Finding things and Friends

On the right side of this blog is a section called Followers. I decided to put it in and see what it does. Here is one thing I have figured out. It helps you connect with other people who might be interested in the same types of things that you are. I saw that Kate was one of my followers, so I sent her a friend request. On her profile it showed the other blogs that she was following and one of them was about Tom the Turkey's trip to Turkey! You should really check it out! Also, check out the followers to see if there are any of them that you want to be friends with!

Skyping with Vermont

I am still in Israel and I just finished talking with a group of teacher in Vermont who were taking a course on using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. It was amazing to be able to connect with them. It was short, but exciting. I hope it motivates these teachers to try something in the future. They had to guess where I was calling from, so I used these pictures to give them some clues. The bread and butter that is hard to see here has Hebrew writing.

There was one thing that I wish I had answered differently. Someone there asked about the reaction to Obama’s speech.

I was struck in Turkey at how interested in Obama many people we talked to were. I told them how in Turkey I talked to a guy from Zimbabwe who is studying in Oslo, Norway and was on the trip to learn about archaeology in Turkey. He was very positive and hopeful in his comments, In Turkey the comments were all really positive.

In Israel it is different though and I actually have not talked to any Israelis yet, so I cannot honestly answer the question, but now I will make that one thng to explore while I am here. My American archaeologist friends told me that many Israelis are worried about how the Obama foreign policy to Israel will work out. They do not like his middle name and are concerned that he is really Arab. There are also others who do like Obama. It is complicated, like everything.

The Skype conference was fun! I would do that again! Anyone else want to Skype? If so, just comment her or email me at janicef@jfriesen.net.

Made it!

I know that so far this has not been much of a learning blog, but I hope that the story so far has been interesting!

Last night we spent the night (the second one awake) on a ferry crossing the Aegean Sea. Here is a map of the ferry routes. Can you find Athens? Samos? Kusadisi, Turkey? We were on one ferry from before dinner until 6 am. Then we stopped at Samos, had breakfast, and moved to a different ferry. I have to say, it was memorable. Here is a picture of the moon rising over one of the islands that we stopped at.

and the sun rising at a different port in the morning.

Now we are at the Hotel Akai in Selcuk, Turkey. This is the town closest to the archaeological site Ephesus. I highly recommend it if you ever come here! The people are friendly, the rooms are clean, and it has a great pool.

I just took a shower, slept 6 hours and now I am up and hungry! Tomorrow we move to a different hotel and then on Saturday we begin meeting with the group we will be traveling with. The Network for the Study of Early Christianity in its Greco-Roman Context.

2009 Odyssey

View Larger Map

I am preparing right now for a 5 week long trip to the Mediterranean this summer. I have an opportunity to travel with my husband to archaeological sites in Turkey, Israel, Italy and Greece. I hope to see many other things and meet people in all of these places. Below you will see a map showing the itinerary for the trip. I hope you will join and put your comments and questions onto the blog. The map is interactive. Zoom in and out and slide it to see the parts you are interested in.