Monday Adventures and Non-Events

Every Monday morning Stephanie has language class, and since I am not learning Turkish, I got to sleep in! I had a lovely morning drinking coffee, catching up on blogging, and talking to Vonda. Turns out she was also a sociology major. We talked about jobs we've had, jobs we want, and how hard it is for both of us to step outside our comfort zone and get stuff done.

At noon I was supposed to head across Istanbul to meet Stephanie at the dernik. She left me a map that would take me down several streets to the tram station, which I would ride to its end. I was armed with a cell phone and a key to their apartment, which I guess I could use if I freaked out and ran home crying.

I also had a map that Stephanie drew for me. It is seriously the best map ever. It's colored, and there are handy landmarks like "super wide sidewalk" and "really steep hill" and "don't worry about this street." But really it was incredibly helpful. Or it was once I got to the right first street. I was supposed to take the first right at an intersection near the apartment, but instead I took an immediate right, which led me to a dead end and a playground. I called Vonda and admitted to being lost approximately 30 seconds after walking out the door. She set me straight, and I made the rest of the ten minute walk safely and correctly!

When I got to the tram station, I saw that Stephanie had texted and told me to video myself, so I pulled out my camera and tried to surreptitiously film myself on the platform. Since everyone else waiting for the tram plus everyone driving by stared at me like I was crazy, I self-consciously put it away.

The tram came, I got on, and did not move from my selected pole for the entire ride. Not even when the tram braked quickly, and my useless shoes slid me around 180 degrees, nearly ramming into the man standing three feet to my right. I immediately turned about toward the window so I wouldn't have to see whether or not anyone was snickering at me.

Stephanie met me at the tram station with her partner Sarah. The three of us walked to a restaurant where I ate doner, my favorite of all favorites. Then we went back to the dernik in case any women dropped by. They didn't, because the dernik is newly opened and unpublicized. Stephanie and I left for awhile to go grocery shopping, and I found these delicious candy things that I fell in love with in Mongolia. They are in Turkey too! Of course I bought some.

The dernik closed up at 5:00, and we went back to the apartment. Vonda went with us to the grocery store, where we met up with two Hands On guys who are their friends. We bought food for dinner, then proceeded to make it. Their other roommate Skyped from America, which occupied Vonda, so Stephanie and I chopped all the vegetables and chicken while singing A Very Potter Musical and talking about friendships. The rest of the night consisted of eating and watching an insane amount of 30 Rock episodes.

All in all, it was pretty low-key, which was nice after a crazy day yesterday and in preparation of a crazy day on Tuesday.