The beauty within...

I arrived in Istanbul on October 9th.  Welcome to Istanbul…good luck in finding your way…ha, luck must have been on my side!  After deboarding the plane, I started to go with the flow.  After all, someone’s gotta know what’s going on right!?  I followed through to get my Visa, waited to retrieve my luggage then proceeded to the exit where I’d expect to find my ride.  There was a swarm of people lined up holding signs with names…what an overwhelming feeling to not know where you belong…I know someone is waiting for me, but which one of them is it!? 

I was expecting to find a sign with my name on it.  After not finding it, I figured the next logical guess would be the man standing with the IBM sign.  You may think this would be obvious so why waste time looking for my name but I'll tell you I watched two additional team mates follow and do the same thing!  As I started talking to the “IBM man”, it was immediately apparent, we were going to have difficulty communicating! J  Hand gestures and nods had to do in this interaction.  The IBM man was having trouble finding my name on the paper, after all, there is no “Kristi Dick”, it’s “Kreestee Deech” in Turkish! Ah but alas, I convinced him to claim me and was able to board the van to the hotel.

I spent a short 30 hours in Istanbul before traveling to Malatya.  I met the team and have to say it's been such a pleasure and thus far a great team.  I love the music of all the accents in the room.  Together we represent 8 different countries and have the ability to speak well over a dozen different languages (I am weak in this area).  There are many fun personalities and as you can probably see from my facebook pictures, we've already experienced a number of laughing moments!

Istanbul is an absolutely beautiful city but I was really surprised that the beauty isn't only from the surface but deep within the historic streets.  There is truely a hidden city within the wall surrounding Istanbul.  I know if I were on my own I wouldn't have ventured there and would have missed the most beautiful aspects of the city.  To me, it wasn't obvious as the streets are very narrow cobblestone and feel like walking down a back alley in the US.  Truly a place I would have avoided. 

While the conditions of the streets and buildings are less than average, The Turkish people exhibit great passion for their country and their businesses.  Even with the countinual smell of heavy dust (which only I seem to be sensitive to), you can't help but love the environment.  In the US, we would bulldoze down the remnants of a fallen building or wall, but Turkey has incorporated it into their lives and integrated it into their current environments by building around it, under it and on top of it.  This really adds character to the city and I'm amazed at how much beauty radiates from it! 

While I didn't realize people have such a distinct "Turkish" look, clearly I can now identify their features.  I DO NOT LOOK THE LEAST BIT TURKISH :)  To my surprise, we are clearly identitfied as tourists but the Turkish people are very eager to ask where we are from.  They are also eager to show us their crafted products and will incent you with a "great offer" to buy!  I am the first to admit I usually dislike salesman but it's really been fun learning about their products and seeing their daily businesses.  I'm not sure I could do their job everyday but the enthusiasm they display makes me believe they love their jobs and the interaction with the people.  I am disappointed that I wasn't able to spend more time in Istanbul but this gives me a great excuse to return to Turkey again some day!