Sunday, November 26, 2006

Istanbul, Turkey

Gordon and I just returned from our Thanksgiving holiday where we went to Istanbul, Turkey for 3 days. We traveled with two friends, Greg, from British Columbia (on the right), and Aaron, from Washington (on the left). It was a 10 hour bus ride from 9pm on Wednesday night until 7am on Thursday morning.
We had an excellent time going to museums and bazaars and roaming the streets buying stuff;s rugs, tea, a backgammon board set, dunars (chicken or lamb burrito wrap), tee shirts, jeans, purses, etc. We visited many interesting sights, including structures more than 2000 years old, some created during the Justinian era. While Gordon studied about the Dead Sea scrolls, I decided to go to a Reggae show with Aaron and Greg. Istanbul has a great music scene.
We explored the Archeological Museum of Istanbul on Saturday. We saw the oldest love poem in the world, written on clay around 2037 BC. There were tombs of famous Roam Emperors and Sultans. The museums were packed with marauting young children who surrounded and bantered us with questions. It is said that the longest turkish word is "whereareyoufrom"!

The city was beautiful. There were people fishing 24/7 off of the bridges around the city. They had huge long poles with about 5 hooks on each line to catch little tiny fish. I think the reason they have such big poles is because they are hopeful fisherman?

Istanbul has about 1 garbage can per 5 city blocks, thus it is very dirty. But, everynight there are crews of cleaners and garbage trucks that sweep about the city, so it is mostly clean in the morning and repeating the cycle everyday. There are about 937 cats per person, they are very friendly and well fed and everywhere!

About 3 out of 5 people that we encountered spoke English. They are very friendly in general, and happy. Istanbul is a touristy area that is very appealing to those interested in ancient cultures and history.

Overall, it was a lovely trip and we had a wonderful time! It was nice to have a break from teaching. We hope to visit Western Europe during Christmas Holiday, including Slovenia and Austria.

7 comments:

  1. hey you two, glad to hear you had a good thanksgiving-missed you at the familty dinner though...dan

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  2. Happy belated thanksgiving! Looks like you two had a fabulous time as usual. These pics are outstanding! What a beautiful skyline... like taking a step back in time. Santi and I miss you both and hope you are well. Love, Ang

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  3. Hope you had a great thanksgiving. Looks like you've been busy as usual!

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  4. TG on the hill went well with the usual complement of rain & mushrooms. Michelle & Jared made it over; he's big into horticulture now. Do you get a long Christmas vacation from school? Can't come soon enough for me!

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  5. Hi Dusty;
    Your Aunt Kye said I should look at your site and contact you for information about teaching abroad. Did you find the jobs through an agency? Are your living quarters provided or did you find them on your own? How about airfare to and from your positions?
    I have a M.Ed in secondary ed. social studies. Do I need a TESL certificate as well?
    Any info/help you can give me will be very appreciated
    Thanks, Donna (donnasud@yahoo.com)

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  7. Hey You Two!
    Great to see you're doing the blogging thing!... You never told me Dusty was cute! ... she's too cute for you, you know that right? -- Drew

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