This is my first time leaving the country and it was quite the experience waiting in a Turkish airport for hours. Once we got to Gazipasa it was around midnight and we had a quick turnaround for the 5am start the next day. We get fed breakfast at the school house and get started moving rocks so we can get to the soil underneath. We are working on at the acropolis on top a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean moved these huge rocks and tossed them off the cliff. We did this for three days straight. I really enjoyed this task, it’s a simple task but it feels good to be doing manual labor instead of sitting at a desk. We get done working at 1 and have lunch. I am a very picky eater, so I thought I would not like the food here.. but it is actually very good and I have enjoyed everything that has been given to us. Once we return to the dighouse we have downtime until about 6, and thats when we have a lecture about the reading. The jetlag plus the heat plus the work made for an exhausting week. I am really enjoying my time here but at I was also very homesick and miss my loved ones so much. On Sunday we took a trip to Selinus and hiked around some of the tombs and took the exhaustive hike up the mountain, the view was incredible and to look back down there was a sense of accomplishment that you felt. I also forgot to mention the cove that we get to go swimming at on Fridays. The cove is amazing! Beautiful water and such a treat to be able to go there after a week of hard work.
-Joey Alarie