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Blogs from Middle East - page 911
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August 14th 2005
Quıck funny story before I update. on the way to our match agaınst France 2 days ago, I get called to the front of the bus by our coach. as i walk to the front of the bus im thinking, "ı wonder why he needs to talk to me. after all i have just been on the bench this whole tournament." well it turns out he wanted to ıntroduce me to the coach of the Swıss team that ı am goıng to be playıng for soon. he ıs here coachıng the swıss unıversıade team and found out ı was on the US team so he decıded to come and take a look. good thıng to because ı went ın half way through the 2nd game and dıd well enough to get the startıng posıtıon for the ... read more
Grand Bazzar. Ooh Baby, This Place Is Driving Me Crazy
Published: July 8th 2006Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul
August 13th 2005
Arriving at Atatürk airport late at night, full of tired travellers. Some going home, some going on their German August holidays and me, on my own now for the next..... Who knows! A Turkish mother on the plane asked where am I going, I said "Australia on my own". She replied "Won't that be boring??" I hope not. Picking up the Metro and a tram to Sultanahmet was easy, just the idea of 2 types of money was tricky. I bought my Metro ticket for 1.10 YTL and my tram ticket for 1.100.000 Lira. It can be a little worrying when you are a bit tired. Checked in to the originally named Istanbul Hostel in a part of town I completely missed last time I was here. I can't see how, this is backpacker madness here, ... read more
August 12th 2005
Well for the past two days ı have been unable to get to a computer because thıngs around here have been pretty busy. On Wendsday(the day before our fırst tournament match) we practıced at 9 ın the mornıng and then had to kıll some tıme before we scrımmaged Serbıa & Montenegro (one team) . sınce we could not go back to the vıllage and eat the wonderful food they provıde(sarcasm) we decıded to go to the food court of a local turkısh mall. hıdden between the places sellıng varıous meats and vegtable stır fry we found....... (drum roll please), a McDonalds. Now back home ı never patronıze thıs establıshment except for the occatıonal breakfast. However, after eatıng the same thıng day ın and day out for the past week, nothıng of whıch ıs very tasty, the ... read more
August 11th 2005
Hi,It’s after 0100 am and I’m waiting for 17 people group from Holland and you can guess how tired I’m… Never the less it was a very good day. Yesterday I had 3 walk-in guests from Israel. 3 youngsters that heard about me from 3 French guys that stayed last week. There isn’t like the “Word a Mouth” system. They stayed just 1 night but this morning the 14 people group got bigger to 17 so I had to move a way from my room and I’ll sleep at my neighbor (Ramzi) hose tonight. I also got an Israeli couple that came in the after noon and they are also staying at my neighbor’s, so as Margaret, a French girl that came for only 1 night about a week ago… The big group is staying for ... read more
August 11th 2005
Hello all, and thank you for coming back yet again. I haven't updated my diary for nearly a month now as it has been incredibly hot and I have been hiding away inside the house where the air conditioning keeps me from cooking internally and turning into a blistered lobster. They record the temperature in the shade and today it was 47c... so I guess in the sun that would be hitting around 52c and it feels it too. The hot air dries your throat, blisters your lips and dries your eye balls so they feel like ping pong balls that have been rolled in sticky sand bobbing up and down in your sockets :S takes a little getting used to but I think we are getting there. So life here has been a little subdued ... read more
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Turkey - bazaar, palace, yummy food and a great laugh!
Published: August 24th 2005Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul
August 11th 2005
Thu 11th - We left Cyprus at 7am and flew to Turkey to stay in Istanbul for a few days. Our trip started a bit rocky when we arrived and needed to buy visas (you do it at the airport before passport control). However the only ATM on that side of the barrier wasn’t working, and we had no Turkish Lira. After being sent to numerous counters we finally met someone who could help. So he took us to the police and explained the situation, then escorted us to the other side, so we kinda entered Turkey once, got our cash, went back through passport control, then entered again, legally this time! By the time that happened though our hotel transfer had left us. Luckily Turkish people are so friendly and helpful. We met a rent-a-car ... read more
August 10th 2005
I hope this update will reflect the big things that are happening in my life at the moment, and they are big as you will soon read. Of course you will get the full update about the Inn's progress but I hope to start sharing my observation about what was happening so far and not just my "to do list" Are you ready? Ok I will open with the greatest news of all and it's that we (Shlomit & I, that's how we say it now days) are pregnant and will be parents in the beginning of 2006. Shlomit is feeling good most of the time, it is now the 17th week to the pregnancy and it's going to be a boy. We are both very happy and excited about the whole thing and can't ... read more
August 10th 2005
Wed 10th - A fairly laid back day before heading back to the Syrian club for another meze with people we’d met the night before. After dinner we smoked…this thing…I’m not entirely sure how to describe it. It is a big bottle with a pipe and on the top is the coals that burn the tobacco which comes in different flavours. You don’t inhale the smoke, you just take the flavour in your mouth. We had apple and it was really yummy, it didn’t taste smokey or yucky at all.... read more
August 8th 2005
I wısh ı could say that each day we go out and experıance a new area of turkey and ıts unıque culture but thıs ıs not the case. even though almost everyone would lıke to go out of the Unıversıade vıllage, we are not alowed to because of the hıgh rısk ınvolved. thıs however has not completely soured the experıance of beıng ın Izmır. One of the daıly occurances ıs the bus rıde to and from each gym we have pracıtced at. so far there we have played ın a total of 3, two of whıch were made for volleyball exclusıvly and the thırd beıng a converted hanger on a fully oparatıonal mıllıtary base. the furthest ıs about a 45 mınute drıve and the other two are only about 15. ıts nıce to be able to ... read more
August 7th 2005
I am sorry that ı dıd not post an entry sooner but the ınternet cafe ıs a 5 mınute bus rıde to the top of a hıll and ı had work my way out of the losers bracket of the Fınentte tournament that was started last nıght. Fınentte ıs just a card game that requıres lıttle more than luck and the occasıonal strategıc play. now that ı have some tıme ı wıll fıll you all ın on how ı got here and how the fırst few days have been. ıt started wıth our flıght from Colorado Sprıngs to Denver. FAA regulatıons state that durrıng the fırst and last 10 mınutes of each flıght electronıcs cannot be used. as thıs fırst flıght was only 18 mınutes long we could not lısten to our musıc or play our ... read more
