Well if this isn't just the strangest Thanksgiving I've ever had. Woke up this morning, ran errands and then ate left over pizza. Now I have to throw a few more things in my bag and it's off to the airport I go... to fly to Egypt. Is it just me or is this one weird *ss Thanksgiving?
I miss my family and it sucks I couldn't skype them, they're busy busy though, can't blame them, still Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in AZ! Dad Happy Thanksgiving, I haven't heard from you but hopefully you have been getting your postcards I've been sending. Steph, Kevin and G, please tell me you're frying a turkey on the beach or something epic of sorts. Boyd I hope you're not freezing up in WA in the snow and speaking of snow and cold, Nicole, wish you were here! I hope you got the chance to cook yourself and turkey or get together with friends. Love and miss ya sister. To my friends in WA & AZ I expect you're with loved ones, friends or family, and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Now about this Egypt thing, I can't be back in the states with family so I might as well be with my other family, Miss Tiffany. This girl has been through thick and thin with me, we've traveled to Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and many other places together, not to mention I went to her place in Italy and she came to Cyprus, so you know what, today I'm off to see family and I couldn't be happier. It's not the first thanksgiving we've had together, but for some reason I don't think this year we'll be getting close to almost burning down the apartment baking apple pie, hehe. Okay so I don't get Turkey, I'll live. Instead I hope I get food to sustain my body and hopefully not make me sick (not drinking the water!).
I'm thankful for all my loving family and friends. I've got family all over the United States supporting me and sending words of advice and warmth. I have friends literally all over the world and although some of you don't celebrate thanksgiving I wanted to let you know I'm thinking about you! I'm thankful for everything I've got to see and experience this year.... Australia, North America, Europe, Asia & Africa; not too shabby for a 21 year old, single girl from a little suburb in Washington. I hope I'm making you proud and I love you all.
My last wish is for everyone to pray for my friend Liz here in Cyprus. Last Friday she fell into a fire on the northern tip of the island and she is currently suffering from 2nd degree burns over a large portion of her body. After multiple hospitals she is settled at a nearby hospital in the south near our apartments. She is confined to a small room in a foreign hospital without family. We've done a great job visiting her, but as her release date keeps getting pushed back it's extremely hard for her to bare. We all pitched in and got her an internet stick so she can skype her family on Thanksgiving, one small thing that I hope makes a big difference. Please pray for Liz and quick recovery, this has been nothing but difficult for her.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Oh, yoga
My yoga class is something else... last week I thought my teacher wanted to kill me because I missed the midterm and then I was late to class (little did I know, due to my art history teacher letting me out late). It was horrible and she was telling me about this paper I had to get signed by a bunch of people a pay 40 euro (60 USD) to makeup my midterm (um, no.)
So today I come to class and my teacher is speaking Greek to the other girl and then says to me, oh did I tell you? I talked to many other people and it's okay, your marks are one of the best in the class. Do not worry about midterm, I do want you to read, read a lot because you are good. Don't do it for me, do it for you.... I want you to learn much and then still practice when you go home (US)... and on and on she went. Then as if that wasn't compliment enough, she proceeded to invite me to attend her other classes that she teaches at some center that are much more in depth than my school class. I guess she is bringing me the schedule next week, pretty awesome in a weird way if you ask me!
So as if all of that is not enough, during class today when I am trying to stand on one leg and keep my hands straight up above me and balance she decides to tell me, "nice trousers" and asks if I got them in Cyprus, I lied and said yes in fear of saying I got them in Turkey, didn't need another reason for my Greek Cypriot teacher to frown on me. So then she decided to ask me where they were from, uuuuuh, downtown, and then the store name, aye aye aye, "I'm not sure", ok you let me know when you find out, I want some.
It's such a weird relationship with this teacher, probably mostly because of the language and culture barrier but hey, I guess she still thinks I can do yoga pretty well. Today there were only 5 people in class and my friend from Finland wasn't there so that means 90% Greek & only 10% English.... pretty awkward when they're going off in Greek and then point to me and keep chatting away. Oh well, I've learned to accept that, I am in Cyprus but yet again I am in a English university. Oh well, I love yoga :)
Monday, November 22, 2010
Let me introduce you to my hero...
Copy and paste this link below, and watch the top video... "2008". Look around his website, I love the concept of his video... interesting way of life if you read the "about me" If you have no interest, do yourself a favor and at least watch the video... its inspiring. He's danced his way all over the world...
a href="http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/videos.shtml
This is another great video of his. Click or copy and paste this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4&feature=channel
and of course you could just go to youtube.com and search where the hell is matt 2008.
Sorry I couldn't post the videos directly on here, but I HAD to share them. PLEASE watch at least one
a href="http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/videos.shtml
This is another great video of his. Click or copy and paste this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4&feature=channel
and of course you could just go to youtube.com and search where the hell is matt 2008.
Sorry I couldn't post the videos directly on here, but I HAD to share them. PLEASE watch at least one
Saturday, November 20, 2010
One month left in Cyprus
I cannot believe I only have a month left here. I feel like everything is still starting, and I'm not ready to watch things start to end. I just walked into our grocery store and there is a huge Santa outside and all kinds of lights and decor inside; so festive. I shop like a Greek, eat like a Greek and it feels like home. It's truly a bitter sweet feeling knowing I'll be leaving soon.
Today was a wonderful day though. I woke up, recovered all my Spain and Venice pictures that were corrupted. Did some house hold stuff and then caught the bus into the city. I took pictures for my photography class and enjoyed the alone time walking through the streets. I walked into a souvenir shop and started talking to the guy working there and he couldn't believe I was here by myself and for so long. We chatted for a while and they both offered me a drink... coffee, tea, orange juice. They are so kind and it's horrible how as am American; I don't know how to read or understand that genuine offer. I questioned why, I questioned do I pay, I questioned if it’s bad (two men & me by myself) when walking away I realized it was just that, a genuine offer.
I continued on my journey, showed my passport & got a stamp to cross the green line to the North side (occupied Turkey). I was searching for some warm boots for the winter because my roommate found some nice little boots and I don't feel like freezing this winter, although there is no way around that (side note: today's high was in the 80's and it's snowing in WA). So I wondered and went to a local bakery for a helumi pitta boat and got it to go. I'll admit I was cracking up on the walk back... here I am so excited about this food, walking with my headphones in, shoving strip after strip of pitta down my throat as Turkish men were oooogaling me in passing, I honestly start cracking up. I couldn't stop laughing because they stare so intensely. I had to stop myself and I was going to sit on the curb and eat, but I didn't make it that far.
Two guys stopped me and asked me to take a survey. Long story short I took it and no way can they use it for what they needed but they did end up with some contact details, haha. Only one of the guys could speak poor English. It was hilarious; he couldn't quite understand what I was doing over there. He said, "you on a walk?" -yes "you come across boarder just for sigimi (place I had food from) and a walk" -I giggle, no I was shopping and got hungry (totally not true, I wanted my boat!) "Be careful, that makes you fat" -I almost lost it! He was so serious and like honestly saying that food makes you fat as if I had no idea and AS IF it was okay for a man to say that to a woman! Silly Turkish friend. After asking 5 times if they could walk with me to the boarder and making sure I was okay with it and it didn't make me uncomfortable, we headed towards the boarder together. My friend, Boran, wanted to make sure he wasn't being anything I didn't want him to be and clearly stated, "I only like you because you are American, you understand?" haha, poor guy. He had visited San Diego for 3 months and got to see LA and go to six flags; he misses the US and wanted to go back one day. He said I was the first American he had ever talked to/seen on the North side. I'll probably get lunch with him sometime, nice guy.
So then I headed back, crossed the border and walked down Ledra street to the bus station to head home. I made some Turkish tea that I bought in the North, hung out, went grocery shopping and here I am... So content and happy with everything.
I did get some AWESOME henna done last night, by the way! One of my friends got the stuff to do it and my roommate gave me a few henna tattoos (if you don't know what it is, it's basically a ink you put on your skin, it dries and cracks off and leaves a beautiful red/brown stain in the design you made) My Turkish friends liked it and so did everyone else in the stores.
To be more random, Turkish men > Greek men. I honestly crossed the border today, back to the south, and got so disgusted by the Greek men! They think it’s okay to get super close in passing and look you up and down and stare in your eyes if that’s all even possible. Sure Turkish men do the same but some resist a little more and they are friendly and more open to speaking with you. It’s going to be weird back in the states, I’ll feel invisible! Don’t think I’ll miss that part of life though!
Thanks for keeping up on my blog. One month and counting… I have Egypt awaiting me and then a long series of tests and projects. Cheers,
Kayla Dawn
Today was a wonderful day though. I woke up, recovered all my Spain and Venice pictures that were corrupted. Did some house hold stuff and then caught the bus into the city. I took pictures for my photography class and enjoyed the alone time walking through the streets. I walked into a souvenir shop and started talking to the guy working there and he couldn't believe I was here by myself and for so long. We chatted for a while and they both offered me a drink... coffee, tea, orange juice. They are so kind and it's horrible how as am American; I don't know how to read or understand that genuine offer. I questioned why, I questioned do I pay, I questioned if it’s bad (two men & me by myself) when walking away I realized it was just that, a genuine offer.
I continued on my journey, showed my passport & got a stamp to cross the green line to the North side (occupied Turkey). I was searching for some warm boots for the winter because my roommate found some nice little boots and I don't feel like freezing this winter, although there is no way around that (side note: today's high was in the 80's and it's snowing in WA). So I wondered and went to a local bakery for a helumi pitta boat and got it to go. I'll admit I was cracking up on the walk back... here I am so excited about this food, walking with my headphones in, shoving strip after strip of pitta down my throat as Turkish men were oooogaling me in passing, I honestly start cracking up. I couldn't stop laughing because they stare so intensely. I had to stop myself and I was going to sit on the curb and eat, but I didn't make it that far.
Two guys stopped me and asked me to take a survey. Long story short I took it and no way can they use it for what they needed but they did end up with some contact details, haha. Only one of the guys could speak poor English. It was hilarious; he couldn't quite understand what I was doing over there. He said, "you on a walk?" -yes "you come across boarder just for sigimi (place I had food from) and a walk" -I giggle, no I was shopping and got hungry (totally not true, I wanted my boat!) "Be careful, that makes you fat" -I almost lost it! He was so serious and like honestly saying that food makes you fat as if I had no idea and AS IF it was okay for a man to say that to a woman! Silly Turkish friend. After asking 5 times if they could walk with me to the boarder and making sure I was okay with it and it didn't make me uncomfortable, we headed towards the boarder together. My friend, Boran, wanted to make sure he wasn't being anything I didn't want him to be and clearly stated, "I only like you because you are American, you understand?" haha, poor guy. He had visited San Diego for 3 months and got to see LA and go to six flags; he misses the US and wanted to go back one day. He said I was the first American he had ever talked to/seen on the North side. I'll probably get lunch with him sometime, nice guy.
So then I headed back, crossed the border and walked down Ledra street to the bus station to head home. I made some Turkish tea that I bought in the North, hung out, went grocery shopping and here I am... So content and happy with everything.
I did get some AWESOME henna done last night, by the way! One of my friends got the stuff to do it and my roommate gave me a few henna tattoos (if you don't know what it is, it's basically a ink you put on your skin, it dries and cracks off and leaves a beautiful red/brown stain in the design you made) My Turkish friends liked it and so did everyone else in the stores.
To be more random, Turkish men > Greek men. I honestly crossed the border today, back to the south, and got so disgusted by the Greek men! They think it’s okay to get super close in passing and look you up and down and stare in your eyes if that’s all even possible. Sure Turkish men do the same but some resist a little more and they are friendly and more open to speaking with you. It’s going to be weird back in the states, I’ll feel invisible! Don’t think I’ll miss that part of life though!
Thanks for keeping up on my blog. One month and counting… I have Egypt awaiting me and then a long series of tests and projects. Cheers,
Kayla Dawn
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Olympos, Turkey
"I sought love, I found independence. I sought direction, I found freedom. I sought wisdom, I found uncertainty. I guess in the end you may not find what you're looking for, but you find what you really need." -From the beach of Olympos
If there is a single place I will never forget its Olympos, Turkey. We got there at night, took a 2 hour taxi winding through the mts in the dark to pull up to “Bayrams Treehouse Pension”… we step out of the van having no idea what to expect, walk to the bar to grab our key, pass the campfire and get warmly greeted by about 7 people having a beer in the warmth of the fire. We dodge the oranges hanging on the trees to get to our treehouse dorm, set our bags down, the host closes the door behind us and we all stamper our feet, squeal and doing a little dance in celebration and excitement! So you want to talk about that little kid excitement? Yes!
(our tree house)
Our host asks if we’re hungry and we admit we were, sure enough as we get some hot apple tea (available 24/7) he heats up soup & a dinner plate with a basket of bread. It was such ‘poor people’s’ (cheaply made) food and we ate like we were starving children alright. We kept laughing at ourselves and once we could get our breath back we’d start discussing how lucky we felt. Out of all the people in the world, why us? Out of all the places in the world, how here? We felt so incredibly lucky and I still do.
I want to appropriately thank my Uncle Eric and family friend Dale who told us about this place and encouraged me to visit. They were so right, it was the perfect place for me to visit… thank you guys!
This is another experience I don’t want to explain for everyone get drastically different opinions and images, after all I say a tree house community and people think of huge trees with a little hut you climb into via a tall wooden latter, which it wasn’t the case. Sure there were some models like that but they were homey little cabin type places made of just wood on stilts.
(inside view of home)
So to give some kind of visual, I stayed in a valley with one dirt road leading into the community. There are multiple treehouse pensions and even treehouse restaurants. We were towards the end of the road, which was great. That meant that we were a 2 minute walk from the gate to get into the old ruins and only 8-10mins from the water. The ruins in Olympos were my favorite even after traveling through Europe, especially Greece and Italy. These were so natural, so untouched and respected. There wasn’t construction going on like everywhere else and the ruins were through a vast amount of space. So each day we would pick a few things to hike to ranging from tombs, old roman bathes, old churches and even an old castle… which brings me to a funny story…
(bathing in the old roman bath)
(huge tomb)
So Kassidy is the one I room with back in Cyprus and she is a hoot! This girl is the most outgoing and adventurous person I know. So sure enough I’m journaling on the beach and she goes I think I’m just going to swim over to that point out there! I kind of turn my head and say okay, this point was years away and she wanted to swim there! Well she’s a big girl so I sit and watch her swim for 10-15 minutes and finally I can’t watch anymore, pack up my things and start hiking to the castle built up on the hill. Huffing and puffing I got to the top and the view took my breath away (ha). You could see the entire beach from a bird’s eye view. Standing there taking pictures I all of a sudden hear the bushes crackle and it startles me, I have no idea why or how I thought this but I instantly yelled out “KASSIDY!” and sure enough I hear “YEAAAH!”. I start cracking up because I couldn’t believe it, I hiked the side of the mt, through the ruins like any other person would, but nope, not Kassidy! That girl swam for a solid 20+ minutes and then climbed up a cliff side to get to the castle. She is hilarious and we couldn’t believe it… not to mention she totally thought I swam after her and climbed up with her, HA! Adopting her spirit in calmer terms, we kept hiking higher and higher. The views were incredible.
(view from castle and near by hiking areas)
Kassidy and I could not come to terms with leaving Olympos so early. Never have a cancelled a flight but before dinner Friday evening my plane ticket back to Cyprus was no longer! Best choice I’ve made in a long time… I was in Olympos for 5 days and 5 nights.
Basically our days consisted of waking up around 9:30, eating community breakfast, taking a few minutes to digest in the hammocks, picking an orange for the road, enjoying the sunshine at the beach (swimming, tanning, journaling, etc) and then around 3 the direct sun would fall behind the mts which made it perfect for hiking and looking at the ruins. In the evening we ate at 6pm and by that time we were starving (yes there were places to buy food but we were saving money and enjoying the simple living). We ate with our friends and then we might send an email or two, read a school book, go for a run, hangout by the fire, adventure to the beach or the internal flames… all which were accomplished.
(hammock)
(beach)
(swimming)
(hiking)
(sunset)
(internal flames)
We made good friends with a lot of the people there. It was funny, the last few days Kassidy and I were making the most of the days and we would get back at 5:59pm right before dinner still wearing just our swimsuits and the hosts would laugh and crack jokes as everyone has all their layers of clothing on, gathered around the fire with tea. We were close to two Swedish guys (one born in Turkey), a couple from Australia & two female travelers from Australia. They were great, sadly they left and then we met two single American travelers and I did not enjoy their presence (one was 60, called himself a photographer and was an *ss when we were talking about the art, Americans…) but I also met a girl from Vancouver, Canada which was so refreshing and I loved her outlook on life. She took a semester off from school and she was traveling all through Turkey, looking to go back to Istanbul to teach English. The other guy I liked to chill with was an Iranian just traveling by himself. Good times with some incredible and inspiring people.
Random Stories!
• Our first real view of Olympos was Saturday morning when we got up at 9am, put on our running clothes and just started running towards the water. We ran through the old ruins, down the trail with trees changing colors, reflective fresh water to our right and it lead us to one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen. The morning sun felt so good, we walked on the rocky beach and following Shami’s lead, we stripped off our clothes and dove right in. Those 45 minutes are still my favorite out of the entire week, it was fantastic.
• After dinner one night I hopped in a hammock to chill and this little guy, about 18 months walked over to me. The family was from Moscow and didn’t speak English but that didn’t matter. He waddled over, grabbed my hammock and started to swing it… he thought it was hilarious! I was panicked thinking he might fall but sure enough he kept doing and kept laughing harder and harder. We had his entire family’s attention as well as everyone else eating their dinner… no one could resist his giggle!
• Hiker puppy! The animals are so funny there. A few examples, Kassidy and I hiked the furthest mt side and half way up we saw a dog and sure enough he hiked with us all through the mts and valleys, we called him hiker puppy and even took his picture at the last outlook. I also had Milo and Mouse (we named them) and they were adorable cats that wanted food during meals but were so loving during the evenings, one night Milo kept me warm as he took a long snooze on me as we enjoyed some wine with friends. The best story came from 20 minutes before I left though. I was walking by myself and found a kitten the size of my hand. I pet him and made friends and then I went to walk away, but he wouldn’t leave me! Every step I took he’d take four quick leaps to catch up and then stop cause that foot would be stationary, until I took another step and it was 4-5 huge leaps for him again. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Everyone passing me couldn’t believe it and kept asking how long he had been following me, about 10 minutes in total, minus the Turkish men who stopped to take a picture with me (white girl with blue eyes, how different! Haha). I have a video of the kitty following me, I’ll have to post sometime : )
(hiker puppy)
(kitty)
(This is a story by itself, cheers to everyone who knows the story!)
Without getting into too much detail I just want to share what a healing experience this was. Sure I did a lot while I was there, but it was all on a much slower, simple pace of life. It provided me time to reflect, think and appreciate everything and everyone in my life. I’ve never felt so at peace with all aspects of my life. I’m quite honestly rather proud of myself and all I can do is hope that I’ve made you proud, it doesn’t matter if you’re parents, my distant friend or a friend of a family friend… I hope I make you proud and I hope at least one small part of my life journey touches you, inspires you or makes you appreciate something in your life.
So thank you all from deep down in my heart…. Thank you.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Istanbul, Turkey
Istanbul wasn’t the normal big city for me, it was so much more. The history is so ancient, the beauty is indescribable and the people are wonderful.
Taxi Cab: On the way to the airport at 2am or so, we get a Pakistani driver in the north that was absolutely hilarious. This man spoke seven different languages, grew up in Germany, was half Cypriot, half Pakistani and what a character he was! He went off on how we couldn’t fall in love with a Turkish men because all they think about is bad things and they don’t respect woman… he went on and on and told us respect is number one, then love, then….. us three girls were in the back were cracking up. Next thing we know he is belting out Celion Dion with Kassidy! As if that wasn’t enough he found out Shami was born in Zimbabwe and so he goes, “now I have some music for you!” We were all a little unsure about what was about to be played and then Bob Marley started to play. Everyone starting singing and we even stayed in the car to listen to more music once we got there, after all “there was no hurry!” Way to eventful for a late night ride to the airport!
Our hotel: was perfect. We ate breakfast overlooking the water and then we were able to walk five minutes to the Blue Mosque and everything from there. They gave us slippers (still stoked about that) and helped us book our Turkish bath and all airport connections. Pretty cozy!
Adventures of day one! We walked out of our hotel with a loose idea of where we were going and then all of a sudden we were smack-dab in the middle between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia (Sultanahmet Square). We were in complete awe!
We took our pictures and then started walking towards the Grand Bazaar, but not before Shami and I made our first purchase. I was SO proud of myself! It was just a little dinky Istanbul booklet with pictures and info and Shami haggled it down from 37 TY to 15ty, but guess how much I got it for? Yes, that’s right… 5TY! I felt so accomplished!
So we finally got to the Grand Bazaar and it was insane! It was so visually and mentally overwhelming, never ending. I bought so much there and felt really good about all of my purchases except for when I tried using my American money I kind of got screwed. The men workers there were ridiculous! I took some videos but their sayings to try to get you were hilarious, “where you from?... paradise?” or when you’d blow someone off the next guy would say, “I think you dropped your heart back there” and of course I would be the one to start laughing.
We dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed to the Blue Mosque. We made it in just before closing which means we didn’t get too much time in there. It was such a peaceful place to be, I wish I could have just sat down and soaked it in more than I did but I kept busy looking at all the beautiful glass work and the size of the mosque, it was massive yet had a really intimate feeling. I’ve enjoyed all the mosques I’ve had the chance to visit, but this one is my favorite.
NOW FOR THE MAIN EVENT! My Turkish Bath!
Part of me doesn’t even want to write about this experience because there is no way it would properly translate with only words, for example, “half naked men bathing people” – now how many interpretations does that give off! We get checked in and sent up to our changing hut, oh but can I mention everyone working in the lobby looked like little genie guys and it was AWESOME! So in our excited, childish excitement we had a ball in our changing room.
After too long in the room we were lead through a series of rooms, each one getting hotter and hotter. Next thing I know I can barely breathe and I’m in the hottest sauna I’ve ever been in. we sit there sweating and then finally someone else in our group turns on a sink and starts cooling themselves off and you better believe I was quick to follow and it felt so refreshing. OH! And did I mention we had little clicky wooden sandles, they were hilarious and sooo hard to walk in, they literally go “click, click, click” on the marble floors. Now for a lack of detail not to ruin it, we got a washing, peeling (scrubbing) and a full body soap massage. It was the most incredible and relaxing thing I’ve ever experienced. I’d love to tell you more in person : )
We cooled down in a normal temperature room with a cold water and it felt so good, of course we had to document the process! I don’t even know what to say about it but it makes me happy just looking back on it.
Day 2 Istanbul! We enjoyed breakfast and then headed to the Topkapi Palace, recommendations from Jenn. Constructed in 1460 it is full of history and so stunning.
(gate of palace)
But you know what, it’s not the palace I’ll remember the longest but the children we met. We were walking down one of the beautiful walk ways with colorful trees on both sides and all of a sudden we come across groups of children having a field trip. Gaining courage they started to say hello and as more children greeted us Shami turned back to me and asked if we should stop and say hello, and instantly said yes. These kids had such an innocent curiosity. Of course it was Shami that was born in Africa and then moved to the United States, and then me and Kassidy; all of us with very different appearances. Some could only say hello in English and then they would speak to me in Turkish but even so I could tell what they were asking. I would say, “Hello, I’m from America” and I’d get this innocent, lively “OOOOH, Amer-I-ca!!!” with such enthusiasm. They all had their little digital cameras and so we took pictures with them, shook their hands and bid our goodbyes as the teachers tried to get the children back into their lines. We saw these kids multiple times in the palace and they’d always talk to us and one kid didn’t not want to let go of my hand, expressing he loooooved me! So adorable.
I’ve always said I wish I could have the enthusiasm, excitement & innocence of a child and this trip and these children helped me getting pretty close to understanding that feeling years later. These children were awesome, not to mention the older Turkish family that insisted on having pictures with us three as well; 30 seconds of our time made their day.
The rest of the palace was great. We rented little headsets (how responsible) to hear about the palace and each room we went into. They have some of the oldest and most influential relics in all of Turkey, if not the world. However, I couldn’t take pictures of those so here is a keeper:
I wanted to go to the Spice Bazaar but we ran out of time because we wanted to pick up a few more things from the Grand Bazaar. My time was up in Istanbul… but first I must make note of the CRAZY driving in Istanbul! Well Turkey and Cyprus and many places around here. So in the city the roads are only big enough for one car so therefore its always best to go as fast as you can, get within inches of every car and wall and make sure when backing up to let a car go by, do it in style “gas! Break! Gas! Break!” it will passengers like me feel wonderful at the end of the ride! Now for driving on multiple lane roads, I took note of some important rules:
1. Your horn is your most important part of your car
2. When turning left across traffic it’s always best to be in the far right lane and then cut off everyone next to you and barely doge on-coming traffic without getting t-boned
3. Everyone is a race driver, that’s why the lights go, “red, yellow, GREEN!”
4. Additionally, you can’t be slow-joe so as soon as the light turns yellow its best to hit the gas as hard as you can in order to massage you’re passengers neck muscles
5. When going on huge roundabouts it best to be on the inside lane when exiting that way you can make sure everyone else’s horn works when you cross 2-4 lanes of circular traffic, especially if you’re a huge bus, that’s ideal!
Love you all, don’t ever worry about me running off mts, hiding in treehouse communities or traveling the world…. Worry about me every time I have to take a taxi ride! Haha, my life is never uneventful to say the least : )
PS: if you want a good story in person, remember to ask me about the Istanbul airport… first times for everything!
Taxi Cab: On the way to the airport at 2am or so, we get a Pakistani driver in the north that was absolutely hilarious. This man spoke seven different languages, grew up in Germany, was half Cypriot, half Pakistani and what a character he was! He went off on how we couldn’t fall in love with a Turkish men because all they think about is bad things and they don’t respect woman… he went on and on and told us respect is number one, then love, then….. us three girls were in the back were cracking up. Next thing we know he is belting out Celion Dion with Kassidy! As if that wasn’t enough he found out Shami was born in Zimbabwe and so he goes, “now I have some music for you!” We were all a little unsure about what was about to be played and then Bob Marley started to play. Everyone starting singing and we even stayed in the car to listen to more music once we got there, after all “there was no hurry!” Way to eventful for a late night ride to the airport!
Our hotel: was perfect. We ate breakfast overlooking the water and then we were able to walk five minutes to the Blue Mosque and everything from there. They gave us slippers (still stoked about that) and helped us book our Turkish bath and all airport connections. Pretty cozy!
Adventures of day one! We walked out of our hotel with a loose idea of where we were going and then all of a sudden we were smack-dab in the middle between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia (Sultanahmet Square). We were in complete awe!
We took our pictures and then started walking towards the Grand Bazaar, but not before Shami and I made our first purchase. I was SO proud of myself! It was just a little dinky Istanbul booklet with pictures and info and Shami haggled it down from 37 TY to 15ty, but guess how much I got it for? Yes, that’s right… 5TY! I felt so accomplished!
So we finally got to the Grand Bazaar and it was insane! It was so visually and mentally overwhelming, never ending. I bought so much there and felt really good about all of my purchases except for when I tried using my American money I kind of got screwed. The men workers there were ridiculous! I took some videos but their sayings to try to get you were hilarious, “where you from?... paradise?” or when you’d blow someone off the next guy would say, “I think you dropped your heart back there” and of course I would be the one to start laughing.
We dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed to the Blue Mosque. We made it in just before closing which means we didn’t get too much time in there. It was such a peaceful place to be, I wish I could have just sat down and soaked it in more than I did but I kept busy looking at all the beautiful glass work and the size of the mosque, it was massive yet had a really intimate feeling. I’ve enjoyed all the mosques I’ve had the chance to visit, but this one is my favorite.
NOW FOR THE MAIN EVENT! My Turkish Bath!
Part of me doesn’t even want to write about this experience because there is no way it would properly translate with only words, for example, “half naked men bathing people” – now how many interpretations does that give off! We get checked in and sent up to our changing hut, oh but can I mention everyone working in the lobby looked like little genie guys and it was AWESOME! So in our excited, childish excitement we had a ball in our changing room.
After too long in the room we were lead through a series of rooms, each one getting hotter and hotter. Next thing I know I can barely breathe and I’m in the hottest sauna I’ve ever been in. we sit there sweating and then finally someone else in our group turns on a sink and starts cooling themselves off and you better believe I was quick to follow and it felt so refreshing. OH! And did I mention we had little clicky wooden sandles, they were hilarious and sooo hard to walk in, they literally go “click, click, click” on the marble floors. Now for a lack of detail not to ruin it, we got a washing, peeling (scrubbing) and a full body soap massage. It was the most incredible and relaxing thing I’ve ever experienced. I’d love to tell you more in person : )
We cooled down in a normal temperature room with a cold water and it felt so good, of course we had to document the process! I don’t even know what to say about it but it makes me happy just looking back on it.
Day 2 Istanbul! We enjoyed breakfast and then headed to the Topkapi Palace, recommendations from Jenn. Constructed in 1460 it is full of history and so stunning.
(gate of palace)
But you know what, it’s not the palace I’ll remember the longest but the children we met. We were walking down one of the beautiful walk ways with colorful trees on both sides and all of a sudden we come across groups of children having a field trip. Gaining courage they started to say hello and as more children greeted us Shami turned back to me and asked if we should stop and say hello, and instantly said yes. These kids had such an innocent curiosity. Of course it was Shami that was born in Africa and then moved to the United States, and then me and Kassidy; all of us with very different appearances. Some could only say hello in English and then they would speak to me in Turkish but even so I could tell what they were asking. I would say, “Hello, I’m from America” and I’d get this innocent, lively “OOOOH, Amer-I-ca!!!” with such enthusiasm. They all had their little digital cameras and so we took pictures with them, shook their hands and bid our goodbyes as the teachers tried to get the children back into their lines. We saw these kids multiple times in the palace and they’d always talk to us and one kid didn’t not want to let go of my hand, expressing he loooooved me! So adorable.
I’ve always said I wish I could have the enthusiasm, excitement & innocence of a child and this trip and these children helped me getting pretty close to understanding that feeling years later. These children were awesome, not to mention the older Turkish family that insisted on having pictures with us three as well; 30 seconds of our time made their day.
The rest of the palace was great. We rented little headsets (how responsible) to hear about the palace and each room we went into. They have some of the oldest and most influential relics in all of Turkey, if not the world. However, I couldn’t take pictures of those so here is a keeper:
I wanted to go to the Spice Bazaar but we ran out of time because we wanted to pick up a few more things from the Grand Bazaar. My time was up in Istanbul… but first I must make note of the CRAZY driving in Istanbul! Well Turkey and Cyprus and many places around here. So in the city the roads are only big enough for one car so therefore its always best to go as fast as you can, get within inches of every car and wall and make sure when backing up to let a car go by, do it in style “gas! Break! Gas! Break!” it will passengers like me feel wonderful at the end of the ride! Now for driving on multiple lane roads, I took note of some important rules:
1. Your horn is your most important part of your car
2. When turning left across traffic it’s always best to be in the far right lane and then cut off everyone next to you and barely doge on-coming traffic without getting t-boned
3. Everyone is a race driver, that’s why the lights go, “red, yellow, GREEN!”
4. Additionally, you can’t be slow-joe so as soon as the light turns yellow its best to hit the gas as hard as you can in order to massage you’re passengers neck muscles
5. When going on huge roundabouts it best to be on the inside lane when exiting that way you can make sure everyone else’s horn works when you cross 2-4 lanes of circular traffic, especially if you’re a huge bus, that’s ideal!
Love you all, don’t ever worry about me running off mts, hiding in treehouse communities or traveling the world…. Worry about me every time I have to take a taxi ride! Haha, my life is never uneventful to say the least : )
PS: if you want a good story in person, remember to ask me about the Istanbul airport… first times for everything!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Back from Turkey!!!
Hey everyone! I'm safe and sound after a full week in Turkey. I can't even begin to express how much I loved Turkey; it took me by surprise to say the least! The beauty and history in Turkey is incredible. I booked my trip with two of my roommates (both ended up going) from early Thursday (started the journey Wed night) to late Monday night with Thursday-Friday even in Istanbul and Friday night to Monday afternoon is Olympos Valley on the south coast of Turkey.
I got to the tree house community in Olympos Valley and I couldn't leave. I NEVER miss class (didn't miss one class last semester) and I skipped out on an ENTIRE week of class, cancelled my flight back and bought a new ticket home for Thursday morning with Kassidy. I guess there is a first time for everything; you just have to find what’s most important to you. I won't say more now because I'll blog later but let’s just say after 5 days in Olympos I feel so at peace with my life and I'm so grateful for what I've been able to see and do, not to mention the incredible people I have in my life.
As for now, I'm in the process of getting going again after 18 hours of travel last night. Took a nap and heated up some dinner but I still have to wash all my campfire clothes and then get packed for a weekend trip with the school tomorrow, 8am departure! We're going to the southern part of Cyprus, I've copied the informational email below (extracted times) so you can see what I'll have the chance to see and do.
Love and miss you all, I'll be blogging about Turkey asap with pictures and stories galore but for now back to this silly fast pace life ;)
"Starting from Nicosia we will drive to Limassol and visit Limassol’s Byzantine Castle (http://www.cyprus.com/limassol-castle.html ), while on our way to Paphos we will see the Kolossi Castle (http://www.cyprus.com/kolossi-castle.html ) which is said to be the best-preserved medieval castle in Cyprus.
After the Colossi Castle, we will drive to Kourion, the magnificent Greco-Roman theatre, one of the most spectacular archaeological sites of the island (http://www.cyprus.com/theatre-of-kourion.html ).
Last, but not least, before arriving to Paphos, we’ll go to Petra tou Romiou (“The Rock of the Greek”- which is the birthplace of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty). (http://www.cyprus.com/petra-tou-romiou.html )
When we arrive in Paphos we’ll have lunch and some free time at the harbor. After that, we continue our tour to the mosaics http://www.cyprus.com/pafos-mosaics.html
In the afternoon we will return to Limassol and go to our hotel.
Saturday the 13th you’ll have a free day and in the afternoon of Sunday 14th ,we will be back to Nicosia with a stop for a visit at Lefkara village,famous for its art of needlework (embroidery). http://www.cyprus.com/church-in-lefkara-village.html "
I got to the tree house community in Olympos Valley and I couldn't leave. I NEVER miss class (didn't miss one class last semester) and I skipped out on an ENTIRE week of class, cancelled my flight back and bought a new ticket home for Thursday morning with Kassidy. I guess there is a first time for everything; you just have to find what’s most important to you. I won't say more now because I'll blog later but let’s just say after 5 days in Olympos I feel so at peace with my life and I'm so grateful for what I've been able to see and do, not to mention the incredible people I have in my life.
As for now, I'm in the process of getting going again after 18 hours of travel last night. Took a nap and heated up some dinner but I still have to wash all my campfire clothes and then get packed for a weekend trip with the school tomorrow, 8am departure! We're going to the southern part of Cyprus, I've copied the informational email below (extracted times) so you can see what I'll have the chance to see and do.
Love and miss you all, I'll be blogging about Turkey asap with pictures and stories galore but for now back to this silly fast pace life ;)
"Starting from Nicosia we will drive to Limassol and visit Limassol’s Byzantine Castle (http://www.cyprus.com/limassol-castle.html ), while on our way to Paphos we will see the Kolossi Castle (http://www.cyprus.com/kolossi-castle.html ) which is said to be the best-preserved medieval castle in Cyprus.
After the Colossi Castle, we will drive to Kourion, the magnificent Greco-Roman theatre, one of the most spectacular archaeological sites of the island (http://www.cyprus.com/theatre-of-kourion.html ).
Last, but not least, before arriving to Paphos, we’ll go to Petra tou Romiou (“The Rock of the Greek”- which is the birthplace of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty). (http://www.cyprus.com/petra-tou-romiou.html )
When we arrive in Paphos we’ll have lunch and some free time at the harbor. After that, we continue our tour to the mosaics http://www.cyprus.com/pafos-mosaics.html
In the afternoon we will return to Limassol and go to our hotel.
Saturday the 13th you’ll have a free day and in the afternoon of Sunday 14th ,we will be back to Nicosia with a stop for a visit at Lefkara village,famous for its art of needlework (embroidery). http://www.cyprus.com/church-in-lefkara-village.html "
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Turkey tomorrow...
Hello familia & friends, the time has come for me to journey to Turkey and I couldn't be more excited. However, I'll admit to my frustrations at the moment, my roommate just bailed less than 24 before the trip, I've had to look up names and numbers for her to call and change reservations, make new reservations... after I did all the work and its rather draining and not to mention more expensive now. Plus our internet at home has been down which doesn't help! Oh well what can you do!
Tomorrow my flight leaves at 7am so we'll prob cross the city boarder this evening just to be safe and then be in Istanbul by 9am sharp! I can't wait to get there and explore for the 2 days we have in the city.
~If you didn't hear about the bombing in Istanbul a few days ago it would be worth looking up, your thoughts and prayers would be highly thought of during my travel~
Theeeen what I'm really excited about is my 4 days in Olympos tree house community. Uncle Eric and Dale told me about this place... tree houses, hiking, cliff jumping, swimming, anything you could imagine. I will be with my roommate Kassidy and she is the perfect partner in crime for this adventure... free spirit, fun, outdoorsy adventurous type!
This is the link to where I'm staying and the ones below it are other hosts/pictures in the same area... should be AWESOME!
http://www.bayrams.com/
http://www.olympostreehouses.com/kadirstreehouses/kadirs/olympos_adventure/index_en.htm
http://www.google.com/images?q=olympos+tree+house&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=P1DRTIrbGNCB4Qbo3syhDA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDUQsAQwAw&biw=1419&bih=715
Have a wonderful weekend everyone, I'll be home late Monday night my time (now 9 hours ahead of westcoast/Arizona)
Cheers,
Kayla
Tomorrow my flight leaves at 7am so we'll prob cross the city boarder this evening just to be safe and then be in Istanbul by 9am sharp! I can't wait to get there and explore for the 2 days we have in the city.
~If you didn't hear about the bombing in Istanbul a few days ago it would be worth looking up, your thoughts and prayers would be highly thought of during my travel~
Theeeen what I'm really excited about is my 4 days in Olympos tree house community. Uncle Eric and Dale told me about this place... tree houses, hiking, cliff jumping, swimming, anything you could imagine. I will be with my roommate Kassidy and she is the perfect partner in crime for this adventure... free spirit, fun, outdoorsy adventurous type!
This is the link to where I'm staying and the ones below it are other hosts/pictures in the same area... should be AWESOME!
http://www.bayrams.com/
http://www.olympostreehouses.com/kadirstreehouses/kadirs/olympos_adventure/index_en.htm
http://www.google.com/images?q=olympos+tree+house&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=P1DRTIrbGNCB4Qbo3syhDA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDUQsAQwAw&biw=1419&bih=715
Have a wonderful weekend everyone, I'll be home late Monday night my time (now 9 hours ahead of westcoast/Arizona)
Cheers,
Kayla
Monday, November 1, 2010
Visitor on my island!
My best friend took two trains, two planes, a shuttle and a taxi in order to visit me for 4 days, pretty incredible friend if you ask me. After 24 hours of travel (Italy-Greece-Cyprus) and little to no contact she walked into my apartment door Tuesday evening after my 6-9pm class got out.
We quickly planned out the few days we had together in Cyprus, tue-sat, and made the most of it; however, it really wasn’t about what we did and saw but more about the moments where we would tell stories and laugh so hard we cried, or being exhausted and thinking it was hilarious to wear certain attire around the city and even funnier when we ran into people we knew, ha! Shoot, traveling an hour to the beach to get out in the cold rain wearing our swimsuits was pretty entertaining as well. So here goes nothing…
Wednesday we got up and took a bus into city center and being typical Cyprus of course the bus was late, after all they just started a city bus system within the last six months. A group of about 10 of us went cinnabon, what we have in the states, so that was our first stop in city center. After that the other girls wanted to go shop and we’re not too keen on shopping so we took off by ourselves. We journeyed across the green line into the north, The Occupied Republic of Turkey, and I got so excited I said, lets travel to Kyrenia! So we sat at the little service taxi station waiting for enough people to fill a van and realized we really didn’t have enough time (class from 4-9pm), the workers were inside so we just made a quick 1-2-3 plan and made a break for it (totally unnecessary but hilarious) so within a second the Turkish men we’re yelling at us but there was no turning back, until the next day when we wanted to travel to Kyrenia! We got a real good laugh anyways, but I think the next day they were the ones really laughing.
We got in the service taxi (taxi that makes many stops and picks up others) and we were with the cutest, oldest, most wrinkly Turkish man with a little hat I’ve ever seen and a few other men. We kept stopping as bus stations, laying on the horn until someone joined… long story short this drive that took us 20mins with 7 Americans going directly to Kyrenia turned into a goose chance into the sketchiest areas of the north I’ve ever seen. Two young females in a rickity old van with 7 Turkish men winding up a one way road, passing Turkish army signs & army guys with guns, then no one at all and after an hour of this Tiffany turned to me and whispered, “are we going to die?” without hesitation I replied, “Yes.” Don’t be alarmed, we didn’t die. However by the time we made it we were both about to vomit within seconds. Guess the joke was on us after all! ; )
Once we were safely in Kyrenia, I took Tiff to my favorite and cutest little shop for some local bakeries. We got hallumi pitta boats, so delicious with freshly squeezed lemonade... all consumed overlooking the water from the third story of course. Then we adventured along the harbor were we heard the typical “gorgeous girls!!” “beautiful girls!” “come for a drink! You thirsty?” “Germany? Sweden?... ooooh Americaaaa.” you get the picture, it was quite funny. But it gets better, one came over to take our picture after he saw us struggling (which was really Tiffany trying to take a nice picture of us and me making a funny face in the background and almost peeing myself laughing). He took our picture and invited us for a drink on him and then he said in his broken English, last weekend you here? So embarrassing he recognized me and then I recognized I was wearing the same exact clothing! Called it time to go and told Tif and of course that lead to tears of laughter.
We explored the Kyrenia castle… skirt flew up in the wind flashing Tiffany, always an eventful time with us. It was nice though, we had the same interests and both agreed an ice cream stop was necessary. The dungeon was pretty cool. Then we took a taxi to a monastery overlooking the city, the same one I went to the weekend before. I wanted to buy some beautiful Turkish bowls and by the time I took 9359 years to do that the other place had just closed. We sat on a bench waiting for a taxi to drop someone off but instead I asked if she just wanted to walk down, she shrugged her shoulders and said sure, why not. So off we went on this walk, that I thought was about 4k’s (so not, more like 6 or 7) but it was eventful. First we passed a parked taxi, dogs scared the sh*t out of me (never been scared of a dog but if it would have got out it would not have been ok) saw a Turkish army guy holding a gun (also scared me) saw a dead cat…. Ok this walk sounds horrible but it really wasn’t! Beautiful view, exercise, free and constant conversation. But can I say the cat was in a ditch hard as a rock, all four legs sticking out, puffy and surrounded by flies, Tif thought I saw a dead body or something by reaction! We made it home(barely) and we were starving, went out for gyros for the second night in a row from the local place next to my apartments and it was sooooo good, Tiffany loved them!
Anyways to cut back to Wednesday when we ditched the taxi, we wondered the streets of the North. It was crazy, you could be walking down a road without any problems and then you’d make another turn and realize that was not the best choice. However, we did end up in a mosque. Going to a mosque with school friends vs. with Tiffany is quite different, we… ok maybe mostly me, think we’re pretty funny and it gets us into shenanigans. We put on the full dress and took off our shoes, I liked it to say the least – check out the pictures!
Friday we knew we had to make time for Halloween costume making so we took a short day trip to Larnaca beach. We found two friends at the bus stop doing the same thing and that’s when we got there in the rain. I thought it was hilarious, a “that would happen to me” moment but we really didn’t care, it’s always eventful regardless. So we walked the beach walk and decided KFC sounded and looked delicious! We basically made a trip for KFC, keeping Cyprus classy people : )
We got back and it was nap time, food time and costume time! I posted about Halloween so I won’t say too much but we had such an incredible time. Everyone was dressed up and the process of getting ready is always fun. However, the next morning came early and Tiffany had to leave me, sniffle sniffle. It’s okay though, in a few weeks we’re exploring Egypt together! Pretty incredible “friend” for a lack of better words, about 8 years and counting…
Feel free to click on pictures for a better look or view all... hope you enjoyed the pictures, they took forever to post! :D
We quickly planned out the few days we had together in Cyprus, tue-sat, and made the most of it; however, it really wasn’t about what we did and saw but more about the moments where we would tell stories and laugh so hard we cried, or being exhausted and thinking it was hilarious to wear certain attire around the city and even funnier when we ran into people we knew, ha! Shoot, traveling an hour to the beach to get out in the cold rain wearing our swimsuits was pretty entertaining as well. So here goes nothing…
Wednesday we got up and took a bus into city center and being typical Cyprus of course the bus was late, after all they just started a city bus system within the last six months. A group of about 10 of us went cinnabon, what we have in the states, so that was our first stop in city center. After that the other girls wanted to go shop and we’re not too keen on shopping so we took off by ourselves. We journeyed across the green line into the north, The Occupied Republic of Turkey, and I got so excited I said, lets travel to Kyrenia! So we sat at the little service taxi station waiting for enough people to fill a van and realized we really didn’t have enough time (class from 4-9pm), the workers were inside so we just made a quick 1-2-3 plan and made a break for it (totally unnecessary but hilarious) so within a second the Turkish men we’re yelling at us but there was no turning back, until the next day when we wanted to travel to Kyrenia! We got a real good laugh anyways, but I think the next day they were the ones really laughing.
We got in the service taxi (taxi that makes many stops and picks up others) and we were with the cutest, oldest, most wrinkly Turkish man with a little hat I’ve ever seen and a few other men. We kept stopping as bus stations, laying on the horn until someone joined… long story short this drive that took us 20mins with 7 Americans going directly to Kyrenia turned into a goose chance into the sketchiest areas of the north I’ve ever seen. Two young females in a rickity old van with 7 Turkish men winding up a one way road, passing Turkish army signs & army guys with guns, then no one at all and after an hour of this Tiffany turned to me and whispered, “are we going to die?” without hesitation I replied, “Yes.” Don’t be alarmed, we didn’t die. However by the time we made it we were both about to vomit within seconds. Guess the joke was on us after all! ; )
Once we were safely in Kyrenia, I took Tiff to my favorite and cutest little shop for some local bakeries. We got hallumi pitta boats, so delicious with freshly squeezed lemonade... all consumed overlooking the water from the third story of course. Then we adventured along the harbor were we heard the typical “gorgeous girls!!” “beautiful girls!” “come for a drink! You thirsty?” “Germany? Sweden?... ooooh Americaaaa.” you get the picture, it was quite funny. But it gets better, one came over to take our picture after he saw us struggling (which was really Tiffany trying to take a nice picture of us and me making a funny face in the background and almost peeing myself laughing). He took our picture and invited us for a drink on him and then he said in his broken English, last weekend you here? So embarrassing he recognized me and then I recognized I was wearing the same exact clothing! Called it time to go and told Tif and of course that lead to tears of laughter.
We explored the Kyrenia castle… skirt flew up in the wind flashing Tiffany, always an eventful time with us. It was nice though, we had the same interests and both agreed an ice cream stop was necessary. The dungeon was pretty cool. Then we took a taxi to a monastery overlooking the city, the same one I went to the weekend before. I wanted to buy some beautiful Turkish bowls and by the time I took 9359 years to do that the other place had just closed. We sat on a bench waiting for a taxi to drop someone off but instead I asked if she just wanted to walk down, she shrugged her shoulders and said sure, why not. So off we went on this walk, that I thought was about 4k’s (so not, more like 6 or 7) but it was eventful. First we passed a parked taxi, dogs scared the sh*t out of me (never been scared of a dog but if it would have got out it would not have been ok) saw a Turkish army guy holding a gun (also scared me) saw a dead cat…. Ok this walk sounds horrible but it really wasn’t! Beautiful view, exercise, free and constant conversation. But can I say the cat was in a ditch hard as a rock, all four legs sticking out, puffy and surrounded by flies, Tif thought I saw a dead body or something by reaction! We made it home(barely) and we were starving, went out for gyros for the second night in a row from the local place next to my apartments and it was sooooo good, Tiffany loved them!
Anyways to cut back to Wednesday when we ditched the taxi, we wondered the streets of the North. It was crazy, you could be walking down a road without any problems and then you’d make another turn and realize that was not the best choice. However, we did end up in a mosque. Going to a mosque with school friends vs. with Tiffany is quite different, we… ok maybe mostly me, think we’re pretty funny and it gets us into shenanigans. We put on the full dress and took off our shoes, I liked it to say the least – check out the pictures!
Friday we knew we had to make time for Halloween costume making so we took a short day trip to Larnaca beach. We found two friends at the bus stop doing the same thing and that’s when we got there in the rain. I thought it was hilarious, a “that would happen to me” moment but we really didn’t care, it’s always eventful regardless. So we walked the beach walk and decided KFC sounded and looked delicious! We basically made a trip for KFC, keeping Cyprus classy people : )
We got back and it was nap time, food time and costume time! I posted about Halloween so I won’t say too much but we had such an incredible time. Everyone was dressed up and the process of getting ready is always fun. However, the next morning came early and Tiffany had to leave me, sniffle sniffle. It’s okay though, in a few weeks we’re exploring Egypt together! Pretty incredible “friend” for a lack of better words, about 8 years and counting…
Feel free to click on pictures for a better look or view all... hope you enjoyed the pictures, they took forever to post! :D
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)