24th Birthday

I think the birthday wishes that everyone sent me came true. It was a very happy day indeed.

First thing I did was have an absolutely delicious Turkish breakfast. It was savory and satisfying. Homemade butter from Trabzon, rose jam from Zonguldak, cherry jam from the place I was sitting. I'm making myself all hungry now. I'll just say that I had really missed a good Turkish breakfast and I enjoyed it to the fullest.

Then I went to my room to wash up and get ready for the day. When I returned downstairs, to my great surprise Kuthan and his parents were standing around a cake. The sparklers were lit and when they burned out I made a wish and extinguished with a quick puff, the candle. Kuthan's mother then handed me a bag and inside was a cool shirt they got for me. I changed into it immediately and then we all at the cake. The cake had bananas and berries in it with coconut shavings on top. It really was perfect. Not just the cake, the whole thing. I was so surprised!Kuthan and I left to go to the mall and buy a SIM card for my phone. I have a new phone number now! I got to pick which phone number I wanted from among many. For some reason I really enjoyed putting my mind to that. After quickly going through the stack twice I settled on 534-601-1577. The '534' is a common cell number prefix, and the rest of it can be said like "60-11-5-77" which has a nice ring. With that taken care of, we went to visit a neighbor friend of Kuthan's. His name is Murat. I really enjoyed talking with him because he is an interesting and friendly fellow but also because I could hear several things in the way he spoke English that told me about where he had spent some of his time. I like his accent. It contains a hint of British but with speech mannerisms suggesting German. Turns out he is half German and studied the language several years and also had spent a summer or two in London earlier on.
Through beautiful streets running along the sea and gorgeous weather all around, Kuthan and I rode to the European side to, of all things, deliver a birthday package to a friend. I had carried a gift in my luggage for some close friends who asked that I make the delivery when I arrived in İstanbul. Originally I was going to get here on Thursday which our friend's actual birthday, but in lieu of what happened a couple days late would suffice. We dropped the package off and turned south to go to Ortaköy.On the way, we picked up Hazal and stopped for some food at a dürüm place with a great view. I had a lamb-intestine wrap for the first time. It wasn't bad. A controversial food in Europe, the ban of kokoreç has been a prerequisite of Turkey joining the EU.

We finally arrived in Ortaköy where some friends were waiting. Most notably there were: Safiye, a good friend who lives in İstanbul and Mehtap, a friend I met a couple years ago but with whom I had lost touch. We had a great time hanging out in a café, catching up and making plans. One plan is to go to the Galatasaray-Bursaspor game in two weeks. Anyway, we had an awesome time.

When I got back and was in lying in bed writing to friends, Pınar, a friend from Boston came online. We were talking for a bit when I asked her, as I have asked many people now, when will she come to İstanbul to visit. She replied with something like "I am already in İstanbul". I couldn't believe it. She had moved back a few weeks earlier. What's more, she lives in Kozyatağı (which I have started to refer to as Cozy-Bed) which is 5 or 10 minutes away from where I am. It seems I have more friends here than I knew! We walked for a while and then said goodnight. It was a perfect end to an already magical day.