More tiles than Home Depot

Robyn: Holy Wisdom, Batman!

We got a chance to visit the ancient Byzantine basilica Aya Sofia, a.k.a. The Church of Holy Wisdom. We learned that it is actually the 3rd church to be built in its place, as the first two were either burned or torn down. Justinian II got to build this one in the 7th Century AD. It was captured by the Seljuk Turks in 1453 and almost immediately turned into a mosque. Mosques cannot have pictures of any kind, so they plastered over the mosaics in order to allow worship inside. Years later, the plaster started falling off, revealing the beautiful and ornate mosaics underneath. Ironically, the plaster which was meant to hide the evidence of the heritage of the building actually helped to preserve it. The reformer, President Attaturk, had the mosque "decommissioned" to be a secular museum in the 1920s, and it remains thus today.

Also, the design of the building, especially the domes, influenced mosques around the globe, and possibly Naboo from Star Wars I.

Water pipe!?! What about a water pipe?

We had to pick up our residence permits today by 10 am. This was to be done at a police station on the other side of town, so we set out early and took a bus, a boat, and a taxi to get there. The taxi driver got the place wrong, so then we took another bus. Luckily, the driver and his assistant helped us out by pointing out the place we needed to be. The people here continue to amaze us and it helps us through the tough days.

This is a picture of an ancient Roman aqueduct that still stands and even has traffic run underneath. Before, under, after...

Caffeine Libations

One of our goals is to meet all of the neighbors in our apartment building before 2011. We have met one or two here or there, but we decided to make a house call to really get started. Luke met a lady from upstairs when he offered to help her bring in her groceries (how nice...) She said she didn't need help, but told him she was excited to meet him because she had once lived in the States for 2 years with her husband and would love to have us over some time.
Sunday night, we made some cookies and took them over to drop off and say hello. What followed was a real treat: 3.5 hours of Key People Hospitality, complete with 2 glasses of çay, local coffee (think triple espresso plus), and even a coke at dinner.
We met the whole family including husband, daughter, mother, and mother-in-law--all while watching a big soccer match on the big-screen tv.
It was a great time and we hope we've gained some new friends through the experience.

Some other sights

These are just a few random sights that we see from around our city. The flowers, especially the roses are out in force. The water seen here is the closest we can reach by walking and is nice to walk along.

Baby Boom

The results from our last sonogram showed that our child looked kinda like a peanut (hence the uber-creative moniker: "Peanut").
However this time, the results looked more like a human child.
The wonders of the creation of life are amazing to us and the reality of the life being formed in Robyn's womb is slowly starting to sink in.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb

May Day!

This is slightly out of order, but so are so many things in our lives...
Our country declared a new holiday here on May 1--"Labor Day" or "May Day." It's kind of an official/unofficial day of protest.
Since people are blowing off steam all over the place, we, as foreigners, lay low and stay indoors.
This makes for a great opportunity to have an "expat" party. Many of us 'mericans got together for the afternoon and played Wii, cards, Settlers and as a tribute to our time in China, we made homemade pizza. A good time was had by all!

Our Day Out

We recently took a quick tour around our city to get an idea of what so many people come to see. We took a ferry over to the other side and were able to get some good shots of some of the more famous landmarks.
The city does have a good deal of beauty and charm, so we were glad to get out and experience it.