Merry Christmas!!!I have had a unique and overall lovely Christmas. A brief run-down of events, followed by pictures, of course, so that you all can get back to your presents and family time:
On Thursday, we Yalova Fulbrighters went to our friend Deven's house. Deven and her boyfriend, Firat, had come to our Thanksgiving party, and they in turn invited us to their Chirstmas one. Deven cooked a beautiful turkey, and she and Firat's mother, Jasmine, had spent all day Thursday concocting Turkish treats for us, including dolmas (grape leaves), a carrot-yogurt salad, vegetarian stuffing, and mashed potatoes and gravy. Yum! It was all superb! I brought along wine and spices for glogg--which was fantastic, if I may say so--and Margot brought really cute, absolutely delicious Christmas cookies she'd made.
Deven's party was really nice. I got to meet of her and Firat's Turkish friends there. It was really nice, though to be at a solely-"Christmas" event where we could share stories of our families traditions with some people who didn't know much about Christmas other than kitchy Christmas songs.
On Friday, Margot and I woke up a bit early and took the morning ferry to Istanbul. While crossing the Marmara, a storm came up, which would last the rest of the day and into Saturday. Rain, rain, rain! It looked just like Oregon in December! I didn't exactly like how my jeans got soaked or how i was afraid my umbrella would break from the wind, but it did seem like Christmas. Because of the weather, we took a taxi straight from the ferry to our hotel, the Marmara Pera.
Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa Tohlen, Eric, Shannon and your family, Ben and Megan, and Mom and Dad for helping me stay here! The Marmara Pera was absolutely lovely. Our room had the best possible view of Istanbul, and a great location for church last night and wandering all weekend. It was warm, luxurious and the front desk had Christmas cookies we could eat all weekend.
My Friday was pretty low-key. After checking in early, Margot and I hid from the rain inside. I did some grading and we watched some winter sports on TV. When we ventured out into the rain, it was for dinner at a great Indian restaurant off of Istiklal. We met a few other Fulbrighters there who were also in Istanbul for Christmas. After dinner, we went to Aslanim, our favorite bar in Beyoglu. I was happy to be able to facetime with Mom and Dad once I got back to the room. They showed me the tree and I "helped" Mom wrap a present for Megan. It was nice to be part of the flow of things even if only for a few minutes.
Saturday felt like a long day. I met Clayton and Margot at Hala, and after our lunch, I went to Starbucks for a hazelnut hot cocoa and to finish up my grading. Margot and I went to an 8 o'clock service at the Anglican church near the Sishane Metro stop. It was a really nice service in an a beautiful location. --An intimate Anglican church built in the mid-1800s by Constantinople's British colonial/ex-pat community.
After the service, Margot and I walked back up Istiklal to meet Clayton for dinner at our Meyhane of choice--Zubeyir Ocakbasi. There, we ate, drank and were merry, following the directions of the Anglican minister whose message in his sermon was to "not be a Scrooge" or cling to unimportant human ideologies, but to love one another and embrace the gift of community and togetherness.
Because we got to dinner so late, and because Turkish meyhane feasts are so long, we were still at the restaurant when Christmas day began. We toasted the Christ child and one another with our glasses of raki.
Christmas day, proper, was great. We woke up late-ish and Margot was nice enough to go out and bring back simit and Starbucks for the three of us. We ate and drank breakfast together in our living room and appreciated the beautiful scenery outside our window. It was finally a beautiful day today.
After breakfast, we opened presents. You all will be happy to hear that I got a beautiful Turkish cookbook, so if you notice my Turkish Tuesday posts getting a bit more sophisticated, you have Mr. Thomas to thank for that. Staying true to our Yalova-lifestyle we watched the Christmas episode of Parks & Rec after presents, and then a few more episodes. I wanted to get back out to Istiklal, though, so I pulled myself away from the computer and went back to the Catholic church I'd visited yesterday, to snap these pics for you:
Here is the courtyard outside of the Cathedral. Today, like yesterday, it was flowing with Turks and foreigners who wanted to come appreciate the decorations in the church...or maybe to pay their respects to Mary--the only woman in the Qur'an to have a whole chapter written about her--and Jesus, their very important prophet. :-) In the garden, was a little 3/4 life-size diarama of the stable with a very nice manger scene. Inside the church was a more elaborate, but smaller diarama of the Christmas story--complete with a star of Bethlehem, sheperds, and what looked like a German forest scene (spotted deer, mushrooms and pine trees). I love Chrismas diaramas!
Merry Christmas to you all, god jul and frohe weinachten!
i totally went to this church!
ReplyDelete