Thank God they Pray!

I have no idea of where, when or how to begin telling you about my day. I guess I will start at the beginning and see how this goes. This morning, Amanda and I woke up at 5 AM to watch the sunrise as we sailed through the Bosphorous Strait. Europe was on our right and Asia was on the left. The Topkapi palace and other huge buildings were sprinkled across the land as we sailed by. It was such a neat and sentimental moment. We finally docked in Istanbul and then customs came on board to begin clearing us for debarkation. When Amanda and I heard it would be about 3 more hours until we were cleared to deboard, we went back to our cabins to take a nap! Once we finally cleared and got our Turkish Visas we got off the ship and began our explorations! Istanbul is defintiely the biggest city that I have ever been in. There are 12.4 million people who live in the city and that is not including children and tourists. The chaos of the roads, the weird smells in the air and the hundreds of thousands of people are just fascinating. As part of the country's traditions, we (as women) are not allowed to show our shoulders or our knees. In normal weather this might be ok, but today it was 96 degrees and 48% humidity. It was miserable. But there are literally no women here who show skin. Amanda and I did not cover our hair in the morning because the hair covering is optional now in Turkey. I could go on and on about the religious information that I have been learning about this culture, but you would be sitting at your computer reading for DAYS! Instead... I will jump right to the highlight of my day... the grand bazaar! Oh my gosh, it was the coolest thing in the world! Four thousand-two hundred shops are all crammed together in ONE place all selling amazing little trinkets. The entire experience was unforgettable. The moment I walked in the door, the salesmen (emphasis on MEN) are immediately trying to get you to come to their store. Someone told us last night that there are 4,200 shops and two men in every store who will want you to buy their product... that's almost 9,000 men all competing for your attention. It was quite overwhelming. I felt so rude just ignoring these people as they called out, "Hi pretty lady, would you like to buy a rug? how about some earrings?" The stores that Amanda and I did stop at were so different that stores that we are used to in America. Nothing has a price! You ask how much something is, they say a ridiculous amount and then you barter your way down to something reasonable... sometimes. Many stores assume that because you are an American, you have money and they will not negotiate prices with you. Overall it was a great experience. A big problem that we ran into was the constant gawking from these sales men. It made Amanda and I feel very uncomfortable. We didn't want to stop and look at a beautiful vase even if we wanted to because we didn't want these men to talk to us in a provocative way. It is hard to describe... Amanda had the idea that maybe if we covered ourselves (or the rest of ourselves) they would respect us more. We ended up covering our hair with our shawls and the difference in treatment was instantaneous. The men barely said a word to us anymore. They bartered with us very easily and they did not say stupid pick up lines as we walked by. I could not and still cannot believe the difference a shawl makes. The shawl and hair covering has just recently been dismissed by the government and is now optional. The women who wear it are discriminated against and cannot find jobs. Women in general do not work outside of the home. There is a 16% female employment rate in Istanbul according to the US Representative who came on our ship today. Something else I found amazing is that the state governed exactly what the churches would preach up until 3 or 4 weeks ago. The state would literally write down what the church was allowed to talk about and the church would listen. If you were caught reading a Bible or teaching your children anything but what the state has governed, it would mean severe consequences for you. I cannot imagine living in fear simply because of my religion. It is also odd to me the fact that the Turkey/US relations are not very well regarded. Turkey only has a 12% approval rating of the United States but in the grand scheme of things we rank 2nd on their approval rating! It is definitely an experience when you tell someone you are from America. The reaction is either completely positive or completely negative. I could go on and on about my day today but I don't think I could physically type out everything that happened to me today. This is the craziest thing that I have ever seen and I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds!

 

Oh and the story behind the title of this blog... There was this one store where I wanted to buy some scarves from... he wanted 50 lira for 2 scarves and I refused to pay that much for two scarves. I told him that I would not pay more than 35 lira for both. He refused. We went back and forth and he finally agreed to letting me pay 35 lira as long as he got to have tea with Amanda and I. He wanted to meet us tonight for dinner, but we lied and said that we had a class to go to tonight. So we ended up having tea right there in his store. He kept talking and talking and asking us questions and just being chatty... then he had to excuse himself because he had to go pray. Amanda and I both left that store kind of silent and we just said, "Thank God they pray!!" It was so funny. It was very different to see the men in the bazaar getting out their carpets and kneeling down repeatedly to pray. I have never seen something like this before. I am loving this experience!