Arrival in İstanbul

I arrived at Chicago O'Hare in high spirits. I checked my 24-hour analog watch and saw that I had 8 hours to get to my gate. With that kind of time, I was relaxed about finding my way to the ticket counter. In fact when I arrived I learned that it wouldn't open for another hour or so. Then I saw a gentleman who had been one of the most vocal the night before about his discontent with the flight situation. I struck up a conversation. We talked for a while about the events of the night before with missing the flight. I encouraged him to think of an appropriate response as being something that falls between the least the airline deserves and what his health and mentality could withstand. The conversation changed to one of the priorities of life and so forth. When the ticket counter opened, we got our tickets at the same time. The man, whose name I learned was Selahattin, then turned to the (very attractive) woman at the ticket counter and asked if it was alright if I joined him as his guest in the VIP lounge. She said "certainly". Dumbstruck, I turned and thanked my new friend.I killed the following six hours in two different VIP lounges. The first had a broken chair but was otherwise not bad. The free drinks, food, nice chairs, and quiet atmosphere made the wait much easier to bear. I slowly drank several beers and snacked on gourmet cheese and crackers while making use of the high speed internet. I also talked a while more with "Sel" about many things. Later on, I met a kind Turkish man in the lounge who after we talked a while said that he could likely set me up with a weekend job being a private English tutor to a couple kids he knows who live on Buyuk Ada (a paradisaical island near İstanbul). I took his card and wondered if my day could get any better. It did. Shortly before boarding I asked Sel what his seat number was, and it turned out to be right next to mine. He explained that he had requested at the ticket counter that we get our seats together and that they be near an emergency exit door so that we would have the most legroom. In fact slouching and stretching my legs all the way in front of me, my feet still didn't reach the wall in front of us. The plane took off with at least one passenger feeling like the universe was smiling upon him. The plane ride was unremarkable. Though I did switch my seat early into the flight with a woman who was having trouble sitting next to a woman and toddler next to her. I struck up a conversation with the woman with the child. She was Uzbek but ethnically Russian. Seeing as she had her hands full with her little boy, I assisted her whenever she needed. I think her kid is the cutest toddler I have ever seen. He liked to play a game where I would hold a magazine and he would randomly flip the pages and then freak out at whatever was on the page by letting out a brief cry of joy and slapping the page repeatedly. At one point, a flight attendant approached me and informed me that the seat 14G was available should I want to sit somewhere away from the children. Before I could respond the woman requested that I stay. I was surprised but she said she liked talking with me. I enjoyed it as well so I stayed. I met some other nice people on the plane, too. There was Maleki the Iranian and JC and Jordan the New Zealand couple. I loved their accents!

On the plane I watched a movie on my laptop. It was called "I Love You Man". I love this movie. Instantly it is in my top 5 of all time. Please try to watch it sometime and then let me know what you think.

As planned, I slept roughly 4.5 hours on the plane. When it landed, I went through passport control, retrieved my bags, and said goodbye to JC and Jordan after describing how to get to the taxis. Then I walked out to the arrival area with Selahattin and introduced him to my friends who were waiting for me. I thanked him again for making a bad day into a good one for me. He smiled, shook my hand, and departed.Kuthan, Hazal, and I rode through İstanbul during sunset in relatively heavy traffic to Ortaköy. The sights and sounds captured me and I couldn't stop thinking about how happy I was to have returned to this beautiful city. We stopped at one of Hazal's favorite hookah bars and each ordered some kumpir and drinks. On the slip of paper marking my choices for the kumpir, under the name I put 'Asım'. I don't feel like pushing a strange name like 'Jeremy' on the people here. A while later we were joined by another friend, ordered hookahs and tobacco (I didn't but I tried Kuthan's), and played a weird kind of 3D Monopoly game where the city was İstanbul.

As it started to get late, we decided to end the game which was awesome because I was losing! I went with Kuthan back to his parents' place where I will be staying for a while. They are both lovely and I was happy to meet them. We talked a while and then each retreated to our quarters.

Here it is already Saturday and I am very much looking forward to what this day will bring.