This little piggy went home

The End.

The Good : An end to incessant honking; an end to gunshots in the night; an end to bad water; an end to not understanding; an end to crazy keyboards (though I'd gotten so used to them that I can't find the apostrophe anymore); an end to feeling like I'm showering in a rec centre; an end to people yelling at me to buy something; an end to muddy sidewalks; an end to the same 3 shirts and pair of pants (!!); an end to getting lost.

The Bad : An end to free time; an end to historical surroundings; an end to beautiful two-thousand year-old architecture; an end to durums; an end to being surrounded by beautiful mosques; an end to baklava; an end to Turkish food and (often free) tea; an end to brand new experiences; an end to my vacation; an end to Call to Prayer; an end to stray kitties everywhere; an end to cheap and amazing olives and feta cheese; an end to the possibility of a hamam; an end to Turkish coffee; an end to Turkish moustaches; an end to speaking Turkish (and getting laughed at - this probably belongs up there with "The Good"); an end to Christina's beautiful spacious apartment; an end to exploring; an end to occasional warm winter weather; an end to Turkish people (good or bad, they are sure different than Canadians); an end to watching the lot dogs; an end to our adventure.

The Ugly : An end to black snot.

The end of this blog. Thanks for sharing!

Peace.

Almost home!

Today was our final day here in İstanbul.

Ariel and Jeremy left late last night after a day full of walking, leftovers, and the best baklava ever made! We had one last durum, one last Efes Pilsner, one last Turkish Delight binge...

On Monday I had my favourite Turkish experience ever - the hamam, or Turkish Bath. The bath is seperated for men and women, so Will and I were waiting until Ariel and Jeremy were here so that we would have someone to sit with while we bathed. After so long in this male-oriented city, surrounded by men and maleness, just looking at the ''Ladies Only'' sign instantly relaxed me. We were ushered into a room to get undressed and given a tiny kitchen towel to cover ourselves through the salon and tea-drinking room, then ushered into a smaller warmer room then finally into the huge marble dome-ceilinged bath. We were shown to one of the many taps on the outside wall of the room where a woman ripped off our towels and hung them up. She gave us each a metal bowl for scooping the water out of the ever-filling sink under the taps. We sat there for about half an hour pouring water on us and chatting until it was time for our massage. We laıd down in the middle of the room on a raised platform and two big soft older ladies sat beside us and first scrubbed us all over with a soapy loofa then used the soap to massage us. It was so relaxing with the sound of running water echoing all around us in the marble expanse. After we were totally cleaned, we went back to the sinks where the masseuse washed our faces and combed and washed our hair. We felt like little kids again being washed by our mommies. Especially when she shampooed our hair from behind then without warning soaped our faces! The women held our chins and smiled big smiles at us and were so nice and sweet but also vigorous and purposeful, just like moms washing their babies. Then we sat by the sink again and rinsed and chatted before getting warm towels, tea and then getting redressed. It was the best experience! Our smiles lasted all day.

Ariel and Jeremy won't believe this, but there is a shop that just opened right at the top of our street that sells sheep ice-cream from Moda (on the Asian Side). This place literally opened today. Will and I went there for dessert and yes it was all we'd hoped it would be.

I guess that we'll see you all soon, since we leave here tomorrow morning at 6am. We will be travelling for about 21 hours before finally reaching Victoria! Long day, but it'll be nice to know that our bed will be waiting for us at the end of it. I will write one more blog once I'm home, so stay tuned...

Merry Christmas from İstanbul!

Merry Christmas All!!

Well, our Christmas is almost over and most of yours has only just begun! We came to the internet cafe to call our families (we have no land line at home) and the phone lines are all too busy or something so we're unable to phone. You'd think that in a country full of Muslims this would not be a problem tonight, but there you go.

This morning we opened stockings (we drew names then went to the Bazaar and candy shop to buy little things for them) (İ got Jeremy's stocking and Ariel filled mine), taking as long as possible oohing and awwing over the same things that we all got each other! We each had a present or two to open, which we also made last as long as possible! Then we ate omelettes that Will and İ made that paled in comparison to all the food that our proffessional personal chef, Jeremy and his beautiful assistant Ariel have been making for us - pallella (sp?) with fresh saffron last night and chicken breasts stuffed with olives and feta cheese complete with veggies and stuffing and gravy and sour cherry sauce (to replace absent cranberry sauce but which MAY have been even better) for Christmas dinner tonight! Mmmmmmm.... Especially impressive considering all we have in our kitchen is a camp stove with two elements!

İt's so nice to have Ariel and Jeremy here, especially for Christmas. İf only Will and İ were here we probably would have eaten sandwiches or soup tonight. İ also get a little of the family feeling having other people from home, and especially Ariel and Jeremy, who İ've already spent a Thanksgiving, and many other memorable times with. Hopefully they and Will feel the same. We are like a little family here. As Will says, perhaps the wine helps. Thanks for coming guys!

İ cannot believe it, but we are coming home in only 4 days. İt is just as surreal to leave this city as it was to come here. İ am definately leaving a piece of my heart in İstanbul.

My Kingdom for a Nice Warm Car!

İt is raining and snowing again after being so nice for a while. Tricky İstanbul! Half the time İ dream of my wool coat, the other half, wonder why İ didn't bring shorts. Today was the former. Last night was the former. Dear God, was it ever the former...

Our İstanbul soccer team, Beşiktaş (not sure what that will look like on your computer, but whatever) was playing their last home game before the Christmas break, so we wandered up to the book store and bought tickets. We have only ever bought tickets at the Stadium before, and we had bought the cheapest tickets and were up behind one goal, in a covered section. So, we got the cheapest kind again. İt was pouring rain already and not looking like it was going to let up. Our tickets said something different than last time, but we had to wait until we got there to realize where we were situated. Umbrellas are randomly confiscated, so we brought the broken one, so that İF it got taken away, we wouldn't care. Unfortunately, the walk to the Stadium in the wind and downpour broke the umbrella more, and it was pretty much unusable. We were soaked. And freezing. And outside getting colder and wetter. Anyways, by the time the game started (stupid ref not cancelling the game - this was my only hope!) we couldn't feel our hands or feet, despite all the tea and hamburger-hotdogs we drank/ate. İ was holding my umbrella up, clasping the ripped fabris at both sides, when a nice man said that if we went somewhere, we could get a free new umbrella. Elated, İ chucked my basically useless brolly into the nearest garbage pile and looked (in vain, of course) for the so-called ''free umbrella man.'' Back out into the rain with NO umbrella, no cover - oh yeah!! We weren't in the nice, covered area at all, of course, but out in the open area with the people whom we smugly pitied last game. Still it poured. Then İ saw someone with MY BROKEN UMBRELLA!! They looked drier than us anyways. Stupid garbage pile divers. Anyways, we stayed for the first half, no one scored, and we left. We could barely walk, and we had no brolly. We got home more soaked than İ've been for years. Will said that he wished he was playing in that weather instead of watching. İ wished he was playing instead too - then İ could have watched from the car.

On Wednesday, Ariel and Jeremy come for a week and for Christmas. This day is bitter-sweet because, while it means seeing our friends, and having different people to talk to, and doing new things, and seeing İstanbul through fresh eyes again, it also marks the beginning of our last week here, the end of which will be another bitter-sweet moment.

On the agenda for tomorrow is getting lost while looking for a Picasso exibit that is advertised all over town, but is at a museum no one has heard of, where no trams, buses, or dolmuses go. So typical. This situation usually ends badly for us - wandering around for 3 hours until İ get cranky (bitchy, lets face it) enough for Will to agree to give up and go home where İ drink tea and he reads his book. Actually, the ending of that is quite nice, it's the middle part that's the problem. Stay tuned for the details and wish us luck!

Peace.

Princes and Sultan's Ghosts

Sometimes Turkey makes so much sense. Charging only 2 lira ($1.80) to travel by boat for an hour and a half to an island where no one has cars, only bicycles and horse-drawn carriages, where kittens run amok and have scared off all the nasty squirrels. İt just makes sense.

Sometimes Turkey makes no sense. Writing in a book that Trotsky lived at an address that doesn't exist, refusing to post a sign to anything, charging 6 Lira for photo priveledges in a palace, even if your camera runs out of batteries after only a quarter of the tour (yes, this happened to your truly!). İt just doesn't make any sense.

Büyükada (the ''Big İsland''), one of the Princes' İslands was cute and nice and quiet - barely any yelling and NO cars or honking!! İt was like paradise. With horses running around everywhere eating out of garbages. And more cats than people, eating out of garbages. And dogs that follow you around for an hour before they forget and follow someone else. We took a horse-drawn carriage tour for 22 lira ($20.00) and for those who don't know, this is about a quarter what tourists pay in Victoria. İ guess İstanbul isn't the only city that takes advantage of foreigners! Will wouldn't agree to rent a tandem bike with me. He's no fun sometimes.

Today we visited the Dolmabahçe Palace, where Attiturk lived and died. İt was built by Sultan Something in the 1800s, so it is newer by about 400 years than the Topkapı Palace, the other one we visited, but this one was so much more impressive! İ think because it still is set-up with the original furniture and carpets and paintings and gold tea sets and gold place settings, so one could really imagine life there. İ won't get into the camera fiasco, but you won't get a chance to see most of the palace, and especially not the main room and most interesting chandeliers. You'll just have to come to İstanbul for yourselves! Everyone tells us to go home to Canada and tell everyone to come to Turkey, so there you go. İ did it.

Gotta go - we've been here a while and only have so much money on us. Love and hugs!!

Our trip to Asia

Well, add another continent to the list! The amount of continents I have been to has technically tripled since I left for this trip! Although, I always seem to be just on the outskirts of each!

Asian İstanbul isn't soo different from the European, although it does have garbage cans, roads that are adequate size for the amount of cars driving on them, cars that stop at red lights (!) and crosswalks (!!), a pedestrian street that is CLOSED OFF from cars, and sheep ice-cream (that I couldn't find - maybe it's only around in the summer? I thought I saw some, but it wasn't in Moda??)!! Actually, Asian İstanbul is about as different from European İstanbul as one could ask for! I think we'll go back there to try to find that ice-cream again. Chloe's recommendation and claim that it's her ''favourite ice-cream in the world'' warrants two tries at least! And the ferry only costs 1 Lira (85 cents CDN).

We made a list of all the tings we still want to do before Ariel and Jeremy come for Christmas, and we only have 1 day to spare now, because Will was sick yesterday, and we just hung around the house and read books, thus not completing one of our many tasks. Yesterday, I just went out to the bakery (and forgot my ''wedding ring''! Will thought I would get fake-wife-knapped) and for sahlep with a friend, Mugé, who owns a clothing store beside our apartment building. Sahlep is a drink they have here only in the winter, like eggnog. If only it was eggnog... Anyways, it is made from crushed orchid root, and tastes like rice pudding kinda, but has the consistency of...mucous?...something worse? Anyways, it's a little viscous. But tasty.

So, 16 days until Ariel and Jeremy (or Jeriel as we like to call them - she's gonna kill me now!) arrive, and 15 days worth of things left to do! Tomorrow we are going to one of the palaces, the big one over by Sultanahmet. They only have tours through the harem, so we will have to get up earlyish to ensure a spot. I want to see where the women all lived, not just the men! I guess no reading tomorrow morning :(

Everyday, Will and I talk about home and all of you. We have a lot of time, and no one else will talk to us, so I really do mean ALL of you! We miss you all and are so excited to see you! Being away from home really makes one realize what home is, and how nice it is. Not that I didn't need a break from Victoria and Bay Street specifically (it's not the street so much as what came at the end of it) but I am glad to have this distance from the bad memories I have with so much of Victoria, so that I can really appreciate home again! Peace.

We're Tourists At Last

This weekend, my old (young) friend Jen Gerow visited us in İstanbul from London. Since she was only here for a few nights, we were forced to finally do all those things that we'd been putting off for later. Also, we got to play the games at the flat (other than Turkish Monopoly), most of which are for 3 or more players! We played a fun one called AdVersity! You'd all like it!

We finally saw the Whirling Dervishes, which made Will and Jen dizzy, but was so amazing. Sufis worship the Saint of Love. I really felt like they were vessels through which love was being spread to us all, and not humans at all. Other than the zzhurts and beep-beeps of digital cameras (doesn't anybody know that those sounds can be turned OFF?) the ceremony was very peaceful. A choir sings and people play intruments, but the whirling is totally silent. We have lots of great pictures, and a video to show you!

We also went inside the Sultan Ahmet Camii (the Blue Mosque) and Ayasophia (Haghia Sophia)(the church built in 500 BC that was later coverted into a Mosque then finally into a museum). These buildings are awesome and wonderful and peaceful and beautiful and everything you would expect and more. Buildings just don't know where it's at nowadays. Architects are great and everything, but God can really inspire people to go all out! I could have stayed in the Blue Mosque all day, though not confined to the tiny back area where Muslim women sit while their husbands and sons pray. Unfortunately, the Ayasophia is being repaired so there was 28 stories of scaffolding up to the top of the dome right in the middle of the main room. I know İstanbul is on a fault line and everything, but we payed 15 YTL! Don't they care about tourists at all?? Oh yeah. No.

Now that Jen has gone back home to London, we can go back to doing just one thing a day, and reading books. The weekend was so much fun, and it was so nice to have someone else to talk to (no offense to Will). I think we will take Chloe's advice and go over to the Asian side soon. We can't believe that we are only half-done our trip, but I'm not looking forward to counting down our days here. I'm already sad that I'll have to leave, but it's still so far away, so I'm happy!