Bus Trip to the Heartland of Classical Civilization

I'm not quite sure what possessed us, but Elizabeth and I decided to pack up and go on a 4 day tour with the 4th graders from our school. The morning we left we were a little nervous as the little ones tore themselves away from crying parents and we embarked on our 9 hour journey south. However the kids turned out to be lovely and were, by far, the best part of the trip. Since we weren't their actual teachers, we had celebrity status and the kids loved us--fun was had by all. Unfortunately the tour (the music (we had lots of dance parties on the bus) and the movies on the bus) were all in Turkish, so we didn't learn a lot about the places we went to see, but I did walk away with some tidbits, more Turkish vocabulary and a different view of Turkish culture.

There were two things about the kids that I thought was really endearing. The first is that they love their teachers. The kids all had huge bags full of candy and would always offer us food--they would be sad if you turned it down because they really wanted you to have it. It was my birthday on the trip and the kids all made cards and some even bought presents. They even put a candle in a little cake and sang to me. I thought it was really sweet considering they had only met me 3 days before. The second thing that I loved was their respect for the "bus boys". The school hires a tour company and two young men in their early 20s come along on each bus and give out snacks, help chaperone and organize evening activities (a super sweet deal for the teachers because we basically didn't have to do anything). In Turkish culture, it is polite to call a person who is older than you (but not a teacher or family member) Ağabey or Abla which roughly translates to Uncle or Aunt. Whenever they kids needed something they would say Ağabey and it was really fun to watch them with these guys who were great fun (one Ağabey is pictured below on a Roman toilet in Efes).

On the trip, we got to see Efes, Didem, Pergammon, Sart and the house that Mary supposedly lived in after Jesus was killed. I will have to go back and take a tour in my native language before I can give historical information, but for now here is some of what I saw:

Efes- which is a huge, fairly well preserved Roman city. Lots of statues and columns and even a sign on the marble walkway leading young sailors to the brothel (ancient advertising).

Mary's House- There is a wishing wall (pictured below) and 3 fountains that run from a spring. Each fountain stands for something--Sağlık (Health), Aşk (Love) and Para (Abundance). I drank from all three--figured it can't hurt. Although, it was actually a bit jarring to be at such an important Christian site in a Muslim country.

In the Efes Museum we saw several interesting sculptures, including this one of Artemis (the patron goddess of Efes). She symbolizes abundance, which is fairy obvious as she has quite the "abundant" chest herself.

My next favorite is the god of fertility, Beş. The best part about this piece is that he is behind darkened glass and you can push a red button for a 10 second viewing. Nothing like a peep show in a museum--and what a show it is, ladies!

Can you imagine how much fun we had trying to get sixty 4th grade boys through a museum with the fertility god brandishing this about?