(I have this thing about foreign languages. The thing is that I hate not knowing them and thus forcing others to communicate in a way that accommodates my ignorance. So I've decided what superpower I want: universal language knowledge.)
This morning I woke up to the sound of a cat desperately scratching and meowing at the door to be let in, followed shortly by the Muslim Call to Prayer (the latter was less pleasant). My university campus is sufficiently far from any town that one never hears it. Both of these sounds forced me to remember that I was not at home but instead staying at my friend Sabrina's apartment in the Old City. The time display on my cell phone was wrong - Daylight Savings ends here a week earlier than in Toronto - to my great relief that I would not be late for church for the second week in a row. Walking to church in the company of three other Caucasian girls might have indicated to the locals that we were all from the same place, when in truth I as a Canadian was in the company of an Englishwoman, a German, and a Swede. This city continues to astonish me.
Pastor Benjamin spoke eloquently of a matter I've been contemplating for a while, like he was speaking to me alone. Caroline and I discussed how Christian individuals might go about seeking God's guidance when looking for employment in the secular world. I'm sure that neither of us is quite certain as to how the two intersect. Over lunch at the Union Han I met two fellows speaking French, one from Madagascar and the other from the Congo, both studying for degrees at Istanbul Technical University. They've been here for four and three years, respectively. I found myself envying their trilingualism (at least, they may know more). This city continues to astonish me.
Not being myself an official church member, I left what then turned into their annual meeting and joined a group of girls going out for dessert. Three I had met before: one British, one Turkish, one Slovenian. Of the other two, one was Kazak, the other also Turkish. We walked along Istiklal to yet another restaurant specializing in desserts, stopping periodically so Luba (the Kazak) could purchase a few things before returning home in a few days' time. I selected a beautiful piece of cake from the display: white with pink cream layers, strawberries, and pink chocolate shavings on the top. I had not had a cake that delicious in a long time. It was overwhelmingly sweet (which I love) and yet tart, increasing my enjoyment of it exponentially with every taste. I will have to have more soon less I perish from want of it. We passed our plates around and everyone got to taste everyone else's choice. (Mine was by far the best. Just sayin'.) We chatted about many things, had the waiter take a few pictures of our table, and exchanged emails and names for Facebook purposes. True to form, I was again the youngest one there, but I discovered I share the same birth date (month and day, not year) as the second Turkish girl! I've never met anyone with the same birthday as me and was quite pleased to finally know one. This city continues to astonish me.
After we disbanded, I left with Zirve (the Turkish girl I knew from church) as she was returning home to study too, but she for her GRE exam next week. She is applying to various international universities to obtain a PhD in biological sciences of some sort (genetics, I believe). We chatted pleasantly on the subway, exchanging thoughts on school, sports, food, etc. She left and I continued on, returning to my room and the clean laundry I had washed the previous day before leaving for Sabrina's birthday party. Unable to account for the boundless happiness, ambition, and satisfaction simultaneously coursing through my limbs, I proceeded to write this. While it has helped to ferment these feelings in my mind, I still can't ascribe them to any one person or element of the day. And just now I realize that this is a glimpse of the beauty that Christian fellowship affords us no matter how far we wander. This city continues to astonish me.
