the recycled orchestra

 On Wednesday evening we were treated to an amazing

concert by the Recycled Orchestra

from Paraguay.

 These kids have been raised on a landfill.

You can watch a video about their story here.

 The violins have been made from old paint cans

and baking pans.

 The can from this double bass once

held petroleum.

 An oil can cello.

 A saxophone made from a water pipe

with a downspout from an eaves-trough.

 This little girl is only 11!

She is a gifted player and was obviously born to

play the saxophone.

A trumpet with a German fingering system.

This young woman is from Argentina.
Besides playing a mean tenor sax,
she gave quite a tango demonstration!
 It was a remarkable evening.

Watch the video!

You will be amazed.

side note

Bethany's CD is here!

It's beautiful - and the music is absolutely wonderful too!
This is Beth's second piano CD.
This time all 10 pieces are her original compositions.

If you'd like to order a copy, let us know by email
or send a message to Howard's facebook.

We would be more than happy to let you feel the joy as well.

wisteria, turkish ice cream and pomegranate juice

 The wisteria was out and was it ever beautiful!

 This guy selling ice cream was quite the showman.

The ice cream was in a huge block hanging from a pole

and it wasn't melting for some reason.

I learned later that they put flour in it to keep it stiff.

 I told him I was taking pictures so that added to the show!

 A delicious pistachio rose!

 Freshly pressed pomegranate juice.

cats

 When we visited Istanbul a few years ago

it was not hard to notice that the city was

full of cats.

 It seems the cats don't only live in Turkey's largest city.

 

st. john's basilica

 Right across the street from our hotel in Selçuk

(the city close to Ephesus)

stands the remains of

St. John's Basilica.

The apostle, St. John, is believed

to be buried there.

 When you grow weary of the marble

I guess you could always cover it with

mosaics.

 Lots of Christian influence.

 The baptistry.

 Baptisms were held on Easter Sunday

in the early church.

turkey

 As many of you already know

my school board blessed me with time off after

Spring break

allowing me to travel with Howard to Turkey

and attend our mission's first ever global conference.

We spent the first week touring a bit of Turkey

and enjoying this amazing country

and its wonderful people.

Flying out of Antalya on the way to Izmir

was surprising.
I did not know there were mountains in this region,

but then again,

it's hard to find a region in Turkey that doesn't have mountains!

 The beautiful airport in Izmir.

 At the train station in Izmir - on our way to Ephesus.

I took a picture of this clock because for the first day and a half

in Turkey we weren't sure what the time was.

We arrived on election day which was also the

day the Turks were supposed to move their clocks ahead.

The president had decided to defer the time change to

Monday but not everyone was aware of that!

So trying to figure out what time it was

became quite a challenge.

We changed our watches several times on Sunday - back and forth -

not knowing which clock to believe!

Fortunately we did not miss any flights or this train we were waiting for.

 After having been greeted by half the townspeople in Selçuk

(the city 3 km from Ephesus)

as we walked up to our hotel,

the hotel manager greeted us as well and said,

"Meet me upstairs on the terrace for welcome tea 

and orientation".

We had a lovely chat with him

and he laid out plans for our two

days in his hotel.

He provided free transportation, free advice

and free guide books

during our stay.

 I chose this hotel because it looked very Turkish

and it was!

When we were on the train

a man got on carrying a huge tray of this wonderful bread.

We had enjoyed this in Istanbul a few years ago

and I was ready for a snack!

Howard thought we wouldn't have time to eat it so he nixed my plan

to buy some.

However, a lovely young man on the train who had

taken ownership of us and was

making sure we got off at the right stop

saw my interest and asked me how many we wanted.

He bought us two.

Our first experience of Turkish

hospitality on this trip.