Significantly less exciting

I'm sure you are surprised, but this week I have no particular journeys to tell you about. Worry not, it will start again soon-- in three weeks I am meeting my dad in Paris-- but for now life is very school-friends-London centered.

In movement class, Alex Glassman and I are working on choreographing a movement piece that tells the story of how birds came to have the power of flight. We've been working on creating different animals by using our bodies (I seem to do a lot of that here). For a "flying giraffe," I sit on his shoulders with my arms held out at an angle in front of me, as he walks around. I haven't ridden on anybody's shoulders since I was very young! The whole thing is like that. Straight from being a flying giraffe, I become a snail shell and he the snail. Sue is going to video this for us, so if you're interested, I'll have a DVD of it eventually. Heh heh.

Other than that, I am very excited to see my mom, who is coming to visit this Friday! She'll be just in time to see one of our Shakespeare presentations. What a treat that will be. Then we can spend the weekend exploring. I'm really looking forward to it!

Istanbul [was Constantinople]

You may not all be aware, but clearly I have a very difficult life. No, no, don't cry for me. I just want everyone to appreciate that it's really really hard to to be me. Most recently my very difficult life took me to Istanbul, Turkey. (I know. Really, I do. It's ok to be sad. Sometimes life is just like this.)

Saturday:

Saturday morning, bright (meaning "dark") and early, Anna and I headed off to the airport. We rode the tube 22 stops to Heathrow Airport, and finally got ourselves to the check in counter. "Can I see your passport?" I handed mine over and then heard a shuffling noise. I looked over, and saw Anna frantically digging through her backpack. No passport. I can't even imagine that experience. It would be So. Frustrating. There was nothing to be done about it-- Anna would have to go back to the flats, get her passport, and then return for a later flight. I bid her farewell and good luck, and headed toward my flight.

Before too long, I was landing in Istanbul. I could hardly believe it. Istanbul! Turkey! Somehow, it all seemed so much more foreign than anywhere else I'd ever been (only possible exception: Borneo). I went through all the appropriate lines before eventually finding myself waving to Jean and Kat (friends from when I lived in Taiwan), who had come to pick me up. It felt like complete luxury, to be driven to accomodation by someone who knew where it was. Yes, I have very different standards of luxury than I had mere months ago.

Once there, we were greeted by Rob (Jean's husband and Kat's dad), and the two furry hostesses, Ally and Jazz.

My standards of luxury came back into focus again as I gazed out their windows. What a view of Istanbul ("was Constantinople..." my brain sang)! I could hardly believe it.

That evening, Kat and I went to Taksim for dinner and to explore. I loved wandering around and getting to see my first little bit of Turkey. I was tired, though-- the past few days had not involved anywhere NEAR enough sleep-- and so after a couple of hours we headed back to her house. Eventually Anna showed up (after some serious issues with taxi directions) and we all hung out for a while before going to bed. Somewhere in all of that, I also showed Kat my meerkat. I think she was impressed.

Sunday:

Istanbul is a unique city in that it is on two continents-- Asia and Europe. The Bosphorus, a strait that connects the Black Sea and the Marmarus, runs right through the city. It is beautiful, blue, and sparkly. I want one in Claremont. Kat, Anna and I headed to Ortokoy to take a ferry ride. It was really nice to just float along the Bosphorus for a while, looking at the beautiful houses and all of the other boats. Such a beautiful city. It was windy and cold on the boat, but a wonderful experience anyway!

Unfortunately, pretty much as soon as the ferry ride ended, Kat needed to head back to England. So, much to our disappointment, she headed off in a taxi. (Edit: I make that sound like she was taking a taxi to England. Clearly that was not the case.) Anna and I continued to explore, browsing through jewellery at the weekend craft fair there and eventually finding ourselves in this lovely little shop. The owner was very nice, let us take pictures of the place, and then gave us good luck charms as we left. Ha! The Evil Eye will never get us now... After some very confusing taxi rides, and then needing to be rescued from being Completely Lost, we found our [very relieved] selves back at the Smiths' house. We spent a relaxing evening eating baked potatoes, drinking red wine, and watching a documentary about Dr. Spock. (That sounds kind of pathetic. Actually, I really enjoyed it. Maybe that's even more pathetic...?)

Monday:

Monday was our Big Exploration day. We covered the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, Topkapi Palace, and the Spice Market. Are you impressed? We were. "How did you manage to do so many things?" You might ask. "How did you have TIME to go so many places? Was public transportation THAT GOOD?" Oh, my friends. We never did really figure out the public transport. Instead, we had a driver. Well, ok, WE didn't have a driver, really. The Smiths have a driver who Rob's company provides for them. Ahmed isn't needed all day every day, so when he wasn't driving Rob places, he drove us around. We couldn't even handle it, we were so grateful and excited.

So, the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque is actually called "Sultanemet Camii," but is just called "blue" because of all the tiles on the inside. It is truly an experience to go inside the Blue Mosque. It's absolutely cavernous and incredibly beautiful. I wish there was a good way to describe how lovely it is, but there are really no words. I tried to take pictures of the inside, but there was really no way for that to work. I would need a super wide angle lens, which my adorable little camera does not have. As Anna and I agreed, though, that's why people go places themselves, rather than just reading guide books and staying at home. There's no way to accurately describe it, and certainly no way to photograph it.

After the Blue Mosque, while we still had the energy to do so, we headed off to the Grand Bazaar. What a place! You don't buy anything without haggling over the price first. (Though, it turns out, no one will bargain for pashminas. They were the only thing we found that had a fixed price. Weird.) The Grand Bazaar is just HUGE, a massive maze that is full of mosaic glass lantern (those were my favourite shops-- so pretty!), silver, jewellery, pashminas, t-shirts, rugs, Turkish Delight, and just... everything. I got a lot of my Christmas shopping done there, that's for sure. It was such a treat to be able to go back to bargaining. I've missed that, from various shopping expeditions in Asia. You automatically pay a premium because you're, you know, white. But it's still a lot of fun to bargain the price down as low as you can!

My biggest experience of this was with a rug. Seriously. I bought a rug. I'm not going to pretend it is a super high quality rug, but I got one, and I love it. We spent maybe 15 minutes discussing the rug and it's price, and at one point one of the men brought out apple tea. So we all sat around drinking apple tea and discussing prices. It was a very Turkish experience. Eventually we managed to get about $75 off the original price. Good enough for me! I took my rug, by then bundled up in brown paper, and hopskipped out of the shop. I had a rug!

A picture of Anna and me with the man who sold me the rug is below. He told me that I should get it for my dowry. Um, ok. Various pashmina and jewellery sellers invited me to buy their wares for my mother-in-law. What? Do I look like I'm about to get married?

Ah well. I decided not to get married just for the purpose of buying more pashminas and jewellery (space was beginning to seem like an issue), and Anna and I headed off to Topkapi Palace. The royal family lived in Topkapi from 1461 until 1856. I cannot imagine for the life of me why they moved out. The palace is indescribably beautiful. (So was the weather, as you can tell from these pictures.) If you ever find yourself in Istanbul, promise me you'll go. It was a bit expensive (a total of about $20 to see the palace and the harem) but it was well worth it.

The harem was absolutely gorgeous. Just like the rest of the palace, the ceilings were exquisitely decorated, and the walls were works of art in and of themselves. Even the windows were beautiful! In one room, they were all decorated with stained glass peacock tails. I don't know, maybe living in a harem wouldn't be so bad...

Well, eventually we were satisfied with Topkapi Palace. Next stop, the Spice Market! By this time we were getting a bit tired, but were still enthused. The spice market turned out to be everything we dreamed it would be. You could buy pepper, paprika, dired apricots, Turkish Delight, just everything. I got an enormous quantity of Turkish Delight, some to happily hog all to myself, and some to share. Everywhere we went we were invited to try more Turkish delight. By the time we left, but our bags and our tummies were bulging with the stuff. Life was good.

Then, back to the Smiths' house for dinner, wine, and relaxation.

Tuesday:

On Tuesday, Anna and I boarded a ferry at Bostanci for a 45 minute ride to the island of Buyukada. We had been impressed all along with Istanbul, but this was certainly another day of being blown away by what we saw. The ride itself was beautiful and a bit chilly. The sun was out, though, so once we got to the island we were much warmer.

Right after we got off the ferry, we were greeted by a stray dog. His name, we decided, was Bernard. I have never before petted a stray dog, and I knew even as I did it that it was not a smart move. You don't know if the dogs are sick, have fleas, might bite... you know. Anyway, this is a "do as I say, not as I do" moment. I do not condone the petting of stray dogs. I did do it, though. Bernerd was a great tour guide, and he walked us all the way up the length of the island. He was joined by two friends, who we named Walrus and Seal. Bernard was our special friend, though, and was with us for more or less the entire time. It was great.

Bernard wasn't the only special friend we made. I bonded very closely with Claire. She was a little tortoiseshell kitty who was the sweetest little cat I have ever met. Especially compared to Earl (aka Death Cat). As soon as I started stroking her, she crawled right into my lap and curled up. It was wonderful. I'm so animal deprived!

Fine, fine, there was stuff on the island to see aside from the various animals. The views, for instance. Oh my God, the views.

We climbed up a steep hill to get to St. George's Church at the highest point on the island. It was a very tranquil place, with some lovely views.

After we got back down to the town area, we got some ice cream. Turns out I'm not a huge fan of caramel Turkish ice cream, so I shared mine with a dog friend. (Goodness, I'm a horrible example. Please don't feed dogs ice cream.)

Wednesday:

Our last day in Istanbul, we went to Ayasofya and enjoyed exploring it for a couple of hours. I have never before been in a more beautiful building. It was once a Greek Orthodox church before it was converted into a mosque and now a museum.

Folloowing Ayasofya, Anna and I headed to the Basilica Cistern. A cistern does not normally sound like the kind of place you would want to go, but it was quite incredible. 336 columns, and 2 Medusa heads. Yes, Medusa heads. One is upside down, and one is on its side. Why, you may ask? No one knows why.

After the cistern, Anna and I had lunch. She had a Turkish coffee with lunch, and I had apple tea. I have a special love for apple tea now.

After lunch, we went to a Turkish bath, Cagaloglu Hamami. It opened in 1741 and has been operating since then. Actually, it is on the list of 1000 Places To Go Before You Die. I can see why! It was quite the experience. There's a huge, heated room that has a large raised platform in the middle and many sinks/fountains around the outside. It's a very warm room, and the water provided is slightly warmer than the room itself. You spend a while scrubbing yourself with an amazing exfoliating mit before a large (why are they all large?) Turkish woman comes in to scrub and massage you. I didn't even know I had that much dead skin to lose. Ew. It was a truly delightful experience, though. I've never felt so clean!

Then, after that, we headed to the airport to go home. Well, Istanbul. You were great!

And now a word from Luna...

This is me with my friend Kat. This was my first night in Istanbul! We went out to dinner at a little restaurant on Fish Street. We ate a series of little appetizers called mezes. They included spiced rice wrapped in grape leaves. That was my favorite!

Istanbul is a unique city in that it is on two continents-- Asia and Europe. The Bosphorus, a strait that connects the Black Sea and the Marmarus, runs right through the city. It is beautiful, blue, and sparkly. I want one in Washington. Kat, Anna, Litza and I headed to Ortokoy to take a ferry ride. It was really nice to just float along the Bosphorus for a while, looking at the beautiful houses and all of the other boats. Such a beautiful city. It was windy and cold on the boat, but a wonderful experience anyway!

During some adventuring, Anna, Litza, and I decided to stop at a little bakery. We ordered two treats we didn't recognize, just be brave. Both of them were delicious! Just proves that sometimes you have to try something brand new.

The Blue Mosque is actually called "Sultanemet Camii," but is just called "blue" because of all the tiles on the inside. It is truly an experience to go inside the Blue Mosque. It's absolutely cavernous and incredibly beautiful. I wish there was a good way to describe how lovely it is, but there are really no words. I tried to take pictures of the inside, but there was really no way for that to work.

After the Blue Mosque, while we still had the energy to do so, we headed off to the Grand Bazaar. What a place! You don't buy anything without haggling over the price first. The Grand Bazaar is just HUGE, a massive maze that is full of mosaic glass lantern (those were my favourite shops-- so pretty!), silver, jewellery, pashminas, t-shirts, rugs, Turkish Delight, and just... everything. It was such a fun place!

After the Grand Bazaar, I headed off to Topkapi Palace. The royal family lived in Topkapi from 1461 until 1856. I cannot imagine for the life of me why they moved out. The palace is indescribably beautiful. (So was the weather, as you can tell from these pictures.) If you ever find yourself in Istanbul, promise me you'll go.

On Tuesday, Anna, Litza and I boarded a ferry at Bostanci for a 45 minute ride to the island of Buyukada. We had been impressed all along with Istanbul, but this was certainly another day of being blown away by what we saw. The ride itself was beautiful and a bit chilly. The sun was out, though, so once we got to the island we were much warmer.

There were lots of pretty things to see on the island. Like this view, for instance!

And this one....

We even had lunch in a pretty place! You could see the Marmarus and the trees on the island as well. (More mezes. More grape leaves!)

Here's Litza and me at the highest point on the island. We kept thinking it couldn't get any prettier, then it kept getting prettier!

Our last day in Istanbul, we went to Ayasofya and enjoyed exploring it for a couple of hours. I have never before been in a more beautiful building. It was once a Greek Orthodox church before it was converted into a mosque and now a museum. It is absolutely enormous, and very, very pretty.

Another picture of me at Ayasofya. Doesn't it just look magical?

This is thought to be a magical healing place. You put your thumb (or in my case, my nose) into the column, and be healed!

I'm sorry that it's so dark in this picture! It was almost impossible to get a good picture... in fact, I would go so far as to say that it WAS impossible. This is called the Basilica Cistern. A cistern does not normally sound like the kind of place you would want to go, but it was quite incredible. 336 columns, and 2 Medusa heads. Yes, Medusa heads. One is upside down, and one is on its side. Do you know why? Me neither. Nor does anyone else!

YES, WE CAN!

Wow. Well done, America. It has been a while since I have actually been proud to be associated with the US, but today I really am. People voted. People who had never voted in their lives turned out to vote because they actually felt inspired, and like their vote could make a difference. That is a dedication and a hope that we have not seen for far too long.

I moved myself into Flat 3 (one level up from me) for the duration of a very long evening. Thanks to the time difference, Obama was not announced as the victor until about 4:30am our time. By then, we were all a little loopy anyway. Add to that the success of the future PRESIDENT OBAMA, and we just sort of broke. There were tears, there was champagne*, there was somewhat hysterical laughter and hugging and more champagne.* A bunch of us called our parents (wincing slightly at the expense, but excited nonetheless)... then more tears and champagne.* This kept up for about an hour, as we admired McCain's absolutely classy, gracious concession speech, and begged the TV to show us Obama. We wanted his speech, and we wanted it immediately. Not to mention, by then we had just about run out of champagne.

At about 5:30, we finally heard Obama speak. I cannot put into words how much hope and optimism we have for the future. It will be hard, yes. It will actually be very, very, very hard-- but for the first time since I have become interested in politics, I feel like a positive change is coming, and there is nothing I have ever been more excited for.

It will be an uphill battle, but we can do it. YES, WE CAN!

Me, Dana, Liz, Katie, Marken, Rania and Melanie-- the late night/early morning crew.

*By "champagne" I actually mean "extremely cheap bottles of sparkling something," because we cannot actually afford real champagne.

~~~~~~~~~SPECIAL NOTE~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a special note to those of you who are funding my college education. Mom and Dad, I promise that I was fully awake and attentive in my classes and at the theatre today. Trust me, no one was more surprised than I that it went as well as it did, but it turns out that I function quite well on 2 1/2 hours of sleep. Even if today had been absolute misery, the elation of last night would have been 100% worth it, though. It was an experience I will probably never have the opportunity to repeat.

Partying it up, election style

We're camped out in Flat 3, cuddled up with tea, blankets, and ready with our bottles of champagne to celebrate an Obama victory.

I hope that all of you have voted!

I know that today is not Sunday

I failed fairly miserably at this whole updating-every-Sunday thing. Oops. I've chosen to skip pretty much all of last week (given that I already wrote about the snow), and just write about my weekend journey to Scotland. You guys in? Brilliant.



Friday:



We were in Shakespeare until 6:30, and then booked it to Heathrow airport to catch a flight to Edinburgh. In the airport we bought more Butler's Chocolate (yum), and then booked it to gate 8C. The flight to Edinburgh was only 50 minutes, and then we scurried off to our hostel. We stayed at the Castle Rock Hostel, which I would absolutely highly recommend. As soon as we entered the building we were swamped. Everywhere we turned, people had [fake] blood dripping from the neck, coloured fabrics wrapped around their bodies, wings sticking up at weird angles, and hair colours rarely seen in public. So. Many. People. So loud. Amazing. Let me remind you that it was Halloween. My first year without a costume. Sad.



Saturday:



Saturday morning at 8:00 found us meeting our Rabbie's (which everone persisted in calling "Rabies") tour bus. 8am is really early in College World. It's even earlier if you had a week of busy classes, and minimal sleep the night before. We managed, though, and we met our peppy, enthusiastic and absolutely impossible to understand tour guide there. She amused us immensely, but only because she amused herself. Every few sentences, she would giggle enthusiastically. We are reasonably certain that she spent the 12 hour day trip telling us about Scotland's history. We saw this cow at our first stop. His name is Hamish. I desperately want a Highland Cow as a pet, now. He was friendly, and had the best hairstyle I've ever seen on an animal.

Why do more people not wear kilts? And play bagpipes? What I found truly interesting, though, is that they is that the kilt was out of fashion for years, and didn't come back into fashion until the 1800s. I'm glad they're still around.

I'm not sure why Caroline and I look so triumphant, but this is us at Glencoe. The lighting was terrible for photographs, but the scenery was truly lovely.

By early afternoon we were at Loch Ness. Was that a monster that I saw?

Maybe not. But Loch Ness was still absolutely gorgeous. We went on a boat cruise about the loch, and nearly froze to death, but had a wonderful time. It was fun looking for Nessie, even though we knew that she was elusive.

Sunday

On Sunday, Caroline and I started out by climbing up to Arthur's Seat, a dormant volcano that overlooks Edinburgh. It was a tough climb-- steep, muddy, and slippery-- but well worth it. We could see all of Edinburgh, including the castle.

After Arthur's Seat, we headed over to the Elephant House, where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book. Despite its fame, it actually turned out to quite good. After lunch, Caroline and I got elephant-shaped shortbread cookies and hot chocolate. We felt incredibly decadent and very happy.

After lunch, we headed to a FREE WALKING TOUR of Edinburgh. When we saw the sign, Caroline commented that she wished there were more signs like that around. "FREE LUNCH!" "FREE LODGING!" "FREE AIRPLANE TICKETS!" Oh well. We'll take what we can get.

We were actually a bit skeptical that a free tour would be any good, but our tourguide turned out to be dynamic, enthusiastic, and downright hilarious. Well done, Grace! I guess there's pretty good incentive when you're only working for tips.

Here's a picture of Edinburgh castle. Did you know there has been a castle on that hill for 2,000 years? I find that fascinating. At one point it was burned to the ground, but was quickly rebuilt.

This is the Scott Monument. Isn't it gorgeous? It's the world's largest monument built to commemorate a writer.

Here's a statue of Greyfriar's Bobby. It is actually the most photographed statue in Edinburgh (and that's saying something, because there are a LOT of statues in Edinburgh). Are you familiar with the story of Greyfriar's Bobby? Bobby belonged to a man who was a night watchman at the Greyfriar's Churchyard. When Bobby was two years old, his master died and was buried in the churchyard where he worked. For the rest of Bobby's life (14 YEARS) he sat on his master's grave every day. I think it's one of the most well-known stories of animal loyalty.

That evening, the sky was the most beautiful I've ever seen. The picture really doesn't do it justice, but it was absolutely stunning.

Then, Sunday night, we flew back to London and tucked ourselves into bed. Without updating any weblogs.

And now, a note from Luna:

Here I am with Hamish, the Highland Cow. I loved his hairstyle, and kind of wished that I could have the same. Too bad my quills can't be brushed like that.

Here I am at Loch Ness! Have you guys heard about the Loch Ness Monster? There are all sorts of rumours of some enormous beast that lives in this lake. I really wanted to see the monster, but apparently she didn't feel like chatting. Too bad!

I climbed up to Arthur's Seat with my friends Litza and Caroline. (Well, ok, actually Litza carried me.) Arthur's Seat is a dormant volcano, and from the top you can see much of Edinburgh. It was fun to find the castle, and see so many buildings.

Here I am the Elephant House! This is where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book. I was so excited to be where JK Rowling had been. I love the Harry Potter books!

While I was at the Elephant House I had a delicious elephant-shaped shortbread cookie and hot chocolate. What a delicious afternoon treat!

Here I am with the tour guide we had around Edinburgh. She's explaining old fashioned burglar alarms-- staircases would be made with a "trick step" that would trip people who didn't know to look out for it. Then they would fall down the stairs with a tremendous crash and-- ta da!-- the burglar would be caught!

Here's a statue of Greyfriar's Bobby. It is actually the most photographed statue in Edinburgh (and that's saying something, because there are a LOT of statues in Edinburgh). Are you familiar with the story of Greyfriar's Bobby? Bobby belonged to a man who was a night watchman at the Greyfriar's Churchyard. When Bobby was two years old, his master died and was buried in the churchyard where he worked. For the rest of Bobby's life (14 YEARS) he sat on his master's grave every day. I think it's one of the most well-known stories of animal loyalty. I think I'm a pretty loyal hedgehog, but I'm still really impressed with Bobby's dedication!