The Death of a Microphone

Last night was a grand night! My friend's mother had a birthday, and they had live Turkish music at their home.

It was actually pretty embarrassing because I was the only one who didn't know all of the songs. I have vowed to learn the lyrics to at least a few of these so the next time I can sing along with the best of them.

I ended up spending the night at their house. Everything about their home was lovely...except fot the 6am wake-up call, aka the call to prayer. The call to prayer is standard for Turkey; it's a Muslim country so five times a day, the religious are called to pray via a microphone and amplifier. It's usually a really nice experience because you'll hear one call begin and then mosques across the city join in. In some parts of the city, it's really loud and attention-grabbing, and in others the call to prayer fades into the street noises. 

There's a mosque in Bebek, where I live, but I can't hear the call to prayer from my house. Sometimes I completely forget that there is one until the sounds faintly float into an open window. This morning, however, I woke up to the reminder that I am in a Muslim country. I didn't actually check but my friend must live across the street from a mosque. It was so. loud.

Around 6am, the call began. Generally it lasts about a couple minutes. I woke up and mumbled something angry into my pillow (I don't like startling wake-ups), then I went back to sleep. A few minutes later, they started again. I was so confused because usually it's a one-time thing, no do-overs. At the end of this second one, there was static and feedback. Static and feedback. Like this: KKKKRSSHHHHKKRRRR!!!!!!!!!!! It sounded like a microphone was dying.

When I woke up for real I found out that the part two was actually a death announcement. I had never heard of that before so it was a learning experience! Quite a startling one though. Quite.