Bear Witness

Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness.  In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. - Mark Jenkins 

White Fang

I keep finding dogs with two different colored eyes, I wonder what it all means...

Tabii

Today I learned that the direct translation for kahverengi, the Turkish word for brown, is 'the color of coffee'. Of course it is.

The other day I discovered that the school library is never open past 9 pm, or on Saturdays. Of course it's not.

When the clocks changed this spring, there was no set time to do so. At around 4 pm all of the city buses changed, but none of the trains changed until midnight. Every person had a different time, but every person was on time according to 'Turkish Time' (you get there when you get there, typically an hour or so past the time you agree upon). Of course they were.

My City

Istanbul Tulip Festival

Emerson via Debbie Bitran

Standing on the bare ground, my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball - I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me. I am part or particle of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances - master or servant, is then a trifle, and a disturbance. I am a lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I have something more connate and dear than in the streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature. 

New Favorite

Back corridor of a Mosque in the Russian district.

'We are really lucky, I must say this'

The other night I participated in a roommate dinner that resulted in a paparazzi swarm. The evening started and ended normally, with discussions of Ataturk and Turkish swear words. But, during the middle bit, two Turkish movie stars (who, according to Ozgecan, are the equivalent of Brad Pitt and Ashton Kutcher) were eating at the same restaurant as us. When Oz flashed her eyebrows (the not-so-subtle signal for me to turn around) I caught a glimpse of them speed away in their Maserati with cameras on their trail close behind. Apparently, the paparazzi got a glimpse of us to, as we are tiny specs in the background of this picture.