Writing home...

I hope everything is going well at home. I've been training all this week, mostly watching groups. The camp also provides us with tours of the city, and the schedule says that in a few hours we are going on a "bead village" tour, so that sounds interesting. This weekend all the counselors have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off, so I think we are going to visit Ephesus to see some ruins and the house where the Virgin Mary died, or at least that's where people say she died. I have some nice pictures of coastal cities like Konak, Alsancak, Karsiyaka, and othe places, but as I mentioned before, I will not be able to upload them until I get home.

I just watched a group of students from an international school in Dubai graduate from the program. Students were from many different countries, including: Mexico, Brazil, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, South Africa, the United States, and more. I look forward to meeting a lot of kids from different places this summer.

There is a lot of work, but at least it seems fun so far. Training has been from 9-5 so far but when I start working it's possible that I can get an AM shift (9-4) or a PM shift (4-11). I miss you all!!! I hope everything is going well at home. Have a great summer.

first letter to the family...

I arrived in Izmir, Turkey late last night and I'm writing to let everyone know that I survived the 17-hour flight. We had a tour of the Space Camp Turkey building today and it is immense. It consists of four floors and the students do all kinds of hands-on space-related activities. I will begin training tomorrow. There are five foreign counselors at Space Camp Turkey so far, and two more will arrive later this summer. Of the foreign counselors, four of us are from California, the other one here is from Holland, and the two counselors that will be arriving later are from Tennessee and Poland. Aside from the foreign counselors, there are about 50 Turkish counselors that work here year-round.
I am very excited to be in Eastern Europe. Izmir is very modernized and Westernized. Although the country of Turkey is considered Muslim, very few women actually wear headdresses, and most of them wear the same styles I wear in Los Angeles. Today we did a tour of Izmir and I noticed that the city is very urban. We went to the coast and walked along the Mediterranean and we ate some dessert (I had asure pudding, which was a sweet pudding with different kinds of nuts and dried fruits inside), and after that we went to Starbucks. At certain times during the day we can hear a beautiful chant coming from the mosques nearby.
I took a few pictures today, but because the sim card I'm using is too big for this laptop, I won't be able to upload any pictures until I get home from Turkey or unless I can borrow someone else's laptop to do it. As soon as I can get them on line I will send them to you.
Although I miss everyone at home, I am having a wonderful time in Turkey and I'm looking forward to a fantastic summer.