Monday, November 22nd, 2004

I think for today I’ll describe the rest of the places I visited in Istanbul. This didn’t all happen in one day, but for simplicities sake I’ll just list them all here. Sooo… here goes!

Things done on Sunday:

Topkapi Palace Archeology Museum. This museum is located on the premises of the Topkapi Palace, a place I’ll describe later. The collection here was begun in the mid-19th century when provincial governors started sending objects from all over the Ottoman Empire. This museum now holds one of the world’s largest collections of classical artifacts, and many pre-classical items as well. Highlight here was the Alexander Sarcophagus, a huge marble tomb from the late 4th century which was thought to have been built for King Abdalonymos of Sidon. Originally, due to the ornate carvings featuring scenes of Alexander the Great hunting and in battle, the discoverers thought that they had found Alexander’s tomb. Now it is known that Alexander was buried in Alexandria, so this idea was disproved. The thing is dated at the end of 4th century B.C. Quite incredible. There were also lots of statues of Greek gods and various rulers that were very interesting. The other highlight: the gates of Babylon. Really. They're there. Blue tiles with strange animals on them. You can see them in the pictures.

The Orient Express Train Station. As you may know, the Orient Express first traveled from Paris to Istanbul in 1889, traveling 1,800 miles in only three days. The many wealthy and royal passengers of this train included kings, presidents, politicians and actors. It was designed by a German architect named Jasmund and incorporates many architectural themes from the city of Istanbul, including Byzantine stone and brickwork, Seljuk portals and Islamic horseshoe arches.

Kariye Museum, formerly the Church of St. Saviour in Chora. This amazing church was one of the highlights for me in Istanbul. Some of the best Byzantine mosaics and frescos can be found here, created between 1315 and 1321. The church is originally from the 11th century but was remodeled by Theodore Metochites, a Byzantine treasurer who wanted to show how “the Lord himself became a mortal on our behalf”. These amazing works of art were used to teach believers, many of whom could not read, about the life and works of Christ. The scenes included the life of the Virgin Mary, scenes from the infancy of Christ, Christ’s ministry, scenes from the final judgment, and lots of other interesting stuff. I’m no art history student, but these things were unbelievable. They rival the Sistine Chapel.

Mihrimah Mosque. This mosque has the great privilege of being the only mosque commissioned for a woman. Mihrimah, the favorite daughter of Süleyman the Magnificent, had a huge passion for architecture and had this mosque built in the middle of the 16th century. It sits on the highest of Istanbul’s seven hills and is much more feminine than the majority of mosques in the city.

And now for Monday:

Topkapi Palace. Back to the palace, this time to actually go inside. I really can’t do this thing justice. It was built between 1459 and 1465 by Mehmet the Conqueror after he took Constantinople from the Byzantine Empire. This terrific complex is a series of pavilions contained by four enormous courtyards, styled after the tented encampments that nomadic Ottomans once used. We saw many things here, including the kitchens (which are now filled with examples of beautiful pottery), the treasury (holding priceless artifacts made of gold, silver and precious stones), and tons of miniatures and manuscripts. However, the most fascinating thing for me was called the “Pavilion of the Holy Mantle”. This is a place of pilgrimage for Muslims and holds some of the greatest relics of Islam. The most sacred relic is a mantle once worn by the Prophet Mohammed. This thing is so holy that no one is allowed into the room and must view it from an antechamber. There are also two of Mohammed’s swords, hairs from his beard, a tooth, a letter written by him, and an impression of his footprint. Incredible.

Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Camii). This mosque takes its name from the mainly blue İznik tilework that decorates the interior. I was told that it is one of the most famous religious buildings in the world. Sultan Ahmet I had it built during 1609-16, a period when the Ottoman Empire was declining. Pictures must be seen to fully appreciate it. One noteworthy thing is that the mosque has six minarets, which at the time was considered to be a sacrilegious attempt to rival the grandeur of Mecca.

Basilica Cistern. A vast underground water cistern laid out by Justinian in 532 and was not discovered by the Ottomans until nearly 100 years after they conquered Constantinople. There are 336 columns, each over 26 feet high. The water is low now, and there are wooden walkways that allow one to explore the entire cistern. In one far corner of the cistern there are two columns that rest on large Medusa head bases. These are evidence that the Byzantines plundered materials from earlier monuments in order to complete their constructions. Some say the mark a nymphaeum, or shrine to water nymphs. Another one of my highlights.

Hippodrome. The area where the gigantic Byzantine stadium once stood. Think Ben Hur chariot races and understand. There are a few neat things here, including an Egyptian Obelisk that Constantine brought to the city, and the Serpentine Column from 479 that was brought from Delphi. A very bloody event happened in the Hippodrome in 532 when a brawl started due to the result of a chariot race. This led into the Nika Revolt when much of the city destroyed. Justinian’s general put a stop to it all by bringing the army into the Hippodrome and massacring the 30,000 or so people that were in there.

Beyazıt Mosque. This was completed in 1506 and is the oldest surviving imperial mosque in the city. Beautiful.

Constantine’s Column. An unimpressive-looking column that dates from AD 330. It will be restored and brought back to beauty. It’s about 115 feet high, and supposedly holds a number of religious relics in its base, including the axe Noah used to build the ark, Mary Magdalen’s flask of anointing oil, and remains of the loaves of bread which Christ used to feed the multitudes.

Well, there you go. I can say no more. And no, I’m not a veritable fount of information; I heavily relied on the Eyewitness Travel Guide to Turkey and the Rough Guide to Turkey for these summaries. I hope it helps you all understand how much incredible stuff is in Istanbul. Come visit this city!!!

Sunday, November 21st, 2004

An email to my mother late at night:

Heya mom!

Well, we're here. Dad is passed out in the bed next to me, and I'm
picking up the slack. He asked me to email you moments before he
zonked out, so here goes.

Tony and I picked him up at about 6 pm (10 am for you) and taxied it
back to the hotel. We made our way to the "English Pub" in the main
floor and had a few beers. Tony and dad talked CCID business and I
mostly listened and chimed in a bit when I had relevant knowledge.

Then we headed out to a restaurant about 8 blocks away for some
classic Turkish food: tavuk siş (skewered chicken), doner kebab (thin
sliced spicy beef) and iskender (tomato sauced beef slices on spongy
bread). And some more beer. Tony tipped the guys a few dollars and
they got all stumbly and brought us free teas to say thank you.
Hehehe...

Now we're back at the hotel and settling in for bed. There's a meeting
tomorrow at 8:15 for maybe a few hours, and then we'll sight see for
the rest of the day. I'll try to find some time soon for copious blog
updating, as there are many stories to tell.

Thanks for all the gift stuff. The Turks will like the plates, even though
I will not like carrying them around. But oh well...

Talk to you soon!

Love, Simon

Saturday, November 20th, 2004

Wow, what a start to the day. I couldn’t sleep last night with all the excitement and anticipation of traveling to Istanbul. I had set my alarm for 5:35 a.m. so that I could be ready to get a taxi to the airport’s bus station at 6:15. But sleep would not come. Tossed and turned. Miserable. Finally I drifted off, maybe at 3:30 a.m. or so. Ahh…

I wake up in the morning, and realize that it’s light out. Shit. That’s not right. I look at the alarm and realize that I’ve overslept. It’s now 6:45 a.m. If I miss the 7:00 bus to the airport I will not get to my 8:00 a.m. flight in time. Panic!

Fortunately I had packed the night before. I grab my stuff, bail from the dorms and sprint to a taxi. I tell the guy where I’m going. He drives slowly. Faster!!! “Don’t you want me to take you to the airport?” No, just hurry up. “Only 200,000,000 TL” Jesus, that’s like $140. I’m not an idiot. Just take me there. Finally we roll up to the bus. I pay, jump on the bus, and it leaves. Ten seconds later and I would have been running after the bus.

So the first step is complete. As long as I’m on the right bus anyway. And after 40 minutes we get to the airport. I have twenty minutes to board. Hmmm. First I set off the metal detectors like six times. Then I have to go to the ticket purchasing booth to have them print the ticket I bought off the internet. Finally I wait in line to do whatever else. And then I run out and jump on the next bus, right before it leaves to take us to our plane. Phew.

So I’m in Istanbul now. Tony Digenakis is supposed to be at the airport but his flight is majorly delayed. So I grabbed a taxi and headed to The President Hotel. Istanbul is beautiful. This place is like no other city I’ve seen. We started on the Asian side, crossed the Bosporus and squiggled our way through the crowded streets to my hotel in European Old Istanbul. There is history everywhere here. Ruined city walls from the Byzantines. Tombs of countless sultans. Great hulking mosques with minarets that practically poke into the clouds. It’s incredible.

I got into the hotel and basically crashed do to my lack of sleep. At 3 or so Tony rolled in and gave me a call. We made plans to head out into the city. Tony is a Greek guy who has been in the states for over thirty years. He’s in charge of the international programs at Delaware Tech. and has been working in Turkey for a long time. And he knows Istanbul better than people from Istanbul do!

We took of and crossed the road to enter the Grand Bazaar. This is one of the most famous places in Istanbul. Think of an area the size of four football fields. Cover it with a huge one story building. Now fill it with thousands of market shops. That’s basically the bazaar. There are about 26,000 employees working here, selling everything from clothing, jewelry, antiques, pipes (nargile especially), chess boards, tavla sets, pottery… the list is endless. It’s an amazing place. People are bargaining, browsing, buying and selling everywhere. If had a lot of money and not much sense, I could have a fun day shopping here! We also visited a bookshop area which holds the longest running bookstore in Europe! This thing has been in the same place for over 500 years!

We worked our way out of the bazaar and found ourselves down by the Golden Horn, a relatively narrow inlet from the Bosporus. And here’s the kicker. We went into a really beautiful mosque. A can’t remember the Turkish but it translates to “New Mosque”. Yeni Cami or something. Although the mosque is 500 or so years old. Anyway, we head inside. I take off my shoes (brown Puma indoor soccer apparel), plonk them on a shoe rack and start wandering around. We were only there a few minutes. It was a beautiful mosque; the insides were all lined with blue and red tiles with very intricately painted designs. Simply stunning.

We turned around to leave. I went to get my shoes. Hmmm… no shoes. Did I put them there? Searched around a bit more… nothing. Incredible. I was robbed of my shoes in the middle of Istanbul. Left trudging out through the rain in my socks, so that I could take a taxi home. What a start to the vacation. I mean, who looses their shoes? Honestly…

Tony had never heard of such a thing happening during all of his years spent in Turkey. There were a lot of poor folk around the mosque. My very spiffy shoes might have been too much of a temptation. Well… if this is the worst thing that happens to me in Turkey I will consider myself quite lucky.

Well, after locating my other pair of shoes at the hotel we headed back out. Hustled back down to the water and went to check out the Spice Bazaar. Mmmm… similar to the other one, but about half the vendors are selling spices of any description. The smell was incredible. You could also find pets, plants, and other such things here.

We then exited and went and stood on the Galata Bridge that spans the Golden Horn. We watched the multitude of boats and ships doing their thing. It’s a very active port. We even found some small boats pulled up the shore, and cooking fish to sell! They were basically aquatic restaurants, bobbing up and down while grilling up fish sandwiches!

After this we were quite exhausted and stumbled back to the hotel for an early night. More tomorrow!

Thursday, November 18th, 2004

Well, I had a new experience today. I had been boasting to some of my co-workers at Ankara University that I loved trying new foods, any food. I’ll try anything once. And so Okan, my good friend, says, “Ok, I know something you should try. It’s made from lamb.” Great, I love lamb! “Alright, let’s go out for lunch.”

We headed out in his car, along with another guy, and ended up at a restaurant featuring kokoreç, the lamb dish of which Okan spoke. We ordered it. The food was served in toasted bread, like a sandwich, and seemed to be some sort of mixture, with lots of spices, maybe red pimento, thyme and cumin. This is lamb? “Yes, try it!” I ate the whole thing. It was really nice; spicy and a little chewy but very flavorful. So what is it?

“Well, it’s not really lamb meat. It’s their insides.” What? After a few more questions, I managed to deduct that kokoreç is nothing more than seasoned lamb intestines! Wow. This is a new level of food experimentation for me! Fortunately, the restaurant we dined at was very clean and trustworthy. So I’m not worried about mad sheep disease or anything like that. But wow… intestines!

I really like kokoreç. It’s tasty and different. If I had known I might not have eaten it, but I did, and I’m glad I did. I will never buy it off the street; only from very good restaurants. But I think I’ll try it again some day!

Here’s a nice little article about kokoreç to tell you a bit more:

Intestinal fortitude is pride of Turkey

Tuesday, November 16th, 2004

Well, here’s my new exciting news… my dad is visiting! I may have mentioned this earlier, but now I’m super excited and ready for this. Here’s the plan:

On Saturday morning I leave for the airport. My flight leaves Ankara at 8:00 a.m. and puts me into Istanbul at 9:00. Then I find the international terminal and wait for my dad’s colleague, Tony Digenakis from Delaware Tech. He gets in at ten. We’ll go check out our hotel (The President Hotel) and then see some things in Istanbul. My dad will arrive on Sunday.

We’ll spend some time there, then head back to Ankara. After a few days in Ankara, we’ll go to a conference in Nevsehir on international education. Then it’s back to Ankara for a bit before they leave. All together we’ll be together for about 9 days! Quite a nice chunk of time if you ask me.

I just realized today how soon this is happening, and I’m very excited. And it also means a break from my program! Phew. It’s been long and constant, so a change of pace will be very, very nice.

Monday, November 15th, 2004

Today I awoke at 8:30 a.m. to my cell phone ringing. The name “BALCI” appeared on the screen. I groggily answered, trying to sound awake. “Simon, how would you like to come to my house for celebrating Byram today?” Sure Dr. Balci, when should I be ready? “Half past ten.” Ok.

Well, at 10:15 Balci shows up. Amazing. He is the only Turk I’ve ever met who has been early. And I of course was in my pajamas, which he found very amusing. Anyway, we took off for the Balci residence, where I spent all day eating food, drinking drinks, laying around and even talking a bit. The Balci’s live near the Middle Eastern Technical University campus. It’s kinda the outskirts of Ankara but still only 15 or so minutes away from the city centre. A nice mix. Anyway, the apartment was spiffy; the nicest one I’ve seen in Turkey so far. I’m sure that the Balci’s are living quite comfortably here.

Anyway, we kicked of the morning with nice brunch, featuring: three different cheeses, two different kinds of olives, tomatoes, a wonderful apricot jam that we ate with special Ramadan bread, a tasty eggy mix with veggies and sausage, and wonderful thin pastry roll-ups that were stuffed with cheese and parsley, I think. Oh, and also cherry juice and plenty of çay. I was in heaven!

After this I lazed around with Balci’s sons, Fatih and Mehmet. I had met Fatih before and enjoy his company. Mehmet is nice but a bit younger, with limited English skills. But we all had fun together. We watched the news on the BBC and discussed world events and things. Also just talked about whatever. Some visitors came in throughout the afternoon, as it is the custom during this time, so we went through a lot of introductions and ate a lot of snacks. Dinner came around (I was nowhere close to being hungry) and was once again great. We had soup, really tasty fish from the Aegean Sea and a tomato-based salad. Wow. Not to mention Baklava for dessert. I was practically reeling after all of this.

I came home to the dorm, went to the internet café and am now drifting off into the realm of sleepy, stuffed tummies. I’ll speak with you all again soon.

Friday, November 12th, 2004

Tonight Mehemt and I headed out on the town for some tasty drinks and good live music. We went to a neat bar in Kizilay which seemed to be owned by a bunch of washed up communists. Pretty funny. They had pictures of Che up and also some photos of Turkish revolutionaries. I thought that the Turkish thing was questionable and asked Mehmet how long they had lasted in Turkey. He said, “Oh, about two weeks.” This state does not put up with criticism!

The band was a five piece, playing keys, drums, and a few different guitars. I think one was a saz, a three-stringed one, while another was an ud with eleven strings. But I could be wrong. They played a mixture of Turkish and Kurdish traditional songs, with a few arabesque (traditional Arabian?) songs as well. It was really good stuff, so much better than a lot of what I hear on the radio. Maybe I’m just not used to the music here, but hearing it live in my opinion is sooooo much better than recordings.

We drank Efes brand beer. It’s a Turkish made lager and pretty non-descript. I also had a glass of rakı at the beginning of the night. This is a licorice tasting drink that Turks have a lot of respect for. Mehmet said something like “You can drink it! You’re a lion now!” He would even touch the stuff, so I took his comment seriously.

After they closed we went on a small bar crawl that only lasted two stops. We went in to some random place with a lot of mirrors that was playing dance music, and had hardly started into our beers when we were accosted by prostitutes! We had to hurry up and get out as we didn’t really need their services! The only thing nice about these prostitutes is that they were much prettier than the ones in Cuba. Not that it made it any more enticing, but at least they were cute.

I’ve been really surprised by the amount of prostitution here. It’s a good example of the corruption you can find in Turkey. All these hotels and nightclubs have arrangements worked out with the police, and some are so blatant as to put pictures of their girls on the windows of their establishments. And everyone gets along. I don’t know how this compares to other developing countries, but I wonder if Turkey is fairly unique as a far as Muslim populated countries are concerned. I mean, I doubt you’d see this kind of stuff in Iran.

But anyway, it was a good night. I really hope I can see more live music like I did tonight, as it’s such a wonderful way to understand the Turkish people and where they are coming from.

Misreading Islam

Here's an interesting article on democracy in the Middle East. The author makes some connections between the Turkish Republic and Iraq, and has a lot to say about how the west views the east. Recommended reading!

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/20488/

Thursday, November 11th, 2004

Well… it’s time I told you all how I am. I’m good! And weird! I feel weird almost every day. I think it’s pretty normal. I told my friend Mehmet this and he just laughed and replied, “I’ve felt weird almost every day of my life!” That was comforting!

I think taking the language class has helped me realize just how far I would have to go to fit into this place. It’s a good symbol for just how difficult assimilation into a new country and way of life is. I’ve had it so easy because I can make friends quickly and easily, and because I’m with university students who are intelligent and can speak English. Just think… without my English I really would be lonely here. Now that I’m taking the class at TÖMER and realizing how difficult this stuff is, I see how hard life could be here if I let it.

All in all, I’d say I’m happy here. I’ve got great friends and we have a lot of fun. Take this weekend for example. It’s the time of Byram (sp?), the end of Ramadan. So we have the weekend plus Monday and Tuesday off, and almost everyone goes to celebrate with their families. Well, Mehmet forgot to reserve a bus ticket so he can’t get home. Since hardly any students will be here, we went and convinced one of the security guards to have our own little celebration in the dormitory. Complete with… alcohol!!! Woo hoo! The guard said he will only allow it if he can join in. What fun! We also have plans to go see some concerts during the weekend, and do visit some of Mehmet’s friends. Just tearing around Ankara basically.

I also have many other nice folks that I sit around with, talk to, play tavla (and loose) against, and whatever else. We just enjoy each other’s company!

I still wonder though… how long will I be able to be here? What are my options? My program ends after next week, on the 19th. Then I fly to Istanbul to meet my dad on the 20th! Good stuff. We’ll spend some time there and then come back to Ankara. But I wonder… will we really be able to find an extension of some sort for me here? How can I stay longer in Turkey? If I can’t set something up, should I try to travel and spend all my money, or just come home to be with the people I love? I just don’t know…

And what will I do? Be a novelty lackey at the school in Çankiri? Try to weasel an internship out of the embassy (ha, chances here are slim)? I don’t know what else I could do as a job… there really aren’t any options for foreigners here. If a Turk can do the job, they’re not going to hire a foreigner for it. Unemployment is about 25% here, and everyone does favors for each other. I’d feel bad about taking a job from a Turk, and I wouldn’t even get one in the first place.

Also, I miss playing geeky board games. There, I said it. How petty of me. But it’s true. I love them a lot. And they are far, far away…

So what will happen to me? I don’t know… I don’t know… I think that’s the fun of it all really.

Wednesday, November 10th, 2004

Well the week is moving along. Class at TÖMER (the language school) is kicking my butt. Turkish is hard. Man… and I thought Spanish had some difficult aspects. I’m now repenting every annoyance I ever had with that language. Being so frustrated with Turkish makes me want to get fluent in Spanish just so I can say “See! I can learn another language!” So there you go… I’ll try and give a basic rundown of Turkish sometime soon. Maybe I can prepare that during the holiday this weekend.

What have I been doing lately? I can’t even think… oh yeah! I have a new daydream, and it’s really funny. When I come back to the US I want to start teaching community education classes about geeky board gaming! It would be brilliant. Just one session evening classes that would happen maybe once a month. The goal would be to teach Americans about cool European board games and how there’s more to social life than just watching television. Games are for adults too! And they make us smarter and better people! Things like that… I guess I daydream about this since I can’t actually play all the nerdy stuff that I managed to partake in during the last school year. So who knows… maybe it’ll happen.

I realize that I’ve not updated you all on what I think and feel as of late, so I’ll try to do that very soon. But insight comes easier when it’s not midnight, so I’ll wait for another day.

Iyi geceler (goodnight)!

Sunday, November 7th, 2004

Tonight I went with my friend Mehmet to the cinema at the Migros shopping center. We saw Exorcist: The Beginning, or something like that. It was ok, a little gross at times but not too scary in my opinion. Mehmet, on the other hand, only slept for two hours that night because he was all freaked out about it! Brilliant…

I sleep too much on the weekends. It helps my health recover but then I can’t sleep at night. Like Sunday night, I couldn’t sleep at all. Seriously. I wanted to sooooo badly but just couldn’t. Sleeping pills would be very nice. Instead I just hung out with Mehmet and talked a bunch. He’s a great guy and a public finance student, so we can talk about nerdy economics things. Mehmet might be one of the most liberal people I’ve met in Turkey, which is really saying something. Sometimes people’s views just disturb me here, so it’s good to have someone that I can complain to and discuss different events with.

This next weekend is a holiday because Ramadan is finishing. Mehmet isn’t going home like most students do, so we’re going to go carousing around Ankara. It should be lovely!

Saturday, November 6th, 2004

Well, in order to revive my spirits after lying in bed for the past few days, I decided to go out on the town with my friend Isan. Isan is a funny Kurdish medical student who always tries to hook me up with Turkish women. He has some darling (sevgilim) in Hungary, so I think he wants to live vicariously through me. Anyway, we headed out to Kizilay with some liras in our pockets and fun in mind. We ended up at some placed called “The Rock Bar”. This was a classic dive: small space, low ceiling, hazy with cigarette smoke and expensive beer. Well, expensive for the Turks. 4,000,000 TL, which comes to about $2.60 for a pint of lager. Not bad. I ended up buying the majority of the booze, just because I felt bad for Isan; he wasn’t drinking as much as I was, even though he was longingly eyeing the beers.

Anyway, we had a really good time. The band sucked and the Turks loved them. Well, sometimes they’d played some ska-like tunes that had decent potential, but most of it was harder rock ballads and self-indulgent guitar solo wankery. So I was not a fan. They played some ok electronic dance stuff during the set breaks. It was funny; the crowd danced more for the house music than the actual band. Anyway, we stayed out until about 1:00 and then snuck back into the dormitory through a kitchen door that one of the cooks opened for us! Total cost for the evening: about $15. Not bad compared to nights I’ve spent at Lotus shows ($40 or so). But the music wasn’t anywhere even comparable!

I just finished The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk today. What a novel! I think I explained a bit about it before. The interesting theme that I didn’t know about before reading was the two main characters (an Italian and a Turk) are basically the same person. They start their relationship (slave and master) just noticing physical similarities, but by the end of the book they have learned so much about each other and experienced so many things together that it’s hard to tell who is who. I can’t say more without giving away important things, but I really recommend this book to anyone who wants a short read which is a great example of modern Turkish literature. I loved it! Now I want to read his latest book, Snow. I think it’ll be just as good, at least from what I’ve heard. I’m now starting Globalization and its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz, which should be some very insightful stuff.

I’ve been practicing my tavla skills a lot over the past few weeks, and I’ve been giving the Turks a real run for their money. Unfortunately, I always loose. But these games are close, I tell you!

Also, last night we surprised Süleyman for his birthday. It was actually on Monday but he was way to busy to celebrate it. So, I distracted him by taking him to the café while his roommates and friends prepared the room. He’s a bit of a romantic, so I made up some random story about a woman at work expressing her love for me, which he completely believed! So funny. Then I walked him back to his room, where the lights were off and a cake with candles was lit and everyone yelled and all that stuff. He was very surprised and I think quite touched by it all! So yay, a good success.

Thursday, November 4th, 2004

Well, I am even more sick now. Before this thing was a head cold, but now it seems to have moved to my entire body. I’m achy and my nose is now snotting all over the place. Throat is scratchy. I’ve been dosing myself up with over the counter medication and orange juice, and stayed home from today. I think rest is the best thing. I’m so tired after a day of language class and random interviews and whatever else that my body has no time to recover. So hopefully if I stay home Friday and rest some more I’ll be better by the weekend.

What a drag. I’m also worried that I’m missing out on crucial stuff at the language course. But whatever… I don’t get to finish it anyway because of my schedule, so if I want to continue studying there I’ll have to take the class over again anyway. So no big losses I guess.

On Tuesday I went out with friends from the Tandogan campus. Okan and some others… it was really nice. They took my to a huge shopping center that rivals the Coral Ridge Mall in the IC area as far as modernity and expense. We ate at a fabulous İskender restaurant, and then visited an Ottoman style café where the workers were dressed in traditional baggy pants and red hats, served us kahve (Turkish coffee) on tiny copper tables surround by miniature stools, and did dances to the music of a folk musician group. It was pretty neat. Afterwards we went to Atakule tower. This is a large tower perched on top of another shopping center, which rotates and offers a very nice view of the city. We were there at night and everything was beautiful. Ankara is much better at night, although it’s probably just the same as any other large city at night. It reminded me of when I was little and flew over a city at night for the first time… it was like a giant shimmering Christmas tree.

Oh; everyone in Turkey that I know is really sad that Bush is our president again. I am too. I don’t want to get political on here so I guess I’ll leave it at that. I’ve heard a lot of interesting reactions to our elections here over the past few weeks, and it’s been very fascinating and enlightening to learn about how our country’s decisions effect people here in Eurasia. I really hope for better things in the future years.

I’m feeling crappy so I’m calling it a day. Here’s to my future health (hopefully soon)!!!

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2004

Well, sorry about the lull in updates. I have a good reason though: I’m sick. It happened over the weekend. It’s a cold. My snot isn’t runny but my head seems to be filled with it. My ears pop and hurt and I’m thirsty and my throat is scratchy. I want my mom. Anyway, I’m drinking a lot of tea and water and just trying to deal with it. At least the weather is warm!

I started Turkish language classes on Monday. It’s great. And by great I mean that it’s really hard and makes me feel silly. There are a lot of students in my class, from Ethiopia, Djibouti (or something like that), Poland, Chechnya, Palestine, Syria, and many more places. Everyone knows English. The guys from Djibouti know like five languages: their native language, Ethiopian, Arabic, French and English. And know they’re learning Turkish. Wow. We are mostly learning the alphabet and pronunciation right now, and have practiced some dialogs on how to introduce yourself to other people. We’ll move into the grammar stuff soon.

What else? I don’t know really. I’m tired and cranky. I’m going to go out with a guy from work today, so hopefully that will raise my spirits. I’ll try to come up with some interesting stuff soon. I’ve actually got some stuff, just not the energy to relay it to you.