Catch up and Ataturk Day

Alhamdulillah, I've had an interesting few days. I am sorry for the delay since my last post - it has been over a week! There is much to relate, and a few pictures as well. In this entry, I will address general happenings in recent days, while I will dedicate the next entry to my Zonguldak weekend.

Work has been okay alhamdulillah - nothing too exciting going on. Still working on acquisitions. Mom keeps asking if I know if I will be extended past December. I can't say for sure, but I think not. Either way, I will at least come back for a visit. However, if I am on a project at that point, I could easily stay longer. We'll see what happens. Khayr in sha Allah.

I have been quite worried about things back home however, over this past week. It seems like we are digging ourselves deeper into the Inferno. While I supported the Green party last week, I was cautiously optimistic upon learning Wednesday morning that Obama beat out McCain. Both pledged aid to the auto industry, but a united Democrat front might speed things up. Friday's results showed that Detroit really needs the help. As a resident of Michigan and Ford shareholder, I really hope things work out. I fear that Obama might be in over his head though, and too little, too late. Complicating matters is Waxman's challenge to Dingell's chairmanship. Dingell is the champion of the auto industry, and while the environment is important to me, the auto industry cannot deal with the state-level regulations Waxman is pushing for. Besides, Dingell has a very high environmental rating as well. I am watching this battle even more closely than I followed the general elections.

Back to Turkey - I have been trying to get Galatasaray tickets for a few days now. In particular, I am trying to get four tickets to the Thanksgiving day UEFA game against FC Metalist Kharkiv. I could have attended any game, but MoBaba will be in town during this time, and he and Atiya were interested. Also, my coworker, Adil, a Galatasaray fan, wanted to go with me to a game and thought this would be the optimal one. I don't need great tickets, probably just the YTL 30 level. Unfortunately, I have been foiled thus far.

I tried to purchase tickets on the Galatasaray website (www.galatasaray.org), but they directed me to a Ticketmaster site (www.biletix.com). That site only had two upcoming Galatasaray games available - not the FC Metalist match. I want to secure my tickets early, because the last UEFA Galatasaray match sold out 10 days before gameday, so today I went to the stadium and the Galatasaray store at lunchtime, but had no luck - they don't sell tickets (except gamedays, I think). I was told to go to the Biletix store in the Cevahir Mall (I still need to write my mall post), so I went after work. Again, no luck - only the next two games are available, nothing after that. The guy couldn't even tell me when they would become available. I will have to check the website every day I guess. I am not sure what the reason for limiting advance purchases is. Perhaps the owners don't want the average fan to be sidelined by season ticket holders or scalpers. Or, maybe they just like to see long lines and people camped out, waiting for tickets.

My trip to Cevahir wasn't a complete waste though - I found a Johnny Rockets and had an Original Burger (YTL 12) and Big Apple malt (YTL 8) for dinner. I've always liked the idea of Johnny Rockets (it is a nicer version of Steak n Shake) and had to eat there, even though I had a big lunch at Clementine Cafe (pizza (YTL 17) and coke (YTL 5)). The burger was okay, but I would only go back for the shakes, and maybe an apple pie on Thanksgiving - every Turkish restaurant I have been too that advertises shakes tells me they aren't available when I ask - I didn't try getting shakes at the typical fast food places, so I had quite the craving upon seeing Johnny Rockets.

Yesterday, I witnessed something very strange on the way to work. I was about halfway to the office (I would later find out, at 905am) when all of a sudden, EVERY car started honking their horns. I thought it was because of some horrible traffic jam at first, since every car on the road was also stopped/not moving. I saw that most people had stopped as well. I thought they were gawking at the honking cars trying to figure out what was going on. I did a quick scan and couldn't see anything, so I kept going. Another hundred yards or so and I realized EVERYONE was stock still except me and one or two others. Perhaps I would have caught on earlier if no one else was moving, or if they weren't all looking at the cars, or if there was complete silence, but when I got to the office, they told me it was a commemoration of th 70th anniversery of Ataturk's death. It was quite a bizzare experience I must say. For two minutes, it seemed like the world had gone mad.

I don't feel too bad about disrupting the ceremony or whatever it was (It wasn't really a moment of silence, given the horns), since at least a couple of others were as oblivious as me. Also, there are my views on the guy. The typical Turk has raised him to deity levels from my view, which is quite disturbing - a combination of Jesus, MLK, Lincoln, Jefferson, and maybe Paul Bunyan in the US. There was even a commercial on TV yesterday (sponsored by the largest conglomerate in the country) showing a picture for each year of his life. It is rather difficult for me to relate to.