Lilly Farahani Ankara Week 4

This week I made a quick trip to Konya. On the way there it was a 4 hour bus ride, but we decided to try the high speed rail on the way back and it was actually cheaper than the bus and it only took 1 hour and 50 minuts. Definitely taking the high speed rail from now on. I got to see Rumi's tomb, the artwork was absolutely stunning. Since he's Persian, a lot of his furniture and artwork reminded me of Iran. I also saw original Hafez book (a persian poet) and rumor has it that if you sleep in the garden where is tomb is in Tabriz, then you are granted eternal happiness. I might be making a quick trip to Tabriz soon. We also saw the dervishes. Konya was much more conservative than I expected. Most of the stores closed by 10 p.m and the majority of the poeple wore Islamic religious garb.  On our last day, next to the train station we found an area of Konya which was very modern and liberal. We had cheeseburgers and milkshakes at a little bistro, where they were blasting EDM music. It was an interesting experience since it was only 1 in the afternoon.

This was my train ticket which only cost 21 liras. Back in the States the train is so much more expensive and is not even high speed. Surprisingly my name is very difficult here for people to understand and pronounce. So people misinterpreting my name as Lala Ferhani instead of Lilly Farahani is common.  

The artwork around Rumi's tomb was unreal. He wasn't either sunni or shi'ite so muslims from both sects came together and were praying there. I always would read his sayings and I still can't believe I have had the opportunity to visit his tomb.  

One of the mosques that was near Rumi's tomb. When the call of prayer was heard most people stopped what they were doing and would rush to the nearest mosque. As you can notice there was about a hundred people praying outside the mosque because the mosque was probably completely full. 

I noticed that in all of the mosques the ceilings all have intricate artwork. I enjoy how none of the art has figures of humans but are based around shapes. I find that truly beautiful and unique. 

This week was our last week doing conversation classes. The students will be starting their TOEFL term where their English courses get extremely intense. We will be doing recordings for their practice exams, and continue with social club (where we play scrabble with them) and glee club ( the students sing for us).

We came back Saturday from Konya so we went out with Jennifer's roommate to a club called Puhu. The club was very small; however, people still found room to dance wherever possible, even if that meant a table or random furniture.  Sunday night, we went out for Bilge's birthday. I didn't expect the club, Passage, to be packed but surprisingly it was. There was a live band until 4 in the morning, and it was getting more and more packed as the night went on. My first weekend staying in Ankara was really fun.

The picture on the left is a pastry which has chocolate ice cream in it. I also make sure to get turkish coffee with all my desserts. Luckily one of my friends could read turkish coffee and was able to tell me my fortune as well!