Eid al-Adha Holiday Begins!

We have a week off from school due to the Eid al-Adha holiday, or 3otla, the second of the two Eid festivals which commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son, Ishmael (yes, different from the Bible where Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac).  I am currently writing from a hostel in Istanbul, Turkey!  I'm spending 8 days here with three other teachers: Darion, John and Katie.  I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to travel like this and see one of the most exquisite cities in the world.  The place is leaking with history and remnants of the great Ottoman empire as well as being incredibly sleek and metropolitan.  Immediately I was struck by the mixture of European and Middle Eastern cultures here in this city.  It is the most beautiful blending.  And I've only been here for one day.  This morning, we all woke up at 3am and caught a flight out of Queen Alia International Airport near Madaba.  The flight was great; European airlines have the best food and I met a couple sitting next to me originally from Charlotte, NC!  We got to Turkey, exhausted, but ready to see the city!  We rode the metro around and found the hostel, hung out there for a couple hours, made a German friend and then went touring for hours into the night.  You'll see what our touring looked like from the pictures below.  The city is bustling and lively and lovely.  The city is also HUGE.  I'm already feeling as if I'll need weeks to explore it all properly.  I just got back from a delicious and beautiful dinner and I'm off to bed soon.  Tomorrow will be some more fun and exploration!

The flight from Jordan to Turkey, floating on clouds.

This picture is cool because you can see the reflection of the airplane against the clouds and a rainbow circle around the shadow.

Made it to the hostel!  Darion learns Turkish, John tries not to fall asleep.

We ate some delicious shawarma on the side of the road...

...and some fresh-squeezed pomegranate and orange juice!

The fish market.

 Some fishermen on the bridge, and one of the many stunning mosques in the background.

Graffiti framing a view of the bay and a mosque in the distance.

We went shopping in the Grande Bazaar and had our first Turkish coffee in this little place.

A tower right beside our hostel.

A particularly lively street in Istanbul at night.

I also have some videos that I'll try to upload tomorrow if I have enough battery.  Another country, another wall outlet.