Republic Holiday Weekend (Cumhuriyet Tatili)

I had a long, slow weekend this past weekend.  Saturday was Cumhuriyet Bayram (Republic Holiday) so, as a state employee, I got to take Friday off and have a 3-day weekend!

Friday was a beautiful day.  I woke up late and had a bit of a groggy start to the day, but eventually I got out and did a little brunch shopping.  Like I said, it was lovely out.   This view out of my window reminded me of those warm, happy days when I first moved to Yalova. It must have been in the 70s, and there wasn't a rain cloud in the sky. It was really nice.

As I walked back home with my bananas, pastry, eggs and milk, I passed by the kids park just up Gazi Pasha from my flat.  It was full of happy families and teens swinging the day away. Once I got home, I ended up making scrambled eggs and having a little Turkish Kahvalti (breakfast) smorgasbord. Yum!

On Saturday, Margot and Clayton headed up to Istanbul for the day/night.  Like many governments around the world, I am dealing with some budget deficits now (don't worry, Mom!!) so with austerity measures in mind, I stayed home.  I had a lovely, laid back day in Yalova.  Highlights included a 90-minute yoga practice (I'm really liking my "Power Yoga for Happiness" video. It's corny but really good.) and an adventure into town to find a bookstore.  I've been watching a ton of TV, but all I really wanted to do when I woke up on Saturday was read something. After going the wrong direction several times and getting myself into a confusing conversation (in Turkish, so doubly confusing) with a really nice third-year engineering student at Yalova University, I stumbled across Yalova Kitabevi--the Yalova Book House. Though there was a small selection of unabridged English books, I walked home with "The Merchant of Venice" and "1984."

Though I'm excited to read George Orwell, I started my Shakespeare after an evening talking to family and friends online. I sang happy birthday to Colin, caught up with Diana, saw Katie's lovely smiling face and Daniel's sad pancake-of-a-pumpkin, and planned a potential itinerary for the Turkey portion of Mom & Dad's summer adventure. Whew!! I was so busy for doing so little.


On Sunday, I got to work planning out my lesson for Monday. I went to Karizma (work) to create a practice test for my students and then I went "church shopping." This sounds funny because in fact there are no churches in Yalova, and I guess it is, but I just want to go somewhere on Sunday mornings. I miss Boe and St. James!  Anyway, I went church shopping and my first try was the Yalova's Merkez (central) Mosque. I've passed this mosque everyday since getting to Yalova, but I've never gone in! Maybe it's because I'm intimidated by the Star-Wars-esque metal dome or because the minarets are so pointy, but it's not exactly welcoming....

I was pleasantly surprised, then, to go inside and see a very nice, modern and pleasant space. The carpets were soft and warm, and pink, which I've never seen before in a mosque. The walls were white (like Ulu Mosque in Bursa) but they were decorated with Ottoman tulips cascading down from a medallion in the center of the ceiling which, interestingly, had God's name written in it in roman script.
The rest of the painted script was in Arabic, which is much more typical for a mosque.  I've never seen Roman script in a mosque before. There were two balcony levels for women, and the staircase going up to the uppermost level was spiraled. My favorite part, though, was the large stained glass windows which covered a significant portion of the front and side walls of the mosque. They let in really nice light and like the ceiling they were decorated with floral, Ottoman-like patterns (wish I'd brought my camera instead of just my iPod) and I think made the imposing blue exterior dome worthwhile.
(Really, I'm sorry about how dark this picture looks! I edited it, but this is as good as I can make it look.)

So, I hung out in my mosque for an hour or an hour and a half and journaled, making a list of the things I'm thankful for.  It didn't exactly feel like I was in church--the lack of friends and organ music was what I missed most--but I did make friends with a girl and I got to see/be part of a prayer service, so that was nice. All in all, I'd say a successful first shot at finding a new haunt for Sunday mornings.


...Speaking of haunts, yesterday was Halloween! Though I didn't dress up in costume, I did wear my one orange shirt to work, and I did lug my 20 lb (ok, 10 lb) jack-o-lantern into work with me.  She was a hit! My colleagues loved her and my students all took pictures of it (or of it and me!), some of which, I am sure, will wind up on facebook. Margot came in and borrowed the pumpkin her last hour, and apparently got the same reaction in her class. It really made it worth all the strange looks on my way to work. :-) --I carried it in a plastic bag, but everyone was still looking at me extra strangely.  Another bonus of having 35 students-- I had 35 people to whom to pawn off my excessive amount of pumpkin seeds.  I made classic salted ones, but also salty/sweet cinnamon ones and "spicy" cumin and paprika seeds.  I liked the spicy ones best.   Today is my students' second big test, so as review we did a little more Jeopardy.  If you want, you can test your wits against my students again.  Be warned, though, some of these grammatical concepts have gotten trickier! --I couldn't give them only treats on Halloween, after all. http://www.superteachertools.com/jeopardy/usergames/Oct201143/game1320007134.php  

All my love and happy Halloween!
-Annika