August 25, 2009

Some Photos from My Turkey Tour

I"m posting some photos from our Turkey Tour with my Japanese friends, The Tanaka Family!
親愛なる友達の田中家のみなさんとのツアーの写真をお見せしましょう。
We spent nearly one and a half hour in the last day at Rumeli Hisari...My longest visit there! A favorite place of Mr.Tanaka!
ツアーの最後の日はボスフォラス海峡のヨーロッパ側の城砦ルメリ・ヒサルで一時間半過ごしました!田中さんの大好きなところです!

..and another surprise person: singer&actor Emre Altug! ・・・そして歌手・俳優のEmre Altug(エムレ・アルトゥーさん)にも出会ったら、大びっくりしました!

In a fashionable Japanese restaurant in Nisantasi-Istanbul (SUSHICO). I have met there another Japanese friend from years ago coincidentally...
イスタンブルの新市街のNisantasi地区のおしゃれの日本レストラン「SushiCo」にて。ここでは昔からの日本人友達と出会ってしまいました・・・

I have found a tree of evil eyes in Cappadocia! カッパドキアで目玉の木を見付けました! At the photo stop that's called "3 Beauties" in Urgup-Cappadocia. My husband called it "4 Beauties"! :) It was a site that I had missed for 5 years!
カッパドキアのウルグップの町にある「3人美人」と呼ばれる写真スポットです。主人は「4人美人」といいます。

At the Ephesus excavation area...in the background you see the Celsus Library which was the third great library of the ancient world.
エフェソスの遺跡群にて。背景には古代世界の3大図書館であるケルスス図書館があります。
We're in this picture in Ephesus on our way to The Virgin Mary's House which is a pilgrimage place of the Christian believers.

I have been known the Tanaka Family for 10 years, since the Marmara Earthquake. Mr.Tanaka (second from the right; and his wife, Keiko) is a friend of one of my Japanese friends; works for a volunteer disaster relief organization in Kobe, Japan and he & his organization had conducted a relief campaign for the Marmara Earthquake and brought the relief money they had raised to Turkey. And I was their guide in the disaster area. After that time, he had visited disaster areas several times, but never the touristic beauties of Turkey. So this tour was a long-desired one of Tanaka-san.
The couple on the left of me are the younger brother of Mr.Tanaka and his wife, Toshiko.
この写真では我々はエフェソスの聖母マリアの家へ行く道沿いにいます。聖母マリアの家はキリスト教徒たちの巡礼地である。
田中さんたちを10年前のマルマラ大地震以降知っています。私の日本人友達の友人であった田中さん(右から2人目)は神戸市にあるボランティア災害協会の方で、地震のために募金活動をして、その寄付金をトルコへ持ってきてくれた時は私は彼らの被災地でのガイドでした。それ以来、田中さんはトルコを数回訪れたのですが、一度も観光地を訪問したことがありませんでした。ですから、このツアーは田中さんの長年の願望でした。
私の左にいるカップルは田中さんの弟と彼の奥様です。
This is the Trojan Horse replica which was used in the 2004 "Troy" movie that starred Brad Pitt (as the Greek warrior - Achilles). Now it's being displayed in the heart of the city of Canakkale as a gift from the film producers.
チャナッカレ港の近くの公園に2004年のハリウッド映画『トロイ』で撮影に使われたトロイの木馬が展示(撮影後寄贈されたもの)されています。

August 20, 2009

I'm back home!




After a long enough trip to Oklahoma from Turkey, I'm at home again and started working on my kai no kuchi order. I got 15 kai no kuchi boxes ready as a trial order for a Canadian customer who found me in June during my vacation and thankfully was willing to wait for me to be back home in August. Today I was busy taking the pictures of the boxes to send my customer for her final approval. She made her purchase tonight and now they're ready to be sent to Canada!

I'm going to post them tomorrow.

August 13, 2009

My Vacation in Turkey is about to End!

My vacation in Turkey is about to end in Aug.17! It ended in a flash! I have been here in Turkey since June 15. That means it's been 2 months, but for me it was like a week!

In the above picture, Fethi and I was in Foca in June, a small resort town on the Aegean Sea coastline of Turkey.

I did a Turkey tour with my 4 old Japanese friends between July 31-Aug.7 after a 5 year break and that was very good for my confidence as a tour guide. I'm gonna post some photos from our Anatolian Tour later.

Our return journey begins in the early morning of Aug.17 in Istanbul. We're gonna arrive at Oklahoma City on the same day, but in the evening of Aug.17 in Oklahoma. I have lots to do when I get back home. I have a custom purse order to complete and then hopefully a wholesale kai no kuchi order. I can't wait to be back home! I missed my hobby room. In the meantime, I need a craft cabinet to store some of my craft tools and materials!