JELLYFISH!!!

Woah! So this is post #100, eh? That is somewhat surprising, although I don't actually know why... Today's post is about life in my favorite trans-continental city! (this is a joke, since İstanbul is the only transcontinental city...) I mean, where else do you wake up in Europe and decide "Hey! I feel like seeing a film in Asia today!"

Karakoy... fishers and big red boats! In the background you can sort of see the bridge. The Europe-Asia one.

Anyways! Today. I got up and my host mom said that her friends were meeting so she would drive me to where I was going for the movie, so I got to go back to sleep for another hour. So we drive to Karakoy. I want to be in Kadıköy. Little misunderstanding. (Get an idea of pronunciation from that? "ara" and "adı" are similar enough to cause confusion.. ) BUT luckily, there is a ferry from karakoy to kadıköy so I still get there at the same time I had planned to meet Julaina. Oh, and on the boat I kind of went picture-crazy. I've taken the ferry several times before, but I don't do it frequently enough for it to not be exciting. Heh! I could totally tell that everyone thought I was a tourist, snapping photos, grinning like an idiot, and wearing an İstanbul hoodie.

I like this photo because of the reflection in the glass. I am not very photogenic today, but I'd hate for you to forget what I look like. (Note- Kathle and Laura, check out my bag!) Also you can see my sweater! Sort of..

On a boat in the Golden horn, on my way to the Bosphorus. Asia here I come!

So these are the jellyfish. I didn't even know we had jellyfish! But I looked over the edge (because it just isn't the same to ride *inside* the boat, you have to ride on the deck!) and there they are! These see-through floaty things. I was excited. You can't see them very well here but they were super cool. You will all just have to come and watch the jellyfish with me in İstanbul some day. Can you imagine? "Yeah, I'm taking a trip to İstanbul this holiday!" "Cool, what all are you going to see? The Blue Mosque? Topkapi Palace?" "Naw, I'm going for the jellyfish!!" *stare*

Twilight was... disappointing. I didn't expect it to be better than the book, but from the ads it at least looked decent. I mean, I guess it was okay, but I don't need to see it again. (Unlike Australia, that was good!) The cinematography was cool and artsy but sometimes I felt like it took away from the story. And speaking of story. This film was definitely made for people who had read the books since they definitely left important information out. Like the fact that Alice can't see Bella in her visions?! Hello? I bet anyone who hadn't read the books was asking "If Alice knows the future, how come she doesn't realize that Bella is walking away from her to impending doom?!?!?" Yeah. And Jasper's hair? He's not a mad scientist.. he's a vampire.

And all you Twilight lovers? They absolutely butchered the meadow scene. The whole "So what you're saying is I'm your brand of Heroine?" line? Yeah.. Never happened. It followed the book. Things happened like they were supposed to, and in the right order, but there was nothing in between, so it felt really choppy. Like no lead up to anything, it was just like..

(Plot Spoiler!!! But if you've read the book it's okay.. Linda!)

Bella comes, Edward hates her. Next day he isn't there. Then he is and he's being nice to her. Then the day after that he saves her from the car. Then the day after that is the whole dress-shopping and Edward saves her from creepy men thing. Then she figures it out. Then she confronts him. Then meadow scene. Then she visits their house. Then the baseball game. Then fleeing Laurent. Then she leaves Alice and Jasper and nearly gets killed. Then the hospital. Then prom. Woothappyending.

(Done Plot Spoiling!!!)

Like a plot outline.. So that was my main complaint. Also, though. He sparkled weird. And GAAAH the meadow scene! Also, I would have liked more of my favorite character- Alice. And actually so would John. Heh. So I went with three girls and three guys. I sat beside John and Juliana, but Ju was talking to the other girls in a Spanish-English-Portuguese hybrid thing, so John and I talked. And I got to hear all about how Alice was hot. And Bella too. No "Ah! Edward Cullen!!" which was kind of amusing. I don't really like people in movies anyways, so it's all good.

Oh! But there was this one part where Edward was talking about being able to read minds. He and Bella are in a restaurant after the whole dress-shopping thing. And as he's talking the camera is panning across people at other tables. He's telling Bella what they're thinking of. "Sex. Money. Sex. Cats." And when he says cats ALL OF US lean over and look at John and start laughing! Every one of us!

You see, John loves the cats. All of them. I mean, after 5 months here you think he'd get used to seeing so many all the time but he ALWAYS points them out and stops to pet them and stuff.. and they adore him, which is hilarious. By the way, he read the first book! Hehe! And after the movie we stopped in a book store to look for the second in English.. no luck.

So after the movie we met a couple of the guys who didn't want to see the movie (why ever would that be?) but John and I had to leave because we live in Europe. Dang. So together we took a ferry to Beşiktaş and from there I walked to Taksim to catch my bus home. Hooray for adventure!

Sorry.. I realized that I just wrote A LOT. But I'm also too lazy to go back and shorten it. Heh!

Love you all,

-Maeghan