Merhaba!

That means hello! Im learnıng!!

So I arrıved Thursday nıght at 2 pm Turkey time. After catchiıng up, etc, i went to sleep only to be woken up by constructıon on Eges apartment buildıng. it literally sounded like they were about to break in the door. But it ended up beiıng fine and İ fell back asleep. Thursday we were goıng to go to Sultan Ahtmet where a lot of the cool ancient stuff is until we found out that a lot of the mosques and things are closed on Thursdays!! So it was a really good thing that we looked!

The Fırst we went to was Eges unıversıty whıch is SO pretty! ıt overlooks the Bosphorus Sea!
Then we went to Taksim, a huge huge huge street with tons of people and shopping, and had wine at this awesome place that was up 6 floors and overlooked the Bosphorus and Istanbul!! SO PRETTY. Then we went home and ate dınner and went to sleep early because I was so tıred. I also forgot to bring my camera so I dont have any pictures...whoops...

FRIDAY

nothıng says good mornıng lıke hammers!! Eges building is having construction done on it, and they start at the lovely hour of 830, which is awesome when your body is ever so confused about the time....but it was okay :)

We went to Dolmabaçe, a palace built in the 1840s where a sultan and his many wives and harem used to live. The palace was incredible! We werent allowed to take pictures inside but the pictures from the grounds should be a good indication of the elaborate decor inside. There were so many huge crystal chandeliers and grand staircases and gold decorations and ceilings! It was truly magnifıcent. It ıs hard to believe it was built so recently. Also, Ataturk, who freed Turkey as a country, died there, which is a big deal.
Right before entering Dolmabaçe we saw a HUGE amount of people with cameras and everything. All of the sudden these official looking cars drove off with the Turkish version of CIA agents lıterally runnıng and jumping into the moving cars. So guess who I was lucky enough to see?? ( or actually not see because of the crowd and CIA men) The president of Turkey!! So that was cool.

Then Ege and I walked around in some other area I forget the name of (EDIT - Nasantasi but it's pronounced like Nashantashi), but it was pretty ritzy wıth Armani stores and Mercedes lining the streets. We were hungry so we ate at this place called Tike (i think?) which was a kebap (kabob in english?) restaurant. We had great appetizers and then I had a lamb kebap (the first time ive eaten lamb by the way, and I had to sing Mary had a liıttle lamb...it was kind of sad...but all kebap is made from lamb) ın a yogurt sauce with grılled bread under it. It was really, really good actually. Mary raised that little lamb right!

Next we met up with Naz, Eges older sister, who I hadnt actually seen yet because she works really early. We walked over to her work place where she works wıth graphic design. Her office has an amazing view of the city and the Bosphorus Sea. Naz is really cool, I liked her a lot, but our time was short because she was on her way to Bodrum, a beach town south of here, for vacation and I wont get to see her again.

Then Ege and I went to Taksim to meet up with Sarp, Eges boyfriend. Its the same street that we went to the day before. It ıs a huge street that seems to be constantly crowded with not only Turks but people from around the world. Its really, really cool. We got there and there was a huge protest going on!! Hundreds of people chanting with signs and stuff because some woman is in jail with cancer and they want her out. Not sure of the background story, but it was really cool. There was also a brigade type deal of police officers just in case the crowd got violent (Scary!). Ege asked one polıceman what they were protesting and he literally replıed, I dont f****** know, they protest something every day. Well at least he was honest...So anyway, then I finally met the infamous Sarp in person! He seems like a nice guy. Also, I am so freakin lucky that everyone here speaks English. Or at least enough to say hello and what not. My Turkish consists of Hello and Thank you. But i still find that pretty impressive...

Anyway then we went to Kafepi (pronounced cafe p) where Ege worked for like 3 weeks last summer. It was really chill, we just sat at a table and had a few (legal!) drinks and discussed our love for Arrested Development. Seriously, it is the best show ever and even the Turks know that. After hearing Sarps impression of Buster (quite accurate...and hilarious) we wandered around the street a bit but there actually werent that many people compared to a usual friday because it was the first day of Ramadan, meaning fasting during the day and they arent supposed to drink alcohol at all (although Muslims arent supposed to drink at all....?)

SATURDAY

Construction agaın wakes me up at 845. Cool. But I end up going back to sleep (hour(s) later) and sleep UNTIL 2 IN THE AFTERNOON!!! Its serıously embarrassing. I told Ege to wake me up next tıme but shes like, no you need your sleep, etc. Ugh her mom probably thinks i am so so so lazy. Anywho, we went out to the Bosphorus that afternoon where there were a lot of really cute little stands, like an open air market, called Ortakoy. And of course I bought a few things, how could I not, Im addıcted to jewelry. Then we ate a baked potato, Turkey style, kumpir. They fıll them wıth TONS of RANDOM stuff...lıke ketchup, mayonaıse, pıckles, hotdog, olives, mushrooms, cheese, carrots, some red grain thingy, etc. Interestıng, but not bad I guess.. Once Sarp came (so he is staying at his aunts house which is on the Asian side of Istanbul, so he lıves kınd of far and ıt takes a while to get to this side) we got on a little boat ferry thing and took an hour-long ride up the Bosphorus Sea. The water is beautiful and the wind was great with lots of sun. Ive also decıded that I am goıng to one day buy a house overlookıng the Bosphorus. The houses are amazıng.

Then we went back to Eges. Oh, and her wisdom tooth is coming ın so she has been in a lot of pain (sılly thırd world countrıes dont take their wisdom teeth out) and ı really do feel bad for her. She has to talk without opening her mouth wide, which is ultimately kind of funny but oh well...

Then we ordered mantı (i thınk?) whıch ıs lıke tıny lıttle dumplıngs ın a yogurt sauce! They are SOO good, seriously. You add spices to them too...Really, we need more Turkish restaurants in the US. Or at least North Carolina.

THEN we went to the Asian side of Turkey!! HELLO ASIA! That was exciting for me. We walked around the one big street in Asian İstanbul but ı forget what ıt ıs called (edit - Bagdat street). But basıcally people come there to show off their nice cars (BMWs, Mercedes, Audis, ı swear we saw a ferrari) etc and look cute. We got some deserts at a little place (after Sarp got some strange Turkısh fast food, including a 'wet burger''...yuck much?) that was very tasty. Then we went to Sarps aunt,s house to watch Arrested Development...yay fun Saturday nights!!

So yes, Ive essentially been third wheel for about 2 days now. Super duper.

Also, sorry for the lack of apostrophes and awkward ı (an i wıthout a dot). Im typıng on a Turkısh keyboard and the i ıs in a weird place and i cant find the apostrophe. Whoops.

Anyway, here I am, stıll ın Asıa. I woke up thıs mornıng wıth my eye swollen and I dont know why. Just my left eye. Its not too too bad but ıt hurts when ı touch ıt so ıve put some ıce on ıt...probaby from eating Marys lıttle lamb... :(

ok well ıf youve read all of thıs so far and arent thoroughly bored or extremely ready for me to hush, you are very ımpressıve and such a loyal fan (do ı have loyal fans? hmm) but I am sad to say that my blabbing has thus ended. Except to say that I trıpped about a total of 9 times so far. yesssss.

Hugs and kısses. I mıss you all! And normal keyboards....