Bayram

I'm going to write this is English and then try to explain it in Turkish. The Turkish will have pictures.
The end of Ramazan in Turkey is accompanied by a three-day long holiday, which this year fell on July 28-30, a Monday through Wednesday. Thus, we had a five-day long weekend, and many people took the entire week off (especially people affiliated with the university.)
Originally I was going to go to Romania with a couple of my friends, but when that fell through I ended up instead staying in Istanbul. However, that also gave me the chance to do a lot of stuff around the city.
On Friday after class, I went to the Koç Museum with a couple friends from class. The museum is basically the private collection of Rahmi Koç, and includes a large collection of steam engines, boats, trams, planes, factory machines, and other artifacts related to the history of technology. There's also a section with Atatürk's pants and bathrobe, which was interesting.
That evening, I went with two other friends from class and two other friends to Fatih, where there's an old covered bazaar on top of which there is a rooftop area with an amazing view of the Sulimaniye Camii, Yeni Camii, and across the Golden Horn, Beyoğlu and Galata Tower. We hung out, ate cheese, bread, and fruit, and then went to Galata, where we visited another roof.
Saturday, I went to the Saturday Market in my neighborhood but mostly stayed at home all day and rested. In the evening I got dinner with some friends and went to this beautiful spot with a view of the Bosphorus on campus.
Sunday, I went to mass at the Aya Yorgi, which is the Orthodox Church where the Greek Patriarchate is situated. The place is small, but has walls encrusted with gold and dozens of icons. The service itself was mostly in Greek, so I didn't understand anything, and there were many tourists, but it was interesting in how different it is from any other services or masses I'd attended.
Monday, a couple of us went cemetery sight-seeing in Üsküdar, where there are modern graves and Ottoman gravestones side by side. Afterward, we went to Eyüp, where there is a large graveyard on a hill which includes both Ottoman and modern graves. I wish I could read the Ottoman script, because most Ottoman graves are addressed to the reader and set up a dialogue about mortality and such, but instead I could only look at the flowers (which on women's graves represent the number of children they have) and the hats (which on men's graves show their social standing.) It was still fascinating to see how graves are stacked on each other and are so close that it can be hard to navigate from grave to grave. The paths don't make it easy to get to every grave in the graveyard, so visiting family can be a bit of an adventure.
After seeing the graveyards, we went to Sultan Ahmet, in front of the Blue Mosque, to hear the evening call to prayer, because it was the first official day of Bayram so we thought there would be an extra long call to prayer to celebrate. And the call to prayer was noticeably triumphant and beautiful, but it was also quite short, unfortunately.
Tuesday, I wanted to go to Boğaziçi's beach on the Saritepe campus up in Kiliyos. However, I missed a bus and ended up waiting a long time for the next bus, only to miss it because I was waiting in the wrong place. I ended up getting fed up and took a bus to Sarıyer and then from there to Kiliyos, where I walked to Boğaziçi's campus. I had heard there were lots of students hanging out there the last couple of days, but it was completely empty when I got there. I got to read a lot though, and almost finished one of my Kindle books. I also got to play Backgammon with a couple of my friends after I got back, which was fun.
Wednesday afternoon, I went out to lunch in Taksim with a couple friends, and I worked on whatever homework I had left. It was a pretty chill day.

Bayram için Romanya'ya gidecektim ama gidemedim.O yüzden, İstabul'da kaldım. Ayrıca, çok iyidi! Çok ilginç şey yaptım!
Cuma günü, dersten sonra, Andrew ve Taylor'la Koç Müzesine gittim. Orada uçaklar, yapurlar, ve buhar makinesini gördük. Atatürk'ün bornozu de orada olmuştu!

Koç Müzesindeki MINI Mini Cooper

O akşam, Sydney, Britton, ve Britton'un arkadaşlarınla Fatih'e gittim. Orada, eski kapalı bir çarsının çatısında oturup peynir, ekmek, ve meyve yedip güzel bir manzara izledik. Ondan Sülimaniye Camii, Yeni Camii, ve (haliçdan karşı) Galata Külesini görebildik. Sonra, başka Galata yakındaki çatında oturduk.

Çatından manzara

Sülimaniye Camii

Cumartesi günü, kitap okudum. O akşam, ben, Patrick ve Julia akşam yemeği yedip güney kampüsünden boğaz izledik.
Pazar günü, Alex'le Aya Yorgi'ya gittim. Pazar Kitlesine katıldı. O çok ilginç bir kilesi, ve duvarda çok altın ve iconalar vardı. Kitle Rumcada ve hiç bir şey anladım.
Pazartesi günü, Sydney'le Kadıköy'de buluştum. Üsküdar'daki eski (Osmanlı ve yaşıt) bir mezarlığa gezdik, ve ondan sonra Eyüp'de Andrew'le buluştuk. Yokuşda eski bir mezarlik var, ve ona gezdik.

Üsküdar'daki mezarlıkdaki Mevlana şiir

Salı günü, arkadaşımla Kiliyos'a gidecektim. Hiç kimse gitmek istiyorduğu için arkadaşımsız gitmemi karar verdim. Ancak bir otobüs kaçırdım. Ondan sonra, yanlış otobüs durağında bekliyordum. Ağaç olduktan sonra başka Sarıyer'e gidin otobüse bindim ve Sarıyer'de Kilyos'a gidin otobüse bindim. En sonunda Kiliyos'a vardım. Oradan BURC plajına gittim, ama orada hiç kimse yoktu. Arkadaşlarıma göre çok öğrenci olmalı, fakat yoktu. Ondan sonra, Boğaziçi'e gittim. Ancak, eve giderken Julia ve Patrick'ı gördüm. Onlar Kahve Diyari'ndeydiler. Onlarla biraz tavla oynadım ve makarna yedim.
Çarşamba günü, biraz oldu. Oğleden sonra, ben, Andrew, ve Nick Taksim'e gidip oğle yemeği yedik. Ondan sonra, eve döndüm ve biraz ödev yaptım.
Bayram çok iyidi. Eğlendım.