Happy New Year

So I made it to Istanbul relatively unscathed, but with only one hour of sleep. I had some sort of bug Saturday night with a bit of a fever, but slept all day Sunday which seemed to help.

I am now in Eskişehir, a city about 3 hours away from Ankara. There is about 5 inches of snow on the ground and it keeps snowing. I think its like 15 degrees outside.

Tomorrow I am heading to Ankara for New Years Eve. I will get to see a lot of my friends and see my favorite band play. Probably will be back in Eskişehir on Thursday, but not entirely sure yet.

Otherwise not much going on here. Hope you guys enjoy your holiday.

Landed

Im safe in istanbul. will write more later

Magic Jack

I just extended my magic jack number for another year and changed the number to a Richmond area code. The new number is 8047238168. You can call that number at any time and if I am not online at the time, you can just leave me a voicemail.

New Travels

Getting ready for more traveling here. Decided to update the blog. Look for more posts in a few weeks.

vacation time

i am off for a week long vacation with no internet. when i get back i will have less than two weeks left in turkey. look for me stateside june 17th :)

sorry...

first off, sorry for lack of postings lately. a lot has happened in recent weeks.

main event: i moved. i am now living in a dormitory in the middle of the city. long story short, my host mom got angry with me because i "refused" to speak english with her and she repeatedly "directly" asked me to help her speak english. she ignored me for about two weeks. my theory that she was angry at me was confirmed when i told her i got followed home by two men and she said nothing. (no worries, nothing happened) anyways, that is when i got my director involved. my host mom claimed to have not understood me when i told her about being followed, yet she didnt see the connection between that misunderstanding and my misunderstanding her. she claimed that if i had really wanted to help her, then i would have understood her "clues." and her ignoring me was a) her revenge on me and b) her way of showing me that i am like a daughter to her because that is how she treats her own daughter... so i moved.

other events:

classes are finished. i finished my university class last week. i dropped my last turkish class today because i cannot concentrate anymore.

i went to istanbul one last time this past week to shop for souvenirs. my friend and i bought 25 scarves between the two of us. we walked around the grand bazaar for about two hours trying to bargain for a good price. we finally found a guy that agreed to 7 ytl a piece. thats about 5.50 or 6 dollars. so we picked the ones we wanted, then he gave us a price of 185ytl. for those math wizards, you know those two numbers do not match. "you said 175 ytl..." "no i said 7.5 ytl a piece and you said 'ok'" ........... jerk. that was still the best price we had gotten the whole day. i also saw the new indiana jones movie while in istanbul. wasnt too impressed though.

my favorite band here is called Soul Project. they play at local clubs four times a week. my friend is the saxophone player. they play a mix of american classics such as "mustang sally" and james brown and even some justin timberlake and santana. i went to see them last sunday and they played "geek in the pink" which is a song by Jason Mraz, who graduated from lee-davis. pretty crazy coincidence. shows how small the world is getting when someone from mechanicsville, va can make a pretty big impact in turkey.

what else...

i am going on vacation on saturday. there is a beach that i keep seeing on tourism posters here. it looks like it could be in the bahamas, but i havent figured out its name yet. if i can find it, ill go there. otherwise, i will just have to settle for one of the many other beaches on the Mediterranean or Aegean seas.. yeh, pretty hard decisions to make :)

i may or may not post here again over the next couple of weeks. the internet connection in this dorm is not very good. so my magicjack is unusable here. ill try to go to a cafe with wireless or something so i can make some calls, but if i dont call, dont worry too much. ill be home in less than three weeks.

ps. the day i get back is free chicken sandwich at chick-fil-a day :)

lots to say...

I have been pretty busy over the last couple of weeks. Also a little lazy. Sorry for the lack of posts.

While I was in Prague, my Achilles tendon started to swell again (I have had tendonitis for over a year now). When I got back to Ankara, I tried to do the stretches and exercises that my physical therapist gave me, but afterwards it just hurt a lot more. So, the next day, I went to the medical center on campus. I arrived around 9am and left around 12pm. I saw the doctor for maybe 10 minutes. She said "well its a chronic injury." Yes, thank you. Then, she prescribed some anti-inflammatory medicine and put me on the list for physical therapy. Today, I got an email saying I could come in for physical therapy. I went in and had ultrasound and electro therapy done (which feel amazing for tendonitis) and then ice. I have another appointment on Wednesday. I am not sure if the therapist I saw spoke english or not, if she did, it was minimal. So we spoke Turkish instead. I am pretty proud. All of this is free for me, too, which is really awesome.

This weekend my group took a trip to the north. We did a lot of bus riding, but also got to see some really amazing places. Our first stop was a town called Kastamonu. This town is where Atatürk banned the fez. We stopped there for a few hours in which time I got some lunch, found an old Selcuk hamam, got a nice lady to yell at a pack of school boys following my group, and ran up to the clock tower. The hamam was probably the coolest part of the town, mostly because it was not a real tourist spot. There was only a window to climb through because all other entrances were barred.

(The hamam. Through that door on the left there were 4 more rooms)

After lunch, we headed to the castle above Kastamonu. It was a pretty simple castle, Byzantine I believe, but still a neat site.

After the castle, we headed to a small village about 20 kilometers away. We got to see what is apparently the oldest wooden mosque in Turkey. It was built in the 1360's. The outside has been renovated and looks brand new, but the inside is still original. I saw my second turkey in Turkey in this village.

(the original doors)

We then went to our hotel for the night, which was outside of a town called Pınarbaşa. The hotel is in an area considered a "hot spot" by the world wildlife foundation. Its very mountainous and green and amazing (I get really excited when I see grass these days due to the serious lack of it in Ankara). Our hotel was basically like a log cabin in the woods. We had trout for dinner. I went into town with two other girls that night to get some water and snacks. It was a classic Turkish town. The cafes filled with men drinking tea and talking; no women in sight, except for us of course.

The next morning we headed to another little village. We took a short hike down a very muddy pathway to a little waterfall. The water was too cold for swimming, but a few people decided to get wet anyways (ie. they fell in). After washing our shoes and changing clothes, etc..., we headed to back towards Kastamonu.

As we were leaving, we found our way blocked by a giant tree that had fallen down the cliff. After moving a pile of rocks and dirt, we were back on the road again.

We stopped at a place called Boyabat for lunch. On the way there, our bus driver got pulled over twice (it is pretty routine to have random police and jandarma checkpoints along the road). He only got a ticket the second time, for speeding. Buses in Turkey have radar systems which record their speeds so if they get pulled over, all the police have to ask for is a print out of that record and bam, speeding ticket. Apparently the driver only had to pay 10 or 15 YTL though. After we had our lunch, we were back on the road again towards Sinop, on the Black Sea coast. We arrived around 6pm and went straight to the hotel. The hotel was on a cliff above the sea and was kind of 1970's haunted hotel. The building was in the shape of an octagon or some other shape with lots of sides. The rooms smelled of mildew and were a bit damp.

We were given the option of staying at the hotel or going into town for a few hours. Most of us went into town. I walked around a bit and got some ice cream, then went back to the hotel. The next day, we went back into Sinop for a few hours. I walked around a little, found the castle and an apparently famous jail that is now a museum, and then sat on the beach for a little while. We got some food and then drove for 15 minutes to another area on the coast and had a picnic.

(my lunch)

We finally started on our way back to Ankara around 3pm. We stopped in Kastamonu again for dinner, then got back to Ankara around 1130 that night. Like I said, it was a lot of bus riding, but it was definitely worth it to see all the places.

I have a Turkish exam on Thursday and a midterm for International Organizations next Monday. Then, another group trip to the Southeast.

prague

so prague is amazing. last night, after i got to my hostel and settled in a bit, i went to the old town to check it out and take some pictures. i stumbled upon a food stand that was selling hot dogs and sausages. i got a hot dog. then i stumbled upon another food stand that had a big grill with slabs of ham spinning over a fire. i got a slab of ham.

today i went back to the old town for a bit. then i went to the jewish quater. there are about 6 places that are part of the jewish museum. one was the jewish cemetary which was huge. and burials there stopped in the 1700s, so i cant imagine what would have happened had they continued burying people there.

after that i climbed one of the towers on the charles bridge. i got a really good view of the city and of the bridge. i spotted a big important looking building across the way and so i decided to try to find it. i walked and walked and walked. found a little sqaure with a statue and a big church that people seemed to be gravitating towards. for whatever reason, i moved on without looking in the church. i kept walking a ways up a big hill. i finally got to the top for another good view of the city. then i found that big important looking building. its the castle of prague. i had planned to do that tomorrow. so i checked prices and then walked back down the hill. i was too tired to do the castle today.

on my way back i decided to stop by the church. i am very happy i made that decision. i have no idea what the church is called, but the interior was ridiculous. you will have to wait for pictures to see what i mean. its like a mini version of the vatican or something.

after the church, i hopped on the tram and came back to the hostel. europe is exhausting.

no worries. its safe here.

im in prague

i made it to prague safely. went to the old town tonight just to catch a glimpse. its pretty amazing. i will probably be meeting up with my friend tomorrow night after some sight seeing.

in other news. i didnt get the critical language scholarship so i will be home for the summer. ill be home june 17th.

if you need to reach me this weekend, my turkish phone is still working. the number is +905543902904.

here are a few pictures from istanbul and olympos:

I have now been in the Hagia Sofya three times.

Its still pretty cool.

This is Chris posing next to a group of Asians at Topkapı Palace. Notice the two ladies on the right who know what hes up to.

This is the beach at Olympos. You can barely see the castle in the trees on the mountain.

This is the view of the beach from that castle.

hi

im back from a few trips. istanbul with chris was awesome. we had many opportunities to pose with the mechanicsville local, but unfortunately chris left his in austria. we represented mechanicsville well anyways. kapadokya was the same. program sucked, but i got to do some biking and exploring. olympos was awesome. i swam in the mediterranean a few times, slept a lot, ate a lot, and explored an ancient city. now i am trying to catch up on work and planning my prague trip. ill post pictures later. görüşürüz

plans for the weekend and beyond

tomorrow: I have class in the morning but I am leaving halfway through to head to Eskişehir for the night.

saturday: I will leave from Eskişehir to go to Istanbul. Chris gets in at 1030pm that night, but I should be getting there around 4 or 5pm. I may be having dinner with some fellow NSEP'ers before picking him up at the airport.

Chris and I will return to Ankara either Monday or Tuesday, then he will go back to Austria on Thursday.

My group is going to Kapadokya next Friday (March 14th?). I have been there before, but like Istanbul, its free. And there are plenty of places down there I didnt see last time.

Then, on Sunday (16th), when the rest of the group heads back to Ankara, a few of us are heading to Olimpos. My host sister and her boyfriend (from America) will be there until Weds. but I am planning on staying around that area for the rest of the week. I need a vacation.

Then I will be back in Ankara for a few days. Theeeeeeeeeen, I will be heading to Prague (March 27-30!)

So, I dont know how often I will be posting on here over the next couple of weeks, but I will try to at least let you know when I come and go. Görüşürüz!

a story from turkey

so i had an interesting (to say the least) experience today. i live in an apartment building that is surrounded by other apartment buildings. right down the street, however, there is still a plot of land that has not been developed yet. its about the size of 2 football fields and there are maybe 5 houses left. there is also a huge amount of trash there. the land is in somewhat of a valley, and a major street is above it. theres a flight of stairs leading up to that street. anyways. i went running today and decided to run to the stairs. i turned onto the dirt road that goes through the middle of that area. halfway to the stairs, ten wild dogs coming running towards me, barking and showing their teeth. i stopped running because i had no desire for them to start a game of chase and attack (at least no more than they already had). so i walked the rest of the way to the stairs while the dogs continually ran after me, all the time barking. as this was happening, a big crowd gathered on the street above to watch the spectacle. it was like i was in the ancient roman coloseum fighting the wild animals to my death and they were the toga clad citizens waiting for the kill. i got halfway up the stairs and one of the spectators shouted down "yeh natasha!" as some of you may already know, natasha is not the most lovely of terms here in turkey. it is used as a reference to russian prostitutes. and who is associated most with russian prostitutes? pretty blonde foreign women. i finally got to the top of the stairs and another passerby said something to me, but i did not catch it. i turned down a street and passed another group of people. one said "ooo yabanci!" yabanci means foreigner. more was said but i didnt listen. i just went straight home after that. the worst part of it all is that the majority of the people watching me get chased by dogs were middle and highschool aged kids. school had just finished for the day. sometimes it really sucks to be a blonde girl here. i am pretty used to it nowadays. i can usually ignore it, but not when also being chased by wild dogs... i dont know if i will ever understand the turkish fascination with foreigners. i mean we have all looked in wonder at something that is new, different, foreign, etc... but i have seriously almost been the reason for car accidents. girls and guys stare at me. i have come to realize that it is generally just out of wonder, and there is no malicious intent behind it, but there are also times when the stare obviously is not purely out of wonder. i dont mean to tell you all this story to make you worry about me. i have learned my lesson about running through the old neighborhood. and the other stuff, well like i said, i am used to it. its a daily occurance and i cannot change it. just think, in three months ill be home again.

So you can see where I went...

The first day we went to the village of Gümüşlük (on the left side in the middle). The second day we went to a place called Yahşi Beach, which is down the road from Bitez, directly below Ortakent (move right from Gümüşlük).

Bodrum

So after a 12 hour bus ride, my friend and I arrived in Bodrum around 830am. We walked down to the marina and ambled around for a bit.

Then, we found the castle which houses an underwater archeology museum. The actual museum was kind of puny, but the views from the top of the castle were great.

And of course, there was a mosque within the castle walls.

And the Aegean was as blue and clear as I remembered.

This is the other bay. The castle kind of splits the bay into two halves.

There were also many peacocks in the castle.

And the classic Turkish museum reenactment, complete with what seemed to be cardboard figures.

After the museum we found a place to stay, got some fruit and snacks, and headed to a village which apparently had a swimable beach. Lonely Planet is not always right....But, I can say that I climbed to the top of Tanvaş Island where the last remains of Mindos...remain.

I was planning on swimming to this spot until I found out how hard it was to get into the water (too many rocks and sea urchins).

We did find this terrific pup though who was fishing for like ten minutes.

Next to this guy cutting up some bait.

The next day we decided to go to a different village (one not listed in Lonely Planet), and it was much better, aside from the rain...

So we went back into town for lunch, and waited for the clouds to disappear, then went back. It was much better and warm enough for a cold dip in the sea.

Later we walked around the marina for a bit, found some dinner, then headed to the bus station for another 12 hour long bus ride.

Even though the journey was long and not the most fun, the destination was worth the trip. Especially since its off season and there were no tourists in sight.

This saturday I am heading back to Istanbul because my friend Chris is coming to visit me. He is studying in Austria this semester and has a two week break. So I will be in Istanbul for a few days, then back to Ankara for a few, then we have another group trip to Kapadokya. From there, I am going to Olimpos with my host sister and some friends. Then maybe a day or two in Antalya at my friends place... Turkey is quite a big country...

going to the beach!

so i decided to head to the beach for the weekend. bought a ticket for me and my friend to Bodrum. its on the western coast of turkey. if you know of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the mausoleum of mausolus was there. nowadays, its known for tourists and yachts, but i am pretty sure there will be limited tourists at this time of year. ill post pictures when i come back (either monday or tuesday). hope you guys all have good weekends :)

İstanbul'dan döndüm

Got back from Istanbul early this morning. Was a pretty lazy trip. Once you have been to the historical sites its tough to have the motivation to find something to do, even though the city is full of sites to see... Anyways, hers a few pictures from the weekend.

We took the night train from Ankara. Got to the train station on the Asian side around 730am. Took a ferry to Europe. On the way, I got splashed by a wave, so my shoes and bottom of my pants were wet all day. And now my shoes smell really bad.

You can see three of the major sites in Istanbul in this picture. The farthest mosque is the Blue Mosque, the next is Hagia Sophia, and then Topkapı Palace

On Friday, while the new kids were on a tour, we old hats decided to go hang out in the gardens between the Blue Mosque and Ayasofya. So we look to our left and see the Blue Mosque...

Then look to the right and see Ayasofya.

Pretty amazing location to hang out.

Or to dig for dandelion roots - whatever your pleasure

I've been in there twice, now, soon to be three times.

Yeh, its alright...

One of the nice things about Istanbul is there is a lot of green and scenery even though its a huge city. It also seems to have a bigger variety of animals - like cranes. You can sort of see them at the top of the tree.

This was an art exhibit in the metro station. This the Ottoman symbol.

Its made from nails and wire.

Pretty neat

This sword belonged to Fatih Sultan Mehmet the Conquerer of Istanbul

Asia

Big ship with Asia in the background

Big ole bridge

Galata Tower

Oh and in case you are wondering, I was told that Ali's famous sword, the one that is divided so it looks kind of like a snake tongue, is not at Topkapı Palace. Either the sword itself, or the fact that its still around, or the fact that its housed at Topkapı palace is a rumor. Or maybe all three...Not completely sure.

Class tomorrow....:(