day numero uno from ISTANBUL

Hello everyone, it’s been truly lovely, here’s mi day numero uno BLOG posting from the enchanting land of ISTANBUL!

It’s wednesday the twenty third over here, sam and I have probably been here a total of ten hours thus far. I think it’s safe to say I’ve fallen for the place (ten hours!) The weather is surprisingly not so bad, probably in the upper eighties-ish, which usually tends to be somewhat problematic for my seemingly sensitive physique, yet I think I’ve been more distracted with my surreal surroundings to let it get to me; great! enchanting!

I’ve found it a challenge to nap in the day due to the heat, while we have the luxury of our own personal shower, staying cool hasn’t consumed too much energy or thought. I will say that it is naturally easier to not invest much energy or thought into anything other than sitting still and simply absorbing my surroundings; the euphoric energy of this land is beautifully overwhelming. I’ve been taking it slow in order to do just this. enchanting!

In the past four or so hours, we’ve seen Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque, around thirty-seven pretty-eyed Turkish men (in which the majority were very very charming,) and many Muslim looking tourist, as well as many other looking tourists, some good, some less good. We were provided a very good fruit filled breakfast at the hotel, and ate lunch at a genuine non-English-speaking Turkish café where I enjoyed an authentic Turkish brew. lovely! Living for the past four or so hours has not been so cheap, I decided to discontinue my habitual spending of useless items like beer, food, and the like. The most beautiful sighs are free and within view of our hotel, the oxygen is still free over here, in all, I think I’ll make it (financially.)

The langue barrier has been worlds more fun than I initially anticipated. In my experience, it seems that we all understand each other on a universal communication level, just smile and nod, and you can feel their happiness, thus illuminating any kind of awkwardness in the language barrier and enables much more comfort when stuggling with communication. When buying post cards at the Blue Mosque today, a nice Turkish man told me I was beauty. I introduced myself by pointing to myself and saying “sean” he pointed to his self and said what sounded like “saa-do-ou-k,” we then shook hands. After my purchase this man did not hesitate to kiss my cheek in gratitude of making a new friend. I later pieced it together that he was actually referring to the post cards at beautiful, as flattered as I was by this misunderstanding, my ego eventually recovered. This man only spoke one word of English to me “beauty.”

I’m now sitting on top of our beautiful hotel in Saltanhamet where the streets are constructed of charming narrow brick roads. It’s a heartthrob of a village town/ city. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I feel it’s a city yet, it lacks most of the more popular elements of our American cities minus the population part, I would say that’s where one terms it ‘city.’ The peoples hearts are as gold as their skin. I could spend five minutes writing and dissecting every minute spent in Istanbul as you can probably tell but every minute spent here is far too valuable, I must be on my way, for now, I leave you.
Easkim, elveda! (much love, good bye)
-sean

ps. There should be some pictures in the attached html in the album entitled Eastern Europe, from breakfast on top of out hotel, in front of aya sofia and inside the blue mosque, and the view from our hotel. my apologies about not including more info about the photos, time here is so damn valuable, this is such an incredible experience! much more to come!

http://picasaweb.google.com/SeanSchermerhorn/EasternEurope