Nepal, Feb 13 - 21 (we're halfway there!)

Hello again!

Today is Feb 21rst, which means I am officially halfway through my 6 months! I was flipping back and reading my journal entries from the first few weeks and it seems like not that long ago. I still remember sitting in Pearson airport and not even believing that I would be gone for 6 months, that I had the whole journey ahead of me still! Lisbon, Dusseldorf and Istanbul seem like they were yesterday, and I can't believe it's been 6 weeks since Alyssa left, how can time have gone that fast? I thought today was important to do an update, because tomorrow is Losar, Tibetan New Year, and I'm just going to have so many pictures and stories from that alone!

So what have I done since I last talked to you? I bought a purple and pink yak wool blanket, which is the softest and most amazing thing ever. I wish I could send hundreds of them home! I also bought a new rain jacket and threw away my ten year old Columbia shell :( (yes, Mom, it is finally gone!). I skyped with my main man for Valentine's Day, though I ate all my chocolate before he came online (we were supposed to eat it together, but I have no will power). I love skyping, it means so much to be able to see and hear everyone. The rest of V-Day was excellent, we had spinach for lunch, which always makes me happy (I am acutely aware at how few green veggies I consume here, so whenever I get the opportunity I just stuff my face with them). Speaking of stuffing my face, I realized that I had no idea how much rice I was consuming... I mean, I knew it was a lot, but I was curious how many cups I actually ate per meal. So, I got out my calculator, did some number crunching and then actually made paper cubes to represent 1, 1.5 and 2 cups of rice. Then I took a bowl from the kitchen and put the cubes in them so I had a visual representation. Yeah, it sounds just as silly out loud as it did in my head, but there, now you know (I will not tell you how much rice I was eating, it is embarrassing).

News from Nepal includes the fact that most of the kids have lice now, so I simply run away when they try to jump on me. Even baby Tenzin has them! Do you think it will be a miracle if I escape without getting them? Also, pineapples have officially come into season and they are so delicious. Even the oranges are getting bigger and tastier. What a pleasure to be able to eat local, seasonal fruit (all the Australians think it's weird that I consider this a novelty!). I've still been getting the newspaper everyday, but most of what I read relates to the Greek bailout or the Iranian oil embargo.

Kay left to go back to England a few days ago, but I'm so excited to see her again in three months! I'll have to make sure to bring lots of chocolate with me. There are two new volunteers at the orphanage, Nicole from Melbourne and Mariah from Philadelphia. They are both great girls and I'm quite struck at how sad I am that I will have to leave them so soon! I don't know exactly when I will be leaving Pokhara, but I know that my time at HCCH is up as of Feb 24th. I think I am going to Bhaktapur, but then, you never really know what you're doing or where you're going until the 11th hour. I know I will greatly miss the kids and the staff here, all my favourite restaurants and people. I'll miss lying on the roof of the orphanage and looking at the stars (in between sit-ups, that is) and I'll certainly miss the laid back and relaxing atmosphere here. I think Dave and Olivia are heading to Bhaktapur around the same time, so maybe there will be a few friendly faces! I hope the new orphanage has lots of dishes and sweeping for me to do, I really enjoy those chores :)

Anyway, stay updated for Losar celebrations, and of course Holi (the festival of colours) which is coming up in early March. My 10 day meditation retreat is also less than 1 month away, so there will be lots to talk about.

Love and chocolate covered strawberries,
Vicki
P.S. Did I tell you that I found the most amazing vegan dark chocolate here? Diabetes ahoy! 

Giant worms in Nepal (Feb 4-12, 2012)

So, the title may be a little misleading, but for awhile there I was pretty sure I had a giant worm growing inside of me. After further inspection though, I think it was just some mouldy bananas that I ate (three days in a row). You'd think as a microbiologist I would know that when you can see the hyphae, the fungus is already all throughout the fruit. Lesson learned.

We got new volunteers on Feb 4th; two of them bailed after the first day because they "weren't feeling well," but I guess they were well enough to go biking around Lakeside ;) We never saw them again. If you see them in Australia, shame them! lol. The other three volunteers are Olivia, Dave and Sam. Olivia is lice picker extraordinaire (yes, she has independently confirmed that most of the kids have lice. I have managed to avoid it; what would I even do if I got it? Shave all my hair off? Who would pick out all my knits?!). Olivia is from Australia, as is Sam, who did an arts degree and is pretty much the kids' favourite person. He bought a bunch of drums and has been teaching them different rhythms, which they obviously love! We've even had a few drum circles with the staff, I have to concentrate really hard on keeping my beat. I read an article once about someone who got anthrax from a drum they bought in Africa (if the animal has anthrax and their skin is used to make a drum, you can infect yourself. Not to fear, I'm on the lookout for black buboes growing out of my skin). Anyway, Sam is a real sweetie and I'll be sad when he leaves in the next few days! Dave is from Montreal, he's been teaching the kids French phrases... they can now speak more French than I can (but can they say "I like chocolate cake with ice cream"? No, and that's the most important phrase to know!). Dave was telling us last night about his trip a few years ago to Southeast Asia and how he and his buddies bought scooters and drove from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi. I love meeting people with such cool stories! I think after I'm done in Pokhara I will be heading to the orphanage in Bhaktapur that Dave came from. Speaking of which, I officially finish here on the 24th, so I'll be here in time for their Tibetan New Year (Losar) which starts on the 22nd. I'm trying not to think about the fact that I'll have to leave, I'm going to miss Pokhara and everything about Himalayan Children's Care Home (HCCH). I will miss Tashi singing in the shower in the morning, and how him and Chhewang have skipping competitions (even though they are both grown men). I'll miss Jyoti and Lama, who own HCCH, and their 14 month-old son Tenzin, who I am planning on stealing away to Canada. I want a baby Tenzin. Lama was a monk until he was 32 and then he married Jyoti and they started HCCH. Then there's Uncle, who has the best smile and who walks the kids to school and makes sure they keep in line during the day. He also likes to ring the gong really loudly when you're near and scare the pants off you. We have a new cook, and there are a lot of Aunties who mill about, and I'll miss helping them out with chores and sneaking across the floors they just mopped. But, I don't have to leave just yet!

Life has been lots of fun with Kay around, we both go to sleep early, we do the daily newspaper crosswords/sudokus together (except today's, because we accidentally made Losar chains out of today's paper) and we go to SunWelcome everyday for tea. Yesterday at SunWelcome we met a man from England who has been traveling around and living in his truck since June 2009! He's on to China and up through Pakistan next. It makes me feel like I have so much to accomplish, lol. Kay's introduced me to her favourite chocolate bar called "Twirl," which seems like something noteworthy that I must tell you.

I have booked the rest of my flights also! On April 24th I will be leaving Kathmandu for Amman (Jordan). I have two weeks in Jordan (will I just sit and stare at Petra the whole time?) and then I fly to London (England) on May 10th. I was going to head down to Spain and fly out of Barcelona, but I found another cheap flight to Toronto from London, so now I'm going to spend my last 11 days in England with Kay! She's going to take me to the pub she works at, Stonehenge, Bath and Oxford. This is arguably the best part about meeting so many great people, you have the best tour guides when you go traveling again :) Over the past few days I saw my first wedding procession in Nepal, and my first whole day of rain in Pokhara! It's funny that everything gets canceled when it rains (I doubt they can do that during the monsoon season though?). I also booked a 10 day meditation retreat in mid-March. I had read about it in the Lonely Planet guide, and another volunteer did it, so I decided to give it a go. You meditate for about 8 hours each day, there is no talking and you can't communicate with any of the other participants (not even eye contact). There's no yoga, reading, journaling, anything really. I have already been told by many people that know me that I don't become silence, and I think they are right. I think my biggest challenge will be not losing my sanity. I mean, 10 days in silence with nothing but your own thoughts is bound to make even the best of us mad, am I right?

Anyways, I think that's all to update you with for now! My fruit salad at SunWelcome has started coming with honey, cinnamon and ice cream on top... and this is why it is my favourite restaurant. I am now master of Sudoku puzzles (I still suck at crosswords) and I have read a few more books since I last talked to you: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Oliver Sacks), The Psalm Killer (Chris Petit), 1984 (George Orwell), Pride and Prejudice/Emma (Jane Austen). I couldn't believe I had never read 1984 before, it was fantastic. Jane Austen was pretty good, though I still prefer Stephen King if we're being honest with each other. Also, has anyone else read Emma? What a self-centered brat. I think Mr. Knightley could have done better, I'm just saying.

Oh, and I just heard that Whitney Houston died, as did Christopher Hitchens. When I went on to BBC today there was a top story about 5 killer whales suing Sea World (via PETA), so I'm taking it I didn't miss much in the news?

Tata from Pokhara!
Vicki

Nepali Birthday and into February! (Jan 12-Feb 4, 2012)

Hello friends!

It's been awhile since the last update (I say that everytime), but I'm pretty much in a set routine here so there aren't too many new things to talk about. I had my Birthday here on January 24th! I started my celebration a day early though and ate a Snickers bar and 100g of Toblerone before lunch, which did not go over well with my stomach. Brittany ate the rest of the Toblerone to save me from myself. For my actual Birthday I splurged and bought grapes to have for breakfast. I also had snacks from my favourite store in Pokhara! It's called Fishtail Organic Garden and they're partnered with a local NGO that supports organic agriculture in Nepal. They have these amazing dried strawberries and pears that they cover with chocolate. I seriously eat them everyday. Brit and I also bought popcorn and watched Love Actually on her laptop. Then I borrowed her iPod and went for a nice long walk and rocked out to Glee songs. For dinner we went to Punjabi restaurant, this fantastic vegetarian place that has, honest, the best curries on earth. I had Palak Paneer, which is spinach and yak cheese. I also had a banana lassi, my first ever lassi! The Australians rave about them, and I really think they're on to something. I've been back to Punjabi too many times to count, though I try not to go too often (I'm pretty sure everything is loaded with ghee, and my arteries can only take so much).

So now I'm 25, but I don't feel any wiser. Maybe it will take a few months to kick in? Brit has officially left for India and I have a new roommate, Kay from England. She keeps me honest about my Snickers bars and is a great crossword companion. It feels strange that all the girls I started with are gone (Brit, Rachel and Alyssa), but there are still a few friendly faces milling about!

Sorry that there aren't any new and exciting stories to tell, but I can tell you about some of the everyday things that make my life happy here! I like passing the biscuit shop on the way to school with the kids, it smells like heaven every morning. I like that the kids all scatter like sheep when stray dogs try to play with them and I think Uncle (who walks the kids everywhere) has just the greatest smile ever. Now that Kay is here we do Newspaper puzzles after lunch while sitting outside in the sun (they give you a word and you have to try and see how many small words you can make from it... like you can make at least 50 words, four letters or more, from the word "BEVERAGES." I know!). Then we head down to Lakeside and have tea while doing Sudoku and crossword puzzles. I like hearing all the kids get up to the gong in the morning, there are a few seconds of silence and then the most awesome racket as 51 kids all race down the stairs. I like cleaning up after meals and even love the Nepali brooms here! I've met so many people here from all over the world, and it's so easy to strike up a conversation with just about anyone. The staff at SunWelcome (my favourite everyday place) know all my favourite meals and are always so friendly.

Anyway, we get some new volunteers today, so maybe I'll have more stories for you in a week or so :) I've extended my volunteering in Pokhara, so I'm here until Feb 23rd!

Talk soon, Canada
Vicki

Nepal (December 28th - January 11th, 2012)

Hello from Pokhara!

I've been trying to update my blog for a few days now, but the internet is against me. We've still been teaching, the kids are on holiday until the 22nd, so we have daily lessons until then. I started out with the second youngest group and now have moved up an age category! At first I was hesitant about teaching the older kids (they are always getting into trouble, which I knew nothing about at that age), but they are loads of fun. Mostly we play games that involve English somehow. Their favourite is 21 questions, where you stick a post-it note with a person/place/thing on their forehead and they have to guess what it is by asking yes/no questions. I learned pretty quickly on that separating them into teams prevented them from cheating in Tibetan. After lessons they usually have chores until lunch and then maybe chores after as well :) The orphanage runs like a well oiled machine, so it's nice to finally be into a schedule.

December 28th was the first day of the Pokhara street festival that runs every year until New Years Day to celebrate tourism in Pokhara. All the restaurants move their kitchens outside, as do the shop keepers, so it's lots of fun (mostly it was just nice that there was no traffic because they closed all the roads!). I found a new favourite restaurant to eat at, it's called SunWelcome and overlooks the Phewa Tal. I can also buy homemade peanut butter and there's lots of veggie stalls on the same road, so it's great. Every other day or so I pick up a kilo of carrots and green beans/peppers and soak them in iodine water to munch on. We were lucky to stumble upon a place that sells fresh hummus, so I've been having it most days. I had to stop eating dinner at the orphanage because they eat so late! The kids eat around 8pm and then go straight to bed, so we were eating at around 8:30pm and following close behind them. How is it possible to eat so close to sleeping?! Anyway, I've just taken to rabbiting with my veggies instead.

 (tofu curry with brown rice at SunWelcome)

December 31rst I climbed to Sarangkot, a set of villages that stretch up to the top of a hill overlooking the lake and the Himalayas. It's also where the paragliders take off from. I set out at around 7:45am in the morning, and luckily the directions from another volunteer were enough to get me started (after that I took to routinely asking the locals "Sarangkot?" whilst pointing up the hill). At various times I was joined in my climb by local villagers, who were all too happy to take my mandarins in exchange for their "tours." After about an hour of climbing I was joined by a little boy. "Sarangkot?" I said while pointing up the hill. "Yes, but miss, it's another hour and a half of climbing!" Silly boy, how could it possibly be that long? It was. I had calves of steel by the end. The view was 100% worth the climb though, and I even got to sit and watch the paragliders taking off. I caught a ride with one of the paragliding jeeps back down (ignoring the man that offered to "show me the short cut" back down for 500 Rs).

Happy New Year! I stayed in the orphanage alone over New Years and definitely slept through the countdown. But! I was awoken at 1am by the new orphanage puppy howling himself silly (I think he was indignant that no one included him in the celebrations). I played with him for a bit before passing out again. On New Years Day we took the kids down to Lakeside for the last day of the street festival. Their favourite part was the live comedy sketch, all in Nepali, apparently it was a riot? On our way back I stopped in to have veggie curry at a restaurant called La Pizzareia (the best place to have curry, right?), and ended up getting interviewed by National Geographic! They were doing a piece on why people travel, so I had a great evening just chatting with him about my reasons and pondering lots of questions I'd never thought of before. Excellent night! The next few days were just our usual orphanage-ing. I love when the kids read us books during our lessons. My favourite one is "The tale of the donkey-skin maiden." Yeah, it's also missing half the middle section, so when it picks up on page 12 it just doesn't make any sense. I also secretly read some of their Disney books when no one is looking. Oh! And another great thing, one of the other volunteers, Rachel, started joining me on the roof for my "hotel workouts." It's a total riot, and I think we're actually improving :) We do a lot of walking here, but mostly I just feel like I'm sitting on my butt; I'm glad I wrote down a ton of workout routines before I left! (I think I'm starting to put a dent in all that chocolate/gelato weight. All Europe's fault. Not only can my wallet not afford a massive Europe adventure, but I don't think my arteries would survive either).

On January 6th, I, Brittany, Rachel, Alyssa and two other volunteers at the other orphanage, Jess and Eladio, left to visit Chitwan. Chitwan is a flat jungle area that lies in the Terai area of Nepal. It's generally warmer there and people flock to Chitwan National Park to go on safaris. It was a five hour bus ride from Pokhara and after settling in at our hotel (Hotel Shiva's Dream) we walked around the city and saw the periphery of the park. The best part though was the Tharu Cultural Programme. The Tharu are a group of indigenous people that live in the Terai, and we got to see them perform traditional songs and dances. They also did stick dancing, which imitates the Tharu men training for battle (wouldn't you just hate to be in a stick battle? So would I). The next day we woke up to find everything covered in fog. Quite apart from spoiling the day, it made our morning canoe ride 100X more interesting. We couldn't really see where we were going, everything was silent except for the sounds coming from the jungle. We saw lots of birds and even two giant crocodiles (don't go in the water). After docking along the river we set off on our walk through the park. There were spotted deer, wild boar, monkeys and lots of birds. We'd been walking for a bit when there was a massive crash in the forest. Our guide stopped, gave a listen and then broke out into a run. At that point you don't know whether you're being chased or not, so we all took off running after him (I was remembering how before I left my family was joking that "you'll be fine, as long as you're not the slowest runner"). As we came through a small clearing in the trees we saw two rhinos bathing in the stream. So neat! I think I had to keep reminding myself what I was actually seeing. We didn't get to stay for long, seeing rhinos while you're on foot is not the safest, so we left before we disturbed them too much. Then we had to race to get out of the jungle in time. At around noon they let all of the elephants at the breeding centre into the jungle, and you don't want to be there when that happens, apparently. We made it out, got to see the elephant breeding centre and then headed back for lunch. After lunch, most of the volunteers headed out on a jeep safari while Rachel and I stayed behind to do a "bicycle tour." Though, I don't think you can really call it a tour if they don't give you a map? Also, the roads aren't so much roads, as stones with bits of road inbetween. My butt hasn't hurt so much since the spin classes at GoodLife! But, all in good fun. The next morning our schedule said "elephant bathing," which we took to mean watching the elephants get bathed in the stream. Well, that happens, but it happens with you ON the elephant. You get drenched, you have a riot, it was great. Everyone got to take a turn, and I think it was the best Birthday present Rachel could have asked for (even if Eladio did tell the handler to make the elephant dump Rachel in the river, which he did). Our last event was the elephant back safari which was also really neat. We got to go further into the jungle and even stumbled upon two rhinos close enough to touch (the elephants mask the smell of humans fairly effectively). Ah! I saw wild rhinos, while riding an elephant, in Nepal. I must repeat this phrase over and over to myself until I actually believe it happened.

Now we're back in Pokhara (brrrr) and life is back to normal. Hopefully I'll get a chance to update you soon!

Vicki

On another note, I've plowed through a few books, including "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest," "Teach Yourself Kama Sutra" (hilarity, in case you were wondering), "Chicken Soup for the Unsinkable Soul," "The Glass Palace" and "Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad." Anyone have any book suggestions?

Journey to Nepal! (Dec 14th - 27th, 2011)

So we meet again! I just drank a whole pot of ginger lemon tea (I'm sick again), so let's hope I can make it through this post without peeing myself. I'm not going to bother with dates, everything has blended together anyway :)

I left for Sabiha Gocken in Istanbul a few hours after Khalid left and made sure to ask the flydubai desk if my flight was cancelled. The lady checked and said it was not, so I began my journey in an excellent mood! The flight to Dubai was, in a word, uncomfortable. I didn't really sleep because there was a big burly man behind me that kept tapping my seat, but I arrived and the flight was cheap, so what can you really say? Upon my arrival I was informed that yes, duh, your flight has been cancelled, so they re-booked me on a later flight and so began my 7 hour wait in the Dubai airport (which, if I can be frank, is not the best airport to be stuck in). I tried sleeping on the seats, but each seat had an armrest, so you couldn't exactly stretch out. I sort of draped myself over the seat and rested my head on my arm (I got bruised armpits from this endeavour. Have you ever bruised your armpit? It's totally ridiculous). But! Let's skip ahead to the good bits, I arrived in Kathmandu and was picked up by the staff coordinator and taken right to dinner where the other volunteers were already waiting. I don't even know the name of the restaurant, but they had traditional Nepali music and dancing all through dinner, so it was a great first night! Almost every volunteer at dinner was from Australia, save for me and Eladio (who was from Brazil). Canada, represent!

The next few days were spent wandering around Thamel, bargaining for socks and eating coconut tofu curry at Ork2. In there we also went to Patan and saw the Golden Temple and Durbar square (pay attention, apparently there are 3 different Durbar squares in Nepal!). The first time I went to withdraw money from the ATM it told me I would be charged a 400 rupee service fee. 400 rupees! I canceled the transaction and whipped out my calculator. 400 rupees was only $5. I restarted the transaction (it is still bizarre to me that something can cost 10,000 rupees and it's not very expensive). I had banana porridge every morning for breakfast, and it's a good thing I got my fix in because outside of Kathmandu "porridge" is made with oats and wheat.We were also supposed to visit Bodnath on our last night, but there was a strike so we were stuck. We sat inside and did sporkle quizzes instead, which to me is just as exciting :)

I ended up being placed in Pokhara, which is about 7-9 hours outside of Kathmadu (depending how many over turned trucks and goats are on the road the day you leave). I'm pretty sure I had eaten an entire chocolate bar by the time we actually left, and I mostly read and watched out the window during the ride (and ate trailmix, lots of trailmix). Mostly the ride wasn't too terrifying, but then I'm also aware that I picked the good side of the bus. Every once in awhile though you happen to glance out the window and there just isn't any road beside you... just abyss. But then you go back to eating your trailmix and try not to think about it. The organization that we volunteer with in Nepal is called Hope and Home and does orphanage placements in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Pokhara and Chitwan. I was placed in Pokhara in the Himalayan Children's Care Home (HCCH) with Brittany, Rachel and Alyssa (who are all totally great and like to pass the time telling me horrifying stories about Australia... like the fact that you can't out-drive a bush fire, and that they had a 14 year drought, and that there's one town in the desert that has to live underground because it's too hot to go outside. They also told me about drop bears, but I think they may be a fable...).

The kids here are so great! Every morning you wake up to the sound of roosters and honking, then they ring the gong downstairs and the orphanage erupts with the sound of 51 pairs of feet cascading down the stairs (we're staying in the orphanage with the kids). All the kids are Tibetan refugees from the area of Mustang, which sits on the Nepal/Tibet border. As I understand it, most of the kids still have parents and family that live in Mustang, but the area is so remote and harsh that the parents have the kids come to the orphanage here so they can receive a good education. For the first few days it was our task to walk the kids to and from school, but now they are on winter holidays, so we teach them for 1-2 hours in the morning to help them with their English. You'll see lots of photos of them on facebook, and I'm slowly trying to learn all their names (which is aided by the fact that there are lots of Tserings and Tenzins). Essentially it holds that kids and kids wherever you go. They like to play, they have perpetually snotty noses, they want to climb things you'd rather they didn't climb :) They are exceptionally well behaved though! The staff at HCCH have their routine down to a fine science and they move through the day with lots of structure, which makes it easier for us. On Christmas Day we took them to the World Peace Pagoda and spent the whole day with them there. We also decorated the orphanage with snowflakes and made them all Christmas Cards! It didn't really feel like Christmas (I mean, when do I ever get a sunburn on Christmas?), but then I got to talk to Mom and Khalid via skype later that evening and that brought the Christmas spirit back :) I still can't get over that I can skype with family in Canada for only 81 cents an hour. What is this amazing place?!

Everything in Pokhara has kind of blended together, but if I had to paint a picture for you, it would be of a hippie town sitting beside a nice lake, with the backdrop of the Himalayan mountains. They're gearing up here for the Pokhara street festival, so all the lanes and alleyways are strewn with prayer flags, which just adds an extra special touch. It's easy to go for walks along the lake, or just sit in a cafe and drink tea while overlooking the mountains. The weather is nice and warm during the day (the night is freezing, but we shan't mention that) and the streets are filled with local women doing their washing and lots of roaming cows (most Nepali people are Hindu so it's illegal to kill a cow). Every once in awhile you can even happen upon goats or chickens being slaughtered, naked old men wearing Santa hats, etc. etc. I try at least every other day to do some sort of exercise, whether it's on the roof of the orphanage, or going for a run (the altitude kills me). At night I like to go up to the roof and do stretches. You can see all the stars and the lights of houses on the hill look like stars because the actual hills themselves disappear against the sky. I am here until the end of January and then my next move is up in the air. The laid back attitude of the city doesn't lend well to actually making decisions, it's much easier to chill out with a book and drink masala tea :)

Lots of love from Pokhara!
Vicki

Istanbul, Turkey (December 6-13th, 2011)

Hello friends!

After some fiddle farting around we figured out how to change Khalid’s laptop settings to DVORAK, so now I can speed away at this blog entry. I have sent Khalid away to find the only Afghani kebab shop in the city, he has to take the tram to get there (with only the word of our hotel owner that it actually exists). Anyway, so I now have the room to myself to update you all about what Istanbul has been like! Please forgive me for not updating sooner, it's been busy!!

December 6^th, 2011

So this was the day that I had to make my way from Dusseldorf to Istanbul; Shannon worked in the morning so I was on my own for the bus and the train. I made it to the train station okay but missed the first train because I could not for the life of me figure out how to work the ticket machine. And yes, it was in English, I was just a totally noob head. After making it to the airport and checking in I had some lunch and decided that Dusseldorf’s airport (Flughafen?) is my favourite, probably because they have giant buffets, and I’m all about buffets. The flight to Istanbul was fairly uneventful, I immediately regretted not having dedicated myself to learning more Turkish before I left, but that’s okay. I flew to Sabiha Gocken airport, which is on the Asian side and is the less popular airport (woo hoo cheap flights!). But then it took me two and a half hours to actually reach the hotel because the traffic was so bad. Khalid was there waiting for me (despite the fact that his flights had been delayed) and he got to tell me all about his awesome journey on Air France. We dropped our stuff and then wandered around looking for dinner. We found really cheap rice and chickpeas called Pis Pilav that they sell on the side of the street, and it was pretty good (we later read in the guidebook that this is one of the best ways to get food poisoning, woops). Then I got jipped by a street vendor into buying the grossest and most cancerous corn ever, Khalid resolved after that not to let me get bamboozled into any more food purchases. We unpacked and fell into a coma.

December 7^th, 2011

First morning at Ast Hotel! The breakfast here is a traditional Turkish breakfast: bread, boiled eggs, tomato slices, cheese and olives (very Greek if you ask me). Note that as the week went on the variety kept diminishing until the last day when it was only cheese slices and olives, I think maybe they do their shopping on Tuesday night? This day can be summed up in two words: Grand Bazaar. And that’s all we did, all day, just wandered. This Bazaar has everything you want, and nothing at the price you want. But it’s so much fun to wander through! Everyone says to you “Hello miss, how may I help you spend your money?” I bought a necklace with a koranic inscription and Khalid looked for a special bowl called a jam (sp?), it’s inscribed with koranic verses and you’re supposed to fill it with water when someone is sick. He didn’t find any that day that he liked, but he might find some in his wanderings tonight. We mused about buying carpets, tea sets, copper pots, shawls, silk hangings, etc. etc., but in the end only ended up with the necklace and some halva (it’s a type of pistachio dessert, kind of like Turkish delight, this was obviously a Vicki purchase). We almost bought a $900 carpet, which upon later inspection would have been a terrible idea. But you see they suck you in, bring you tea, and all of a sudden they are taking your money, it’s marvellous. At the Grand Bazaar we had our first doner kebap (compressed meat on a rotating skewer that they shave off for you) and we definitely had liver. It was labeled as beef, but I know liver a mile away. But I like liver, so it was all good. I was jealous of Khalid because the sandwiches here are really cheap (like $1-2) but I obviously can’t have bread, so unfair. We stopped at a fruit shop on the way back and bought some pears, apples and bananas. The pears and oranges here are to die for (but this particular fruit shop had crazy prices, we would later find out). We also bought some backlava, which I tried (I cheated just this once on my gluten-free diet), and I was underwhelmed by it. I really like the halva though, must learn how to make it.

 

December 8^th, 2011

We started this day with a trip to the Book Bazaar, which is right by the Grand Bazaar. Khalid was looking for a huge book by Rumi in Farsi. Everything he found was at least 3 volumes, which would have been a nightmare to try and pack, so we didn’t end up getting anything. We stopped next at Sultan Bayezid II Camii (Mosque of Sultan Bayezit II), which was our first mosque experience. We took our shoes off, I covered my hair and we wandered around inside. I have to be honest, my first mosque experience was not exactly pleasant. I felt like a massive intruder, of the female variety. It didn’t help that there were other tourists that had crossed the “tourist” line (literally, there’s a line) and walked right up to the front, where they were taking photos of the people praying. I don’t know, it felt like we were trespassing on private property, that’s the best way I can describe it. Right after this we went to the New Mosque, which wasn’t much better for me. Here there were women praying behind their screens at the back. And yes, I know the koranic explanation for why they pray at the back, but I still felt very aware that I was female as we wandered around. Poor Khalid, because he was loving every minute! The architecture and tile work was amazing, lots of intricate details and lots to see. I wish I had done a better job at hiding my feelings, lol. But don’t fret, my other mosque experiences were really good. After this we stumbled upon Istanbul University, which we wandered through (even though they only let us in because we said we wanted to take a photo). Once we found our way out we headed to the Spice Bazaar, which is just a little bit past the Grand Bazaar. The smell of this place was just like I imagined. Bins and bins filled with spices, henna powder, Turkish delight, nuts, dried fruit and everything in between. And holy samples, more samples than Costco. At one point Khalid said “okay, I’m  done with the sampling” and I looked at him like he had three heads. Um, hullo, free food, how could you ever be done sampling? Whatever, boys are crazy. At the end of this day it was raining and we were exhausted, but we still wandered down to the water and strolled along for a bit. The owner of our hotel said that strolling in the rain is very romantic :) 

December 9^th, 2011

Today we walked up to the Hippodrome, which used to be a large stadium where they had chariot races. We took pictures with the Egyptian Obelisk (a massive, engraved pillar from 1500 B.C.) and then headed to Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts. This Museum was really great and apparently has one of the most impressive old carpet collections in the world, which Khalid obviously loved. He touched one too before I could pounce on him, I thought we would get kicked out (but no one saw. Khalid’s excuse was “I wanted to feel if it was good quality!”). After the museum we went to Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia), an old Byzantine church that was later converted into a mosque. Both of our jaws were on the floor the whole time (including when one of the security guards spit on our feet, that totally happened). Here is where I learned more about mosques. Muslims wash their feet, hands and face before praying (ablutions). Inside the mosque there is a muezzin mahfili, a raised platform for the mosque official. At the “front” of the mosque is the mihrab, an ornate door that points toward Mecca, and the minbar, a pulpit beside the mihrab that the Imam delivers the sermon from on Fridays (I kept calling this the “minibar.”). After a long time of wandering around Hagia Sophia we had some milk pudding and ate dinner at a place right by our hotel. I had kofte and rice! The kofte (spiced beef patties) was not as good as Khalid’s parents make, but it was still pretty delicious. I also tried the yogurt, Khalid thinks between that and the cancerous corn I am definitely going to get food poisoning). Then we crashed in our room for the rest of the night and drank Turkish tea (half strong brewed tea, half hot water… they think it tastes better than simply making weak tea). A note to our hotel room, sh-ady. I won’t even describe, you can ask Khalid when he gets back to Guelph ;)

 December 10^th, 2011

Neither Khalid nor I were woken up by the call to prayer this morning, we must be getting used to it. As the breakfast variety at the hotel dwindled, the more fruit and German chocolate I started eating in the morning (thanks Shannon!). Our first stop was the Blue Mosque, arguably the most famous mosque in Istanbul. It has 6 minarets (the large spires/towers outside that the Imams used to climb to call prayer), which at the time of its construction was considered sacreligcous because the people thought it sought to rival Mecca. This mosque was my first positive mosque experience! There were lots of people milling about and you don’t have to cover your hair. I think I felt more welcome here, that’s probably why I liked it more. I think with churches it’s different because anyone can come in and sit down (you are apart of the faaaaaaaaaamily! Anyone know that song?). With mosques it doesn’t quite feel that way, so I think the touristy vibe of the Blue Mosque helped to make me feel like I belonged. The inside is simply beautiful and when the sun comes through the windows it makes everything glow soft pink and blue. There’s also lots of tiling here, which reminded me of the azulejos in Lisbon (I sure am glad I went to that museum now!). After the Blue Mosque we hit Gulhane Park, which used to be apart of Tokapi palace (the “i” in Tokapi palace is not really an i, but I can’t make that symbol here, so bear with me). If you climb up to the top of the park you get a beautiful view of the Bosphorus, and it was a beautiful day. The plan was to go to Tokapi palace, but we decided instead to walk along the Bosphorus, across the bridge and into Takism, the newer part of Istanbul (we are staying in the old part of the city). By the by, the Bosphorus is the water inlet that leads to the Black Sea and connects it to the Sea of Marmara. The prices in Taksim were surprisingly better than the Grand Bazaar, which was a pleasant surprise. I checked our guidebook and found a great old book shop that I thought Khalid would like, so we set out to find it. After climbing through some unmarked streets we ended up walking into the busiest shopping street in Takism (totally by accident). The street is called Istiklal and it was decked out for Christmas, which I loved! We spent the rest of our time just wandering through the street and the shops. Here I bought another fleece sweater and we even found a fancy restaurant where I had chocolate pudding and Khalid had milk pudding (the pudding thing is about to become a theme, you will see). We walked back from Takism at night and along the Bosphorus, watching all the fishermen and the ferries mill around. As a side note, the seagulls here sound like crazy lunatics, it’s difficult to even describe. If you come to Istanbul, make sure you journey down to water so you know what I mean. When we got back to the hotel I tried on my sweater again and realized that they had forgotten to take the security button off. Takism is a pretty far walk for us, so we decided to champ it and try to remove the button. Those things are like steel traps, I tell you. After about an hour we managed to get it off, but I ended up with four little holes and some blood on my sweater, lol (Khalid will tell you I was more concerned about the blood on my sweater than by the fact that he was bleeding… but that’s a lie, because I totally pilfered my bandaid cache for him). The rest of the night was spent on the computer, trying to figure out what I was going to do about my cancelled flight to Kathmandu (thanks for that mini heart attack, flydubai).

December 11^th, 2011

Today there was no panir cheese for breakfast and I berated Khalid, saying that we needed to get up earlier before all the cheese has been eaten. We walked to Suleymaniye Mosque, almost as famous as the Blue Mosque and sitting behind Istanbul University. This mosque is renowned for being light inside and having fabulous security guards (that last observation is mine). This mosque is legitimately all pink inside, it was great. We had read in the guidebook that there was a northeast set of stairs that leads you to a balcony overlooking the inside of the mosque, where the sultan used to pray. When we asked the security guard he said that the stairs were closed, but then he took a quick look around and took us up them anyway. How great! That’s a really great memory of mine. After the Sulemaniye Mosque I endeavoured to find a famous little bar that sells boza, a fermented grain mixed with water and sugar (looks like mucous) that reportedly increases strength and virility. I don’t know how we ever found the bar because I was sure we were on the wrong street. Anyway, there were lots of Turks there and Khalid said the drink was good. We were feeling kind of tired at this point so we headed back to the hotel and napped. Isn’t that lame? What bad tourists we are. Strengthened from the boza Khalid did most of my laundry for me and fashioned a clothesline to hang everything on (what a great guy to have around!). The clothesline ran into the bathroom though, so we could no longer close the door. It got personal (good thing we are “married,” hey-o!). We had our kofte for dinner again and did some more wandering. Also, today was raspberry pudding day.

December 12^th, 2011

(The lack of panir cheese has nothing to do with the time we get up and everything to do with the fact that there is no panir cheese anymore. What am I supposed to do with just olives?!)

Today we finally made it to Tokaip palace! We briefly considered not going and then made ourselves do it, and it’s a good thing we did because this is quite honestly the most massive museum I have ever been to.  After touring the courtyard we visited beautifully tiled rooms, like the circumcision room and made our way through the many exhibits around the perimeter of the palace (none of which you could take photos in, so you’ll have to take my word for it). These small exhibits had things like old jewellery, fancy bowls (and dessert cups, which were my favourite), even an 86 karat diamond that was found in a rubbish dump (if only I were so lucky to find massive diamonds in the trash). Khalid’s favourite part were the exhibits that had all the inscribed swords, bows, armour, maces, what have you. I’m not big into war artefacts, but he did listen to me gush about the jewelled dessert cups, so I got myself into it. We accidentally found an exhibit with old carpets and textiles, so that was cool. They also had exhibits with things like pieces of Muhammed’s beard, Muhammed’s tooth, and even the prophet Joseph’s turban?! I doubted the legitimacy of these things, but I didn’t say so (but really, that could be anybody’s hair in there…). We spent four hours wandering around Tokapi palace and didn’t even get to the Harem, which is a whole other section (that you have to pay extra for, naturally). We were starving at this point, so we had our doner kebap with pilav… and then pistachio chocolate pudding, as per my request. Khalid tried Turkish coffee, which he said wasn’t totally great (and quite expensive for the dinky little cup they give you. But my pudding was fantastic, so I wasn’t disappointed). One of the waitors took our picture and told us to write a review for the restaurant because we had been there so many times (what can I say? I like my Turkish pudding! Which is really just regular pudding, but you eat it in Turkey).

December 13^th, 2011

And that brings us to right now! Khalid isn’t back from the bazaar yet, so I’m going to assume that he found the Afghani kebab place. Today we mostly did chores, my chores, because life goes on even when you travel! Some of my laundry wasn’t dry, so we took it across the street to the Laundromat. The lady was very kind but spoke no English, so we made use of elaborate hand gestures to indicate we only wanted the dryer, lol. I had to call flydubai about my cancelled flight, which the lady said wasn’t cancelled, so what’s up with that? I guess we’ll find out when I show up at the airport tomorrow. I found a cheaper shuttle back to Sabiha Gocken airport, so I booked that. We also had to go to the eczane/apotheke/pharmacy because I’m having a crazy allergic reaction to something. Khalid looked up what “antihistamine” was in Turkish… it’s “antihistaminik”. After successfully getting some topical antihistamine, Khalid suggested I get some rubbing alcohol which works too. And so proceeded the pharmacist to be very offended that we were asking him for alcohol :) It wasn’t until I grabbed a paper and pen and wrote “isopropyl” that he knew what we were talking about. After leaving, Khalid commented: “thank god for science.” Amen to that, brother. The last adventure chore of the day was trying to find a bank that would take my debit card and give me USD… not as easy as you might think. In the end the winner was HSBC (though figuring out which ATM to use was another story). What else happened today other than me writing you this? I took to the road because the sidewalk looked slippery, Khalid kept saying “Vicki, could you please walk on the sidewalk?” And then, to prove his point, I actually got hit by a car. Well, my purse got hit by the car and the driver yelled “this place is for ME!” I think Khalid was in on it with him, because what kind of perfect timing is that? I walk on the sidewalk now. I got us lost a number of times (i.e. the right street but the wrong way). Khalid must think I’m the world’s worst navigator. And so friends, thus ends my time in Istanbul! Hopefully the next time you hear from me I will actually be in Kathmandu and not stuck in Dubai (what good will my winter clothes do me there?).

Lots of love from Turkiye!

Vicki

P.S. Khalid just got back, he didn't go the Afghani place, he went shopping for PJ pants for me (man do I love this kid)

Vicki in Deutschland! (Nov 30 - Dec 5)

Guten Morgen!

I have a bit of catching up to do here, so let's talk last day in Lisbon and German fun!

Nov 30
This was my last day in Lisbon, and the only real thing on the schedule was "get to see that freaking cemetery." Which I did! Cemiterio dos Ingles (British Cemetery), and it was lovely (I even found Henry Fielding's grave). Did I mention that this time the tram stopped halfway there and let everyone off? End of the line because there was a protest across the tram tracks, so it did end up taking a 30 minute walk to get there (uphill, which is the way of the world in the Estrela district). On the way there I found a beautiful church called Igreja de Santa Catarina, not even in my guidebook but well worth the detour.

I was feeling pretty lousy at this point (with the cold), but I decided to stick it out and take the bus to the other side of town so I could hit the Museu Nacional de Azulejos, the Museum of awesome tiles (a loose translation). This museum is dedicated to the azulejos that became popular in Portugal in the 16th century and have been used ever since to decorate buildings and tell stories. If there is one museum in Lisbon you must see, I would say it's this one. This is also the home of Igreja Madre de Deus (Church of our Mother of God), the most ornate church I have been to yet. In short, absurdly glad that I came.

I spent my last night in Lisboa Central Hostel, they even made gluten free chickpea stew for me :) My stay here was fantastic and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Lisbon!

Dec 1-5, Deutschland!
Okay, so trip to Germany was fairly uneventful, except that the change in cabin pressure did terrible things to my clogged sinuses. At one point I was fairly sure my head would split open, to the point that my left eye started watering uncontrollably... I must have looked a mess. But! I arrived in Dusseldorf and Shannon was waiting to tram me back to the apartment. We went out for seriously the best Indian food I have ever tasted! It seems the first thing I eat in each new country is Indian :) If I ever go to India I'll get a burger or something to make it fair.

The next morning Shannon and Dave left for work, so I wandered around a bit and got some groceries. Side note, food here tastes better. The yogurt is amazing! But so is the cheese and the meat and the butter and the everything. The eggs at the market are all free run and the yolks are the brightest orange I've ever seen. If you've been to Europe you probably are just rolling your eyes at me, but Canadian food sucks. There, I said it. I was on to it in Portugal and now I am convinced. Moving on though, after that I alternated between reading my Stephen King and working on this absurdly hard puzzle that Shannon and Dave started (assume that in my downtime I was doing one of these two things). That night we went out to the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas market), which I can't even describe it was so great. They set up all these little booths selling Christmas food/drinks and little trinkets, plus they deck the streets out with trees and lights, right off of a postcard. I tried feuersangebowle too! Basically it's a giant copper vat filled with red wine that they heat over the fire, then they have a massive sugar block balanced above the vat that they pour steaming rum over, so the rum and the sugar end up mixing with the red wine. It was delicious, but I felt a little wobbly after only one cup. We wandered around and checked out all the gingerbread booths, candied nuts and so many pastry shops you can't even count! We also had kartofflecken with kraeuterquark (read french fries with delicious garlic tzatziki) for dinner. Then we headed back to the apartment and watched Fright Night, and when Dave got home from work headed out and spent the night with their friend Babette. We played Looping Louie (great game, highly recommend) and had gluewein, a hot red wine that is spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and a few other spices. Such a great introduction to Dusseldorf!

(you pay a deposit for the cup and then you can either keep it or return it and get your euro back, but I definitely kept it).

On Saturday we went to Babette's and Bodo's for a Christmas dinner party which was great! Note to self, upon return to Canada, will throw dinner parties. I met a bunch of their expat friends, Pete and Natasha, Dinesh and Eugenia and Anirudh. They all brought dishes and I stuffed myself with food. There was bryndza halushky, a traditional Slovak dish made with potato dumpling noodles and bryndza cheese (and back fat, naturally) brought my Dave, turkey cordon bleu from Shannon, awesome appetizers from Natasha and Pete, moussaka, a Greek lasagna with mincemeat and eggplant from Eugenia and Anirudh, and Irish coffee from Dinesh. Babette and Bodo made dessert, and a special flourless chocolate cake for me. The night was amazing, I wish I could stay in Germany and repeat it everyday. After the stuffing was over we played who am I with post it notes stuck to our foreheads, it was a riot... until people can't guess their thing, and then it gets testy. On the last round I had "CEO", Dave was "Vitamin C" and Dinesh was "Candlelight Dinner." (you could tell that after the first round people were out for blood). Lots of yummy food and the best company since I left, you couldn't really ask for more :)

The next day (Sunday) we slept in really late, I laboured over the puzzle some more and then Shannon and I visited Benrathschloss, a barbie palace, essentially. We laughed about how the seagulls sound like they're getting murdered here, Canadian geese have forgotten their Canadian voice and how Germans like to "make" everything (would you like to make a party, would you like to make a photography?). Who knows, it was great. P.S. Shannon and I met in first year University and lived together until third year. Did you even know that? Well, now you do.

And this brings us to today, my last day in Germany. Shannon and I trammed around the city and went to a Japanese Noodle place for lunch, the soup was great (and homemade rice noodles don't hurt). We also watched documentaries about purity balls in the States and then one about the inheritance of epigenetics, with some puzzling thrown in between. When Dave got home we went for Mexican and that brings us to right now!

(Shannon buying the biggest pastry danish type thing I have ever seen)

As I sit here writing this I'm getting emails from Khalid saying that everything in JFK is shutdown and he's stuck in Pearson. This is bad news bears, because I'm relying on him to orient me in Istanbul (which I currently know nothing about). Anyway, my translator is stuck in Toronto and I'll have to make sure I get more Euros to pay the hotel (what a clever scheme, Khalid!). I haven't packed anything yet, but Shannon did my laundry today, so the most important things are done. Also, I have a TON of chocolate to bring because it is ridiculously cheap here, so if all else fails I'll just sit in the Ast Hotel lobby and eat chocolate until my "husband" arrives. Send good vibes our way that everything pans out, if not, I'm going to have a great time getting sugar high at the blue mosque while Khalid camps out in Paris. It's all good, folks.

Love from Deutschland,
Vicki