Arrival in Istanbul

After almost a full day of traveling we have all arrived in Istanbul. The main group met Jon at JFK, and then I went back to Istanbul airport to pick up Kelly. Kelly and I had quite a difficult time getting back to Sultanahmet Square, because Sultanahmet is a huge draw during the evenings in Ramadan. We were trying to travel back there a few hours before the breaking of the fast, when everyone else is on their way to Sultanahmet set up for the evening's festivities. We ended up taking a metro and then trying to take a tram but deciding not to risk it. The tram cars were fully packed, with people trying to squeeze in but bouncing off onto the platform. It reminded me of the Richard Scarry book (Busy, Busy World?) in which someone takes a large sausage onto a train at rush hour in Japan and ends up with a much longer and flatter sausage than they intended to have. In this case it was very quickly clear that fitting both of our bodies onto the tram was questionable, and there was no way Kelly's luggage could follow us. After a few more trams like this we got a taxi. The taxi promptly drove straight into a major traffic jam (like carmageddon in Los Angeles, but with no one observing lane markers and everyone trying to double-park or squeeze into very narrow spaces between moving cars. I was seriously considering getting out and taking the suburban train, but we finally found a bit of space (and about 14 simultaneous traffic violations, but hey, who's counting)? We ended up walking the last bit, because trying to sit out the traffic jams would have had us miss dinner.

The students are doing great. They are excited and engaged and taking every opportunity they can find to get to know Turks and Kurds and others here and try every food and learn as much as they can (and nap in between).

So for all of you awaiting news, your friend/sister/brother/daughter/son/mother/girlfriend, etc arrived safely and is settled into an apartment in Istanbul.

I will get the students to post their reflections soon. Thanks for all of your support in getting us here.

Suzanne Mallery