pat loughery

Today I checked out of my hostel and into the class hotel. In the taxi between the two locations, the 1PM Muslim call to prayer happened, and it was fascinating for me to hear their chanted prayers echoing thoroughout the city. That a new experience for me, and it felt sacred to me.

After checking in to the new hotel I was doing some writing in the lobby, Robert Calvert and Randy White came in from their lunch, and we chatted a while. I got some baclava from a bakery next door (delicious but incredibly rich and sweet) Other students filtered in later in the afternoon, and one of my favorite times in a BGU class begin – learning about each other and our stories.

For my part, however, I was rushing to try to finish a paper for a Research Bridge assignment course done and uploaded to the Moodle course site. I was hoping to finish the paper before Orthodox Trail began so that I could get feedback on the paper at the same time I was concentrating mostly on the trip. I didn’t post this document until about 15 minutes before we left to go to dinner.

Our plan was for the class to do what we were told was a 10-minute walk to the restaurant at which we would eat our first meal together. However, my ankle being in the condition it is in, apparently we decided to take our bus instead. I didn’t feel too bad about that (though if my ankle were fine I’d much rather have my feet on the brick to get a feel for the city). I especially didn’t feel bad when it took us 15 minutes or more to drive to the restaurant in the bus.

Our dinner was in a market area that was clean, appeared safe and was wonderfully lit. Unfortunately I chose to leave my camera at the hotel so I missed some great photo opportunities. Dinner was bread with a salsa dip, some small fish and what I thought was yogurt and cucumber but was very different; then a fried bread appetizer, then vegetables and finally pan friend sea bass. It was tasty, although the confusion that our wait staff had on our attempt to pay them correctly was frustrating.

The bus made several bad turns on the way home, and our route took us around the city with no easy ways to just flip a U-turn. I felt sorry for students who really needed to use the restroom.

From the conversations I had with people at dinner and on the bus, I’m very much looking forward to deepening our relationships and learning and experiencing together.

I’m also apprehensive about the amount of walking which is planned for the next two days. I’ll keep up as best I can, but will likely have to sit out a good deal of the walking tours around Istanbul. I’m also not thrilled that the Internet connectivity is spotty at best in the lobby, and in our room is painful. I’d rather have no Internet access than have the tantalizing glimpse of doing a chat with my wife and kids after class. But of course I’d rather have a strong connection so that we could do a video chat instead.