An American Life in Istanbul

Current Mood: Angry

I remember it all very clearly. I went climbing Wednesday night, had dinner and then went out in Taksim for Leyla’s birthday. Drove home, no problem. Was very tired though.

Thursday night, Thanksgiving, Murat took the car I had had the previous night. He called me and asked if I had left any bags in the car. I distinctly remember looking at my backpack full of climbing stuff in the morning. It was sitting in the back of the car. I remember thinking there wasn’t much point to taking it out of the car in the morning. So yes, my favorite backpack ($120), my climbing shoes ($70) and my harness (it was a steal for $60) as well as my cold medicine, a can of deodorant and a can of body spray - funny how I remember exactly the contents of my backpack that I had packed two days before.

If you haven’t guessed where this is going, yes, the car was broken into for a third time! (In case you don’t remember here are the entries for the previous two times: Broken Window 1, Broken Window 2). It’s not so much the monetary value of what was lost as the sentimental value of what was lost. That backpack, which I bought over three years ago in Switzerland, has barely left my side since then. It has been hiking glaciers, skiing 2 mile high mountains, hiking hardened lava flows in Hawaii, diving trips, rock climbing (obviously), class, planes, trains, cars… it’s been everywhere. I loved that backpack. It even had a sticker that said “Polynesian Adventures” on it from Hawaii. It was good and dirty too. I can say with confidence that after my laptop, my backpack was my favorite possession. On top of all that, I am still sick.

So, I hope everyone else had a happy thanksgiving. There were some good things about the day, but in general it was a very sub par thanksgiving. It would have been nice to at least have some turkey and stuffing.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!