Today I ducked out of school early to go to Turkey with Boston and Joker (even though they both went yesterday). I would’ve felt guilty, except that I only missed one class, it was gr. 9 (whom I hate) and they were writing a test. And, I’ve learned, here in Georgia, actual test results don’t matter, because teachers don’t write any mark lower than 5/10 in the official register. After making my feelings on that topic perfectly clear (words like ‘ridiculous’, ‘pointless’ and ‘seriously?’ were used) Co-teach asked someone if we could record the actual marks and she was told ‘no’. Gee, and I wondered why none of my students put in any effort. Grr.
But anyway, we went to Turkey and it was magical. Since I finished school way earlier than the others, I planned to get a haircut in Batumi. When I left school, I stopped by the house to drop off a few things and pick up a few different things. I found Bebia sick in bed, which meant that she couldn’t flag down a car for me. It was a gorgeous, sunny fall day, so I decided to walk until I could hail the bus.
Well, the one bus that passed me didn’t stop when I hailed it. So instead of getting down the mountain and being in Batumi by 11:30ish, I walked all the way down. I got to the bottom at about 11:45. But once at the bottom I caught a marshrutka quickly and was on my way. It turned out to be the slowest marshrutka ever, so by the time I got to Batumi, I no longer had time for a haircut.
I exchanged some money (some of the US$ that I had taken out the last time I went to Turkey) and went to the café for lunch. There is a stray cat that lives near the café and he and I became friends. He joined me at my table and I shared my lunch. Joker showed up after a bit and we went to meet Boston at the marshrutka stop.
Transportation into Turkey and walking across the border were uneventful. No issues or fantastic stories. Except that from Batumi, you can see snow on some of the distant, high mountain peaks. It was beautiful.
Once in Turkey, it was up to me to get us where we were going, because neither of the others had been to the little shops Co-teach’s friends took us to and they wanted to go. I got out at a place that looked familiar, but then the street didn’t actually have all that many shops on it. A little way down the road, I happened to glance down an alley and saw a familiar shop on a parrallel street. We ducked down the alley and found the area we’d been aiming for all along. Now I know exactly how to get there, without any false starts.
Once we found the shops that we’d wanted, the shopping began in earnest. I found a jade ring for me (ridiculously cheap) and some more souvenirs for people. I had been commissioned by Sailor to pick up some things for her people, so I took care of that as well. Also for me, I picked up some really cheap (but cute) little camis and a funky watch (the battery died on my good watch).
When all missions were accomplished we went to the Istanbul Bazar for delicious food. Also, Boston and Joker were buying space heaters, because indoor heat doesn’t get turned on until the end of the month (even though the temp has dropped to about 5 degrees already). I didn’t need to buy a heater, since HD had brought one upstairs for me yesterday. After successful shopping and eating ventures at the I.B. we caught a marshrutka back to the border.
There was practically no line, so we got through really quickly. The ride back to Batumi was fine. Everything was so quick that I thought I was going to catch my last bus up the mountain. I neglected to consider that I was on the second slowest marshrutka in the world on the way back to Kobuleti. Also, we had to stop for gas. While we were there, A guy pulled up to a different pump and handed a plastic bottle to the attendant to fill with gas. Safety standards? What?
I missed my bus, but my cab driver was there, so I got home with no difficulty. At home, the kids were just finishing dinner and then HB1 came up for help with English. He’s getting much better at doing the excercises by himself. When we finished I curled up with my Kobo in front of the heater and watched tv. Sadly, Turkey has daylight savings time, so when Veronica is on there at 8pm, it’s actually 10pm here (last week it was nine). So after Veronica, I went right to bed.
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