Pazar

Olives!!

My first day here was wonderful! We visited Nine (great grandmother who's real age nobody knows, best guess is 107). She is quite a beautiful woman and you can tell she is right in the threshold of the world of the flesh and the world of the spirit. Grandma (in Turkce called babaanne) and grandpa (dede) were both in the room visiting as well so I got to meet a lot of family at once :) We had a relaxing day and I fell asleep quite early.

Tuesday we went to the Tuesday bazaar (pazar) which is pretty big, historic, and crowded :) There was a lot of fresh produce as well as a variety of clothing, art, and household wares. I wish we had more places like these in the U.S, but I guess that's the whole point of Eastern Market so it's just a matter of time before we have more and more markets as a part of life.

After the Tuesday bazaar we walked to a beautiful little street where we had some lunch. The lunch was absolutely delicious! It's a common Turkish food called Kumpir and it's a baked potato filled with your choice of toppings. The atmosphere of the place was what attracted me to it and the people. The owner's wife was there and she was such a sweet lady! The whole little cafe had a very family like feel and it was cozy. Then we went to a nargileh place (hookah tobacco) and met with a few of Atilla's old high school friends. It was a lovely evening and his friends are all so sweet and interesting!

Departure- Arrival

First of all I'd like to report that we are here in Istanbul! We made it after all!

Our adventure to get here was amazing, incredible, and quite unbelievable. If you've already been following our trip, then you know we've been delayed 1 week for our flight to Istanbul. So we can start from the following Saturday which was our 3rd attempt to fly to Istanbul. We made it into the airport, had a very easy breezy check-in, and arrived very early. Then, as we sat we realized that flights around us were being delayed and cancelled left and right due to the foggy weather. We braced ourselves for another cancellation, but tried to hold on to our hope! Our plane arrived late because of the weather and because the plane's weather radar device was malfunctioning. When the plane arrived they had to get a new weather radar device flown in from Cincinatti which delayed our plane even more. Since our plane was delayed we were going to miss our connecting flight in Paris, so we had to reschedule for a later flight.

Everything was taken care of and we took off for Paris. Our plane ride was great and we arrived to Paris ready to have a little bit of time before our next flight to get to the gate, freshen up, and leave. Our flight number was called and everyone lined up for the boarding, but no less than 1 minute after the announcement, we were told that we needed to wait 15 minutes because there was a delay. At this point it was unclear why there was a delay and how long it was going to last, so the stewardess frequently updated us. We then found out that the Air France workers decided to go on strike at that very moment, so we would have to wait. It turns out that in France you may have a strike for an hour if you please and then you continue working. So after an hour of much sleepiness in the Paris airport we boarded the plane and then landed in Turkiye.

Once we arrived I easily obtained a 90 day tourist visa, went through the passport line, collected our luggage and we met Atilla's dad (Melih) and brother (Can, pronounced Jon). We were told by them that their car broke down 5 times on the way to get us (which had never happened to them before) and so they called Atilla's uncle for help and picked us up in his uncle's car. Then we headed to home. Atilla and I pondered the spiritual reasons for such a trip and it certainly seems that our spirits needed some purification so we received our tests. I think this was a very valuable experience for us and I feel very grateful for our chance to grow :)

It is very late here right now, but I just wanted to let everyone know that we are here and happy. I have a lot of pictures from today and much more to share, so I will try to write again tomorrow. Tomorrow night is Feast so I'm sure I will have so much more to share after my first Feast in Istanbul.

Marisa

On the road again

So we are about to leave to spend the night with our friends Pavel, Eranda, and Marina in Philadelphia. Hopefully this time we will be on our way to Turkey tomorrow evening! Next post, hopefully, will be from Istanbul :) Keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Patience is a virtue

Sunday, Atilla and I braved the terrible roads with the help of our friend's 4 wheel drive truck and we made it to the Lancaster train station. We were so happy to have at least made it to the first part of our travel experience. Then we purchased our train tickets to Philadelphia, which was promptly delayed, so we waited. Then we got to Philadelphia, purchased our Septa tickets to get the airport and our Septa train was delayed. Once we finally got to the airport we went to the Delta check-in and realized that the line was so long for the check-in that it spanned the entire check-in area from one end of the building to the other end (where American Airlines is situated). There was barely room to breathe and it was chaotic and confusing. Atilla noticed a girl who looked Turkish and started speaking to her. She found out through the internet on her phone that our flight had been cancelled yet again! This time we were all the way at the check-in!

I feel really terrible for Atilla. He hasn't been home for 3 years and he finally wants to go home and he only has a certain amount of time off, and now we have to wait until Saturday Dec. 26 for our flight. He was quite frustrated yesterday, but we just decided we would head back to Lancaster the next day and he would go to work. We both felt really odd being at home since we had mentally prepared ourselves to be elsewhere, but today feels more normal.

The nice thing is that we get to spend more time with friends here in Lancaster and we have such a wonderful community to come home to. Yesterday when we got home, Atilla went to work and I walked to Cheryl's store (Expressly Local) because we had no food in the house. Cheryl and Atayehu were so surprised to see me! We had such a warm exchange and Atayehu was even able to give me a ride home (I had a heavy bag full of food for us to eat for the week) and she gave us some of her delicious food to eat. I will probably go to Central Market today and surprise Laura too!

I hope the weather this weekend is sunny and clear!

~Marisa

s-n-o-w

Yesterday when I read the weather reports it said something like 2-4 inches of snow for today. I thought, gee only 2-4 inches we'll be fine, I'm sure we'll get to travel tomorrow. As the day went on and the weather reports came in it seemed we had little hope of arriving in Istanbul.

Today we woke up to a blanket of snow!! We found out our flight had been cancelled, but luckily Delta rescheduled us for the same flight for the following day (with no charge, dang right). I'm sad we are losing out on a day in Turkey, but we could certainly use this time to relax a bit, pray, meditate, and mentally prepare ourselves for our trip.

I hope you'll all send good thoughts our way so that we may leave tomorrow without delay!

Oh how I long to travel...

A few prayers, quotations, holy writings on travel:

O God, my God! I have set out from my home, holding fast unto the cord of Thy love, and I have committed myself wholly to Thy care and Thy protection. I entreat Thee by Thy power through which Thou didst protect Thy loved ones...to keep me safe by Thy bounty and Thy grace. Enable me, then, to return to my home by Thy power and Thy might. Thou art, truly, the Almighty, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.
Baha'u'llah

The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath ones feet.
Lao-Tzu

You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.
Buddha