Eurovision

Hi everyone! I'm doing a little better this week, the weather is pretty hot now, I'm going to the gym a lot, hanging around - life is going just fine. The last few days have been Eurovision, an annual contest in which different countries (I'm not sure what the rules are for which countries can participate, because Turkey can so it's more than just European countries. Some about being based on the European Broadcasting Union) perform a song live (each country chooses one song to perform a few months before) and then people vote for which song they like best, but I don't think you can vote for your own country. This year it was held in Oslo. I actually missed all of the rounds on TV but I've been youtubing the videos. Turkey has done pretty well actually. In 2003 they won it, last year they got 3rd place, and this year they got 2nd place!

Here's the winning video. Lena, from Germany, and the song is "Satellite". She's cute (and at times looks like a bird that has to go to the bathroom) but it's not my favorite song:



This is Turkey's song for this year. I really like it, although I don't think he sings well live. Use Youtube for the music video - it's pretty catchy - maNga "We could be the same".



This was by far my absolute favorite song. I don't think it's for everyone but I love the beat and the rhythm and the dancing. If it doesn't make you want to get up and dance I don't know what will! It's France's song, "Allez Ola Ole" by Jessy Matador.



On a different note, I got a few pictures from my travel companions. Here they are:



When we were in Mardin, two cars parked in front of our van during the night and we couldn't get out of the street. Here's a group of men trying to move one of the cars out of the way.



On top of Mt. Nemrut, waiting for the sun to rise. It was so windy and cold!



This is after we climbed Mt Nemrut. We checked out of our hotel and drove around for a while, and we visited this area that had a few statues that have been hanging around for hundreds of centuries. The views were gorgeous as you can see.



Us on Akdamar island in Lake Van. I know I posted a similar one but I thought it was nice.