Çey Varmı?

Recently I met our neighbor, a kind "grandpa-like" fellow with a big smile and seeming to have an even bigger heart. After a short introduction he said to me, "So Heather, you must know the most important phrase in Turkish, yes?" After a quite puzzled look from me, he said: "Çey Varmı?"

Pronounced "Chai Varma," this phrase translated into English is roughly: "Is tea available?"

Boy was he right, this is indeed the MOST important phrase in Turkey! People here drink tea like it's

their religion! At first you may think it to be a little odd, but in all honesty after drinking it a few times

myself here...I'm in love! I know we had the Boston tea party and whatnot in the US, but they got it

goin' on over here in Turkey. I thought Apple tea was my favorite....then I tried Kiwi- heaven! Then, I

discovered the cherry on top: Banana. (I don't even like Banana's?)

Kiwi Tea :)

Banana Tea! :D

Ready to learn some Turkish?! Here are some of the most common words/phrases:

Merhaba (Mare-ah-bah)- Hello

Taksi Varmı? (Taxi Varma) - Is a taxi available?

Tamam - Okay

Tamama? - Is it ok?

Teşekular (Tesh-ek-yoolar) - Thank you (informal)

Turkçe Bilmiyorum (Turk-chay Bilmee-yorum) I don't know Turkish

But most importantly...

Çey Varmı?

Pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light

I think it's inevitable that anytime you venture somewhere new for a long period of time, you're going to feel homesick; most people can't stop that feeling from arising within themselves. I'm certainly not one of the few who can. I put my entire life on hold for a year; I took advantage of the fact that i'm young and don't have huge life priorities holding me down. Yes, I dropped some other great opportunities, but I did so with the idea that I have more to possibly gain where I am now. I'm most certainly on the opposite side of the globe from where I started...where I've been my entire life. Most people say, "wait....Turkey? I must have heard you wrong....TURKEY?! 3rd world country Turkey?" .....yeah. That one.

Little do those people know, Turkey is NOT a 3rd world country at all. Turkey is absolutely gorgeous, there is SO much to learn here, more than I'd ever learn from a textbook. I can't begin to explain the chills I felt standing beneath the dome of the Haghia Sophia, or overlooking the Bosphorus and the fortress, realizing I was literally in both Europe and asia at the SAME time. I'm learning about a culture, but not JUST learning, I am also experiencing it- can't beat that.

So back to being homesick- I won't lie and say it's easy, because it is very hard to come somewhere where you don't know anyone, and can hardly even communicate with people due to a language barrier. Yes- it's really hard, sometimes I miss home and family and friends so much I want to pack up and come home tomorrow! But here's the silver lining, if I came home right now, I'd only have been here a little over a month. Thats only a SLIVER of the experience that I could have. I have the world in the palm of my hands, and I intend to take in every opportunity that I can. I have no intentions of throwing such an amazing opportunity away. I think too many people throw away amazing things...they just let them pass right by. I think their scared....well so am I. But you can't let fear stop you, fear can't have a hold on your life. I'm going to tough out the hard times, wipe away the tears when I miss home, and discover something beautiful.

Will it be easy? No.

Will I be sad and miss home? Often.

Will it be life changing?

Better believe it.

pictures!

At a restaurant in Taksim with 2 au pair friends- lots of CATS and games of backgammon going on all around us!

This dessert is completely sinful- it's a waffle with white chocolate spread, then covered in fruit. Each bite is a pure delight, but the aftermath is pretty hard- I thought I was going to die, basically.

Welcome to Taksim! This is a very crowded area in Istanbul with ton's of shopping! This was taken on a particular road flooded with shops, and NO cars!

Right down the street from my complex is a nice bar/restaurant! Here I am with 2 au pair friends, time for girl talk and a yummy watermelon drink! OH- I had mozzarella sticks too; some things never change.

Swimming with my Friend Can and his buddy Dogus!

Just Drinking Coffee

My host family arrived back from vacation yesterday- all tan as can be and I am SO jealous! Anyways I have a short break right now so I am at starbucks enjoying an iced chai latte typing this now...the staff at starbucks has finally realized I am not just some tourist now I think; they have really warmed up to me! :)

I guess my internet is not very strong here, because it is not letting me attach pictured! Sorry! I will just type about my past few days and add pictures later!

I spent a few days at Huma'a home with her au pair Leslie, and we had alot of fun! One night recently Leslie and I went to a really cool cafe that overlooked the city and the Bosphorus with two friends- Cihan and Erdem! (leave it to the locals to know the best spots!) I find it a bit odd that so many young people play backgammon here, but after they boys taught us how to play, it was really neat! Leslie caught on much quicker than I did!

Later on the boys took us to a nice spot right next to the bosphorus and we all got Kumpir at a stand...basically the best thing EVER! Kumpir (and i'm totally spelling it wrong) is like your average baked potato- only instead of the normal cheese, cream cheese, and bacon, they fill it with a million different random things here and its amazing!!!

I've also been reading alot lately- believe it or not I've already one through about 6 very thick books! Never did I imagine I'd be spending my pocket money on books! I think its about time I write my own novel considering I'd like to actually SAVE my money!

Tomorrow is my day off!

I am going with another au pair, Lauren, who recently arrived to explore the city some more! Istanbul is so beautiful!

Promise I'll post pictures soon!!!

Ciao!

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!

Merhaba!

Merhaba! Did you know Istanbul is the European Capital of Culture?! Somehow, I'm not surprised at all.

Last night I went boating on a beautiful yacht on the Bosphorus with the Duren family (my host family) and some of their friends. We took off from the 4 Seasons hotel right on the Bosphorus, pretty pricy at over 25,000 Lira a night!

It was soooo windy on the boat!

This is me and the kids on the boat! Metecan "LOOOOK!"

We didnt get back until around 1 am and both kids were SO sleepy!

We had to carry them up to their rooms!

Then today I took Saran on a play date to the pool with her good friend Talya (who is soooo sweet!) Talya's mom is also very kind, and she has asked me to come twice a week when I have time off and work with Talya on some English lessons! :) ummmm...YES!

OK, I am SOOO tired since I worked all day with no break!

Goodnight! (haha, it's not even dinner time for you folks back home!)

My first day off to see the city!

I woke up at 6:30 am and enjoyed a cup of traditional Turkish tea; at 7 am, we were off! Prof. Dr. Mete Duren drove us to his office by the “Amerikan Hospitol” and we met with his friend who is a historian and also has guided tours for 25 years! 25 YEARS! J Mete had arranged for me to have a private tour with him, how kind and generous!

We first went to Dolmabahce Sarayi (palace) and

we were guided through (after covering our feet with bags of course!) through a BEAUTIFUL palace. The crystal staircase was GORGEOUS! The sultan died in the

palace due to liver failure, and they actually showed us the room he died in, as well as his bathroom still displaying his medicines! I find it interesting that in the ottoman culture, men and women have seperate living areas and bedrooms! This palace is also home of one of the worlds’ largest chandeliers, weighing

in at 4 tons! Obama has recently visited the ambassadorial

reception hall here! …we were not allowed to take pictures inside the palace….sorry!

Next, we went on a bosphorus boat cruise- the water is the most BEAUTIFUL green/blue I

have ever seen! We saw a lot of beautiful places, and it was very interesting because I was literally in 2 different continents at once! One side of the bosphorus is Europe, and the other is Asia! (I won’t ever be spending much time on the asian side)

After the boat cruise we went to a very traditional, nice kebab restaurant facing the bosphorus- we were served SO many traditional Turkish dishes and I was a “big girl” and tried EVERYTHING! …and everything tasted incredible! The first dish was very similar to your everyday bread and butter before a meal (Or bread and olive oil at my house! :P) Basically, they bring out the hot bread filled like a balloon with air, you tear off a piece, put butter, goat cheese, and walnuts inside, and enjoy!

The salad is tomato, onions, and some other things, but no lettuce. The dressing was really interesting (and good) because they use olive oil, but instead of vinegar with it, they use fresh pomegranate juice with it! (mom, try this at home!)

After having several meats brought out, I was full, but then dessert came.

The most delicious thing I have ever tasted…I can’t even explain it! It did have syrup and cheese in it though, but boy was it tasty!!!!!! (It is called "Kundfe") The green on top is pistachio;

Pistachio’s are VERY popular in Turkey, and they are cheap because SO many come from here! Turkey is known for having some of the best pistachios in the world!

We moved on to the “blue” mosque, actually named Sultanahmet Camii (Camii means mosque) built in 1617. Before taking our shoes off and entering, I learned a lot about the hippodrome, where a very old structure from Egypt is-only 1/3 left standing today due to earthquakes.

There is also another structure with only a small remains left in the hippodrome. (wish I could recall every detail to share but I had to pack in a lot of info in one day!)(the "blue" mosque)

Ah, now on the the beautiful Haghia Sophia!!!!!! First off, before the Haghia Sophia was built, a different Christian church was in it’s place-it was torn down because Christianly was outlawed. Eventually, the church Haghia Sophia replaced it (although some remains of the old church can still be seen) It took less than 6 years to build this MASSIVE gorgeous church- mostly because instead of building everything from scratch, they imported a lot of already built things like stones, slabs, and columns…you will be able to see how a lot of the colors are different in the pictures because they are taken from different places. 2 of the 7 wonders of the world have pieces hidden away as part of the building! Also-notice the gold ceiling- the reason it is SO well preserved I learned, it because it has not touched air! On both sides of the very thin gold, there is a thin piece of glass, and this is on every single tiny piece of gold!

Also, the Haghia Sophia was converted to a Mosque because Islam is the central religion- Because Mosque’s have very specific requirements (AKA a sign to Mecca (to face during prayer), 8 names displayed in arabic(Allah and muhammed are 2, I don’t remember the rest) and a narrow staircase leading to a small stage for someone to lead prayer) the had to make a few changes! First, they covered up all of the pictures, and then painted over the Cross’s with artwork. If you look closely you can see the faded crosses on the ceilings, and Because the Haghia Sophia is no longer a practicing Mosque, the material covering the pictures have been removed as well. In the main dome ceiling, 4 angels are displayed to “protect” and their faces were all covered with gold medallions- so far, only one medallion has been removed to display one angels face.

We then visited an underground aqueduct- although back in the day it was ground level! There were many fish in the water, and apparently people used to come scoop water right out of the aqueduct to drink, and seeing fish meant that the water was not poisonous and was clean. Many artists display their art on top of the water, but it was very dark and difficult to take good pictures, it was eerie but very cool!

Turkish ice cream….delicious. We sat down for a small break at a traditional ice cream eatery outside on a busy street. I was a bit taken aback as a plate with 4 “slices” of ice cream was put in front of me, one looking kind of like a sausage?? It was then explained that the ice cream is made differently and is tougher- you have to eat it with a fork and knife! …it was SO GOOD! ..by this point I wasn’t surprised because so far everything has been amazing! There was chocolate, Vanilla almond, pistachio (of course), and the 4^th was actually a baklava made with pistachio’s…YUM!

Then…GRAND BAZAAR! ( Kapali Carsisi) this covered marketplace has over 4000 shops and dates back hundreds of years! They sell EVERYTHING and as you walk through everyone yells at you to come buy their stuff because it is better than everyone elses stuff! Goodness…

The guide explained to me that a lot of people were speaking to me in Russian because they thought I was Russian! (I feel like I hear this a lot? I am not Russian though!) It is really amazing because in the grand bazaar people are from all over the world, so the shop owners can generally speak many languages!

After the grand bazaar, we went the the nearby Misirv Carsisi (Egyptian Spice Market) and I was blown away by the HUGE portions of middle eastern spices all around me…I think mom would be in heaven here!!! We stopped in a store of one of the guides’ friends, and they gave me a seat and served me apple tea (yum!) and traditional Turkish delight! Also, sent me on my merry way with a handful of the best pistachio’s I’ve ever had! The guide explained in any shop they will always offer you tea or coffee, even if you buy something, it is just the culture! spices at the misir carsisi mom would love! never mind the grumpy looking men! :P

We hopped in a “Taksi” and headed the Dr. Duren’s office where he dropped me off. By then it was 7 pm already! I had a busy, amazing, fun day! I gave him all my thanks and headed back to the house with Mete. Tomorrow I am returning to the Grand Bazaar to check it out some more since it is my half day! I think I will get some more ice cream too! :P

It's now 10 am and i'm off to spend some more time in the grand bazaar and spice market!

Gorusuruz!