arnaut....

I am in Turkey right now. This was such a unexpected trip for me. It came out of the blue. I was in my way to Lithuania to teach at LCC International University however in order to get a business visa to Lithuania (now in the Schengen agreement) I had to go to Turkey since there were no other embassies closer to Albania.











When we were kids, during communist times, one of the movies that the National TV (TVSH) showed and re showed was Snow white (cok gjyzel:)...the Turkish version. We used to know it by heart. So as soon as I entered the plane and heard the stewardess talking, some of the words we used to imitate from that movie came to mind. Actually in Albanian we have quite a bit of Turkish words (due to very long ottoman invasion)...like tamam, kave, ishallah, sevda, kat, marshallah, ej vallah, myshteri, and so many others...

I had a flight connection in Istanbul and was falling asleep so I decided to buy a cup of coffee. My goodness...Starbucks prices are nothing compared to the ones they charged me for a nescafe....12$ for a tiny cup of normal coffee...

I came to Ankara, late at night. The hotel I am staying at it's nice but there are no other clients so I feel weird. It's only me and the crew. I have full attention from them. Today I decided to take a walk around town....Didn't see much. however I had a very nice meal at a neighborhood restaurant. The traditional kofte (meatballs), good bread, salad, and yogurt. At the end as good turkish tradition they treated me with yummy Baklava and tea.