This past week! (written yesterday but had no internet to post!)

Let me begin with sharing an experience with the kids first! I needed to fill up some “outside” time (As I have such a strict schedule with them) that I managed to convince them to come to the park by the lake nearby. Of course they still wanted to take the golf cart! After they played for a bit on the playground we sat by the lake and saw SO MANY TURTLES! Not 5 or 6, I’m talking about 50 turtles probably swimming around in the lake! So we went to the “macro center grocery store” right by the park and bought some bread (and ice cream for the kids) and fed the turtles J The kids really enjoyed it!

On my second full day off, I decided to spend the day with another au pair, Leslie, and Huma! Huma’s kids are precious beyond belief! We went to the “Tuesday market” in Levent; I was amazed to find a ridiculous amount of very cheap clothes and everything else you could possibly think of being sold there. Everytime I go out I feel like I am in the world of Aladdin…

On a side note- You would think in a city of such a big size there would be several homeless people begging like in Atlanta or NYC, but I only have seen a few. I feel like the people here are very hard working, they FIND a way to make a living…be it selling the popular Turkish Simit on the street, lemons, water, or shining shoes! They find a way!

On Saturday, my host family left for Bodrum for their vacation…although I am a bit sad I am not going to I am very happy to have this whole week free to do what I want and explore Istanbul!! J The night before they left, they fired one of the housekeepers! I feel bad because I am sure the housekeeper blamed me since right after I came she was fired :/ Anyways, on Saturday they left around 10:30 am so I had the rest of the day free; I didn’t know they were leaving so early so I made no plans! I decided to walk to the bookstore by starbucks and find a new book to read…I’ve been reading a lot here! I was finally hungry so I went to this café I have really cme to love, it’s called Gezzi Istanbul. It’s a 20 minute walk from my house, and its really cool, it’s a choclaterie, pattiserie, café all in one! I am actually here now typing this! :P

I ordered the same thing I am eating now here, a smoked salmon salad- SO YUMMY! Then read my book (The girl with the dragon tattoo) and had Turkish Chai (tea) for the next couple hours. Around 2, another au pair Julia called me and asked to meet at Starbucks. I went and met her and 2 of her Turkish friends! Julia and I walked around and lost our way into where the “regular” people of the area live :P

Then I went home and showered and went to one of the Turkish friends she has house near mine and we hung out for the night! Another au pair named Sam came to and we all had a lot of fun!

The next day, Sunday, me and 3 other au pair girls (Sam, Julia, and 1 other) met at Starbucks and took the bus to the Old City! We surprisingly got the the old city with ALMOST no problem, however it was terribly hot and we finally decided to take a taxi the last 10 kilometers! The taxi driver said he knew where he was going and it would be 15 lira….but turned out he didn’t understand Topkapi palace after all, so 20 lira later (between 4 of us was only $3 USD a person!) we were at some random street NEAR topkapi palace! We wandered for a bit and decided to stop in a Kebab restaurant and recharge. We had a great meal and the service was AMAZING! After eating, the restaurant sent out one of their staff (looked like a 13 year old boy, yet he was smoking!) to take us to the metro!

We went to the area with Haghia Sofia and the Blue Mosque and took some pictures. We took a back street to go to the other side (unsuccessfully of course) but ended up staring at a very old Turkish bath! It was SO COOL and the owner led us inside just to see, how nice! It was SO hot inside I can’t believe people actually use the baths during summer time, but it was still really cool. The owner showed us his café right next door so we stopped in for some fresh squeezed orange juice and iced coffee! J

We wondered around for a while and went into some very traditional looking shops and finally got SO lost we couldn’t see a single person in sight! It was so quiet! Finally after getting wrong directions from so many people, Julia was able to lead us to the Egyptian Spice market, where I bought some lovely apple tea (which they kindly vacuum sealed for me)

there are always these men selling simit!

...does this remind you of Aladdin or what?!

We had probably walked 10 miles by this point and we were all so exhausted! (And felt sticky because it was SO hot!) So we found our bus and headed back! When I walked inside I seriously showered and then collapsed in by bed. I finally got up and drank about a gallon of water and then read my book for an hour and fell asleep. After sleeping for about 12 hours I woke up the next morning (today) and met with some Turkish friends at starbucks. (starbucks seems to be the place to meet…)

So…today after Starbucks we went to Nigele (water pipe) in the forest. There was a wild horse just lounging near by, kinda cool! I then met a different Turkish friend at Starbucks (the first Turkish friend I made here, actually!) His name is Can, pronounced “John” and he is very nice! Now I am at the café I love writing this and enjoying my smoked Salmon Salad…probably about to order some Kahve (coffee) and read a bit, then see what tonight brings! Bosphorus maybe?

We’ll see.

Til next time!