Egypt: Days 1-3, CAIRO!

Left Italy around 10ish, I think (don't honestly remember) and got into Cairo around 1. Two of my friends from Istanbul were meeting me at the airport, their flight came in around 12. So I told them my terminal (it was different from theirs) and they said they'd come wait for me. I waited and hour and still no sign of them! Turns out, there were 3 halls to terminal 1. All different buildings. So i set off to the others to find them. We met up around 2.30 i think? Got a cab (was ripped off bc we were obv tourists) and set off to find our Host's house. We used couchsurfing for the majority of the trip, it was my first time "surfing", and i couldn't have been more pleased with how it all turned out.

Anyway, we got the the apartment, had a rest for an hour or so and headed out to Al-Azhar Park. WOW. What a view! It's such a gorgeous park, and we had an amazing meal at one of the restaurants. Took a walk after and watched the sunset :)

Day 2: Giza/Cairo
We woke up pretty early and headed off Giza to see the pyramids! While getting off the metro, some random man was like "no, the metro is that way" while we were exiting. We said we didn't need it, as we were going to the pyramids. He and his son were also going. We ended up sharing a cab.

The only word I can think of to describe being there is: Surreal. The whole time i just kept repeating  "Were at the pyramids. holy crap" we ended up going to a horse/camel tour place with the guy shared a cab with, and the "tour group" ended up just being us three and his son. So, pretty awesome! It was so nice. We came in from the back (I think?) and almost the whole way there was no one else. It was amazing to just be out in the middle of the desert just a small group of us.  

we climbed up one of the smaller pyramids, what a view!

This is Rambo. He was super friendly. He kept licking/trying to bit my pants. 

We went from there to Khan-Al-Kalili to do some touristy gift buying and have lunch, I don't have any pics on my computer of that at the moment, sooo just use your imagination? 

And we capped off the day with a boat ride on the Nile. Also Surreal. As we were leaving the market getting into a taxi to get to the river.... i ripped my pants. In the worst possible place. Good thing I had a scarf to cover it up with, but still.... it was awkward. 

Day three was spent wandering around Cairo  the Egyptian museum (holy overwhelming batman!) and looking for some more amazing food. Which we found. 

ok, so...

I've written a few posts, on the blogger app on my ipod... and i log on to the actual website... THEY ARE NOT THERE. wtf. so bummed. 

anyway... a short bullet point post will have to do i guess:

• i am having, hands down, the best au pairing experience here. 
• i love my host fam soooo much! in only a month they've become family.
• my love for italian food just keeps getting bigger (pizaa/pasta/bread, all day errrday :D)
• I'm playing this game of "how many pairs of sunglasses can i lose/damage in a month" current score: 3
• I've started a language class. 
• no homesickness, what-so-ever! woot!
• well, i miss my cat. 
• does that count?
• i have so many pics ill try to upload somewhat soon
• egypt was amazing; that will get its own post. 
• here are two pics that saved to my draft folder, even though i hit publish
• way to go blogger app.

Still alive, promise.

I made it here. After a cab, plane, two buses and a car. I'm finally settling in. It's been a little more than a week. I have so much to write about but I feel like I never have enough time to actually get on the computer. I'm going to try to write some post on my ipod while I'm on the train next time. 

anyway.

I love Italy.
and
I miss the chaos of Istanbul.

Varese is really nice. I think I'm going to really like it here. We live super close to the city center, so that's convenient. The kids are great, I love love loooooooove this family. The baby, who i look after the most, took no time in getting used to/attached to me. It's great. I love him to bits already. The girl, who is 3, is still getting used to me I think. She understands English very well but wont speak it much with me. So we're just giving her time. She'll do it when shes ready. She speaks to me 1093752 miles a minute in italian though, so that should help building my language skills ;) hopefully ill be taking a class here soon...

the municipality building in varese. amazing view :)

i went to milan last week. ugh. i love this place.

hopefully this weekend i'll be going to visit my first host family. if not this, then next. I'm really looking forward to seeing them. Also looking forward to making some new friends here. I miss all my Istanbul pals :(

promise ill be posting more soon ;)

Pictures of me standing in front of various things

i don't know what to do with my hands, ok?! pictures are awkward

Maiden Tower

I've lived 10 minutes from the tower for 3 months and it's taken me the whole 3 months to actually walk down to it and take a picture. The weather was so crappy we didn't even walk the whole way there. It counts that I saw it on the ferry twice a day sometimes, right? ;)

there's a few version of a legend that go with the tower... the one i remember involves a snake. A emperor heard that someone was going to try to kill his daughter or something so he locked her in the tower. Then one day someone smuggled a snake inside a basket of bread and it bit her and she died. 

that was the story I was told when I got here. I have no idea if it's the real one or if it's true or what,  haha.

anyway here is a nice picture of some fisherman:

love letter to istanbul

xoxo

Istanbul Archaeology Museums

 Istanbul Archaeology Museums/İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri are overwhelming. haha I'll be straightforward. But for the price, you can't beat it! We went Tuesday and neither of us knew the price before hand. It's located right in the heart of all the tourist attractions, and directly next to Topkapi palace, so I was already prepared to pay a lot. Nope! 10 Lira! Score! for 3 museums  A lot of things were under construction (along with everything else in the city at this time of the year, womp womp) but still. h-o-l-y c-o-w. There was so much! I didn't even get to half way through the second building and I was ready for a nap. So much to take in a read. Everything is ancient. I think it's amazing to see all of that kind of stuff since we don't really have it in america since we are such a young country. 

apparently pre-nups have been around forever. I wish the text would have shown up better :(

"tiled pavilion"

inside the pavilion. I die. gorgeous.

only 10th century. no biggie.

a few random pics.

Because I am doing nothing today. Sitting here getting my things ready for my trip and doing laundry. I'm on my 5th cup of Çay I think. haha, oops.

ready to go!

I dont even know why I bought halley. It's gross. But for one lira, i'll take it. Chocolate is so expensive here :|

Spring has Sprung!

Finally! It's been so warm here the past few days. Today I left the house and left my coat at home ;) Usually I take it and by the time I get to the bus stop (only a 3 minute walk from the house) I am sweating and regret bringing it. So today I threw caution to the wind and just left it home and brought a sweater. OMG. It was so nice. It was in the 60*F range. I ate lunch outside in the sun and gbslkbgalgajdkkl. It was bliss. I snapped a few pics of our magnolia tree this morning. It's so gorgeous. Tomorrow I bet it'll be even more beautiful. The whole city is looking amazing, at the end of last week flowers were planted just about everywhere. On the highway they have the skyline of the city outlined in flowers. In Kadikoy there are some nice outlines of birds I want to try to take pics of. 

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!

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

Some Instagrams

Here's some pics from the last few days. I can't believe I've been here nearly a month. It's flown by. For the most part, I love it here. I feel at home, it's nice. The pollution however is not. I feel so gross by the time I get home in the afternoon. Its hard to breathe sometimes too. The food here is too good. HD said I should start takin pics of everything I eat lol. Not a bad idea since I can't pronounce anything or will never have some of it again. This week my HF is on holiday I switzerland. I'm staying with their friends, who happen to be the host family to a really great au pair friend I've made here. So this week should be interesting. I'm looking forward to it :)


(also today I bought contacts. I didn't need an RX and I payed 36 USD. I'm still not over it. 36! I'm hoping to get some new glasses while I'm here too, I hope I can find a good deal ;) )