Istanbul, Turkey - There I went!

I was lucky enough to be sent by my school to the ASCD (Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development) Middle East conference. So in the zwischentime between conference sessions and days, I got the chance to get a small taste of the city and its culture.

It felt so alive there, with people out and restaurants open all day and well into the night. The traffic wins the Alysha Award for the scariest she has ever experienced. busses drive like they are Mini's and if there were Mini's than I guess they would drive like bumper cars. Amazing!

Everyone seemed so friendly. I walked into a shop and asked if they had the CD for a Turkish artist I had heard in a taxi and they didn't, on sale, but the clerk ran home and burned me a copy of his own for free! Then, I went into a restaurant to order a kebab to go and while I was sitting there, chatting with a waiter, I commented on the charm of the table lamp. It was made of beads and a candle went under the shade. The waiter came back with my kebab, an extra bag and some newspaper. He wrapped up the lamp and gave it to me. Right off the table!