I've been with my last family in Istanbul for a week now, and all is going well. They do not need me quite as much as agreed, but prefer I stick around on the weekends and travel during the week. The 8 year old boy leaves early morning for school and returns around 4:30, so there isn't much time after homework and dinner and relaxing to spend much time on English. Both parents are pretty fluent as she is an English teacher and he studied for his masters and phd in Albany New York for nine years.
I was sick with a cold my first days here, and then occupied with focusing on getting my visa for Moscow for another couple of days. But this last week, I've been able to get out and saw the Dohmabachce Palace, the Istanbul Modern Art Museum, and a special Exhibit on the art of Ebru, as well as walking around through the Galata Tower district and the area around where I am staying, which is called Kadikoy.
I've booked my plane ticket to Moscow for the 16th of November and then on to Berlin (!) on the 25th of November. I will be able to stop and see the Berlin wall, etc., and visit Laura who was in Ecuador and Peru with me. Then I will make my way by train down into Italy to visit Teresa from Haines/Tenkaee and Giulia, the gal who was our Rotary exchange student!
I've also booked for next week to go to Bursa here in Turkey. I will go on Tuesday and Wednesday. There are two big things of interest to me there. First, is the puppet theater museum which I read about before I came and then I also found out that this is where the silk is grown/harvested/whatever for the most expensive of the Turkish carpets.
My last week here will be during a Beyram (Holiday), and I am still trying to decide what to do. I am thinking of going to Ederne, but my family from Izmir will also be here, and I would love to spend time with them and go to the aquarium with them also. So will need to make a decision soon.
The weather has definately changed to fall. The clouds breeze through the sky all day and there is a wind. Being so much water around Istanbul, it is humid, so with the cooler temps, you really feel the dampness in the air.
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| Love the 'cafeteria' food here! |
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| Ok, so it's not an open fire, but the chestnuts are roasting everywhere! |
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| An organized march protesting the unrest in the south of Turkey. |
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| Galata Tower area - narrow winding streets -- this one was all music stores and a few tourist things. |
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| Love the old buildings. |
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| A tulip painted on Ebru paper. |
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