It's 11 pm here and we JUST arrived back at our rooms!  The adventures of today included our driver (Mahir) driving in reverse down an on ramp - which barely solicited a beep from other drivers- and the purchase of several negros.  It was an interesting day to say the least.

Other than that, today was all work with several schools visited as well as a university.  We capped off the day with dinner at a family's home.  It took us 3 hours to arrive there.  When Hakan said Istanbul was large, it simply did not sink in just how large large really is!  Its the city that never ends.  There are 17 MILLION people in Istanbul.  The majority of them are on the European side where we are staying and where the hosting family lives.

Of course the house was something out of a dream.  Overlooking the sea with chandeliers in every room and a bathroom off of every bedroom.  The family was big and there were many of them there because they own three of these houses in  a row: father, daughter, and uncle living side by side.  They spoke very little English but it didn't really matter as we had a wonderful time with our little bit of Turkish, their little bit of English, and poor Hakan trying to interpret as fast as we all spoke.   We had to force ourselves away to arrive here as late as we did because we need to catch a plane at 5 am tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be dinner with yet another family after some school visits and a visit to Ephesus where we are supposed to see the ruins of Artimesis' temple and a beautiful famous water fall.  We will sleep one night there and then back to the hotel and another flight in the morning to go to Antalya.  I am stressing out just a little because there has been very little time for shopping and I have specific things in mind that I want to buy.

sights and sounds of Turkey continue to amaze and there is more yet to come!  I hope all is well with all of you at home!