Today I went to Turkey! I didn't venture that far into Turkey, just a wee jaunt across the border to the Istanbul Bazaar. Shopping! I know what you are all thinking, "why are you going shopping when you're making next to nothing as an English teacher?" Okay, that's what my mom is saying right now... Love you, Mom! But Seriously, I HAD to go. I've been walking around for weeks in ripped jeans. BOTH pairs. Georgia is really rough on the clothing. I've been told that it's the water. My clothing is just not used to the ts'qali (that's georgian)! I took a picture of my jeans for everyone to see the amazing-ness.
I don't know how I did it... But isn't that great! I brought 3 pairs of pants to Georgia. That does not include my sweatpants. I brought 2 pairs of jeans and 1 pair of dress pants for school. Out of the 3, I have giant rips in 2. Even though my awesome Silvers look like that ^ I'm just not ready to throw them out just yet. They've been so good to me the last couple of months. It will be a sad day when I finally toss them. Ha. Luckily, my new pants only cost me 25 Turkish Lira = $14. Can you say "score"?
I wouldn't say that getting to Turkey was "challenging," but it didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. Despite the trip getting postponed 2 weekends in a row, several other road blocks perked up today. Kas and I woke up a little later than we had planned due to the St. Patty's Day festivities of the night before. Another story for another time. After getting ready, I headed over to Tbilisi Square to meet Kas for the Marshutka ride to the border. The square is about a 35 minute walk from the apartment. About halfway there I stopped dead in my tracks. "I forgot my passport. Shoot." I don't know if you know this, but a passport is key to crossing a border into another country. So then I did a little reverse back to the apartment, grabbed my passport and headed back out once again. When I arrived at the square, I mentally went through my checklist.
Step 1: Find Kas.
Step 2: Change Money into Dollars and Lira. That was a struggle!
Step 3: Food! Good ole Khacapuri for the Marshutka ride. But the really exciting part was that I found a banana as well! I've been lacking in the fruit department lately.
Step 4: Find the Marshutka to Sarpi.
That's as far as my checklist went for the time being. We were the first ones on the Marshutka so we were given the spot of honor: the front seat! The downside to being first is that you need to wait around for it to fill with passengers. Tick Tock. After about 20 minutes, it was full and we went on our merry way to Turkey!
The border crossing was a little confusing, but we navigated well. We talked to the lovely Passport Control guys, got our visas, and then had to find another Marshutka to the Istanbul Bazaar. Tick Tock. It's full now!
Welcome to the Istanbul Bazaar! Is that a Burger King sign on the left side of the building?! Upon entering the bazaar, we passed through some metal detectors. Of course we set them off with our purses that contained my phone, ipod, money, etc. Even though we set it off... the guard did absolutely nothing. She was just staring out the window. Such a lovely time for daydreaming! Well, we breezed through a couple stores to do some prices checks. Checking out the competition and attempting to find the good sales. After that, we headed to Burger King for a little taste of home! Let me tell you, I inhaled that burger I was so excited! Ha. The next store reminded me a little of a Turkish version of H&M. It was decent stuff and the workers there were really interested in us. It's hard to talk and shop at the same time. They were really nice though. I guess they don't get to talk to foreigners very often. But they did speak English pretty well. A few more stores after that. I think the hardest part about today was trying to figure out my size in pants. I still have no idea what I am over here. Sometimes I'm a 40, sometimes 38, sometimes 30... That's helpful. The waist size was challenging enough, but then adding on the length. There is nothing past a 32. At home, I'm a 35. I love being tall! Well I did get some pants that fit and for a good price. Success! We headed home around 7pm. Marshutka to Sarpi. Tick Tock. Cross the border once again. Once we walked out of the Passport control building, we had to pass through the swarm of taxi drivers and I literally mean swarm. I would guess there was about 20 or 25. We passed over the taxi drivers and waited for the Marshutka to come and take us into town. While waiting, we chatted with a taxi driver just to see if it would be the same price. Wrong! Marshutka = 1 Lari.... Taxi = 20 Lari. We ended up taking the bus instead. We had to literally run across the expansive parking lot to catch it in time. That ended the Turkey adventure. Safely back in Batumi.
Turkey, I had a great time and I will definitely come back to visit again. Next stop: Trabzon? :)
Until next time. Adventure is out there!
I wouldn't say that getting to Turkey was "challenging," but it didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. Despite the trip getting postponed 2 weekends in a row, several other road blocks perked up today. Kas and I woke up a little later than we had planned due to the St. Patty's Day festivities of the night before. Another story for another time. After getting ready, I headed over to Tbilisi Square to meet Kas for the Marshutka ride to the border. The square is about a 35 minute walk from the apartment. About halfway there I stopped dead in my tracks. "I forgot my passport. Shoot." I don't know if you know this, but a passport is key to crossing a border into another country. So then I did a little reverse back to the apartment, grabbed my passport and headed back out once again. When I arrived at the square, I mentally went through my checklist.
Step 1: Find Kas.
Step 2: Change Money into Dollars and Lira. That was a struggle!
Step 3: Food! Good ole Khacapuri for the Marshutka ride. But the really exciting part was that I found a banana as well! I've been lacking in the fruit department lately.
Step 4: Find the Marshutka to Sarpi.
That's as far as my checklist went for the time being. We were the first ones on the Marshutka so we were given the spot of honor: the front seat! The downside to being first is that you need to wait around for it to fill with passengers. Tick Tock. After about 20 minutes, it was full and we went on our merry way to Turkey!
The border crossing was a little confusing, but we navigated well. We talked to the lovely Passport Control guys, got our visas, and then had to find another Marshutka to the Istanbul Bazaar. Tick Tock. It's full now!
Turkey, I had a great time and I will definitely come back to visit again. Next stop: Trabzon? :)
Until next time. Adventure is out there!
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