Tops! (inspired by Cihan) :-)

Top 3 things I will miss in Istanbul
1)Gokalp
2) Bosphorous
3) Turkish culture-people, holidays/celebrations, hamams, nargile, tavla, Okey, Turkish coffee, tea, mezes, and the list goes on...

Top 3 favorite things in Turkey
1) Turkish hospitality and attitude
2) everyone out in the summer, eating sunflower seeds, drinking cacik, going out, sitting at outside cafes drinking beer or tea, playing tavla
3) sahlep and apple tea!!!

Top 3 favorite things to do in Istanbul
1) walking through and enjoying the different areas, in any weather, any day
2) ferry rides on the Golden Horn and Bosphorous
3) Everything else is my number 3!! I love Istanbul and cannot decide :-)

Alex visits, November 24-30

Alex came to visit me over her Thanksgiving weekend. We had such a good time traveling together again, exploring and experiencing new things. We really did SO much together in the time that she was here.
She arrived Thursday afternoon, we just went to typical Turkish dinner and then went to a cafe for nargile and tea with my friends. Alex loved the nargile, and Turkish coffe and the atmosphere of the cafes.
On Friday we visisted the Haghia Sophia, grand bazaar, spice bazaar, went to a nice turkish bath--hamam, and at night went out to bars with friends.
Saturday we toured around Topkapi Palace and the harem there as well. Then we went to the blue mosque,Istanbul university, Suleymaniye mosque, the Russian district (for Alex), and at night out to bars with friends again.
Alex wanted to see the orthodox church and synagogues in Istanbul, so Sunday we toured around some random areas. Then we went to Ortakoy for the Ortakoy Sunday market (we both got great original stuff :-) :-) so fuunnn), and after to dinner with Gokalp's parents at their home. We also watched an exciting and important footbal match-our team won :-)
On Monday we went to the ancient water cistern- the Basilica Cistern, then to the area Besiktas for tea on the Bosphorus, Yildiz Ppalace, ate kebab, went shopping, and at night went out with a few people to celebrate Alex's birthday (late).
On Alex's last full day (Tuesday), we went to the Tuesday bazaar (the biggest in Turkey) with Gokalp's mother (who made some good bargains for us!), Dolmabahce Palace, the current Picasso exhibition, fish dinner and nargile on the Galata Bridge!
Everyday was beautiful and 60 degrees except the first day, it POURED on us that day and we were soaked to the bone-we had to make ourselves feel better by treating ourselves to a massage at the hamam ;-)

October trip with Aunt Joan

Hi there :-)For the last week I was on a trip with my Aunt. We traveled the coastof Western Turkey and saw everthing! We went to Gallipoli/Dardinelles(WW1 battlefield and memorials), Troy (all 9 levels of the ancient cities at that spot), Ephesus, Aphrodisas (another ancient city in that area) and Pamukkale (i will send pictures soon...they are natural thermal baths...hard to explain).I am having a Halloween party this weekend too , should be fun in Turkey! :-)I will send all my pictures soon, because writing about things may not interest you, pictures are better! Just wanted to say hi :-)Write soon!

Ramazan

I just wanted to share my interesting day with you all….
Today is the first day of Ramadan. This is the Muslim cleansing period where they fast and don’t indulge in anything they enjoy during daylight hours. So at about 4 am men coming through the street with drums waking people up, to eat something before the sun rises. So they do that and then they start the fast with a prayer and washing themselves. So then all day they don’t eat or brush their teeth or drink anything, even water. At when the sun sets you have to break the fast with dates or something like that and then there is a big feast.
This goes on for like 30 days or so. No one sells food in the streets like normal and people (who aren't fasting) aren't supposed to eat in public in the daytime because you aren't supposed to eat in front of those who are fasting.
It is supposed to clean your mind and body but eating in the middle of the night and in large portions really only makes people gain weight! But anyway…that is the Turkish style…eating a lot….it originally wasn't supposed to be that way.
ANYWAYS…I decided for the first day to fast, today. I prayed to my God before I slept last night (and DID NOT wake up with the drums for a snack) ;-) Most people are really surprised I am doing it, because no one really does it! Only the religious people, which as I have told you, is a very slim amount in Istanbul.

Also, today is the first day we are starting to receive technical calls from the UK at work. So besides taking US calls, now we will be getting UK calls as well. I have gotten 3 so far today in the 2 hours I have been here and they are freakin me out. Soooo hard to understand over the phone and they have all different processes that US customers and different warranty stuff, and I don’t know anything yet!

So a stressful but challenging day for me, to say the least ;-)

New from September

Hello there! I have been writing this email to you for a couple months now to tell you things that have been going on...I am finally sending it!
A few weeks ago I went to a traditional, cultural pre-wedding ceremony. It is for girls only, every bride does this, all of their friends and relatives whom are female get together to dance and eat and do traditional things. There is lots of dancing and food, and one big ceremonial thing. The bride wears this big velvet red robe and a red veil on her head. All the unmarried girls in the group wear red scarves on their head and a shiny cloth on their hand a hold a candle. The brides best friend walks into the room first, carrying a big mound of gooey henna (henna in powder form mixed with water) with candles in it. All the girls follow with their candles and everyone sings. The bride comes in and sits on a chair in the middle of the circle. We sway around her and the main girl kind of dances with the henna. (translated to English, the party is called Night of the Henna) Then they take clumps of the gooey henna and put it in the brides hands and tie her hands. If the bride opens her hands and welcomes the henna, it means that it is her choice and she is happy to marry. Then all the single girls take a clump of henna too and put it in a palm of the hand. Everyone leaves in in the hand for like 20 minutes and it dies the hand. My palm was all red for a while! It is a really cool celebration, there were old women there and young girls, all female of course…it was really fun. I have a link for recent pictures below

My Gokalp (my boyfriend) and I took a bus down the coast to the SW corner of Turkey…to Bodrum, for a vacation for 9 days. Bodrum is the main city on a peninsula in the SW corner. We didn’t stay in the city actually, we were on the north side of the peninsula about 30 minutes away. The peninsula is on the Aegean and Mediterranean sea. It was so beautiful there. The water was clear and the weather was perfect. That area has a lot of mountains so the beaches and swimming areas were all at the foot of hills. The scenery was perfect. My favorite part was that all the homes were white, cute, matchbox style homes. Every single home! Even the buildings and stores, even burger king, were all made out of the same white material and in the same style. It really looks beautiful on the hills. (It is like the Greek isles if you have ever been there--all the same Aegean Sea style) You can actually see 2 of the Greek isles from the shores of bodrum. We also went to another area a bit south of Bodrum called Datca. I will send pictures soon, I am uploading them

In October, I will go with my aunt (who will be visiting from California) all along the west coast of Turkey to Pamukkale, Ephesus, Troy, and other ancient cities! I am very excited

Also, after my Irish roommates left and went back to Ireland, I have some new roommates. One guy is half Turkish half American, he was born in Wisconsin and wanted to live in Turkey for a bit :-) The other guy is Brazilian. Things are pretty good :-)
Other news...I will be returning home in December....to Chicago for a few months at least.
Keep in touch,
Love Sarah
this is the link for pictures from August and September...pictures of Bodrum coming sooon!
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/sarah_sommerfield/album?.dir=dcc8&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/sarah_sommerfield/my_photos

Henna Party--Kinagecesi

Hello!
I had a really nice weekend. On Friday, I went to lunch and to a beautiful mosque with a great view, with a few friends. At night, I went to a traditional, cultural pre-wedding ceremony. It is for girls only, every bride does this, all of their friends and relatives whom are female get together to dance and eat and do traditional things. I went with Yesim and one of her good girlfriends, the bride is one of their close friend's. They invited me because they know I like to experience things like this :-) Anyways, it was a great time, we danced and ate and danced more. There is one big ceremonial thing. The bride wears this big velvet red robe and a red veil on her head. All the unmarried girls in the group wear red scarves on their head and a shiny cloth on their hand a hold a candle. The brides best friend walks into the room first, carrying a big mound of gooey henna (henna in powder form mixed with water) with candles in it. All the girls follow with their candles and everyone sings. The bride comes in and sits on a chair in the middle of the circle. We sway around her and the main girl kind of dances with the henna. (translated to English, the party is called night of the henna) Then they take clumps of the gooey henna and put it in the brides hands and tie her hands. If the bride opens her hands and welcomes the henna, it means that it is her choice and she is happy to marry. Then all the single girls take a clump of henna too and put it in a palm of the hand. Everyone leaves in in the hand for like 20 minutes and it dies the hand. My palm is all red now :-)
It is a really cool celebration, there were old women there and young girls, all female of course…it was really fun. I will send pictures!
On Saturday it was rainy so I didn't do much, but went to Yesim's birthday part at night at her house.
Write back soon,
Love Sarah

End of July update

Hello everyone :=) I miss you! I hope all is well! Write to me about your lives...it is impossible for us to be together, but not to keep in touch!!
Istanbul is wonderful in the summer and I am having a great time. I have officially been a technical support agent for Toshiba laptops now for 6 weeks and it is going really well. All of my Irish co-workers/flatmates are leaving to travel and return to Ireland, so there are some more changes taking place here. But all is well and I still am planning on enjoying this lovely city for the full year and to travel more of the country with friends and family!
I have some pictures from the past couple months. The first link is a short version of the pictures (the best ones of course!), and the second link is ALL the pictures....take your pick! I don't want to bore you if you dont want to see so many!!
Love Sarah
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/sarah_sommerfield/album?.dir=df34&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/sarah_sommerfield/my_photos
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/sarah_sommerfield/album?.dir=/b54d&urlhint=actn,ren%3as,1%3af,0