Inauguration Day from Turkey!

Well, as you all know that a week ago tomorrow Barack Obama was sworn
in as the 44th president of the United States of America. It was a
exciting historical day for the USA, african-americans, and for many
around the world. I was unable to watch the speech and when he was
sworn in because our team had mandatory hang out time at the movies
(we went to Yes Man, it was fun :) But while I was driving in the team
bus to the mall for the movie (this is while Obama was being sworn in)
I felt a sense of American pride and honor knowing that what was
happening at that moment in my home country was effecting lives around
the world.

I respect President Obama for his character, the way he conducted his
whole campaign (Not attacking the other party as much as he was
attacked), and for the way he is stepping up the one of the biggest
challenges of leading one of the most powerful nations in the world.
I am sure you all already know all this but leading the USA out of the
economic crisis, out of two wars that we are deep to our hips in,
while carrying on with the regular duties that the president does will
not be a easy duty. But, despite all the Republican vs. Democrat talk
and who is better than who, and who is the better party, I think
America, along with myself we all need to show our love and support of
our new President and trust that he can unify the US more and gain
back some of the respect that the world has lost for the US. God
calls us to honor our authorities always, even when we don't agree
with them. I am not saying this because the US is better than any
country, believe me, that is not what i am saying, especially after
living and traveling around to many places of the world, but because
leadership takes humility and relating to others. I trust Obama can do
that and through my own research, prayer and reading up on him and his
life, he won my vote. I don't agree with everything he plans to do,
but I do believe the Lord has equipped him to lead the USA and I pray
many of you will trust the Lord with Obama and his plans for America.
As my quote says on the bottom next to my signature, I don't know what
my future holds, but I know who holds my future. I love that quote
because it helps remind me that God holds each and everyone of our
futures, it is a matter of whether you know that and trust Him.

During the inauguration week here in Turkey, many people who knew I
was American (coaches, teammates, trainers, general manager), came up
and congratulated me and the USA for having a new president. The
newspapers were packed full of articles and pictures of the
Inauguration some people here were wearing buttons of Obama. Even here
there was a sense of hope and new expectation in the air that
hopefully this is a good step in the right direction for the world. I
want to thank President Bush for all the good, bad, ugly,
accomplishments, failures and everything that has happened the last 8
years. I hope he is able to walk away from being the president a
better person than before, with a humble sense of achievement and
leadership in his efforts to have lead the USA for 8 years.

I have attached some pictures of the newspapers here, an Obama pin
that was found in a shop in Ephesus that I saw. Also attached are a
few pictures that one of my friends told from the east coast on
January 20th. Again, I just want to say I am proud to be an American
(sometimes while living overseas, I am embarassed to be American for
various reasons, the way we live, dress and our reputation) but for
the most part glad to have seen history unfold and President Obama
step into the batting box for the US. Those are all my thoughts on
politics and hope you enjoy the pictures!

I have some great news! My dad got a plane ticket to come and visit me
here in Turkey!!!! He will be here for 10 days and will get to see two
of my bball games and hopefully do a little sight seeing while we are
at it!!!!

Take care and until next time!!
Live to make Him smile :)

Brittany Wilkins <><
bwilkins51.blogspot.com
bwilkins51@gmail.com

~I don't know what my future holds, but I know who holds my future ~

Turkish toilets...........

So Turkish toilets have made for some fun stories that is for sure. See before they were introduced to seats on toilets here, they used to just squat over a hole and go to the bathroom. They like to call them squaty potties or old Turkish toilets. So the first practice I was here, I had to go to the bathroom, they pointed towards the WC (water closet) and i got in there and said nooooooooo way am i going to the bathroom in that, and there was no toilet paper!! So I have learned to keep a roll of toilet paper in my gym bag and use it all the time. And since Turkey has gotten a little more modern there are more toilet now with actual seats, so I always ask for those!!!

Some of the pictures are: from our basketball gym. In every business establishment and every gym in Turkey there is a huge picture of this guy Aytac Durak ( i think that is right). He is the guy that basically founded Turkey and put Turkey on the map as far as economically. They worship this guy like crazy and have pictures of him all over the place. There is even a day for him (November 11th) where the whole country stops to remember him for one minute. All the buses, boats, trains, cars, everything. One of my friends said he was on the boat and all of a sudden the engine stopped right in the middle of the trip.

Other pictures: this is the mosque near my house which is near a beautiful walking park, which i have been out to a few times.
The other picture is of me in the mosque. I had to cover my head when I went it. And for those of you who are wondering, not all the women in Turkey have to cover there heads or wear burcas. There is a lot more of that in Istanbul and the farther east you go.

Well thats all for now! Love you all!!

PS. Here is the website for the Turkish league. There is a picture of me in the ones that flas on the screen. I am number 14 and wearing a red jersey. I think it is picture number 17 or 18. Also scroll down and you can see an article about me coming, but its in Turkish :)

http://www.tbl.org.tr/tbbl/index.asp

Back in Turkey again :)

Well after a grrrrrrrreat time at home for the Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, I was able to get a contract in of all the places I really didnt want to go, but yes Turkey. The Lord just keeps putting it back in my path and this time I was really trusting Him and hoping that it would go better than the last time. The team is named Botas Spor and is located in Adana, Turkey which is about an hour from the Mediterranean Sea and an hour from the Tarsus Mountains. I got here on December 27th and it has been good so far, lots of stories already. We played our first game last week against a team called Ceyhun and won. It was really exciting and a huge game for us. I played like 7 minutes and it was good, but I am still getting comfortable with the team and plays and such. Our next game is in Tarsus on Saturday. Tarsus is the home of the Apostle Paul from in the bible so I am hoping to go there one day to sight see and such. But wanted to post something quick so you all know where I am these days and what I am up too. Here are a few pictures from New Years Eve. We hung out at our coaches house for the night and played Tombala, its like Bingo. It was interesting playing in Turkish!!! They also like the concept of the christmas trees and giving gifts but dont celebrate the real meaning of christmas. So there was a tree up in his house and day after I got here one of my teammates, Gulsah, got me a gift the day after i met her. Anyway, hope you all enjoy so far. The most that I am standing by is the biggest mosque in Turkey. It was amazing!!!!

Well i will write more later, love and miss you all!