BALLOONING ACROSS MENTAL LANDSCAPES: Novelty of travel in Cappadocia provides different terrains

BALLOONING ACROSS CAPPADOCIAN LANDSCAPE. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for perspective and for viewing our lives in a myriad of ways! Hallelujah for the foreign terrain that we confront both willingly and unwillingly as we venture forth courageously in what is ours to claim and proclaim!

BALLOONS ARISING AT DAWN IN CAPPADOCIA. (photo by Tony Martin)

CAPPADOCIAN ALIEN (photo by Tony Martin)

In June 2013 during our visit to Turkey, my darling Chiboogamoo (aka Tony Martin) and I were awakened every morning around 4:00 AM by the Muslim call to prayer. It was no different in Goreme. The plaintive voice echoing over the tips of Cappadocian hills made of sand-colored tuff caused Chiboogamoo to climb out of bed, grab his camera, and capture the hot air balloon adventurers rising along with the sun over the transfixing landscape that has been so terrifically altered by nature and humans over the centuries (see my previous blog on Cappadocia).

ALTERED PERSPECTIVES. Seeing is a way of BEING. For me, traveling is such a wonderful privilege. To have the opportunity to see such a foreign or "alien" terrain as the one that Cappadocia offers is life altering. Perhaps the change is not in the dramatic fashion that one witnesses in Hollywood movies, but the alteration is subtle and profound. Alien-scapes are ALTARS for celebrating the SOUL! I now "own" this Cappadocian terrain in my mind, heart, and body, thus making it available for SYMBOLIC use to understand the intangible!  (art by Hallelujah Truth)

DRIFTING THOUGHT (photo by Tony Martin)

What is the function of BEING AN ALIEN--or a stranger in a strange land? We access new thoughts, and like these Cappadocian hot air balloons, they float through our consciousness into a memory, a thought, a new symbol. Symbols embody meaning that is difficult to access if you have limited worldly experience. Therefore flying in high above or trekking through rocky Turkish landscapes in searing heat under blue skies anchors our perceptions to the concrete experiential senses.


SEEING old symbols in new contexts also enlivens! I have long been an admirer of the "evil eye," an amulet that protects its owner from misfortune.  Yet to the Cappadocian landscape through a tree draped in evil eye amulets thrilled me! I started seeing multiple hot air balloons drifting in a mini-Cappadocian landscape. I envisioned my thoughts drifting away like hot air balloons with the evil eye on each one!

EVIL EYE CAPPADOCIAN LANDSCAPE.  (photo by Tony Martin)

TRANSPORTING THOUGHT. I, Hallelujah Truth, always start with the familiar, wherever I am, no matter what environment I inhabit. I begin with what I know in order to bridge the "difference" and what is "alien." Here is the SYMBOL I use to represent the masculine energy in my psyche. I love it that he wanted to ride in the carriage of the hot air balloon decorated with the visage of Hallelujah Truth! (art by Hallelujah Truth)

THE ORDINARY BECOMING THE PROFOUND. As each hot air balloon rose over the Cappadocian landscape, I felt a thrill run up and down my spine! Thought rising, another thought rising, releasing, moving, hovering over for me to view. These hot air balloons were just like meditation.Yet, it was alsofun to imagine the perspectives that the balloon riders were having as they rode in their individual balloons. Did they perceive me and Chiboogamoo photographing them? (photo by Tony Martin)

CAVE CHURCH ART.  I cannot help but make the connection of the hot air balloons in the Cappadocian sky to the heads of these saints as portrayed on the walls of the Cappadocian caves. Do you? (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

WHITE HAIRED JESUS. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

MORE DRIFTING THOUGHT (photo by Tony Martin)

SOUL PILGRIMS BALLOONING ACROSS ALIEN LANDSCAPE (art by Hallelujah Truth)

 

 

 

HALLELUJAH TRUTH wearing evil eyes! (photo by Tom Meyers)

Dear readers! Dear fellow SOUL PILGRIMS! That is Coffee with Hallelujah! Soul blog with me and tell me what your experiences are of journeying in alien-scapes, watching your thoughts with new perspectives, and wondering about other people's perspectives. My Chiboogamoo and I did not ride in a hot air balloon, primarily because of the expense, but we also felt we didn't need the actual experience of riding in a hot air balloon. Our imaginations are that rich! How about yours? Would you ride in the balloon?

MOST CONVINCING EVIDENCE OF ALIENS: HALLELUJAH TRUTH TEACHING "BLOGGING FOR A WORLD AUDIENCE"

ALIEN EXPERIENCE. Jumping into the unknown brings many opportunities to learn. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah Pilgrims for doing the things we LOVE and for the privilege of TEACHING what we know! Currently, I am in the CHAOS of TEACHING the first ever Georgia Tech Language Institute course, "Blogging for a World Audience."  It feels slightly like an ALIEN EXPERIENCE! Let me explain why I am using the word "alien" here!

The phrase, "most convincing evidence of aliens," appeared in the "search phrases" of the statistical information for my blog. It is delightful to see how viewers are brought to my blog! I kind of like the idea that someone was directed to "Coffee with Hallelujah" when in search of evidence for aliens!

MOST CONVINCING EVIDENCE OF ALIENS. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

HA HA HA! I got a good chuckle out of being the "most convincing" evidence! Now, to get back to my teaching experience feeling ALIEN! I am in new territory. I want to share my passion of blogging with the following student writers (look at the demographics of who I'm teaching)

VITAL STATISTICS OF MY "BLOGGING FOR A WORLD AUDIENCE" COURSE

Enrollment: 16 students
Nationalitty: 14 Chinese, 1 Taiwanese, 1 Japanese
Gender: 13 males, 3 females
Major: 14 mathematics majors, 2 professionals
Average age: 22

One male mathematics blogging student had written me the following email:

Hello Ruth (aka Hallelujah Truth), I'm considering my mission again. I found that I don't have too much to share with others about my life because I don't think my experience is special, and I don't have a deep understanding about life.  Maybe I should blog about math because I have studied about it for many years and I should have something interesting to say about math. My blog title can be "Fresh Math Breeze." My mission can be to tell my audience something interesting about math and how we can use simple math in our life. Is this better than before?

IT IS ALIEN TERRITORY FOR MANY TO GO DEEPER INTO THE SELF. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

I answered him with this in a handwritten note:

BLOGGING IS BECOMING! You write or blog to discover what you already know. This discovery is your foundation. Then you write or blog some more to integrate what you don't know or are learning with your foundation. Writing/blogging is a building process of constructing knowledge and erecting the structure that is the unique self.  Therefore, write about MATH plus LIFE. You chose a great title, "Fresh Math Breeze." What is your subtitle? Could it be something like this: Math is More Than Math--It is Life?

GROWING THROUGH PARTICIPATING IN THE UNKNOWN. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! The student decided to jump in and call his blog "Fresh Math Breeze."On another front in my ESL Improvisation class, a student from Indonesia reflected on his experiences in my class in this written statement: 

"Somehow I feel positioned in a strange environment, which is exciting in a way that I can learn completely new things that are alien to me." Somehow as a teacher that makes me feel positioned to teach!

Hallelujah for ALIEN EXPERIENCES! They allow us to grow!