The five day forecast is longer than I will remain in Istanbul :(

So it's here...the end of my life in Istanbul. At least for now.

I am really sad to be leaving, but less on that right now and more on my latest adventures.

My dad (Babam) and I spent the last two days in Cairo, Egypt. That's in Africa. Like where the pyramids are. Crazy. It was a really different experience--much different than I had imagined. I guess that's what hollywood will do to you. It's a lot less developed than I thought, and I had no idea it was so big--Greater Cairo has 20 million people living in it, which is almost 25% of the entire population of Egypt. We got to see so much in just two days: the pyramids, the Great Sphinx, how to make paper from papyrus, glass blowing, the Egyptian Museum, Old Cairo, and the Kahn El Khalili Bazaar to name the big things...in addition to seeing the culture and people and learning a little arabic. Woooo!

Terrible Towel at the Pyramids!

Moving some stones around...

Shocked by the size of our Cairo hotel room

In the largest and oldest mosque in Egypt

It's kind of hard to tell, but this is the floor of the "hanging church" as in it was built really high up and the ground is below the beams you can see

Before we went to Africa, we spent a lot of time touring around Istanbul. I saw a good amount of stuff again, and some new stuff too.

We went to Dolmabahce Palace, which was built by the Ottomans and is extremely lavish and ornate and stunning.

We went to the Basicilla Cistern, which is enormous and stored water that was brought in from a forest 20 km away because it was clean.

We also spent some time on my side (the Asian side of Istanbul). It was really weird going back to my side and felt like I was going back home. It took a while for me to get used to staying on this side. I miss being in Asia! It's much different culturally--I feel like I am really a part of the daily life on my side and that I am just a tourist on this side. But I guess that's pretty accurate to how it actually is.

I thought of something more about the Fenerbahce game: when I walked in, the lady who patted me down like grabbed my pocket because I had change in it and told me I had to put it into the box. I was obviously really confused but she really did not want me to have the change. Apparently the fans throw money onto the field at the other team and so they take your change when you walk in so you can't throw it. I didn't know that, and I wouldn't throw my change, either. Oh, and I never thought I'd be at a soccer game in Asia during my college graduation!

I think that just about covers what I've been up to with my dad since he got here on Wednesday. I was checking the weather forecast for tomorrow (we will be doing some outdoor shopping) and I won't even be here through out the end of the five-day forecast. I am so saddddd to be leaving this city...it has really started to feel like home.