Istanbul: I’ve Been Grand Bazaared

After going west for Christmas, I decided to venture east, well southeast, after the New Year. I began my journey by taking three trains to get to Bucharest, via another volunteer’s site, and then a plane to Istanbul.


I was excited to visit Istanbul because it is so different from any other place I’ve ever visited. Just flying into the city allowed me to see how vast, sprawling and crowded it is. There are people everywhere. Given the travelling we had to do to get there, we decided to have an easy first day after checking into our hostel. We took the tram across the bridge to Taksim and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset from the Galata Tower balcony. This city is truly breathtaking and the Tower provides a wonderful panorama of the entire landscape.


Wednesday was our sightseeing day in the old part of the city, Sultanahmet. Our first stop was the Hagia Sophia. First, a Byzantine Church originally built in 360 AD, then a mosque from 1453 until 1931. I spent most of my visit trying to rack my brain for the date of the Nicene Council, 325 AD for those of you wondering, to know if the original Church was built as purely Christian or as Orthodox after the split from Rome. I was correct in my guess that it was originally an Orthodox Byzantine Cathedral. The building itself is mind-blowing. I could easily see how it was the largest cathedral in the world for thousands of years. The inside is a peculiar melding of Christian and Islamic elements, from the ancient mosaics in the upper gallery to the large Arabic language paintings attached to the unbelievable domed ceiling.



While waiting for the Blue Mosque to open from one of the five daily sessions for prayer, we wandered around Hippodrome Park. It was amazing to see an ancient Serpent column from Delphi standing next to an ancient Egyptian obelisk and the Kaiser Wilhelm Fountain. The juxtaposition of these items made me feel just how old this part of the world is. We had a light lunch and then found the Basilica Cistern, which is an underground water system. Of note, the mysterious upside down Medusa head sculptures. There is so much influence from Rome and Greece in Istanbul. It truly was and is a place where East meets West.


The Blue Mosque and the Süleymaniye Mosque, which we visited the following day, we extremely interesting since they are both beautiful historical structures as well as continue to be fully functioning religious meeting places. When prayers are not taking place, visitors are welcome to enter and gawk at the beautiful and intricate Iznik tiles that decorate the walls and ceilings. It was especially wonderful to be outside the Mosques when the call to prayer started. It was interestingly calming and surprising every time we heard it.




On Thursday, we decided to brave the Grand Bazaar and do some souvenir shopping. By this point we were pretty used to saying no to carpet sellers and we knew what we wanted to buy before we entered, ready to haggle ourselves a good deal. Aisles and aisles of scarves, rugs, leather goods, and jewelry; the Grand Bazaar is a place you can easily get lost in. After some success, we ventured to the Spice Bazaar, as we were told there were more touristy wears to be bought there. The colors and crowd of the Spice Bazaar were overwhelming and very much what I had imagined. We made some quick purchases and escaped back over the river to Taksim for dinner.


We left a major attraction for our last morning in Istanbul: Topkapi Palace. Once the residence for Ottoman Sultans, now it is a museum where you could spend hours closely examining tiled and painted murals, the royal jewel collection, and a collection of royal garments, all on the beautifully manicured grounds of the palace. I could have spent all day there exploring. My favorite highlights included the tiles of the Circumcision Room and Baghdad Kiosk in the fourth courtyard, which also displayed beautiful views across the Bosphorus to the Asia side of the city. Another favorite was the Privy Chamber which housed many holy relics including Moses’ staff and Joseph’s turban; the cynic in me questions the legitimacy of both these items.



This short visit to Istanbul was enough to whet my appetite for the region. I would love to explore more of Turkey and its intricate and varied history and culture.

Budapest: Have You Lost That Christmas Feeling?

Recent conversations with fellow Volunteers have allowed me to conclude that we all have similar feelings of stagnation at this point in our service. As birthdays and holidays, big events like weddings, births, and deaths; we are reminded that while we have been here, in Romania, with basically the same routine for a year and a half, life has continued on without us. Now, technology has allowed us to stay in touch more easily than ever before, so when we do return home, it won’t be a big shock, rather it will feel like we are two years behind schedule.

To combat the lackluster feeling of last year, spending Christmas alone in Romania, Marta and I decided to venture west to Hungary. We had heard great things about Budapest and were excited to visit the city for the holidays. I hoped snow and lights and shoppers and that special Christmas feeling.

What I learned was threefold. One, Budapest is FREEZING in December, whether there is snow or not. Two, travelling at Christmas allows you to meet other tourists travelling at Christmas while you all bemoan nothing being open on the actual Day. Finally, three, that special Christmas feeling cannot be concocted by anything other than being with family, no matter what Macy’s, Apple and Times Square want you to believe.

Although it doesn’t feel like I had a Christmas, I did have a splendid time in a new exciting place with a wonderful friend and travel buddy. To begin, we channeled Betty and Judy of White Christmas and booked a sleeping car on a night train to Budapest. Let me tell you, American trains in the 1950s may have been more comfortable than Romanian trains in 2011. It was certainly an experience; one I don’t really wish to repeat.


Arriving on the morning of the 23rd, we checked in and ventured out into the freezing cold fog. Every inch of me was thankful for the long underwear my Dad gifted me with last year. We perused the Great Hall Market for trinkets, passing up the fresh produce and deli cuts, tried and failed to pronounce anything in Hungarian, and enjoyed a light lunch by splitting a gravy-filled baked potato. Our hotel was right off the main shopping road, so we followed it down to the Christmas market at Vörösmarty Square. Little booths with handicrafts ringed trees decorated with lights and pavilions selling traditional Hungarian food and, of course purchased some mulled wine in a commemorative festival mug. My favorite sighting was a Hungarian Church choir performing Joyful, Joyful with a large middle-aged man taking the Lauryn Hill lead.


We decided to spend Christmas Eve partaking in one of Budapest’s famous past-times. Equipped with a voucher from our hotel, we spent the morning and early afternoon popping in and out of various thermal pools at the Szechenyi Bath House. A hundred year old building in the middle of the city park holds three outdoor pools, my favorite, and fifteen indoor ones, ranging from lukewarm pools to extremely hot saunas. After pruning for a few hours and feeling thoroughly refreshed we ventured through the park, stopping at Vajdahunyad Castle and Hero’s Square before dinner and an early return to our hotel to get ready for a Christmas Eve church service.



Marta discovered a magazine article about an English-speaking Scottish Presbyterian Church in Budapest with an interesting history and a timely 11:30 p.m. service we could attend. After spotting the street St. Columba’s was on earlier that day, we were confident that we could walk there, giving ourselves an hour for any complications. Needless to say, it was difficult to find. Communism had stripped many religious buildings of any indication that they were, in deed, churches, so we walked by it a few times before Marta found the small plaque indicating it was what we were looking for.

Since we were a few minutes late, we decided to just sneak in and sit in the back. This is the part in the movie where the doors, all three of them, squeak really loudly when you open them. Then you open the last door to the actual sanctuary and instead of a congregation of 90 families as the article had stated; there are ten people sitting in a semi-circle around the altar table. And, of course, everyone turns to stare at the two sniffling American women as they try to take off their gloves and hats without too much commotion and make their way up the aisle to the chairs the minister rushed to add dead-center to the circle.

Luckily, after our abrupt entrance, we jumped right into the most awkward rendition of O Come O Come Emmanuel I have ever participated in and a children’s sermon, complete with puppet, for the one child in attendance. The highlight of the service was when the minister stopped and restarted Still the Night, the British version of Silent Night, because even he flubbed the alternative lyrics.


Christmas Day was our only clear day, which made it perfect for crossing the many bridges of the Danube over to the Buda side of the city. Buda Castle and Palace are high on a hill that overlooks the river and Pest beyond. My favorite was the Gothic Matthias Church with its intricate carvings and amazing tiled roof. Build into the hill below is the Fisherman’s Bastion which afforded us some great views across the Hungary’s Parliament building.


We spent another day and a half wandering the streets of Pest, enjoying the Christmas markets and relaxing. It was a great way to detox from the semester and enjoy a different culture for a few days.

How Helpful Signs Can Be

Despite all the beautiful scenery, richly historical sites and varied ways of life that Romania has to offer, the one overlying theme of my Dad's visit to Romania was that road signs, or a lack thereof, can be completely confusing and frustrating. Luckily, Dad was patient enough and a great driver, so renting a car and navigating the sometimes epically rough terrain of Romanian roads, didn't end in our terrible demise. I did learn that there are positives and negatives to both public and private transportation in Romania.

After meeting my Dad in Bucuresti on Sunday (and finding our hotel by following McDonald's signs) we headed back to Comanesti for a couple days. Dad got to attend a class and meet my counterparts. It was interesting to see my two worlds meet. After visiting my weekly piata, we ventured to a local dam and decided to go for a scenic drive around the lake. This turned into long, slow trek over the Carpathian Mountains into the Hungarian-speaking Hargita County. It was a beautiful, if not anxiety inducing, drive.


Thursday we began our cross-country expedition, winding our way through Neamt County among the changing leaves of Ceahlau National Park up to Maramures, the northern most region of the country. We spent the night in Sighetu Marmatiei right on the Ukrainian border. Maramures is known for its wooden churches and traditional dress. We read some ironic epitaphs at the Merry Cemetery and were astounded by the story of an imprisoned resistance fighter we met at the Museum and Memorial for Prisoners of Communism in Sighet. His story was very moving and I tried to translate the best I could as he pointed out his parents, sister and himself on the wall of imprisoned resistance fighters. It was a sobering moment in a very historically rich place.

Saturday we ventured to a fellow volunteer's Transylvanian site for a short break from driving before visiting some beautiful towns near Sibiu and even hiking to some Dacian ruins as night was descending faster than we could descend the hill. A late dinner of a shared Peasants' Platter filled us with five different types of pork and enough sodium to make any cholesterol-concerned doctor weep.

The next day we logged many of Transylvania's fortified churches from Sibiu to Brasov. The most impressive one was in the small village of Biertan; the church lending itself to any fairytale princess daydream. We lunched in Sighisoara, the birthplace of Vlad Tepes and an impressive citadel-city, complete with schools, churches, hotels and restaurants within the walls.

Monday and Tuesday were spent at the Danube Delta. By staying in a pensiune (bed & breakfast) we had a much cozier experience than at a hotel. We were greeted with tuica, though probably not as strong as the palinca in Maramures, and shortly introduced to the woman who would be cooking all our meals and the man who would take us out on that boat to see the Delta and the Black Sea. We got to try some traditional Deltan fish cooking and the scenery during the boat ride was gorgeous.

There are so many varied landscapes in Romania for such a small area. It was wonderful to see and compare them all in such a short amount of time. And it was amazing to share a little of my experience here and some of the Romanian culture with my Dad.

Summer Recap Two

Lara Visits Romania:
One thing that made returning to Romania from my amazing trip to London more bearable was the fact that Lara was coming to visit the next day! We had two wonderful weeks of relaxing in Comanesti and touring some Romanian hot spots. It was so great seeing someone from home and sharing Romania with Lara.

Sighisoara:

We spent a rainy 4th of July at the birthplace of Vlad Tepes (Dracula). Sighisoara is based in Transylvania around an old German citadel on a hill with a gorgeous clock-tower and a few of its old guild towers.

Bran:

The next day we ventured to Brasov and after a few buses and lots of questions and help from a couple old bunicas, we made it to Castelul Bran, the medieval castle that Bram Stoker’s Dracula Castle is based on. Although Vlad Tepes was never actually in Bran, the castle still has a lot of significance in Romanian history.

Constanta:

Lara and I also spent a few days in Constanta, Romania’s main port on the Black Sea. There is another volunteer, Stephani, who lives in Constanta and was kind enough to let us stay at her apartment so we could enjoy the beaches and relax for a few days. There is more diversity in Constanta than in a lot of the country due to its proximity to Turkey and the East.

Summer Recap One

Time here is slippery. It bends and warps in such a way that I can’t grasp it solidly. This is my attempt at a poetic apology for not updating about my truly exciting and absurdly busy summer.

London: I spent six days in London to kick of my summer. Jessica, Jocelyn and I were able to pack in almost every tourist spot imaginable into our trip and still have time to attend the Glee concert on Saturday. It was wonderful to be in a place with so much history and such diversity! I was so excited to speak English and eat Indian food. Traveling to common tourist destinations as a Peace Corps volunteer is interesting because there is such of juxtaposition of wanting to visit regular tourist attractions and experience first world comforts.

Trip highlights:
Westminster Abbey.

I loved the combination of beautiful architecture, religious reverence and deeply rooted history that Westminster Abbey instills in its visitors. Being able to tour the church at your own pace with a head set allowed me to focus on the aspects (history) that interested me most. My favorite place in the Abbey was Poet’s Corner where Shakespeare and many other great authors and composers are buried.

Globe Theater:

I have a great appreciation for Shakespeare’s timeless stories. Touring the Globe Theater offered a magnifying glass to Shakespeare’s London and the Elizabethan period his plays embody. Our tour guide provided many interesting details and seeing the intricately replicated theater house was wonderful.

Tower of London:

Jocelyn and I were lucky enough to have a tour with the Tower’s first and only female Beefeater. She was extremely knowledgeable and hilarious. Of course, the Crown Jewels were breathtaking, and the monument to the executioner’s block and church where Anne Boleyn was beheaded and buried was particularly interesting.

St. James’s Park and Soho Square:

After a busy week and even busier Saturday, Jessica and I spent a relaxing Sunday and a few different parks. St. James’s Park is beautiful and situated centrally between Buckingham Palace and St. James’s Palace, where Prince Charles and family live. Soho Square was possibly my favorite place in London. There was such an eclectic range of people just sitting and chatting on a Sunday afternoon. It was a great place for relaxing and people watching.

Cultural Differences and Worry

I’ve lived truly alone for over a year now. I still don’t think of myself as an adult. But when I see myself through others’ eyes, I sometimes catch a glimpse of my reflection and am surprised by what I see. Yesterday I spent the day in Onesti and took a mid-afternoon train home. My behavior on public transportation has become almost a ritual these past sixteen months. Don’t make eye contact, watch my baggage and try not to look too American. I mind my own business and try not to draw attention to the fact that I don’t have a complete grasp of the language here. For the most part, I can travel around with relative ease and few incidents.

Yesterday, however, was another story. As chose my seat in the train car yesterday, I began my ritual like usual, putting my bag in the seat across from, my purse at my side and opened up my book. Across the aisle, a girl a few years younger than me sat down and a middle-aged man sat in the seat across from her. I couldn’t tell if they knew each other or not.

As the train pulled away from the station it became apparent that they did not know each other. The man started a conversation with the girl and the girl politely answered his question. As our train moved slowly up my little valley, the man invaded more and more of the girl’s personal space; finally moving to sit on the bench next to her, uncomfortably close. I watched out of the corner of my eye as the man continued pressing closer and the girl said please move and cowered toward the window. No one else in the train car seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.

When I saw the man’s hand go up the girl’s skirt, I knew I had to act. I stood and turned the man by the shoulder, said excuse me and waved the girl to the seat across from me. The girl, looking greatly relieved, took a book from me and we resolutely ignored the man as he tried to engage both of us in conversation. After a minute he left the car and I introduced myself to the girl as an American volunteer and English teacher. Her English was very good and we chatted until the man came back and tried to figure out what language we were speaking. He tried to sit next to me and I said no loudly and moved so there was not enough room. After that he left the car for good.

All this time, no one else in the packed train car did anything to acknowledge that the girl had been harassed or that I had stepped in. The girl was extremely grateful and I’m very glad to have met her. I hope if she finds herself in a similar situation again she has the courage to stop it and remove herself from it. The whole incident left a bad taste in my mouth and makes me worry about how common an occurrence this is, if no one else was willing to step in.

Time Flies

In the past two months I've been away from my site more than I've been home (which subsequent posts will illustrate). The end of school and lots of traveling this summer have made time fly by. I can't believe I have only one year left of my service. I'm still learning and experiencing new things. Right now I'm relaxing and enjoying a little down time before some more activities before the school year starts up. I'm excited to see all my students again and hear about their summers!