Istanbul not Constantinople!

And the award for worst blogger of the year goes to....Allison!!! :) So here I am, having not blogged in a very, very long time, and I've been in this new city for 3 days :( oops!

Istanbul is way fun and cool and there is so much to do! There are many many differences between Sarajevo and Istanbul, not the least of which is the heat! We are hot hot hot and sweaty and gross all day every day :) I know that I haven't even updated you guys on what we did in Sarajevo, so here's the brief version...

We had two great meetings in Sarajevo, one of which with the center for Research and Documentation which has been given the task of finding the most accurate number of Bosnians killed during the war. As depressing as that sounds, the entire process was really quite interesting and detailed and complicated. We then had a discussion with professors in Sarajevo in all different fields who presented on the current state of Bosnia in their respective fields, including economics, religion, architecture, etc. They were both really great meetings and were a good way to wrap up our time and our studies of Bosnia.

Now on to Istanbul! We flew here safely on Sunday, got here mid-afternoon and took naps because we were all pretty exhausted :) We were all a little diappointed to find that, while staying in the historic, old town, Sultanahmet region of Istanbul is nice in that it is close to all of the great landmarks, it is *expensive*. :) So we are all skimping on meals a little bit, but at the same time, realizing that we're here now, so we might as well live it up :)

Yesterday Brian and I and several others spent the day touring the Topkapi Palace which was interesting. I had no idea that they had some really great relics there! Knowing that we should take it all with a grain of salt, I can now say that I have seen Moses' Staff (oh yes, that one that turns into a snake and parts the read sea...the movie got the staff all wrong though, it's much smaller in real life), the right hand of John the Baptist (forearm to fingers in a gold cast but with a little door open on top of the hand to show that there were real bones inside), and we also saw John the Baptists skull (poor guy, his bones must be scattered all over the place) and much much more. Little did we know when we went in that we would see all of these things!

Last night we had the opportunity to go see Whirling Dervishes, who spin around and around with their arms out in a religious ceremony. Google them to see pictures. It was a really really interested experience to watch - we were able to go to a real ceremony rather than a touristy performance.

Today, we had our final group meeting of the trip, which was with the American Consulate General, who briefed us on the current state of Turkey and their relations with America. It was really nice to get some good, basic information, and I honestly had no idea how important Turkey is!

Then we went to lunch, listen up Mark Clapp, at the Pizza Hut Buffet :) We found one here and ate it and it was good :) It was and is SO hot, so Brian and I decided it was the perfect afternoon to go to the underground cistern where they stored water a long long time ago. Man can build some really amazing things - even forever long ago! It was nice and cool! Now we are back at the hotel chilling out and updating blogs finally :)

We have 5 days left in Istanbul before getting back home on 2 July!!! Love and miss you all! <3 Hot and not sunburned Allison