Some Instagrams

the sunset a few weeks ago. this is the mid way point between my friends house and mine. this pic is looking down hill. when it's clear (no smog lol) it's a beautiful view.

on the ferry. heading from uskudar to Kabataş

om nom nom

just a bit of traffic ;)

valentines day on istiklal caddesi

galatasaray v schalke
my first football match! it was pretty awesome, to say the least.

Yesterday, I went to a Hamam.

from wiki: 
A person taking a Turkish bath first relaxes in a room (known as the warm room) that is heated by a continuous flow of hot, dry air, allowing the bather to perspire freely. Bathers may then move to an even hotter room (known as the hot room) before splashing themselves with cold water. After performing a full body wash and receiving a massage, bathers finally retire to the cooling-room for a period of relaxation

Cinili means tiled. Apparently there are gorgeous tiles at this hamam... but there are all on the mens side. womp womp. It was so nice though. Very relaxing. We (I went with another au pair) got there and didn't know what to do at first. The staff knew a few words in English and we knew a few words in Turkish and we figured it out. There's a sign on the front door that says their will be a strong smell, but don't worry, it's just the history you are smelling ;) We got a kick out of that. We changed and were led into the warm room and omg it was so nice. Like it says above, you sit in one spot and they give you a bowl and soap and you wash yourself for a bit and relax. It's like a sauna, very warm. There is a big raised thing of marble in the middle of the room, heated marble! I die. You lay there while one of the ladies scrubs off all your dead skin. I felt like a snake shedding a layer of skin. There was so much. You rinse after and then move to a different room. There is the option of having a massage, but we opted out of that this time. The ladies were super nice, we went out to change and sat with them for awhile. There was even a cat at one point. I don't think they wanted him in there but they weren't exactly super fast with throwing him out ;) I think i might be going back before i leave :) 

After the hamam we walked across the street to see cinili cammi, the "tiled mosque", that I had read was really beautiful. Everyone was leaving as we walked up so we had to have someone unlock the door on the inside for us. It was breathtaking. I kept saying "wow" over and over. That's all i could think of. the guy who let us in was standing super close to us the whole time and i felt really awkward about taking pictures. google it if you want to see it, i guess? it wont do it justice though ;)


We went to have lunch down in uskudar after our little adventure... and while we were eating a cameraman and a guy with a microphone (they are everywhere! I barely notice them anymore. There has to be a lot of news to report on with a city this big ;) ) must have heard us speaking English and came up and asked to interview us. I don't remember exactly what he said at first other than "are you finished with your meal?" when i replied no, he pulled up a chair. so. But they were with Fenerbahçe TV, which i guess is a big deal? It was awkward. Not even gonna lie. I felt like a deer in head lights. They asked which team we supported (galatasaray, the only team i know/bc i got to go to their match) They asked where we were from, what we did (he actually knew what an au pair was, holla~) where we were staying, how long we've been here and how we liked the city. And if we would predict the score for the game coming up this weekend. Then he asked us to speak Turkish :| :| :| omg. it was the worst. my Turkish is so bad. I think i said hello, good morning, soup, fork and knife. A+. BUT! I did notice today, I can now recognize the phrase "where are you from" I heard it three times today. When I heard it in Turkish I didn't even think before I replied.
so... progress!

Probably should have mentioned

two weeks ago I bought my plane ticket to Italy! I leave Istanbul March 29th.
i'm already super sad to leave, i love it here so much so i'm trying not to think about it. I've gotten a few offers (including one from my current host fam) to come back for the summer and i'm really considering it.

can't wait to be back in Italy though ;)

Galata Tower

Yesterday I finally did another one of the "must see" things that are in all the touristy books that are in my room. I went to Galata Tower. The view was spectacular. Maybe not worth the price of admission though (i think it was 15 lira? I'm cheap ok) The city never ends. It just keeps going... past the horizon. It's overwhelming to think of how many people live here. I'm finally used to the crowds. At first it was weird to have so many people every where all the time, now i don't really notice it. One of the first things I noticed was how everyone is always walking so fast and trying to be first for everything. Yesterday I realized I've started doing it now too. When the bus shows up I push to try to get in first, or if someone is going a little slow on the sidewalk i huff past them. Must be something about this city ;)

the view towards uskudar (home!)

looking towards Eminönü

“Did you know, you can quit your job, you can leave university? You aren't legally required to have a degree, it’s a social pressure and expectation, not the law, and no one is holding a gun to your head. You can sell your house, you can give up your apartment, you can even sell your vehicle, and your things that are mostly unnecessary. You can see the world on a minimum wage salary, despite the persisting myth, you do not need a high paying job. You can leave your friends (if they’re true friends they’ll forgive you, and you’ll still be friends) and make new ones on the road. You can leave your family. You can depart from your hometown, your country, your culture, and everything you know. You can sacrifice. You can give up your $5.00 a cup morning coffee, you can give up air conditioning, frequent consumption of new products. You can give up eating out at restaurants and prepare affordable meals at home, and eat the leftovers too, instead of throwing them away. You can give up cable TV, Internet even. This list is endless. You can sacrifice climbing up in the hierarchy of careers. You can buck tradition and others’ expectations of you. You can triumph over your fears, by conquering your mind. You can take risks. And most of all, you can travel. You just don’t want it enough. You want a degree or a well-paying job or to stay in your comfort zone more. This is fine, if it’s what your heart desires most, but please don’t envy me and tell me you can’t travel. You’re not in a famine, in a desert, in a third world country, with five malnourished children to feed. You probably live in a first world country. You have a roof over your head, and food on your plate. You probably own luxuries like a cellphone and a computer. You can afford the $3.00 a night guest houses of India, the $0.10 fresh baked breakfasts of Morocco, because if you can afford to live in a first world country, you can certainly afford to travel in third world countries, you can probably even afford to travel in a first world country. So please say to me, “I want to travel, but other things are more important to me and I’m putting them first”, not, “I’m dying to travel, but I can’t”, because I have yet to have someone say they can’t, who truly can’t. You can, however, only live once, and for me, the enrichment of the soul that comes from seeing the world is worth more than a degree that could bring me in a bigger paycheck, or material wealth, or pleasing society. Of course, you must choose for yourself, follow your heart’s truest desires, but know that you can travel, you’re only making excuses for why you can’t. And if it makes any difference, I have never met anyone who has quit their job, left school, given up their life at home, to see the world, and regretted it. None. Only people who have grown old and regretted never traveling, who have regretted focusing too much on money and superficial success, who have realized too late that there is so much more to living than this.”


-source

So much to write about!

but it will have to wait a bit :-/

this past week was super busy even though my host family was out of the country on holiday and this week the kids are off school + me and the one of the kids are sick.

promise i'll post a bunch soon... when the dust settles :)