Turkey, Day 1

I am sitting at a really old-looking computer surrounded by Turkish art. The computer is set to Korean, the keyboard looks Turkish but is typing American, and my Google is still in German. I. am. exhausted.

Today started off with the worst feeling ever. I woke up to realize I had somehow missed my alarm clock going off. Petula was already waiting for me at the train station and had no helpful advice. I finally called the guy who was supposed to give us a ride and he was nice enough to pick me up at home. The only problem was, I had no time to meticulously pack (I grabbed the wrong allergy medicine bottle!) or to go print off my presentation so I could work on what to say. I did get some continuously interrupted Zs in the car and had a nice conversation about our beliefs. I have no idea how we made it to the airport on time, but we did and we were some of the last people to board. On the plane, I was able to get almost all of my work for Professor Dr. Baerenfaenger done. I have decided that planes should really have seat backs that go up and down to adjust to heights, because it is completely unfair to short people that they have to sit with their heads forward where the seat should be supporting the neck.

I had to pay 15 Euros to buy a beautiful sticker to go in my passport. I guess it shows that I am allowed to stay for 3 months at the longest. Oh, what I would give to have a European passport.

Istanbul is not as beautiful as I thought it would be. There are some really old buildings and some unique architecture, but mostly everything looks worn out. Petula and I have noticed that there are hardly any women in public. The men in the streets are horrible. They follow us even if we do not reply to them, they are always calling out, and the taxi drivers honk. There are also homeless cats all over the place.

We ate some bread soaked in thin honey with cream in the middle, some noodley-cheese stuff, and a peanut buttery mackaroon. Tomorrow: turkish delight, Doener pocket, and roasted corn. I bought some earrings and the silver cardholder I have been looking for since I first saw Tanya's ages ago. I was also tempted to get some of those shoes with the curled up toe. They were so intricate and purple and I could have used them as house shoes. Petula was mad at me for looking at the earrings for so long, and her anger just got worse and worse as the guy tried to talk to her and then turned to flirting with me and trying to get me to go out with him despite the fact that I do not drink alcohol, tea, coffee, or go to sleep late (usually). I have to admit, he looked really good, he smelled like my favorite men's cologne (Acqua diGio), and he was very well-dressed. And, his name was "volcano" in Turkish.

I am going to bed. I hope I wake up on time for the conference tomorrow. And I am secretly wishing that they accidently printed my essay with my name spelled wrong so no one will ever read it. Yesterday, as I reviewed it, I wanted to die. It is hands down the worst essay I have ever written. You would think people would get better at it after a while. I at least hope to say something intelligent in my presentation. And it wouldn't hurt if no one had read my essay yet.