The Longest Day Ever?

10:45 p.m. in Istanbul on July 14, 2009

When we left the Chamber of Commerce/Resort Spa, we headed to the Darussafaka School for orphaned children. It was really something. The director led us on a tour of the school and while there were very few children there, it was evident that they are doing some really great things at that campus. The director was from Oklahoma City! Go figure. But the school is run entirely off of private donations and a few revenue streams on their campus, like the public movie theater. They had some fantastic ideas. But this is where I hit my wall. Somewhere in the first 15 minutes of arriving to the school, I suddenly needed a miracle to keep my eyes open. I peered through eye slits to see that many others were also struggling as much as I was. So when we left the school and Orhan announced that we had time to kill, I opted not to go rather to catch a much needed nap. The hour power nap was perfect.

Dinner was on a terrace at the Deneli Restaurant, which I think has something to do with camels. The view was again, awesome, and the waitstaff was very friendly. Let me pause here to talk toilets. Now up to this point, all of the toiltets that we ad encountered were commodes, Western-style. So when I saw the loot and dashed in while the others were being seated for dinner, you can imagine my horror and regret when I closed the door behind me to see the sight before me. I just wasn't prepared for this yet, since I thought the country-side would be more traditional. I spent the first 3-4minutes staring at the aparatus, the next 2 minutes strategizing, 1 minute to stretch and practice balance and squatting in the corner, and about 15 seconds of actual use. 10 minutes or so later when I rejoined the group on the terrace, Orhan asked me if I had fallen in. His face should have been comical, but it was quite serious. Oh great, this is a common problem! I shook my head "no" and sheepishly sat down to ponder my toilet at home and remind myself to be kind to it upon my return.

Megan, a Texas participant, also celebrated her birthday today. Yea! That means 2 desserts, a fact that occurred to me before I ever got to the restaurant. hehe. The waitstaff, all young Turkish men, twisted napkins into roses and gave them to the ladies in our group while they served banana birthday cake. Bonnie informed me that this was unusual. I thought she might be exagerrating until we 4 Texas girls asked a waiter to take a picture of us. He said OK when suddenly about half of the wait staff decended upon us for the photo op. OK, guess Bonnie was right. We just gor back to the hotel and it doesn't look like sleep will be a problem tonight. Good night Texas. iyi geceler!

Factoid: Turks introduced coffee to the Western world.

Blog Playlist: Hold On by KT Tunstall; Doll Parts by Hole; Mad World by Michael Andrews