I had the worst day - until I got back to my apartment. I walked out of the elevator and before I could even get to my door, I was handed a bag of meat by my Arab neighbors. Yes, a BAG of MEAT. I stared at it, and said, "Thank you, but why?" They … Continue reading The Bag of Meat: A Story
I took the most WONDERFUL trip this weekend. Impulsive, unexpected, rewarding. I woke up on Friday morning determined to get out of Suli. It had been 2 weeks since I'd gone anywhere, and the longer I go without travelling, the more I get stuck in a complacent rut. So I went to the bus terminal, … Continue reading Halabja
As I woke up on Tuesday and read my facebook feed, I found myself for the 3rd time this year in tears over American events which had happened while I was sleeping. The first tears (joyful): Obama was re-elected. The second tears (shocked): Newtown. And now this. I know people who were running the Boston … Continue reading Boston: The American Work Ethic
After a day-trip to Kusadasi, a beachside city with a wide boardwalk and good shopping, I took the dolmus up to Ayvalik. I wandered around the old quarters in Ayvalik for too brief a time. I had to catch a ferry, so I only had a few hours in the city, but I would return … Continue reading March 13-14: Mytilini, Lesvos
On March 9th, I flew from Diyarbakir to Izmir. I spent the night, then took a bus down to Selçuk (sel-chuk). Selçuk is 3 km from Ephesus, so of course that's where I wanted to go. I was ready to see some RUINS! Transportation in Western Turkey is really, really easy. There are dolmuş (dohl-mush: shared taxi-buses) everywhere, and they … Continue reading March 10-11: Selçuk, Serince
As I mentioned in a previous post, I reached Diyarbakir after a 20-hour bus ride. I left at 2:30pm from Suli, reached the Iraq-Turkey border around 11pm, then waited at the border until 6:30am. We were waiting at the border for so long because the Turkish border guards checked everyone's passport and luggage extensively. Turkey heavily … Continue reading March 8-9: Diyarbakir
This Jew spent Easter Sunday in Duhok (a Kurdish city near the Turkey-Iraq border), where Newroz decorations were still up. She spent Friday at Lake Dukan at a seyran (Kurdish all-day picnic) with 30 Kurds from work. A week ago she finished up her 2-week travels in Athens, having gone to Greece (Delphi, Nafplio, Mycenae, … Continue reading Wander-exhausted
After a zombie-fying TWENTY-HOUR BUS TRIP (including a mad dash to buy a visa at the border, finding a New Jersey-an at a rest stop, and passing through Hasankeyf), I am in Diyarbakir! I'll try to post when I find a computer, but I'll be inconsistent at best. I definitely didn't plan this trip as … Continue reading Diyarbakir!
I'm leaving tomorrow for a week-and-a-half-long trip around Turkey and Greece. It's gonna be a LOT of travelling. I'm going by bus, plain, and ferry to get all these places. I'm in the excited, nervous, slightly morbid state of mind I get into before all my international trips. Why? This'll be my first time in … Continue reading Turkey & Greece
In Mutual Weirdness 