Egypt's Revolution

Check out this beautiful photo album on Facebook with pictures from Egypt's Revolution. I highly recommend it!

The protester was being attacked by the thugs, the soldier broke into tears when he could not help him, so the protester went and "kissed his forehead", which is a sign of respect, love, and appreciation.

My Turkish Bath

Discovery #39: Turkish baths are glorious!

Today a group of six girls and five guys headed to the Asian side of Istanbul to take a Turkish bath at Aziziye Hamam.

For those of you who don't know, Turkish baths are communal bathing areas that date back to the 14th century when only the wealthy could afford to have running water in their homes.

A typical Turkish hamam

The hamam we went to today had separate bathing areas for men and women and felt somewhat equivalent to going to an afternoon at the spa (though I've never had one of those, so that's a complete guess!). The main room of the bath had marble floors and a high, domed ceiling. Half of the walls were marble and the other half a beautiful blue tile. According to the hamam's website, the building is over 150 years old and is attended by both tourists and locals alike. (The picture to the right was not taken by me and is not of the Aziziye Hamam but rather of a typical-looking Turkish bath.)

The attendants at the bath spoke no English and I speak no Turkish, so communicating was an adventure. (When in doubt, hand motions and facial expressions work very well...) They assumed that we wanted the full treatment, so, after giving us lockers to keep our purses in and cotton wraps to wear, they took us into the main room of the bath.

The room had several marble basins surrounded by marble benches for us to sit on. The bath attendants assigned two people to each basin and began filling it with hot water. The room was warm and somewhat like a sauna, except that the heat was very moist. After pouring warm water over ourselves and relaxing in the warmth for a while, the attendants called us over one-by-one to the large marble slab in the middle of the room. Here, they scrubbed us down with some sort of exfoliator and then had us rinse off. After this, they soaped us up with a washcloth and integrated a very light, relaxing massage. About five minutes later, another attendant came over and washed everyone's hair.

The process was so incredibly relaxing and cleansing. I've never felt so clean in my life and I swear my skin is softer now. Lesson of the day: when in Turkey, do as the Turks do and take a Turkish bath!

Asia and Architecture

Discovery #37: Asia doesn't look that much different than Europe

Yesterday, I went to Asia for the first time. As many of you may know, one side of Istanbul is considered the "European" side and one that "Asian" side.On Sunday, I took a ferry to the port of Kadikoy with some other students and friends of my parent's who live in Istanbul.

At Kadikoy we sat down to get a fish sandwich and were sadly informed that there were no fish that day because of some government regulation. Walking through the fish market later that day, we found out that that wasn't true...

All this to say, though, that I hardly noticed a difference between the Asian and European sides. I know there must be many nuances that I am unaware of; however, crossing the Bosporus felt nothing to me like crossing continents.

The Blue Mosque

Discovery #38: Islamic Architecture is gorgeous.

 I visited the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, and Topakpi Palace last week.

The Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque were both stunning sights to see. The architecture and ornate decorations of each building were incredibly fascinating.

Topakpi Palace, the seat of the sultans during the Ottoman Empire, was also wonderful but very different in nature. Topakpi is located on a large plot of land that looks over the Bosporus and there are flowers and tall trees and green grass. Oh, and thousands of tourists -- how could I can't forget those!

The palace itself was expertly decorated and there were several museum-style displays in various rooms. I saw  Moses' staff and piece of the prophet Mohammed's beard - or so I was told.

Egypt in Pictures: Part 1

I was reminiscing today about my time in Cairo. Oh how I miss that city! Here a few photos from the beginning of my time there. I am hoping to post more later on this week.

Excited MESPers on our way to Egypt

Germany from Above

I ate a German bratwurst just for my dad.

Cairo, Egypt

The women of MESP learning to tie higabs, traditional Muslim headscarves

The men of MESP were intrigued with the higab.

Tara and Carolyn removing their nail polish in preparation for a mosque visit. It is forbidden to wear nail polish in a mosque. 

Excited about being out for a cruise on the Nile River

Excitement and Joy

The Nile

The Cairo Tower

Henna

Ancient Islamic architecture in Old Cairo

An Old Cairo Market

Pounds?

Discovery #36: I am most likely going to gain a couple of pounds while in Turkey

Does shivering help your metabolism work faster? Because if not, I'm definitely going to gain a bit of weight while in Turkey. Not only are there ridiculously good looking desserts in every other shop window, there's the Turkish tea that requires a good bit of sugar and delicious Turkish bread full of bleached white flour. Mmmh!

"I will survive..."

Discovery #35: MESP never stops.

In the past 9 days, I have witnessed riots, breathed in tear gas, slept on the floor of a train station, been asked to not leave my apartment, gone food shopping before a government-imposed curfew, seen tanks in the streets and burned cars, been protected from potential looting by my Agouza neighbors, and flown out of Egypt on a commercial flight to Istanbul, Turkey. And yet, MESP still keeps going.

Despite having to relocate to Turkey due to the uprising in Egypt, we have only missed 3 days of classes. Talk about a lot to process? Try doing that and reading history books and news articles in preparation for hearing two lectures a day ;)

I'm not complaining, mind you. I'm more honestly just amazed at how few beats we seemed to skip here at MESP despite Egypt being in such turmoil.

Thank you Dr. Holt, Dena, Chris, Brian, Dr. Diaa and Lindsey. You all are amazing!

Out of Egypt

After a week of anti-government protests, my program decided it would be best for us to leave Cairo. Last night we all flew to Istanbul, Turkey and will remain here for a couple of weeks doing some sightseeing, reading, and guest lectures.

My apologies to those of you who were worried about me over the past week. The government shut down the internet to try to stop the protests, however, all it seemed to do was make it a little bit harder - for everyone. Business are struggling, food stocks running low, and so many people have no contact with the outside world.

It was heartbreaking to leave Cairo but I also feel privilege to have been able to  leave. The airport was packed and so many people had to wait longer than us.

I'll try to recap everything later. Maybe when I can think clearly...