We are... yes, Home!

Well, the trip has flown by, and I thought I should at LEAST let you guys all know that, even though according to my blog, we are still in Istanbul (funny, I wish....), we really are, in fact, home.  Or at least, my cousin's house.  But yes, we are home, meaning America... we leave from Atlanta, Georgia to drive back to NC in approximately 12-14 hours.  The culture shock of coming back has been indescribable... I catch myself saying excuse me in Turkish to the people I bump into on the street, and am taken off-guard by the fact that they actually say it back to me in English.  I find myself humming all the Turkish pop songs that got stuck in my head in the 6 weeks we were over there.  I miss the minarets and the prayer calls, and the public transport, and the incessant walking, and the cobbled streets full of so much history.  I miss the beach and the food and my Turkish friends and my new-found Turkish family (who, by the way, are wonderful and amazing people who enfolded me with so much love, it made me cry more than once).  But, I will admit, it IS nice to have a Wendy's frosty again, and NOT to have to worry about the weight limit for suitcases!  Whenever I wrote my mother, I made a habit of telling her that I missed home, but not enough to come back, just enough to bring all of my people over.  I still feel that way.  I love Turkiye so much.  One of the deepest wishes of my heart is that you all could experience it and love it.  I wish you could see and love the people and the culture and the history and the food and the music.  I wish you could sit in the covered bazaar and have Turkish chai and cake and close your eyes and listen to the sounds of the people - the clink of the glass tea cups, the footsteps echoing up to the painted roof, the voices of the shop sellers and the all the centuries-old dreams that whisper from the corners of the ancient walls.  I wish you could walk and walk and walk around Istanbul until 2 in the morning carrying shopping bags and eating street mediye dolma and knowing that you are perfectly and completely safe.  I wish you could go to a shop and see the people's faces light up as you speak a few halting Turkish words (pronouncing the vowels incorrectly, of course) and see the kindness in the seller's eyes as he pins an evil eye to your shirt (a wish for your protection from evil) and drops three liras from the price of whatever you were going to buy.  I wish you could hear a drum-beat coming from a corner of the city and follow it and find a young boy sitting there making a little money from his immense talent and practice.  I wish that you could see Turkiye, see the WORLD, the way I see it now: eternally different to your eyes.  But, seeing as you can't... I will do my absolute best over the last couple of weeks before school starts back to help you feel a fraction of the wonder and wideness and joy and loss that I feel right about now.  I will do my best to give you a taste of the sights and sounds and stories, of the people and the food and the smells, of everything that could bring each of you a fraction closer to EXISTING with Turkiye the way I did.  But if you ever have a chance... please, GO!  I want you all to see that country, MY other country, in the truest way you can.  I love you all, and I have missed you very much...
          ~Bekah

Hey everyone!

(Us with the capitol of culture sculpture)

I'm sorry!  I know this is a travesty!  We're in Kusadasi now :-)  We leave on Wednesday - two days from now - to go to Istanbul and then we have three days after that before we leave for America... it's pretty unbelievable...  I haven't been writing because we've been so busy with family and being at the beach, plus internet is hard to get (I have to walk for about 10 minutes to get to the place where we get internet - the pide place... it's amazing... we have Turkish friends there!)  At any rate, I went to Ephesus yesterday - the ruins of the  Ephesus where Paul preached the sermon in the amphitheater (wow wow wow wow wow wow wow!)  Anyway... let's see... I'll just give you guys a quick outline of everything we've done and try to fill in later, mk?
After we went to the Aya Sofya, we went to the Blue Mosque, and then the Basilica Cistern (the underground cistern... I loved that place so much...).  We ate kofte, which is basically like meatloaf meatballs at a famous place - Sultanahmet - in the best location of that shop (the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul).  We went to the Spice Bazaar briefly that night and then on the way back we saw an amazing sculpture-ish thing that was in Istanbul because they're the 2010 capitol of culture (amazing, right!?) and it had sounds that went with it, based on who was standing where inside it (basically based on sensory detection) and had speakers inside it... it was amazing!  :-)   We had so much fun with it :-)  and then we went home... I'll do more later :-)  I love you all!  Take care and write me!
        ~Bekah

Thursday... :-)

Thursday, we slept in until around 9... The schedule for the day was to go to The Hagia Sophia (Aya Sofya; St. Sophia..), the Blue Mosque, and the Basilica Cistern.  We took the ferry over from the Uskudar district of Istanbul on the Asian side (where our flat was), and then took the tram to the Sultan Ahmet district (on the European side, where the Blue Mosque/ Hagia Sofia, etc is) and got off by the underground cistern.   We walked to the Hagia Sophia first, and bought museum entrance cards.. :-)  It was hard to actually believe that I was standing in front of the Hagia Sophia.... unbelievable.

This is the view from the street of the Hagia Sophia... 

And a close-up... :-)  

And me in front of... :-)

This is part of Theodosius's original Hagia Sophia... it was rebuilt later, and that's the Hagia Sophia we now know....

Explanation of Theodosius's Aya Sofya...

Melis in front of one of the Aya Sofya doors...

Aunt Sureyya (Sureyya Tesa, in Turkish :-) in front of an old column belonging to the original Aya Sofya...

The Emperor's door in the Hagia Sophia into the actual Nave...

Explanation.....

Door to the Nave...

Close-up of the mosaic over the door to the Nave - there were about three of these from the Narthex into the Nave...

The Narthex of the Hagia Sophia.... wow.... look especially at the floors...

Close-up of the ceiling of the Narthex... 

The fireplace-ish thing in the Narthex...

Close-up of the entrance door to the Nave of the Aya Sofya :-)

Another close up of the door... thought all you GK friends would love this example of the detail that Dr. G was talking about during the Medieval period... :-)

Front altar of the Aya Sofya... 

Ok guys, will finish this tomorrow... so tired, and my eyes are starting to hurt from a combo of computer screen and dark room... :-)  The Aya Sofya was REALLY amazing... but I will have to finish describing later... lol.... Love you all! :-)

 ~Bekah

Hello, everyone!  Just wanted to make sure you knew I hadn't fallen off the face of the earth!  We've been travelling and taking tours, etc... so busy!   And trying not to weaken my immune system with not enough sleep!  We're in Gureme (Kappadokya), in the Anatolian region of Turkey, staying in a cave hotel... it's beautiful, and chillier than Istanbul, even though we went south... the elevation is higher here, and it's more like desert tundra.  The "faerie chimneys" are beautiful and amazing :-)  I love it... :-)  Lots of ruins to climb around in and ancient cave churches with BEAUTIFULLY preserved frescoes, pictures of which I solemnly swear to upload as SOON as I get to Kusadasi!  Love you all!  Take care!
             ~Bekah

Btw...

By the way, everyone, my 17th birthday here in Turkey has now passed (last Wednesday) and it was wonderful... :-)  My parents gave me one of the most amazing gifts ever to go along with the whole giving life to me thing...: this trip.  It is amazing.  One of those things that you know will change the way you look at life forever.  I'll never be the same, you know?  Thank you, Mom and Dad.
        I love you
          ~Bekah... also HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!! :-)

... FINALLY!

I'm sorry it's been so long!  So much has been happening!  The average time for us to go to sleep at night is around 1-2 AM... ;-) On Wednesday of last week, we went to Dolmabahce Palace in the morning.  Another thing... after a couple of days, I discovered that the covers on my bed in the flat we're staying in slide down EVERY NIGHT!  It's getting to be a little bit annoying now ;-)  but still funny!  It's just odd to wake up with two feet of bed above your head and your feet hanging off the end!  Dolmabahce (which means "stuffed" - dolma - and "garden" - bahce) Palace was large, and extremely overbearing.  It was built during the Victorian Era, and largely under European influence.  In design, it's not very Turkish, and the wooden floors, the chairs and whole design of the interior was very much reminiscent, even a copycat of the Victorian English courts and palaces.  It reminded me of the set of  "The Young Victoria", and it was kind of sad to see the traditional Ottoman art eclipsed by the stiffness and formality of the European form, which totally did not fit the geographical essence of the place itself.  Also, it was ridiculously extravagant, to the point that all of us were suffering from severe sensory overload and near disgust at the opulence by the time we got out.  We weren't allowed to take pictures of the interior, but we do have pictures of the exterior.  This is a picture from in front of the main gate (where there is a guard as long as it's open - kind of like the Buckingham Palace guards - can't smile, etc) and another from inside the grounds (the gardens WERE stuffed!).

Front Gate (notice the guard in the middle)...

Top of the front gate...

Inside the front gate...

The changing of the guard...

Oh!  I learned another thing!  Every Turkish male is required by law to serve military duty for at least two years, and if you refuse, you either lose your citizenship (if living outside the country) or are put into jail until you do (if living inside the country).

Oictures next to an amazing water basin/ fountain/ spigot; we've begin to make a habit of taking pictures next to these!

The side gate.....

The detail of one of the palace walls...

The beautiful view of the Bosporus from Dolmabahce Palace...

Us standing next to the unmoving, unsmiling, and decidedly abused guard (I felt sorry for him, having to be in everyone's pictures... and yet, here I am, adding to said pictures!)  At any rate, we showed him the picture on the camera :-)  He deserved to know what it looked like. :-)

After that, we went to the on-grounds cafe and drank some cay (chai), which is Turkish for tea.  We took lots of pictures... hmhmhmhm... it was nice getting the Bosporus in the background, and we didn't have a lot of ourselves with the place... :-).  Most of them looked like stock photos up to that point.  :-)

The infamous and creepy "I will eat your children, MUAHAHAHAHAHA" picture :-)

And this is the picture where Melis actually saw for the first time that she looks nearly exactly like her mother... :-)

This is the funny little seagull that was hopping around on the steps down toward the Bosporus from the cafe... 

Then we took the underground tram to Taksim square, and spotted a Greek Orthodox (Armenian) church about a block away, which is apparently one of the more famous Greek Orthodox churches.  It's called Ayia Triada and was built in 1880.  When we walked up the lane of the church courtyard, we stopped to pet some of the street cats (of which there is an ABUNDANCE on EVERY [and I'm not joking!] street!).

Another of said street cats in the garden of the Armenian churches' courtyard...

This is the facade of the Armenian Church...

Us lighting candles to say prayers in the Armenian church's entrance hall... (any of my GK friends care to remind me what that's called?  It's number two on our diagram, and I remember every other one except that!  It's driving me crazy!  Any takers..??  Margrette..??)...

The inside of the Armenian church... :-)  Beautiful... 

After we left the Armenian church, we walked down the street to the Istiklal Caddesi (chaddessee - basically, it means large street).  This is one of THE fashionable places to see and be seen in the European side of Istanbul, apparently, and Aunt Sureyya used to go there as a child and eat ice cream and desserts at the Saray (a restaurant) there.  We went to eat first at Shampion (a seafood place - got it's name because the person who started it used to be a champion wrestler - but anyway, it's famous all over Turkey) and had medye (you say it like multi-media, except the "a" on the end is more of an e as in egg) which is basically muscles stuffed with seasoned rice... so good... but, as we've tried it a lot of different places by now, Melis and I agree that the best is STILL the kind the street vendors sell - much less expensive too! :-)  

The Istiklal Chaddesi ... :-)  It's all alight at night... if you look towards the northwest corner of the picture you can see a chandelier covered in lights that turns on when it gets darker.  There are ropes of lights all down the street. :-)

After Shampion, we ate at Saray - tavok gusu, which is a pudding-like dessert, but with a thicker, wierder texture, because it's made with shredded chicken breast!  Apparently, they let the chicken breast soak for a REALLy long time, to get the chicken taste and smell out of it... it's one of my FAVORITE desserts here!  After eating there, we got back on the underground to go to Annanne's (Turkish for Grandmother - Anne (annay) is mother, hence, Annanne is grandmother) house.  Annanne is Aunt Sureyya's mother.  We stayed there and visited for about 5 hours. :-)  She's 90 years old this year, born in 1920... 

This is Annanne now...

And this is Annanne at 23 years old, in 1943...

And this is Annanne, totally happy to have her family together again...  When we first got to our apartment, Aunt Sureyya called Annanne, and while Annanne put the phone down to get a pencil, we could hear her in the background talking to herself, saying, "My dear daughter, she is home!  My dear daughter is here!  My dear daughter, she has come from America!"  It was so sad and sweet... and when the whole family finally got together on Sunday, she was so happy the entire day...

Aunt Sureyya in her high school graduation picture... 

Anyway, later that night, Melis's cousin, Mehmet, and his wife Aysin, and their little son Akin (about 5) came to visit Annanne as well, but Akin slept through the whole thing (he was tired after school).  And then we went home... finally!  We got in around 1 that night, I remember.... 

Akin asleep at Annanne's.. so cute :-)

Anyway, I will continue with this tomorrow, or in a few hours, depending on how I feel!  It's taken me about 3 hours to do this post, with uploading pictures, etc... :-)  I love you all, and hope everyone's doing well!

             ~Bekah

Pictures!

This is us in the Athens airport looking at some nature pictures and museum pieces!  It was interesting... :-)  and a nice way to pass some time!