She's a good girl, loves her mama, loves Jesus, and America too...

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This is the message that greets me when I try to access an article regarding details of Condoleeza Rice's visit to Turkey from CNN's homepage. I received the same message the night before trying to access an article from BBC's website, my preferred source for news over here. Junet, Jimy's brother tells me things are "very hot" between the US and Turkey right now. The general opinion here seems to be that the Bush administration is hardly in the position to tell Turkey that they have no business going into Iraq. It will be interesting to see what happens here in the days and weeks to come. As usual, I hope for peace, but that seems unlikely, in the near future anyway.

The night before last I was grilled by one of Jimy's friends about my thoughts on the United States' involvement in Iraq. These conversations are always difficult. It's hard to know what's best to say, how much to say, how honest to be about my opinions. Here in Turkey, more than anywhere else, I have encountered people with very strong opinions about my country, my president, and by extension, me. I was having dinner with an Australian friend the other night at a restaurant mostly frequented by locals. At the end of our meal, we're approached by the owner who's come to greet us. First he asks Chris where she's from. When she answers Australia, he smiles and nods, shakes her hand, and says "G'day mate!" (Incidentally, this kind of thing has happens everywhere and it's pretty amusing to hear that Australian greeting filtered through so many thick accents. The preferred go-to American greeting seems to be "Take it easy", which always makes me laugh because I don't know the last time I heard anyone say "take it easy" at home. But I digress....) He asks her how she's enjoying her trip, laments the bad weather Selcuk has been having, and tells her he's sorry it's been so cold. Turning to me, the owner says, "And you?" I cringe inwardly knowing he won't be pleased with my response. I reply, "The United States," and he stares at me silently for a moment before turning on his heel and walking away from our table. Chris stares after him and looks across the table at me, eyebrows raised. I shrug.

I certainly don't want to imply that this has been everyone's reaction though. I have been warmly greeted by many people in this small town, who ask, "Why don't you move to Turkey? It is wonderful here, yes?!" The other night a man offered to find me a husband. Only half joking, I think, as he introduced me to his nephew, "I think he is about your age. Turkish delight. Well, Kurdish delight, actually. Your family have camel? We talk."

I spent all day today at a nearby beach. After a few days of near constant rain, the weather has turned, and it was so nice to be in the sun and finally get to swim in the sea. As I was riding back into town in a dolmus (cross between a bus and a taxi, and the preferred form of local transport here), the sun was setting behind me and the nearly full moon was rising ahead of me. I could see the ruins of Ephesus along the hillside to my right and once again wished I could just wrap up this scene and send it home to all of you. This is a beautiful place.

I booked a ticket back to Istanbul for Saturday afternoon. I'll spend the day tomorrow at the hamam (Turkish bath) and then the plan is to have a party on the rooftop terrace here to celebrate the full moon and my last night here in Selcuk.

More soon.