Mmmmm.......Waffle......

This weekend was quite lovely. I got to spend some time with Monica and some of the other trainees I haven’t hung out with for a while which is nice because I really want to stay close with them. I want to learn as much as possible from them about their cultures and their perspectives on the world based on each persons life experience. It’s really so interesting. I would give some examples but I wouldn’t really feel comfortable publishing their life story onmy blog without permission. You wouldn’t believe all of the real life stories that I’ve heard. Sometimes I just can’t believe I actually know the story teller as a real and close friend. It seems as if their stories are things people only hear about but never really believe. It’s so wonderful to compare our lives and learn from one another.

Saturday we spent the day walking along the water to a place called Bebek. It’s really nice area in Istanbul with some wonderful homes, coffee shops, and cafes overlooking the Bosphorus. Everyone walking around was super trendy. The girls were wearing so much jewelry and stilettos with the latest 80’s cut sweatshirts and skirts I swear we were in the middle of a music video or something.

Our first stop in Bebek was at the famous Abdas Waffle shop. My god, I have never tasted anything so fabulous in my life. Why the hell are we eating waffles for breakfast in North America??! They are soooo much better when smothered with chocolate and pistachio cream with banana, strawberry, and kiwi all in a little wrap so that you can hold it like a sandwich. Mmmmmmm……Waffle….

So after we stuffed our faces with chocolate and waffle gained 10 kilos, I convinced my friends to climb up a massive hill to check out the campus of one of the best universities in Istanbul, Bogzici. After listening to complaints for 20 minutes about the hill we finally reached the campus and my friends were speechless. They kept saying they felt as if there were entering a photograph. It just looked like a photograph of any campus with people laying in the grass and playing around with Frisbees surrounded by old buildings. Quite nice actually, it didn’t feel like we were in Istanbul at all. We walked around for a bit checking out the view from different places on campus. There is one place that has the best view of all of Istanbul. I have been to quite a few places and this tops it all.

After dinner at Wonderland, we stopped in Ortakoy, kind of an artsy neighborhood, and sat outside a place with live music and had a beer with some friends. It was the perfect day.