Last week....

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It's the last week in Izmir. Time has flown past......I can barely believe it.

Today we are doing our last draft review with our client.  I do hope it goes well. :D

Yesterday, a bunch of us went to Cesme.

It really was a gorgeous day out!  We did a bit of driving around the area to see some of the views. Unfortunately, the marina here was closed so we could not go closer. :(









Then, we meandered through Cesme.........walked up to the castle and around the bazaar for a bit.

After lunch, we headed down to the beech.  Although the weather was probably not as perfect as we had hoped, most of the team had a bit of a swim.

With the weather not being quite what we would've liked, we went to hot springs to chill out the rest of the day.  All in all it was a nice day......

Now back to work - need to focus on our final deliverables!  Go team 3!

So far so good....

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So far so good.........our feedback to our Client is going good. :D
Now to wrap up and get going on the write-ups!

Sub team 3 - Flu attack!

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Yes.  We did it.  Most of Subteam 3 came down with a flu.  Except Anand, who's still standing strong. Hang in there Anand!

Let's catch up a bit............Saturday, the Turkey 9 teams took over the kitchen of the hotel and cooked an international dinner.  That was quite a bit of fun........and quite a bit of fiddling. It's not the biggest kitchen in the world, and trying to squeeze in 15 people all trying to do their own thing?  That was a different challenge. 

All in all I think it went well.  The food turned out great, no major injuries (okay, Mexico did decide that one should bleed for the cause!), and the clients really enjoyed the different foods.  Plus, I've now officially fell in love with this one dish they have here.  No idea what it's called (usual).........but it's mussels (unusual for me), stuffed with a spicy rice.  Delish!

Sunday we were booked to go to Pamukkale ............and of course, I was struck down by the ST3 virus. :D  Spent my Sunday feeling miserable and sick. Shame. Hehehehehehehe.
From what I heard, the guys had a blast!  Oh well..........*sigh*
Monday, I was still down and out.

Then came the day that I feared just a bit.  The community day.  Tuesday we all dressed up, and went to the Iztech university to do our community day presentations.  The nerves!
I think it went okay.  The other guys were truly amazing, and we connected and chatted to quite a few students after the event.  We even made the news!

http://www.sondakika.com/haber/haber-farkli-ulkelerden-15-ibm-uzmani-iyte-de-bulustu-4467940/

We're in our final stretch now, so it's time to wrap up on our work. 

Workshop day!

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Today, sub team 3 is having their first of two workshops with the entrepreneurs and Ebso management.
Hoping all goes well today..........

First weekend in Izmir

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What an amazing weekend the team had. :D

Friday afternoon and Saturday morning was spent exploring the Old Bazaar in Izmir.

Friday was more of a "here it is", and Saturday it was shopping time!
What an experience it was...........and quite a shopping spree.  Bought all sorts of things, and no, I did not forget to buy the Turkish Delight!

Here's Diana (my shopping partner) in one of the hundreds of alleys.

There was quite a few fish stands throughout the bazaar.  Although, I'm pretty sure by this time Diana and myself have wondered off so far..........we got pretty much turned around and completely lost. :D  Found a lot of things though1

 Veggies!

 Eeeeeek...........Offal.........or leftovers....

 Spices......

 More spices and pickled things....

 More spices..

 ....and more.....

It was quite cold and wet though........so, round about lunch time we called it a day and headed back out to the hotel.








Saturday evening the team went out to Bostanli for supper. We travelled by Ferry to Bostanli , which was an exceptionally cold trip for me.   Really did not have the right jacket here. :)

 Who knew that snow would be falling all around Izmir?  The wind truly had this bite to it that I would expect to feel in the middle of a South African winter!

Supper was amazing, however I was starting to think that they will not stop feeding us!  The food just kept on coming, and just when you think you're done, another dish pitches up.  Was hectic! :)

Sunday was the most amazing day ever.  The team went to Ephesus.  Well, there was a bit more to it than just Ephesus. First we went to the House of the Virgin Mary.  I cannot tell you how absolute awe-inspiring it is to be in a place where someone that you have read about in the Bible lived.   It brings the stories to life......

 To the right, is the Apostle John's baptising pool.
Can you even comprehend that? Wow.

 The Virgin Mary's house.   We were not allowed to take pictures inside, as it is a house of prayer.  We each could say a prayer, and then light a candle to the Virgin Mary.

Although this is not quite the way I've done things, it felt appropriate to do it. New experiences is what I'm after, after all.

This here is fabled to give you happiness, health and wealth if you drink the water from this fountain.  In the picture is Yuri (left) and Peihong (right) drinking the water.

Before Christianity, the people of the region believed in Shamanism.  They still practice some of the aspects as can be seen here.  These are prayers written on pieces of cotton.








Then it was on to Ephesus.  I took so many pictures at Ephesus, that I can probably kill off this blog in one shot. :D  So, let me put just a few things down.

 This is just amazing - no idea who the people on the blocks are, but still amazing. :D

 The Goddess Nike - do you recognise that name? - which means Victorious!

If I remember correctly, this was a water fountain.  Quite elaborate for a water fountain - they really had an eye for beauty. :D

 I always figured that if time travel would ever become possible, that I would travel back in time to see what the world really looked like.  However, after seeing these toilets.............

Can you imagine?  Open air?  And.....there was poor slaves that had to warm the seat before the master sat down on the marble "throne". Not a job description I would've liked.

 This was so dramatically impressive.......
Most of this was uncovered as is (about 80 %). The rest they rebuilt.  And if you think that this entire valley was under 10 m + of soil ....
Archeology rocks! :)
This building was a library/ mausuleum.  The son wanted to keep the memory of his dad alive, and to do that, he built this in memory of his dad.  It also included a few thousand scrolls - hence the library portion.

 The theatre.

I took this picture from - let's say, halfway up.
They are still busy putting the theatre back together, but this really does give you an idea of the immensity of this 25,0000-seater theatre.

This was taken from the highest "allowed" point.  The highest block of the theatre is still blocked off from public access.  So, it definitely goes higher.   I was already nervous here. 

 The view from the Theatre.  The road you see going towards the mountain is the road to the harbour.  How gorgeous is that?

The view of the theatre looking back.
Impressive for the time this existed.  We are talking BC here......


So, all in all - an amazing day.

Not sure where our next trip is too, but the history to be found in Turkey is just awesome.  I'm really running out of superlatives here!

Till I blog again!

First week done!

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Wow...........time sure has flown by!

Our first week in Izmir has been an exciting time.
We left Istanbul on Sunday, and after a short hop, landed in Izmir in the late afternoon.

Monday, we had our kickoff with our clients.  First the entire team went for a lunch before going to the meeting.

 From the left front, Aaron, Nick, Peihong and Yuri.

My friend Joe from Ireland. :D

Closest, is another of my team, Diana.  Behind her is our guy Charlie (helps with everything), next to him is Sirri and opposite is Richard - also in team 3. 

Here we have Ceyhun in front, at the far side Reji and Sharon.

The kick-off went well, me thinks.
Once everybody did a short introduction, we went to the top floor for a few drinks and to mingle with our clients. 

Sub-team 3 met up with the YEC president and his excitement about the project is so tangible. Makes you really want to out-perform all other teams :D
Below is just a picture I took sort of over the heads of everybody. :)

 So, then Tuesday happened, and it was time to rip-out the laptops and start to get busy.
Here's the awesome, rocking sub-team 3:

We have just completed our first weekly review, and so far so good.  Now we are prepping for the weekend.............exciting times!  Ephesus.............make ready for us! :)  See you on Sunday!

Day 2 - Istanbul

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I don't even know where to begin.  Overwhelming.  Excitement.  Awe.
To experience all that in one day is just completely amazing. Or Harika.

We went to the Blue Mosque as well as the Aya Sofya.  Unfortunately, we pitched up at the blue mosque just as they closed for mid-day prayers.  So, we turned around and went to the Aya Sofya.
The team pitched in and we got ourselves a guide.  This was the most amazing experience ever.
I stood in awe most of the time in this extremely old building.  The immensity of the workmanship that went into building this is just so overwhelming to comprehend.  This building was finished in 537 with the help of 10 000 workers and 1000 interior designers. Yes, interior designers. :D

The beauty and history behind this building really took my breath away.  The ceiling is covered in mosaic of real gold and semi precious gemstones.  There are pillars from all corners of the Mediterranean.  It even has images of pagan gods. At first this was a Christian church, and later it became a mosque.  This is the one place in the world where two headstrong religions come together and show us the beauty behind it.  Words fail me at this stage.

We meandered over to the blue mosque again and did a quick trip through that.  Not as impressive by half as the Aya Sofya, but still a  beautiful building.  I just felt that I was intruding as a lot of people were praying.  Seems wrong to be "touring" through a place where people are trying to pray. Oh well. :D

Lunch was a busy affair.  Went to a Turkish restaurant and had my first Turkish Meatball, as well as this yoghurt drink.  I loved it!  Gorgeous!

From there the group split up.  Some went to the Grand Bazaar, while a bunch of us decided to go to the basilica cistern. 

The day was finalized with a nice team supper!  Was good to socialize with all!


Now, today - on to work! :)
Chat soon!