Week Three: We Bought a Rug and Other Adventures

We woke up early Monday morning to make sure we were out of the house by 7:30 so that we wouldn't be in the way of our cleaning lady, Mrs. Melek. I hesitated to hire her because it's such a tiny apartment we are living in and not hard to keep clean, but our Airbnb host urged us to if we could afford it, as Mrs. Melek depends on this work. She does a great job. It takes 8 hours though, which I don't understand. What could she possibly be doing for 8 hours?

Common site throughout our apartment. There is no dryer, so we hang everything. I love the towels after they've dried this way - very exfoliating! Mrs. Melek does some laundry when she comes - mostly the bed linens, and I think the 8 hours is just waiting for everything to dry? Anyway, it's been nice not to have to clean bathrooms, so I'm thankful!

Since we had 8 hours to kill, we decided to head out to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia. We helped Norah get ready (she still wasn't feeling 100%) and got on the Metro.

We found a place serving traditional Turkish Breakfast, including Mehemen (tomato, scrambled egg, cheese, peppers, and spices all mixed together - our friends, the Avenius' told us we had to find it and try it - it didn't disappoint!), olives, cold cuts, cheeses, fresh cucumbers, and tomatoes...So fresh and so yummy! We don't like the processed meat here very much...just different.

Ollie is always ready to play a game. He carries mini versions in his pockets! I love this kid.

On our way to the Blue Mosque, we were approached by this guy. He was just so funny! He told us he was studying to be an official Turkish guide but still has a few years and likes to practice his English. He challenged us to some US geography and told us he knew his geography better than most Americans. He was very helpful and gave us insights about the mosque, all while assuring us that he would not charge us anything - just practicing. Oh, and he wanted to introduce us to his uncle's spice shop at some point since his uncle was paying for his education, and he wanted to show his gratitude. He showed us the entrance and said he'd be waiting for us after the tour to introduce us to his uncle and his shop. 😏

Inside the Blue Mosque (also called the Sultan Ahmed Mosque). I promise these pictures don't even scratch the surface of how amazing this building was. WOW.

Remember what I said about Ollie and games? We stopped at a souvenir shop on the way to the mosque, and he found this beauty. Fit's perfectly in his pocket. They played while Jeff read to them about the mosque.

I've noticed the chandeliers in the mosques we visited and had to know the symbolism behind them. One thing we learned is that many mosque chandeliers are designed to resemble stars in the night sky. This symbolism is deeply rooted in Islamic tradition, where stars are associated with guidance and illumination. The chandeliers, when lit, create a mesmerizing starry canopy, reminding worshipers of the divine light that guides their path. Here's a short read explaining more about the significance of this style of chandelier.

Outside the Mosque, our friend was waiting 😆. He said he'd love to take pictures of our family and did a fabulous job! We told him we wanted to go to the Hagia Sophia and then we would meet his uncle.

He showed us some other cool things on the way to the Hagia Sophia. He really was just such a fun, happy guy. We knew there was a catch coming, but we enjoyed him nonetheless.

His uncle's shop just happened to be on the way to the Hagia Sophia...😏

We were quickly escorted upstairs to meet his uncle, and in what felt like two seconds, handed apple tea (you can't refuse these people; it's futile).

We really, really love this apple tea.

And if you read last week's post, you know the drill. They started pulling out carpets right away. I told them we didn't have time but would maybe come back later (we really do want to get a rug while here - we've done our research, etc. - I just didn't want to feel pushed into it).

But Jeff was weak for a minute and asked a question. Then I was weak - the rugs were stunning (silk fibers that change color depending on where you are standing). We ended up staying and looking at many rugs. I noticed later that our friend that brought us there had disappeared. He had done his job. 😆

We enjoyed ourselves, and I was starting to think, "Okay, maybe we could get a rug today." Jeff kept saying things like, "What if we bought two - what kind of deal could you give us?" and I just looked at him like he must be crazy! He was supposed to be the "bad cop!" Mehmet, the "uncle," which we later found out, was actually a "cousin" (who knows...it was probably all made up). Was just so good at sales (but also, I really liked him. I'll tell you more further down). He said if we bought a rug from him that day, he'd throw in three bamboo rugs (not hand-knotted) for the kids' bedrooms. The girls were invited to pick them out and loved that idea.

Pretty soon, I found "the one." It is so beautiful in real life. Deep blues and greens and oranges. You'll have to come to visit when we are home and see how the colors change depending on where you stand. This is Mehmet (on the right) and his helper (we never got his name! He was such a hard worker pulling out so many carpets for us to look at).

To guarantee that we would get the rug we picked out, they had me write our name on it.

We learned how the silk threads were made. One silkworm cocoon has about a mile of silk thread in it.

It is woven into thread and then dyed.

We got to watch this incredible artisan at work, meticulously following her pattern.

The rugs are handwoven by women and girls in the eastern part of Turkey. The process to become a hand weaver is pretty intense and includes seven years of apprenticeship. According to Mehmet, our rug took one girl about two and a half years to make, and its thread count is pretty low compared to many of the more expensive carpets (like the one above). In recent years the rug trade has struggled and was slowly dying, so the Turkish government got involved. The Turkish government now subsidizes costs - helping with materials, covers all shipping, customs, duties, and taxes, and also pays the women/girls a stipend. This has made it easier for merchants to sell rugs to foreigners at a fair price.

Mehmet's story is pretty interesting. We asked how he knew English so well. He told us he lived in the US and actually attended school there on a soccer scholarship but was afraid of classes since he knew very little English. He was flunking, and the school wanted to help him and other foreign students struggling with English, so they set up what he called a "Brotherhood" in South Georgia. He was so funny showing us his southern accent and talking about how the women chew tobacco there - he thought that was pretty disgusting. After finishing there, his English was better, and he got another scholarship in Kansas City, MO, and finished his four year degree there. He was offered a chance to play soccer professionally and was planning to play for Chicago when, four days before he graduated, he dislocated his knee on the soccer field. Seven surgeries later, he knew his soccer days were done (he showed us his knees - sure enough, one was higher than the other). He stayed in the States illegally after his student visa expired, working in the service industry, but then 911 happened, and he quickly knew he would need to come back to Turkey, or he would be in big trouble. I told him I was going to write in my blog about him and he said, "Please let everyone know I am single and that someone between the ages of 32-40 would be perfect!" 😂

We didn't end up going to Hagia Sophia that day because we had to eat and get back to school and work (and a clean apartment - thanks to Mrs. Melek!). We stopped at one of the many restaurants close to the mosques.

Turkish pillow bread and salad while we waited for the main course.

Turkish Pide. It's like a pizza boat! Jeff doesn't love the processed meat here but says the cheese is really good. I agree.

The men stand outside and show you the menu and promise all kinds of things if you will eat at their place (a lot of competition). We came to this one because they offered free baklava and apple tea for dessert! 😋

On Tuesday, it rained all day, and we decided to stay in and catch up on school and work. It was a nice break and one of my favorite perks of slow travel. We drank apple, blackberry, and pomegranate tea and ate leftovers. I made a nice meal with the few things we had left from our market run on Saturday. Creativity loves limits, and I'm enjoying this part so much. The only picture I got from this day is this one:

It's Laurel and me holding hands, snuggled together, watching our favorite show. Have you discovered All Creatures Great and Small on PBS Masterpiece? We are on the fourth season, and it is pure heaven watching it with my girl. ❤️

Wednesday, we decided to stay in our neighborhood and tour the Galata Tower. Until the tour, we had no idea we lived by such an important landmark and piece of history - blocks away from our apartment! Here's a quick overview with some help from Google:

During the Byzantine period, Emperor Justinian had a tower erected in what was to become Galata. This tower was destroyed during the Fourth Crusade in 1204.

In 1267, a Genoese colony was established in the Galata part of Constantinople. It was surrounded by walls, and the Galata Tower was first built at its highest point as the Christea Turris (Tower of Christ) in Romanesque style in 1348 during an expansion of the colony. At the time, the Galata Tower, at 219.5 ft, was the tallest building in the city.

After the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the tower was allowed to survive and was turned into a prison.

From 1717, the Ottomans used the tower to look out for fires. In 1794, during the reign of Sultan Selim III, the roof was reinforced in lead and wood, but the stairs were severely damaged by a fire. Another fire damaged the building in 1831, after which further restoration work took place.

In 1875, the tower's conical roof was destroyed during a storm. It remained without this roof for the rest of the Ottoman period, but many years later, during restoration work between 1965 and 1967, the conical roof was reconstructed. At the same time, the tower's wooden interior was replaced with a concrete structure, and it was opened to the public.

In 2020, the Tower was restored and then reopened as a museum now open to the public and the many tourists visiting Istanbul. The roof is undergoing some restoration, so unfortunately, we weren't allowed to go to the very top, but we got close enough to get great views all around.

Our apartment is somewhere there on the left.

Ollie really enjoyed this model of the city.

We've learned a lot about the history of The Golden Horn, which is a major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul. As a natural harbor that connects with the Bosphorus Strait at the point where the strait meets the Sea of Marmara, the waters of the Golden Horn help define the northern boundary of the peninsula constituting "Old Istanbul" (ancient Byzantium and Constantinople). This inlet geographically separates the historic center of Istanbul from the rest of the city and forms a horn-shaped, sheltered harbor that, in the course of history, has protected Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, and other maritime trade ships for thousands of years.

Throughout its history, the Golden Horn has witnessed many tumultuous historical incidents and has been depicted in numerous works of art. Eastern Roman Empire had its naval headquarters there, and walls were built along the shoreline to protect the city of Constantinople from naval attacks.

At the entrance to the Horn on the northern side, a large chain was pulled across from Constantinople to the old Tower of Galata to prevent unwanted ships from entering.

There were three notable times when the chain across the Horn was either broken or circumvented. In the 10th century, the Kievan Rus' dragged their longships out of the Bosphorus, around Galata, and relaunched them in the Horn; the Byzantines defeated them with Greek fire. In 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, Venetian ships were able to break the chain with a ram. In 1453, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, having failed in his attempt to break the chain with brute force, instead used the same tactic as the Rus, towing his ships across Galata over greased logs and into the harbor.

On October 29, 1923, Turkey was declared a republic and elected Mustafa Kemal (this guy) as its first president. The caliphate was abolished on March 3, 1924, and all members of the Ottoman dynasty were expelled from Turkey. A full republican constitution was adopted on April 20, 1924; it retained Islam as the state religion, but in April 1928, this clause was removed, and Turkey became a purely secular republic.

Looking out from one of the many windows that give a 360-degree view of Istanbul.

Tight spot! Winding staircases all the way around.

We grocery shop right in front of the tower and have enjoyed some of the many restaurants and cafes located on the cobblestone streets that lead right to it.

Friday, we headed to the famous Basilica Cistern, and wow! What a spooky-cool place! We felt like we were again in an Indiana Jones movie as we went down under the city into the perfectly symmetrical cave-like structure the size of two football fields.

We walked on raised walkways through 336 columns, many of which were salvaged from ancient ruined temples. We learned that the cistern was commissioned by Emperor Justinian and built in 532. It's the largest surviving Byzantine cistern in İstanbul. Designed to service the Great Palace and surrounding buildings, it was able to store up to 100,000 tons of water delivered via 12 miles of aqueducts from a reservoir near the Black Sea but was closed when the Byzantine emperors relocated from the Great Palace. Forgotten by the city authorities sometime before the Conquest, it wasn't rediscovered until 1545 (a thousand years later!) when scholar Petrus Gyllius was researching Byzantine antiquities in the city and was told by local residents that they were able to obtain water by lowering buckets into a dark space below their basement floors. Some were even catching fish this way! Intrigued, Gyllius explored the neighborhood and finally accessed the cistern through one of the basements. Even after his discovery, the Ottomans didn't treat the so-called Underground Palace with the respect it deserved – it became a dumping ground for all sorts of junk, as well as corpses.

The cistern was cleaned and renovated in 1985 by the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality and opened to the public in 1987. It's now one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.

The most famous part of the Cistern is the two columns featuring Medusa heads. Several competing theories explain why one of the Medusa heads is sideways at the base of a column, and the other is completely upside-down. The heads may have been removed from an ancient building called the Forum of Constantine, where similar ones have been found. Some say that the heads are proof that Byzantine builders saw Roman relics as little more than reusable rubble. Other historians point to the early Christian practice of putting pagan statues upside-down to make a bold statement about their faith.

And still others say that Medusa's power to turn you to stone only works if you are looking straight into her eyes, which would be impossible if she is upside-down or sideways 😏.

Anyway, we loved the Basicila Cistern!

This looks like two kids taken hostage, but it's really just Laurel teaching Ollie and Norah about the nervous system and how quickly our senses can react according to the environment (she's in charge of teaching them about Health and the Human Mind for Science).

Saturday, we finally made it to the inside of the Hagia Sophia!

Oh man, SO MUCH history in this place...

Here's a quick explanation via YouTube

Curtains are hiding Christian mosaics from when the building was a Roman Catholic cathedral, basilica, and museum. In 2020, Erdogan made the controversial decision to change it back to a mosque. Instead of painting/plastering over the mosaics (like had been done before), they cover them with curtains.

Such an incredible mix of so many thousands of years of the history of multiple empires. I know we barely scratched the surface!

We still had the rest of the day to kill, so we walked around and tried to decide what to do next (it's so nice just to have time like that - we know it's a luxury that we are thoroughly enjoying).

We finally decided to take the Metro to the Istanbul Aquarium right on the ocean.

So many sharks!

And we got a photo with Posiden!

There was a food court with McDonalds. Everyone was so excited to try the Turkish version of Micky-D's (except for me - give me fresh, yummy Turkish food every day!)

We also saw a pretty cool Egyptian exhibit of King Tut's treasures. We didn't understand (everything was in Turkish) that it was just replicas until the very end. 😂

Sunday, Jeff and I gave talks in church about the power of Jesus Christ's gospel to give us true joy. I wish I could record every week or beam you all over for our Sunday meetings. We love the people in this branch so much! We love hearing about their lives and feel so convicted and humbled by their sacrifices as they embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ in this country.

Last week, as we were walking home in the pouring rain (and lots of cold wind), we ran into this cute man in the photo above. We have seen him multiple times. He sells shoes and handbags close to our apartment - usually a very small inventory (no more than 5 -8 at a time). Anyway, it broke our hearts to see him soaking wet in the rain, shaking with cold. I felt impressed to stop (we usually wave hello and give him a smile, and he always smiles back), but this time, I knew he needed more. We stopped, and he enthusiastically showed us his wares. Jeff pulled out a few hundred Turkish Lira (that's about 10 dollars), gave them to him, and let him know we didn't need any bags or shoes. He started crying and thanked us over and over again. It broke all of our hearts, but especially Maisy's. We talked and talked about what we could do to help him. We prayed to know what would be best and thought about it all week. Maisy decided that more money to help him get more of an inventory would be the best thing, so she talked to each of the other kids and committed all of us to donate $20. We checked throughout the week to see if he was in his normal spot but didn't see him.

So this Sunday, when we turned the corner, and he was there, we were so happy to see him! Maisy picked out a bag and paid him the money she had prepared for this moment. He didn't realize at the time of this picture how much she had given him, but he was just so happy to make a sale. He expressed his gratitude multiple times and kissed each of our hands. We asked if we could take a photo with him, and he was overjoyed to be asked.

No words. Just so humbled by this and many other experiences here. We are so lucky, and we want to make a difference. It is hard to see the poverty and know how privileged we are. We've had lots of talks about how we know that God is mindful of all of His children and that He can lead us to help in ways that will mean something to one person at a time while we are here.

Until next week!