Istanbul, Not Constantinople

Marhaba, everyone! I am back from Turkey and life is awesome. It's unbelievable how much we were able to pack into one week. Before you get too nervous, though, you can rest assured that I won't go into detail for all of the places we went to. Let me just give you an overview of my thoughts for the different elements of the trip.

Scenery: absolutely spectacular. Seriously, I knew virtually nothing about Turkey's landscapes before coming, but after being there for a week, I think I'm seriously considering retiring there. It was a wonderful blend of green and mountains and seas/beaches unlike any place I've ever seen.

History: Well, it's Turkey. Istanbul is there, Troy is there, ancient Greek ruins are there. I think my favorite places to see were Troy, Perganaum (the place mentioned in Revelation where the Seat of Satan supposedly is), and Ephesus, but I loved them all. I was surprised at how many Greek ruins there were--I mean, I knew that Turkey was next to Greece, but I hadn't quite put two and two together. I now feel much less of a need to go to Greece after seeing so many awesome Greek sites there (but you should know that the need to go to Greece is still quite present).

Me outside of the Blue Mosque at Istanbul

Troy, of course! 

One of the pillars at Perganaum

One of my favorites from the trip

Nike shirt and Nike statue

An ancient library at Ephesus--this was hands-down one of my favorite places of the entire trip.

The next few shots are from the Hagia Sophia church (now a mosque) in Istanbul. It was like being in the Sistene Chapel--it was that beautiful.

People: The people were great. Here's our tour guide, Bulent:

Bulent kept us laughing the whole time (which was good, since we spent a long time on the bus). He called Brother Judd "Mr. Judo" instead, so of course our theme song for the trip was "Hey, Jude." It was awesome. I also got to know the people in my Old Testament class so much better from the trip--they're all wonderful, in case you were wondering. It was a little weird to be tourists so much, since we're used to being more integrated into Jerusalem society. We lived it up, though, and sported our fanny packs, headsets, and sunglasses rather well. Thankfully we didn't look as bad as this guy:

Living Conditions: Sub-par. We stayed in pretty good hotels for the most part--they could have been way scarier/sketchier, but I think that all of us were relieved to go back to living at the Jerusalem Center after it was all over. I had an interesting diet of buffet bars that all served the same thing--"the best meatballs in all of Turkey." Just in case you're wondering, I think Ikea's meatballs are probably a lot better. We still had some good food, though, such as this:

It actually was pretty tasty. And no, I did not eat the head.

Then, there were the toilets:

Okay, so maybe those are ancient Roman latrines, and not the actual toilets we used. Actually, I wasn't pleasantly surprised at the toilets. "Turkish Toilets" had a pretty bad reputation before we got there, but I've seen much worse ones in Alabama and other fun places back home. *Ahem..* Moving on.

Spirituality: This one was a little bit of a surprise for me--it was less spiritual than what I was expecting. I guess with a Muslim tour guide, he didn't place as much emphasis on the Christian history of the place. However, I learned throughout the week to really try and focus on the spiritual elements, and it go so much better. I think my favorite spiritual site was the theatre at Ephesus--in case you don't remember, it was at this same theatre that 25,000 people yelled, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" for more than two hours. It was something special to see how there were ruins of the religion of Diana and the other Greek gods/goddesses, but the religion that Paul was trying to spread to the people of Ephesus was still going strong. We also had all 80 of us sing "All Creatures of Our God and King" together, which was so awesome. I had goosebumps, and I think everyone who heard us was deeply moved--it was wonderful to be able to praise God through song in a place filled with so much history.

"Brother Judo's" class at the theatre in Ephesus

Well! That pretty much sums everything up. If you have any questions on particulars, feel free to comment with a question... Or you can just email me. Thanks for your support! I love it here, and I love all of you.

Becca