Being Present

I don't have much to report from this past week. I am trying to save money so I didn't do much. On Sunday I went to go see Hagia Sofia, the church turned mosque turned museum, that I wasn't able to see last week. It was beautiful and very interesting to see the mixture of both Christian and Muslim decorations. I enjoyed it, but I think my favorite place I have been so far is Blue Mosque. There is a different feeling in Blue Mosque because while there are tourists taking pictures, there are also other people who are in the mosque to pray. I enjoyed watching this mixture of people and learning more about Islam.

 

 

Even though I haven't done much this week I have had this feeling in the pit of my stomach of pure happiness. I apologize because I do not have the writing skills to put this feeling into words, so you are just going to have to decide for yourself what this feeling is like. From time to time I get this sensation in the states, but it hasn't happened a lot in the past year. I remember experiencing it daily when I lived in Costa Rica. I have decided to not try to analyze while I am feeling this way, but to just be present and  enjoy it. I have come to the realization that "being present" isn't something I am great at. I am always trying to figure out my future or I am reminiscing in the past. At work I sometimes find myself figuring out how many days I have left because this experience is going by so freaking quick. I have decided to stop counting the days I have left and to stop thinking about what I will do once I leave here. I can figure that stuff out when I get home. Instead I am going to try to live in the moment and appreciate the experience I am having now.

 

I am laughing at how they are singing Happy Birthday

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday. Work went by quickly and up until lunch I actually had work to do. In the afternoon my co-workers surprised me with a cake. I was actually very surprised because I had only told a few people when my birthday was.  I feel very grateful to work with such thoughtful people. I may not be able to communicate with all of them 100% of the time, but they are good people nonetheless. It was kind of nice to not have a lot of work to do in the afternoon because I got to talk to a lot of people from home via Facebook and Whatsapp. After work I went out with Lysa for a few beers and then went home and watched I Love You Man. I am definitely getting older because I didn't mind at all that I spent part of my birthday in my pajamas watching a movie.

 

All in all my birthday wasn't too eventful, but it sure made me feel very lucky to have the opportunity to go to another country and to be surrounded by such wonderful people both here and at home.

Tour of Istanbul

Yesterday I got a private tour of some of the bigger attractions in Istanbul from Ayten and Ece, two of my students in Speaking Club. I met up with them close to the office at 2. They were very eager to show me Istanbul and to practice their English.

 

 

 

We started off at a church close to where I work. I think the Church was called San Antonio, but I am not sure. I have actually walked by this church many times, but I have never noticed it. Ayten told me that she goes there sometimes just to sit and think even though she is Muslim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After visiting the church we took a train to another part of Istanbul to see the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar is a huge covered market. Ayten told me that it was the oldest market in Istanbul. I think it is also one of the oldest in the world. We walked through part of the market, but didn't buy anything. I paid close attention as to how we got to the market so that I could go back and buy gifts before I leave.

 

Our next stop was Sultanahmet or the Blue Mosque as it is known in English. This mosque was built in the 1600's and is very famous in Turkey. The outside is covered with blue tiles which is why it has come to be known as the Blue Mosque. In order to enter the mosque you have to be in the proper attire which means you must remove your shoes, and if you are a female, you must cover your head. Sheets to cover your head are provided upon entering the mosque. I also had to have a sheet to wrap around my legs because my dress was not knee length.

 

 

The inside of the mosque is gorgeous. There were quite a lot of people inside the mosque and there was an interesting juxtaposition between the tourists taking pictures and the Muslims who had gone there to pray. Ayten, Ece, and I decided to sit down in for a little bit to rest our legs. I asked them a lot of questions about the mosque and about their religion in general. There are aspects of Islam that I find really intriguing and others that I find disturbing. For example, I don't like that men and women have to pray separately. In Blue Mosque, and possibly all mosques, the men pray in the front and the women have to go into a separate room in the back of the mosque to pray. The women's praying area in Blue Mosque was not nearly as nice as the men's area. One thing I have really come to like though is the call to worship. The call to worship happens five times a day. In Taksim there is one man who sings the call to worship, but I forget his name. At first I was a little annoyed by the first call to worship because it happens at 6 am and it would wake me up. Now I really enjoy it and when I hear it at work I take a few minutes to stop and think about people in my life who could use some good vibes. I also think about what I am thankful for, which right now, is a lot!

 





After the Blue Mosque we walked over to Hagia Sofia. This started out as a church, but was later turned into a mosque. It is now a museum that unfortunately is closed on Monday's. I took a picture of the outside of the church and will go back next week.

 

 

Our final stop was Topkapi Palace, the home of the Ottoman Sultans for 400 years. The Palace is huge and I think if I lived there I would get lost. We had to buy a ticket in order to enter which took longer than expected. The tickets cost $20 for tourists, but Ayten and Ece told me I could buy a Museum Card which would allow me to enter multiple museums twice. They thought the card was only 15$, but realized that was the price for Turkish citizens. For tourists the card is $40. They decided this was much too expensive for me and decided to try to get me a Turkish student card which is like $7. Ece went and bought the card so it had her picture on it. They made me rehearse her name a few times and told me when I entered to not say anything unless someone spoke to me. Luckily the women didn't really even look at the card and getting in was no problem. We walked around inside the palace and saw the sultan's clothes and artifacts. Everyone was so detailed. The chairs the sultans sat on and the mirrors they used were covered in gold, jade, emeralds, and rubies. Ayten kept pointing at the artifacts and saying "ottomans very rich."

 

We didn't see the entire palace because we were all very hungry. I was okay with this because there are only so many artifacts I can look at without becoming bored. We decided to head back to Taksim and grab a bite to eat. They wanted Burger King so that is where we went. After good old BK we went to "Friend's Street" and found a place to get a drink. "Friends Street" is a small road that has a ton of restaurants and bars. We sat outside and drank a beer and listened to music. The girls tried to teach me some Turkish, but I have already forgotten the slang words they taught me.  After we finished our beer we headed back to the center of Taksim. Ayten had homework and Ece and I were exhausted.

Week 4

I'm going to be honest, I am losing motivation to write this blog. I am going to try my best though to keep updating it at least once a week. I can't believe I have been in Istanbul for a month. Time is flying by so fast here. I can finally say that after a month I am starting to actually feel comfortable in Turkey. I now have a fairly steady routine and life is starting to feel slightly more normal than before. Work has gotten a lot better and I am actually busy. I am slowly starting to pick up some Turkish so when people in the office are speaking I understand bits and pieces. There are still times though when I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about though. During times like this I like to pretend I know what they are talking about and I make up the conversation in my head. I am sure my version is far from what they are actually saying, but I bet my version is more entertaining. Turkish people always seem so passionate when they are explaining something. Sometimes I can't tell what emotion they are feeling because everything always sounds so intense. Someone could be talking about something as simple like the cheese he ate this morning and I would think he was discussing how dumb the US government is. Maybe after I learn some more Turkish I will be able to understand the passion with which they speak.

 

I realized that I have spent this entire week with Turkish people speaking in both broken English and Turkish. It has been kind of nice. At work I met a girl who just came back from the US. She was working in Pigeon Forge! She came into the office and was eager to speak with me when she found out that I lived in Knoxville. Her English was really good and we spoke for about 30 minutes. It was interesting speaking with her about the US. She said she visited New York and Boston, but her favorite place was Pigeon Forge. I couldn't believe this. Personally I am not a fan of Pigeon Forge. I think it is incredibly tacky and it is the last place I would go in the US. She loved it though and said that everyone she met was so nice and welcoming. She told me she understood how uncomfortable your first few weeks in a new place can be and told me to call her if I needed anything or just wanted to hang out. I think I will take her up on this sometime soon.

I have continued to teach English to the Turkish student who wants to go to England. On Sunday we met up and went to Gezi park to work because the office was closed. His English is getting better, but he still has a lot of work to do. I wonder how much of what we say to each other gets lost in translation. I really enjoy working with him and I think he is actually helping me learn some Turkish even though he doesn't know it. We ended up working for two hours, but it felt like 30 minutes. He has a friend that also wants lessons so I may end up working with him/her ( I couldn't tell the gender) as well.

 

At work I have started leading the "Speaking Club." I am pretty sure most of the students in the club think I am crazy, but that's okay. I don't really have strict guidelines as to what I have to do for the club which is nice, but frustrating at the same time. The students who were in the club last year complained that they weren't given as much of an opportunity to speak, so I am trying to design our meetings around the students. I am also trying to incorporate some interesting facts/lessons about American culture as well. My first two meetings seemed to go well, but I need to come up with more topics to discuss. I think this week we will play catch phrase.

 

Outside of work I have been spending more time with Turkish people. Ceren is such a wonderful roommate and is so good about taking me out with her. On Friday I met up with her and Fulya and we ate some type of sandwich, it was close to a Panini, and drank tea. Afterwards we went to a bar type place and drank a beer and listened to music. Fulya has a lot of friends who are musicians. I really like Turkish music and I asked them to make me a list of famous singers.  On Saturday Ceren took me to her parents house on the Asian side. Her mom and dad were so nice and kept trying to teach me Turkish words. Her mom prepared manti for us which is a traditional Turkish dish. I should have taken a picture of it. Basically it was pasta filled with meat and topped with a yogurt sauce. I think it might be my new favorite dish.