The Village

Hello all!
As usual, it's now about 3 days later than what this post is actually about- our stay in the village. Had an incredible time in the Open Air Museum in Cappadocia, and with any luck you'll find out about it before the end of the week!
But first, the village (it's called Eşenler). How did we end up in a remote mountain town? It's kind of a program, started by Mehmed, who I've mentioned before. Originally from the village, he came to Konya, where he now runs a successful carpet store; the local boy made good, and now he's giving back. He organizes groups of tourists or students to come stay in the village, where they are put up with families (20 lira a night, including three meals). With the income generated by this program, the town has been able to install either running water or electricity, I can't remember.
We arrived in Eşenler mid-afternoon after a 2 hour drive from Konya. Before going into town, we went up to a hill for a picnic, terrific views,

and Eşenler's famed enormous praying mantis, the third largest in Turkey:

Also, we walked through some cherry fields with our host, Muammer (Mehmed's brother), sampling the cherries, apricots, and erik. Erik are little green fruits that are very sour. How sour? Ask David:
When we got to town, this was the site that greeted us:
A whole field of carpets. Western buyers don't like the naturally vivid color of Turkish carpets, so they're put out in the sun to give them a more pastel look. They told us that after a large theft several years ago, several villagers now sleep out on the carpets at night; a plot began to brew in our heads.
Meanwhile, it was time to go meet our families. Edward and I were given to such a nice family! I would say we lucked out, but everyone's families were so hospitable and generous. Here's a little family portrait:

Me, Edward, Erdag, his mom (don't think we ever learned her name), and his wife. Unfortunately, we never got the whole family, including the dad Mustafa, the daughter Isra, or any of the assorted grandparents who floated around. This was taken in the store the family runs out of one of the house's rooms.
The family was so great! Especially the mom, who loved to play jokes on us (sneaking up on Edward, putting some kind of plant on me that gave me a rash for a couple hours, etc.) and made such delicious meals with her daughter-in-law. This is how we ate: the mom put a big tablecloth on the floor, put a big tray with all the meals' dishes on that, and we sat around with our legs under the tablecloth and ate communally out of the bowls of food. Nothing in common with the American style, but it worked, and I rather liked it.
The next morning we went out with our families to their respective farms to pick cherries. Such cute kids:
It was not hard work, and Edward and I really enjoyed it. But after an hour, they told us we were going back! I managed to ask why we were only working for 60 minutes (I couldn't remember the word for hour. Sidenote about language: our family spoke no English. Like, none. Seems impossible to live with them for even 48 hours, but we are all doing pretty well with the language; all the basic nouns pretty much, and 5 or so key verbs. The Turkish-English dictionary played a prominent role, but we did pretty well- they even said so!), and they said it was enough. We came back for a huge, delicious lunch, and then went to a waterfall for some relaxation after our long day. Before we left though, we met the grandpa of the family, and had a little dance party (non sequiter, much?). Turns out the old dude loves to sing and dance; he's 85, so it's awesome. Of course, they made me dance with him; hilarity ensued:

The things in our hands are spoons, because that's what you dance with in Turkey. You clack them together, and they make beautiful, beautiful music. What an afternoon.
The waterfall was amazing. I challenge you to find a better one than this:

We swam in the strong current for a good hour or two, then walked around, as far as the falls themselves. When we got back, we talked to our families about our idea for sleeping that night: on the carpets. They were very accomodating, and, after dinner, Edward, Zoe, and I gathered lots of blankets to go sleep under the stars. I've never seen a night sky like that in my life, such incredibly bright stars. It was a great experience.
I woke up early, cold, and more than a little disoriented. After watching a beautiful sunrise
I fell back asleep. Eventually, 7 came, and it was time for us to wake up, eat breakfast, and leave our families for Cappadocia. It was so good to get to experience Turkey beyond Hagia Sophia and Istiklal, to really get to know how most of the people in this country actually live.
We're in Cappadocia now, and my computer's about to die. Thanks for reading, hope to talk to you again soon!