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