Journey

We reached the airport with plenty of time to spare. Osman and Mom took me to the airport. Mom parked the car and Osman waited with me in the Lufthansa line. Each time I've flown Lufthansa, the line has been long. I still need to attach my frequent flyer number to my itinerary - when the bookings were made, that info was missing. Lufthansa is in McNamara for now, but when I return in sha Allah, they will be in the new North Terminal. I had to check my carry on, since I guess it weighed too much for Lufthansa at 25 lbs, but there was no extra charge. The airport limit is 40 lbs I think.

Despite the fact that I was a Muslim flying on 9/11, I went through the security without an issue. Since I still had to pray Zuhr and Asr, and the Religious Reflection Room is on the same floor as the check in, I decided to try just walking through the elevator. A security guard just told me to walk through the stairs instead, so I did.

I got to the gate with a few minutes to spare, so I bought a bottle of water (USD 2.xx) to open my fast with on the plane, seeing as I was not allowed to bring one from home. Sitting in the back of the plane, I boarded relatively quickly.

The flight was pretty uneventful. I watched an old episode of Monk that I hadn't seen as well as Kung Fu Panda. Other than that, I just waited for Iftar. It was a little frustrating looking at the sun. We weren't just flying east, or else my fast would have broken relatively quickly. We were flying northeast. As it is still the summer, the days get longer the further north you go. Still, I ended up breaking my fast about an hour before the time in Michigan I think - 6:40 or so. They had served the food about an hour before I ate, so I took one and just held onto it until I couldn't see anymore pink/red in the sky and it looked dark. They gave me a kosher meal for some reason. It wasn't bad actually.

I debated whether to fast the next day, since I really didn't know when suhoor would end. It wouldn't be a particularly long fast, maybe 15 hours or so, but I wouldn't have much eating or drinking time between the two fasts. I decided to go for it, and drank the water bottle as suhoor. I think I may have estimated suhoor to end earlier than it did, since it was still dark in Frankfurt when we landed, but better to be safe than sorry.

I found the correct gate in Frankfurt easily and sat down to wait at the gate. We took a bus out to the plane, where I had a whole row to myself. I was pretty much out the entire flight, so I was a little refreshed when we reached Istanbul.

Just like last time, I spend USD 20 to get a 90 day multiple entry visa. There was hardly a line at the passport check. I converted a EUR 5 note into coins to get a EUR 1 cart. I made my way over to the baggage claim, and within 5 minutes had all three bags. Mom had put a new bluish ribbon on the bags, so they were easy to identify.

Earlier this year, Omer and I learned to change our money at the post office, so I got a pretty good rate - 1USD to 1.24 YTL and a 2% commission. Erkut told me to just use my ATM at the airport for USD 200-300 and change the money in the city, but I decided to just change USD 350 at the post office. Last time, we had used a shuttle to go to the hotel, and it was a pretty penny then, over USD 50. This time, I called to hotel to find out if this was a good idea, but they recommended a taxi, and that came out to only YTL 30 to Divan City Hotel.

Luckily, they had a room, so I got in right away. It is a pretty tiny room, maybe two or three feet on three sides of the full size bed in the center. As I had already missed jumuah, I decided to rest a bit before heading to the office, which was supposed to be nearby.

As I had a 6pm appointment with the Tortois realty, I decided to head for the office at around 4:45. I asked the front desk, and it was even closer than I expected. You can see the office towers - the Astoria building - from the front of the hotel. I made my way over carefully, as there is a very large street in the middle, and Istanbul drivers are not the greatest. I walked into a mall that is at the base of the office towers, but couldn't figure out how to get to the office elevators. I had to ask a security guard to help me. There was an X ray machine at the entrance of the mall - that will get annoying. I was let up to the 10th floor and then I rang the bell.

I met Adil and Gizem, my new coworkers, and of course, Erkut. The building is brand new and the office looks great, if a little stark. It is on the small side, but the view is nice. Erkut and I chatted a bit about everything and what I will be working on. Then, he walked me to the Tortois realtor to make sure they didn't scam me. Unfortunately, they did try, even with him there, so it was good that he came with me. They wanted to charge a commission based on the yearly rental price, which would have amounted to an extra month or so of rent for me - ridiculous! After that, we walked around the area and called some other places and stopped at other realties. We came across one real good option that is near the hotel - right across from Galatasaray Stadium. It is a bit small, but the location can't be beat, since my primary criterion is to live within walking distance. Erkut and I walked to the outside of the building, but we will learn more on Monday. In the meantime, I should find backups, in case that falls through.

Erkut recommended I eat iftar at one of two restaurants at the base of the mall. I picked the Kitchenette. Bad choice. I walked in ten minutes after, and sat for another ten minutes. No waiter came by, so I walked back to the hotel. I stopped at a Burger King, got a Chicken Whopper meal (YTL 9.xx) and ate it in the room. I rested for a bit. I walked to the nearest masjid after a while, but taraweeh was already over. I explored the area to see what was around. The main road was still busy even so late. There is quite a bit in the area - a Domino's, several small cafes, buffets, markets, a Carrefour - the essentials. I got a YTL .5 large bottle of water so I didn't have to raid the minibar. All that I still really need to find is a good laundromat, although I should actually check the Carrefour this weekend to make sure it has everything I need.

The larger area where the Divan City hotel, our office, and my exploration is called Şişli(pronounced Shishli). The smaller areas are Esentepe, Mecidiyeköy (Majidiyaykoy), and Gayrettepe. It to the northwest of Taxim and Dolmabahce Palace on the European side, and still further northwest from Sultan Ahmed, where the Blue Mosque and Topkopi Palace are.