Istanbul!!!!!!

O. M. G. So much!
First off I was amazed to see hills and mountains and red roofs! It's a true European ancient city and it is gorgeous! As I was riding from the airport to the hotel I was taking it all in- and I had a lot of time to that because traffic was so bad it took an hour and 20 minutes to get to the hotel! The driver said it was actually moving quickly- that it usually takes 3 hrs to get from the Airport to the business district during rush hour! I had heard this from the business partner when I took them out to dinner in Columbus- so have to believe seeing how bad traffic was tonight.
My hotel is right off the Bosphorous Strait- the main waterway that separates Asia from Europe and it is Beautiful! I will add pictures tomorrow night the neighborhood. It is all renovated but still very old world with the narrow streets and all cafe's and the uplite buildings, and the trees.... oh it is so gorgeous!
The weather is amazing as well- 78 degrees right now with a cool breeze off the water- that alone made me fall in love with this city!
I went out for a walk in the neighborhood to get water and diet coke and much to my surprise- I forgot you could buy beer here! So of course I had to grab a few Stella's for only L7- only around $2.50 American each! Could this city get any better!!! Ok- I need to simmer down using the exclamation points here- can you tell I'm happy?

The hotel is unique as are all W's. They are meant to be chic- but in a transient local kitsch way. Hence the Red accents and look of an 80's trashy motel. It's the style of hotel that you pay big bucks to live like your homeless- for the experience. ? So.... I'm not really on board with it- I'm more traditional apparently, but the location is great and the bath products are from Bliss Spa- which are heavenly.

My biggest "ah ha" moment was how much I've been spoiled with English in my territory. Everywhere I go- they speak English- even in Kuwait and Riyadh. But here- Nien. My driver- the woman who checked me in- yes. The bus boy- no. The grocery store, the locals- no. I was shocked when I was at the grocery store trying to pay and she greeted me in Turkish and carried on a conversation with me with me nodding. Then when I went to pay- not knowing the conversion- was like "ahh..." and give her a 20 lira to cover it.
That was the other thing- I assumed they were on the Euro- so at the airport got Euro, and a some Lira- more for the "awkward moment where they don't take the Euro" and guess what- THEY ONLY USE LIRA! Ah! But my hotel Rate was in Euro... and when I went to get my visa they had the prices listed in Euro or American Dollars... so I just kinda mad that I paid the service fee to get Euro's and now will have to pay another fee to get Lira's. Ugh.

But back to the language thing- it makes it much more real. Dubai is such a "Disney Land" of the Middle East. Here- it's a real city- with locals- and they live in old buildings, and shop in the souks, and they really "live" here- which I have been missing out on while I'm living in Dubai. It showed me how spoiled I've been when I went to pay at the supermarket. To have that feeling where I'm not knowing what she is saying- not even knowing how to say "excuse me" is humbling. I didn't even look up how to say "hello" and "thank you" before I got here because I've been so Arabic- English focused and busy that it never crossed my mind. So tomorrow I'll be getting a city tour and asking the tour guide for small talk.
But I'm here, in Istanbul, and am so excited for the City tour tomorrow- the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, the Bosphourous, dinner with the Business directors, and 78 degrees with a cool breeze. And cheap beer! YAY!