the hotel without incident and dropped us safely at our destination, the Hali Hotel. Hali (pronounced Hal-eh) means "carpet." The owner of the hotel is also a carpet seller, so that makes sense. Our room was nice...a perfect size with a BIG bathroom (about twice the size of mine at home!!!). We went up to the terrace right away (as this was where we were having our first dinner). The view was amazing...seeing Hagia Sophia for the first time was stunning, and I couldn't wait to walk down to it and see the inside!

We had our dinner and then our first presentation, where Suzanne and Mary introduced us to Sufi poetry. It was really nice, unfortunatley, we were all so exhausted that we couldn't get our brains to work and participate. I barely remember climbing into bed, as I was asleep almost before my head hit the pillow. Our next day was to be full of excitement!!!

Home Sweet Home!

I made it home late Monday night after about 15 hours of flying. Exhausted and ready for bed...I managed to unpack my toothbrush, take a shower, and get to sleep just before midnight. I got up for class on Tuesday and had a nice day all in all. I was surprised that I didn't feel more lagged, but I guess I played my cards well by forcing myself to stay awake through most of my flight home! Chip offered to drop my film off to get developed yesterday, and I was shocked and excited to get home from class at 1:30 to find 9 rolls of developed film sitting on the dining room table!!!!! Since I tend to be rather anal about things like this, I spent several hours last night posting the pictures in our gallery space. If you go to view them, you should really do so in the following order of folders so that things generally make some sort of sense:

1. Istanbul General Views
2. Hippodrome, Topkapi, and Hagia Sophia
3. Istanbul - Kariye, Blue Mosque, Cistern
4. The Bosphorus and ASIA!!!
5. Istanbul Images

I will follow up this post with some details about the trip...what we did, what I thought, etc., Although this will undoubtedly take a few days!!! Keep a weather eye!

Happy Anniversary and SEE-YA!!!

To my husband I want to say Happy Anniversary! Two years married and still happy as clams! :) Can't wait for all the years that are ahead of us!

To everyone...I'm almost all packed up and ready to go! I actually don't leave for about 12 hours, and I have a few last minute things to pick up....but I am pretty much ready to fly! I'm not really looking forward to the 12 hour plane ride to get to Istanbul, but I am VERY excited for the next week in such a beautiful place. I have packed two cameras (one digital and one not + 8 rolls of film!!!), so I'll try to get some photos added to the gallery as soon as I can upon my return!

I can't wait to share all of the amazing things with everyone when I get back! See you all soon!!!!
Gorusuruz!!! (this should have umlauts over all of the vowels, and means "See you" in Turkish!) Your response would be Gule! Gule! (again with umlauts over the u's)

Pickles

Chuck and I just got home from spending the night down at the beach house. A little anniversary weekend getaway before I get-away to Turkey on Monday. Anywho...we are driving back and I see a sign outside of one of the small diner/restaurants that dot the road that we take which reads..."PICKLED CLAMS". Clams??? PICKLED???? What the heck is this about??? And it made me think...pickled eggs...pickled beets...pickled pig's feet....the fact is, NOTHING SHOULD BE PICKLED BUT...PICKLES!!!!
Pickles are the only food that should be eaten in pickled form. I'm sure many will disagree (particularly about the pig's feet), but this is just my opinion...Which, coming from someone whose family owns a pickle factory (that does make pickled pig's feet), I feel has some sense of validity! What will they think of next...pickled Peeps!?!? Anyway...I guess this is a lot like the whole Saturday Night Live argument of "Chick pea...it is neither a chick, nor a pea....discuss." All comments welcome!

3 Days to Go

Only three days until I leave for Turkey! Wow...I'm pretty excited, but there is so much to do between now and then that I have a feeling it's really going to fly by these last few days. Today is the last day of finals...Chuck and I are going to head down to the beach for the night so that we can celebrate our anniversary (which is Monday...the day I leave). Sunday is the graduation ceremony, so we'll be at that all day...and then at a department party afterward. Then, it's Monday! Wow again. I think that I have everything that I am going to need for the trip...including some Tums...just in case! :) Well...that's it for now!

One Week!!

No, this is not a post about the Barenaked Ladies' song!! It's about my nerves being all riled up and ready to go to Istanbul!! The biggest worry on my mind at this point is money! Not whether or not I have any, but exchanging it and all that sort of thing. Other than that little nagging fear of getting there and not being able to get cash, I'm feeling good! One of my students came by today and gave me a BEAUTIFUL head wrap to wear in the mosques. It is a gorgeous deep maroon color with beads around the top. Very pretty...she's going to show me how to wear it on Wednesday! :) Fun, fun!

On a ridiculous note...even though this is an embarrassing story, I thought I would share. I was out running this morning around the lake near our house....just as I was running under a tree, I felt something hit the top of my head...thinking that I had been bombarded by a kamikaze squirrel (we have those in NJ and PA, you know), I reached up only to find that I had been attacked by another animal....yep...a bird....poop...on my head! :P Crazy birds...I definitely ran faster after that, so I could get home and TAKE A SHOWER!!! EWWWW...:) Comes with the territory, I guess!

14 Days

Two weeks...that's it...only two weeks until I am on a plane to Turkey. Yippee! I'm getting excited and nervous all at the same time! :)

What a great weekend...we were supposed to have our annual Spring movie night on Friday, but due to some inclement weather, we were forced to reschedule for the beginning of May. Instead, we went bowling with Jim, Jeanne, and the kids. Had a great time just hanging out and drinking some drinks while we bowled. I'm still getting used to my new bowling ball...Chuck assures me that I will get better with this one, but I'm not too good to begin with, so I'm not holding my breath! :)

Saturday night, we went to see Brian's show at the Tin Angel with Reuter, Jim, and Jeanne. The show was a lot of fun...even though we had to get there amid a veritable downpour!! It was the first time that Reuter and Jim had seen him play, and they were both pretty impressed! They really enjoyed it and Jimmy ended up buying a few CD's before we left.

Sunday morning, (yes, after having been out the night before drinking at Brian's show!) Reuter, Chuck, and I got up to run the Dash for Organ Donor Awareness 10K at Kelly Drive. After the great parking struggle, I ended up parking at CCP and jogging down to the museum for the start....it was a good warm up! :) The weather was really pretty nice...it was cool and a bit drizzly at first, but that actually was ok. The run went well, although as of this morning, they still do not have me posted in the results!! I swear I was there! :)

All in all...fun weekend. Now, it's back to work and all that good stuff!! :):)

The Countdown Begins

18 DAYS!!!

In 18 days, I will be on a plane to Turkey! Wow...I am beginning to get a little nervous. I have spent the day looking into details that I have not looked into so far...insurance, visas, ect. It's so much more complicated than you think when you're traveling that far away, but it's so very exciting, too!

The images above are from the Topkapi palace in Istanbul. This was the palace of the Ottoman sultans, built around 1450 and used until 1850. Today it is a museum, and is on our list of sites to see. Can't wait...it should be absolutely gorgeous!!!

Whirlwind Weekend

Another weekend flew by...this time it flew by while I was happily in the company of my mom, dad, Grams, and brother and his family. It was quick...too quick...but great! So awesome to see my dad looking good and feeling better. I finally got to see my new nephew, which was also nice. He's a cutie...looks a lot like my brother when he smiles, which is nice! All the photos are in the gallery, including a great one of my dad and Noah.

We didn't do much over the weekend...we ate a lot of food, played cards, drank some good wine, talked a lot, and just enjoyed the company of everyone! Honestly, I didn't even leave the house on Saturday, but I was really really ok with that.

I ran into Dave at church on Sunday (hi, Dave! :)) That was quite a surprise as neither one of us had told the other that we would be in town. Too bad I didn't know ahead of time, or we could have spent some time together on Saturday. Oh, well! Anyway...that's about it...the new camera worked really well, although it does have a bit of a tendency to eat batteries...I'll have to look into the lithium ones. All in all though...great time! :)

Keester on the Way

Keester (also known as Easter) is on the way! Normally, I get very excited about this holiday....if only for the fact that I get to annoy my husband by hiding eggs and easter baskets around the house and forcing him to find them! This year, however, I am heading to Michigan to visit my Dad. Of course, I am still looking forward to this...it's just not the same as annoying Chuck! :) Anyway...

Dad actually had another surgery on Monday night. He had a build up of fluid around his heart which was causing a bunch of complications. They relieved the pressure and drained the fluid, but at the moment, he is still in the Cardiac Care Unit at the hospital. Hopefully, he will be out for the weekend. Otherwise, I'll be spending Keester making him hunt for eggs in his bedpan! :) Just kidding! (He doesn't have a bedpan!) I'm just happy to be getting home to see him...it's been very hard to be so far away and feel unable to do anything. Even if anything just means visiting him.

That's it for now...I finished the bedroom last night. We now have furniture and it looks great! Check out the photos in our gallery. They aren't great because it's hard to take a great photo of the room, but you'll get the idea! :)

Stupid People Stories are the Best

Just had to show it...stupid people stories:

MSNBC

On a side note...and thankfully a not so stupid one...in the world of crazy celebrity children names like Pilot Inspektor and Kal-El, it's nice to see someone go biblical on our butts (or is it?). Thank goodness Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin has the sense to avoid another fruity encounter...they chose the name Moses instead. Phew...thank goodness that kid will never get teased!

Wild and Wooly Weekend

Well, here we are and it's Monday again! Whoa...where did the weekend go? It seems like it was just yesterday that I was looking forward to my weekend off...now it's Monday again!

Thursday was Coldplay...Friday, Chuck and I went to First Friday. This is when all of the galleries in the Olde City section of Philly open up and have drinks and snacks and welcome visitors. It was pretty neat overall. Lots of the work was kind of repetitive or not overly original, but there were a few particular shows that were really good. I particulatly enjoyed the show at the Artist's House Gallery. A handful of artists - each wildly different, but really phenomenal. It was cool.

Saturday, we decided to forgoe a trip to the beach in order to...shop at IKEA???? This was Chuck's idea...if you can believe that?! We went there looking for a new coffee table for the living room and came home with a brand new bedroom set, complete with two bedside tables, two dressers, an armoir and a bed! All of this, of course, needed to be put together!!! Anyway...we spent the rest of Saturday night putting together the two bedside tables and the armoir. On Sunday, we put together the bed and I put together my dresser, leaving his dresser for sometime this week. (You can see photos in the link on the left)

To top it all off, we also went to Wissahickon to run on Sunday morning. I know that I personally logged somewhere just under 6 miles! :)

We both zonked out pretty badly last night on our new bed, and while I'm feeling pretyt good, I am a bit tired today.

I set up a Yahoo Photo Album this morning, so I will be adding to that over time. For now, it includes some of our home improvements and a picture of our niece Ava. Man, she's cute!!! :) I'll update it soon...take a look again later!

Coldplay

Well...the bad news about last night's concert was that Jeanne was unable to go with me! She found herself a bit under the weather, and just couldn't make it out. Which meant that, despite my attempts to find myself another "date", Chuck had to go with me. Problem...he is neither a Coldplay fan, nor much of a concert-going fan! Nevertheless, he humored me by going along!

The good news was that the show was really good! They are a dynamic group of performers...Chris Martin spent the majority of the show running (or rolling) around the stage or jamming at the piano. I must acknowledge however, the Bono-esque entrance with Martin in front of a huge TV screen a-la Zoo TV tour in 96. We also got an impromptu song from the guitarist, which was great. All in all...I enjoyed the show and wouldn't mind taking them in again in the future...if they ever return to the US! Philly was apparently their last tour stop "for a long while" (which prompted cheers from the crowd....hmmm...people were happy that they weren't going to be back???). While it was no U2 show...it was really pretty cool.

I would add a photo, but unlike the rest of the world that came packing their digital cameras...I just enjoyed the moment! I found it hilarious that people all around me were watching the show through their cameras so that they could video tape it instead of actually watching the band. I guess they figure they can always watch the video later...kind of removes the significance of being at a live show though, eh?

Turkeys and Tunes

Ok...so here's an interesting story...

I was out running the other morning...around 5 am or so. As I turned a corner to head back up a hill to our house (mind you, I am in the middle of a subdivision), I see a curious sight. Walking across the front lawn of a house that sits about 2 blocks from ours is...a TURKEY!!! A wild turkey. She walked up to their front porch and behind some bushes and proceeded to poke her head up and look at me a few times before I continued on my way. I just could not believe it...a wild turkey...in NEW JERSEY...in my subdivision! It was funny! Anywho...that's my interesting story.

Jeanne and I are heading to the Coldplay concert tonight. Should be a lot of fun...everyone I know who has seen them says they're great! We'll see.

Yali

This is a yali on the Bosporus. Beautiful old homes once owned by the upper-class in Istanbul. Now, many of them are in disrepair, although there has been a city-wide movement to buy them, fix them up, and return them to prominence along the water!

Merhaba...Hello

Facts about the Turkish language...which I have been studying for the past couple of months, in preparation for my upcoming trip...

- Turkish is the 7th most prevalently spoken language in the world (out of almost 4000)
- Turkish is spoken by over 200 million people
- About 90% of the population in Turkey speaks Turkish...probably not a surprise, but what about...
- over a million speakers of Turkish live in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Greece
- more than 1.5 million speakers of Turkish live in Germany and near half a million live in other European countries.
- Turkish was originally written using the Arabic alphabet. In 1928, Kemal Ataturk changed the alphabet to the Latin and traveled around the country teaching the new alphabet to his people, who were now predominately illiterate!!
- The Turkish language continues to evolve today and students in primary schools throughout Turkey learn new vocabulary words (to replace foreign words that often inhabit the language) every year!!

As you can imagine...it's a tough language to learn! I am doing my best and just hope to be able to haggle in the marketplace and politely say hello to our contacts and colleagues in Istanbul!

We had a meeting last week and went over the itinerary briefly. We'll be visiting Hagia Sophia on our first day, which should be pretty incredible. This, for me, is an iconic symbol of Istanbul and since I teach it every semester, will be great to actually experience. I'm sure that my comprehension of the site will be greatly improved through interaction with it.

Most of the rest of the week is not set in stone, but we will be spending our mornings in meetings and our afternoons wandering the city and seeing the sights. We will be taking a boat trip around the Bosporus (Bogaz in Turkish), which will include visiting the yali, which are the old houses that line the Bosporus.

On our last day, we have an optional trip to Ephesus, which is an ancient city built by the Romans. It is a beautiful city...although Suzanne and I are considering hitting the baths for the day and relaxing there instead of going to Ephesus!! We're looking into it! :)

That's it for now...

Spring has Sprung

Spring is here in Philadelphia, finally!! It seems like it has taken forever to get here, but the trees are finally in bloom, the warm weather is here, and if you look at the image of downtown, you can just catch a glimpse of the pink water that is currently flowing from the fountain in Love Park. I spent Sunday at the museum...it was really a nice day to walk through the city and just enjoy being outside for a little while.