Advertisement
Published: July 22nd 2005
Prego, my Kitty Friend
This cat was so young and itty-bitty to be pregnant. I told Tucker that she looked too young, and he said that so do 13 year old girls, but it happens sometimes. So, in Istanbul, there are millions of cats - everywhere… fat cats, skinny cats, old cats, a billion kittens, and a billion pregnant cats. It is really strange. They are like the dogs in Mexico - stray and all over the place. And of course with my obsession with animals, I really can’t walk past them without petting them and giving them love - everyone yells at me - that I am going to get ringworm or some other weird diseases from these damn cats, but I don’t care. The other night at dinner, there was a cute little orange cat, who looked like a baby herself, pregnant as can be. I named her Prego, and she ate most of my dinner and whatever Tucker left on his plate.
Anyway, this past weekend marked the end of our class with Scalia - I have never spent so many hours for one hour of credit. Our final paper consisted of five essay questions. While the word limit was relatively low - 2500 words total - it was really tough. Most people ended up pulling an all-nighter on Sunday night to finish the assignment before the morning deadline. I am hoping that
kitten
This baby kitten must have just left its litter. Scalia won’t actually be grading them himself - let’s just say that my paper diminished in quality as the night went on.
We certainly are thrilled to have more time to spend out and about in Istanbul. The last week pretty much blew - we had two finals on Saturday and the paper due Monday morning, so we spent a lot of time in the hotel room… The reason that we had to work in the hotel room is that the library here closes at 4:30, which apparently means 4. Go figure, the only time that the Turks are timely about anything is when they want you to leave.
Other than that, the pace of life seems incredibly leisurely here. People stroll slowly through the streets and nobody is ever on time. Foreigners who live here call it “Turkish Time.” Everything in Istanbul takes forever too - just going out for a quick lunch for example. It takes forever to get menus - then for the waiter to take your order - then for your food to come - then for the bill to come - then for them to take the bill and get change, etc, etc,
Room with a view
They upgraded our room to a room overlooking the Bosphorus with a little balcony. We were stoked! etc.
Tuesday we went with a group of Turkish students to the Grand Bazaar again. That really is a fun experience, now that I am used to the Turkish vendors. They are really funny. I told one guy that I was just looking and he quickly retorted “well, I am just selling.” And we walked by one booth where the guy aptly asked, “Can I hustle you? Can I hassle you?” After that we went on another Bosporus Cruise, with about 25 of our friends from class. The other night, the Turkish students even took us bowling, which was a blast. We love hanging out with our Turkish companions - and there are several Turkish-American romances brewing, which is quite entertaining. Even one Turkish heartbreak already.
Anyway, gotta run to class… Unfortunately, this class is really cramping my style…. Hahaha.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.083s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 5; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0582s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
karla
non-member comment
hello
hi amanda..... glad to hear that you are having a blast.... i have not had a computer these last two months, so it was a nice surprise to have these wonderful e-mails taking me on your journey! its so awsome that you are seeing the world- and getting education at the same time! can't wait to hear from you when you return....love you sooooooo much- tell tucker hello! love karla