Turkey (Annie)

I'm back from Turkey, and it was fantastic! I've never imagined that I would end up visiting Turkey, of all places, but now that I have been there I am very grateful to have had the opportunity. Turkey, like any country, has rich traditions, history, and culture and it was wonderful to get a glimpse of that.

Monday, and every day for that matter, was busy We went to the Topkapi Palace first, which is where where the Sultan used to live. Now it's a museum, and we got to see the Sultan's clothes and various religious relics, such as bits of Muhammed's hair and Moses's staff.

 Next was the Basicila Cistern, which is a massive cistern built in ancient times to hold millions of gallons of water. It was damp and dark and quite a contrast from the heat and bustle of the street above.

Later we saw the Hippodrome, which is similar to a race track. There wasn't really anything left of it. Finally, we went to the Blue Mosque, which was the crowning event of the day for me. It is beautiful! They decorated it with beautiful blue mosaics (hence the nickname Blue Mosque) and Arabic calligraphy.

Afterwards we went to the Grand Bazaar, which is a massive structure housing hundreds of little shops all selling pretty much the same thing. This is where I finally got to try Turkish Delight! It was so good!

Also, we found this ice cream that Neil was determined to get, and we were PUMPED. It's chewy! That's right. This is after we found it:

That evening we on a boat ride down the Bosphorous strait, which separates the Asian and the European sides of the Istanbul from each other. We got to see a lot of Istanbul and it was really great to see it from a boat rather than a bus. Neil, Shawn and I all wore the fezzes that Shawn bought for us and we were, and I quote here, "so cute!" I'm sure Neil and Shawn really appreciated that.

Tuesday we drove to the Galipoli Battlefield Memorial, which is where thousands of New Zealand and Australian soldiers died trying to take Istanbul in the First World War. It was a sobering moment. It was a little sad to see the graves lined up side by side on an otherwise picturesque beach. The Turkish government honored them there, and it was comforting to see that they cared for the men's lives even though they were fighting on the other side.

We then took a ferry ride across the Dradanelles which was really cool, since the bus drove right on to the boat. I'd never been on a bus on a boat before. I guess I can check that off my bucket list :)

To top off the day we went to Troy, which was essentially a mass of ruins that were built on other ruins that might have been built on the original Troy. It was much smaller than I anticipated, probably because most of the ruins have not been dug up. We saw the city and the big Trojan Horse that they had there, which was actually the one used in the movie.

 It was also here in Troy that we started our tradition of sprinting back to the bus from the site so that they wouldn't leave us, which they threatened to do on a number of occasions. Neil and Shawn loved to push it to the last minute. It was nice to get our blood pumping between the long bus rides. I'm sure we were also entertaining watching us from the bus.

On Wednesday we went to Assos, which is this little city up in the mountains of Turkey. It is one of the places Paul visited when he was preaching. We bought a scarf from this adorable old lady. Assos was really nice because there weren't any tourists and it was a cute little town in the mountains with cobblestone roads and houses. Also, a monumental event occurred here that will forever live in my memory: we saw our first ever Turkey in Turkey...it was awesome.

Later we went to the Pergamom acropolis, where we crawled over the massive ruins there. The theater there is the steepest I saw in Turkey, and it would've been a great view in ancient times when it was used. Peramum is on top of hill and you have an amazing view of the surrounding territory.

Later we went to Ephesus, which is a famous tourist site and city from the New Testament. There we saw the enormous stadium, the reconstructed library facade, and a ton of cats.

The next few places look pretty similar, so I'm going to skip over the specifics of Sardis, Miletus, Thyatira and Iznik to go straight to the best one: the Hagia Sofia.

This is a catholic church turned mosque turned museum. As a result, it has an interesting mix of a lot of different cultures. There were originally mosaics of Christian scenes all across the walls. When the Ottoman empire conquered Constantineople (and named it Istanbul) they covered the Christian art with plaster, which ironically enough preserved it rather than destroyed it, and replaced it with Islamic art. So today we see Islamic art along with some of the mosaics where the plaster has been cleared away. It's really amazing.

So that sums up my trip to Turkey (finally)! It was a BLAST, and I got to be very close with the people in my group. Enjoy!

Turkey Part 1 from Ashley

I have spent a lot of time today writing about Turkey. I haven't

finished because I have also been talking to people quite a bit and

did my visit teaching. I need to go to sleep now but I thought I'd send it to you to enjoy.

I made it to Turkey and back!!! Wow! It was a long trip that passed

quickly, if you can believe it. While there, I found it difficult to

keep track of the time and which day was which. Fortunately, the

itinerary we received had the day written down, otherwise the days of

the weeks my have had to be renamed to things such as: The day we

climbed into the Trojan Horse (at least the one used in a movie) or

The Day we Rode Innumerable Hours in the Bus with many “sickies” and two barf bag incidents. . . alas, I will used the days’ formal names.

And create additional names to describe in a nutshell the highlights

(or lowlights) of the day. All in all though, it was a fun trip!

Day 1: Sunday, 16 Sept. Jerusalem to Istanbul or The Day in the Airport

The day started out on a fantastic note; a workout and watching the

BYU/Utah football game. I’ll have to admit, I found the ending of the

game a bit comical, with BYU having 3 different opportunities for a

do-over after time had expired. In honor of the Utes, I wore a red

shirt that day. Ha ha!

Really, there isn’t much to report about this day for me. We got to

the airport really early and got everybody through security. I almost

didn’t make it; apparently I look nothing like my passport picture.

I’ve always said I would make a good spy since I can fairly easily

change the perception of my appearance with straight hair, curly hair,

glasses, contacts, and hair color. The dude checking my passport

asked for another form of identification. Fortunately I was carrying

my temporary driver’s license. He thought that looked a bit sketch

because it wasn’t a card, but I made it though. Interestingly enough,

the girl who checked my passport and the way back had no problem

deciding I was the same as in my passport picture. “Same pretty

smile!” she said.

When we got to Istanbul we were ready for dinner and hotel/bed. I

remember feeling like our dinner was a Sunday dinner type of meal with mashed potatoes and a meatloaf type of thing. And I remember wishing our tour guide would stop jabbering into the mic as we rode to the hotel. I just wanted to be there and not listen to random things a

guy with a strong accent was saying. I think I was tired from being

up early. I just wanted to look out the window at the many domed

churches we passed on our way in peace. I didn’t happen but I

reconciled myself to the fact.

Day 2: Monday, 17 Sept. Istanbul or The day of crazy touring (I don’t

have a great name for this day)

The first site we visited in Istanbul is the Hippodrome which was

built around 200 AD. Hippodrome is Greek for horse track and this

venue was used for public events like chariot races, horse races, and

civic celebrations. Some predict it would have held up to 100,000

people. Having read this little bit about it before I got there, I

was quite excited to see its remnants! I guess the little detail that

the level of Constantine’s original hippodrome was 6 feet lower than it

is now should have given me indication that I wouldn’t be seeing the

actual hippodrome, but it didn’t. When we were there, standing in the

middle, I was a bit disappointed to realize that only parts of two

stone pillars remain. First, the top third of a huge pink granite

obelisk from Thutmose III (from the Karnak temple in Egypt) which was

brought to the hippodrome in Istanbul by Emperor Theodosius around 390 AD. The second was the Walled Obelisk added around 10th century AD and originally covered in gilded, bronze plaques that have long since

been plundered. I realized here (and throughout the entire trip) that

I must improve my imaginative skills to create the grandeur of ancient

structures in my head otherwise I’d be forever disappointed in ancient

ruins.

The second location we visited was the Blue Mosque or Sultanahmet

mosque. This as a beautiful place of worship decorated with, you

guessed it, blue tiles decorating the inside. It has eight domes that

cascade down from the central dome. It is really neat. This was our

first taste of middle eastern mosques and it was interesting to note

that the insides are not decorated with pictures like we are used to

seeing in Cathedrals. Instead are used artistic calligraphy. I

really wished that I could read Arabic for the symbolism seems simple

yet deep. In this mosque, there are large tablets on the wall with

the names of the caliphs (the first “leaders” of Islam after Mohammed

and verses from the Koran, also artistically written. Arabic is such

a pretty language to look at, artistic in itself. I do wish I knew

what I was looking at. (My Arabic class is a bit of a joke. I have

learned just 2 words. Sukran: thank you. And Habibi: lover. (I guess

that’s not quite true because I learned the meaning of Noor too.) One

of the things I found most interesting was learning a bit about how

Muslims pray and why they do it that way. Perhaps you have seen them

bowing with their forehead on the ground. Well, our guide talked

about how the animals are obeisant to God on all fours. Well humans,

who have higher levels of reasoning, pray with 7 points of contact

with the earth (forehead, hands, knees, and feet) to symbolize their

humility before God.

After the Blue Mosque we went to Topkapi Palace. Here are housed all

sorts of treasures: parts of Mohammed’s beard, the walking stick,

guns, swords, and turbans his close friends wore, the 86 karat

Spoonmaker’s diamond. Oh, the also had displayed Mohammed’s tooth and sword, lots of elegant jewelry, and crazy impractical clothing. There

were tons of people here! So many! It was a bit unpleasant with so

many and it made it difficult to maintain our groups of 3 people,

which honestly was kind of pleasant since that rarely happens.:)

Next we went to the Basilica Cistern. I found this to be the

coolest site of the morning. It is a huge underground cistern with

336 pillars of support the Stoa Basilica above. Some of the bases

were used from other earlier structures. Two of them feature Medusa

heads, one is upside down and the other sideways. It was dark, dank,

and drippy. It felt cool just walking around down there!

After lunch we went to the grand bazaar. While there were lots of

shops, I didn’t find it super grand. Perhaps because one you got a

feel for the wares being sold, you realized they were pretty much the

same everywhere you went. However, here I did try Turkish delight.

Annie, Neil, Nicole, and I got a ‘sample bag’ and tried the various

flavors: lemon, orange, rose, coconut marshmallow, pistachio,

pomegranate, and chocolate pomegranate. The two pomegranate flavors along with the coconut were the ones I liked best. Turkish delight is a bit like dots covered in powdered sugar. I have had them before somewhere, though I can’t seem to place it. Has Ellen made them for her assorted Christmas goodie treats? Shawn went to town getting his souvenirs from Turkey, t-shirts, soccer jerseys, and Turkish caps.

Annie was surprised by this side of Shawn. She mentioned to me a

couple of times since we have been here that she is learning all sorts

of new things about her brothers because she is seeing them in

different situations, than she gets to see in the family situation.

After the Bazaar we took a boat ride on the Bosporus. This is the

Straight that passes between the European and Asian sides of Istanbul.

I think this may have been everybody’s favorite part of the day

because we could just enjoy the scenery, and water, and people without

having to run all over the place and combat the tide of many people.

We were tired after this big day!

Day 3, Wednesday 19 Sept: Istanbul to Canakkale

This was our first day in the bus and it wasn’t too bad at all. Our

morning stop was at the Gallipoli Battlefield Memorial. During WWI

there was a large battle here that resulted in half a million

casualties. The Ottomans had sided with the Central Powers (Germany

and Austria-Hungary) and were facing the ANZAKC (Australian and New

Zealand Army Corps.) Battle strategy was poorly manned by the Allies

and this resulted in, essentially, a stalemate. We learned about many

specifics of the battle, and because we were standing in the location,

it was easy to so why certain things wouldn’t work. It was my first

lesson in war tactics. Now, Australians and New Zealanders honor the

sacrifice of their country men and Turkish children learn about the

heroic deeds of Ataturk and the brave Turkish martyrs. It can be said

that the national identities of three countries-Australia, New

Zealand, and Turkey-were born here. I quite liked a quote from the

Turkish general, Kemal Ataturk, at the end of the Battle, “There is no

difference between a Johnny and a Mehmet. . .” as he described the

memorial there at Gallipoli honoring those who had fallen in battle.

In his speech, he described how the “Jonny” mothers would be weeping

over the lives of their lost sons and how the “Mehmet” mothers would

be weeping for them too.

After lunch we rode a ferry across the Dardanelle to the Asian side

of the country and drove to Troy. For those intrigued by the

archeology, this site was quite impressive because the are 9 different

settlement layers in Troy. For most of us though, this place is cool

because we associate it with the cool story of the Trojan Horse.

Cliff Notes version of the story= Paris (price of Troy) kidnapped

Helen (most beautiful woman in the world and queen of Sparta) to Troy.

The Spartans send their entire naval force to rescue the queen.

After a 10-year war, the Spartans leave the Trojan Horse at the gate

of Troy. The Trojans (what were they thinking!?) brought the horse

into the city and have an all-night party celebrating ‘their victory.’

The Spartans exit the horse, beat the Trojans, and take Helen back to

Sparta. Amongst the remains, we saw the remains of a large ramp

leading to the Citadel. Is it the ramp?! Who knows. They wouldn’t

let us stand on it and there wasn’t a horse nearby, so it lost a bit

of the drama, but honestly, what can you expect?;)

Ashley: Turkey, reading, and speaking Romanian

I am so so so sorry I haven't been able to send you an email telling you about Turkey yet.  I really want to but I haven't even had time to write it down.  On Monday we had a field trip where we went to Jericho.  After that I looked at what I had going on this upcoming week and realized I have 2 papers and a test on the docket plus all my regular reading.  So I have been nose to the grindstone doing that.  Whoosh, we sure do have a lot of reading here.  Just to give you an idea, we are halfway through 1 Samuel, 400 pages of Old Testament reading, in one month.  50 pages/ class for Israel class, 50 pages/class for Palestine class (which are held 2 times/ week.)  And about the same for Ancient Near East Studies of which we have 3 hours/week.  I've stopped wearing my contacts.  Anyways, those aren't such great excuses to not write you for the past couple of days.

Say hello to everybody for me and give them hugs from me.  And pretend I'm giving you hugs right now too.  

I really enjoyed the Turkey trip.  Even though there were long hours on the bus, I quite enjoyed riding and watching out the window and seeing the scenery pass by.  Oft times I was reminded of Romania, but I've been saying that since I've got here, so I think really it is the foreign country feel.  But, I did run into 3 Romania girls.  We were in a resort type hotel in Ephesus and there were lots of people.  I ate dinner and all the students around me left and I was looking around for some of my friends in the group when I walked by a table and heard Romanian!  

As soon as my brain processed what I'd heard, I stopped mid-stride.  I debated going back, and decided to do it, turned around and approached them and said, "You speak Romanian!"  They were so surprised to find somebody else who speaks Romanian, and even more so because I'm not Romanian.  And they were so surprised how well I spoke.  (Somehow my ability to speak tripled in goodness since Sunday when I talked to the sister in the branch.)  They were really intrigued by how I'd come to learn Romanian and why I spent so long in Romania.   At the end of the conversation, they invited me to eat dinner with them the next evening so we could talk more. I met them the next night and we talked a bunch more.  Anyways, that was probably the best part of the trip.  There were some other really cool things too, and I hope to send you a more complete detail of the week soon.  It will probably have to wait until the Sabbath though.

Well, lunch is starting, has started, and I decided it would be good for me to get out of the Center with a few people before I get too stir crazy and grumpy doing all my homework stuff.  I've been throwing around a rampart walk idea to a few of the girls so maybe we'll do that.  And yes, I'll take pictures. I really am trying to take lots even though I have to constantly fight off the "sick of taking pictures" feeling which come mostly because everybody else is taking hundreds of thousands of pictures of the same thing.  Aahh, I'm looking forward to having a small adventure today.  

Ashley