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Updates, logs, and reflections
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Jennifer |
Simone |
Collette |
Sierra |
Jay |
Kelly |
Stephen |
Luke |
Chi-su
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April 22
The days and hours have run together so that I have a hard time distinguishing them. We left around 4:30 pm and had a 7 hour flight that got us into Amsterdam at 6:45 am. I seem to have lost hours of my life and a full night’s sleep somewhere along the way. I met a new friend on the plane from Amsterdam to Istanbul. Her name was Yoshi (I think) and she was a tour guide from Holland. She is taking a group hiking around the Sea of Marmara and other places. She said she knew English, German, Spanish, and French, but she had a hard time learning Turkish. So we studied together. She told me that my experience would be very special and I would remember it forever. I think she is going to be right.
April 23
I never knew so many things could be packed into one day. We started out with breakfast at the pansion. The language barrier caused a bit of a problem but I finally ordered one breakfast for myself. Then we went to St. Paul’s Cultural center before we left for Perge. Perge was incredible and I can’t begin to describe the awesome sights that surrounded me. Then after Perge we went out to eat at a gorgeous restaurant by a waterfall. Then we went to the beach. We were on a private beach on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and the mountains and Antalya were spread out before us. This evening I went to a Tae Kwon Do class that was completely in Turkish. That was an experience I have never had before and hope to never have again. How tiring!!!! Now it’s late and the interterm group is hanging out in Jay and Chi Su’s room eating pistachios and having fun. Türkiye çok severim!
April 25
Today was surreal. We were in a parade in the town of Kumluca. It was all very spur of the moment, but first we were visiting high schools and greenhouses then the next thing we know we’re pushed into an agricultural parade in between Tae Kwon Do fighters and grease wrestlers. I have to say that marching in a parade through the streets of Kumluca waving a Turkish flag with news cameras filming was not something I had expected to be doing on this trip. This evening we ate an incredible dinner at Toros, a school in Antalya . We met two girls named Miriam and Sehra, who were living in Antalya learning Turkish. They were sweet and friendly and I enjoyed talking to Sehra during dinner.
April 26
We arrived in Istanbul last night and finally got to the Yunus Emre Hotel after waiting quite a while for our ride to pick us up. (While waiting I realized that I am actually a half decent rapper.) It is definitely not like La Paloma Pansion. We will be roughing it a bit more here in Istanbul . But I suppose we were terribly spoiled in Antalya . We visited Topkapi Palace today. It was beautiful. The architecture and decorations inside the palace were gorgeous to look at, and the jewels on display were even more incredible! Huge diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and any other kind of sparkly thing you could desire. In the afternoon we went to the Grand Bazaar. It was really cool and with Jennifer’s excellent bargaining help I got quite a few nice things.
April 27
Today we saw the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. They were unbelievable. In an ironic twist of fate, my page-a-day "1,000 Places To See Before You Die" calendar featured Hagia Sophia on Friday, April 27. I must say I’m glad I took my calendar’s advice and visited. It makes me feel so small and insignificant when I reflect on the number of people who have set foot inside those places or even how long they’ve been there and who it was that imagined them or built them long ago. In the afternoon we visited TEGV and read to some young children. One of the boys was definitely a character! So cute. In the evening we went to Istiklal Caddesi, a pedestrian shopping street. We saw some modern Turkish shops, walked around, and ate maras again...although the show that came along with the ice cream was a bit strange. I got an ice cream cone stuck down my shirt. But that’s another story. Tomorrow is our last day and that is really uncool.
April 28
Saturday we went to Rumeli Hisari and a cemetery in the morning. The fortress was extraordinary and even though climbing up the narrow steps without railings was a bit unnerving, the views from the tops of the towers were worth it. Nothing beats seeing the Bosporus spread out before you with Istanbul rising in the background. The rest of the day we just relaxed, went to Akmerkez which is a modern mall, went back to the Grand Bazaar for a few more gifts, then hung out at the hotel until we had to leave for our flight. One of my favorite parts of the night was laying with the group on the terrace wrapped in our blankets, eating pistachios and baklava, talking and joking into the night. My other favorite part was sitting with Chelsea, Sierra, and Kelly in the dark on Sierra’s top bunk and talking some more. We were all really tired and at one point I sort of dozed off while talking. That’s a strange feeling.
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