Location: Istanbul, TurkeyDate: January 28, 2010
Sadly, upon arrival to Turkey, I discovered that the exact dates of my stay were the same days that school was on holiday, so I wasn't able to visit any classrooms. I guess I figured that they would have "Christmas vacation," but I wasn't thinking too hard...It was the first country where I didn't spend a majority of my time with children, or with teachers, and so it was two weeks of discovery and education for myself of the people, the land, the culture.
In this blog, I try to give a little bit more visual flavor to Turkey- the sights, the tastes, the feel.
Olives being sold at the outdoor market.
These little pots are the wood chips that are burnt to keep the waterpipes lit. In the backyard is a very old graveyard that is outside of the Grand Bazaar.
The millions of spices sold at the Spice Bazaar
A woman fully covered selling coca cola on the streets near the outdoor market.
Warm chesnuts are sold everywhere at night. One of the vendors boiling his corn and roasting his chesnuts. That night it was so freezing that the chesnuts were already cold when we ate them!
The old fortress on the old side of the city next to the sea.
The old bridge where the fisher's fish, next to a mosque.
Ahhh....sahlep. the delicious creamy rich, cinnamony drink that kept me warm on the frigid days. I could, and did, drink this stuff 3 or 4 times a day (along with some baklava, of course!)
My friend Erhan took me to a waterpipe/tea/backgammon cafe. Everytime I went, I was the only girl (let alone the only tourist) in the circle shaped room. As you walked in, the men around you were of all ages, reading the newspaper, watching TV, or engaged in a very intense game of backgammon. The first time I walked in, the men across the room laughed at me, in my bright colors and tourist get-up, and I just laughed right along because the picture of me against all of these men smoking their waterpipes was just too funny not to.