A Good Time to be Abroad

In the past few days I have been trying to keep updated on local and national disasters that have befallen my home. The national banking crisis is shaking the US financial system to its core and my hometown of Silex, Missouri is recovering from a catastrophic flood. I have been gone for a month now, and this is usually when the first wave of homesickness occurs. Knowing that the US economy is crumbling and that my hometown is busy scraping up river mud reminds me why I went abroad in the first place.

Of course I have a great deal of sympathy for my friends and family who have had their homes destroyed by the Cuivre River and part of me wishes I was home to help them in this time of need. However, I do not have the least bit of sympathy for the investment bankers who are so shortsighted that they couldn't put their greed on hold for a minute in order to prevent this collapse. Thank goodness good ol' Uncle Sam will be there to bail his high dollar friends out. My only question is this; if the government can afford to spend $700,000,000,000.00 to bail out wealthy bankers, why can't it afford a few thousand dollars to bail out the financially strapped victims of a devastating flood in the nation's heartland?

Enough about the eternally frustrating world of money and politics. Istanbul is awesome! I have been a bit under the weather the past few days with a head cold, but I still had plenty of time to wander around the backstreets and gaze at the innumerable ancient monuments around the city. I also had the pleasure of hopping from Europe to Asia and back again in the same afternoon. That's right; Istanbul is the only city in the world which occupies two continents. It truly is where East meets West. The sights, sounds, smells and tastes are very exotic. Unfortunately, there are many people who can spot a tourist from a mile away and instantly see dollar signs. I have a few tricks for dealing with these people, including dressing down as much as possible and speaking Spanish when they approach me. When I go out in sandals, riped up shorts and an old T-shirt, I become invisible to the hundreds of carpet salesman, tour guides and club promoters who assume I'm a bum, or worse, a dirty hippy. The truth is that they aren't far off - I budget does not allow for buying any Oriental rugs while I'm here.

Today I leave for Trabzon, which is in the far Northeastern corner of Turkey on the Black Sea coast. I'll spend two nights there staying either at a Catholic Convent (free rooms) or with a Couchsurfing host. After that I'm off to Tbilisi, Georgia! Luckily I'll have two more visits to Istanbul, so I didn't feel pressured to see it all this time around.

Sorry there are no pictures, this internet connection is extremely slow and my photos aren't uploading. I've been spoiled by the fast connections in Bulgaria that are faciliated by the EU. I don't know how much internet access I will have for the next month, so posts and photos may be patchy at best.