Just a quick update

I'm back in Ankara with my mom, after meeting her in Istanbul and spending a few days there. Mom's been a real trooper, heading from mosque to bazaar to my new house and all over the Golden Horn, as well as out to Arnavutkoy and back in rush hour traffic.

I'll inshallah get more details and stories from our trip so far up soon, but I just wanted to leave you guys with a few pics from our days so far:


This is Mom with the US Ambassador to Turkey, James Jeffery. Aren't they adorable?
We were at his residence earlier tonight for a talk and dinner by the Ankara Friends of the American Research Institute in Turkey. The talk was really good, and we both learned a lot: it focused on the architectural and other achievements of women in Ottoman Turkey, primarily the Valide Sultanas (mothers of the sultans). We had a great time, Mom got to meet the Ambassador and his wife, who are both really nice people and who both just love Turkey. We had dinner with a few Turkish-American couples and a Brit, from a variety of fields, and had all in all a fully enjoyable evening!



My trip to Istanbul to pick up Mom had another purpose as well: find housing for my pending move to the city. Luckily, a friend of mine hooked me up with her professor, and I am now renting his house for the year. It's a serendipitous find. It's in the Kumkapi section of town, which is in the Golden Horn, about a block off the water. There are many fish restaurants in the neighborhood, so I guess I'll finally find out what all Turkish fish varieties taste like. The pic above is me in the doorway of my new house.



So Mom and I are walking down the street in Sultanahmet (Istanbul, the tourist area), and we pass a little boy strutting around in one of these outfits, out with his family. I lean in and to murmur that he's on his way to get circumcised. Mom was pretty shocked, mainly at the relatively late age of Muslim circumcision ceremonies (I believe around 8 is the normal age here). And thus followed a fun, occasionally awkward, and interesting discussion of Muslim circumcision tradition. We saw these for sale the next day and naturally took a photo; what you can't see is below the cape in front, where the shop is displaying some sort of cup/protector, which kind of goes against the whole point there.

So there's a brief and incomplete snapshot of my 3.5 days showing Mom how awesome this country is. It's been great! Much more to come.

kendine iyi bak,
-R