Where are you from? *America* Oh, America! Like New York? Miami? L.A.? *No, Iowa* (Blank Stare) *It's in the middle of the country.* Oh

I know I haven't posted in a while. Due to a lack of interesting stuff, unreliable internet and my inability to think of a whitey title, I've been putting off updating my blog. 

Work:

This week I've mainly been counting Cereal Cyst Nematodes. I take a small bottle of debris from soil, pour it on a slide that has raised edges that make it look like a maze and then count the number of lemon/popcorn looking things (those would be the cysts). It can be very tiresome. Gul asked me if something was wrong with my eyes because they were all red. If you've been around me long enough you know that sometimes they just get that way. Once in a while they will just look like I smoked a lot of weed; however, rest assured that I've never smoked pot, sometimes I just look like I do. When I wasn't counting nematodes, I was helping Gul and Elfinesh score wheat for Crown Rot. It took about a day and a half to score all of the plants to see if the strain of Fusarium was pathogenic or not. 

While Gul and Elfinesh were scoring, Amer came in with Elfinesh's supervisor from Ankara University. His name is Aziz and as it turns out he's actually been to Marshalltown. He did not respond like most of the people here do as I noted in my title. When I said Iowa he asked where. When I responded he said, "Oh yeah that is a nice small town." I was shocked to say the least. He got his Ph.D. from Iowa State and lived there for three years. He said I was very smart to go into Agronomy as they have an outstanding department. It was nice to meet someone from Turkey who has been in Marshalltown. 

Not work:

Other than work, I've basically been doing the same things. I didn't get to run as much this week because it rained two afternoons. We had internet in the guest house for one day. Elfinesh and I think it only comes on once every two weeks. We finally got drinking water on Tuesday after not having it since Friday. It sounds like a big deal but I had milk and juice and we could boil water. I was, however, very relieved when the jugs were full on Tuesday morning. I'd like to add a dream that I had last night. Maybe someone reading out there can let me know what it means. I'm really counting on all of you who took AP Psychology. So, in the dream I was talking with Mrs. Fritzell, Abby and Wynn about Envirothon and I asked how Rihanna was doing. They tell me that she had to be let go because of her work ethic. I was very sad and confused when I woke up. I'm still not sure why Rihanna was on the MHS Whales Envirothon team. Maybe she really likes nature and stuff.

This isn't a lot for having not posted for an entire week but it is all I have right now. I have three weeks left and I'm not sure if I want to leave. I love the Turkish lifestyle and the city of Eskisehir. There are many shops, parks and restaurants in which you can get lost in for an entire day. On a side note (I just remembered and had to share) there is this restaurant that sells a food called Donas. It is like a burrito (finally) but more American. They take a flat bread (kind of like a tortilla) and roll it with chicken, tomatoes, lettuce, FRENCH FRIES, and some spices and a sauce. You can then add sliced pickles and onions. It was, well I would have cried if I wasn't in public, that is how good it was. 

Taman (Okay in Turkish) I'm done with my incoherent ramblings for now.