Hilton Konya

... leading up to a huge roundabout upon which there is a mound covered by attractive tea houses. Behind this hill lies the main mosque, which is quite basic on the inside but set in beautiful gardens of orange and yellow.

In a way the real gem was the Tile Museum, hidden away and completely empty of tourists where we took in all the delights at our leisure. There was some very impressive ceiling work, and most impressive of ...

... with gold leaf pages etc. Then I went to have a shave done in an old school berber (barber) shop, which left me silky smoothy, with only one minor cut, despite the open blade being used. Also went to markets then had a seriously good beef kebab and the find of the trip: elkiekmet. We went past a tiny shop and saw an old guy eating a ...

... at the end of the project, beacause earth preserves better than anything else. Ever since the dicovery of the hoyuk, the Brits have been the flagbearers. The main sponsors are Koc and Boeing. Omer Koc, a third generation member of the prominent Koc family, has taken special interest in Catalhoyuk. Also at Catalhoyulk, I met a guide book updater for Fodor's. A young woman who has graduated from Smith College, MA ...

... cant believe the change I am feeling as a person already. After being in the place I am in now, I feel as though you could drop me anywhere in the world, except Baghdad, and I would manage calmly and collectively! I am learning how to control these factors of my own baggage and deal with them all so much better One of the harder things I still face is, dealing with myself in the evenings, when the day is ending. I guess the tiredness and disorientation sparks the fire of ...

Here ın Konya ıs where Rumı started the mystıcal Sufi tradıtıon of the Whirling Dervishes. The cıty ıs hot at 90+ degrees. Tonıght we wıll see the Ceremony of the Dervıshes whıle they spın to commune wıth god. Also just outside the city is one of the oldest and original townships in our civilizations history.

... it has hit me especially bad. Perhaps because I've never stayed here so long before; I don't know. But now I have a secret stash of cucumbers, carrots and corn on the cob. I feel like I'll just die if I eat another potato. Tomorrow is our day off but I don't want to walk anywhere so once again, I'll skip my ritual bath and hang out around the dig house. A fieldtrip to Cappadocia is planned so hopefully some people will be gone from the house. The more ...

... so it looked as if someone was being burned at the stake. When the clothes finally caught fire, several people were chasing the flying embers all up the mound. Last thing we need is the mound to catch alight. I couldn't think of a good costume for this one so I skipped out but there were plenty others who were more creative than I was. This week we did a Crime and Punishment party theme, which seemed appropriate since we lovingly call this place an open ...

... secretly expecting. The journey there was an adventure in and of itself. Our first mistake was being a bus load of non-Turkish speakers with a non-English speaking driver. Of course, the site was poorly signposted, no map in any guide book and all we had was the place name. And when we did have a sign post, the arrow was pointing in the wrong direction: at a T-junction, the arrow pointed straight ahead (off the cliff). At nearly every ...

... there are only two things that are going to fall on me and a little piece of plastic is hardly going to save me. Either 3.5 meters of wall is going to collapse on me or Roddy, who works in a house on top of the section, is going to fall on me. If Roddy fell, I'd break his fall but I doubt a little yellow hard hat is going to save me from a falling Roddy. So until I get this useless and pointless hat (yes, I'll send photos), I'm in the labs squirting dirt through sieves.

... City is growing larger by the day. I went from 3 neighbors to 7 in a matter of days. All the good spots are now all taken so the sunny, unshaded spots are left. At least that means I'll have some quiet in the middle of the afternoon when everyone else's tents are too hot to sit in. We are about 31 people now and we're not suppose to get any more until next weekend. The Polish team is expected to arrive so that will be fun. So what ...