A Week Later

I have now been in the country for a week. It feels nice that the weekend is finally here again.
Friday was lovely. I took myself from Bostancı to Nişantaşı for my meeting. I was excited about the meeting but not that excited about trying to get to the other side of İstanbul by myself. I haven't always had the best of luck getting around in this city. Today was an exception though. I got to Taksim and asked for some help, then I walked from Osmanbey in what I thought was the direction to Nişantaşı. After 10 minutes of not seeing anything to indicate I was going the right direction (other than of course the Sun and the coincidence of its position in the mid afternoon sky with the piece of map I had glanced at 20 minutes earlier and the direction I was walking). Still I was about to start panicking, when I overheard part of a conversation in Turkish a passerby was having. He said something like he was near Nişantaşı and would be there in a few minutes. He as walking my direction. I followed him at a distance and within a few minutes arrived to a spot just meters away from the building I was looking for.

The meeting went well. Eren Bey and I discussed many aspects of my plan here. He really got me rethinking my strategy a bit. I'm not going to change my whole plan, but I think I will package it in a better way. More specifically, Eren showed me a way that I can pursue all of my interests here without really having to put any on hold. Ok I guess that wasn't too specific either. I don't want to say anything more about it right now because the ideas are soaking in my head and I have some things to look into.
When I thanked Eren Bey and left, I found my way back to Bostancı and eventually to Dragos through the combined use of the metro, a dolmuş, and a train. It was with relative ease that I got from one to the other. I really felt nice knowing that I can get around on my own here. A real confidence-building day this was.

Friday evening brought the week to a an excellent close. Kuthan and I gathered at Murat's place for a big dinner of schnitzels. In addition to the awesome meal, we also hung out a bunch playing instruments, watching our favorite videos on YouTube, and discussing various topics. Also there was the Bursa-Antep game of which the final score was correctly predicted by Kuthan 25 minutes into the match.
Saturday will be largely spent in Ortaköy. I'm really hoping to run into some of my other friends then because I have missed them this week. Of course now that I finally know how to get around, it shouldn't be so hard running into them during the week. I have a lot on my plate but also a lot of joy waiting for me everyday.