I know I said I was going to update this thing more often than I am. Well, sometimes people lie. I really meant to update more though, honest. At the moment the combination of taking 4 classes + working 20 hours a week + having a girlfriend and some sort of social life is keeping me quite busy. I also interviewed today for another job. I think the interview went well, but if I get the job that means I'll be working closer to 30 hours a week in addition to everything else. I'm starting to wonder if I've gone completely insane.

HOWEVER, despite being so busy, things are going quite well. I'm finally all moved into my little one-room hovel of an apartment, and it actually looks like someplace where someone lives. That's a plus. I'll probably graduate after this semester. That's a plus. I enjoy my classes for the most part. That's a plus. Work is work but you can't win em all I guess. Most importantly of all I'm quite content with what life is handing me right now. I must admit, though, that when I drift off in my classes I find myself daydreaming about Istanbul. Seems like a much longer time ago than it was.

Let's see, recent happenings. There was a major blizzard (snow storm) a little over a week ago. Most snow I've seen in a long time. Enough that I drove as little as possible to avoid dying. I took some pics (and a movie!), but I'm too lazy/tired to post them right now. Soon, I promise. Basilio, I think you'll like them. We got at least a foot (like 30cm) of snow. Around that time it was really cold, but a couple days after the big storm it got warmer, almost to spring-like temperatures. It's been pretty nice this last week.

I'm tired and can't think of anything else to write about. But hey, at least I updated this thing finally. I'm gonna hit the sack. Later.

I'm back at work again, sitting about 3 feet from the spot I was when I wrote my very first entry in this thing, almost 5 months ago. And it's still as boring as ever. Actually it's not that bad, especially compared to my job in Istanbul where people would sleep in my office and my boss never said hi to me. Both are interesting in their own way.

I'm kinda sorta moved into my apartment. The main thing is I still need furniture. All I have right now is one chair, so it's not exactly a cool place to hang out just yet. A bunch of my stuff is still at the apartment I was living at last year, so I get to go and rob it sometime this week.

Hey Basilio, good to see somebody is still reading this thing. Just let me know if it gets too boring, and I'll start making up stories. Like how here in Minnesota we ride sheep everywhere. Winter sheep. And in the summer we shave them so they don't explode.

Anyway, I gotta punch out soon. I'll post some pics when I get around to it.

Later goatsuckers.

Yes, I am in fact alive.

I'm planning on continuing this blog as frequently as I have time for it. Which hasn't been very frequently recently. While I was in Turkey this blog was mostly so that family and friends back home could keep up with my adventures. Sometime a few weeks before I left Turkey, it occurred to me that I could keep it going so that people I met over there can keep track of what I'm up to at home. After all, to most of them the US is a foreign country. So that's what I intend to do. I'll keep up the pictures and everything. I changed the post times back to the local time here in grand ole Minnesota.

I miss all yalls back there in Istanbul. It's been a total world change to come back to "civilization". Both very different and very comfortable and familiar at the same time. Nice to be back where I can read everything. I got back into the states on Christmas eve. I stepped out of the airport into air that was a balmy -13C (like 8 F). Quite the change. I saw some dude in a camouflage snowsuit, and I knew I was finally home.

The week after that was pretty much spent sleeping, mixed with presents and Christmas stuff and catching up with people. Nice to see the fam again. This last week has been spent trying to move into my new apartment (a little one-room hole in the ground), and not sleeping very much at all. As you can see, it's almost 2 in the AM right now. I've got another week and a half or so before classes start again. Fun stuff. Tomorrow I'm goin climbin, which I NEVER DID in Istanbul. Hauled my gear all the way around the world, and never used it. Gotta start gettin into shape now that I have the means.

Right now my only furniture is a single chair. I should probably do something about that. Or just sleep.

Sleep it is.

Tomorrow (well, later today I guess considering the time) I leave Istanbul. It really hasn't sunk in yet that today was my last day in Turkey. I'll definitely miss this place, as well as the people here (especially the people here). Last night was my farewell party, and it was pretty awesome. Just about everybody came out to wish me farewell. I've seen a lot of goodbyes since I've been in Turkey because trainees come and go all the time, but this was by far the warmest one I've ever been to. Craziness. Everybody's gonna miss me.. sad...

I posted a bunch of pictures from last night to my pictures page, so check it out.

I'll be so happy to be home though. I pulled myself out of bed at the crack of noon today and went shopping for most of the day. I'm bringin stuff back for yalls (as much as I could bring with me anyway).

I should get some shuteye, since I have to get up in 5 hours or so. In 5 days I'll be back in grand ole Minneapolis, freezing my arse off. See you soon.

To those I leave behind: Görüşürüz arkadaşlar.

This is post number 42, which is a great number. If you don't know why, that's ok.

Anyway, today is my last day at work. I'm not sure they'll notice that I'm gone, since I never see any of them anyway. I'm hoping that my departure is inconsequential enough that they keep paying me. That would rock. Things like that happen in a bureaucracy. I hope.

Last night I uploaded a buttload of pics. Some of them are mine, most of them are Alex's. I let him borrow my camera for a couple days, and he took a total of about 180 pictures. He goes a little nuts when he gets his hands on a camera.

Tonight is my farewell party, which is kinda sad. It would be a lot different if everybody was here for the same length of time and was leaving at the same time, because then everyone's leaving. But here, people come and go whenever they want, so it's just everyone saying goodbye to ME. It'll be sad, but hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch, and I'll have friends all over the world. It really has been a great experience, regardless of some things that were less than perfect.

I might update again tomorrow, guess I'll just have to see. Need to go shopping again tomorrow, and then start the packing process. I'm probably going to have to buy another suitcase, not really sure yet. I'll be happy to be home, no matter what it takes to get there.

Pics:


Alex looks so civilized in this picture. This one he took when he borrowed my cam.

Another of his pics. It worked out pretty well.

He also managed to get a picture of a Christmas tree. I didn't think there were any in Istanbul!

This is an entrance to Istanbul University. I haven't seen many schools in the US that can match this.

A tiny part of the Grand Bazaar. You can see the street signs at the top that help people not get lost.

Megan is the clumsiest person I've ever met. She was trying to get up off the pillow, but couldn't. It was incredible.

This was at Carmen's going away party. The guy in the middle is Sean, from Australia. On the right is Bekir, one of our Turkish friends.

I love my camera. Behind the fountain is the Blue Mosque. I took this when we were showing some people around the city.

The amazing thing is that I've gotten used to beautiful scenes like this. They're everywhere you look in Istanbul. If you look closely you can see part of an ancient aqueduct.

This is my last week in Turkey. As of Sunday I'm outta here. So I've been trying to figure out who I know deserves a souvenir, things like that. Airlines over here have pretty communist limits for how much baggage I can carry, so I can't get something for everybody like I would like to. Or an elephant. Which sucks.

...two camels wrestling... ...and a partriidge in a pear treeeee...

Anyway.. yesterday some trainees were in Istanbul from out of town, so Alex and I showed them around the old part of the city. The Grand Bazaar wasn't open because it was Sunday, but we took them around the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya and all that fun stuff. Also got to scope out some gifts. I was wicked cold though after being outside for almost the entire day. So after that I just stayed in the warmthness of the dorms. Took a few pics.

Speaking of pics, I let Alex borrow my camera on Friday. During the course of his workday he took almost 100 pictures, which is nuts. So I'm still putting off going through and naming all of them and whatnot. Someday they'll be up, and you can all see how trigger-happy Alex is when he gets his mitts on a camera.

Respeck.

I've got some piccies for yalls today. But first, a little bit of good news. I have a place to live when I get back! One of Chris's friends needed someone to take the lease on his studio starting January, so I decided to help us both out. For a studio it's really cheap, and it's in the same area as my old apartment, so I won't have to learn a new neighborhood, and it's close to school. So that's good, one less thing to figure out when I get back.

One week from today is my last day of work here. Pretty crazy. Then a couple days later I fly to Athens, and then a few days after that we fly to Amsterdam, and then the next day we fly to Minneapolis. I've just gotta make sure my luggage weighs as little as possible, so I don't have to pay tons of fees.

Anyway, pics. These I took on my way to work yesterday. Gives you a good idea of what Kasımpaşa looks like:


This mosque is right down the street from the dormitory. Meaning, we can hear the calls to prayer loud and clear.

Not sure what's in this building, but I thought it looked very Turkish so I took a picture.

This is a little park / tea house place. We've never gone there. You can see the minaret of another mosque in the background.

This is by some parking lot. It says beware of dog, but translating directly it's "attention dog there is".

Looking from the poor part of town up the hill to the rich part of town. You can see the dome of another mosque.

These mannequin shops are all over in Kasımpaşa. It's really strange.

I got on the shuttle bus, and decided to take a picture.

That's Paşaland, some old dirty theme park on the way to work. I'm surprised any of these turned out, cuz I couldn't hold the camera still on the bus.

Another way-cool mosque.

Saw this mosque less than 5 seconds later. In case you can't tell, there are lots of them in Istanbul.

There are usually kids out playing here in their blue uniforms.

And life is never really boring around here, so here's a few more random ones for your enjoyment:


This is a pretty common sight at work. You can tell how important the room I work in is.

I laugh so hard inside every time I see this ad. I don't get that happy when I eat chips.. maybe I should switch to Lays.

You can count on Alex to do something photogenic at least every few days. Makes me wonder what Romania is like.

Proof that the trainees don't get payed enough. Poor Basilio has taken to playing 2-string bass for loose change.