Adjustments

I am restless.  

I hadn't really seriously considered what would happen when I returned home. I had general plans that involved getting a cat, doing online dating again, and joining the church. Interestingly I no longer am sure that I want to do any of those things. It has been much harder than I expected to rejoin normal life.  As I told my colleague  it's strange to have left Portland feeling 100% satisfied with my life, only to return and not be so sure anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy, I'm just left wondering, what else is there? What are the other possibilities for my life? It's disconcerting because it's more comfortable to be feeling 100% satisfied. I've worked incredibly hard to get the life I have. I finally have a job that I love, a home that brings me comfort, and an amazing group of friends who bring me joy. Yet there's some piece of me that wants to uproot all of that, to challenge myself and what my life could be. 

As the days move on, I find myself relaxing back into daily life a little bit more, but I'm also hoping to hold onto the adventurous side of myself that had been in dormition for the last few years. I want to take some leaps of faith, challenge myself, and just see what happens. 

Also, I want to save money for another trip. Next time... Morocco? Thailand? Peru?

Here are some things I miss about Turkey:

-Turkish Tea

-Fresh fruit and nuts everywhere, not just at the farmers market once a week

Things I don't miss about Turkey:

-Getting hit on every second by all of the merchants

-Dodging traffic

Things I love about being home:

-My friends and family

-My bath tub

Here's to new adventures, at home and abroad.

Finale...or is it?

Thanks for your patience everyone. Immediately after arriving home to Portland, my family arrived and we drove to N. California for my Grandmother's Memorial service. There wasn't much time to myself, and I was pretty focused on being with family. But I'm back in Portland and hopefully I still remember what it was I was going to write about in my final blog!

My final day in Cappadocia was probably the most exhausting simply because by then I hadn't had more than 5 or 6 hours per night of sleep for the previous 3 nights.  Plus, we did a ton more walking. Cappadocia is a large place, and most people take buses to get from site to site, but we walked because we were awesome, or crazy.  We started at the Goreme Open Air Museum, which honestly was way too touristy for my interest, especially since I'd seen so many cave churches the day before minus all the crowds.  But of course, there was some great scenery regardless.

I make excellent scenery, no?

Seriously.  Amazing. 

The highlight of the day was walking up to the Uchisar Castle. It's about 6 km from where we were staying, but we got picked up by a group of French guys who gave us a ride for maybe the final 2 km (thank God). We explored Uchisar for a while, the castle was used by the Byzantine Army in the 15th and 16th century as a lookout for the coming Ottomans.  

Uchisar Castle from below.

After the castle, I was pretty wiped out and decided it was a good time to stop for some Turkish Tea (my favorite). There were some dark clouds rolling in, but I really wasn't too worried about them.  It was fortune that we waited for them instead of trying to beat them on our way back to Goreme, because let me tell you, we wouldn't have survived. The wind came out of nowhere and then there were buckets of rain and hail. It all lasted about 30 minutes, during which we were able to take cover in the cafe. The poor workers literally had to hang from the rafters of the awning to keep it from flying away!

Brave souls. 

The next morning I flew back to Istanbul for my final day. I spent the majority of the day resting, picking up last minute souvenirs  and finally I met my friend Kelly for a delightful afternoon of cheese and tea.  I could not have asked for a more perfect way to end the vacation, and the best part is that she and I started scheming a trip together. We're thinking Morocco...so stay tuned.

Cappadocia Part 2

After the magical balloon ride, a nap was in order before being picked up by our private tour guide provided by Honeycomb Tours. I can not recommend them enough, they paired us with a tour guide who tailored the day to our specific needs and interests.  In Turkey, to be a tour guide, you have to have a 4 year degree specifically geared towards tourism, which is brilliant because you can ask them questions about anything from history and culture to geography.  We learned a lot about how the landscape was formed through the centuries of volcanoes leaving layers of various ash and magma on top of one another.  He explained how the rock is different colors based on the different minerals found in sediment and how the rock has changed with erosion over time.

We went to the underground city of Kaymakli, the second largest of the underground cities in Cappadocia. Some estimate that up to 50,000 people lived in the city for up to 1 year at a time, but I personally think this is agressive.  Most likely, a couple of thousand at most lived there for 2-3 weeks, just enough time to hide from the Ottomans as they passed through on their way to Istanbul.  I didn't get a ton of pictures in the city, there wasn't much to take pictures of actually...

Living area, each family would sleep in one of those holes in the walls.  

As we got to a lower level, we could feel a cool breeze which was being supplied from the air shaft, allowing people to breathe underground.  They're still not certain about how smoke left the complex, but some of it was absorbed by the rock.

Next we went to Sobessos, a Roman-Byzantium city that was discovered just about 15 years ago. They are still in the process of exploring the site, it's been a slow process, but what we did see what pretty impressive.  The city is from the 4th century CE.

Remains of the Roman bath

Tile floor of the city's church

We also went to the village of Mustafapasha (once called Sinassos in Greek).  The town was primarily a Greek village until after World War I when all Christians (who happened to mostly been Greek) were forced to return to Greece and likewise all Turks (Muslims) in Greece were forced to move to Turkey.  So now the town is inhabited by Turkish people, but you can see the old Greek buildings, many of which are left empty still. 

Old Greek Church

Because of my interest in religion (which the tour guide was also very excited about), we went to a couple of old cave churches with some particularly spectacular frescoes. 

13th century (?) Jesus descending to hello to save those who are stuck there while stepping on Hades, he's such a jerk like that.

Difficult to see in the picture, but here we have an example of an older mural (darker on the right) from the 4th century covered by a newer one (on the left) from the 13th or 14th century.  

Finally, on the way back to Goreme, we stopped a pigeon valley, aptly named...

It was a great day over all, although extremely exhausting. I would definitely recommend a private tour the way we did it, just simply because you end up seeing things that you might not have seen on your own! Plus, you get the history lesson along with it!

Part 3 and the final installment of Cappadocia to come...

Patience and Understanding

Something happened on this trip that I did not expect nor want to happen, yet it is what I will remember and cherish the most from this mini journey. As this is a public blog, I will not share many of the details, but if you have ever seen the movie "Before Sunset," then you may understand. But as I tell you of the adventures I had in Cappadoccia, know that they are flavored and enhanced by this chance encounter and I am great full for what this encounter has done for my soul. 

I arrived in Goreme, Cappadoccia on Friday and met up with two of the friends I had met in Istanbul. One had not intended on meeting me there, but she had left her passport behind and asked me to bring it to her. The other decided to meet me in Goreme after traveling along the Black Sea. Along the way, we met others, and eventually, there were six of us trekking through the red and rose valleys. The plan was to go to a viewpoint to watch the sunset, and as we ascended, we were constantly rewarded with more and more impressive views. Additionally, along the path we came upon hundreds of years old churches, carved into the rock caves. At one point, we were delighted to come upon a remote cafe where we could buy water, fruits, and nuts, all grown right there around the valley. We were treated to Turkish Tea and conversation with a man who spoke not a word of English, but still managed to portray himself through gestures and hospitality. After a rest, we continued up to the view point. In normal circumstances, this hike alone would have been enough for me, but the rest of the group wanted to go higher to the top plateau. Sensing my hesitation and fear (up is fine, it is down that I dread), my new friends were encouraging and supportive. That coupled with the endorphins I felt just from the views, I put my brave hat on and endured. It was incredibly worth it. I have pictures, see below, but they really can not do justice to what we actually saw from the top where we saw the sun set over the colored valleys.

Me on the hike up.

Just one of our views from almost the top.

Spectacular.

It was dark as we hiked back down, fortunately we had one lamp with us. When I thought I couldn't continue, we came upon another cave church and suddenly I was inspired again. One of my companions said, "your reaction to this cave is almost better than the cave itself!"

Jesus making the sign of the Trinity with his hand.

As we left the canyon and walked the country road back to Goreme, I followed my friends silently, watching nothing but the night skies. Even in the small city of Portland, it is rare to see so many stars so clearly.

I was so incredibly tired and yet more satisfied than I could have imagined over the course of those 8 hours of exploring. 

See next blog for the continued story in Capadoccia,

Oh the People You Meet

A Physics Professor from New York, a Mechanical Engineer from Toronto, a Midwife from Adelaide Australia, a student from Bristol UK, a CPA from Los Angeles, another student from Portland Maine. Some of these people I will forget, some will forget me. But for a brief moment we share time and space as well as meals and experiences.

If I get nothing else from this trip, I will have this.

Dizzying

Last night, on a whim, I went with two of my new friends to the Hodjpasha Dance Theater to see the Mevlevi Sema ceremony (aka Whirling Dervishes).  Unfortunately, pictures (and clapping, as it turns out) are not allowed, so I don't have anything to show you.  The ceremony is part of Unesco's Intangible Heritage of Humanity, it is an 800 year old tradition representing the mystical journey of man's spiritual ascent through mind and love to perfection. 

The dance was held in a 500 year old bath house (hamam), the ceremony starts with 4 men playing a Kodum (drum), Danun (strings), Ney (flute), and Tanbur (guitar of some sort).  Later, three men join who are the chanters, singing words from the Quran among other things. 

The Dervishes themselves spend a majority of the 45 minute ceremony spinning to the music with one hand up toward God and one facing down to represent the people. This means "from God we receive, to man we give; we keep nothing to ourselves."

I'm really not sure how they spend so much time spinning without falling over. They don't even use tracking like a ballet dancer would. By the end, you could see the sweat falling from their faces. The dance represents a journey towards nonexistence or Unity with God.

It is, in essence, a meditation much  like that of the Buddhists, just a dizzy one...

Today I will go back to the Cultural Arts Center and maybe take another class. I also need to buy a bigger suitcase (haha), but other than that I will take it easy. I have to catch a taxi at 5 am tomorrow to get to the airport for my flight to Cappadoccia! 

Catching my Breath

Please forgive the delayed update, this whole walking around and touring thing is pretty exhausting, by the time I get back to the hostel where I'll have time to write, I'm too exhausted to do much. All is going very well, however (minus the darned heat rash).

Yesterday was eventful with a visit to the Aya Sophia, originally a Byzantine church, it was converted to a Mosque in the 1500's and then a museum in the 1930's. The outside is nothing amazing, other than the fact that it's quite large, you wouldn't want to spend the day looking at it. However, the inside is quite the opposite.  I've been into a number of places of worship, but I'm not entirely certain that any are as beautiful as the Aya Sophia.

Not only is it beautiful, but it's absolutely massive!

The highlight, of course, for me, was meeting the Aya Sophia cat. There's a whole other blog that I found prior to my trip about this cat.  He apparently deemed me worthy of his presence because  he jumped into my lap and started purring.  

Later we went to the Archaeology museum, which turned out to be rather large, I would say the biggest I've ever been to, almost overwhelming in fact.  I was very excited to finally see the Treaty of Kadesh, which is the earliest known peace treaty. It was written between the Egyptians and the Hittites  in 1258 BCE.  I was particularly struck by how small it was.

Today so far I've just wandered the Grand Bazaar a bit, it's HUGE, but pretty expensive, so I didn't do any shopping there. Then walked across the Galata Bridge to see the city from the Galata Tower:

Truth be told, I am ready to move on to the next place. I leave on Friday for Cappadocia, which will be a nice change from the city. Before I leave though, I plan to see the Whirling Dervishes a spiritual ceremony called the Mevlevi Sema that represents the mystical journey of man's spiritual ascent through mind and love to perfection. It's an 800 year old tradition.

Alone

It is difficult to find alone time to focus on writing this blog. This is the exact opposite of what I expected. Not that I am complaining, not one bit. Meeting all of my new friends has been the highlight of the trip, and it is really sad as they move on to other places. I think there can be a special bond between travelers who are on their own, there is an understanding and camaraderie about it. With that said, tomorrow I hope to have a quieter day, I think maybe I will go to the Prince's Islands then to another Hamam. 

Today was an adventure in the rain getting out to Chora Church, a Byzantine church West of the old city. It was quite small, but the tiled mosaics were simply stunning. 

Later we went to The Blue Mosque, I found it truly peaceful because of its massiveness paired with its simplicity. Compared to many old Cathedrals, I find it easier to simply be with God because there is little to distract you, no statues, mosaics, frescoes. 

Additionally, I had my favorite meal so far. It is basically chicken and rice cooked into philo dough then cut open. I did not get a picture, but here is one of some other fantastic food...

I keep getting notes from friends back home regarding the protests and riots. I assure you that I am staying far away (remember, Istanbul is huge). If necessary, I will leave and go elsewhere, but I highly doubt that will happen. The only way this is impacting me is that it is prohibiting me from going to some of the places I would like to go and from seeing my friend. I do really feel for the Citizens of Turkey, though. Being here has shown me how important free speech and democracy really are.

Ok, one last photo for the night and then I am going to bed early!

Valens aquaducts!!

Asia!

In an attempt to avoid the riots, which I am sure you have heard of, my new friends and I embarked over to the Asian side yesterday morning. (I can now say I've been to 4 Continents, yay!) We started with visiting a Hamam (Turkish Bath) in the area of Kadikoy. This particular Bath House, called the Aziziye Hamami is only about 150 years old, and was quite simple, but still beautiful.  I suspect later this week I will go try another older one, just for the sake of it. Plus, it is enjoyable. It's basically a sauna where you can relax and get a full body exfoliation and massage. 

Afterwards, we wanted to go to the local market. On our way over, we noticed a bunch of news vans and police and realized that there was a protest there that day. So we high tailed it back to the ferry and came back to the Old City. It was really disappointing to have to leave, the riots are really having an impact on how much  we can see and do. Granted, it's a worthy cause, I believe, the Government is just trying too hard to control everything, and the people are not happy about it, which I don't blame them for! 

Setting up for the protest, I guess it got pretty bad over there about an hour or so after we left.

We ended up wandering the Spice Bazaar, which is less spice and more stuff, but there were a few fun spice booths:

I do plan to go back and buy some teas and Turkish coffee!

We were all absolutely exhausted from the heat of the Hamam and the day, so we came back to the Hostel to chill out before dinner with a view:

Apparently, my body has decided it only wants to sleep for 5 hours a night, yet I'm exhausted. Today is really rainy, so it might be a good idea to just relax....

Underwhelmed and Overwhelmed

Let's start with the Underwhelmed part. My new friend and I awoke early to go to Topkapi Palace which was the home of the Sultan and his family for almost 300 years. We arrived prior to its opening and still had to stand in line, but it was a short line compared to the rest of the tour of the Palace! Fortunately, we toured the Harem first then the rest of the Palace. By the time we exited the Harem, the lines to see the other major exhibits were HUGE, like, so big they weren't worth waiting in. Plus, there are almost no signs to tell you where you are, so it's very difficult to find where you want to go. Additionally, if you didn't hire a tour guide, there is no information other than an expensive book guide to give you further history (and that's what I want since I'm a nerd). It was gorgeous, the tiles  were simply stunning, there was so much diversity in the styles of them, but we didn't see that much of the Palace because it was just so hard to maneuver.  I want to offer to volunteer as their curator to fix all of their sign and information problems.  Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

Most useful sign ever...said no one ever! But at least there was some beauty as well:

Iznik Tiles!

Also incredibly annoying are all of the merchant men leering and you and calling you "Sweetheart" to get you into their restaurants and shops. I hate ignoring them, it feels rude, but it's just kind of gross.

Now for the AMAZING parts of the day:

1.  Turkish Breakfast is about the best thing ever, and our hostel puts on an excellent spread.  They eat breads, cheeses, fruit (fresh), tomatoes, granola, yogurt, etc.  It's the perfect way to start the day.

2. I walked over to the Caferage Medresesi, which is an arts center where you can take lessons in Turkish crafts. Initially I had gone to get a schedule for their Ebru class (see prior post: Classes). I ended up getting a private lesson right there and spent an hour making art! It was SO much fun to see it work and explore different techniques. I will pick up my dried art tomorrow and will take pictures for you then.  Seriously, I was giddy afterwards.  The whole process involves painting on a canvas of water with an oil based paint, then transferring the paint to paper. I think when I return home I will look into getting the supplies to do it at home because it was such fun.

3. My friend Kelly who is from Portland lives here in Istanbul where she teaches English. I brought 2 of my new hostel friends (I've now made 4 because I am so popular), and we met Kelly who took us to the area of the Galata Tower for a Turkish dinner (I had lamb kepab....Yum!). We sat and visited for quite a while before going to get some of the best Baklava ever. There are riots in Taksim Square which isn't far from where we were, so Kelly headed home and the three of us tourists came back to the Old City.

4. On the way back from there, we stopped at the New Mosque, which is 350 years old. We got there just before the Call to Prayer, so just spent a couple of minutes there. It was lovely:

5. While at Topkapi Palace, we sat for a while at a cafe and talked to a tour guide who was on his break, he gave us excellent tips and didn't try to sell us anything! 

The best part: It's almost midnight and I could probably keep going even though I woke up at 7:30. If you know me at all, you know I tire very easily, so this is an excellent sign than I am having fun!

Not sure what's in store for tomorrow yet, it will depend on the riots I think, but don't worry, I will stay far away from them!

Pinch Me

Seriously, somebody pinch me because I'm dreaming. That or I'm such in a jet lag induced haze after 20 hours with no sleep. The later is probably the most true.  I am currently sitting in the rooftop cafe o my hostel, letting the breeze from the Sea of Marmara wash over me and take away the sticky feeling from the humidity.  From the rooftop where I sit, I can see the Bosphorus and across it, Asian Istanbul.  I'm suddenly very aware of how large the Bosphorus is and wonder how on earth the old caique (boats) ever made it across in even semi-bad weather (they did not run during real storms from what I understand). The Willamette River holds nothing on the Bosphorus. If I were to move to another spot on the rooftop here, I would be able to see the highest dome and minarets of The Hagia Sophia Mosque. Earlier when walking around with my new friend (more on that later), I heard the Call to Prayer and suddenly felt like a "decadent Westerner" (If you watch "Little Mosque on the Prairie," then you will understand the humor here). It wasn't nearly as loud as I thought it would be. I was hoping it would knock me off my feet, that way I would be certain to hear it from my hostel and it would wake me early enough for embracing whatever the day held.

Back to the new friend. I was initially told that I would have my 4-bed dorm to myself tonight, so I was  a bit surprised after my shower to find another girl had moved in.  I am not certain yet if the Proprietor is entirely trustworthy, but it's hardly a major transgression. In fact, it's kind of great, the girl turns out to be another lone traveller (from Australia). She had already walked around the city a bit, so I followed her up to the area of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia where we found dinner and dessert and just visited. We parted after that so I could take a short nap (still not certain if that was a good idea, I feel more groggy now). It was nice to just have another person to sit down with for a while anyways, we'll see how much we do together. Once again I'm feeling non-commital.  

Tomorrow, I think I will start my day at Topkapi Palace followed by the Archaeology Museum. I'd like to stop by the Caferaga Medresesi (an art school nearby) to check on their schedule for Turkish marbling (Ebru) classes.  I'm also meeting a friend for dinner, she teaches English here.

Here's to a slow, but excellent start to an amazing adventure!

See Asia there across the river?!

A Ferengi in a Strange Land

Growing up with Sci-Fi loving parents like mine, you not only are subject to strange creatures on television, but you begin to love and cherish the characters.  There are, however, a number of characters that will make your skin crawl and if you ever came upon one in real life, you might want to turn around and walk away...very quickly. One such creature is the Ferengi.  It's not because they'll bite your head off, but it's because they are greedy, misogynistic, and generally untrustworthy.  In general, they're a nuisance.  They are all about commerce and money making, it's all about the bottom line and doing whatever they need to do to increase their profits. 

A Ferengi:  Isn't he dashing?

So, imagine my surprise to find the word "Ferengi" in a Novel about Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk.  I don't think I'd ever really questioned where the name came from, just figured it was made up.

But it turns out that it's an Arabic word for European Traders (or Westerners in General).

Great. This means I'm going to be a Ferengi in Istanbul.

 

Jean Luc Picard does NOT approve.

WHAT THE CARP AM I DOING?

You know that moment when your senses are on high alert and you simply stop doing anything?  My counselor said, generally, when people are afraid, they will take one of two actions: a) They will RUN or act quickly in some soft of way or (less likely) b) they will freeze and do nothing.

So here I am, I finally have the information on how much my tax return is (not as much as I was hoping, damned tax brackets), and there's a really good price on a flight to Istanbul.

In the meantime, there was just a suicide bombing at the Embassy in Ankara (not that I'm going to Ankara anyways) AND a young woman just one year older than me (who was travelling alone) was just found murdered in Istanbul.  Commence family and friend panic which = Jessica panic.

So I'm sitting here, frozen by fear of money and terrorists, doing nothing and wondering if I should go someplace else. I talked to my mom who made some suggestions, but nothing is jumping out at me. NOTHING.  I've been thinking about Turkey since last May, so maybe I'm just too focused. And of course, I could go another time, but really, when will I ever REALLY have the $$ and when will it REALLY be safe to go anywhere?

So I booked it.  Yep. Just did it. Decided not to let the fear make me frozen.  Can't wait to see what my counselor says about that.

Am I afraid? Absolutely!  I've had had so many friends tell me how brave I am for going alone, they would never do that!  (You hear that enough and you start to doubt yourself pretty quickly).

But am I excited? EVEN BIGGER ABSOLUTELY.

So, here goes the newest adventure in Jessica Kimmet's crazy life.

Well, here it goes on May 30-June 11 anyways :-)

Classes

There are a number of cooking classes in Turkey created just for tourists. I was tempted to look into them more, but then it dawned on me... I don't like to cook!  I prefer eating, so at most, I think I'll stick to a culinary tour. BUT, I was just reading about an art form called Ebru.  Ebru is an art form in which ink is floated on water and swirled into various patterns. Paper is then set lightly on top, thus soaking up the color.  I love art and trying new mediums, so I thought, I wonder if there are any courses for tourists in Istanbul?  And lo-and-behold there are!  

Here are some courses that are available for my future reference:

http://www.istanbulshotels.com/marble_lesson.html

http://www.bazaarturkey.com/tours/turkish_marbling_lesson.html

Here are some pictures of Ebru art:

Cornucopia

As I continue to research and read about Turkey and Istanbul, I'm constantly being drawn to more resources. The newest is a magazine called Cornucopia which is dedicated specifically to anything Turkish.  They only release three issues per year, so I am not going to subscribe considering I'm hoping to go to Istanbul in just a couple of months. But you can order old issues, which I thought might be fun. So I was just browsing through them when I found one titled, "The Connosseur's Guide to Istanbul."  It  was printed in 2004, so a bit outdated, but I thought I'd order it just to check it out.  However, imagine my surprise to find out that this one particular edition costs....wait for it...$796!!!!!!  HOLY CRAP!

So basically, I can read this edition or I can actually GO to Istanbul. Think I'll stick with the trip.

:-)