I'm Baaaack

We made it back safely to Istanbul late Monday night after an amazing Spring Break! After we left Oludeniz we headed to Mersin to meet Can and his family. They were amazing people, drove us all over the area, fed us tons of food, and completely opened their home to us. I tried tons of new food (Tantuni -- Mersin style durum, Bici Bici -- an icy jelloey sugary summer treat, Ciger -- liver the Turkish way...). We had a huge Turkish breakfast spread every morning and Can's dad took us out for an amazing fish dinner one night. His sister, Ecesu, is 14 and speaks very good English. She joined us on several of our excursions... I even rode a camel with her!

We did a ton, but to sum it up briefly we hit up: Kiz Kalesi (a castle on its own island), the huge Caves of Heaven and Hell, a bay in the Mediterranean that was fresh water (and freezing... i still swam though!), Tarsus (the smaller town Can went to school in), and the mountainous area around Mersin where alot of people have second homes. It was nice because we had a car so we got to go where we wanted. And hanging out with a family was really nice after being surrounded by only students for so long. I played tennis (terribly) with Can's dad, rode bikes along the coast of Mersin, got my fortune read in Turkish coffee grounds by their family friend, saw a movie in the theater, went to a small amusement park, and got to drive a car. It was a very relaxing end to the break... and so hot too. They set a record in Mersin the day we left, I was dying even after the sun went down!

So now I'm back in Istanbul loving every minute of it. Summer decided to come while we were gone, its perfect weather, the trees are getting leafy and the sun is always shining. This does not help me study, but it makes me so happy! I'm off now to organize my life post-break... must not be distracted by this beautiful evening...

Here are the pictures from my break. I can't figure out how to add it to the sidebar since my blogger is in Turkish now... must find an American IP address. Or learn Turkish. I'll change it eventually...

Brothels and Boats

Funny culture story I have time to write before our bus leaves to Mersin:

When we were in Marmaris chilling on the pier with some sailors of various gülets (the big yachts) we met the captain of a Dutch-owned gület. The other sailors were making fun of his boat which was easily spotted by the long string of Christmas lights strung from mast to mast. But, Turkey is a Muslim country... they don't have Christmas and therefore Christmas lights are a less common thing. And they are probably called something different than Christmas lights... but that is all I know how to call them. Anyways, they turkish sailors were calling it the whore boat because apparently the only houses in Turkey that are decorated with lights like that are brothels. So this Dutch man had decorated his boat and sailed it to Turkey... and it reminded everyone of a whore house.

It just made me laugh to imagine these guys entering a RV park in the US, seeing all the gaudily lit up trailers and thinking of them as brothels.