It's been a long time.... too long.... I know!

Merhaba everyone, (hello in Turkish)


I know it's been a long time since you've heard from me. Sorry about that! Things are going well though so no news is good news!


There must be lots of topics for me to write about...I know that I have said "oh - I need to blog about that" hundreds of times in the last month. I'll start with the most recent and try to work my way back...


So, I am writing you from Istanbul, Turkey today and have to confess that Istanbul is an amazing city. I had to leave Cyn on Valentine's night to make it here. I got in around midnight and you won't believe the terrible reception that met me. In Turkey, you buy your visa at a small window and then go through the passport line. The visa was no problem, but at the passport window the guy was an unbelievable jerk. This guy was definitley not Turkish - and I will spare his country and not tell you where I am most certain that he hailed from! When he looked at my passport he said "Mrs. Townsend, what kind of work do you do?" I said "I'm a Director for a Training Program at Schneider Electric." to which he responded " are you sure,
because you look like a housewife" I was really in shock. Then he continued to insult me. He took my passport and said "this picture doesn't look like you" I said "really?" and then he said "yes you look older and fatter" I am not kidding folks - that is what he said to me at midnight on valentine's day! It was so awful that I could only think - he's joking - no one would be like this - but then he just stamped my passport and said good bye. He was the biggest jerk ever!!!!


Things quickly got better - I walked out of the customs area and there was a guy with a sign with my name on it. He took my bags and whisked me away from that horrible place. I arrived at the hotel and everything was fine - I went to bed and awoke to a better day.


I met up with a small group on the 15th of February and we went downtown to do some exploring and find some lunch. We went to a mosque that used to be a Christian church called the Hagia Sofia. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/istanbul-hagia-sophia.htm After that we went to this beautiful underground facility called the Byzantine Cisterns - this was a really magical place. You can hear water all around you along with some nice classical music, the lights are red so it has an eerie glow. You walk through this maze of a well and then end up seeing two Medusa heads at the end of the walk way. It's diffcult to explain - but I would highly recommend a visit to this site. http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Istanbul/Sights/Sultanahmet/Yerebatan.html Then we had a nice lunch as a group. The food was delicious and ended with some turkish coffee (very strong and very sweet) and some local young people who invited us to dance with them, in the traditional Turkish way (in a circle - sometimes holding hands, sometimes holding pinkies!) It was great fun and a nice way to get to know eachother before the session began. We are going on a cultural tour tomorrow, so I hope to have some good information to share after that too!

Well, I better get to lunch, but wanted to give you a small update. We will see some of you very soon and I expect to write more this week - so hopefully it won't be such a long break!

Love you and miss you!!!

Lorraine