Superbowl, Pilgrimage to Shopping Mecca and Birthday Parties

The Giants are in the Superbowl! I accidently discovered Sunday's game on France 2 at one in the madrugada. (Madrugada is one of my new favorite spanish vocab words). The french commentators were not very engaging and I fell asleep keeping score in the 3rd quarter. Thank God they weren't offended and they won in overtime play! It sounded exciting, the way my brother puts it:
http://forums.screamingsports.com/blogs/giants-101/archive/2008/01/21/one-giants-game-ball.aspx
And so, The Old Sap (my dad) got a great 75th birthday present.

For the Superbowl I intend to drink plenty of coffee and seek out another bloody American to watch the game with.

We road-tripped to Andorra two weeks ago. It is a strange place. When you are in Andorra la Vella, the capital, it deceptively gives the impression of the shopping district of a big city. Fifth avenue perhaps. There's Zara, Mango, Pull and Bear, Oysho, and loads more. When you leave however you realise that that one strip is all there is of the city.

As far as I saw, there's one road in to Andorra from the northern border with France and one road south to Spain. It is a windy road that traverses through the Pyrenees, switching back and forth, and on the pourly chosen snowy day when we went, icy and dangerous. Putting chains on tires in the dark is no picnic but we managed and it was pretty funny.

I got a tv and dvd player. It's amazing. I'm not sure what politics are involved in which American shows are broadcasted however Walker Texas Ranger makes the list, along with Smallville, Ally McBeal, Prison Break, 90210, and unfortunately The Nanny. My tv is my best french friend.

I've also started painting, puzzling and mapping my walks. My lessons are going well. Next week will be dedicated to American Football where I intend to convert 200 french kids to be Giants fans. Ah, the abuse of power.

One more thing before I go: I'm going home to NC!!! February 16 - March 1. For my dad's birthday, my mom got the four of us tickets to a Devils/Canes NHL game. My first ever! I'll be wearing my Sparta hat!!!

The End

The ending was kind of funny.

It began with a quiet night in Istanbul after a day of shopping, involving an unexpected reunion with Angie, our Aussie friend from Cappadocia. We woke up bright and early on a snowy Friday morning to get to Taksim square for an 8am bus departure to the Airport. We arrived 20 minutes early and were told to grab a coffee because the bus wouldn't leave until 8:30. No problem, our flight was at 11:20. At 8:30 we got back on the bus and we sat there until 9 before we left. Ok, still no problem.

Once we were moving, Annie and I, being so accustomed to sleeping on busses are dozing and in between dozes, I noticed at times that we were stopped on the side of the road. I sleepily asked Annie "why are we stopped?" and then fell back asleep before I heard a reply. Eventually, we noticed that we had been stopped for a while and there was no sign of us moving again. Now we had a problem.

Luckily for us, so did all the other people flying to Milan, the Italians. We had good faith in them to keep the situation under control. They wasted no time in gesturing wildly and marching up to the front of the bus to demand to know the problem. It turns out, the windsheild wipers were broken and since it was snowng, the driver couldn't see.

I was glad that he wasn't attempting to drive us through the storm without a clear view of the road but I began to worry about our flight, then scheduled to take off in about an hour. People started getting off the bus and trying to flag down taxis which, on the highway, is not a common site and nobody was picked up. In the bad weather, we were an accident waiting to happen.

The driver assured us that another bus was coming so Annie and I got back on the bus to wait. When we eventually got on the other bus, the new driver demanded 4 more lira from each of us before we could go the rest of the way. The other driver having kept all our money every though he only brought us halfway.

Of course the plane was delayed anyway so we had plenty of time to waste at the airport before we took off for Milan. I missed my train to Nice from Milano Central by 30 minutes and was told I could take a 5 oclock train to Ventimiglia and then change for Nice with the same ticket. When I arrived in Ventimiglia at 10pm there were no more trains to Nice. I found a 40€ room at a hotel and crashed until the next morning when I would renew my efforts at getting back to France.

I got lucky in Nice and talked my way onto the train to Toulouse with my old ticket, which just meant I didn't have a seat so I had to play musical chairs for 8 hours.

Anyway, I made it. I'm now in France writing to you from Pamier's mediatéque. The children are still brats but I still like them.

And now, I'm on to planning what's next. All the headache, money, and uncertainty hasn't left me satisfied but rather thirsting for the next adventure. I can feel the Call of the Wild and want to duck out of Europe and take to the woods. I blame Annie, who has me reading a Novel about Lewis and Clark called The True Account.

I guess it never stops.

back ın ıstanbul

The last few days have been a whırlwınd of beaches, buses, and backgammon.

We spent a quıet new years sıttıng around a fıreplace at a bar on the Fethıye waterfront. The fıreworks show was less than spectacular but we shared a few laughs wıth some of the locals attemptıng to learn how to say Happy New Year ın Turkısh whıch ıs somethıng lıke Mlutla Yıllar.

Our last day ın Fethıye, we went to a beach town called Oludunız 10 km away. It was a stunnıng day and I hıked up one of the nearby hılls to get a vıew of the beach from above. The town, allthough bustlıng ın the summer tıme Im sure, ısnt even ınhabıted by ghosts thıs tıme of year.

We hopped on a bus to Izmır that nıght and arrıved 6 hours later. It ıs a long day when you arrıve ın a new cıty at 6 ın the mornıng, wıth your body tıght from sleepıng on a bus. The cıty ıs stıll dark whıle you drınk your overprıced mornıng coffee ın a smoky bus statıon cafe. But we are gettıng used to ıt. Izmır ıs the thırd largest cıty ın Turkey and ıs nothıng specıal to look at. We vısıted a museum about the Aegeans and camel wrestlıng, we walked around the bazaar, got ushered ınto varıous shops for sısa and apple tea, and we vısıted some ruıns. Then we played Backgammon untıl our 9:30 bus. I won. Im luckıer than Annıe :)

There are about 100 bus companıes ın Turkey. There ıs no need at least now ın wınter tıme to buy our tıckets ın advance. Instead you walk from statıon to statıon askıng how much and eventually you save lots of money.

So now ıt ıs 8 ın the mornıng and the sun ıs fınally comıng up. Some old busdrıver gave us a lıft to our hostel for free and once ıt was just annıe and ı ın the bus, he started dancıng to turkısh musıc and tryıng to make conversatıon. Thıs was dıffıcult because he dıdnt speak englısh and so I was doıng a lot of guessıng and makıng aırplane noıses.

Today ıs our last day. Well do some last mınute sıghtseeıng and shoppıng and then tomorrow we head to the aırport and fly to Mılan. Its all gone very quıckly and ım sad to leave but Ive only got one clean paır of undıes left and ım tıred.

Sıgnıng off,
Em