What Makes Us Unique

Hope for Haiti's Organization is different from most non-profit organizations in many ways. For instance, we don't have an established office outside of our home. Nor are any of our executive board members on a payroll. Everything is does for free at our own home during our own time, to avoid spending unnecessary funds. Before I go to Haiti, I have been soliciting funds and acquiring donations such as book bags, school supplies, and first aid equipment. I meet with some of our sponsors such as Smart Solutions Inc. and private donors. I do some grant writing (maybe not the best, but I try). All of this work is necessary before I leave to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti on July 18th. How else would I be able to help the children at our schools in Haiti without providing the necessary money? Some donors give as little as $25 or as much as $10,000 but each cent is worth something and greatly apprieciated.

A challenge I am continuing to face is my shyness. Luckily I have a strong relationship with most of the donors but my mother always has to help me talk to the new ones. Some people I know disagree with the fact that I am shy, they say I am just "selective with who I choose to talk to". Interesting..

Hope for Haiti's Children

You can check out Hope for Haiti's Children on our website at www.helpsavethekids.com

I wanted to thank everyone who donated their used/old cell phones to Hope for Haiti's Children because we raised about $250 from that alone.

New Chapter

Unfortunately things did not work out in Turkey because the few volunteer opportunities the country has, requires the volunteers to speak Turkish fluently. So I came back to the U.S. and will be working with my family's non-profit organization in Haiti. Our organization is called Hope for Haiti's Children which supports educational and health endeavors in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. We mainly help underprivliged children in Haiti go to school for free and have necessary school supplies etc

My flight from Istanbul was extremely long and I suffered from Jet Lag a good few days. On the plane I sat next to this young Turkish male who spoke English really well. He told me I looked like Jennifer Lopez haha I'll take that as a compliment.

I went to the Grand Bazaar my last day in Istanbul to do some last minute shopping. Since I figured out how to use public transportation I went alone. A bunch of Turkish guys would continuously come up and talk/walk with me. I was given free drinks about half a dozen times. I was also given free gifts and many of the guys gave me their number. They all begged me to hang out with them that night but of course I am not an idiot, and I did not. I think taking public transportation in Istanbul is so much fun, even though it's usually crowded.

Note that the population of Istanbul is 14 million, while the population of NYC is 8 million.

P.s. I got my hair done for $8 in Istanbul. I usually pay $30 in the States.

Inconvenience

As some of you may already know, things did not work out in Romania. I had problems reaching my agency so after a few days of no luck, I decided to return to Istanbul. I will be looking for a volunteer site here, which will be a great way to use the knowledge I have learned about the Turkish and Muslim culture.
More information coming soon...

End of Turkey...for now

Of course I was deeply saddened to leave Turkey today. Romania and Turkey are extremely different. Romania looks pretty morbid and Turkey is beautiful. Romanian people never smile and Turkish people are super friendly. Yet it's only my first day, so I won't judge. Suprisingly a lot of people speak English in both countries though.

I miss Turkey already, and I feel as if everything has changed for me.
Since I haven't updated this blog for a little while, I will recap on my last days in Turkey.

As I mentioned before, Antalya was simply breath taking. We had dinner with a Bosnian family and that was as interesting as always. Then one of the waiters gave Elizabeth and I some white flowers saying "I can only be a gentleman once in my life".

The morning after we arrived, most of us went swimming in the Mediterranean. I have to admit that the water was pretty cold but it didn't matter because the water was so clear and nice. Later we went to the Aspendos Amphitheatre which was huge and they had a "gladiator" walking around. Afterwards we visited a private school and looked around to see what kind of education they were getting. It seemed decent but I suspect that was just because it was private. The students gave us all carnation flowers =)

We also went to a rug/carpet store which made me realize how handmade rugs/carpets are costly. But the silk ones were soooo pretty, I wish I could've afforded it ($4,000 ish).

After Antalya, we took a flight to Ankara (the capital of Turkey). The following day we drove to Cappadocia which is basically a city made out of rock. It was pretty neat. I realize now how hard it is to describe what I saw, luckily I have pictures. We visited a pottery studio and I was chosen to make a clay pot from scratch. It was a lot of fun even though my pot didn't come out perfect, but it was my first time doing such a thing. I don't have pictures of me doing the pot yet but here is the picture of the man doing it:

Finally we returned to Istanbul to spend our last two/three days there.

We stopped for some drinks at a cafe over looking the water.

My favorite city is definitely Istanbul for so many reasons. It was once the capital of The Roman Empire, The Byzantine Empire, and The Ottoman Empire. Therefore, it has so much history and at the same time is so modernized. Also Napoleon once said that if there were to be a capital of the world it should be Istanbul. We had dinner at a sponsor family's place and their apartment ended up looking very American. The wife of the family had a Louis Vuitton head scarf, which showed that conservative Muslim girls can still be fashionable.

The following day we went to the Dolmabahce Palace which was gigantic. Honestly it was very nice, but at the same time it upset me to see how Sultan's wasted so much money to show off. This picture is of the guard in front of the palace standing stiff. His body did not move at all...only his eyes and that was rarely.

The best part of the day was going to the Grand Bazaar! Everyone on the trip already labeled me as "The Shopper"... even though the majority of the time I am shopping for other people (family and friends). I suck at bargaining because I always feel bad and maybe because I am somewhat shy too. So most of my bargaining came from Umit and Wheeler. Wheeler helped me bargain something from $40 to $15 (a gift for my sister Tacha).

Our last day in Istanbul was one of my favorite days. We visited both the Blue Mosque and the Haghia Sophia. It's just so overwhelming being in both of those places, I really can't find the words to describe it's beauty and grandheur. You will have to see through the pictures. We also visited an underground cistern and the Hipodrom which was pretty cool. The Topkapi Palace we visited had a lot of valuable items in it, such as St. John's arm, a 68 carrot diamond, Mohammud's foot print, Abraham's hat etc. To top off our day we went on a private boat tour on the Bosphorous. It was a lot of fun, and it was great being in the water and seeing the view of the city. For dinner we tried to figure out how many pictures we all took together (there were 17 of us) and we figured out that we took at least 10,000 pictures all together (haha that's insane).

The outside of the Blue Mosque. And then below is a picture of us girls with our head scarves. When we sat there to take the picture, a lot of random people started taking a bunch of pictures of us. It was weird.

Below is a picture of inside the Blue Mosque.

Some of us with the Haghia Sophia in the background.

Inside the Haghia Sophia:

Random thoughts: I enjoyed taking walks during the night around Turkey, because the weather was cool and the cities always felt calm. I enjoyed being confused for Turkish and getting perplexed stares from lots of people. Turkish people are relaxed not always in a rush like Americans. However, you need mad skills to drive in Istanbul...

Basically, how can you go abroad and not feel changed?

Paradise

I am in Antalya, Turkey now, where the weather is perfect (warm but windy during the day and cool at night). Our hotel is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and we have a beautiful view from our rooms. The water is clear blue and there are some mountains and rocks surrounding it. Not just a sandy beach like most of Florida.

I can't remember the last time I had a good sleep. I usually only sleep for less than 5 hours here. Yesterday we were in Ephesus and we visited the Virgin Mary's House. That was interesting, I know my grandmother would be thrilled to see the house for herself. It's now been turned into a church and they think she was burried around there. We also went and visited the Roman Ruins there in addition to the St. John Basilica. Our group ate with a Turkish family and it was fun. They were saying how many Americans have the misconception that all Muslims are like Osama Bin Laden, but that's not true. In fact, Muslims are very acceptive of other religions.

My whole group is full of wonderful people. I've been lucky to have a girl that is 16 years old (Elizabeth) and a boy that is 12 years old (Wheeler) on the trip. They are the same age as my younger sister and brother, and they keep me from being homesick. Elizabeth is fun to talk to and Wheeler is just so smart for his age. Wheeler and I have so much in common that it's simply hilarious...we both are very fond of Napoleon, both of our favorite songs are "Lollipop" by Lil Wayne, our favorite drinks are Shirley Temple, we both speak French fluenty and so on...

When I start school in the fall, I will be visiting them from time to time since they live in Tallahassee.

Once again the Turkish people are so friendly and I wouldn't be surprised if I came here again. The Turkish guys give us flowers for no reason and the children are always excited to see us Americans.

Adjusting to time zone

So basically it's 11:15 pm in Florida and 6:15 am in Istanbul. The only reason I am awake so early is because I haven't completely adjusted to the new time zone.
We will be flying to Izmir later on today, but I want to recap on my second day in Istanbul.

It seems as if there is mostly males here - I suppose it's because the women stay home. Or the fact that so many people walk out on the streets, more than what I am accustomed to in the States. The Turkish people are definitely friendly and are always giving us gifts.

At the Bazaars, the Turkish people keep assuming I am Turkish as well. They start talking to me in Turkish and when I don't respond they ask me in English where I am from. When I tell them the U.S. they demand for an explanation because they say I look Middle Eastern. Of course they are not surprised when I tell them that my father's side of the family is Lebanese.


So this is the Byzantine Wall I was talking about earlier:



This was our view on the Bosphorus Bridge:

We were on the set of a famous Turkish cooking channel. And we couldn't resist taking a picture with a good looking Turkish actor.

We went to miniaturk, which was pretty neat because they had models of all the important landmarks in Turkey. In the picture below of Umit and I, you can see what a great view we have in Istanbul.

After we visited the New Mosque so Gunes and Umit could pray. Everyone said I looked uncomfortable, which was quite true at first, especially since it was the first time I had ever been in a mosque. I was unaccustomed to wearing a head scarf and I felt as if everyone was staring at me. We had to take off our shoes as we entered the mosque. The men prayed in the front and the women prayed in the back. The mosque was beautiful inside. It had so much detail that I doubt my pictures could ever grasp.