Gobble Gobble Part I

My epic Turkish spring break began with a very, very early morning flight to Istanbul and ended with a very, very late night flight back to Amman eight days later. Everything in between was magical. My three travel companions (Gabby, Lauren, and Lura) and I somehow managed to score a week of being spoiled by Gabby's Turkish Microsoft executive family friend. Really. We led charmed lives. For four days, we lived by ourselves in his gorgeous house outside of Istanbul with a trusty private driver to take us wherever we pleased; took long, warm, glorious showers; and had a housekeeper that fed us breakfast every morning complete with the most delicious homemade sour cherry jam on earth. Then, on his recommendation, we spent two nights in a TREE HOUSE on the southern Mediterranean coast, followed by a final night in his sister-in-law's apartment overlooking the Bosphorus and located in what can only be described as Istanbul's answer to Greenwich Village. I still can't figure out how this was my life.

Luckily, our first hour in Turkey did not end up setting the tone for the rest of the trip or prove to be an accurate first impression of our driver, Oral. After he picked us up at the airport, we arrived at a nice-looking house with an adorable garden, piled out of the car, and were ushered inside by a housekeeper-looking woman who didn't speak a word of English. The four of us, exhausted, had collapsed on various pieces of furniture in the living room when the woman suddenly thrust a phone at Gabby. On the other end, a very confused woman demanded to know who we were and what we were doing there, awkward. Oral had misunderstood the directions and brought us to the wrong house. Fortunately, despite the initial snafu, we eventually located the correct residence, were fed many delicious things, and discovered that Oral is in fact an excellent, good-humored, patient, guitar-playing, cupcake-providing driver that just happens to have a somewhat problematic sense of direction leading him to frequently solicit the advice of random taxi drivers.

And now, some photographs (many taken by the lovely Gabby Arens, because her photography skills are far superior to my own):

A rainy day at the Blue Mosque.

A very small Meredith in a very large Hagia Sofia.
  (Courtesy of Gabby Arens)

Our trusty private driver and model, Oral.
.

Gabby in a shop near the Grand Bazaar.

The Agora Cafe, in Taksim--Istanbul's
version of Times Square, where we listened to
amazing live Turkish music and every person
in the crowded bar sang along to each song.
(Courtesy of Gabby Arens)

Ferocious at the Dolmabahce Palace, home of Ataturk.

Lauren, Lura, and I eating the most delicious breakfast at
Assk Cafe (love in Turkish) overlooking the Bosphorus.
(Courtesy of Gabby Arens)

Ortakoy, a neighborhood of streetside
jewelry vendors, amazing street food,
and beautiful dusk views of the Straits.

Me plus street waffle covered in chocolate
chips/Nutella/strawberries/pistachios
equals heaven. Concurrent to
Gabby's marriage proposal.

The crew--Lauren, Gabby, Lura, and I--in Ortakoy. 
After the baked potatoes, before the waffles,
both with more toppings than food.

Boat cruise on the Bosphorus! (Courtesy of Gabby Arens)

Other Istanbul Take I highlights not captured on film:
-Steaming hot tea in top-floor cafes overlooking different parts of the city
-Oral keeping track of the number of times I tripped over uneven pavement/my own feet/other obstacles (approximately 7 after four days)
-Going to a real (not touristy!) Turkish hammam (bath) and getting soaped up with a Power Rangers magic pillowcase
-Playing games with the housekeeper's granddaughters
-Trying to negotiate the purchase of a bouquet of flowers via charades and a calculator
-Visiting Istanbul's Microsoft headquarters (twice!)
-Being serenaded by Oral's guitar on our last night
-Lauren accidentally setting off the house alarm trying to get a glass of water in the middle of the night
-Running into other groups of CIEE students all over the place!

Stay tuned for the next part of the trilogy--Olympos and the Litany of Bus Rides!

Professors, Bikes, Paint, and the Po-lice

Last weekend I took quite the tour of different strata of Jordanian society.  On Thursday evening, my "America and the Arabs" professor invited the whole class out to a restaurant to hang out with him.  At first, I was a little uncomfortable with the suggestion, but then I took a step out of my American mindset and realized that the student-professor relationship here tends to be more personal than in the States.  It ended up being a great experience--my professor is Jordanian but was educated in the UK, so he has really interesting insights into the relationship between Arab and Western society.  The whole time I felt very upper-class, having serious discussion about politics in a posh cafe surrounded by trendy young Jordanians smoking hookah.

On Friday, I went on a biking trip near the Dead Sea with a group called "Cycling Jordan."  We biked 25km through the farms near the sea and for the first time I got a glimpse of what life is like for the rural poor in Jordan.  It was a beautiful day and a gorgeous, panoramic view of mountains and desert surrounded us in every direction, but starkly contrasted with the run-down tents and shabby clothes of the farm workers we passed by.

Bikes about to depart for the Dead Sea

Bikes, eggplant fields, and mountains!

On Saturday, I went on a CIEE-sponsored community service trip to paint a mural at a girls' school in East Amman (West Amman--where I live--is much more affluent).  It was a lot of fun and the girls were really excited to see a gaggle of strange foreigners, but the disparity between the conditions we saw there and the comparatively fancy life my host family leads bothered me a lot.  I also couldn't shake the feeling that there must have been something more useful that we could have been doing for them besides just painting a mural.  Nevertheless, I hope that our artwork brings some color and inspiration to the lives of the little girls we met there.

Erin, Emmy, and pretty pictures

Finally, on Sunday, I got my first real taste of stereotypical Arab hospitality.  After class, my friend Samantha and I ventured to one of Amman's innumerable cafes to do some studying.  When we decided to head home later that evening, it was pouring outside.  We stood in the freezing rain for half an hour trying to catch a cab to no avail.  There was a small, one room police kiosk in the median nearby and after a bit the police officer stuck his head out and insisted that we come inside to warm up while he went out into the rain himself to find us a cab.  I can't remember ever being treated so kindly by a complete stranger before.  Such is Jordan, I suppose!

marhaba 3la al-urdun!

I have officially and safely arrived in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan!  The flight was long and uneventful except that...

BRIAN WILLIAMS (of the NBC Nightly News) was on our plane!!!  Presumably, he was off to cover some of the regional unrest in the Middle East. What a great start to the trip. :)

After we arrived in Amman, there was much getting settled and an hours-long endeavor to try to get our new Jordanian cell phones properly activate including venturing out in a torrential downpour (yes, Jordan does get rain in the winter) to search for a store to buy phone credit.  Orientation begins tomorrow!