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!!