Merhaba! Hello!
Sorry for the late post, yesterday was quite an exiting day and we stayed out late so I didn't have a chance to get a blog post in. To summarize today and yesterday, today I'm in Turkey and yesterday I was in Geneva! There you have it. Actually a lot has gone on from then to now. Yesterday in Geneva we went on our last visits to UN organizations by traveling to the International Environment House where we heard lectures from people working with the UN Development Program and the World Food Program. The WFP lecture really moved me. Did you know that there are more people hungry in the world than the population of the USA, the United Kingdom, and the European Union---COMBINED?! And the part of the world affected most by hunger and starvation is Asia, despite what we always hear about people starving in Africa. I asked a lot of questions during this lecture and it was really interesting and sad to me. After a lunch on the piers of Lake Geneva and playing in the UN fountains, we headed back to the UN to hear from the spokesman of the Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA). He talked a lot about the situation in Sudan crisis and how there were issues on getting into the country to try to help the people. After this we went back to John Knox and I went for a run down a little path I found that looked out over the fields and a small Swiss village and the mountains. It took me right through the middle of the fields and parks with fountains and next to little cottages where I saw families sitting down to dinner. It was the birthday of a girl in our group (her 21st) so we surprised her with cake and ice cream and then all went out to get cheese fondue...YUMM! My first cheese fondue and it was scrumptious! Very rich and creamy and very expensive too.
Fast forward only a few hours and it is 4 am this morning. We were all awake and getting on the bus to the airport. Our flight left at 7 am for Istanbul, Turkey. When we got here we were greeted by our guide and given a short bus tour of the city. We saw the 15th century walls of Constantinople that are still standing around the city and also various mosques from our bus, including the Blue Mosque (picture) and the Aya Sofya. The Sea of Marmara was on our right with barges galore, and we saw a huge fish market as well as the Grand Bazaar. When we got to our hotel we got situated and vegged out for a bit before finding a small restaurant down the road. The owner was very outgoing and took a liking to our American group of about 25 (probably because of the revenue it created for him). Restaurants here are different because they're half outside, half in, and the owners wait for people outside and try to invite you in. Inside there were couches and glittery lanterns (which I also saw in every store and so badly wanted to buy!). Our waiter liked us so much he even treated us all to apple tea at the end of our meal, all 25 of us. They taught us "tesekkur ederim," (thank you), "merhaba" (hello) and "holscakal" (goodbye) in Turkish. After this lovely dinner we ventured out onto the streets of Istanbul, stopping at shops and looking at scarves, handpainted bowls, rugs, pillowcases, genie pants, lanterns, candleholders, you name it. They had TONS of items, and each shop had different prices for everything. It was very annoying how pushy the shopkeepers were, although they were really friendly. One man noticed me looking at a scarf and before I knew it, it was around my neck and he was leading me to the loom in the front of the store where his daughter had handmade it. Other shopkeepers would disappear and come back with mirrors for me to look at myself with the scarves on. It was overwhelming, but we had fun talking with them. I watched a woman at the loom making the most detailed scarf I'd ever seen.
We didn't buy anything, but tomorrow we'll go to the Grand Bazaar and look there. Now we're back at the hotel and all terribly tired from a long day. Tomorrow will be packed with touring, and I'll tell you all about it!
Fast forward only a few hours and it is 4 am this morning. We were all awake and getting on the bus to the airport. Our flight left at 7 am for Istanbul, Turkey. When we got here we were greeted by our guide and given a short bus tour of the city. We saw the 15th century walls of Constantinople that are still standing around the city and also various mosques from our bus, including the Blue Mosque (picture) and the Aya Sofya. The Sea of Marmara was on our right with barges galore, and we saw a huge fish market as well as the Grand Bazaar. When we got to our hotel we got situated and vegged out for a bit before finding a small restaurant down the road. The owner was very outgoing and took a liking to our American group of about 25 (probably because of the revenue it created for him). Restaurants here are different because they're half outside, half in, and the owners wait for people outside and try to invite you in. Inside there were couches and glittery lanterns (which I also saw in every store and so badly wanted to buy!). Our waiter liked us so much he even treated us all to apple tea at the end of our meal, all 25 of us. They taught us "tesekkur ederim," (thank you), "merhaba" (hello) and "holscakal" (goodbye) in Turkish. After this lovely dinner we ventured out onto the streets of Istanbul, stopping at shops and looking at scarves, handpainted bowls, rugs, pillowcases, genie pants, lanterns, candleholders, you name it. They had TONS of items, and each shop had different prices for everything. It was very annoying how pushy the shopkeepers were, although they were really friendly. One man noticed me looking at a scarf and before I knew it, it was around my neck and he was leading me to the loom in the front of the store where his daughter had handmade it. Other shopkeepers would disappear and come back with mirrors for me to look at myself with the scarves on. It was overwhelming, but we had fun talking with them. I watched a woman at the loom making the most detailed scarf I'd ever seen.
We didn't buy anything, but tomorrow we'll go to the Grand Bazaar and look there. Now we're back at the hotel and all terribly tired from a long day. Tomorrow will be packed with touring, and I'll tell you all about it!
Hello Michelle! Such cool experiences you're having in just the first week. I love reading your blog. It sounds exactly like your voice which makes me miss you a lot! It's only my 2nd day on The Hill and I can already tell I will miss you and all the other Oles studying abroad.
ReplyDelete