Yes it is true. I finally got food poisoning after three months in Turkey. It is 4:00 AM less than 36 hours before I am leaving the country and I am hovering over a toilet puking my guts out because I ate a bad stuffed baked potato for dinner. As a result the prospect of eating food is revolting to me. Today I forced myself to eat some döner in Kadıkoy for lunch but other than that I have been on an all liquid diet. Hopefully tomorrow I will have some of my appetite back.
I am in Istanbul now. My time in Ankara came to an end much too quickly. Suddenly it was Friday and the Krause parents and I were booked on the overnight train. Before we left I get to have some bonding time with Granny and a ‘quiet’ morning at the Krause flat with the çocuklar (kids). Before we left Ankara the whole family, which by now includes me, went down to happy hour at the Embassy. Each Friday during the summer the Embassy throws a social that allows everyone from the American Mission in Turkey to relax and socialize for a few hours. After I sipped through my Newcastle, it was time to go and catch our Train.
Julie and John had never seen Istanbul and were taking advantage of Granny’s presence in the house to take a little coçuklar-free vacation. I needed to get to catch my Tuesday flight out of Istanbul so John booked the three of us in a sleeper compartment with one middle aged Turkish man. We all used this as an opportunity to work on our Turkish and proceeded to subject the poor man to an hour of turkilish small talk. At 11:30 we made a collective decision to convert our seats into four bunks and get some shut-eye. Just as I was falling asleep the Krauses discovered that there was a dining car and pulled me out of bed for late night French fries and beer. Unfortunately all the good beer was gone so we settled for MARIACI a Turkish imitation of Mexican beer that tastes like Nati-Light mixed with a green flavor-ice. I finally got around to sleeping at 12:30 and slept amazingly well for a train bed.
When you book the cheapest hostel you can find, be prepared for an adventure. One can get a pretty good idea of where I am staying from the name alone: “The Chillout Chengo.” Not only is my hostel the cheapest in Istanbul, but it is also located in Beyoğlu, the trendy, nightclub district of Istanbul. Thus while I am far from the tourists and close to the action, sleeping is a distinct problem with all the noise. All the walls are painted bright colors and the many of the rooms consist of plywood walls and doors. The bathrooms are bring-your-own-TP. When someone runs the water, the pipes vibrate so loud it sounds like someone just wounded an elephant in the bathroom. When I was checking in down in the lobby a girl strolled down the stairs in only a towel. You get the idea.
On Saturday I gave the Krauses the 12-hour tour of Istanbul. They had their diplomatic passports and therefore avoided the 15 Lira entrance fees to all the museums and had special tickets printed that designated them as “official guests.” Just one more reason I need to get into the State Department. On Sunday I met up with one of my campers from Olive Grove at church and spent a good portion of the afternoon reminiscing with him. Monday morning I was still recovering from my night of food poisoning, but by the afternoon I was healthy enough to meet another friend from Olive Grove for some Ulitmate Frisbee on the Asian side of town.
This is my last post from Turkey. Tomorrow I leave at 5:30. Pray for safe travels.
Do you have any tissues?
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