What I have learned....

Some things you know but they become real at a different level.   My Muslim friends can relax.  I no longer need you to be the source of answers to all my questions  :)   - May, Amal,  Nancy  (and little Kareem and not so little Yaseen),  Fatma,  and Feyza. :)  I am grateful to each of you for your patience and sharing.

Some days in Istanbul I thought I could have been in NYC, or LA,  or Chicago - perhaps not Boston :)    The mix of dress - probably more women in scarves but they are so varied too!  Women in burkas,  women in black or white long scarves/veils,   women in the most wonderful colorful scarves I have seen. Women with no scarves,  dresses, skirts long and short,  pants tight and loose.

When the call to prayer rings out, some gather at the mosque,  some continue what they are doing, some pray where they are , and who knows what is going on in the hearts of the many.

I find the call to prayer heard five times a day to be a reminder to come back to the things that are really important in life. 

I have come to love Turkey 
   it's mosques
   it's people
   it's food! (diet starts SOON)
   it's history
   the cadence of this language with sounds I could never imitate

And I have to remember that this is just one predominantly Muslim country and as I understand it, quite different from others just as Catholic Ireland is so different from Catholic Brazil,  or Catholic US and all the differences I have seen in Turkey alone are surely only a beginning for me of understanding this religion with which we share so much.

Of course I will need to be home for a while before I really know what I have learned.

End of Blog.