Goodbye February

Hello from the twelfth floor of Istanbul Conti, which offers a beautiful view of the city from it's twelfth floor lounge. it's a spectacular finish to the mercifully short month of February. And what a month! I saw Cyprus, learned more Turkish than I knew existed three months ago, and the excitement keeps coming. Seagulls are circling around the window, catching the last thermals before night falls. Looking South I can see the sea of Marmara as well as the distinctive forms of Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.






Today was also a fairly exciting day down at the school, I got to speak with more students than usual and even said hi on the phone to Apo's little brother back in his home town in Eastern Turkey. Now, there is a funny story about Apo's hometown. It's name is Batman, as in the dark knight. So often as is the case I sit and listen to Turkish spoken by all the cafe workers at an accelerated pace and only pick up a few words. Words like "Alex" and "America." Then one conversation I heard Hasan and Apo talking about Bat Man, they talked on and on, I assumed they had gone to the cinema, but no. I had made some off handed comment about comic books and got blank looks in return. Only until many days later while watching a video of Turkish folk dances that featured the Batman dance did I realize they had been talking about a village.

The sun has set and the city lights are coming on, the call to prayer rise from the city below to meet the setting sun. Tomorrow is March, the season is changing.



Here's Thomas doing what cats do best.