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Hello faithful readers!

Today was our first Sabbath in Turkey. We didn’t really want to do too many activities since it is the day of rest and we all happened to be tired, so we just climbed the Walls of Constantinople, met some gypsies, walked through a neighborhood, and visited the Church of St. Savior. After that, we had free time until dinner.

The Walls of Constantinople were really tall. There weren’t any handrails so we all had to be careful not to fall. We weren’t even able to scale the whole thing. It extended farther, but we only walked along a portion of it until we got off to meet with Dr. Mallery and some local gypsies. The gypsy children were really cute! They all wanted their pictures taken and looked all shy about it. Then they started putting their palms out and started saying “Money! Money!” That wasn’t so cute; but I didn’t want to leave them empty handed, so I gave them hand sanitizer instead. It worked for a while. They seemed to be amused enough, until a much smaller child who was maybe only two years old put his little palm out for hand sanitizer and then put it in his eyes! I immediately signed to one of the older kids that that was NOT okay… So he poured water on his face and washed it out. I felt kind of bad, but I realized that many people in Turkey may not know how hand sanitizer is used. Note to self: be careful about the chemicals you hand out!

After our experience with the locals, we kept moving towards the Church of St. Savior. The building itself was nowhere near the size of the Hagia Sophia, but most of the frescoes were not plastered over. It was amazing. Each mosaic was so detailed and full of color. The clothes pictured had folds and shadows in them. That’s really difficult when you consider that it’s all colored tile and not just paint or a medium that is easily blended. These people who created this one church put so much effort into decorating a place for the Lord. Of course, the Muslims had their influence on it too. Some frescoes were plastered over and a lot of faces and crosses had been etched out. In one case, the Virgin Mary’s mouth had been removed because it was kissing the Baby Jesus. I thought it was kind of strange the lengths they would go to make the place not Christian.

Some of us started complaining that our necks were hurting from looking up at the frescoes, so eventually we left and went off to free time. The group split at that point, some going to the bazaar and the rest going back to the hotel to sleep. We all met later for dinner and that’s when the day took a darker turn (no pun intended).

Sabbath was about an hour over when we met with a Kurdish man (who I won’t name for his safety) in the privacy of his shop. He reminded us of all the things we studied prior to coming to Turkey. For example, Kurds are not allowed to speak their own language or play their cultural music. They’re also limited on what names they can give their children. The man we met just had a daughter a few days ago and they haven’t named her yet because he wanted to give her a Kurdish name. I realized for the first time since I arrived that things weren’t really what they seemed. I mean, everyone I met were all really friendly and accommodating. They tried to speak English with me and some even attempted Mandarin. It was a harsh contrast to the laws forbidding Kurds to simply speak their own language. Apparently, a six-year-old girl was jailed for showing others how to write in Kurdish! Turkey has really hushed up the things that make it look bad. We had to go to a private setting just to speak about these issues! The Kurdish man repeatedly told us how lucky we are to live in America where we have freedom to speak about things like this.

The whole time, we’ve just been going to sites and looking at things and this issue was right under our noses. Sure, we had jokes about what lies and tricks people here used to get money from us, but I think the issue with the Kurds is a much bigger thing. It’s not on the personal level where one person may or may not be honest. It’s on a government level that affects an entire body of people. It really got me thinking about how much depth this country holds. It’s not just a tourist site with a bunch of ancient places to look at and take non-flash photos of. It’s still alive and kicking with plenty of current affairs.

After having that question and answer session with the Kurdish man, we all just headed back to the hotel. Some of us decided to hang out and others just went to sleep. For those of you wondering about how we’re doing, I can tell you that none of us have died or been significantly maimed. We’re still alive and ready to keep going even if we are a bit tired.

Pray for our safety! We’ll see you soon.