Bu akşam çay ve nargileh içiyorum (Tonight we are drinking nargileh and tea). I'm finally learning some things...

We had a long day today but one that was satisfying in the end. I overslept and missed breakfast and then made my way through a long day of classes. The material is interesting and we're learning a lot pretty quickly, but it's still very exhausting. And to add to that we were given a hefty pile of homework to do around the excursion they had planned for us between 4:30 and 9:00 tonight. Luckily, I was able to finish most of my homework before our trip and the destination was well worth it. We finally made it to downtown Izmir and got to see the bazaar and wander around the beachfront. I had seen some pictures of the waterfront before I left but they really don't do it justice. The bay is perfectly flat and ringed on every side by high mountains. The view is beautiful. We started out by wandering through the old bazaar and exploring some of the shops. I finally felt like I was back in a city like Damascus. The food and tea looked great and the variety of merchandise and shopkeepers who were eager to sell it to you were very familiar. On the advice of Ersin, one of our language tutors, I tried something called midye dolma. They are fresh mussels stuffed with cooked rice and some spices and served right out of the shell. They were delicious and very cheap. He said they're best when served with lots of beer at a seaside restaurant so I figured I would take up his challenge sometime this weekend. After we finished at the bazaar we wandered over to see the old Ottoman clocktower that is the symbol of Izmir. It was a gift to the Sultan (Abdelmejid? Abdelhamid?) from Kaiser WIlhelm II and stands in the middle of a square near the waterfront. Then we walked down the promenade next to the bay enjoying the sights and ended up in the area known as the Kordon where there were lots of restaurants and coffee shops with seating areas next to the water. Ersin, Tony and I separated from the rest of the group and capped off the day with some apple nargileh and tea at the Osmanli Kahveyi (Ottoman Cafe). A very relaxing experience and a welcome reminder of what I loved about being in this part of the world. Coming back to the dorm to finish homework wasn't my ideal way of ending the night, but it is the reason the government paid for me to be here so I guess I can make the sacrifice. Overall, it was a great day and a nice preview of how our day trip to the beach will be this saturday. I hope you enjoy the pictures!