Turkish Breakfast, Hamamonu, and more... Ankara Part Three!

Ok, here's the last installment from my first trip to Ankara, the capital of Turkey. My Sunday started off at around 11am with the best breakfast ever...

A complete Turkish breakfast. Gozleme, french fries, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, cheese, fried eggs, bread, çay...the list goes on and on. I could get used to this. Just so you know, though, this was a special brunch-like spread at a really nice restaurant...Turkish people don't eat breakfast like this every day. They usually have a few of these things, not all of them. We decided to go all the way :)

Me enjoying this delicious meal outside under the trees on a crisp Sunday morning.

And my bestie!

We went to old-town Ankara, called Hamanonu. There was the most cute bazaar where all the ladies had hand-made a ton of jewelry. This lady was a real seller...we both got a bracelet from her, and she made us make a wish and then she put the bracelet on us. She was so sweet :)

Pelin and me at the bazaar.

The buildings and roads in this area are just gorgeous.

Nobody was at home... :)

Going to definitely make some of these for my room when I get home. They were so beautiful. And you know how much I love color!

After Hamamonu, we went to the mall and found an H&M (I know it sounds touristy, but it is really nice to go to a store where you know what you will find). Got dinner at the mall and headed back to Pelin's place. Not pictured is our awesome game of Okey that we played that night - you play with tiles just like Rummicub but it is a little different and the strategy is fun. I didn't win a game against the experts, but I will conquer next time. Stayed that night and then headed back to Istanbul early Monday morning. Really enjoyed Ankara and visiting Pelin's family! Can't wait to go back :)

Stay tuned...last night we went on Day 1 of Joost's "Istanbul Eats" food adventure and I will be blogging it up in the next few days. In the meantime, you should definitely see if there are any Turkish restaurants or cafes in your area (they are sometimes camouflaged as 'Mediterranean' places). Make sure you try kebap, durum, çorba (soup), mezzes (appetizers), and kofte! Comment and let me know what you think :)

Snail Mail Rocks!

I love getting and sending letters so much. It is just so special to write a letter to somebody on a beautiful card or on cute stationary, and then to receive letters and get to keep them for forever and read them again and again :) I've been sending snail mail since I was a little girl. I would write letters and color pictures for my Aunt Ev, who was in her 90s and lived in Florida. When I went and visited her, she would have my letters all up on her fridge or propped up in her living room...it made me feel like I really was brightening her day when she opened an envelope from me.

My favorite memories of receiving mail are from March of every year. I would always figure that two weeks before my birthday was right about the time that I should start receiving birthday cards. In our house, if your birthday is coming up, you have first rights for checking the mailbox. I would listen so carefully for the *stop, go, stop* sound of the mail truck (actually, I listened for it every day of the year...of course, not on Sundays, silly). Then, I would dash out to the mailbox to see if I'd gotten anything. Those birthday cards rocked! (and if you are taking notes, I still really love getting birthday cards, so send me one come March!). Even though my birthday and Christmas were the most ripe times for getting good mail, I always enjoyed getting notes from people throughout the year. There is just something so happy and cheerful about getting a note from someone saying that they are thinking of you. It really does make any day a little brighter.

My friend, Megan, shared this Buzzfeed on Facebook today, and I thought it was really cute (I'm not a Harry Potter fan, but everything else was pretty right on) - http://www.buzzfeed.com/tabathaleggett/reasons-everyone-should-start-writing-letters-again

I like sending mail so much that once-upon-a-time I made a ton of really amazing envelopes (for brightening up plain stationary...or the cards that I always can't find an envelope for) out of magazine and catalog pages.

All you have to do is take a normal envelope of the size you want, carefully unfold it, trace it onto the back of a magazine page, cut out the envelope from the magazine page, and carefully glue it together as a new envelope. Much better than just throwing away those already-read but beautifully illustrated magazines, right?

I also love how they mention sealing with wax on the Buzzfeed I linked to above. One of my great friends, Paula, gave me wax and a wax seal for my last birthday, and I have enjoyed sealing letters with my special seal ever so much :)

Anyway, my main form of brightening the world right now with snail mail is sending postcards from Turkey! So, if you want to receive a postcard from me (it may take a few months...actually, I might see you before you even get my postcard LOL), then comment below with your address. The comments actually get moderated through me before they get published, so I will write down your address and then not publish the comment... and no worries about the whole world starting to send you mail :)

And, hopefully after reading this post, you will go send some snail mail to someone else. Maybe be creative...send a message in a bottle, a matchbox, or think of something new. Just go brighten someone's day...you won't regret it :)

Comment below if you are sending out some snail mail today!

And, don't forget to follow me on Instagram because I'm always posting some sweet pictures of Istanbul @faithful_nomad and @k_rover_explores_the_world.

Exploring, Shopping, and More Partying! Ankara Part Two

Party crashing wasn't the only thing I did in Ankara this past weekend. Pelin, my bff, and her brother were amazing tour guides! Here's what we did (because I know you like pictures)...

This is the mausoleum above where Ataturk is buried. Ataturk was the founder of the Turkish Republic.

The guards at the mausoleum. They have these cool boxes they can stand in if the weather gets bad! I don't think I could stand still for that long...

Me, Pelin, and Polat inside the mausoleum. We also went through the museum on Ataturk and the War of Independence, but we couldn't take any pictures in there.

Such a beautiful place! This is the walkway up to the mausoleum. (By the way, who likes my awesome Istanbul shirt from Mavi? Repping my lovely city!)

Watching the changing of the guard. Pretty cool!

More watching of the guard. 

Enjoying çay and famous Ankara simit in Kizilay during our first mad shopping trip of the weekend :)

Pelin and I at a really cool bar with live music...everyone was singing along with the Turkish songs and the atmosphere was amazing!

We are waiting patiently for our mezzes to arrive...

Live classical Turkish music at the restaurant...we pretty much just walked around and went wherever we heard some good sounds :) Worked for us!

Tamam (Turkish for "ok"), so that concludes my Saturday in Ankara. Sunday was another adventure too, so part 3 of Ankara will be coming soon!

Party Crashers! Ankara Part 1

This weekend I took a break from Europe and decided to head over to Asia...the Asian side of Turkey, that is. My best friend is from Ankara, and she was heading home for the weekend so I rode a bus (all by myself!) to Ankara to meet her. It was so great to finally meet her family and get to see where she lives. I also officially added a 'first' to my list of Turkey adventures...crashing a party!

It's a running joke now that my friends use me, the American, to do cool things. It usually goes like this (or so they've told me...my Turkish is still pretty poor)..."Hi, our friend here is American and she is really interested in Turkish culture. Could we have a look around?" Of course, with the way Turkish hospitality is, everyone always says yes. And that is how you crash an engagement party, folks!

Here's the photo evidence...

The girl in green is the future bride. She was totally nice about us crashing her party.

It was totally fun and amazing, and I couldn't have thought of a crazier adventure in my wildest dreams. There is much more that we did during our weekend in Ankara, but I will save some for later. Someone tell me I'm not the only person to crash a party, right?! Comment below :)

The Cats Take Over!

In honor of all the cats of Istanbul, I've got a cat challenge for you today! 

MUTTS by Patrick McDonnell | 09/05/13

I see cats everywhere I go, and I'm sure you do too. Take a snapshot of the cats you see during your day, put it up on Instagram, and tag @faithful_nomad and #theCatTakeover on your picture.

 

If you don't have an Instagram, right now is a good time to sign up :) And, if you aren't following @faithful_nomad and @k_rover_explores_the_world yet, go ahead and do that too. Can't wait to see the cats of your neighborhood. I'll be sure to post some pictures of cats I see today, so keep a watch on @faithful_nomad for some cute kitties to brighten your day.

Adventure at Prince's Islands

Istanbul has its own set of islands called the Prince's Islands, located in the Sea of Marmara. A bunch of exchange students (including me!) went to the largest island - Buyukada - today and it was a real adventure.

First, we rode a bus from Bogaziçi University to Kabatas, where we hopped on a ferry. Ferries are super-cool...they are an inexpensive mode of public transportation, and double as a sight-seeing cruise! It only cost us 5 tl (about $2.50) each way, and it was 1.25 hours of sea-time.

Istanbul looks so amazing...and so big!...from a Bosphorus view.

We <3 Turkey!

We decided to walk to the monastery at the top of the island. It ended up being about a 10 km (6 mile) walk round-trip. Here we are wondering if we have made the right choice...well, it's all up-hill from here.

We nick-named this dog Spunky Bear. He found us and led the way to our destination and followed us almost all the way back. He was a very friendly companion, and even waited outside for us when we went to a cafe or stopped for a rest.

We made it to the top! It was totally worth it. The view was gorgeous!

Here I am enjoying the view!

We saw these guys sitting out on the ledge and we stopped to take pictures of and with them :)

People tie pieces of cloth or plastic to trees as they make wishes on their way up to the monastery.

The monastery was beautiful! Unfortunately, couldn't take pictures of the artwork inside, but here are some pics of the outside of the church.

Church

Because there are no personal cars on the islands, people get around by horse and buggy. A lot of people would rent the buggies for a ride instead of walking like we did. 

Our treat at the end of our journey...ice cream!!! And it is so inexpensive in Turkey...even at a tourist attraction, I paid 5 tl for a nut-covered cone and 4 different flavors. That's about $2.50. 

Enjoyed going to a cafe for balik ekmek (fish in a sandwich) with Anne after shopping around a bit.

Gule gule, Buyukada!

Taking the ferry back to Kabatas.

Beautiful sunset over the islands.

Reading in Hebrews...

This morning during my quiet time, I have been reading in Hebrews. You know how Chapter 11 is so many times referred to as the Hall of Faith chapter? Well, I was reading it this morning and realized that we as Christians are included in this Hall of Faith as well. Here it is in verse 3:

"By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we see did not come from anything that can be seen."

Now, this verse smacked me in the face because it is about a very important topic for all of us, especially those of us in the science world. The Origin of Life has been debated for so long, and this debate has even seeped into the Christian way of thinking. I have met several Christians who said that they believed God could do anything, that they had complete faith in HIM, that HE did raise Jesus from the dead, that HE promises us eternal life in heaven...and yet, if you asked them about how the world was created, they were still undecided. The scientific facts and theories were still clouding their minds as they tried to believe GOD and prove the origin of life by evolution at the same time. They don't have the faith that is specified in this verse. Now, for me, if GOD decided that faith in HIS creation of the world was so important that HE would inspire Paul to credit us with that faith in the letter to the Hebrews, then I think we should take note. Believing GOD can do anything really means believing GOD can do anything. Even create the entire universe in 6 days from nothing.

Reading my Bible in English this morning, with my new Turkish New Testament by my side. So glad to have found a Chritian congregation in Istanbul who welcomed me in with open arms. Will be practicing my Turkish with a new fervor as I hope to be able to participate more in these Turkish services in the future weeks. 

Then, as I read on in Chapter 11, I found a reference to us being nomads in verses 13-16! So, I just had to share it.

After discussing people who lived by faith... "All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

So, we are all faithful nomads together, eagerly awaiting the perfect heavenly homeland that God has created for us!

Well, that's your daily dose of The Faithful Nomad. If you didn't read the post from Saturday, or if you read it and now want to join the challenge to save a person's life, click here. It is never too late to use the blessings God has given you to bless someone else's life. 

Also, if you have an Instagram account, go follow @faithful_nomad and @k_rover_explores_the_world. I have been posting a ton of photos on Instagram as I go about my daily activities in Istanbul, and they will help you get an even better idea of what life is like here. 

Have a great day, or as they say in Turkey, iyi günler!