Now in Turkey

So now my sister and I are in Turkey. We flew into Istanbul this evening and will stay until Wednesday. We are hanging out in a friend's VERY nice and spacious apartment waiting for the Turkish food to be delivered that we ordered ONLINE!! What a far cry from K!

We left this morning at 5:30am to catch a cab. However, there was an impromptu taxi strike because a taxi driver got killed the night before. Fortunately, a taxi driver took pity on us and took us to the airport (for a higher fare, of course). We flew into Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and had 45 minutes to get our connecting flight. It was impossible, because of the airport structure and the lunacy of Air France. Suffice it to say that we were on 3-4 different airport buses during the entire experience, one of which had a delay because the door stopped functioning for a while. So of course we missed the connection and it seems like it happens all the time with the ease it took to get the next flight. The next flight was delayed and then delayed again and then delayed again. My goodness. No more Charles de Gaulle and no more Air France.

Turkey, like Spain, is quieter and cleaner than K. The cars are new and not many have dents. And there are only cars on the streets, no autorickshaws, no bicycles and no animals! I feel like I am experiencing a sort of reverse culture shock, except not in the US. It is weird to be so in awe of everything. In Madrid I went to someone's house and one of the guests brought roast chicken. I kept staring at it because the pieces were so big and had so much meat on them!!!

Istanbul is surprisingly very western. There is even an Arby's in a nearby mall. I have seen so many western restaurants and shops. English is widely spoken here and many of the signs are in English. However, we also heard the Muslim call to prayer by the muezzin not too long ago.

Well, the doorbell just rang. Our food is here. YUM.