Ortaköy

Today I finally walked over to the lovely neighborhood of Ortaköy, recommended to me by coworkers. It's a beautiful, trendy little place on the water, full of jewelry and pashmina shops. Needless to say, it was my kind of place. On a related note, I have a pashmina addiction. They're just...so...pretty. And affordable! As far as vices go, at least.

I spent a while feeling terribly artsy and writing in my notebook at a cafe with this view:

My lunch, profiterol and tea:

I love this so much. A typical sight on an Istanbul street:

On a completely random note, spray deodorant is very popular here. This one will surely give you SO MANY BABIES FOUR HUNDRED BABIES:

Tourist Day

I finally adventured out into the old city/Sultanahmet area, where everyone goes when they come to Istanbul. It was exhausting! I'm glad I waited until the temperature went down and the tourist season waned a little bit, because it's very crowded and hectic down there. Also, being a female seeing the sights alone makes me very vulnerable to men talking to me and trying to give me impromptu tours. I just can't bring myself to say "Please stop talking to me" when a man starts chatting with me and walking alongside me. Most of the time these men are working in nearby shops, hoping to lure travelers in by being friendly. It's fairly harmless, I suppose, but very irritating.

I started my day by heading over to Kahvedan in Cihangir, a place frequented by foreigners like me and run by a lady from San Francisco. I got a delicious American breakfast of apple pancakes and some Turkish coffee. From there I walked all the way down to the Sultanahmet. I intended to go to some museums first, but one of the aforementioned salesmen convinced me to see the Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Mosque) first, since it would be closing for a prayer service soon. He gave me a pretty thorough informational guided tour of the mosque, and in exchange I shopped in his store afterward. It was filled with really beautiful things that were way out of my price range, but I felt kinda awkward leaving without buying anything. I found a really nice pashmina, which he claimed he usually sells over 100TL but would give to me for a special student price of 50TL. I told him that I could never pay that much and asked if I could have it for 20TL instead. He agreed immediately, which probably means I should have shot a little bit lower, but it's a really nice pashmina and the tour had actually been helpful, so I didn't mind.

Afterward he tried to sell me some Turkish carpets, but I was not interested, which I'm sure was disappointing. As my boyfriend (who has experienced the Turkish rug salesman before) put it, these carpet salesmen do long-form sales pitches; they will chat you up for a couple hours and walk you around the city in the hopes that they can get a carpet sale out of you, which is worth it when these things can sell for thousands of dollars.

Pretty pictures! The Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia), as seen from the Blue Mosque:

The Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Mosque), from the Aya Sofya:

The inside of the Blue Mosque (those black lines are cables to hanging lamps):

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Next, I decided to pop into the temporary 1001 Inventions exhibit, which explores the contributions of Islamic scientists, engineers, and mathematicians during the Dark Ages. It was very interesting, and featured the ever-amazing Ben Kingsley telling you how much you suck at history:

My next stop was the Yerebatan Sarnıcı, or Basilica Cistern, which is a very large underground water reservoir from the 6th century. It's also called the Sunken Palace, and it's easy to see why:

I ended the day with a nice stroll through Gülhane Park, which was surprisingly calm and relaxing despite being surrounded by tourist areas. Now I'm back home and completely exhausted from yet another day of endless walking.

Island Adventure

Awesome day! I decided to take a ferry over to the nearby Princes' Islands (specifically Büyükada) and spend the day relaxing away from the city. The initial intention was to meet up with my boss out there, but due to failed communication she ended up on the mainland just as I got to the islands. I actually think being alone made the experience better. The islands are a place where tourists and Turks alike go to get out of the ridiculously crowded city. Of course, this makes the islands ridiculously crowded as well, but Büyükada has enough rural areas to escape to even on a popular day like this.

There are no motorized vehicles (besides police and ambulances) allowed on the islands, which makes everything more peaceful even in the presence of lots of people. The preferred method of transportation is horse-drawn carriage, which I intended to use until seeing the prices. The island is full of horses, both grazing in nature and pulling people around:

I opted for the cheap mode of transportation and rented a bike for the day. I stupidly set out on my 15km trek with very little food in my stomach and didn't make it far before feeling weak. Fortunately, I was able to pull over to a local farm and eat some locally grown apples while chatting with the owner- entirely in Turkish! He was very impressed with my Turkish abilities, and I was, too; you don't realize how much you've learned until you're forced to have a discussion with no English. I set out again and had an awesome time biking around the coast, taking in the spectacular views. Pictures don't really do it justice, but here are some:

Afterwards, I returned to the bustling port area of the island for some food and relaxation. As much as I love traveling solo, it does mean that the only way I can be in photos (without bothering a stranger) is by taking awkward myspace-style pictures of myself. Here's an exhausted and sunburned Sam on the beach:

I ended the day the best way possible:

I don't know why milkshakes are so expensive in Turkey, but boy am I glad I finally splurged and got one. The day was truly awesome, and I hope I get to go back to the islands again. My boss feels horrible for ditching me and promises that she'll take the lab out to Büyükada at some point this fall to make up for it. You're welcome, labmates.

Rant

I want to take a moment to express how disgusted I am with the wave of anti-Islamic rhetoric sweeping through America. Don't get me wrong- I dislike religion as much as the next godless commie liberal, but the level of stupidity and hatred is just getting nauseating. For those of you who haven't been paying attention to the news, idiots all across the country are worked up into a frenzy over the supposed "invasion" of Islam. Last week there was a case of arson and vandalism against the building site of a mosque in Tennessee, plans to have a Qu'ran burning on 9-11, and of course the ongoing ignorance regarding the controversial "Ground-Zero" "Mosque" (it's not a mosque and it's not at Ground Zero, but I'm sure you know that already). The funny (not really) thing is, it isn't the atheists who are speaking out against the "inherent violence" of Islam- it's the members of another equally violent religion, with an equally (or more!) violent history.

Yes, there are aspects of Islam that are very upsetting. If every statement in the Qur'an was followed to the letter, the world would be a terrifying place. But have you ever flipped through a Bible? Not only is it filled with all sorts of crazy antiquated laws that almost no one follows (no working on Sundays, no associating with menstruating women, no clothing made of more than one material, etc.), but there are also passages that decree that non-believers should be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 17, for example). Of course, most reasonable Christians do not heed those outdated biblical laws (except for the mentions of homosexuality- that's serious business!), and instead choose to focus on the positive teachings of the Bible. Likewise, the vast majority of Muslims choose to focus on the peaceful messages rather than the violent ones. I'm not saying that this kind of pick-and-choose approach to religion makes sense, just that it is what is being practiced throughout most of the world.

The hypocritical Christians are quick to point at acts of terrorism committed by Muslims as proof of the religion's inherent violence. Those people were performing a religious jihad, so clearly that means that Islam encourages and rewards acts of violence. They seem to forget the disturbingly violent history of their own religion. Any one who passed a high school history class knows that millions of lives (Christian, Jewish, and Muslim) were lost at the hands of the crusading Christians between the 11th and 13th centuries. When confronted with those facts, Christians wave them away, claiming that historic events don't count- times were different then!

But how about modern issues? In the past 30 years in America, there have been at least 8 murders, 17 attempted murders, 383 death threats, 153 cases of assault, 41 bombings, 173 cases of arson, and 619 bomb threats against abortion clinics and the workers within them. And guess what- those are acts of terrorism! Just because they're white men rather than people with strange head-wear and a darker skin color does not mean that they are not terrorists. Once again, these facts will be shrugged off. Those are crazy people committing those acts- they don't represent the religion as a whole! Exactly. So why are you spouting this nonsense about those nutjobs hijacking planes being representative of Islam as a whole?

I know I'm preaching (lol) to the choir here, since most of my readers are reasonable, educated people who know all of these things already. But please take a moment and try to improve the lives of Muslims in America in some way. Wish them a happy Eid ul-Fitr this weekend, as it's a very big religious holiday for them. Next time you hear some idiot spouting off some anti-Islamic nonsense, take a stand and throw some facts in their face. It probably won't change their mind, since facts mean nothing to these kinds of people, but we need to make it known that Muslims are as welcome in the US as any other follower of a crazy religion is. Some of my friends here are becoming scared of studying in the US. Is this really the image we want to project to the world?

For a more lulzy yet to-the-point statement on the issue, please check out this Onion article.

Stop the hate! You're making this kitten cry.

One Month

I've been in Istanbul for a whole month now. Crazy! Things overall have been pretty great. I absolutely love my new place. I essentially have a host family now, and they're awesome. I get a delicious home-cooked meal every day (and dessert- mm, Güllaç). In exchange, I'm tutoring their 17-year old son in English, which has gone pretty well so far. Interestingly, the father is Christian while his wife and son are atheist (woo!). Pretty remarkable in a 98% Muslim country. I went to church with him this morning and met some Americans One family was from Wheaton! Small, small world.

It's been raining all day, unfortunately. I HATE rain. I think it's very popular these days to claim to love rain because it's all poetic and crap, but man does rain suck. I hate the wet shoes, the damp jeans, the rivers in the streets, the canceled baseball games and concerts, and the general gloom of the clouds. I much prefer hot, sunny days, which I guess means that I chose an excellent grad school location. Sadly, Istanbul will only get more rain as my time here continues, since late fall/early winter is a pretty rainy time. We have a long weekend starting on Wednesday, so hopefully the weather is nice enough for me to make some excursions.

Alright, picture time. My new place is near so many things, including the giant Dolmabahce Palace. Here are some ornate, oft-photographed gates:

In adorable cat news, there's a litter of tiny kittens at the university now!

People stop by to take care of them all the time, bringing milk, water, and food, so they love people. Especially feet.

I visit the kittens every day, and unfortunately I've had to watch as they each get the same icky eye infection. I have some Tobradex, which apparently can be used on kittens, so I'm kind of tempted to try to medicate them. I feel like it would be pointless, though, since they would probably just catch it again if it did manage to cure it. Hopefully with all the random strangers pitching in these kittens can survive, though I've made sure not to count them in an attempt to stop myself from knowing how many don't make it. Poor little guys :(