Snacks on a plane – Istanbul part 1

U.S. flight carriers could learn a lot from Turkish Airlines as far as customer service.

My flight to Istanbul and back was one hour each way. Yet we were given food both times. My 7am flight – breakfast: olives and tomatoes, cheese and cucumbers on bread, and a small cake. My 1pm flight: lunch that consisted of eggplant salad, chocolate banana pudding, and a modest turkey and cheese sandwich (which also had pickles and tomatoes on it. Perhaps the sandwich wasn’t so modest after all. In fact, now that I think about it, that sandwich was downright arrogant!)

I only had one full day in Istanbul, so I spent the morning visiting three of the biggest tourist attractions in the city: the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, and Topkapi Palace. I took over 60 photos just of those places, so I’ve narrowed the photos down to my favorites.



view of the Blue Mosque from the Galata Bridge



view of the Blue Mosque, up close and personal







views of the architecture inside the Hagia Sophia



Princess Jasmine's father, the Sultan. This is what he was reduced to when Jafar took over the kingdom.



The entrance to Topkapi Palace







Inside the harem quarters of Topkapi Palace. I have a thing for domed ceilings, especially ornately beautiful ones.







views of the Bosphorus from the palace.

I went back to the hostel where I had lunch with a hosteller from England. Afterwards, I went upstairs and passed out on my bed for two hours. Then it was time for….Russell Brand. Stay tuned for that blog entry.

I have moved 23 times

That's not a misprint. From birth to my current age, I have moved 23 times. No wonder my spirit is tired.

This topic came up this past week. This week's lesson for my C class was about how change affects us. One of the preview questions was "How many times has your family moved?" I was interested to see what my students' answer would be, but I also wanted to be prepared with my own answer. Now I know for sure: I'm a nomad.

Note: I should point out that the 23 times includes the numerous occasions in my 20s when I moved in and out of my parents' house.

Thor in Turkey

I just saw the new Thor movie. W-o-w. It was a first on two counts. It was my very first time seeing a 3D movie, but more importantly, it was first movie in Turkey.

Oh and could I possibly adore Tom Hiddleston any more? I don't think so. He gets all the best lines in the film.

As we were waiting for the movie to start, Carly said “Oh, by the way, there’s going to be an intermission.” Um…okay. That's not something I'm used to, though it’ll be nice because I usually have to use the bathroom at some point during the movie. With an intermission, at least I won’t have to miss anything important.

However, I have an issue with when the intermission happened. It was during the part when Odin was explaining to Thor about the convergence that happens every 5,000 years. He was mid-sentence and suddenly the movie stopped and the lights came on. Welcome to Turkey.

Crisis averted

Okay, everything's all better now. As you saw in my last blog entry, I was having a really bad day on Thursday. Naturally, when I'm having a bad day, EVERYTHING is awful: my job, my living situation, my life. Friday was slightly better as I was determined to push Thursday's yuckiness behind me. But today, I had some play time with a couple of coworkers, which improved things exponentially. I had a feeling my self-induced cabin fever was a huge part of the problem. Of course, things are never perfect and problem-free in any working and/or living environment. But I just need to stop hibernating in my room and get out and see stuff.

So today, I had lunch with my aforementioned coworkers, we went to visit Parliament, and then walked around Kizilay a bit. I got my ticket to see Russell Brand in Istanbul and I purchased my flight. As soon as I got back to my room, I booked my hotel. So my brief weekend in Istanbul is all ready and I feel like a million bucks. I'm back on top, baby!