April 2 (Leah's)

 

Another last day in another new place. The sad thing about traveling and having time restraints is there will always be an end to the time spent in each place. Without wanting to waste our day, we ate our breakfast before heading off into town. Today’s breakfast special prepared by Guany was a pan-fried flat bread stuffed with feta cheese, spices, and spinach. Not a super healthy start to the day, but delicious. And it must have had some sustenance, for we didn’t eat again till 4pm.

Our adventure for the day was trying to find the Turkish bath; for I have heard it’s a Turkish experience you have to try before leaving Turkey. I knew Spencer had no interest what so ever, so we decided on a meeting spot, and after he walked me to the Turkish Bath (called Haman in Turkish) and he went out to explore the area. Well, let me explain to you what a Turkish Bath is, so you don’t get the wrong idea J. Just so everyone knows, it is not like a bath, where you dunk your self in water in a tub. It’s all running water that you pour over yourself with a little bucket, and showers. So its quite clean as it is all fresh water (not like sharing a tub with a bunch of woman)! First of all you choose the type of “bath” you would like.  A self service-do it yourself, or one where you get scrubbed and massaged by someone (same gender). I chose the deluxe, it was all or nothing, so I was mentally preparing myself to be scrubbed by an old woman! Next you go into your gender’s bathroom (thankfully this is a separate experience) and get ready for the bath (remove street clothes, and wrap yourself in a towel; most women choose to wear a swimsuit- any guesses on what I did- yup, kept covered!) So after I was ready to start, the woman (who spoke little next to no English) pointed me down a set of stairs, saying some thing about a sauna, shower and something else! Not sure what I was doing I walked down the stairs, opened the door. It was a big area, all marble. There was little curb like ledges where you could sit next to a sink like basin and rinse/clean your self. I went right into the sauna; it was a marble room, and the hottest place I have ever been in. Within a few minutes my body was so wet with sweat it would have looked like I just got out of the shower. While I was in there a lady (younger, and covered!) said, come. Well. I followed. Little did I know, this was my scrubber and massager. She had me lay down on this huge marble platform and she rinsed my body with water. Then the scrubbing began. She donned this sandpaper like mitt and scrubbed my body, head to toe! When I got up to rinse off I had bitts of skin all over my body, must have been a successful scrubbing! I rinsed off and then she once again told me to lie down. This time with a piece of fabric that looked like a pillowcase she covered my body with about 5 inches of bubbles! She dunked the pillowcase in the bucket of soapsuds, opening and closing it to get air in it, and then when it was full of air (balloon like) she squeezed the pillowcase over me, and then the huge soap bubbles dropped onto me! Then she started to massage my body. It was like a slippery soft feeling because of all the bubbles. This was quite the experience. When she was done she told me I could was my hair at the basins with the shampoo provided, and spend as much time in there as I wanted. I spent about another 20-30min just washing my hair and soaping my body again. In between that I also went back into the sauna, but I figured that since I had already sweated about 5L the first time, that I shouldn’t stay in there too long! Back out in the main area, I kept pouring cold water over my head and it was really hot in there. I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed this experience; and, my skin is super soft! (Probably because I lost a whole layer with her scrubbing!)

So I met Spencer at the café where he was enjoying an Ayran (the plain yogurt drink) and we walked back to the house (about a 45min walk). Our feet where a bit sore from walking so we took it easy the rest of the afternoon. We had a late lunch in the yard and then spent some time hanging up our laundry out side.

We are going to have dinner soon, and Guler’s friends just arrived. And they arrived as a miracle to us! It ends up that the woman is on the same flight as us to Istanbul in the morning, and her other friend who is also spending the night here, is taking her in the morning. And so, we get a ride! God is so GOOD! What are the odds of that! We were talking on our walk about how we were going to get the airport, since our flight is at 8:00am and the bus from town leaves at 6:00am, which meant we would have to be up super early to get a taxi to town so we could then catch the bus. And God in His amazing faithfulness provided us with a ride. And not only that, once we arrive in Istanbul, she is going to show us how we get to the other airport (which was another one of our “stresses” about tomorrow)! It just goes to show, yet again, how faithful God is, and how He takes care of His children. So instead of having to deal with the stress of trying to figure out buses at 5:00am, God says, “Here, I have a ride for you, so don’t worry!” I am truly amazed at my lack of trust and willingness to surrender everything to God, because so many times when we are worried or stressed about something God already has the solution. So we just put ourselves through pointless stress instead of trusting Him. Like it tells us in the Word- “Do not be anxious about anything, but by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”. Phil 4:6-7. I pray that as I learn and grow, that God will help me to make this verse a reality each and every day, no matter what circumstances I face! It would sure mean a lot less stress! So, I thank God again for taking care of us in such a special way!