Realization - Actualization.

‘Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like hard work.’ Thomas Edison

The quote helped me answer some questions I was having a dilemma on. Below is a brief note on some highlights as my blog is long overdue on an entry.

• Opening facebook account
  Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8
  Watch the above video and get familiar with the World of Socialnomics.This is the title of the note Luca sent me in his persuasion to make me join facebook, after much contemplation I succumbed and this is the email exchange I sent him:
  “I have resisted facebook because I prefer my life private - facebook presented itself to me as a virtual gossip column hence I have not joined ever since I heard about it 4 years ago. I still refused to join because all people I talked with always spoke about pics of people drunk or in awkward positions, etc…and that is not for me. I do however acknowledge that my block is insufficient to keep up with new acquaintances & current friendships…so to put matters to rest I will join facebook but keep it discreet - It has taken you almost 2 months to convince me to join and so you get the acknowledgement for breaking my unwillingness & stubbornness.

• Eid
  As some of you will know it was Eid and a long weekend for the Muslim world, this means family time as the streets are dead and everyone has gone to their home town – only us who do not have family here would be bored to death, luckly I spent it with a Turkish Family. A couple of months I had made a pact with Berker that I will spend Eid at his house for the cultural experience, having completely forgotten about it he texted me a day before asking if I am still coming – remembering I had made a bet, I said yes of course I am coming.
  Meeting the parents at the door was a bit of a surprise for them - having no house gift to salvage the situation it was a bit awkward to try and feel at home…but they were overly nice after the initial shock and extremely hospitable.
  The same night, I got preparation on how to behave and pray for the following day when we would be at the mosque for morning prayer – it was a fun exercise and I was paying a lot of attention not to fart as I bend & pray :)…having slept 4 hours we went for the morning prayer (a bit of a shock for the people at the mosque – the children could not stop staring at me), then went back to the house to prepare to visit relatives (it’s a time reconnect and share moments with family and friends ), at the same time the house ended up receiving guests aswell…it was kinda strange but interesting to be introduced to the guests of the family, I am sure they must have had to make a lengthy explanation of who I was and what I was doing there – it was in Turkish so luckily I escaped the interrogation :D. The most fascinating experience was when everyone had to leave we would stand around in a circle from the oldest to the youngest and would kiss and momentarily place the hand of the eldest member of the family on our forehead as a sign of respect…I did it for Berker’s grandmother and that was humbling.
  Once we visited some other family members, I was so exhausted from the lack of sleep and activities of the day that I kept on dozing-off during the conversations, I could not help it and it was embarrassing! Imagine the first time I come to your home I keep on dozing off (even if the conversations was in Turkish and I didn’t understand)...it’s just rude – I am sure my first impression was not very impressive, but I apologized.
  Besides my little moments, I really enjoyed my time at Berker’s house…thanks Berker, these are the kind of experiences that make my time in Turkey tolerable and memorable.

• Morocco
  I went to Morocco 2 weeks ago, the second country in North Africa and it was incredible. I landed at the airport, the declarations people stopped thr row of people from Istanbul because thez had caught a women who didn’t declare anything and she was being dramatic and making so much noise. Next to us was another row of a flight from France – since I was carrying a package on behalf of my roommate for her house in Morocco, I jumped into the row of people from France, while I proceeded to exit I noticed I was holding a plastic bag written ‘duty free – Istanbul’…I just ignored it and continued walking – if they had stopped me I would acted very dumb J. I got out of Casablanca airport and caught a train to rabat thanks to the guidance of a moroccan guy who came to visit family from france – I always feel humbled & overly thankful when i meet helpful people in times of confusion and misdirection and they don’t want any kinda of compensation for their help.
  Arrived in Rabat, met really cool people and chilled at a beach house, with a nice beach, blue/white cold Atlantic Ocean watching the sunset on the horizon…I had not had that in a very long time. The first two days I spent it with Amine’s family and it was a hospitable environment…thanks Amine – say hi to your parents for me, they finished the cookies before I even finished unpacking.
  Then I was chairing a motivational/leadership conference of AIESEC in Morocco for 4 days i.e. 3hrs sleep max, innovations, adjustments, frustration and good conversations…thanks you guys for having me – I am still waiting for my sugar cubes.
  I am definitely going back to Morocco, too much unexplored!!
  On the flight back, an Italian and Moroccan guy decided to go at each other in the middle of the flight i.e. have a loud verbal fight, which almost got physical but thanks to the flight attendants’ intervention it never went that far – that was interesting. Due to my exhaustion I took a nap but was woken up by three guys in front of me praying themselves with some strong cologne…OMG that shit was strong – I had to breathe through my scarf to survive for a good 5min…tell me what the hell would you need a cologne for when you still have 2 hours before your destination – you wanna cut the oxygen supply on the flight?
  As always the Turkish Airlines was late to & from Morocco but I have miles with them now… atleast I get a return on my investment.

• Garanti Bank
  I bank with this bank not by choice, incompetence is an understatement.
  Can you believe it took them 6weeks to find and bring back MY money they had misplaced in angogold (http://www.angloamerican.co.uk/) – it’s the third time they are so generous to Anglo and now they are charging me $37 for their misplacement…terming it ´interbank transactions´ WTF (What the Fuck)!
  I am livid …and makes it hard to scream at someone who doesn’t understand what you are saying e.g. ‘Do you speak English, no thank you! ‘ Argghh!!!!
  
• Randomly Reminiscing
  Being in the job market is actually tough…who ever told you that it’s not is playing with you…you go through all sorts of ups & downs and you get to challenge and be challenged to the core of your being which leads to a lot of introspection and self actualization. You go through a point of exhaustion yet you still have to recover – rise – and deliver.
  Ø This is it!
  Since I heard about the movie after MJ’s death, I thought it to be more of a DVD than a cinema movie, but after watching it lying down on my bed with my laptop on my knees I curse the fact that I didn’t go to the cinema instead cause the movie brought a different light to the guy that was harassed by the media in the last years of his life – he was truly the greatest entertainer of his time, RIP MJ.
  Ø Nobel Price for Obama
  Ohh yes he did…win the Nobel Price! The questions, criticism, jubilation, and enthusiasm came and passed but he has it.


• Ramadan….and Ramazan in Turkey!
  A while back was Ramadan - my first Muslim religious experience was on the 22.08.2009, and being in a Muslim country I had expected dramatic changes in working routine, people’s behavior, general way of life…well not much changed – not many people at my office were fasting but a good friend was and I always mistakenly asked her out to luncheon - everyday (I swear I forgot everytime) !
  As Sultanahmet is a historical place – half of Istanbul goes there i.e. about 7 million people (…total exaggeration but I wanna give you a glimpse of how pact it is) to break the fast for the day at about 7.30pm. All the 5 times I’ve gone there it’s a food festival but the social setting makes it a pleasant experience for me. One of the nights the company organized a ‘breaking the fast’ dinner at ciragan hotel (one of the most expensive hotels in this country) and I lost my sun glasses (dem mak me nice) which have gone through continents & countries with me – I’m gonna miss them :)

peace out for now...

The good and interesting, the bad & the ugly

It has been a while since I last updated the blog, in layman’s terms it’s called being lazy and I am in a country that is newsworthy…. So in ‘ pulling my shit together’ I have broken down the article in 3 different formats i.e. the good and interesting (i.e. anything not offending), the bad & the ugly!

The Good…

…I and a couple of friends have been discovering little heavens in this amazing place, There is a nice restaurant in yildiz park (between Besiktas & Ortakoy) called Dahill…you can go there and get the best service I’ve had ever since I arrived in turkey 5 months ago, a great view of the bridge that connects the Asian side and the European side of the city while having a great a buffet…we had a bit of drama getting there though – a taxi driver dropped us in the middle of nowhere and we walked one hour uphill before finding the place with empty stomachs and when we did….boy did we eat :) !!!

After that me and an Australian colleague went to Istanbul modern art gallery in Topane…not for the art though…they have a restaurant that has an amazing view of the bosphorus aswell (but this time our view was distorted by huge cruise ships) and but we enjoyed our white wine anyway…
Then we headed on to a suburb called Cihangir (a trendy/cool place where all starts hang out…has nice cafe’s) for a Cay…it kind reminded me of Melville in Johannesburg.
This past Friday I was on a boat party along the bosphors, this city is nice at night – what a spectacular view…in our admiration I reminded a flat-mate that the night hides all the dirt & chaos that you’d see during the day though…I think I made that comment after my 3rd glass of red wine – don’t remember the brand but it was okay enough to have had a third glass…well actually I had no choice unless I wanted to jump ship and swim to a nearby bottle store – which cannot happen as I cannot swim so I enjoyed the glass of wine and it was not bad :) .

I must say when I got here during winter - I was longing for summer, but now that it’s here OMG…and someone told me that it’s going to get hotter! I get woken up by heat in the morning, when the sun comes up its already blazing its rays into the window and balcony sliding door of the room so I have no other choice but to wake up…otherwise I’ll be fried for breakfast because our room at that time is already getting hotter like a stove increasing heat on an omelet. I was joking with someone Turkish that I bet during the ottoman empire people used to walk naked because they had no air-conditions…and this is humid heat u can’t run away from it unlike dry heat which you can be safe from if inside a house or under a tree. I was telling family back home that I am getting darker by the day due to the heat – I look like I cook copper coins for some doggy government somewhere in the world….then i showed a friend in Switzerland my recent pic and she said I look sun-baked.

…been singing that I need to buy a hat, and will sing that song until thy kingdom come I suppose…

….and the interesting part…

I got the opportunity to be in Antalya…a really nice place with a stone beach (which was nice because you don’t get the irritating sand on your feet when you get off the beach)… during my stay there I got to interact with a couple of people and where is what transpired … the conversation is in a dialogue format - the names have been modified to protect the rights of the individuals..lol :

The 1st conversation
Honey: …so where are you from?
Me: South Africa
Honey: which country are you from?
Me: …thinking she did hear me the first time…; ‘South Africa’!
Honey: ohh…
Me: yes…a country at the end of the African continent

The 2nd conversation
Dick: which country do you come from…?
Me: South Africa
Dick: ok…we have like 5000 Nigerians at our University, I hear you have many languages. Do you all understand each other?
Me: In Nigeria maybe not sure, in South Africa we only have 11 official ones and are broken down into categories which means some are dialects of others.
Dick: ok…but English is what you use to understand each other, right
Me: Where in Nigeria or South Africa? …Nigeria is West Africa and South Africa is very south, but yes for both countries English is a medium of instruction and very well understood but I cannot tell you what Nigerians do as I am atleast 8hrs by flight away from them.

The 3rd conversation
Hairy: hi…where are you from
Me: from South Africa or rather the republic of South Africa
Hairy: no I mean which country do you come from….
Me: there is the region Southern Africa and there is a country called South Africa…google it!

The Bad

It was a nice summer day and therefore headed to this place called Limonlubahce (lemon garden) which was impressive as it felt like a little lemon backyard…they even had some tortoise and cats on the premises…it really looked like someone’s garden and was nice for a Sunday morning with the Herald tribune & Hurriyet international newspapers…and while reading I came across an article called ‘ deep abyss of discrimination in turkey – gender discrimination still exists today’…thinking to myself …well that’s nothing new – I was stunned a bit by the findings though:
74% - being a housewife is as satisfactory as working and earning money
59% - men are better political leaders than women in general
71% - The man should be the leader of the family in our society
67% - some wives may deserve to get beaten by their husbands
89% - It is acceptable that men can have more than one wife …where I come from this is legal & my current president is a best case practice - was wondering if I should say that out loud!
58% It is a sin for a women to walk at seaside or on the beach with a swimming suit…I remember being in Egypt at a resort – I was chilling out at the swimming and a women dived in fully dressed in black, my jaw dropped with horror & that was my first cultural experience about the dress codes of the moslim world.
84% It would be right for women to ask for approval of their husbands to work at a job
62% A muslim woman should cover her head outside of the house
78% It is right to stone an adulteress to death…I disagree with this, let he/she who throws the first stone be pure and not a sinner and besides who has a right to take another person’s life in this world?

The study was conducted by interviewing 1,715 people both men & women in 34 cities in turkey….as you can see the interesting part is gender equality or gender inequality…I must admit though that the number of people is too small to have reached this conclusion as Istanbul alone has about 15 million people…

The ugly

A while ago when taking a walk from a café along the bosphorus, we passed with horror as some 12 year old kid got up from a picnic sitting with family – marched to a woman wearing a vail (I assume it was his mother as she was the elder one amongst the other 2 ladies) and started punching and kicking her…OMG I had never seen something like that…a kid beating his mother. Anyway another boy intervened to protect I assume and got a beating himself then one of the ladies calmed him down by a slap and a thorough injection of her nails into his arm skin…he calmed down like an electrical device losing battery power…. I was stunned…loss of words – if he was home he would have gotten a beating of his life by some male authority passing by…even the police would have spanked the shit out him. I still believe in corporal punishment – these kids of today don’t have manners and respect & a good hiding always brings a child back to the straight line…some of us didn’t turn out so bad due to a good hiding now & again!

Let me know how you softies feel about corporal punishment, would love to hear how i should negotiate and have a round-table with children isntead of spanking them...

Settling – In

Likes

• Hamam – Turkish bath

…I have been bugging the people here (whoever had ear to listen) that I want to go to a Hamam. A hamam is a traditional Turkish similar to the sauna concept but different in the sense that you undress totally then wrap a sarong around your waist but high above your knees (unlike Nordic saunas where you sit-in naked J) – by this time you should look like you´re wearing a mini-skirt (something a lady of the night would wear), then you walk into a hall-like room cemented with ceramic tiles around the walls and on the floor and head straight for the tap where you will see a bowl for you to soak yourself…and I mean pour hot/luke-warm water on yourself as if taking a shower. After this period a heavy looking half-naked guy would come in and ask you to lie on a table-looking marble and you would get a massage i.e. you will be soaked with shower-soap/foam and given a thorough massage while wet, after 15-20 minutes of the massage you head back to the tap and soak yourself more. When tired of having water running into your ear and nostrils - head for a section where you lie on an extremely warm floor and reminisce. This process can take an hour to ten hours, just depends on your enjoyment, schedule, company – I would not recommend that you go alone, it can be a social thing, that’s if you prefer socializing half naked…it was funny just writing that J. Remember though that this is a traditional-conservative society so the baths are separate for men and women but they have mixed ones for all you kinky people out there.
After that experience – I felt light for a whole week.

• Food

The cuisine is generally great much to my surprise, I had no expectations so I have been really impressed – hasn’t made me sick yet but it is a bit awkward that at some restaurants I have to point at what I want cause the menu is not in English and the waiter can’t do much in assisting as they don’t speak English either, so I point at what I want and hope it’s not an endangered animal on my plate as I take a dish with meat 90% of the time. Fortunately the dessert is super good and pointing it out is no problem at all.

• City’s busyness and energy

I live in Johannesburg, a city of about 10 million but the busyness, energy & traffic is different and at another level here, there are about 15 million people living here so that makes the routine to work in the morning and back a bit of a trip. Another city I have been to that would equal this kind of human energy is Cairo, would love to go to Lagos – Nigeria & Shanghai – China to feel the vibe there aswell.
Big cities usually give one a wider variety of choice in consumer goods & services and the manner of deliverance is usually efficient, but the down-fall of this life is the human contact/relationships – they are kept at a minimal range because people are either too busy working hard and/or making money…hence city people usually die alone if they don’t have family from the outskirts.

• The fusion of two seas engulfing the city

…summer is going to be amazing. Now you know that the city is divided by a Bosporus/strait from the black sea into the Mediterranean sea and that is that why İstanbul is said to be ´east meets west´ i.e. has a European side and an Asian side.
After picking up a colleague from Morocco from the airport and partying until 5am, we woke up at 10am, took a boat over the Bosporus to the asian side where the other expats were waiting for us for breakfast – can´t remember how many nationalities where present at that breakfast table but it sure was many and I sure was hungry. The city´s areas around the Bosporus are amazing even in winter so you can imagine what I will see in summer.

• Troy

The events that happened a couple of hours before this theater play were very dramatic – a topic for another day!
Anyway we were invited for a theatre play of Troy, my first theater performance since I arrived here and I strongly recommend it – the belly dancing part of the show was amazing, I fully understood what they mean when they say belly dancing is an art of seductionJ. I guess in summer this city will be alive with more arts and I am certainly looking forward to that.

• People

Once you break the barrier and get to know people, they are very much hospitable and nice. I have spent afternoons with some people who could not speak English but their welcoming note was humbling and much appreciated – it reminded me of home where you are offered food even if you are not hungry & you don’t dare refuse as it may seem impolite. You do basic things like get off a chair in a public place for the elderly and you will have someone cancel their schedule just to show you around town and places you need to go – thanks Hande for the bank favor….much appreciated :)

• Mistaken Identity

Ehehmmm….I have had incidents where people (esp teens) would pass-by and call out Obama in my direction, a bit surprised and frowning at the outburst, I usually think to myself maybe I should tell them that he is my uncle and lives down the street from me…wonder if they would believe me…it would be extremely funny if they actual did. The outbursts have gotten to a point of irritation but I will take it in good faith as I am not sure whether they’re friendly remarks or not….


Dislikes

• Getting Sick

There is nothing as bad as getting sick in a foreign country and having nobody to babysit & spoil you ….but serial travelers like us have learned to survive I guess – crying is not an option. A colleague got sick and the response given was very offensive to me as it made it clear that people have very little knowledge about Africa & its people – the very same region they claim to represent & ‘think’ they know something about…never mind the insult of being called Africa like its one country instead of the 50-odd number of countries it represents.

• Opening a bank account

It took me a month just to open an account; the English language is a serious problem & I think the city needs to address it especially in business areas. Something which could have been done is less than a week took that long cause I kept on being referred to someone else. The latest incident was when I walked in a branch – it was empty – 5 tellers doing nothing and I asked for assistance and nobody spoke English and the bank claims that they are international and English is a language of usage…I was expected to do a 360 degree turn around and just walk away…which I did, it’s useless to have tantrums they wouldn’t what you are going on about & you don’t want make a fool of yourself either. These things prompted me to ask a colleague to come along to translate and I really don’t think that should have been the case.

• No proper pavements for pedestrians

I live in Osmanbey area, which is alright but every rainy morning I get to work wet not because I had no umbrella but because there are no proper drainage systems and the water just stays in the middle of the road and the pedestrian part of the road is taken by hawkers and it was worse when it snowed…I got to work with the bottom part of my trouser wet like I was crossing the nile river during the rainy season…the pedestrian crossings we see are too few aswell – and cars here don’t have wait for pedestrians – pedestrians wait for cars….otherwise you will be minced meat before you know it… if dare and walk across oncoming traffic at your free will.

• The intensity of being looked at

I have been looked at for no apparent reason in many of my travels – I guess I will have to get used to it, it’s fine when a child just looks as if to have noticed something out of the ordinary – atleast I am content that it’s a child at its all innocent but its usually strange when an elder looks the same way as I am not sure whether its genuine interest or dislike when they are facing my direction so I try to avoid the gaze at all costs.
Chocolate/caramel skin is a sense of attraction as I have gathered - sometime receiving a positive welcome and mostly a negative reaction. Countries in Africa; South America; some European countries e.g. France and the US + Canada should not be surprised as diversity is their middle name.

• Communication is a big obstacle

This I don’t mind, my first days in Lugano – the Italian speaking part of Switzerland were the same, it just means that I have to adopt and be open enough to learn enough to communicate my needs…but I must add that certain places really have to upgrade by using the international medium of instruction i.e. English …it needs to taught to employees especially at banks because this is such a tourist city and because of the fact that the country wants to be part of the European union.

• Being ripped off by taxi drivers

This seems to be a continuous phenomenon and the drivers pretend to not understand when I show them that they are cheating me – this I absolutely hate!
How do I tell a 50 year old odd guy that he is being a dick by cheating me…there should be enough old age sense of respect to know that what he is doing is wrong…

• The dirty water from the geyser

Obviously we order water and it comes in a bottle …you know…like the water bottle you find at work! But I cannot go to the bottle everytime I want to brush my teeth or rinse my mouth. The thought of that water every morning taking a shower gives me shivers but when you have had a 5 hrs sleep and are late for work that is the least of your worries and besides it is extremely hot – would have killed all the germs as everytime I walk into the bathroom the geyser temperature is usually 100%...anyway I am being too dramatic – the water just looks like it had a brush of dust only. The only other times I was not to drink from a tap was İndia and Egypt and I could see why :)

• Invasion of privacy

When withdrawing money from an atm, people are just behind you like you are in a queue for a vaccine and have the audacity to want to view the screen while you are busy withdrawing & have a conversation while you are at it – the only thing missing is an offer to put my pin on my behalf...i really don’t get that especially when I am broke :) There is no personal space none whatsoever.

....I was sitting at filicor café on istiklal – busiest street I think in the whole of turkey and browsing the internet when suddenly Lira (a South African soul singer) started playing in the restaurant – that just made me patriotic and proud of her as I know how she battled to get into the business and now the recognition & distribution is very much global.

İstanbul

Johannesburg - Dubai

My goodbye luncheon with friends at Rosebank left me heavily intoxicated; thanks to my brother – who packed my stuff - I only collected!!

Got to the airport, sobered up rather quickly when I could not find the forex branch of ABSA bank to withdraw and exchange money. The forex apparently doesn’t exist anymore as they didn´t get the tender (an airport official said) – which left me irritated and confused as exchanging money became a bit of a hassle. Got on a flight anyway – very sober :) !

Emirates is certainly a world 1st class flight – it was my first time in it and it was gentle , the entertainment options are many with top technology, how many airlines give you 10 movies to choose from?!?!

When I landed in Dubai my high expectations were very much shattered, people who I have talked to while visiting or on transit at the Dubai airport always talked about how amazing it is and well…I found it rather superficial – huge paintings with gold frames on the walls, pine trees with a fountain in the middle – giving a it a jungle look and very expensive stores but the contrast was that people were sleeping on the floor like in the Indian train-stations and the luggage trolleys looked like the grocery trolleys used at supermarkets. I had to change money so I can go to McDonalds and the interesting thing was that the coins were all written in Arabic – was not sure how much to pay for my meal and had to therefore give all the coins to the cashier so she could sort me out.

While waiting for my connection flight at the other side of the airport, I passed through a group of guys from West Africa (I assumed west as their body features looked typically west African i.e. tall, masculine-heavy looking, and dark skinned) and sat a couple of benches in front of them, then some Arabic guy (I assume he was an airport official) dressed in a white traditional veil was going around to the black people only and asking for their papers and the ‘West African’ group was rounded-off – he came to me and by then I was highly irritated by what I had seen him doing – he asked for my papers and I gave him my passport with a look that he is disturbing me and it took him a minute to waltz-off but I felt bad for guys even though they probably are not innocent.

Dubai – Istanbul

Obviously my first time to the middle east region even if I was not there per se but in a flight over it. I made sure I watched the screen showing the map in the flight and got a bit nervous when we flew over Baghdad in Iraq, I was wondering if they are not going to shoot the plain from the sky – I know that’s highly unlikely but hey I am the kinda guy who thinks about a plain crash everytime I fly.

When I got to immigration at Turkish airport, the 1st official looked at my passport then looked at me then passed it to the 2nd official who then invited another official to browse through aswell. They kept on looking at me and my passport picture, then scanned my passport if it’s not fake, I then offered my identity book aswell to confirm that it’s really me but I had to submit my ticket aswell. The people behind me in the queue were getting restless and then I finally asked if there is a problem – the official asked me what I am doing here and finally before handing me my passport he said I look too young to be here on a business visa – weather that was a compliment or not, I was just highly irritated and annoyed for keeping me for so long and saying that I am a kid.

Istanbul, Turkey

Merhaba (Turkish for hello)

…don’t know where to start – I have been here 5 weeks and can write a book. Well I’ll start with work and then write about my personal experiences and opinions.

Microsoft
It took me a while to understand what we do exactly – there are so many things going on but now it’s atleast starting to make sense. I am a Community Affairs coordinator for the middle east and Africa region – the work involves strategy development, project-budget-plans coordination, software donation, and etc… The company is great so far, besides getting and using all the latest software which are or will run our lives e.g. the other day we were demonstrated a touch screen model laptop made by HP – the only model existing in Turkey at the moment, you can book a massage every Tuesday for 15min, there is a fridge on all the kitchen floors stocked with refreshments – except alcohol of course, ohh and fresh fruits everyday between 3 & 4pm – so managers if an employee disappears during that time, you know where to find them :).

I normally work 9 – 6 but me and my team (an Australian girl and a Romanian guy) lately have been working until 8pm sometime as there is a project in the pipeline but all the benefits above I guess compensate for the long hours and the fact that you can work from home aswell if you ask your boss – I should try that soon.

The other things is that I work with a Turkish keyboard which was confusing at first and still is – so please forgive me when you see an email that contains characters with an I that has a dot and one without a dot, the other things is that when I get home I have to readjust my thinking as my personal laptop has a german keyboard while when I was home I was using the English keyboard…..see its confusion – confusion!!!

On numerous occasions when I have been travelling, some people would ask – after having gathered enough courage to talk to a foreigner is where are you from and what are you doing here…and my reply would be I am from South Africa (…but they always miss the South part and say ohh Africa) and I work at Microsoft (…an eyebrow would be raised & an acknowledgement sound made as if to alleviate me from a tourist pact to a class of intelligence…so funny).

Personal XP

The cats here are everywhere and soooo well-fed (fat), seems to be common practice to just throw ‘left-overs’ fodd through the window or leave it at a corner in the streets for cats to find…the SPCA in south Africa will be happy that people are actually feeding them but upset that they are not sterilized. Kinda reminds me of the many dogs running around Mumbai, India.

I found it rather baffling though that most tellers in Banks can’t speak English even at places where you’d expect, for example, I have been trying to withdraw dollars and only certain places have that option i.e. airport area, Levent, etc… and this is a city of 15 million people. I work in Levent where I’d expect dollars and English but I had to take a colleague for translation.

There is a great spice market – rather strange that its called that because it sells everything – I mean from spices to a broom and you can negotiate for everything aswell. You just have to go there early enough even though you would not have enough time still, its right by the river so you can pop-by the fish market or a fish restaurant after an exhausting shopping spree.

The transport system is well…different, but not bad at all comparing to south African system, there is a taksi (cad), metrobus (joburg kinda metrobus), metro (the one platform subway arriving every 10min).

The center of Istanbul is called taksim – that is where shops, clubs and restaurants are, then I live in osmanbey area and I go to work in Levent so the metro passes through all this places hence it takes me only 20min to get to work and can also be 15min if I run like I did the other day.

…well the pen is running out of ink and I thought I should get this out to clear way for other stuff.

Hope you liked the chaotic writing :)