i got the fire

it was sunny today!! I actually didnt have to wear a jacket today, just my thermal undershirt and a t-shirt. yeah it was a little chilly around dinner, but it was so worth it. everything is going realllly good here for me. I feel like a rolling stone of sorts, just gaining confidence back everyday.

here is another contest! this one is a little easier though, and sorta based on luck. First person to find what is wrong with this picture and post it up on my comment will win a photoshopped present from yours truly

Some good news! I put on 4.2 pounds in since I weighed myself last...6 days ago. haha, yeah I am eating hardcore and workin pretty hard in the gym for my triathlon. Its getting pretty late here though, so I'm gonna just post up a few pics for ya to savor. talk to ya soon!! :)

donkey...and baby donkey

oh well

the phrase I have learned to live by over here is "oh well." It makes things good, everything easy to understand. 

so, this is what I kinda cooked up tonight. working on a new number plate for my motorcycle. whaddya think?

rain rain go away

and its back to normal. I experienced about 6 hours of sunlight yesterday. I think my skin actually smoked a little bit upon UV ray impact.

so I took off 30 seconds on my one mile run last week. and this week I have taken off 71 seconds from my 10 mile bike ride. So, I'm gonna step up to the full running distance tomorrow and see how that goes. Thrusday I'm gonna try a half simulation of the running and cycling part, just to get a feel of the transition. Still putting weight back on, so things are going well for me physically finally. I just have to get my mind straight while I'm in the gym. Its just that I was in probably the worst physical condition of my life when I got to Istanbul, and I have to remember that I can't push the same weight that I used to be able to. Its all gravy though, it will come back.

gotta get going! early class tomorrow, and its getting late. have a good night!

what I'm listening to

so I updated my playlist on the right just now. I figured it would be cool to let everybody hear what I've been listening to on the daily recently. Enjoy!

19 = 1

gotta  start out by saying HECK YEAH to Ben Spies. I knew he was gonna do good, but grabbing the pole and winning a race in his first weekend in World SBK??? the dude is an absolute beast. I obviously don't get to watch the races, but I watched the highlights on youtube. Holy crap, that yamaha sounds soooooo sick! 

*back to the regularly scheduled blog*

so I made it back this afternoon to Istanbul. Wasn't exactly a pleasant flight...but we made it. I'm gonna try and sort through all of my pictures and whatnot real quick and give ya an idea of what went down.

so the first day we mostly just walked around Mardin. It was so cool though because the entire city is built into a mountain/huge hill. Its probably around a 30 degree grade or more, so you can imagine how steep it was. The construction techniques are really unique there because of the large slope. All of the businesses/markets and houses are made with flat roofs so you can walk on them. here is a awesome shot I took, you can see how the houses kinda stack on each other.

You could pretty much walk around the city of rooftops if you wanted to. Speaking of which, here is the sheep I was playing with on a roof (but, the roof was a pseudo front yard of the family that lived there)

We had dinner at this little hole in the wall joint, and I had this meatball panini type thing that was sooo good. Then we came back to the police house and I mingled with the turkish girls haha. I tend to do that at all times :)

The next day we did much of the same, but got to visit a bunch of historical sites in and around Mardin. here are some pictures from that

this is a school from the 15th century. that pool was used at night for astronomy! how cool is that

looking out of a Christian church. amazing view

so this is my fav car that we don't have in America, the Fiat Punto....and I got to ride in one! it was awesome

And the last day we jumped on a bus and drove for quite a while and ended up in a ancient city called Dara. It was so cool though cause we drove straight through Mesopotamia, and at one point we could see the Syrian border. From what I understand, Dara is located really close to where two tectonic plates connect/collide. As you can see in the pictures below, it is pretty much built from little stones. Everything is built that way, and most of it was built without any mortar to hold the stones together...pretty cool. Ok, so the story goes, the shift of the plates started the great flood that Noahs Ark straight dominated. So, all of the little stones are a byproduct of that event. 

A little down the road, but I think it was still in Dara, was this ancient Christian burial site. It was built around 5600BC, and the entire thing was carved out of this huge rock/hill. It was so crazy, just thinking that somebody hand to do all this with their hands, and it is still standing today. here are some pics from that

panoramic of Dara

credit photoshop for adjusting the perspective....this is the burial site carved in the rock

and today, pretty much just travelled by bus and plane and ended up back in Istanbul. It was kinda weird though, it was actually sunny today. I hardly recognized the city...no joke. First thing I did was go and get me some Nesquick cereal, I was craving it all weekend haha. aiiiight, hope that helped to explain my trip a little bit! I'm gonna go unpack and get some sleep, I'm a little behind on it. Talk to you guys soon! miss ya

*ps*  sorry lindy and brent for getting cut off earlier. The school decided to just turn off the internet for no good reason. my bad

havas yavas lutfen

what up!! today was incredible. we travelled all around southeast turkey in the bus. We stopped in about 4 little ancient towns. 

Today is another short blog, I have to be at dinner in 120 seconds. So, enjoy the pics! Full reports will be posted when I get back to Istanbul next week!

see ya, love ya!

I love all the local kids!

me, jeremy and daniel in Dara

ok, this is an ancient tomb from 5600BC. yes, BC....there were still some bones in it...

you are eating everytime I see you

so, apparently I eat constantly...according to some of the turkish girls. haha, I'm cool with that. Oh, and my personality is as colorful as my clothing too. I hope that doesn't mean I'm gay. haha, just playin

so I explored Mardin all day today. I had amazing food all day (ok, maybe the girls are right). Again, I am in a rush to get downstairs and socialize. I am a little social butterfly, I can't help it. I get it from my little sis. What up sandy!!

this is looking down over Mardin from a school used in the 1400's

the new Fiat 500! pimpin

I told this kid to cross his arms so we could look cool together. little did I know this kid is straight gangsta. look at how hard he is looking at the camera!

this is Mesopotamia, a.k.a. the beginning of civilization. it was seriously breathtaking thinking about it. beautiful

love

ok Mardin is one of the most amazing places I have ever been. Its just beautiful, and the people are really friendly. Friendly in the exact meaning of the word, not friendly as in "i want to be nice only to get your money." 

I'm gonna keep it short tonight, I'm sitting up in my room instead of being downstairs with everyone else. So, here are a few pics from today. I'll post up a bigger blog tomorrow. Night!

me and this awesome little dude that was playing with a sheep on his roof haha

panoramic of Mardin. That is Syria in the horizon

made it to mardin

what up errbody. dont have much time, but I wanted to keep ya updated. I made it here just fine, the flight was good. We are staying in a police academy type thing. It is actually really nice, I would rather be here than my place in Istanbul haha..just playing...kinda...

anyways, the internet runs good here. So look for me on skype and whatnot, maybe I could video chat! ok, we are off to tour the city!! peace

racing is back!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOO i have been waiting for this since November!! World Superbike's season opener is this weekend in Philip Island, AU. It is gonna be amazing this season in World SBK. If you are gonna watch any series this year, this is the one to watch. 7 different manufactures, 32 riders...best of all, Ben Spies is gonna tear it UP!!! I predict he will win the championship, no joke. I dont care if he is a rookie, the dude is scary fast. He is on the Yamaha this year, rockin the number 19. GOOOOOOOOOOO Elbowz!!

Also, MotoGP has their second official test this weekend in Qatar under the lights. I wanted to go there soooo bad for the season opener in April, but it just costs too much and the timing isn't good as far as school is concerned. I'm thinkin Nicky is gonna find his rhythm this weekend and put his head down on that Ducati. You should see him ride that beast, it bucks like mad coming out of the corners. Hopefully he can get it worked out. 

annnnnnd AMA starts up next weekend in Daytona! The 200 is gonna be under the lights, I'm so upset I'm gonna miss that. Its all good though. I'm gonna depend on you guys to watch the races for me, or if you wanna be really nice, set up your webcam infront of the TV so I can watch it :)  Look out for Josh Herrin this year, that kid is hands down the fastest in the 600 series. He just needs to stay calm and put some laps together. I feel good about it, he will be top 3 this season!

aight I'll talk to you guys soon. Gotta get to sleep, waking up at 4:30am. Peace!