This entry will be mostly pictures.Well I had a busy weekend. On Friday, I got up at 6am to take a bus to Ankara where I had a meeting with one of our suppliers. After my meeting, I met with a friend of Parisa’s (one of my friends), whom lives there. I spent Friday night and Saturday morning with Gokce and her twin sister Goken. They had an impeccably clean house that was very well decorated. Each room looked like something out of catalog. They said this was a point of pride for their mother and she was pleased to hear this from me.
They had both been exchange students in the US so their English was good. Their father liked speaking English but didn’t speak perfectly. The mother only spoke a few words here and there. They were excellent hosts.
That’s me and Gokce, who was an exchange student during high school, at Parisa’s high school. The two of them kept in touch all this time. After dinner, we went with a group and played monopoly at a nargile cafe. Being the last person to go, I got my butt kicked. I hardly even had a chance to buy any property. I also got my butt kicked right before that in backgammon, by Goken’s boy friend.
This is Goken and her boy friend who’s name escapes me right now. He’s really good at backgammon.
This was one of Gokce and Goken’s friends. I like this picture for some reason.
Because of plans on Saturday afternoon, I could only stay one day. After a breakfast at TriBeCa - a decent bagel shop that has a location in Istanbul as well - I met with Kenan who was coincidently in Ankara as well. We drove back to Istanbul together. This picture is a picture from the car as we were driving. I was in a bit of a hurry to get back so we didn’t stop for any sight seeing. It’s quite an interesting drive though.
Saturday afternoon, my important event was playing Diplomacy! We were partly the same group - Izzy, Adnan, Berna and myself - plus three new players. Amber, Adnan’s girl friend played as did Erman. Izzy’s father as it turns out played Diplomacy a long time ago so he joined us. I think that most of the people that have played so far have enjoyed it quite a bit and that we will be playing again soon. I am hoping to build up a group for Diplomacy here in Istanbul, but it is a slow process. In this picture from the left you see Amber, Adnan and Izzy, trying to figure out how Adnan can fight back against the stab I had just made against him.
Sunday morning we got up early to go hiking! We drove for about four hours almost all the way to Ankara (I should have stayed there Saturday). The scenery was great and it was a lot of fun. Of the people I know, Berna, Izzy and Erman came. The other 80 or so people were mostly students at Koc university. The trip was organized by the Koc University Diving and Mountaineering club, which Izzy is the president of. It was exhausting though.
That’s Murat (Izzy’s friend, not the one I work with) heading back from peeing off the cliff. I snapped this picture about 10 seconds too late.
I like the way the colors looked in this scene. The ferns were are dead and dried out and were very read. The mountain was very gray and the sky was blue. The contrast didn’t come out as clearly as I would have liked. It looked much better in person.
Izzy and Erman. For the second half of the hike, the three of us walked in the back to make sure no stragglers got lost.
Finally, on our way back down to the lake. That’s Izzy striking a pose with the walking stick he stole from me.
There were more pictures taken, but I haven’t gotten them yet. When I do I will upload them to my Picasa webalbum and post a link here.
NEXT WEEKEND: Climbing in Ballikaylar on Thursday, and a three day diving trip Friday, Saturday, Sunday!
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