I'm learning!

Since I've been so busy working and haven't had time to upload any pictures, I figured I'd take some time and share all the things I'm learning here in Turkey:

1. Flushing the toilet can be challenging when the flush button is hidden! Disguising it on the wall is cruel in my opinion. And no, the little knob next to the toilet is NOT for flushing and should NOT be pulled when trying to find out how to flush the toilet, unless you like having a geyser erupt from the toilet (yes I actually fell into the trap where I forgot that Europeans have those crazy water-spray things in their toilets).

2. I make things more complicated than they need to be. Remember when I said I couldn't figure out how to work the shower? That was an unnecessary freak-out brought on by the "toilet incident". It turns out my knob was faulty and loose. Ever since that got fixed, I've been appreciating the delights of showering rather than taking a hot bath in 90 degree weather.

3. Turkish people are very energy efficient (or perhaps it's just my hotel). Upon arrival in my room, I couldn't get the lights to turn on (this was right around the same time I realized I couldn't figure out the toilet...it was quite the arrival). Turns out there's a little slot on the wall next to the door, and you have to put your room card into it to get the lights to turn on (the theory is that when you leave, you take your key, so the lights won't inadvertently be left on). I'd never seen this before! The other funny thing is that in the lobby restrooms that I have to use when I'm working the conference, the bathroom lights are motion activated. You walk into a huge dark public restroom, and once you step inside, the lights turn on. After you're done in the toilet area, you walk into a dark sink area, and then those lights turn on. It was kind of off-putting at first, but I guess it makes sense for places that don't have crazy busy bathrooms.

The fourth and most current thing I've learned:
Don't forget that you're in a foreign country and have to be careful about what you eat and drink! It's kind of like Mexico in that even locals don't drink the tap water, so I thought I'd been careful to only drink the bottled kind (although I've been brushing my teeth with the tap, and in restaurants it's sometimes unclear where the water comes from). In any event, I had the WORST stomach ache (or as I like to call it, a crummy tummy) all day yesterday. After I got off work, a bunch of people were going out to dinner, so I decided that I wasn't going to let any crummy tummy stop me from enjoying my brief time in Turkey, and went along with them. Everything was fine, we went to a lovely restaurant and ate outside on a nice patio, and I had steak with pita and yogurt...yum! On the way back to hail a taxi to get home, a bunch of us got Turkish ice cream (very different from regular ice cream...more like gelato, but with more stretchiness...I can't really describe it). By the time I got home, my crummy tummy was REALLY bad and I had to make a beeline for my Pepto Bismol tablets (thank GOD I brought them!). I was up for a few hours with that, so needless to say, today I've been pretty tired. I'm feeling better though, just not 100%. But it's been a fairly light day, so it's nothing I can't handle. Anyway, I have no idea if it was food poisoning or what, but I'm just going to be very careful about water and pretty much not change my eating habits since I'm really liking the food here (although I did have a Clif Bar from home for breakfast just to be on the safe side).

Alright, that's all for now...tonight we go on a dinner cruise along the Bosphorus, which should be really fun. Hope my crummy tummy stays at home for that one!