Things I’ve Learned Lately

Although we have only been in Turkey a couple days, I’m amazed at how many interesting things  I’ve learned or observed.  In no particular order:

1. We definitely don’t have the stamina to “go, see, do” (my family’s motto) that we used to have. Not to mention the interest in seeing all the “must see’s” in a new place. Yesterday completely wore us out and today we discovered that we can choose to skip a couple of sites, return to the hotel, lounge around, and watch a movie. Tonight we see the whirling dervishes, and just watching that will exhaust me.

2. Istanbul is huge, with millions of residents and the added tourists everywhere make it very crowded and claustrophobic. 

3. Turkey is bigger than Texas

4. Guides are required to have a 4 year college degree in tourism.

5. Driving would be a nightmare — cars, buses, vans, and pedestrians crowding very narrow streets. 

6. I can’t mentally convert Turkish lira to US dollars although 200 lira is almost $6. It’s that higher math, again.

7. Haven’t found any Turkish food that I particularly like.

8. Turkish would be a hard language to learn. I’ve tried to say yes, no, please, and thank you, and just can’t.

9. Silk rugs change colors when spun around, even the machine made ones.

10. Istanbul is an extremely busy port, which isn’t surprising considering its geography. It’s located between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara near and on both sides of the  Bosphorus which separates Europe from Asia.  The European side is split by the Golden Horn. All of which you already know if you watched the Rise of Empires: Ottoman on Netflix. 

11. I made a huge mistake getting this replacement IPad without cellular. In addition to only intermittent connectivity, my keyboard keeps popping up Turkish letters for unknown reasons and also goes blank often. Certain letters seem to trigger it.

12. And finally, all of the love and good wishes from our friends and family, is indescribable. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We love you all and having you in our lives means the world to us.