So Prague was a snowglobe city where everybody is happy, and everything is beyond beautiful. You just need to shake it up and you get a beautiful snowstorm on the Charles Bridge.
Istanbul reminded me of the city replica set ups you find in amusement parks like Six Flags- complete with ice cream windows run by men wearing shiny red and gold vests and funny hats that come straight out of Aladdin. And then of course there are the men selling light up devil horn headbands on Friday nights.
And then there is Vienna which I am realizing reminds me more and more of a Space Balls scene. The first time I visited I thought there obsession with Mozart was a little over the top. It seems to come from the Space Balls scene where Yogurt pulls out the Space Balls Merchandising store. Vienna just instead has Mozart the Magnet, Mozart the flag, Mozart the shot glass....you think of it- Mozart is on it. Yesterday I arrived just in time to witness the Vienna City Marathon soundtracked by none other than Mozart himself. I don't know about you, but personally I don`t turn to the classics as my pump up jams of choice but oh well. I hope it worked for the man that was dumb enough to run 26 miles wearing a full bear costume. It would all fit so well into a Mel Brooks musical.
Now I am in Germany trying to find ways to occupy my time before I go to my hosts`house since I arrived hear at 5:30 in the morning and then proceeded to get lost several times. Also have to complete my hunt for bread and peanut butter as living off of sausages for the next week is nothing but a terrible terrible idea. I'm not sure that living off of peanut butter is really a lot healthier but at least it will be cheaper.
Love you all!
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Hibernation Anyone?
Istanbul allowed me to settle down for the last five days of my trip. It was a beautiful trip, and once I rid my life of the crazy Norwegians, the trip was filled with beautiful people.
Ebru, my first host, and I hung out a lot. We went to dinner every night, went to a Turkish night club which was possibly the greatest thing with everyone dancing a combination of swing/salsa/belly dancing and singing their hearts out. We smoked hookah under a bridge on the Bosphorus and she taught me how to play backgammon while I was surrounded by locals in the town square all meeting after a day at work. She introduced me to her cousin who is an artist and has paintings in museums all over the world and took me to the Istanbul film festival where I saw truly horrid acting by Penelope Cruz. Or maybe I just really dislike Penelope Cruz and that just took over my judgement. On my last day there we met up again and went to the Museum of Modern Art and ate deserts in the Egyptian Bizarre.
My other host Esra was also absolutely wonderful. She lives in the suburbs of Istanbul with her sister and parents, and the whole family was just amazing. I think I gained 10 pounds in the time I stayed with her, as they just kept piling food on my plate. My first lunch I thought was just going to be soup and some small side dishes, but then chicken, potatoes, salad, and yogurt, and many other things were all piled on my plate. It was like thanksgiving dinner. Then they decided we should go for a picnic by the Bosphorus with Turkish snacks, and then the fed me more food once we got home, and then they took me out for dinner which was enough food for the Turkish army. I woke up the next morning still full, but was still served a huge breakfast. It amazed me that the girls were still so skinny...I don't understand. I think that if I were a bear I would have been ready to hibernate for several years after the feasts that I partook in.
Turkey even has there own type of ice cream. I can't decide if I liked it or not. They also had an abundant supply of regular ice cream. Even McDonald's and Burger King had ice cream windows instead of the usual take out windows. Beautiful.
Cyprus let me back into the country, and hopefully will let me leave it tonight when I leave for Berlin and Vienna. I will be in Berlin by myself again, but will be meeting up with my friend Katie for Vienna. It has been wonderful getting to travel by myself but I think I will be ready for some company by the end of the week.
Enjoy the pictures
Love you all.
Ebru, my first host, and I hung out a lot. We went to dinner every night, went to a Turkish night club which was possibly the greatest thing with everyone dancing a combination of swing/salsa/belly dancing and singing their hearts out. We smoked hookah under a bridge on the Bosphorus and she taught me how to play backgammon while I was surrounded by locals in the town square all meeting after a day at work. She introduced me to her cousin who is an artist and has paintings in museums all over the world and took me to the Istanbul film festival where I saw truly horrid acting by Penelope Cruz. Or maybe I just really dislike Penelope Cruz and that just took over my judgement. On my last day there we met up again and went to the Museum of Modern Art and ate deserts in the Egyptian Bizarre.
My other host Esra was also absolutely wonderful. She lives in the suburbs of Istanbul with her sister and parents, and the whole family was just amazing. I think I gained 10 pounds in the time I stayed with her, as they just kept piling food on my plate. My first lunch I thought was just going to be soup and some small side dishes, but then chicken, potatoes, salad, and yogurt, and many other things were all piled on my plate. It was like thanksgiving dinner. Then they decided we should go for a picnic by the Bosphorus with Turkish snacks, and then the fed me more food once we got home, and then they took me out for dinner which was enough food for the Turkish army. I woke up the next morning still full, but was still served a huge breakfast. It amazed me that the girls were still so skinny...I don't understand. I think that if I were a bear I would have been ready to hibernate for several years after the feasts that I partook in.
Turkey even has there own type of ice cream. I can't decide if I liked it or not. They also had an abundant supply of regular ice cream. Even McDonald's and Burger King had ice cream windows instead of the usual take out windows. Beautiful.
Cyprus let me back into the country, and hopefully will let me leave it tonight when I leave for Berlin and Vienna. I will be in Berlin by myself again, but will be meeting up with my friend Katie for Vienna. It has been wonderful getting to travel by myself but I think I will be ready for some company by the end of the week.
Enjoy the pictures
Love you all.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Istanbul not Constantınople-Why They Changed ıt I Can't Say
Forget Indiana Jones...you should probably just come on an adventure wıth me because I clearly know how to fınd myself in the most bizarre situations wıth the strangest of strange characters.
Currently I find myself in an internet cafe in Istanbul. How I managed to arrive here alive...I havent quıte fıgured that one out yet.
I arrived at the airport in Cyprus looked at my ticket and realized I was landing at a different airport than expected. I asked how far away it was from Istanbul and the first answer I got was "Three hours. About 50 km." So I was a bıt panicked as I wasn't arrıvıng until late at night and had no place to stay or no idea how to get where I wanted to be. But then I thought about ıt some more and realized that 50 km would never ever take three hours to travel. After about another 20 minutes of dıscussing it with the man and several other people I learned ıt was simply on the Asian sıde of Istanbul and there was a bus that would go to the European side.
But then of course my plane was delayed and I realızed that the metro was going to close down. I had resigned myself to staying the nıght ın the airport and trying to figure ıt all out ın the mornıng. I was waiting for a visa when 2 Norwegians and a Turkish man came up to me and asked if I was goıng to the European side. I saıd yes and John (the Turk) offered to help me fınd my way there. We all got through customs and then he looked at the address and told me I probably couldn't get to the hostel at nıght because the metro was closed but that he was takıng the Norweıgans to his mothers house and I was welcome to come to. I accepted the offer thinking that ıf things were really bad on the bus I could just hop off at a stop that had a hotel wıthın walkıng dıstance and spend the nıght there. As soon as we left the airport I realızed that the Norwenglish I thought the man was speakıng was actually just really really slurred English because he was drunk. The lady then told me that her and her husband were recoverıng drug addıcts. At this point I had decided that they were just going to kidnap me and sell me to a brothel so that they could go buy crack. I got on the bus anyway.
I talked to John and he seemed normal enough and kept talkıng to hıs mother so decided I keep on with the journey. We got off the bus and were walkıng and I became posıtıve a polıce offıcer was goıng to stop them, fınd drugs on all of them, and I would be arrested and spend my week ın a Turkish jail (which ıncidentıally are apparently not very nıce accordıng to the research I did for a paper about Turkey the nıght before). But that didnt happen and I made ıt to hıs family's house and had food and went to bed.
Hıs mother is the greatest thing ever, doesn't speak any Englısh, and doesn't remember my name so just calls me Amerıcano.
Yesterday was spent goıng from doctor to doctor wıth the crazy Norweıgan lady because she has an eye ınfectıon from usıng drugs. I had no ıdea where I was so I couldnt really wonder off by myself. The Turkısh mother wasn't goıng to let me, even ıf I had wanted to. Finally we made ıt to a central sqare but then we needed to stop at a bar to get a drınk for the Norweıgan man, because he has become an alcoholıc sınce gıvıng up drugs. I somehow ended up havıng to buy all of theır drınks, and realızed I could not take the crazy Norweıgans any longer and had to fınd a new place to stay. I also got to watch a lot of Turkısh musıc vıdeos and read a Nıcholas Sparks novel...fabulous.
Whıch I did thıs mornıng. Unfortunately I was supposed to get to her house at 12:30. I thınk I made John mad by not stayıng wıth hıs family longer, and he refused to leave the house at the rıght tıme, and wasn't really talkıng to me at all. Oops. Fınally I made ıt to a bus, and then a nıce Turkısh woman helped me fınd my way to the stop. On the way I also met a Brıtısh couple and they were so excıted to get to talk to someone ın Englısh that the lady told me all about how she ıs gettıng an ın vıtro treatment here ın Turkey. Amazıng what strangers wıll talk to you about.
I fınally made ıt to my new host's house but was an hour late and she had already left. Of course my Cyprıot phone doesn't work ın Turkey and pay phones don't take coıns. At thıs poınt I just want Amerıca, so of course I dıd the only thıng I could thınk of.
Fınd McDonald's and eat ıce cream.
After that I was ready to take on Istanbul agaın. I stıll can't get ın touch wıth the gırl but I'm sure that I wıll at somepoınt. At least I know where I can go get more ıce cream...really nothıng else matters.
Maybe at some poınt I'll see all of the thıngs tourısts normally see ın thıs cıty. Hopefully sans crazy cracked out Norweıgans.
Love you all.
Currently I find myself in an internet cafe in Istanbul. How I managed to arrive here alive...I havent quıte fıgured that one out yet.
I arrived at the airport in Cyprus looked at my ticket and realized I was landing at a different airport than expected. I asked how far away it was from Istanbul and the first answer I got was "Three hours. About 50 km." So I was a bıt panicked as I wasn't arrıvıng until late at night and had no place to stay or no idea how to get where I wanted to be. But then I thought about ıt some more and realized that 50 km would never ever take three hours to travel. After about another 20 minutes of dıscussing it with the man and several other people I learned ıt was simply on the Asian sıde of Istanbul and there was a bus that would go to the European side.
But then of course my plane was delayed and I realızed that the metro was going to close down. I had resigned myself to staying the nıght ın the airport and trying to figure ıt all out ın the mornıng. I was waiting for a visa when 2 Norwegians and a Turkish man came up to me and asked if I was goıng to the European side. I saıd yes and John (the Turk) offered to help me fınd my way there. We all got through customs and then he looked at the address and told me I probably couldn't get to the hostel at nıght because the metro was closed but that he was takıng the Norweıgans to his mothers house and I was welcome to come to. I accepted the offer thinking that ıf things were really bad on the bus I could just hop off at a stop that had a hotel wıthın walkıng dıstance and spend the nıght there. As soon as we left the airport I realızed that the Norwenglish I thought the man was speakıng was actually just really really slurred English because he was drunk. The lady then told me that her and her husband were recoverıng drug addıcts. At this point I had decided that they were just going to kidnap me and sell me to a brothel so that they could go buy crack. I got on the bus anyway.
I talked to John and he seemed normal enough and kept talkıng to hıs mother so decided I keep on with the journey. We got off the bus and were walkıng and I became posıtıve a polıce offıcer was goıng to stop them, fınd drugs on all of them, and I would be arrested and spend my week ın a Turkish jail (which ıncidentıally are apparently not very nıce accordıng to the research I did for a paper about Turkey the nıght before). But that didnt happen and I made ıt to hıs family's house and had food and went to bed.
Hıs mother is the greatest thing ever, doesn't speak any Englısh, and doesn't remember my name so just calls me Amerıcano.
Yesterday was spent goıng from doctor to doctor wıth the crazy Norweıgan lady because she has an eye ınfectıon from usıng drugs. I had no ıdea where I was so I couldnt really wonder off by myself. The Turkısh mother wasn't goıng to let me, even ıf I had wanted to. Finally we made ıt to a central sqare but then we needed to stop at a bar to get a drınk for the Norweıgan man, because he has become an alcoholıc sınce gıvıng up drugs. I somehow ended up havıng to buy all of theır drınks, and realızed I could not take the crazy Norweıgans any longer and had to fınd a new place to stay. I also got to watch a lot of Turkısh musıc vıdeos and read a Nıcholas Sparks novel...fabulous.
Whıch I did thıs mornıng. Unfortunately I was supposed to get to her house at 12:30. I thınk I made John mad by not stayıng wıth hıs family longer, and he refused to leave the house at the rıght tıme, and wasn't really talkıng to me at all. Oops. Fınally I made ıt to a bus, and then a nıce Turkısh woman helped me fınd my way to the stop. On the way I also met a Brıtısh couple and they were so excıted to get to talk to someone ın Englısh that the lady told me all about how she ıs gettıng an ın vıtro treatment here ın Turkey. Amazıng what strangers wıll talk to you about.
I fınally made ıt to my new host's house but was an hour late and she had already left. Of course my Cyprıot phone doesn't work ın Turkey and pay phones don't take coıns. At thıs poınt I just want Amerıca, so of course I dıd the only thıng I could thınk of.
Fınd McDonald's and eat ıce cream.
After that I was ready to take on Istanbul agaın. I stıll can't get ın touch wıth the gırl but I'm sure that I wıll at somepoınt. At least I know where I can go get more ıce cream...really nothıng else matters.
Maybe at some poınt I'll see all of the thıngs tourısts normally see ın thıs cıty. Hopefully sans crazy cracked out Norweıgans.
Love you all.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
No More Philo Dough for Me
It's a sad day in my life. I am being forced to give up philo dough and Zorba's, the twenty-four hour a day bakery that is only a few hundred feet from my front door. My friend has actually made a bet against me that I won't be able to go for the next month without visiting. If I win, I get Zorba's for free on May 13. Beautiful. Zorba's is the cheapest place around, filled with pastries, and bizarre sandwiches consisting of meat encrusted in beautiful, flaky dough, and pies that are the most delicious things in the world.
Why must I sacrifice the philo? Well, I seem to be unable to control my ticket buying sprees. Since arriving back in Cyprus I have arranged for a week in London and Scotland at the end of May, one week in Istanbul, four days in Berlin, five days in Vienna, and another five days in Jordan. Jordan put me over the edge, in philo dough denial. I'm pretty sure it's worth it though. I mean, rice and beans for two months isn't that terrible.
Other than that nothing else is new in my life. The water is still not running, so our shower schedules are terrible. My dreads have disappeared, as has half of the hair on my head. Fortunately I had massive massive amounts of hair to begin with, so I am still left with massive amounts. My plans for San Francisco seem to be working out, and I found an amazing apartment that is within biking distance from where I will be volunteering all summer.
That is all. I'm sure next weeks updates will be much more fascinating as I will be adventuring through Tukey.
Love you all.
Why must I sacrifice the philo? Well, I seem to be unable to control my ticket buying sprees. Since arriving back in Cyprus I have arranged for a week in London and Scotland at the end of May, one week in Istanbul, four days in Berlin, five days in Vienna, and another five days in Jordan. Jordan put me over the edge, in philo dough denial. I'm pretty sure it's worth it though. I mean, rice and beans for two months isn't that terrible.
Other than that nothing else is new in my life. The water is still not running, so our shower schedules are terrible. My dreads have disappeared, as has half of the hair on my head. Fortunately I had massive massive amounts of hair to begin with, so I am still left with massive amounts. My plans for San Francisco seem to be working out, and I found an amazing apartment that is within biking distance from where I will be volunteering all summer.
That is all. I'm sure next weeks updates will be much more fascinating as I will be adventuring through Tukey.
Love you all.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Oh How I Wish I could Shower...but Alas, I live in Cyprus
Yay for returning to Cyprus...and a water shortage. There are few things worse than traveling for eleven and a half days, only taking two showers during that time period, and then returning home to find out that you now only have running water Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays between 6pm and 6am. Damn you Cyprus.
The rest of the trip was wonderful. I seriously contemplated staying in Vienna, but I forced myself into returning. And now I am just dirty and thirsty, and craving Viennese ice cream which was scrumptious beyond belief. I therefore forced myself to eat copious amounts of it both days I was there. I made up for it by renting the city bikes, and biking around Vienna instead of actually sight seeing. I also lay around in some more parks, and it was beautiful. I am thinking about returning in a few weeks when it is Easter vacation. I may return to America corpulent from my terrible eating habits there, but I think it is completely worth it.
Here is my photo collection. I may have included a few too many, but oh well. It was beautiful, and I am a firm believe in giving each of you as many opportunities as possible to live vicariously through me. Enjoy and be thankful that you can take as many showers as you want.
Love you all.
The rest of the trip was wonderful. I seriously contemplated staying in Vienna, but I forced myself into returning. And now I am just dirty and thirsty, and craving Viennese ice cream which was scrumptious beyond belief. I therefore forced myself to eat copious amounts of it both days I was there. I made up for it by renting the city bikes, and biking around Vienna instead of actually sight seeing. I also lay around in some more parks, and it was beautiful. I am thinking about returning in a few weeks when it is Easter vacation. I may return to America corpulent from my terrible eating habits there, but I think it is completely worth it.
Here is my photo collection. I may have included a few too many, but oh well. It was beautiful, and I am a firm believe in giving each of you as many opportunities as possible to live vicariously through me. Enjoy and be thankful that you can take as many showers as you want.
Love you all.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
So Many Beautiful Babies
One of the greatest things about this trip has been the copious amounts of dirty dread-headed hippies and beautiful beautiful babies. They are everywhere you go, and it is wonderful. I fit right in with my tie tyed sweatshirt, and dont need anything more than baby watching to make me day go well.
I have arrived in Vienna. They dropped us off at the airport, and so therefore we had to walk around in lots and lots of circles trying to deciphor the German language (which, after Hungarian seems like the easiest thing in the world). We finally figured it out, until some crazy lady kicked us off the train at the wrong stop. You can´t do that to two stupid American girls that have no idea where they are. Needless to say, we eventually figured it all out and made it to the flat where we are staying.
Nevermind being a fire dancer, I want to be like Alex. He´s one of the guys living here, who walks around in his bath robe until the afternoon, drinks copious amounts of coffee while chain smoking all day, and speaks in a his deep German voice, with his scraggly beard. Occascionally he goes to school. It has amazed me that every person we have stayed with seems to be living off of nothing. Why wasn´t I told that I really could have moved to Europe after high school, smoke all day (I would have taken up smoking if I knew that it could lead to a life like these, as it seems smoking is an essential element here), and write a classic novel, screen-print tee shirts, and bake all day for the craft fair my group of friends decided to host in a coffehouse; all while never actually holding a real job. Amazing.
Oh well. Vienna is another beautiful city, and the weather yesterday was amazing. We´re starting to suffer a little from sensory overload, and the feeling that "We´ve seen one amazing building, we´ve seem all the amazing buildings", and so after walking around for a bit we sat in parks all day. Occascionally we changed parks in order to buy ice cream (which is finally delicious, without alcohol, and everything I could have hoped for), but for the most part we got to soak up the warmth, sit and relax, watch all of the dirty hippies sit around with their guitars and beers, and of course- be amazed that so many beautiful babies can exist in one place.
The flat consists of three guys from Germany, a girl from Turkey, and Karin our actual host who is from Austria. Four of them study architecture, while the other studies stage design. Its a pretty eccentric household and going out with them last night was fabulous.
Love you all and miss you. My next post will be from Cyprus. Boo.
I have arrived in Vienna. They dropped us off at the airport, and so therefore we had to walk around in lots and lots of circles trying to deciphor the German language (which, after Hungarian seems like the easiest thing in the world). We finally figured it out, until some crazy lady kicked us off the train at the wrong stop. You can´t do that to two stupid American girls that have no idea where they are. Needless to say, we eventually figured it all out and made it to the flat where we are staying.
Nevermind being a fire dancer, I want to be like Alex. He´s one of the guys living here, who walks around in his bath robe until the afternoon, drinks copious amounts of coffee while chain smoking all day, and speaks in a his deep German voice, with his scraggly beard. Occascionally he goes to school. It has amazed me that every person we have stayed with seems to be living off of nothing. Why wasn´t I told that I really could have moved to Europe after high school, smoke all day (I would have taken up smoking if I knew that it could lead to a life like these, as it seems smoking is an essential element here), and write a classic novel, screen-print tee shirts, and bake all day for the craft fair my group of friends decided to host in a coffehouse; all while never actually holding a real job. Amazing.
Oh well. Vienna is another beautiful city, and the weather yesterday was amazing. We´re starting to suffer a little from sensory overload, and the feeling that "We´ve seen one amazing building, we´ve seem all the amazing buildings", and so after walking around for a bit we sat in parks all day. Occascionally we changed parks in order to buy ice cream (which is finally delicious, without alcohol, and everything I could have hoped for), but for the most part we got to soak up the warmth, sit and relax, watch all of the dirty hippies sit around with their guitars and beers, and of course- be amazed that so many beautiful babies can exist in one place.
The flat consists of three guys from Germany, a girl from Turkey, and Karin our actual host who is from Austria. Four of them study architecture, while the other studies stage design. Its a pretty eccentric household and going out with them last night was fabulous.
Love you all and miss you. My next post will be from Cyprus. Boo.
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