E-Pal and Beyond

Hey Everyone!

It has been quite awhile since I have updated you on the happenings of Space Camp Turkey! Everything has been great, we just got finished with two really busy weeks. E-Pal weeks are the busiest weeks of the summer. Students were here from America, Greece, Israel, Turkey, Lebanon and France. They kids were alot of fun and so was the week. The second e-pal week was the best, everyone was very exceited to have an astronaut visiting. Dr. Gaffney (STS-40) gave great talks to the entire camp as well as one on one Q&As with individual teams. The kids LOVED it and one of my girls decided she wanted to be a scientist to be like him lol, it was cool. The kids that come here are amazing, so talented, friendly, smart. During E-Pal weeks the counselors work what is called a "Duty-Mate" schedule. Every other day you work from 9:00am-11:00pm, the other days you work from 9:00am-6:00pm. It was a bit tiring but completley worth it, it is a very fun and rewarding job which makes you not notice the long hours.

Outside of Space Camp I have been going around town alot and saw House of Wax a few days ago! It was suprisingly good, I thought it might be cheesy but was really scary. I was impressed! Besides going around Izmir I have been in Space Camp quite a bit. Beth was nice enough to invite me, my turkish buddy (someone they pair us up with to show us the ropes of turkey) Ali, and a fellow counselor Audrey to her home for dinner. We had Nachos and Mountain Dew, two things you cant find in Turkey so it was a treat! Thanks to her!

This weeks kids are awesome, the kids are always great, but these stand above the average. They are really cool kids, so fun and mature. Some groups you have to be constantly watching where they are roaming off to or constantly telling them to push in their chairs and clean up their mess. But with these kids they just do it! Always I never have to say clean this, push in that, never, they just do it! I always am about to start saying that and then realize, oh they have already done it. Really fun kids, they are from Turkey, Lebanon, and Bulgaria.

The summer session is still going strong, although it feels like the end of the summer is coming. People are starting to talk about their after summer plans, school, and that sort of thing. I have been here for two months and although I miss things and people from home, I will miss this place alot once I am gone. I hope everyone is having a great summer!

--Matthew