Preparation and Airport

Alhamdulillah, my guests are finally arriving in a couple of hours, so I will head to the airport shortly. I think the most efficient way to go is to take the Metro to Taksim, the minibus to Aksaray, walk to the other Metro, and go from there to the airport. I could use the funicular/tram route, but I would have about fifteen less stops this alternate way I think.

I've spent much of the past few evenings and this morning cleaning and getting ready for my guests. The apartment was much dirtier than I thought - the realtor "cleaned" it himself, instead of hiring a professional cleaner, so I think most of the dust and dirt predated me. I did a better job cleaning than he did, certainly. For example, he left a bunch of garbage from the previous inhabitant that I started disposing of - there is still quite a bit left, but it is more out of sight.

I didn't really feel any need to clean up when it was just me - it wasn't overwhelming by any means, and I am hardly in the apartment, and my corner of it is clean enough. Now, I will be leaving it cleaner than I found it, which I hadn't necessarily intended. I must say, if it was just MoBaba visiting, I doubt I would have expended a quarter of the effort, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Alhamdulillah, the weather the past few weeks has been nice, although this week it rained a couple of times - at least it hasn't rained every day. I haven't been wearing my winter jacket much yet by any means. My colleagues expected snow this weekend, but so far, it has just been windy.

I probably won't be able to blog too much this week, but we'll see what I can do. At least there should be more pictures coming, in sha Allah.