Turkey May 17, 2011: Canakkale/Troy

The third day in Turkey was one of my favorites. After breakfast and packing up in Istanbul, we loaded the busses for a long drive down to Canakkale aka Troy. The drive was several hours long but it was nice to get in some extra sleep, listen to music and just hang out with people on the bus. Oh, and we also got to hear the stories of how the Muhlesteins met. Best. Story. Ever. We all feel so blessed to have such great leaders here at the Jerusalem Center. It's been great to see how much they care about us. What a great experience it is for me to be here. I'm learning so much and it has most definitely increased my testimony in many ways. 

Our first stop was to the ancient town of Troy to visit the legendary wooden horse. Despite the story being true or not it was a neat experience. We all hung around and took pictures in the horse (I'm the one   on the bottom level, in the box to the far right). Then we looked around the ruins of the ancient city. The remains of the city were excavated by a man who used Homer’s Illiad to locate the site, and who also took many of the valuable treasures he found there back to Germany with him. The ruins include a temple a temple, theater, and foundations. Today, recent wooden copy of the famous Trojan Horse symbolically stands on the site to recall its legendary original since long vanished. Our class acted out part of Homer's Iliad, which was really funny to watch. I was Hector's wife. It was really fun to act it out with the class. 

This was the only site we went to that day but it was great. On our way to our hotel we stopped along the Agean Sea and got to dip our feet in and play in the water. I love the water soo much so it was not only great to get out and stretch, but also to be in the water with everyone. 

Epic trojan horse! 

Me in front of a Troy I ruin! 

Group at Troy. 

Room slices enjoying Troy! 

That night we stayed in a hotel in Cannakale. The hotel was a little interesting but the town was amazing. The hotel was right on the water so we went and hung out for a few hours. There were a bunch of cute shops run by some of the local people. We also watched the sunset on the boardwalk, as a group. It was soo beautiful and so fun to watch together. We took fun and crazy pictures and just had a blast. I got some earrings as gifts to friends and family back home. It was just a fun night I'll always remember from this Turkey trip. What a good day :) 

Group out in the town at night. 

Watching the beautiful sunset. 

Me and slice!

:) 

Me, Jeehee and Angela. 

We were in love with this town. 

Turkey May 16, 2011: Istanbul

Sorry again for me stinking at blogging, but here's goes my Turkey trip. Let me tell you, Turkey is beautiful. I think we were all a little surprised on how pretty it was. Now I know why it is such a popular tourist place. I thought it was going to look more like Jerusalem in Israel. Israel is gorgeous but is turning a little brown, so it was nice to see a little greenery. It kind of reminded me of the coat in Georgia.... really green and  gorgeous along the water. Our trip was down the west coast of Turkey. Oh, and the sunset when we flew in was just gorgeous.

 We flew in to Istanbul on the 15th and on the 16th, so began our adventures in Turkey. On the 16th we went around the city of Istanbul. Istanbul is right along the Agean sea so it's this  city.  While driving around I was amazed of how gorgeous of a place Turkey is. Our first stop was to Topkapi Palace, which was built by Sultan Mehmet II after the conquest of Istanbul in the 15th century. This palace housed the sultans and their exotic entourage until the mid 19th century. The palace was very beautiful with a lot of gold architecture and interesting artifacts, like treasure, Chinese porcelain, and traditional clothing that the sultans and his family wore. The buildings are a group of structures with different works from successive periods of Ottoman reign. It was also neat to see preserved relics of the Prophet Mohammed.

Brother and Sister Muhlestein and I in front of the palace!

Look at the beautiful architecture! 

Model of what the Palace used to look like. 

Canton and I. 

Muhlestein bus group... Slytherin. 

Angela, Erica and I. 

Group outside the walls of the palace. 

View of the Bosphorus Straight off of one of the palace balconies. 

Next we stopped at the Blue Mosque, which was gorgeous! It's called the Blue Mosque because of its beautiful Iznik tiles on the inside. It was amazing and interesting to learn about.

Outside! 

Beautiful interior. 

Deidra, Angela & I. 

Matt and I. 

BJ, Josiah, Me, Josh & Angela. 

Girls in our scarves. 

:) 

Before lunch, we went to the Basilica Underground Cistern, a place built hundreds of years ago, which was used as an underground water storage unit.

Cool, huh? 

After lunch, we took a boat ride along the Bosphorus Straight. All of us really enjoyed the boat ride. It was kind of like being in 2 places at once because land on one side of the straight is a part of Asia and the other is a part of Europe. It was really fun hanging out with everyone. I got a little sea sick, but overall it was a great trip.

Jeehee, Ashton, Erica, Deidra, Me & Angela. 

Group enjoying the boat ride. 

Deids and I. 

Enjoying the cruise. 

Wayna and I. 

Kim Slice and I. 

Dinner was interesting too. It was right off of the Bosphorus Straight so we had an amazing view. It was a fish restaurant. I tried a nasty, super salty sardine and then our main meal was an entire fish- the skin, bones, eye balls and all. I loved the fish but it was funny to see the reactions of my friends who don't like fish at all.

worst. fish. ever. 

Our lovely dinner... haha, Angela hated it. 

Yummmm. 

It actually tasted pretty good. 

Oh, I forgot to mention that we also went to the Grand Bazaar, the largest street market in the entire world. It was interesting but we only got a half hour or so to shop around. On the positive side I got a cute scarf that I wear all the time now.

After checking into our hotel, we went into the city with our tour guide, Faati, to get some delicious baklava. It was great getting out and we got to ride the subway in Istanbul. I always love fun little experiences like this. Great day? I THINK SO.

Obama pan of baklava. 

Drew, Adam, Canton & I. 

Just enjoying us some yummy baklava. 

A Little Bit of Jeru... Free Day!

So I'm trying to catch up on my blogging... A week ago from today we had a full day of free time. It was great. I'm still trying to get used to the whole Saturday is the Sabbath thing. It's weird going from hanging out Friday night to church the next day and then Sunday being free time. It's a whole other culture but I LOVE it. Anyways, so a group of girls and I went out to the city for this past free day!
First we started off at the Dome of the Rock. It's an important Islamic mosque located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It's beautiful... not mention that It's apart of the view from our balconies at the Jerusalem Center.

Look at that beautiful dome...

Oh, just me in front of the Dome of the Rock. 

Group of us at one of the prayer gazebos. 

Beautiful architecture.  

Angela, Matt and I!

Next we headed to West JErusalem just to cruise around town. We did some shopping and looked around the open air market. We also tried Schwarma... It's basically a burrito with lamb! Sooo goood. I love West Jerusalem. It's very European feeling and a lot more modern feeling than East Jerusalem/ the Old City! Here are some more pics... 

Open Air Market :)


Oh, and I took a picture by flowers for my mama on Mother's Day :)

Mmmmmm... schwarma :)

Welcoming the Sabbath

Sorry everyone... I've been a little behind but It's finally catch up time. Let's go back a few days. Friday was an awesome day. First we had class. That was a little exhausting because we two 3 hours classes. The evening was amazing though. There's a place called the Western Wall, which is in the Old City of Jerusalem. Let me just show you how awesome it is....

It's right at the foot of the Temple Mount, by the Dome of the Rock and the Al Asqua Mosque, where Herod the Great's Palace used to stand. It's the last remaining part of the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem that was found over a thousand years ago. At the wall people people pray and sing songs to god. They also write down prayers, fold them up and put the prayers in the cracks of the wall. It's pretty interesting because at the wall, and also at synagogues, there is an area for men and women, I'm guessing as means of showing respect. On the men's side there were soldiers dancing and singing. After we were finished in the separated mens and women area, we went in the open area and danced with the soldiers. I don't know if anyone knows the song "Ride that Pony" but that's what we danced to, except in Hebrew. It was awesome. Although it was pretty scary because they were swinging their guns around... no worries, they weren't loaded so we were all safe. I think this experience made our group a little closer. It was neat to see the Jewish people come together and sing. On the Women's side, we danced and sang with them, welcoming the sabbath. It was amazing to see how excited and humbled them become when welcoming in the sabbath. It was a great experience for all of us. 

Oh and of course, naturally when we got back to the Jerusalem center, we had a dance party. It was pretty awesome. I just love Jerusalem! 

Busy, Busy, Busy

Hey guys! So I have been super busy lately. Here are a bunch of pictures that are highlights from the past few days. I'll blog more about them soon....

Mmmm Turkish Delight in the Old City. 

Group in front of a grotta at Promenade. 

Roomiess! 

Roomies in Synogogue at Nabi Samuel

Nabi Samuel

Lizzie & I in front of Bethleham view 

Brother Muhlstein's adorable daughter Sabrina! 

View of Gibea of Saul- Saul's Palace

Streets of the Old City

Shaban's Souvenir shop!