I'm not a chicken, you're just a TURKEY? (Part I)

I have a field jumping problem.

Hey Everyone!

**Warning: This blog is written in two parts, to avoid overload.**

Turkey was such a unique, new experience for me. It really is nothing like any country I have ever been to before, mostly due to the fact that I have never been in a predominantly Muslim country before. Another major difference for me in my travels is that, even in touristy areas, most people do not speak English and, as my Turkish is limited to "thank you, please, your welcome, one, two, beer, and I love you my teddy bear," the language barrier was a bit of a shocker for me. Thank goodness for body language and hand gestures!

This all being said, I'd heard that it would be difficult for a woman traveler, but for the most part, I did not have any problems. (I don't think "women-heckling" gets any worse than in Harlem.) It was, of course, helpful to be traveling with a male, instead of a group of females.

So, we started out spending a few days in Istanbul. It was my first foray into couchsurfing (which, since I didn't end up chopped up into little pieces, stuffed into a suitcase, and buried at the bottom of the sea, I can now tell me parents about without the fear of an instant heart attack), and it was such a positive experience. For those of you unaware of what couchsurfing is, it is an alternative to hosteling. It is a community of people around the world that lets you sleep on their couch and show you around their city. After doing it, I highly recommend it because you actually get to see a city, not through the eyes of a tourist, but through the eyes of a local who shows you "local places." The most fun nights I had in Turkey were definitely the nights we spent with couch surfer hosts...but more on that later.

Clearly, this is Istanbul at night. I got into Istanbul at night and met up with Jason and our couch surfer Ilker. We went out for what I think was my favorite night in Turkey. We went to Ilker's favorite bar, which incidentally, was on the top floor of an apartment building. Jason and I later found out that the majority of good bars and restaurants are hidden somewhere in unmarked apartment buildings. Needless to say, we wouldn't have found this particular one without Ilker. There was a Turkish band playing rock with traditional Turkish music in the background. It. It sounded very Balkan to me. Think "Golgol Bordello" complete with heavily mustachioed waif-like front man who makes "Eastern European Rockstar" look sexy. When the band finished, the DJ spun Balkan, ,Turkish, and Salsa for the rest of the night. TIANA--I felt like I was back home at Mehenata.

We could only stay with Ilker for a night, unfortunately, and we ended up staying with a girl the next night named Salem. She was lovely, but lived too far out of the city, so we stayed in a hostel for the rest of our time in Istanbul.

We spent or days in Istanbul being as touristy as possible. We went to the Blue Mosque (pictured) and the Aya Sofya (incidentally only days before Obama did! That man is following me! The Blue Mosque was stunning. I'd never seen the inside of a mosque before, and because everyone has to take their shoes off out of respect, I realized that not only was it beautiful, but also kind of smelly :) On the mosque note--I thought the call to prayer five times a day was a kind of polyphonic beauty. It sounds over the loudspeaker in the city, and you can hear it at the same time coming from many different religious leaders at many different mosques.

As Istanbul tourists we also took a boat ride on the Bosphorous (so cold!!), drank tons of apple tea, had nargile/hookah while sitting outside overlooking the sea (still so cold!!), but the definite highlight for me was the Topkapi Palace. The palace architecture and tiles themselves were spectacular, but it was the relics that the palace contained that really blew my mind. We were standing in this long queue to get into a small room that my audioguide (yea, I'm an audioguide junkie) didn't say anything about. Everyone is standing in front of a glass case with a large sword inside, and I'm thinking, "Really, another sword? I've already seen a room full of swords...not to mention all of the thieved swords in the V and A and the British Museum in London. I queued for this??" As I'm thinking this, I get nearly knocked over by Jason who is hitting me whilst having some sort of epileptic fit of what turned out to be excitement. The words is David's. As in David and Goliath. You know, the one that David used to chop of Goliath's head. WHAT? THEN, in the next glass box was, get this, Moses' staff. You know, the "part the Red Sea" staff? following these items there was also a footprint of Mohamed the Prophet, someones skull, and John the Baptist's Arm. Yea, a bronze case over an arm...not a cast, but a protective case. I guess after he was beheaded, the powers that be thought it would be a good idea to chop off his arm and save it for a rainy day. AWESOME!

Our last night in Istanbul we had a blast with Murat (Ilker's housemate), and some of his friends. They took us to some more "apartment bar/clubs," and I decided that every bar in the world should keep tamborines and belly dancing skirts behind the bar for all to enjoy. Needless to say, Turkish people LOVE to go out and dance!

Meet Jason, my dread-headed, hippie-dancing, eyes-closed, travel buddy, and soon to be housemate! Also pictured, with Tamborine, is Murat, our awesome couch-surfing host extraordinaire.

BEEP. End of part one. Go have a cuppa, and come back for part two.

Love, Sarah