behold here, read below.

"Be a lover, a lover."

"Chose love that you might be a chosen one."
Sunday afternoon Melody and I went to see the
whirling dervishes. It's a ceremony based on
the teachings of Rumi. It was so amazing.
The dancers twirl in place, arms raised, one hand up,
one hand down to symbolize from god we receive,
to man we give; we keep nothing for ourselves.
The dancing takes place in several rotations, each one
symbolizing a stage of creation and growth.
If you ever come to Turkey, i recommend it highly.
They create some serious but peaceful, soothing energy.
We took a ferry from one side of Istanbul to the other.
We drank hot tea, and noticed how Istanbul can look
like Italy, San Francisco, or New York depending on
which direction you turn your head.
The water is so clean, and full of jellyfish.
We also visited the Haghia Sophia. It's 1400
years old, and "was converted to a Muslim mosque
after 916 years as a Christian church." It was an
interesting mixture of frescos of Christ and
the Virgin Mary, and eight huge calligraphic roundels
"hanging high above us at the level of the upper gallery,
date from tire Osmanli period and enclose with their
green circles the holy names of God, the prophet Mohamet and
the Khalifs, traced in golden characters."
We've done some walking around too. The neighborhoods
are really pretty; the architecture is run down but astounding.
Many of the fronts are painted in bright colors that
remind me of San Francisco's Victorians. The styles
have an Italian/Art Deco feel, though like many
cities, a beautiful old building will be tightly sandwiched
between 60's modular housing that makes you want
to gag at it's hideousness.
As Turkey is a secular Muslim nation, it is voluntary for
women to wear hejab or not. At least half the women here
wear head scarf with bright, stylish but conservative western
clothing. Some neighborhoods, outside of the
"modern" areas, have more conservatively dressed
women and men (if men are faithful to Islam, they
too are expected to dress conservatively, though
they are not expected to cover as women are.)
People here are shockingly hip. Bars and cafes
are everywhere, with lots of Turkish mixed with American/English
music blaring into the streets. I'd think of
relocating here after Tripoli.