Turkey

Last night we arrived in Istanbul. For the past 7 days we have been traveling around Anatolia, staying at gorgeous hotels and seeing ruins. There were lots of highlights. Making pickles with the locals, going to an olive oil factory museum, going to a hot springs and staying at a 4-star hotel with thermal pool, going to the beach for an afternoon, and seeing all the towns and various ancient establishments. The food here is really delicious! In Turkey, meat is a main part of the diet. They have something called meatballs, except instead of being round, they are little strips of seasoned ground meat. They are really tasty and I have eaten them a lot. Turks also eat a lot of shish kabobs and flat bread. Last night we ate at a little pizza place which is also common. Since coming to turkey, I am now in love with black tea. They serve it in little glass cups shaped like fat hourglasses. Apple tea is really good too, served again in the small glass cups. One of the things I don't like about Turkey is the women's role in public. It is very rare to ever see a girl driving a car or working in a restaurant or store. It also puts a damper on how women get treated by men on the street. For example, there are lots of random strangers who have called out to me, and other girls on the trip. They will just come up to you and ask you where are you from, but usually they just want you to buy something. Instead of mostly talking, I usually get the stares. When even the entire group is walking about, men stare at the women and it makes things really uncomfortable. The shop keepers are even more obnoxioius, and they just yell at you to buy something or that they have the best and cheapest of them all, but usually they try to start up a convorsation so they can lure you inside the store. Other than that, it's been one of my favorite countries so far!

Julia