Çanakkale, ¡¡¡MAMA!!!, and New Year's

I imagine that 2010's list of greatest Christmas gifts included things like iPod, or a gift certificate to a spa. Those have nothing on the gift I got, though. I got a visit from my momma. And four following days of fun-filled frolicking with her.

Çanakkale and Bozcaada

I'm going to rewind a couple days. Jonathan K., Ivy, Tim, Jamie and I all went on a short trip to Çanakkale and Bozcaada for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. It was a long drive (we rented a car) from Koc, but really worthwhile. Çanakkale is a pretty calm, very not touristy town on the Asian side on the Mediterranean coast. People were so friendly there. When we asked for directions people would stop what they were doing to walk us to where we needed to go. Things seemed much more laid back and homey. We got there pretty late and had to take a ferry. The hostel we stayed had mold all over the place but the staff were really nice :P

The next day we took another ferry to Bozcaada, a tiny island right next to Çanakkale. It was really lovely. Even the ferry ride was glorious. Fortunately, the weather was beautiful. It was partly cloudy, but there was more sunshine than we'd seen in a while. I think most noticeable was how deliciously clean and fresh the air was. On the island we drove around, getting out to explore a bit on the way. We ran around on this rocky beach that basically epitomized my image of the eastern Mediterranean. The rocks were beautiful shades of orange and yellow and purple (surprisingly), scattered with olive-green shrubs. The water was incredibly clean and clear, in iconic shades of turquoise. Plus, the weather was such a scrumptious combination of sunny and breezy. Mmmmmm.... By the time we got back to the town the weather started to get colder and more drizzly. In this town also the people were really nice and helpful. There really seemed to be a strong sense of community as well, which makes sense considering how small the island is. We ate a mediocre dinner and then secretly bought a cake for Tim's birthday (even though it was on Monday [and this was Friday]). We went back to our hotel, which was really lovely, and had wine and cake and then all just hung around and chatted for a long time.

The next day the ferry ride back to Çanakkale was really choppy and I was feeling borderline queasy. But it was kinda epic. We had a typical Turkish breakfast with this AMAZINGDELICIOUS cherry jam. Omg it was so good.

If you can see the green letters, A=Koc University, B= Çanakkale, and C=Bozcaada. The body of water in the middle is the Marmara Sea, the water farthest left is the Mediterranean, and the water farthest up and right is the Black Sea.

Sultanahmet I

On the way back from Çanakkale Jon dropped me off at the airport to pick up my mom. We had a glorious reunion and settled into our hotel in Sultanahmet (the historical center of Istanbul). The next day we saw the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia and went on a Bosphorus tour. My mom saw all of these things 20+ years ago, but was a wonderful companion nevertheless. It was my first time seeing the Hagia Sofia. It was astounding. So big and such crazy mix of artistic styles. The boat tour was nice just to see the city from a different perspective. I didn't really understand much of what the tour guide was saying, though, because he was speaking Spanish with a Turkish accent. After the boat tour we wandered around and found ourselves in the spice bazaar, which my mom really enjoyed :)

Sultanahmet II

Today we started off with visiting the Topkapi Palace. It was so big, and really beautiful. There were also a lot of different styles that seemed to be side by side here. After this we got my FAVORITE TURKISH FOOD (Sultanahmet köfte). After this we went to the Grand Bazaar and the Suleymaniye Mosque. We'd just had a "looking assignment" on this mosque complex for my Islamic Cities class so I had some things I could explain about it. For dinner, we went into Taksim and ate at a nice restaurant. It was nice to show this area to my mom cause this is one of the parts of the city that I spend the most time in; we rarely go into Sultanahmet.

Dinner with Turks

The next day we took the two-hour commute to my campus and my mom sat in my classes with me. I got to introduce her to most of my friends and show her off. At night we went out to a really nice dinner with one of the families that I tutor. We had some amazing fish and I tried shrimp for the first time. It was really nice for me to be able to share this part of my experience (the families) with my mom. The whole tutoring experience has become a really big part of my life here and my relationship to Turkish culture. Even though the other family couldn't join us for dinner, we met with the mother and little girl beforehand.

Last Day

The last day my mom came to classes with me again. Afterwards we grabbed dinner in Sariyer and then headed back to Sultanahmet. We had really wanted to go to a hamam, but by the time we got there the female masseuse had gone and neither of us were quite in the mood to be scrubbed down by a male stranger. So we had some pastry and hit the sack. Momma left early the next morning and I took the long commute back to school. I already miss her tons :(

New Year's

New Year's was on a boat. It was a party organized by the ISS (the exchange club on campus) so there were only people from school on board. It was really, really fun. There was lots of dancing and at midnight we watched fireworks over the Ortakoy mosque and the lit up bridge. Over the Bosphorus. NBD. It was gorgeous.

Appendix

Hagia Sofia:

This was originally built as a Byzantine church. It was made in part as an effort to appease the rebellious public of the time. Later after Islamic conquest if was converted to a mosque. Hence the mix of styles.

Typical Turkish breakfast:

• cucumbers
• tomatoes
• bread
• boiled eggs
• olives
• cheese
• feta
• jams, honey and nutella
• mystery-meat cold cuts

Other Turkish noms you might find for breakyfaced:

• MENEMEN (delicious egg dish)
• helva (SUPER sweet stuff made w/ tahini [and chocolate?] that tastes like peanut butter and chocolate)

Barcelona!

Last weekend I went to Barcelona!! It was WONDERFUL. The objective was to visit my Oxy roommate, Margaret, who is studying abroad in Granada. Since it's way cheaper for me to fly to Barcelona than Granada, and since it's a great city that she hadn't seen yet, we decided to meet up there. We stayed with my aunt and cousin. It was so wonderful to see them, too, and they were so generous and helpful.

Friday

I arrived in the airport and leapt from the arrivals gate into Margaret's arms. There were at least a couple tears. We found my fam and settled into their apartment. Raissa (my cousin) took us to a buffet. It was mostly Asian food (Chinese/Japanese) which was really exciting for me considering the dearth and priciness of such cuisine in Istanbul. They also had mint ice cream, which also seems to be absent in Turkey, and happens to be my favorite flavor ;) That night we just took it easy, caught up a lot while cuddling in a cozy bed :DDD

Saturday

We did a lot of walking around the city, went to the market selling all kinds of turron and snacks as well as every other kind of food you could be looking for. We went to the Picasso Museum as well. It was really nice. We also ate chocolate con churros which is AMAZING. And at night I got a bottle of Spanish horchata and was SO HAPPY. Barcelona is really beautiful and I feel like I got to appreciate it a lot more this time I visited. It helped that Margaret was so appreciative of it. Nevertheless, I have been there many times and really the greatest part about touring it was spending real quality time with my beloved roomie. At night we watched Harry Potter! It was great.

Sunday

Today was Gaudi day. We saw some his most important works, including, of course, La Sagrada Familia (the cathedral). I remember going there when I was really little and being blown away by its beauty, monumentality, and intricacy. I feel especially connected to it consequently, and its been really meaningful to me to return to it throughout the years and see how it changes as they continue construction. By now the interior is finished and it was incredible inside. The stained glass windows were in brilliant, gorgeous colors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_familia

After here we went to Parque Guell. It was also amazing, but unfortunately it was already getting dark so we didn't spend much time here. When we got home, considerably tuckered out, we watched Miss Potter (since aunt Marta had it) with some wine. At the Picasso Museum we had coincidentally met up with a girl who was on Margaret's program in Granada and happened to be at the exact same place at the exact same time as us in Barcelona. She told us she was going to be going out with some people she'd met at her hostel that night and invited us. We met them at an Irish pub. It was huge and over-stuffed with foreign students. It was also karaoke night. We didn't spend much time here before heading out to a club. It was really fun there. The group from Margaret's friend's hostel was great. There were a few Australians, a Dutch guy, an Irish girl, and a few others. It was loads of fun dancing with all of them. By the time we got in bed it was about 5:30 am.

Monday

Monday we took a walk with Raissa down to the water. Since I had to leave that afternoon we came back soon and ate lunch all together. Even Marta's mom made it to lunch which was really nice. And lunch was AMAZING. It was so nice to have home-cooked meals. I kinda had to rush off in the end. It was so hard to leave Margaret! :((( But I'm so glad I got the chance to see her for a bit.

Since then it's just been class and going out a bit. We went to Ortakoy for dinner one night and last night we went to a techno concert. Tonight there's a dubstep event in the city but I'm not sure if we'll go because everyone's pretty tired andddd.......IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow!!!! That's so crazy to me. I've been to the snow before and I've even been caught in snow storms but to have it be snowing in my living space seems like a whole different story and something I've never experienced. It's so beautiful!!

Turkeyless Turkey and Taking Taksim

Since coming back from Bayram vacation I've had some major withdrawal, especially as regards not seeing that group of friends 24/7 anymore (although I still see them all the time). This weekend has started out pretty busy, though, so it feels easier to get back into the rhythm.

Thursday we actually celebrated Thanksgiving! And although there were no Turkish turkeys to be found, it was really wonderful. We just had a potluck with most of the people from CIEE as well as quite a few Erasmus students and a couple Turkish mentors. There was so. much. food.

• 16 chickens
• 4 pans of mashed potatoes
• 60 deviled eggs (part of which was my contribution)
• 2 big bowls of candied carrots
• candied squash
• a huge pan of sweet corn
• 4 pans of apple crumble
• 2 small cheesecakes
• 4 small carrot cakes
• 1/2 a giant chocolate cake
• 1 ladybug cake
• 1 big bowl of homemade caramel popcorn
• 1 big bowl of cooked apples
• 1 small apple pie
• ~30 people to attempt unsuccessfully to eat it all

and that's only what I can remember off the top of my head. Before eating we all held hands around the circle and said what we're thankful for :D

Yesterday CIEE organized a retreat for us. Only about half of the people on the program came. It was interesting. It was lead by our three CIEE staff as well as a psychologist. One of the activities we did was to split into two groups, one of engineers who were going to build a bridge in "Bubbleland" and the other of local "Bubblelanders". As engineers we had to come to Bubbleland and work with the locals to build the bridge (between two chairs using cardboard). However, the Bubblelanders had some very specific social customs and norms, such as specific greetings, and couldn't speak English. Nevertheless, we overcame these difficulties and literally (and figuratively lol yay!) built a bridge. At other points in the day we also thought about our relationship to the abroad experience before coming, over the first few days, at the present, and upon returning home and made collages for each of these four periods. Before going home Nathan Johnson, Ivy and I also waded briefly into the FREEZING Black Sea (the beach was right next to the place where we had the retreat).

For the evening we had some serious going-out-to-Taksim plans. There was also a big double-birthday going on that we were hoping to coincide with at least at some point. We started off the night at Baba Ali for drinks, then went to Riddim to dance but we were literally the only ones on the dance floor. I didn't mind that at all, but my friends had more drink-centered plans than I and weren't happy with the exorbitant prices so we left. At this point we by chance met up with the double-birthday gang and went with them to a club called The Lion (I think). This was fun cause there was a live band playing pop hits like Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga. Of course, they weren't nearly as good as the original but it was really fun to hear these super familiar songs with a slightly different sound. This place was REALLY crowded and there were all kinds of Koc exchange students. We went nuts and it was so much fun.

Today, it's just going to be hitting the books :) It will be nice to take it easy. What with Thanksgiving, I really miss home! Much love to everyone.

Bayram Vacation

This is a long'un. I also am so tired I have no sense of grammar or any other writing skills at the moment, so be prepared ;)

Today we just got back from an amazing week-long trip across the Balkans. We didn't have classes in honor of the Bayram holiday. I went with Jonathan Kaeppler, Jonathan Madison, Ivy, Caitlin, and later Tim and his friend Katy to Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, and Romania. It was a lot of traveling for one week, but I feel like we actually spent a good amount of time in each place. Of course, I'm sure we could have spent a lot more time in each but it didn't feel rushed which was wonderful. As I seem to usually say, probably the best part of the trip was hanging out with everybody. I really love everyone in the group and we had really great dynamics overall. The social atmosphere was laid-back, funny, sassy, affectionate, interested, and generally positive. The whole trip was peppered with really intense discussions covering all kinds of topics including abortion, death penalty, gun control, nature vs. nurture, and women's rights. The discussions themselves were fantastic. Everybody had really intelligent and thoughtful arguments while being really open-minded and flexible. Plus, since we are all different majors (for the most part) and from really different backgrounds there was a lot of diversity in our perspectives. I learned so much from that alone. I also learned a whole lot about the people I was with. I feel so much closer to them now. My perceptions of each of them have changed dramatically over the week.

Here's the break-down:

Sarajevo, Bosnia

I had to leave a day later than the rest of the group due to a midterm, and I definitely had doubts about getting to the hostel from the Sarajevo airport. There weren't any problems, though. That morning, before I got there, the group went on a war tour that sounds like it was fascinating. They saw a lot of important places in the war, including the tunnel used to get food and supplies into the city. Many if not most of the buildings throughout the entire city are still punctured and dented and otherwise damaged from bullets and shrapnel. The city is nestled in a valley and apparently Serbian snipers covered the surrounding hills to attack. So many people died. I really didn't know anything about the Serbian-Bosnian conflict until now. It's so shocking how recent it was, too. Apparently the tour guide was showing the group places where he had been fighting beginning at the age of 16. The owner of our hostel also talked to us about it. He showed us a hole in the dining room table from when some kind of missile had busted through the wall and told us that one day he came home and a car was blown up at his door. People couldn't bury the dead because they would be shot down, even when they tried burying people at night. The hostel owner said, in an interesting change of tone, that things were much simpler during those four years: they only had two things to worry about, finding food and not getting shot. One side of the city had access to water and the other side had access to the tunnel that was the only way to get food and supplies so it was really difficult for everyone to get everything they needed. Also, Jon K mentioned that this was one of the few times that Catholics and Muslims (all Bosnians) united and cooperated in such a way.

Despite the grave suffering that even we couldn't escape 15 years later, the city was really surprisingly pleasant. The surroundings were beautiful as was much of the architecture. We took a hike to see the view and walked over the bridge where Franz Ferdinand was shot to spark WWI. At night we met a group of American students who were studying abroad in Hungary and in Bosnia for the weekend. As we went to several bars, hookah bars, and clubs for the rest of the night they joined us in gradually fewer numbers. They were apparently very religious (attending the same religious college in the States) and I think had qualms about some of our bar-hopping plans.

Mostar, Bosnia and Dubrovnik, Croatia

The next day we woke up late, took the hike, and fell asleep all snuggling together. On Sunday, we rented a car and drove to Mostar. This is a small town close to the Croatian border. It's famous for a bridge that was destroyed during the war and whose renovation was a symbol of recovery. It was a really lovely town with lots of crafts. We had lunch with a great view (and a passionate discussion of abortion). The drive there was incredibly beautiful, through dramatic mountains and beautiful weather:

Here's Mostar and the famous bridge (the town's name refers to the word for bridge in Bosnian [Most]):

At this point we looked at a map and realized we were awfully close to Croatia. So we decided to go, just for dinner. A couple hours and several passport stamps later we found ourselves in Dubrovnik. Since this trip was unplanned, none of us knew what to expect and we were all very surprised. Dubrovnik is centered around a massive citadel that I believe is Ancient Roman. Whether carefully restored or lovingly maintained, it looked incredibly "new", clean, and undamaged. We also only saw the town at night which has given us an interesting perspective on it. There was a gorgeous moonlit view of a couple islands near the castle. Jon M and I also briefly went galavanting through a dense residential area which was beautiful in the way it maintained the architectural theme of white stone and narrow curving alleys:

We got home quite late and knocked out immediately. Here's a shot of our room and our student-standard neatness:

Belgrade, Serbia

The next day was about entirely spent traveling from Sarajevo to Belgrade. In other words, an 8-hour train ride. It was comfortable and we had some more really good (and emotional) discussions (this time mostly about women's rights), but I was pretty antsy and we were all hungry by the end. Clockwise starting at the top left are Jon M, Caitlin, Jon K, and Ivy:

We settled in to our hostel, which was really nice, and walked around the city for a bit. It was already night by this time. Serbian money is quite "small" and we all enjoyed/were really uncomfortable with withdrawing 10,000 (by this point we were referring to all units of currency as "things") things from the ATM. Only equivalent to about $100. That night we met up with Tim and his friend Katy and made plans.

Belgrade:

The next day started with a trip to a citadel and a military museum. This was also really depressing, although informative and interesting after having seen the Bosnian perspective. There were weapons ranging from medieval times to today, but it focused a lot on WWII, complete with descriptions and pictures of atrocities. Jon K made sure to leave a biting comment in the guest book about the museum's failure to even mention the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. Here's the group posed on a torpedo, from left Katy, Jon M, Tim, Jon K, Ivy, and Caitlin.

After the museum we went to a traditional restaurant and wandered around the city some more. Having heard multiple times that Belgrade has a wild night life we were determined to go out. We got ready and went to a nice (and still dirt-cheap) restaurant. There, we invited a lone Belgium tourist from another table to join us and soon a Swiss tourist voluntarily also joined. They hung with us for the rest of the night. After eating we went to a club called the French Maid. We went because the Belgian was meeting someone there. So we had no idea what to expect. It was really hard to find. It turned out to be playing Dubstep, something I've never heard before. To me it's like some alternative something with a slow, heavy, sometimes syncopated hip-hop-like beat. It was really intense. Very danceable (I was just krumping the whole time lol), but between the loudness, the epileptic lights, and the fog of cigarette smoke I had major sensory overload. A few of us all had a shot of absinthe together. I hadn't drunk much of anything else, so I didn't even really notice the affect, but we can add it to our list of cultural experiences :)

Transylvania, Romania

The next day we took a shuttle to a Romanian town just past the border and then rented a van which we drove into the depths of Transylvania. The car had a cracked windshield, bald tires, and a cross hanging from the rear-view mirror. The man who gave it to us told us that we shouldn't worry about denting or scratching it, just as long as we don't break anything. That was a first. The journey took us through tiny, dusty towns, past horse-drawn buggies and more prostitutes than I've ever seen, and into a dense and endless tangle of scraggly, bare trees. By 1:30 am we were climbing a dirt road that might have been smoother were it paved with boulders. We weren't really sure where to go because the directions to the hostel weren't exactly clear and we ended up at the bottom of the wrong person's very steep driveway with the van's bald wheels spinning in dusty trenches. Jon and Jon did an admirable job of getting us out and we soon found the place. The hostel was really really nice, in the middle of the mountains and all these farms and rural homes. Here's the dining room:

Part of the advertisement for the hostel was that we got fresh milk every morning since the neighbors had cows. It was my first experience having milk this fresh and it was delicious. Here's the view from the hostel:

That morning we drove over to Bran Castle where The Count Dracula had spent a few nights apparently. I think it wasn't the original, though. It was still cool, a very different type of royal living space than I am used to. Also, with Transylvania's reputation of vampires I was projecting a sense of creepiness onto everything from the extensive woods to the castle. They had some information on vampires and where the myths might come from. Apparently, Dracula (Vlad the Impaler) was famous for literally impaling his enemies, but was actually really appreciated by much of the public because he was on the side of the poor. Here's Bran Castle:

Next we went to Brasov and walked around the square, ate ice cream, soaked in the atmosphere. Afterwards we went back to the hostel and had some wine and more intellectual debates, this time mostly about death penalty. The next day we went to another castle. Here was the view:

For lunch we drove to a restaurant at the top of a high hill with a great view and walked around afterwards. The evening was pretty similar to the previous, just walking around Brasov square and eating pastries and ice cream :D Back at the hostel we spent a couple hours dabbling on the guitar, telling jokes, and chatting with Josef, the owner. He had some really interesting stories about trying to immigrate to Canada 20 or so years ago. He tried to go from Guatemala through Mexico and the USA but despite many many attempts never made it past the middle of the US.

Bucharest, Romania

The next day we drove to the capital. I had no expectations, but was still surprised. This city is derelict. Architecture is dominated by the brownish-gray communist block style, plain, huge, and heavy. The only feature of these buildings to contest the uniformity is the uneven way in which they've become stained. Here and there are nougats of floral detail on artistic facades, but these are still so dirty that they blend into the square background. The streets are highly littered and half of the copious electrical wires hang at eye-level or below. Also, there were many "weed" shops, not at all limited to selling weed. One that we passed had posted prices on the window for "M. Kristal", "M. Powder", Special K, and various other nofunnybusiness drugs. Something was lost in the translation of "drug stores".

We were only in Bucharest for about half a day, and we were fine with that. Lonely Planet warned that the street dogs were the biggest danger of the city. Many of the people we passed on the street were extremely drunk and we even saw a dead body being carried out of a house in sheets. We have no idea what that was about. It was also really cold. Despite the unpleasantness, we walked out into the center for a good couple hours. There were a couple special squares where the revolution started and where many people were run over by tanks. Really depressing. Apparently, the Romanian communist regime had been been so strict and oppressive that the USSR didn't even try and incorporate it. Josef had explained that after the revolution the same personalities were in power, only changing their suits from communist to capitalist.

Home

Getting home was pretty easy and uneventful. It was only a bit bittersweet since it was the end to such an amazing week. I didn't use a computer, phone, ipod, or any other electronic device the entire time and I didn't miss any of it at all because it was so socially satisfying. At the same time, I'm now socially saturated and am definitely enjoying having a bit of time to myself. It seems like the trip lasted a month, we saw so many things and I learned so much. It's really weird to be back and hearing about everyone else's Bayram adventures, which all sound super exciting as well. And of course I didn't do a moment of homework the whole week so I have my work cut out for me :)

--Much love

Ankara

Last weekend CIEE took us to Ankara. Until then, most people had been telling us that it really wasn't all that interesting, etc. etc. But it was really nice, actually, even if not as bustling and dynamic as Istanbul. Partly because of its less-than-ideal rep, not everyone came. I'm really glad I did, though. We took night train to get there. I know my account of the night bus expressed my dislike of it, but for me night trains are a totally different story. As long as I can lie down I don't care much about movement or anything. It was pretty fun anyway. I hung out with Linda and Tyler for a while which was really chill and nice. Then I passed by another compartment with Susannah, Becca, Emily, Raven, Jon K, and a couple bottles of wine. I hung out with them for a bit, very different atmosphere than with Linda and Tyler. I slept fine, if not enough.

After breakfast we went to the parliament, the Grand National Assembly. It was interesting. They told us about all the significances of the architecture and design. For example, the place where the public sits is the highest seating place, indicating the importance of the people. After this we went to a lecture on Turkish politics at a language school. The woman giving the lecture was really nice and cool but something about the lighting and the time of day and the lack of sleep made it really hard to pay attention. Several people dozed off and one even started snoring. One thing that I took away was what she was saying about the women's movement in Turkey and how there are many different factions that are often in opposition in terms of specifics, for example, the controversial headscarf issue.

After lunch we toured the Middle Eastern Technical University, where CIEE used to be based. Some of our group wished CIEE were still based there. It was a really nice day and the campus looked really nice. Plus, the people seemed a lot friendlier than Koc students. The thing about Koc is that its basically the most expensive university in Turkey. So there's a very elite culture there. People are very concerned about brand names, etc. Someone said they saw a maserati on campus lol. METU seemed at superficial glance to have less of this attitude. While on campus we went to another lecture by a big important Turkish sociologist on identity issues. His thesis was that the big dichotomy in Turkey isn't so much between "black" Turks (majority, lower-middle class, more religious) and "white" Turks (rich minority, more secular) but rather between Sunni and Alevi Muslims. Actually, he said that there was no strict dichotomy of any kind and then focused on a religious one. Anyway, I could pay attention for more of this one and it was quite interesting, especially the reactions of the Turks in our group. He was clearly very nationalist/Kemalist/secularist and some of our members and program leaders were frustrated by his bias.

That night we went out. Ultimately we ended up at a club/bar that was actually playing Turkish pop songs instead of American top 40. It was fun to go out clubbing and know that I wasn't in the US.

The next day started off with a trip to Anit Kabir: Ataturk's mausoleum. Oh. My. God. Before going I had imagined that it would be comparable to Lenin's mausoleum in Moscow, which I have seen. Not comparable. It's the difference between someone's personal shrine in the corner of their dorm room and the Vatican. The Turks make it look like Lenin was disrespected by his people. This is as monumentally huge as it is hugely monumental. Combine the Pyramids with the Parthenon, put the result in Central Park, and voila. The property is vast. You start out at these immense statues of people and then walk down a long path, and then you find yourself in a wide courtyard that looks like that of European royal palaces, except made with big yellow stones. To your left is is the Egyptian-Parthenon behemoth. Inside this building is Ataturk's tomb, surrounded by marble and gold mosaics. And there are flowers that are changed to the tune of taps every so often. Next to this is a museum with a lot Ataturk's possessions as well as information about the revolution.

Inside the mausoleum:

Outside the mausoleum:

The best part about it? In line for the museum there were a bunch of school kids who started talking with us. There was a middle school group and a high school group. That was really fun. Here are some of the girls:

After this impressive experience we went to the Ankara Citadel and the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. The museum was really interesting, had all these great artifacts from the Hittites and Romans and I don't even know who else. I really like these pots:

Here's the view of Ankara from the top of the citadel:

There's a small town inside the citadel. It seemed really poor, basically all the locals we saw were begging or selling handicrafts. I don't know what the situation is. We had a really delicious lunch here, including manta which is like ravioli with a yogurt sauce.

Then we went to a town an hour or so outside Ankara called Beypazarı. It was so nice. I really love little towns like this. I love local handicrafts too. I bought some earrings in a typical Turkish style that I love. Also, this town is famous for carrots. It produces 60% of all Turkey's carrots. I had carrot juice and brought home carrot Turkish Delight. Didn't make it to the carrot ice cream, but my friends told me it was good. It's also famous for its Ottoman architecture.

In Beypazarı we went to the "Living Museum". The goal of this museum is to educate the public about Turkish cultural traditions, etc. There was a man who made shadow puppets. We also got to do ebru, the paper marbling we had seen in Edirne. Then, we all took part in a special ritual. You sit next to a table while a woman melts lead over a fire. Then she puts a sheet over your head and pours the molten lead in a bowl of water over your head. Then she takes the sheet off and evaluates how much "evil eye" is focused on you based on the shapes in which the now-solid lead turned out. Evil eye can be any kind of bad thoughts of others directed towards you, including jealousy. She also told some of us things like, "You don't have any evil eye, but you are sad" or "You have a little bit of evil eye, and you have five or six problems". Some of the things she said were weirdly accurate. Some of the things sounded like she'd had too much contact with the lead. After you hear about your evil eye, you eat a pinch of salt for the saltiness (? we would probably say bitterness) of life, a pinch of rice for the richness of life, and a pinch of sugar for the sweetness of life. Then she gives you a piece of your lead for you to carry around or keep in your room. Apparently I don't have any evil eye, and my piece of lead was impossible to break into bits so I got a huge chunk.

After this we went upstairs and the same woman who read our lead told us stories. It was such a nice atmosphere:

Then we went to dinner. There was some delicious rice and meat. And then, because there is a special regional sweet, because it was Becca's birthday, and because it's impossible to refuse baklava, we had three desserts. Omg. Even I couldn't manage. The special regional dessert was really yummy, like crushed nuts in honey sauce or something. I love Turkish dessert philosophy.

From there we hopped on the train back to Istanbul. This time, Ivy, Caitlin, Linda, Kathryn and I hung out and had a really solid girl talk.

Since then I've had a couple exams, nothing too terrible. My Islamic Cities midterm was a bit difficult, but I think it will be alright. Also, I've decided to stay all year!!!!!!!!!! I'm really excited about it. Once I heard that there would be homestays next semester I really felt like it would be worth it to stay. I'm so glad Oxy let me. I had a really strong feeling about it... and then once there was no turning back I started to have doubts. Of course. I was actually expecting too, and I've stopped feeling ambiguous. It's amazing how much this has changed my relationship to what I do now. It's wonderful not to feel the time pressure and I'm really excited about all the experiences I'll get to have. At the same time, it's mind-boggling to think that I won't see home for a whole year. I know it's going to be super weird coming back. I'm hoping that over the summer I can do an internship and/or take a class in Spain to get better at Spanish. We'll see.

Needless to say, knowing that it will be a loooong time til I come home I miss it like CRAZY. Much love to everyone.

Kapadokya

This past weekend I went to Kapadokya (Cappadoccia)!! I went with ISS (International Student Society). It was only 150 lira, about $100, for transportation, food, hamam, and disco so I couldn't really pass it up. All in all, the trip was pretty rushed and since there were over 60 people the organizational challenge somewhat prevented the trip from being all it could be. But I was not about to complain.

Since it was ISS (not CIEE) the 60+ constituents represented a whole bunch of countries. That was probably the best part about the trip, getting to know some non-CIEEers from all over the world. Meanwhile, Kim and Tim from CIEE were also on the trip which was really nice to have as a "base", especially since they're both fantastic and I really enjoy hanging out with them. I hadn't really hung out much with Kim up to this point so it was nice to get to know her better. Here are some more fabulous people I got to know even just a bit better on the trip:

• Nina (Germany)
• Claire (Canada)
• John (Netherlands)
• Eunice (Turkish but lives in Germany)
• Valentina (Italy)
• Abraham (Pakistan)
• Stephanie (Miami)
• Christina (Canada)
• Marina (France)
• Ben (Indiana)
• Jasmine (USA)

Some of these people I basically only met, and there are definitely others not on the list. It was really fun to hang out and get to know some of these people. Also to get a break from the CIEE dynamics (even though I love them). And then I could always kick it with Tim for some familiarity.

Bus ride there

We took overnight buses there and back. Not my cup of tea. I've taken them before, so I was not looking forward to this part of the adventure. Of course, the first few hours are always fun, you talk and meet new people, or watch outside if there is interesting scenery. After a couple hours if you get bored you can listen to music and daydream. By hour 4 or 5, however, when it's way past your bedtime and everything has lost its novelty, the chair quite suddenly starts to feel extraordinarily uncomfortable. This decrease in physical comfort correlates to increase in sleepiness. Soon you reach this horrible point when you are far too tired to stay awake, and simultaneously far too uncomfortable to sleep. All of a sudden your teeth turn to fangs and your skin to scales and your friends are the casualties. And none of the food at any of the rest stops can make it better. And I definitely drooled in front of Eunice on the ride back.

Fortunately, on the way down this experience was minimal because I had the seat next to me at times. The ride was a couple hours longer than it should have been, though, because while stuck in hard core traffic (still in Istanbul) the bus driver came too close to a metal trailer and chipped off the bottom left corner of the bus, including the headlight. As the trailer moved away, it took the left side view mirror with it. So for the remainder of the 13 hour nighttime trip our disproportionately tall tour bus drove through torrential rain and audibly high winds at rebelliously high speeds... missing one headlight and one side view mirror. And the bus driver and his second were smoking the whole time lol. At one point in my comatose stupor of the way-too-early morning I opened my eyes enough to see (ironically) that visibility was about 20 feet through the most incredible fog I've ever seen. Needless to say, it was an adventure before we even got to Kapadokya.

Ceramics

After enjoying a sumptuous breakfast, we went to a ceramics center. The styles were traditional or inspired. We even had a little demonstration of a man creating a vase using a pottery wheel. The patterns were really beautiful. I loved this blue style:

These pitchers are really cool. This is a Hittite form. Servers put their arms through the center hole and rotated the pitcher along their shoulders to pour:

Rock formations

One of the things Kapadokya is most famous for are these crazy, really weird and unique rock formations. A long time ago three volcanoes erupted in the area and covered it with lava. Since then, the stone has become sandstone (forgive me, geologists, if any of this doesn't make sense). Extensive erosion carved out these stone pillars all over the place. Meanwhile, there are pieces of granite in places (like the tops of the pillars) that could not be worn away as easily.

The softness of the sandstone meant that it could easily be carved by humans as well, who made many cave dwellings and churches. The insides of the churches were beautifully painted and frescoed. Even though most of the art was at least partially worn away you could still tell how impressive it had been. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the insides, though.

After wandering around these crazy rocks we headed "home". By this time the lazy drizzle of the afternoon turned into a full on lightning storm, which was great to see over the wide open landscape. We went to a hamam (Turkish bath) at a hotel, which was fun even though it wasn't the real deal per se. There was a REALLY hot pool, a place with faucets to actually wash, and a steam room. Apparently, in really traditional hamams there is a person there to scrub off your last two years-worth of skin as well. People keep telling me that they've never felt so clean in their life. Even though we didn't get the full scrub, it felt great afterwards. We ate dinner and then went to a "disco", which was djed by a couple Koc students. It was a small room and there weren't many people dancing, but the place was furnished with flashing colored lights and a bar so it felt a little more legit. It was also the actual Republic Day, the reason we had a four day weekend, and we got little Turkish flags :). Despite the lack of people I danced from start to finish and had fun. Also, for a little while a Turk was playing traditional rhythms on a dumbek along to Britney Spears and whatever other pop was playing, which was really fun for me.

Unfortunately, this very luxurious hotel was not the one we were staying at. The one we were staying at was surprisingly unclean and unaesthetic (which only added to the feeling of uncleanliness). The bath was industrial size and industrial style: a huge block of dusty marble. The shower was a tube from the pipes. I didn't mind all this really, and ultimately slept fine, it was just kinda funny.

Winery

The next day commenced with a trip to the winery, which is surprising considering the way some people celebrated Republic Day the previous night. Apparently, Kapadokya is famous for its wine. Unfortunately, my naive palette was not able to tell why it was so special based on the samples.

Underground City

This was really cool, probably the best part of this trip. This really was an underground city. Back in the day, lots of Christians escaped to this area to flee persecution. In order to hide they created literal cities underground. It's amazing. It's speculated that there are probably many more than have been found already. Really, it was so weird going down there. There are all these winding, narrow tunnels, some of which you have to double over to get through. Branching off of them are rooms of all sizes, shapes, and apparent functions. People carved arches, windows (from one room to another), doors, shelves, niches, etc. Plus, there are ventilation shafts that extended farther up and down than we could see. I have no idea how a community could actually function in a place like this, but apparently they did. There were even a couple moments when I started to feel slightly claustrophobic, which is really unusual for me. The temperature underground was really stable, in our case much warmer than outside (where, according to my Californian sensibilities, it was freezing).

After this I believe we were meant to hike through the Ihlara Valley and get dinner right next to it. Because of organizational difficulties, we hadn't eaten lunch and everyone was starving so we ate first and by the time we finished it was dark and the Valley was closed. However, through the darkness we could see just enough of the valley to guess that it probably would have been a really awesome hike. Next time.

Bus ride home

From there we set off home. We were now equipped with all the left-side parts of the bus. I sat in the front again, this time with Eunice. It was cool getting to know him. Everything else about the ride was pretty rough, though. I'd barely slept Thursday night and probably only 6 hours on Friday night. So this time I was way more tired and somehow even less able to sleep. Sunrise was great, though :{. Most times when I peered over at the speedometer the needle was at the maximum point, about 120 km/hr, or 100 mph. Nevertheless, we had to stop to switch buses because there was a technical problem with ours and it wouldn't be able to take the hill up to Koc. Needless to say, I slept a lot when I got home.

That night, Nathan, Kathryn and I went down to Sariyer for dinner followed by some wine and a whole tub of ice cream. It was really nice, none of us had been together over the weekend, and there was definitely some bonding. Since then I've had a couple of midterms that I'm hoping went well. Tomorrow we leave again (!), this time for Ankara.

Lots of love to everyone back home!!

Little Ones!!

Last week Raven (from CIEE) told me that she knew of someone who was looking for an English "tutor" for her two-year-old daughter and thought of asking me if I was interested. Of course I was interested, but when I called the woman (Rahel) said she already had someone to tutor. However, a couple days ago Rahel called me and said that it might not be working out with the other tutor and she wanted me to come by just to talk. Her daughter (Kayla) is SO. CUTE. Chipmunk cheeks, Bambi eyes,... the works. Plus she waddle-runs around yelling in Turkish. Rahel basically just wants me to have playtime with her where I speak lots and lots of English so she can get used to the sound. It's still not clear whether or not I'll actually be working with them; Rahel has to decide between me and the other girl. I was supposed to go for the first time this morning, but as I was getting ready Sydney (CIEE) told me that she had been stomach-sick the previous day. Ever since Ivy got sick at the end of the trip, lots of other people have as well. It's probably not food poisoning at this point. It's probably a stomach flu. A pretty nasty one, too. I called Rahel and told her about the situation and we decided it was probably better for me not to be around Kayla for the time being; I don't know if a two-year-old could handle that.

I'm not sure if I'll be working with Rahel and Kayla, but while I was at their house interviewing Rahel told me that the neighbor across the hall was also interested in an English tutor for her seven-year-old. I went over and met them and ended up "tutoring" Zeynep for an hour. The mom is so nice. She kept saying that she wanted me to be like a second daughter and was getting all excited saying that I could give lessons to herself and her husband and tutor Zeynep in piano and herself on the computer.... I might be spending a lot of time there. I already went for two hours yesterday night. And Zeynep is absolutely wonderful. We really just play around. She has some cards with pictures and the English words underneath and she has a white board that we've been using a lot. She's incredibly polite and when I thank her for things she indicates that she's the one to be saying thank you. And she gave me a sticker yesterday!!

After hanging out with Zeynep, I met up with some of my CIEE friends in Sariyer. From there we went to Taksim for the opening of a bar dedicated to Erasmus (another study abroad program) students. It was crowded and there was no dancing. So no-go. We left and went to another bar just because it was cheap, but it was also boring and we spent way too long there. It was nice, though, to get to know two girls Deniz (which means "sea") and Shahrzad (yup, like the story) a little bit better. Then we went to another club with really great music and I was having such a good time and ten minutes into one of my homegirls decided she had to go home. :P I was in a funky spot cause she insisted she could go home alone and really didn't want to make other people leave, but I really didn't want her to go alone. I understand how she felt, but I wasn't about to let her go. It's probably better that we got back a bit earlier anyway.

I miss everyone at home a lot!! It's so weird thinking about a month ago and how different everything felt. Lots of love!!!

CIEE Weekend Trip

This weekend CIEE organized a hard-core trip for the whole group. It was really fun, despite the disproportionate time spent traveling and the fact that several people got food poisoning. Fortunately, the food poisoning happened at the very end, and the time spent traveling we still had fun.

On Friday we flew to Gaziantep, in southern Turkey right by the border with Syria. On Saturday we took the bus from there to Antakya (Antioch), which is a bit farther south. The green is the general region we were in (Gaziantep is actually farther northeast):

There was a lot of time spent on the bus, but we had a lot of fun. We played this really fun game called Contact where one person thinks of a word and tells everyone the first letter. Everyone else thinks of words that begin with the same letter and ask questions referring to one of those words. The point, though, isn't so much to guess the word but to ask a question that the person can't answer. If the person can't answer, the guesser has to find someone else who thinks they know the answer and they say the answer at the same time. If they had the same answer, the person with the word gives up the next letter. So, say Chelsea is thinking of "Nebula" and gives up "N". We guess things like "Is it a cell of the nervous system?" and so on. The thing is you have to ask questions that other players will be able to figure out but the person with the word won't. Plus you have to use your noodle :D I also had some really interesting conversations, especially with Tim and mostly revolving around cognitive science.

We also had a guide for the trip. He was a real character. Many of his facts were flat out wrong. He tried very hard to get us to sing and dance on the bus. And he often referred to the things were we seeing in the superlative: "oldest in the world"; "most in the world".... Even the program leaders were continually rolling their eyes, and it seemed at one point that Kathryn Bourgeois got angry at him.

Gaziantep

We went to the Euphrates!!!! Actually it was a valley where there had once been a city that was now submerged after the Euphrates was dammed. In one place you could still see a mosque minaret poking out of the water above the submerged mosque itself. Omg, it was so cool. The boat ride itself was great, just being there. And then we went up onto the surrounding cliffs to check out the ruins which was fascinating. It was really beautiful how smooth the transition from building to cliffside was. There were cave homes and castle ruins and church ruins and mosque ruins. And the Euphrates...!!!

We went to an archeological museum exhibiting primarily mosaics. It was an incredible collection. I have such a different understanding of mosaics now that I've seen these. Apparently, the mosaics in this museum were salvaged from the submerged Roman city of Zeugma (I'm not sure if it's the same one we'd been sailing over). Plus the super famous "gypsy woman" mosaic was there.

This is actually the Euphrates, but blogger is being really weird about moving pictures around :P :

Another mosaic:

Then we ate perhaps the most delicious meal I've had in Turkey yet. It helped that I was super hungry. It was all kinds of lamb in different sauces eaten with deliciously fresh pita bread. There was also amazing baklava, a specialty of this region.

After the mosaic museum we went to the Gaziantep castle, which wasn't very interesting because the only part that was open was one passage lined with informational posters and illustrative metal reliefs.

Then, we went to the bazaar area. There were many shops selling a variety of things, but more interesting was that you could see many of the artisans working. There was mostly metalwork (including the place in the picture) but there was also some woodwork.

The next day, John was turning 21 so we went to the bar next door to be sure to be celebrating at midnight. It was kinda sketch and not a great atmosphere, but for a couple of songs the locals at the bar did traditional line dances, which was so much fun for me. When Kathryn and I went back to the hotel we hung out with Tim, Jonathan Madison, Caitlin, and Ivy for a while which was fun, especially since I hadn't really gotten to know Jon or Tim by this point.

Gaziantep to Antakya

The next day (Saturday) we traveled from Gaziantep to Antakya and made a couple stops along the way. We stopped at what had been a trading post along the silk road. There was a mosque, a bazaar, what seemed like a castle, and a hamam (Turkish bath). I think the only part that was still in use was the mosque. The hamam was really cool and I had never seen one before. There were different rooms for different temperatures and the building design was cool. We stopped at a restaurant that served local cuisine (of course) and I had nummy lamb kebab (I think).

Then we went to an Armenian Catholic village. I think they said that there was a population of about 120 in 35 houses. The best thing about it was how beautiful the area was. It was in the hills and surrounded by mountains. There was a ton of lush greenery and a fantastic view of the Mediterranean. We went to some ruins nearby that had similarly amazing nature. We saw the sunset from way up high:

The bus was parked right on the seashore and we quickly jumped in the sea before heading out. It was totally perfect, so warm and indescribably refreshing after walking around in the heat (it was hot!!) the whole day. When we got back to the hotel we had birthday cakes for John and Kathryn Bourgeois. Won't complain. Afterwards we went to the restaurant across the street and had dinner and hookah and some really great conversations. Then the manager started dropping some US beats, straight from YouTube, just for us. Eventually, he just let us use the computer to pick the songs. It was fun, but we were all exhausted.

Antakya

The next morning I woke up at 6:30 to go see a marginally interesting waterfall close-by. The coolest thing about it was the way restaurants were built on and around it. It was also really early. After breakfast we were supposed to see an Orthodox service, but in the end weren't allowed to disturb it and could only go into the church later :( In the meantime, Kathryn, Nathan J, Emily Christensen, Linda and I went to another archeology museum. It had some really great artifacts as well. It had mosaics, coins, glasswork, Hittite statues and Greek pottery.

After the museum we took a walk through the nearby park and stopped to get tea and Linda (whose mom is Turkish) taught us a typical game played with tiles called Okay. From almost the moment we left the museum a tall and gangly teen took a avid, although distant, interest in us. He followed us for over an hour. It seemed like he made a slight effort to disguise the fact that he was following us: he'd stop to wash his hands, sometimes it would seem like he was going a different direction or disappear altogether. But without fail he would reappear and go where ever we went. He followed us all through the park, into the cafe (he didn't even finish his tea when he saw we were leaving) and all the way back past the museum and to the Orthodox church. That's when we lost him lol.

After that I wandered around another part of the city with Ali, Kim and Linda. It was nice hanging with them because I haven't as much as with other people. I really liked the feel of the city, small winding streets, a lot of light.... It had that "rustic" feel, Middle Eastern style. We met up with the rest of the group and had nummy lunch at a restaurant, after which we got Künefe, a dessert unique to this part of Turkey. It's like baklava but with sweet cheese in the middle instead of nuts and honey and you eat with some creamy stuff and ice cream. Super good, but we were so full it was hard to truly enjoy it.

Our last stop was at one of the first churches "in the world". Apparently this is where the term "Christian" or "Christianity" was first used. There was also an escape tunnel in the back. There was some other pretty special stuff about it, but it wasn't totally clear to me. Here it is:

From there we headed to the airport and eventually back to campus, ridiculously exhausted, but with some wonderful memories :D

İznik

Yesterday we took a day trip to Iznik. We had wanted to get a shuttle bus to take us to Bursa (the city next to Iznik), which would have been relatively cheap and really convenient, but the driver cancelled on us last minute. So Tyler figured out a way for us to get to Iznik by public transportation. Tyler is great. He's really smart, knows way more Turkish than most of us, and has spent more time in Turkey so he knows his way around a lot better. I'm kind of worried that we take advantage of his expertise sometimes :P It ended up taking us about five hours to get to Iznik, but it was a good to get more familiar with the public transportation system, and with friends I didn't mind, especially since I didn't have much homework hanging over my head. This was our route:

1. Dolmuş (minibus) to Sariyer
2. Bus to the metro
3. Metro to the tram
4. Tram to the ferry
5. Ferry across the Bosphorus
6. Dolmuş to Iznik

The way back was similar. But it was totally worth it. Iznik is beautiful and really different from Istanbul or Edirne. It's the site of the First Council of Nicea! Here's the church where the Council took place (no big deal):

After seeing the church, we walked to the lake. Iznik is famous for this lake, which is huge. It was soooo beautiful!!!! I can't even describe and the pictures definitely don't do it justice. I'm not actually putting my better pictures of the lake up because I'm not sure what the ownership rules are for blogspot and I don't know what I might want to use the pics for later. Here's where we had some delicious tea and "tost" (with cheese and meat that tasted like tandoori lol) on the lakeside:

Then we spent a while just wandering around on the town's extensive ruins: walls, gates, and an impressive amphitheater. It's so amazing to see these things that were built SOOO long ago! I can't wrap my mind around their age, or the fact that they were being used at one point and parts still last. Nathan was climbing a particularly precarious part of the amphitheater and Tyler was getting nervous, saying that those walls were so old you couldn't trust them. Nathan argued that if they lasted this long they were surely trustworthy :D We could get gorgeous views from way up high on the walls. The air there was a lot cleaner than in Istanbul and it was a beautiful day. Here's part of the wall seen from another part of it:

Here's the amphitheater:

The feel of the city was really different in general, too. Everything was much smaller scale and much more rural. It seemed like every house had a good-sized vegetable garden. It looked like a lot of houses were burning trash as well. There was also a group of people that kept catching and releasing pigeons and doves, maybe to train them? Throughout the day there was a really loud, really long procession of cars driving throughout the town celebrating a wedding. I got a video of it but I can't figure out how to put it up :(

On our way to the museum I wanted to buy one of the delicious-looking loaves of bread that were displayed along the streets to have at home over the next few days. In my plan to have it last I didn't realize what I was up against: at about 5 in the afternoon it was fresh. Piping hot. It was SO GOOD. Between all of us we finished a huge loaf before we got home. No regrets :D.

We didn't have much time at the museum, but it was small and we were tired anyway. There were some really nice artifacts, including flatware, sculptures, and gorgeous coins from various eras. This one has the signature of the Ottoman Sultan:

We were all exhausted by the time we got home, but made a valiant effort to get some homework done before bed. And now we're beginning our fourth week in Istanbul!

OMNOMNOMNOMNOM

This week has been mostly settling into the school rhythm. Which is definitely easier said than done. It's been about five months since I've been in school!! I feel like I've forgotten how to pay attention in class, how to do homework, how to write, how to read, how to use a mechanical pencil.... Most people don't have class on Fridays, so nearly all of us get three-day weekends which is WONDERFUL. Also, it started raining like CRAZY and it's been getting super cold. We've definitely gotten soaked several times.

On Thursday night we went over to the Asian side (Kadikoy again) for dinner and then went into Taksim for a concert. Dinner was really good. We went into this restaurant with a limited menu that none of us understood and all ordered the first item on the list. We were brought what seemed to be breaded and fried meat, in my case served in a sandwich with raw onions and tomatoes. I ate it with thick yogurt and some yummy herbs. We all had the same meat stuff but in different variations. After agreeing that it had been delicious we found out that the meat had in fact been... liver. I'm glad I found that out after I finished :P We had really yummy ice cream afterwards, which is weirdly sticky and gooey here. Then we made it to Taksim and made it to the concert quite late but it was still really fun. The band was called Baba Zula and it's kind of like Turkish trance music or something. Super wonky, but I really loved the clear influence of traditional music. The performers had some crazy costumes, too, and I'm pretty sure the lead was rocking out on an electric saz. Here's a video of them from YouTube. They're much older now and not all the members are the same. The song actually starts at 40 seconds:

Yesterday CIEE organized a "mahalle tour" to explore one of the CIEE staff's neighborhood. Beforehand people were telling us that this particular neighborhood (Şişli) isn't very interesting, but we all ended up having a lot of fun. We took the metro for the first time. It's really nice, clean, and high-tech. Here are Emily and Kathryn, two of the people I spend most of my time with:

We actually started our tour in supposedly the biggest mall in Europe. There was one floor that was entirely devoted to all the fast food restaurants us yanks associate with home. Everything from McDonalds to Krispey Kreme to Popeyes (surprisingly). We went all out. Then we went to Ataturk's house. This is the building from which he apparently planned the revolution. It's a museum now where they have some really weird memorabilia, including his metal dentures, some of his hair, and some dirt from his grave. Here's one of his pictures (his mustache wasn't always this phenomenal):

One of the things that Kathryn (the staff who lives in this neighborhood) emphasized is the stark contrast of socio-economics here. The tall building below is apparently incredibly expensive (you can see the sea from the higher apartments) and includes day cares and stores inside. Kathryn said that in this kind of building you don't need to leave except to go to work and described it as "hermetically sealed". Meanwhile, the area around the smaller building is already one of poverty. Homes are made out of scrap materials. Despite areas of extreme poverty throughout the city, it is uncommon to see the kind of homelessness I'm used to seeing in the Bay Area. Apparently this is largely due to strong family support systems. The specific smaller building in the picture is a tomb where people in the area can go to pray. Even though it's pretty shabby, it's considered a sacred site and if they try to develop this area (which is very likely, apparently) they are unlikely to get rid of it:

Then we all went to Kathryn's home and had tea with sweets and talked for a couple hours. It was really nice to talk to our staff in an informal setting and just get to know them better as people, not as authorities or program leaders. They're all really nice. And the cookies were SO GOOD. On the way back home we picked up supplies for hot chocolate and a chocolate cake (perfect rainy-weather food) and ate it all while we watched a soccer game once we got here. A few from CIEE flew to Antalia for the weekend so we were a smaller group on campus. It was really nice doing nothing together. And the cake was SO GOOD. Really though. Super moussey with amazing frosting and these little chocolate chips every once in a while OMNOMNOMNOMNOM: