Going Into Hysterics

I have had ENOUGH BUS. Twenty people cooped up together for seven hours at a time soon become ridiculous. We have recently been treated to the following cacophony: five boys in the back of the bus singing "When the Roll is Called up Yonder" at the top of their lungs, more people singing "Three Blind Mice" in a round, theme songs being invented for everything from Ataturk to Magnum bars, Kirstie Westblade humming the Star Wars theme through a kazoo, loud comments upon every sight out of the bus windows, debates over Lutheranism vs. Presbyterianism, debates over Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi, debates over music and food and oh my goodness, everything gets turned into a debate when we're running on five hours of sleep and have just seen our four-thousandth set of ancient ruins. It's not as bad as it sounds. However, the absurdity of it all has built up inside me until last night, I just couldn't take it anymore...we were out on the pier reading "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," and someone made a silly comment that set me off laughing till I couldn't even breathe. I almost rolled off the pier into the Aegean. But laughing is better than getting crabby or throwing a fit, right?

Seriously, since I usually respond to stress with hysterical laughter, I've been laughing a LOT over the past few days. Hence the title of this post.

Now, on a brighter note, we stayed in a super hotel last night near Assos. No one else around except a few donkeys, who were very cute, but the sea was lovely. I learned to skip stones on the Aegean. :) Oh, and they had a saltwater pool, which was unique and very good for playing Frisbee in. And we got to eat dinner and breakfast overlooking the beach.

Anyway, it was a good relaxing stay, in preparation for the marathon tour today. We went to Alexandria Troas (where Paul had the Macedonian Vision and where the Gospel was first sent to Europe!), then to Troy (where they have a fake wooden horse and a bazillion walls from the nine different cities which have been built on the site), then to the Dardenelles (we got to take a car ferry across the channel), then to Gallipolli (where the ANZAC invasion of Turkey occurred during WWI), then back to Istanbul. I'm saturated with history and stories.

Tomorrow we're taking a boat tour of the Bosporus, then we have free time to explore Istanbul some more. I think all of us are planning to attack the Grand Bazaar, a gigantic shopping hub of stores and stands and exciting things like that. And then we're going to find Prince Caspian. Kirstie, Jody, and I are determined to watch it before we leave Turkey!

Love,

Rebekah