Tamam. Hamam.

During spring break I made a list of everything I wanted to do before I left Istanbul and could feasibly do. Of the 13 tasks on this list, I have now completed 5. I have plans to complete the rest in the next few weeks.

So yesterday was girls day at the hamam (Turkish bath). When we walked in we were all sort of a little timid and confused about what we were supposed to do and where we were supposed to go. The woman unlocked a cabin door and gave us linens roughly the size of towels. Some of the girls were confused as to how much clothing we were supposed to take off. I just kinda said "what the hell" and got naked. We wrapped ourselves in the linen and the woman led us into the main part of the hamam. It's really hot and steamy in there, so first you sit on the marble and douse yourself in water while chatting and adjusting to the idea of everyone walking around naked.

There's essentially two parts to the hamam experience: the scrubbing and the soap massage. The scrubbing kinda hurts, but kinda feels nice. You lay on the marble while this big woman scrapes a few layers of dead skin off of your whole body. This is where my tan from laying on the campus lawn went bye-bye. You go back to the little sink seating area and rinse the dead skin off. Sit down and chat for a while longer. Then when it's your turn, you go back to the middle and get soaped and massaged. Once again nice and relaxing but somewhat painful. They fill a soft pillow case with suds and then lather you with it. The massage was wonderful, except for a few spots where I was still kinda sore from a few days ago. Then back to the other area, rinse, shampoo/scented hair oil, chill for a while, towel and back to the cabin.

By the end of it, sitting around completely naked seemed totally normal. It's really funny how quickly we all became comfortable with it. In the span of about 2 hours we went from shy and confused to sitting around naked in what felt like a sauna talking about our love lives and making jokes. It was a really wonderful, relaxing experience. I don't know why I didn't do that sooner.

I haven't been sleeping very well for the last month or so except for one or two nights, but last night was the best sleep I've had in a long time. One more task off of the to-do list. So glad I didn't leave without going to the hamam.

What's still on the list: (some of this is kind of embarrassing)

Go inside the Blue Mosque

Harem of Topkapi Palace

Eyüp

Izmir

Ephesus

Trinket shopping in the Grand Bazaar

Büyükada (Princes' Islands)

One more trip to the Asian side of Istanbul

Sadly, because I'm taking a few more side trips I've only got 14 days left in Istanbul. Three of those days involve taking final exams. I'm going to make the most of my time left here. I sincerely hope that at least 7 of the other 11 days involve nights out in Taksim. I have to say farewell to Istiklal Caddesi. I really don't want to leave and am still sort of in denial of the fact that I am going to have to leave sooner than later. I know my friends and family want me home, but I really have no desire to return to America at the moment. I am having a hard time even thinking about the fact that I'm going to be in Ireland for three weeks, and that part of that time will be spent doing academic research. Every time that I've left Turkey I've had problems with culture-shock. I can't even imagine what that'll be like when I leave for good.