Stories and Songs: Catching up, Slowing down

Last week I feel like I spent more time on public transport than I did at the places I went, I've packed into buses, stood on trains and metros, fallen down on mini-buses and read poetry in the sun as the ferry i'm on tugs across the bay. I've even run to make the ferry, holding my violin against my back so that it doesn't bounce around like crazy. Unfortunately I missed that one and had to sit around for 20 mins till the next ferry came. I'm good quite good at getting around and I know how things work pretty well now, it's the places that i don't know. For instance last week I went over to the blue mosque area, I didn't know the name of the area so I had no idea where I was going until I got there. I still don't know the name of the area, oh well.

I've had the pleasure of taking my violin out a few times to places I visited, sadly the places we went weren't very musically friendly area (neighborhoods and stuff) so getting the violin out and playing wasn't much of an option. But most of the times I had it with me when I was engaged in conversation I was asked to get it out and play a little! It's been awesome to see that positive reaction from everyone, unfortunately I don't know any Turkish tunes so I am unable to connect with them over a common song, I hope to change that soon.

Today I took a long walk along the sea shore, It's about 2 miles down hill from our house to the Sahil. (saw-heel: sea side park that usually extends all along the seafront in any city) I've taken up the habit of running down there, along the sahil, and back up, giving me a good 4+ mile run. A few days ago I stopped and offered to take a picture for a group of people. There are moments where I am able to hide that I am foreign and other moments where I stick out like a sore thumb, this was a time where I stuck out. I breathlessly asked If I should help them out, and they agreed. They had been trying to take it them selves but it wasn't working out for them so they were happy to have my help but in my tired state my Turkish was quite horrible and I got a few funny looks as they grouped up or between the few shots I took. but I enjoy doing stuff like that, may be sometime I'll be able to make a bigger connection with a group of people when doing a favor like that for them. Any way, my walk this afternoon was very refreshing, I was walking to a meeting with friends but along the way I stopped and took a few pictures of the waves crashing against the shore. Enjoy :)

You can see the islands in this picture. You're able to take a ferry out and walk around on the islands, there are no cars out there so it's a very nice relaxed atmosphere and I'm looking forward to an empty day that I'll be able to visit them.