Thursday, May 11th was our second day with our guide, who took us on a bus tour of the old City Walls that protected Istanbul when it was controlled by the Ottomans and after the conquest. While they were really just big walls, it was interesting to see them and the portals through which people used to enter the city. Our actual destination was the Kariye Museum, which was a truly phenomenal site. In actuality, the Kariye Museum is a Byzantine Church which was converted into a mosque and is now a museum which houses some of the most beautiful mosaic and fresco work that I have ever seen. The fantastically preserved mosaics and frescoes were done between the 12th and 13th centuries and include a fantastic Last Judgment and numerous scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary. It was difficult to take photos, so I ended up purchasing a book with most of the images in it, because I was so impressed with the beauty of the work. This is a pretty decent website that shows a lot of photos...although the photos are not the best due to the awkward lighting inside the space.
http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/projects/geoweb/participants/dutch/Turkey71/Kariye.HTM
After the Kariye Museum, we returned to Sultan Ahmet to visit the Blue Mosque (the right-hand mosque seen off our hotel balcony) and the Byzantine Cistern. The Blue Mosque was a really splendid space. It is covered with elaborate Iznik tile work from floor to ceiling which really has an interesting effect on the space. On one hand, it takes away from the spirituality of the space (for me) due to the elaborate quality of the decoration. I'm used to the more sparse decoration of churches. At the same time, it feels like a truly animated space due to the vibrant patterns and controlled color palette. Most of the tiles are blue and white, with just a hint of red and green detailing. It was an incredible space, but did not affect me quite like Hagia Sophia or some of the mosques that I would visit later in the trip. The size of the structure was certainly impressive and the massive domes on the exterior were beautiful!
The Byzantine Cistern was a real treat! What an incredible space. Below the city is this large space which would have provided water to the city when it was under Barbarian attack. The underground space is supported by 336 columns and today, they play beautiful, coft, classical music as you wander along the suspended boardwalks and just become immersed in the space. Oddly, there are very large fish living in the cistern and swimming around the areas that pool with light, much to the awe of the people visiting the space! It was really pretty fantastic...a location that (like Hagia Sophia) I would have happily revisited, had time allowed. When we finished up at the cistern, we were again left to our own devices for dinner.
Though quite a few people wanted to head back to where we had listened to music the night before, it turned out a bit differently! Suzanne, Mary and I decided to take a separate cab over to Beyoglu, with the intention of meeting up with everyone else at the Galata Tower. When no one else showed up, we walked up the hill and found the same street that we had visited the night before. We settled on a quaint little restaurant to eat wonderful mezze and chicken kebaps! :) Happiness and joy! The others, it turned out...had a bad experience and ended up eating on the Galata Bridge (which has a pedestrian area underneath the span, full of shops and restaurants). While the food was ok, it was very expensive, and they were none to pleased! We, on the other hand, had a LOVELY dinner and a few drinks. We even headed out on a little adventure to the Para Palas hotel, which is a 19th century hotel where Agatha Christie and Ataturk stayed! We were taken up in the fantastic old elevator and shown a few of the rooms! Fantastic. We then caught a cab home without incident and made our way to bed!
One more funny dinner story. There are stray cats and dogs all over Istanbul. If you view my photos, you should see a few of them, including a black and white cat sitting on a restaurant chair. This cat eventually came over to say hello to us. He must have sensed that I was a cat person, because at one point, he simply hopped up into my lap! He didn't stay for very long, but it was a humorous event!
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Our Night Out on the Town
After spending our first day in Istanbul seeing the sights, a small group of us decided that we wanted to check out a bit of local color. Mary, John, Cindy, Suzanne, and I hopped in a cab and went to an area of Istanbul called Beyoglu. Beyoglu is a really neat area with lots of small shops and restaurants and bars. When we got there, there were very few tourists, but LOTS of locals. We had headed there to go to a specific bar that was hosting live Fasil music that night. One of John's friends had told us about it. What we hadn't been told was that the bar was unmarked and rather small. Anyway, after finding it...we finally sat down to a beer and a dinner of Mezze (which is essentially a table-full of appetizers). We also tried Raki. Raki is a Turkish liqueur that you mix with water. When it comes out of the bottle, it is clear, but once you add water to it, it becomes a milky-white color. You drink about 1/5 Raki and 4/5 water in a tall, skinny glass. It smells like black licorice, although the taste is not that harsh. I personally didn't really care for it, although I did try it. The beer was great! I'm sure that we were drinking a US equivalent of Pabst Blue Ribbon or something, but it was refreshing and delicious. It's called Efes, and is served everywhere. Usually it costs about 3 lira (less than $2), but we did see it on the menu of a ritzy hotel-bar for 12 lira!! RIP-OFF! :)
Anyway...here we are sitting inside this little bar waiting for the music to start. Before we know it, the place is PACKED! Most of the people there were young (in their 20s) and as soon as the music started, they began to dance! The music was wonderful. Fasil music is essentially traditional music that uses a fiddle, clarinet, drum, and a stringed instrument that acted like a bass guitar. It was vibrant and amazing. Soon enough, we too were out on the make-shift dancefloor boogie-ing our butts off! It was excellent. There was one girl there who was clearly a trained belly dancer. She was dancing like crazy...lifting up her shirt to show her stomach...and having a great time. When she got ready to leave, she put on her head scarf and walked out the door! We were all floored! It was great. Suzanne and I ended up dancing with this crazy guy who told us he was a gypsy! Very funny. We got back to the hotel and finally to bed around 2 am, only to have to get up and go again the next day! :)
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Big Turkey News
Crazy news...there was a huge fire at the Istanbul airport. A few of my colleagues got stuck at the airport and in Istanbul!! Hopefully, all will be well and they'll get home soon!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5012706.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5012706.stm
Our Big First Day!
So, our first day in Istanbul began with a fantastic lecture from Nevra Necopaigul from Bogazici University. She spoke to us about the transition of Istanbul from the hands of the Byzantines to that of the Ottomans. This is a really interesting topic for me because the Turkish identity is really intriguing. They are a people that are not European, but nor are they Middle Eastern or Asian. Rather, they sit on the precipice that divides these continents and really have an identity that is also somewhat dichotomos. Once we had finished the lecture, we were bound for the city. Our first adventure into the history of Istanbul had begun!
We met with our guide for the day in front of the hotel. He was a dynamic and verbose man who liked to talk and tell us about history. Unfortunately, we were a bunch of academics who were already well-versed in the history and politics of the area and found him to be somewhat trying! On the docket for the day was the Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia (yipee!), and the Byzantine Cistern.
The Topkapi Palace: http://www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~history/topkapi.html
This was the residence of the sultans for almost 4 centuries! Built by Mehmed II in 1453, it has remained at the point of the Bosphorus and Sea of Marmara for almost 600 years. We walked through the gate leading to the palace, which was protected by armed military. Surprisingly, this was the only time that we saw armed military the entire time we were in Istanbul. I clearly got the feeling that it was a mostly ceremonial guard anyway...protecting the home of the sultans, and not really intended to keep people out or even monitor the comings and goings through the gate! Anyway, we finally get inside and enter the first of three courtyards that make up the palace structure. It was a beautiful space with huge cypress trees that tower over the visitor. It's an oddly non-monumental structure on the whole. Not very tall and looming, but lots of lower profile structures that allow for a more comfortable experience.
We first visited the Harem, which is a really interesting portion of the palace. This was the residence of all of the women that would have been part of the Sultan's entourage, including his wife, daughters, mother, concubines, and slaves. The interior would have been off-limits to nearly everyone. Only te Sultan, members of the Harem, and Eunuch guards were allowed access to the Harem. It was beautifully tiled and was am amazingly complex structure that was completely removed from the huge open courtyard that we had experienced. The open courtyards revealed private views over the sea. Even in modern Istanbul, you are completely hidden from view of any people when on these terraces and courtyards. This is really the main portion of the palace that has retained its original appearance and general sense of its function. Most of the other areas have been turned into exhibition space and house the treasury, art works, or other items.
It was very interesting to visit the Holy Relics area, which housed relics of Muhammed. Here, they also have men reading the Qu'ran 24 hours a day/7 days a week, which is a tradition that has been ongoing for years. It was so beautiful to listen to. The flowing language and rhythm of the text being sung was really fantastic! The relics (like Christian relics) were interesting ... including bones of Muhammed and pieces of his clothing, books, etc.
When we finished our tour of Topkapi...which was about 4 1/2 hours from the time we left the hotel (partially due to our loquacious guide)...we finally headed to Hagia Sophia!!!!!
Hagia Sophia: http://www.patriarchate.org/ecumenical_patriarchate/chapter_4/html/hagia_sophia.html
I was very excited to walk into this church. It was really a special experience for me that is still difficult to put into words. The enormous space of the interior, with it's huge dome and hemispherical side domes, is a work of MASTERY. It is amazing to stand underneath this tremendous space and feel so small and at the same time, so connected to a spiritual world. The Virgin and Child mosaic that survives above the apse from the 11th century is beautiful, but is no match for the fantastic images upstairs, and my FAVORITE image of Justinian, Constantine, and the Virgin and Child. I wandered around the church for a while alone. Wanting to just experience the space and be in a structure built 1500 years ago. I stood where the Empress Theodora once stood in the 2nd floor gallery looking down toward the apse and altar. I truly felt that this was a miraculous space. It was really fantastic. I had intended to return before the trip ended in order to sit quietly within the walls again, but never made it. My plan to go on the morning of my departure was thwarted by the fact that it was closed on Mondays! But, at least I experienced the magnitude of the site once. I hope to return one day in the future.
We returned to the hotel in time to be starved and ready for a meal...oddly enough, we didn't really get one! A story that will be told in my next post...Our Night Out on the Town!!!
We met with our guide for the day in front of the hotel. He was a dynamic and verbose man who liked to talk and tell us about history. Unfortunately, we were a bunch of academics who were already well-versed in the history and politics of the area and found him to be somewhat trying! On the docket for the day was the Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia (yipee!), and the Byzantine Cistern.
The Topkapi Palace: http://www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~history/topkapi.html
This was the residence of the sultans for almost 4 centuries! Built by Mehmed II in 1453, it has remained at the point of the Bosphorus and Sea of Marmara for almost 600 years. We walked through the gate leading to the palace, which was protected by armed military. Surprisingly, this was the only time that we saw armed military the entire time we were in Istanbul. I clearly got the feeling that it was a mostly ceremonial guard anyway...protecting the home of the sultans, and not really intended to keep people out or even monitor the comings and goings through the gate! Anyway, we finally get inside and enter the first of three courtyards that make up the palace structure. It was a beautiful space with huge cypress trees that tower over the visitor. It's an oddly non-monumental structure on the whole. Not very tall and looming, but lots of lower profile structures that allow for a more comfortable experience.
We first visited the Harem, which is a really interesting portion of the palace. This was the residence of all of the women that would have been part of the Sultan's entourage, including his wife, daughters, mother, concubines, and slaves. The interior would have been off-limits to nearly everyone. Only te Sultan, members of the Harem, and Eunuch guards were allowed access to the Harem. It was beautifully tiled and was am amazingly complex structure that was completely removed from the huge open courtyard that we had experienced. The open courtyards revealed private views over the sea. Even in modern Istanbul, you are completely hidden from view of any people when on these terraces and courtyards. This is really the main portion of the palace that has retained its original appearance and general sense of its function. Most of the other areas have been turned into exhibition space and house the treasury, art works, or other items.
It was very interesting to visit the Holy Relics area, which housed relics of Muhammed. Here, they also have men reading the Qu'ran 24 hours a day/7 days a week, which is a tradition that has been ongoing for years. It was so beautiful to listen to. The flowing language and rhythm of the text being sung was really fantastic! The relics (like Christian relics) were interesting ... including bones of Muhammed and pieces of his clothing, books, etc.
When we finished our tour of Topkapi...which was about 4 1/2 hours from the time we left the hotel (partially due to our loquacious guide)...we finally headed to Hagia Sophia!!!!!
Hagia Sophia: http://www.patriarchate.org/ecumenical_patriarchate/chapter_4/html/hagia_sophia.html
I was very excited to walk into this church. It was really a special experience for me that is still difficult to put into words. The enormous space of the interior, with it's huge dome and hemispherical side domes, is a work of MASTERY. It is amazing to stand underneath this tremendous space and feel so small and at the same time, so connected to a spiritual world. The Virgin and Child mosaic that survives above the apse from the 11th century is beautiful, but is no match for the fantastic images upstairs, and my FAVORITE image of Justinian, Constantine, and the Virgin and Child. I wandered around the church for a while alone. Wanting to just experience the space and be in a structure built 1500 years ago. I stood where the Empress Theodora once stood in the 2nd floor gallery looking down toward the apse and altar. I truly felt that this was a miraculous space. It was really fantastic. I had intended to return before the trip ended in order to sit quietly within the walls again, but never made it. My plan to go on the morning of my departure was thwarted by the fact that it was closed on Mondays! But, at least I experienced the magnitude of the site once. I hope to return one day in the future.
We returned to the hotel in time to be starved and ready for a meal...oddly enough, we didn't really get one! A story that will be told in my next post...Our Night Out on the Town!!!
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
The Swing of Things
Wow...getting back into the swing of things has been a bit of a challenge!! I've been home for over a week, and I still feel like I am trying to catch up and get ahead of myself! At least I am not falling asleep at 7pm anymore!! :) Anyway...I have been slacking, but I will definitely post some more Istanbul memories tonight so that some of those photos make more sense! I still have one final roll of film in my camera, so I think I will take it down to the beach with me this weekend for the holiday...finish it off and get it developed. I know that there are some great photos on there from our last day outing to Balat and Taksim.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Pre-Istanbul
The week before leaving for Istanbul, I was a wreck. I was worried about flying to Turkey on my own. I was afraid that I would be alone at the airport and forced to catch a cab by myself through a city that I had never seen! Turns out, I was worried for nothing! I knew 4 other people on my flight, met up with Suzanne at the airport without any trouble, and made it safely to the Hotel without even a hitch!
The flights over were not too bad. I left Philadelphia at about 8:30 pm for an overnight flight to Munich. I didn't sleep as much as I would have liked due to it being very cold in the plane and the big TV was kept on most of the night. When they did finally turn it off, I slept soundly for an hour or two before the sun came up. Munich was a beautiful sight from the sky. It was so green and lush, with these small hamlets of red roofed houses dotting the landscape. I know that I was partial to the sights due to the fact that I am German, but I immediately knew that it was a place that I would like to return to one day!
In Munich, we caught our second flight to Istanbul. Much shorter, this flight had us on the ground by 4:00 in the afternoon. My first impression of Istanbul from the sky was that it was HUGE! I was floored by the size of the city. I guess I should not have been so surprised since I know that Istanbul is home to somewhere between 12 and 14 MILLION people. For comparison, New York city houses about 8 million. Istanbul is situated in an amazing place between the continents of Asia and Europe. I found a pretty decent map online...hopefully, it will help to situate some of my stories!!
The Bosphorus splits Istanbul into it's European (on the left) and Asian (on the right) sides. To the South is the Sea of Marmara and (not on the map) to the North is the Black Sea. The Golden Horn is the bit of water that divides the European side of Istanbul in half. On the map you can see at the bottom left, the Ataturk Airport. That is where we landed. We drove along the coastal road to the Old City section, also called Sultan Ahmet. There, our hotel overlooked Hagia Sophia and The Blue Mosque and faced Asia.
Getting through the airport was surprisingly easy. We purchased our Visas, got some Lira from the ATM, walked through the passport checkpoint, where they didn't even ask a single question, and then got to the luggage carousel just as our bags were arriving. Done and Done! We were out of the airport within 15 minutes.
The ride to the hotel was a beautifully scenic trip along the Sea of Marmara. The ships anchored offshore provided a beautiful foil to the crowded houses covering the hillside of the city. The coastal road was a four lane divided highway with typical city traffic. Between the road and the sea was a long strech of parks, in which Turks sat picnicking, playing soccer, or just spending time with one another. It was really beautiful, and completely different from what we experienced when we turned off this road and entered the city. Narrow, cobblestone streets would up the hill into the heart of Sultan Ahmet. In these tiny areas, you really have to put your faith in the crazy cabbies to get you exactly where you need to be! Not easy as they are consistently coming within inches (and I do mean INCHES) of other cars, buildings, PEOPLE! It's not the type of place in which you step out into the street and expect them to stop.
Our driver did get us right to the front door of the hotel without incident and dropped us safely at our destination, the Hali Hotel. Hali (pronounced Hal-eh) means "carpet." The owner of the hotel is also a carpet seller, so that makes sense. Our room was nice...a perfect size with a BIG bathroom (about twice the size of mine at home!!!). We went up to the terrace right away (as this was where we were having our first dinner). The view was amazing...seeing Hagia Sophia for the first time was stunning, and I couldn't wait to walk down to it and see the inside!
We had our dinner and then our first presentation, where Suzanne and Mary introduced us to Sufi poetry. It was really nice, unfortunatley, we were all so exhausted that we couldn't get our brains to work and participate. I barely remember climbing into bed, as I was asleep almost before my head hit the pillow. Our next day was to be full of excitement!!!
The flights over were not too bad. I left Philadelphia at about 8:30 pm for an overnight flight to Munich. I didn't sleep as much as I would have liked due to it being very cold in the plane and the big TV was kept on most of the night. When they did finally turn it off, I slept soundly for an hour or two before the sun came up. Munich was a beautiful sight from the sky. It was so green and lush, with these small hamlets of red roofed houses dotting the landscape. I know that I was partial to the sights due to the fact that I am German, but I immediately knew that it was a place that I would like to return to one day!
In Munich, we caught our second flight to Istanbul. Much shorter, this flight had us on the ground by 4:00 in the afternoon. My first impression of Istanbul from the sky was that it was HUGE! I was floored by the size of the city. I guess I should not have been so surprised since I know that Istanbul is home to somewhere between 12 and 14 MILLION people. For comparison, New York city houses about 8 million. Istanbul is situated in an amazing place between the continents of Asia and Europe. I found a pretty decent map online...hopefully, it will help to situate some of my stories!!
The Bosphorus splits Istanbul into it's European (on the left) and Asian (on the right) sides. To the South is the Sea of Marmara and (not on the map) to the North is the Black Sea. The Golden Horn is the bit of water that divides the European side of Istanbul in half. On the map you can see at the bottom left, the Ataturk Airport. That is where we landed. We drove along the coastal road to the Old City section, also called Sultan Ahmet. There, our hotel overlooked Hagia Sophia and The Blue Mosque and faced Asia.
Getting through the airport was surprisingly easy. We purchased our Visas, got some Lira from the ATM, walked through the passport checkpoint, where they didn't even ask a single question, and then got to the luggage carousel just as our bags were arriving. Done and Done! We were out of the airport within 15 minutes.
The ride to the hotel was a beautifully scenic trip along the Sea of Marmara. The ships anchored offshore provided a beautiful foil to the crowded houses covering the hillside of the city. The coastal road was a four lane divided highway with typical city traffic. Between the road and the sea was a long strech of parks, in which Turks sat picnicking, playing soccer, or just spending time with one another. It was really beautiful, and completely different from what we experienced when we turned off this road and entered the city. Narrow, cobblestone streets would up the hill into the heart of Sultan Ahmet. In these tiny areas, you really have to put your faith in the crazy cabbies to get you exactly where you need to be! Not easy as they are consistently coming within inches (and I do mean INCHES) of other cars, buildings, PEOPLE! It's not the type of place in which you step out into the street and expect them to stop.
Our driver did get us right to the front door of the hotel without incident and dropped us safely at our destination, the Hali Hotel. Hali (pronounced Hal-eh) means "carpet." The owner of the hotel is also a carpet seller, so that makes sense. Our room was nice...a perfect size with a BIG bathroom (about twice the size of mine at home!!!). We went up to the terrace right away (as this was where we were having our first dinner). The view was amazing...seeing Hagia Sophia for the first time was stunning, and I couldn't wait to walk down to it and see the inside!
We had our dinner and then our first presentation, where Suzanne and Mary introduced us to Sufi poetry. It was really nice, unfortunatley, we were all so exhausted that we couldn't get our brains to work and participate. I barely remember climbing into bed, as I was asleep almost before my head hit the pillow. Our next day was to be full of excitement!!!
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Home Sweet Home!
I made it home late Monday night after about 15 hours of flying. Exhausted and ready for bed...I managed to unpack my toothbrush, take a shower, and get to sleep just before midnight. I got up for class on Tuesday and had a nice day all in all. I was surprised that I didn't feel more lagged, but I guess I played my cards well by forcing myself to stay awake through most of my flight home! Chip offered to drop my film off to get developed yesterday, and I was shocked and excited to get home from class at 1:30 to find 9 rolls of developed film sitting on the dining room table!!!!! Since I tend to be rather anal about things like this, I spent several hours last night posting the pictures in our gallery space. If you go to view them, you should really do so in the following order of folders so that things generally make some sort of sense:
1. Istanbul General Views
2. Hippodrome, Topkapi, and Hagia Sophia
3. Istanbul - Kariye, Blue Mosque, Cistern
4. The Bosphorus and ASIA!!!
5. Istanbul Images
I will follow up this post with some details about the trip...what we did, what I thought, etc., Although this will undoubtedly take a few days!!! Keep a weather eye!
1. Istanbul General Views
2. Hippodrome, Topkapi, and Hagia Sophia
3. Istanbul - Kariye, Blue Mosque, Cistern
4. The Bosphorus and ASIA!!!
5. Istanbul Images
I will follow up this post with some details about the trip...what we did, what I thought, etc., Although this will undoubtedly take a few days!!! Keep a weather eye!
Monday, May 08, 2006
Happy Anniversary and SEE-YA!!!
To my husband I want to say Happy Anniversary! Two years married and still happy as clams! :) Can't wait for all the years that are ahead of us!To everyone...I'm almost all packed up and ready to go! I actually don't leave for about 12 hours, and I have a few last minute things to pick up....but I am pretty much ready to fly! I'm not really looking forward to the 12 hour plane ride to get to Istanbul, but I am VERY excited for the next week in such a beautiful place. I have packed two cameras (one digital and one not + 8 rolls of film!!!), so I'll try to get some photos added to the gallery as soon as I can upon my return!
I can't wait to share all of the amazing things with everyone when I get back! See you all soon!!!!
Gorusuruz!!! (this should have umlauts over all of the vowels, and means "See you" in Turkish!) Your response would be Gule! Gule! (again with umlauts over the u's)
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Pickles
Chuck and I just got home from spending the night down at the beach house. A little anniversary weekend getaway before I get-away to Turkey on Monday. Anywho...we are driving back and I see a sign outside of one of the small diner/restaurants that dot the road that we take which reads..."PICKLED CLAMS". Clams??? PICKLED???? What the heck is this about??? And it made me think...pickled eggs...pickled beets...pickled pig's feet....the fact is, NOTHING SHOULD BE PICKLED BUT...PICKLES!!!!
Pickles are the only food that should be eaten in pickled form. I'm sure many will disagree (particularly about the pig's feet), but this is just my opinion...Which, coming from someone whose family owns a pickle factory (that does make pickled pig's feet), I feel has some sense of validity! What will they think of next...pickled Peeps!?!? Anyway...I guess this is a lot like the whole Saturday Night Live argument of "Chick pea...it is neither a chick, nor a pea....discuss." All comments welcome!
Pickles are the only food that should be eaten in pickled form. I'm sure many will disagree (particularly about the pig's feet), but this is just my opinion...Which, coming from someone whose family owns a pickle factory (that does make pickled pig's feet), I feel has some sense of validity! What will they think of next...pickled Peeps!?!? Anyway...I guess this is a lot like the whole Saturday Night Live argument of "Chick pea...it is neither a chick, nor a pea....discuss." All comments welcome!
Friday, May 05, 2006
3 Days to Go
Only three days until I leave for Turkey! Wow...I'm pretty excited, but there is so much to do between now and then that I have a feeling it's really going to fly by these last few days. Today is the last day of finals...Chuck and I are going to head down to the beach for the night so that we can celebrate our anniversary (which is Monday...the day I leave). Sunday is the graduation ceremony, so we'll be at that all day...and then at a department party afterward. Then, it's Monday! Wow again. I think that I have everything that I am going to need for the trip...including some Tums...just in case! :) Well...that's it for now!
Monday, May 01, 2006
One Week!!
No, this is not a post about the Barenaked Ladies' song!! It's about my nerves being all riled up and ready to go to Istanbul!! The biggest worry on my mind at this point is money! Not whether or not I have any, but exchanging it and all that sort of thing. Other than that little nagging fear of getting there and not being able to get cash, I'm feeling good! One of my students came by today and gave me a BEAUTIFUL head wrap to wear in the mosques. It is a gorgeous deep maroon color with beads around the top. Very pretty...she's going to show me how to wear it on Wednesday! :) Fun, fun!
On a ridiculous note...even though this is an embarrassing story, I thought I would share. I was out running this morning around the lake near our house....just as I was running under a tree, I felt something hit the top of my head...thinking that I had been bombarded by a kamikaze squirrel (we have those in NJ and PA, you know), I reached up only to find that I had been attacked by another animal....yep...a bird....poop...on my head! :P Crazy birds...I definitely ran faster after that, so I could get home and TAKE A SHOWER!!! EWWWW...:) Comes with the territory, I guess!
On a ridiculous note...even though this is an embarrassing story, I thought I would share. I was out running this morning around the lake near our house....just as I was running under a tree, I felt something hit the top of my head...thinking that I had been bombarded by a kamikaze squirrel (we have those in NJ and PA, you know), I reached up only to find that I had been attacked by another animal....yep...a bird....poop...on my head! :P Crazy birds...I definitely ran faster after that, so I could get home and TAKE A SHOWER!!! EWWWW...:) Comes with the territory, I guess!
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