Catching Up

Happy New Year! Wow, my time here is absolutely flying by. Has it really been over a month since my last entry? Or even more astonishingly, have I really been here in Madrid for more than four months already? Judging from what I have seen so far, I feel like my entire Fulbright experience is going to pass by in the blink of an eye!

So much has happened since I last wrote that I hardly know where to begin. For the sake of brevity, I’ll start with the commencement of Christmas Break, when I was given the great pleasure of receiving Molly in my current hometown. You know, as fantastic as it was to see someone that I love from back home, seeing Molly made me feel a bit homesick for the first time in my stay here. For a number of reasons, it has been amazingly easy for me to adjust to life in Madrid: I speak the language with relative ease, I’ve made wonderful friends, I’ve involved myself in engaging activities, I’ve been implicated in some harmless (and hence entertaining) drama, etc. And as a result, it’s been easy for me to immerse and insulate myself in the life that I have here. But when all of a sudden that bubble was burst by someone from my life back home, all of the people I love and have missed came rushing back at me.

Luckily for me, Molly was here for ten days, and we managed to have a brilliant Christmas and New Years Eve together far away from The States. Unfortunately for her, the weather took a turn for the worse just as she got to Spain, but we made the most of it with hot churros con chocolate and every other warm and scrumptious Spanish specialty you could think of. Despite the weather, I especially enjoyed rediscovering the streets that Molly and I came to know when we were living in Madrid two years ago. The city takes on a particular charm at this time of year with all of the Christmas lights and roasted chestnut vendors on every corner, and I loved sharing that with her. On New Years Eve, we followed with Spanish tradition and ate twelve grapes (one for each chime of the clock in the famous Puerta del Sol) at midnight…not an easy task considering that seedless grapes appear to be a non-Spanish luxury!

On the second of January, Molly and I said our teary goodbyes, and I headed off to Istanbul. I was so excited to go back to Turkey; I hadn’t been there since I was 16 and was anxious to see the city that had left such a big impression on me eight years earlier. My first day was pretty rough; there was a storm over the city, so my flight ended up being side-tracked to Ankara, where we refueled and then decided to turn around and head back to Istanbul. This wouldn’t have bothered me if it hadn’t entailed us getting into the Ataturk Airport at three in the morning. I had been warned against taking taxis alone, so I did the "smart" thing and went to a taxi service to book the ride in advance. I figured that since there would be a record of my journey, this would be the safest bet. I was wrong. Throughout the ride, my taxi driver kept on touching me—rather inappropriately—under the guise of teaching me Turkish, but I didn’t know how to react for fear that I was misreading was could be construed as a cultural difference. Half way to the hostel, however, the driver pulled over to the side of the road and sexually accosted me. I shoved him back and started to scream and (very thankfully) he stopped. In broken English he asked me to forgive him…as if a “sorry” could make up for something like that.

So, like I said, it was a rough start. That first night aside, though, I had an AMAZING time in Istanbul with Laura and Ben. They are great travel companions, and we saw everything I could ever want to see: the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sofia, the Sultan’s old Palace and Harem, the Spice Bazaar, the Grand Bazaar, the Princes’ Islands…the list goes on an on. You know, the last time I was in Istanbul, I remember feeling like an adult. I remember thinking to myself that the memories I made that time around would last for a lifetime, unlike the memories I accrued and then lost as a young child. But, the truth is, as we wandered the streets of Istanbul, I was struck by just how little I recalled from my stay there eight years ago. So, in many ways, it was like getting to discover the city all over again, which was delightful. And the food! Oh, the food. Fortunately for me, Ben and Laura are interested in culinary exploration just as much as I am, and we spent a good deal of time finding incredible holes-in-the-walls that served us some of the most delicious food I have ever eaten. It was also great to spend time with Laura and Ben…my abs still hurt from laughing so much.

My last morning in Istanbul was sublime. After my breakfast of sesame bread with cherry preserves, chocolate-hazelnut spread and a strong Turkish tea, I sat on the terrace of our hostel and looked out over the Bosphorus straight that separates Europe from Asia. The sun was warm and shimmered brightly off of the water as boats passed by below. As I sat there finishing a mandarin orange that had been given to me by a fruit vendor, the call-to-prayer sounded to my right and was echoed faintly by two or three of the nearby mosques below. It was a beautiful way to end my sojourn to Turkey.

And now, I’m back in chilly Madrid and getting ready to go back to work. I’m excited to see people in Tres Cantos and La Autónoma (the university) again, and can’t wait to see my friends who went back home for the break. I wish everyone a belated but heartfelt happy New Year, and hope that you’re having wonderful experiences in your respective countries. Much love to friends and family.