Thursday I woke up still congested and feeling kind of blah. We originally were supposed to do the Bosphorus tour up to the Black Sea, but Prof. Sarah was feeling kind of sick so an executive decision was made to postpone this journey until after our expedition. So we had another free day, but we all kind of needed another one.
After a few hours of somewhat messing around with different stuff I need to do for our program (note, big project and cultural events paper) I decided a nap wouldn't do any harm. I think I took about an hour nap or so, and then I was woken up to help prepare for our terrace party that we were hosting that night with our landlady, Robin. After the nap, I was feeling much better thankfully. Closer to normal anyway.
Our terrace party was a pretty neat affair. We bought tons of fruit and drinks, Robin brought some more food, and some of the other guests brought some stuff as well so we ended with quite a spread. Just about everyone we knew in Turkey came, plus some more. Everyone else left between 11:00 and 11:30 and as soon as Robin was gone, we went from classic American rock to, well, what else do you listen to late-night on our terrace - classic American rap.
Oh, and Thursday was a very successful day for the drama involving a camera and shipping for Kristina. The original 1500 YTL price that was stuck on the invoice was reduced to 30 YTL by her and Yekta physically going to the FedEx warehouse and customs. Hmph. Fishy. But apparently it was all on FedEx that was making this drama, not customs. In any case the problem has been solved.
So though Thursday was rather uneventful in terms of Turkish mysteries and randomness, it was a good day, at least after my nap.
Friday began rather early for us. As in, we were meeting at 10:00 a.m., so in Real World, it was all the early. This was the day for our journey up the Golden Horn. Remember, the Golden Horn is the waterway that separates the two European sides. We met with our guide and Prof. Sarah outside the Spice Bazaar. We first toured Rustem Pasha Camii; a neat mosque that actually has shops as its base and is built above the ground. Then we hit the ferry to cover part of the ground. We got off a few stops up the Golden Horn, finding ourselves in a Greek neighborhood. We visited the Orthodox Patriarch's homebase, which included a church that was built during the Ottoman period of the early 17th century. We also saw a Bulgarian church and a really impressive Greek school.
We grabbed lunch in the area as we were all flagging. I'm not sure why we were all so exhausted; we had gotten the same amount of sleep as always. In any case, we got some food and some ice cream (Magnum! Which is my favorite ice cream brand). Turks don't mess with ice cream here; they love it for breakfast, lunch, and supper. When in Turkland, do as the Turks do. I'll happily eat my dondurma.
Our next order of business was to hop back on the ferry and take it up to the end of the Golden Horn. We then took a gondola up to the top of one of the hills, leaving Prof. Sarah behind as she doesn't favor heights. We rode over the famous cemetery in Istanbul. I don't know if it can really be classified as famous, but that's the best word I can think of to describe it as apparently everyone and their second cousin wants to be buried there. It's nice in anycase, being built on a hill, it overlooks Istanbul and the stares down the Golden Horn. At the top of the gondola, there was a cafe with excellent views. It's still a shame that the pollution provides a permanent haze to the city because you can't see as far as you might like.
We took the path that winds down through the graveyard and met Prof. Sarah at the bottom. Then we visited the famous mosque that all the ten-year-old boys go to before getting circumcised. As is Muslim tradition. Our guys cringe every time they see a boy outfitted in prince-like clothes being paraded around the streets that signal the day of their circumcision.
The day had literally disappeared on us at that point, and by the time we arrived back to our flat at 5:30, we were all ready to pass out. Again, I can't really explain why we were all so exhausted because the day wasn't as hard as some we have had. Some of the group promptly took a "short sleep" as it has been so dubbed, while for me, I chose a shower. It had been a really warm day and I felt like I had sweated out my body weight.
About the time I got out, our Turkish teacher, Hande, had arrived for our last Turkish lesson. However, the night before we convinced Hande that we wanted to go have our last lesson in a meyhane. A meyhane is a type of restaurant Turks go to for appetizers and typically drink raki. Since none of us were ready, we had to force Hande to wait a little while before leaving. Once we finally got there, we did have a great time and I think spent about three hours just chilling...and eating. We let Hande order the meze (the appetizers, kind of like tapas) as most of us had no clue how to choose from the huge amount of options that the waitstaff displayed for us. I mean, where do you begin when one of the options is some sort of intact animal brain?
Afterwards, we all came back to the flat to crash slash R&R.
Today has been spent cleaning the flat and preparing for our expenditure out into Turkey. We get to keep all the stuff we're not taking on our two-week excursion in one of the rooms of the boys flat, which is convenient. Unfortunately we had a lot of dishes to clean, mostly leftover from our terrace-party in which we used just about every dish available between our two flats.
Here's a random Turkish mystery for you to chew on. It's illegal for Turks to talk on a cellphone in cars. No, not just the driver. The passengers too, and that goes for passengers in everything from taxis to chartered buses. Because apparently in Turkey, cellphones interfere with the brakes.
Yeah.
The best I can come up with is that a cellphone causes a chemical reaction that changes the brake fluid...? Eh, no. Don't you love how whole countries of people can be made to think certain things like cellphones interfering with brakes? And well, insert witty American example here for well-roundedness of the topic.
So here's for a great two weeks on the rode in which my cellphone will be off, and if I haven't spent enough time with the group here's to 24/7 with them. I less than three ya'll! For my parents, 'less than three' translates to <3> lingo (look at it closely to the side and you'll see).
