Sunday

Steph and I woke up at 7:45 and were walking to the bus stop at 8:00. We rode for maybe half an hour before getting off and walking to Starbucks. I forgot that Turkey is not like Senegal. American corporations have a sizable foothold here. We drank coffee while eating a sesame seed bagel thing that we bought from a cart outside, which was a weird combination of US/Turkey.

The English church was near Starbucks. The praise team was cool, and we sang a mix of hymns and contemporary songs. There were maybe a hundred people at that service, from multiple nationalities. The pastor preached on the qualities of a church leader, which was a bit weird because he never connected it to how we as the congregation could apply the message. Then we had Communion, which was awesome. That more than anything made me feel connected to the rest of the people worshipping, and got me thinking of all the awesomeness they are made of, and how this small group of believers could affect the rest of Istanbul.

After church Stephanie and I walked to a restaurant to eat the Turkish equivalent of fajitas. We talked about how Turkey makes people fat because the food is just so good. Then we walked around for a bit, and I bought a scarf. The main road where all of these things take place is notorious for being a place of protests, and sure enough, we passed an alley with a bunch of men listening to another man yelling about something. We hurried past.

We took "the fastest, warmest, and most joyful" subway to the river. We wandered through the spice bazaar and bought more souvenirs. At one stall, these American Fusion guys that Steph kind of knows stepped out to convince us to buy Turkish delight. Apparently they had a deal with the stall owner that for every sale they made, they would get a percentage off the enormous amount of Turkish delight that they had bought to take home. They tricked us into buying a kilo of the stuff mostly be offering. Stephanie is awful at haggling, because she doesn't do it. I stepped in and got a couple deals, but it is not a good haggling strategy to have a partner who is all too willing to pay full price.

Haggling is my strength. Weaving through crowds is Stephanie's. We went on a boat tour of the Bosphorus, and every time we pushed to get in line or get on the boat, Stephanie would end up ten people ahead of me, and I don't know how she does it!

The river was pretty. The electronic tour things we rented were pretty useless. I let Stephanie be my guide instead. She would point at something and say, "There's something famous!" Famous for what, I would ask. "I don't know. Oh look, there's something else famous!" We went to the boat cafe and bought coffee for me and chai for her. We ended the two hour tour sitting outside on the lowest deck, where I was torn between watching the waves break across the boat and watching a Turkish mother desperately try to keep her son's ears warm with his hoodie.

We got off that boat, then got on another that would take us to Asia. We landed at the dock that, three years ago, our team used all the time! We walked a little ways to our old fruit stand and got freshly pressed strawberry/orange juice. It was delicious!

We walked up the street to find our old hotel. Stephanie said, "It wasn't Hotel Nova, was it?" But it was! I pushed my way inside, and the hotel guy asked if he could help us. We explained that we had been there several years ago with a college group, and he claimed to remember us. We left without taking up his offer to sit, then walked to the main road to eat doner sandwiches.

We walked to another dock to find a boat that would take us back to Europe. We were both exhausted, and I fell asleep. Then we took a taxi back to her apartment, where I fell asleep again on her couch. Vonda joined us in finding Stephanie's friend Evin, who was going to be playing music at a cafe that night. We debated taking the car, and while we stood in the parking lot, like, five cats came up to be petted. Vonda and I cooed and petted, and Stephanie rolled her eyes. Vonda said that in a couple weeks, there would be a bunch of kittens wandering around! They live in a magical place!

We drove to the cafe, but Vonda had to immediately go back, because the girl they share the car with needed it. Stephanie and I went in the cafe, but Evin wasn't there. The girls who were there tried to explain, in Turkish, where she was. We walked down the street, turned right, and then...Stephanie said she didn't understand any instructions after that. We called Vonda to come pick us up before she'd gotten very far. We ended up back at the apartment, watching Thor on TV. But I was still dead tired, so I went to bed around 10 and slept for 11 hours.