Exotic is What's Shoved in Someone Else's Face Everyday

And it was Fenerbache that got those bragging rights, two to one. But, as a guy from LA who pretends to be British once told me, "Never trust a player wearing white boots." I'm not entirely sure what all that implies, but I'm willing to bet you'll see more players wearing white cleats among Fenerbache.

Today is another normal Friday in Istanbul, I'm making the students listen to Bee Gees and the weather has improved. Despite predictions of rain it is supposed to be warm tomorrow, supporting my claims to Jess and Elsa that everything has been just peachy here while they were away. They will return tomorrow from their trip back to the States.

Last night, as every Thursday night, musicians came to the cafe and played for a few hours. During their performance they requested me to join and I played some folk songs for the students. I never thought these songs would ever be considered exotic, but as they say, "Exotic is outside the location of the locals." Now students are approaching me telling me how good I sounded, of course their vocabularies are limited and knowing how to compliment someone involves difficult word choices. What is the difference between sound and noise? Does the sentence, "I think I hear a noise," actually imply an offensive sound? So I was told that I made a great noise with my mouth, and I suppose I should be grateful for the compliment.

And now something I realized I never did, show you what the money looks like here! It comes in several fabulous colors and every bill has my man Mustafa on it. A side note, Turkish Lira coins have the same size and weight at Euros, though they are worth considerably less. (the .5 Lira piece resembles a 1 Euro coin and the 1 Lira resembles a 2 Euro coin. Exchange rate is about 1.6 Lira to the Euro.) As a result you can find Liras filling vending machines in Europe wherever Turks visit.