Terrace Houses

Merhaba everyone. (That means hello) Yesterday we went to the the Terrace Houses in Ephesus. Our very special guest was Hilke Thür, from Germany. (You can see a picture of us outseide the houses in the 4th picture. She has been working on these house for a very long time - Longer than I've been alive!

We got a special "backstage tour." We got to go into special places where other tourists couldn't go, but we were doing work while looking.

It was dusty, and some people had to overcome a fear of heights. I'm so proud of them for overcoming their fear. The rain stayed away until we were done with our tour.

I have one more day of information I need to post, but we leave for the airport really early in the morning. I'll try to get it done, but it might be later in the week since we fly for a very, very long time. I hope you understand.

Tom

Back in Ephesus

Hi everyone!
Everyone on the trip did their big presentations today, and they did a great job. All the hard work over the past few days really paid off. I'm going to ask them to post a little something about the research they did. However, they are taking tonight off to celebrate - almost like having a birthday party. I'm going to call it an early night and go to bed. We are meeting Hilke Thur tomorrow and visiting the terrace houses. It's going to be a good time!

Tom

P.S. This is a picture with me and some of the girls at lunch. They decided to get dressed up in costume. It was pretty fun.

Aphrodisus

We had a vary long travel day today. It was just over 2 hours each way. The view was really pretty though. We were able to see snow-capped mountains everywhere we looked.

We went to see Aphrodisus, which is a city with a temple to Aphrodite - the goddess of love. This city also had a special school to make statues. There were so many statues to see, and I can't put all of them up here.

We also saw the temple, the agora and the stadium. The stadium was so big. Dr. Knust took a picture with me there. We look so small in that big space. Jeri Katherine went for a fun in it. Then she stopped to take this picture with me. I like her funny face.

Tomorrow everyone gives presentations on the places they have been studying. I know they are worried, but I know they will do just fine. They have worked so hard trying to understand so much information. I'm really proud of them.

See you tomorrow!

Tom

The great find

Hey kids!
I figured out how to put video on here. The sound isn't always the best, but I hope you'll forgive me. I hope you enjoy this - and I hope it works.

Tom

Paul and Thecla

Our last stop of the day was the Cave of Paul and Thecla. It was a really long way up a mountain. My legs got tired, so I got a piggy-back on Elizabeth's shoulders. She was real nice about helping me.

Professor Knust told us the story of Thecla. It was a real good story with fire, lions, wild animals and eels. Thecla really wanted to follow Paul and learn from him. She didn't take no for an answer, which got her into trouble quite a bit.
The first picture is me at the cave, and the second picture is looking down at Ephesus from the cave. The third picture is of Andrea and me with the picture (called a fresco) inside the cave. Then there's a picture of Paul and Thecla's mom. (The picture of Thecla is only half there. I don't know where the other part is.)

The last picture is us coming out of the cave. It was very dark in there. I got a little scared when I couldn't see my feathers in front of my eyes, but Kelly and Andrea stayed near by and didn't leave me. I was so glad I didn't get too scared because I would have missed out on this. It's nice to have people I can trust to help me when I get scared. I hope you have people like that too. Who are the people you talk to when you get scared?

I'm not real sure what we're doing tomorrow, but I'm sure it will be fun. Kelly needs to use the computer now, so I have to go. See you tomorrow - I hope you have a good day and night!

Tom

Temple to the Egyptian Gods

After the Artemis temple, we went to the Serapis. It's thought to be a temple to Egyptian gods. Lauren did a great talk for us about all the ways people have come to think it was for Egyptian gods. One way was how they used water. They used lots and lots of water at this temple, and water was a sacred part of Egyptian worship. Do you use water in your worship? How is it used? I usually think of baptism when I think of water in worship.

Lauren did a great job, and she even took a picture with me!

Temple of Artemis

Today was Elizabeth's turn to do a presentation, and she talked about the temple of Artemis. Did you know it's one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world? It's considered that because it's just so big there isn't even a word for it! It looked like it was about 3 or 4 football fields long. It used to be near the Aegean coastline, but the coast is further back now.

Another interesting thing about this temple is that it faces west. Most temples face east. That had me scratching my head. Elizabeth thinks it's because there was another place of worship here first, and they tried to blend the two religions to understand each other. It's kind of like trying to understand fractions, and then you are told to think about it like slices of pie. They aren't really the same thing, but it helps you understand something new.

Now, it's time to get ready for the hike!