Intercontinental moving

So here's how the move went down yesterday. Raise your hand if you've moved from Asia to Europe in one day. :-) Raise your hand if this is not the first time you've done it. :-)

8:30 -- leave house to ride bus for 30 minutes to new neighborhood

9:00 -- sit and wait 20 minutes for friend to come clean new apartment

9:30 -- go to store to buy cleaning products

9:45 -- get keys from landlady upstairs and make major cultural and language mistakes, fun times!

10:00 -- finally leave new neighborhood in Europe to go to Asian neighborhood to let the moving guys in. HUGE thanks to Steve,
for already being over there since 10 was the appointment time

10:15 -- get off metro to wait 15 more minutes to catch 1 bus to Asia in order to catch another bus that will take me to the right place

11:00 -- FINALLY arrive only an hour late

1:00 -- get back on a bus to meet the movers on the other side, the European side, that is

1:45 -- walk very fast from the bus stop because the movers are already there and waiting

2:00-2:30 -- fight with the moving guys about how I actually want my furniture to be placed. more of a friendly "discussion" you might say. again, thanks to Steve for his mad "discussion" skills.

4:00 -- finished, for the day. more to be moved the next day

Ahh, life in Istanbul.

Olive, anyone?

One of the many reasons Istanbul is so interesting is it's use of merchandise districts. One street sells nothing but lamps. Another sells only rugs. And another will be plumbing supplies or veggies or meat, or in this case, olives. As long as you know where the particular area is that sells what you need, you can check 10 different stores all on one block to find the best one to suit your need.