i've been busy

It's been a while since my last update. I apologize. I've been extremely busy. Since I last updated, I've been to the real touristy part of town and seen some of the biggest sights in Istanbul. I saw the Haghia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, the Basillica Cistern, and the Hippodrome. The Haghia Sophia was the first stop for Aaaron, Hailey, and I because when we went to the blue mosque we couldn't enter because they were in the middle of prayer. The hagia sophia, despite being like 1800 years old, is amazing. It is huge. Unfortunately, over the years a lot of deterioration hs occured. It was burned down 2 or 3 times and rebuilt. When the ottomans took over, they converted the church into a mosque. It is real neat because they left all the christian mosaics of like archangel gabriel, virgin mary with the baby jesus, and some other stuff. You can also see where they pained over crosses. Unfortunately they are restoring the dome so the interior is cluttered with this huge thing that goes to the roof.
The Blue Mosque, or Sultan Ahmet Camii, was the first mosque I ever entered. I had to do the normal things, like be respectful and remove my shoes, etc. The women had to cover their legs, shoulders, and sometimes hair. It was really neat just sitting on the carpet watching people come and go, pray, and carry on their business. From the Blue Mosque, we walked over to the Hippodrome, of which only the Obelisks from the original remain. The hippodrome used to be a huge arena, rumored to be bigger than the Circus Maximus in Rome. It was constructed by Constantine and had obelisks lining the center of the track. Today the hippodrome is a park with a road that circles the obelisks.
We ended our historical tour of Sultanhamet with the Basillica Cistern. It is a large underground water chamber that was built during the reign of Justinian. Water from aqueducts flowed into this chamber, which is absolutely huge. Cisterns provided clean water for the surrounding neighborhoods. This big one was obviously for Imperial palace and the Haghia Sophia. There is a blurry picture of it below.
Other than trying not to be an obnoxious tourist, i've done some shopping, met a retarded amount of other people. I've spent a lot of time with people from germany, holland, turkey, canada, spain, england, austria, and of course the US. It is so much fun interacting with these people from all over the world. I've learned so much about them and their cultures. It is really nice making friends with Americans who are from Turkish descent and are fluent in the language. We take them out with us so we don't get ripped off as much. Turkish merchants and cab drivers are good at ripping off people who look foreign and who don't speak the language, which is one reason why i want to learn the language so badly. The other being that I really want to flirt with this cute Turkish girl who works in the cafeteria of my dorm.
I still dont have a blanket on my bed. Just one fitted sheet. I feel like a bum when I'm sleeping under my jacket. I also need to wash clothes. I found out the hard way that you can pack lite and still take enough clothes. I'm going to try to maybe travel some this weekend. I haven't decided where yet, but some options are the black sea, troy, or some other outlying towns. Hailey's family has a beach home outside of Izmir, about 6 hours south west of Istanbul on The Agean. We are going to try to go there in a couple weeks to see the ruins of Ephesus and just take it easy. Ok, sleep time.

The blue mosque:<--- part of the interior of the Haghia Sophia. This picture shows the "plupit-type-thing" that you see in Mosques, and in the background you can see the painting of Mary and the baby jesus which is above the altar. The Interior of the Blue Mosque: and another picture of the interior!