And the answer is...

ISTANBUL!  (good job Stelios!)

And now to tell you what these pictures are about...

The Cistern.  This was where the fresh water supply was stored and it was built around 600.  Aqueducts brought in water from the north.  It is over 20,000 sq ft.  The columns are holding up the ceiling, and there is water below the bases of them (you can kind of see how it reflects the light).  It is both impressive and spooky!

Galata Tower at Sunset

The entrance to the Sultan's Harem at Topkapi Palace.  The most powerful women in the Empire were the women in the harem.

The sitting room of where I stayed.  The back wall touches the Topkapi Palace compound wall and the front is about 15 feet from Hagia Sofia.  I was awakend every morning by very loud chanting/praying for the morning prayer.  It was amazing.  These are old houses and when you walked in, it smelled like my grandma's house.  Very comforting.

A column at the cistern of Medusa.  She is sideways.  There are several legends about this, but no one really knows why she is sideways.  There is another colunm of Medusa and she is upside down.  You can see some coins and rings in the water near her mouth.  It was raining outside, and water was dripping into the cistern, creating water splashes as it fell into the water that was already in there.

Topkapi Palace.  Notice the winter sky, palm tree, and deciduous tree with no leaves?   Istanbul can't decide if it wants to be a warm place or have a proper winter.

Tile work at Topkapi Palace.  See what you can accomplish when you don't have TV and the internet to distract you?  You too could finish your home improvement tile project!

View of the Marmara Sea and Islands from the Asian side of Istanbul.  Girls from Indiana are always fascinated by the sea.

Disgusting.  And that's all I have to say about that...

I had tea at a tea garden just down from the Palace.  The place was outside and overlooked the Bosporus and the Sea.  They bring the tea in this copper pot.  The bottom pot is filled with hot water, and the top pot is filled with tea.  You pour about half a cup of tea into your cup, making sure to strain out the tea leaves.  Then you top it off with the hot water.  I add sugar too.  It is a neat ritual.  I love the copper kettle and the tea cups.

And one other interesting thing I did was meet a co-worker at the Istiklal area on Saturday night.  This is a very popular place that has shops, cinemas, pubs, cafes, clubs, live music, and about 10,000 people on a Saturday night.  We met up with some of her friends and some of their friends were having a drink for a birthday.  So it was a friend of a friend's friend.  I was the only non-Turk at the table.  Luckily, most spoke English.  All in all, it was a good weekend.

Guess where I was...

Any guesses?

Guests and Parties

It has been a busy week!  Last week we had visitors from the UK helping at work.  It was nice to talk with them and feel like a team again.  We went out to dinner two nights and it was nice to not have to eat dinner alone again:).

We went up to the plant on Thursday, and took the scenic route.

 Here is a picture of the temple in one of the little towns on the way to Novi Sad.

Pretty Window

Nice Archway

The Town

Another Church

It was a nice diversion. 

On Saturday night, I went to a party alone.  I had heard about this group called the Hash House Harriers.  They are a running club that also likes beer.  So I went, and had a great time.  The party host had marked the trail to the party location with flour and I had to find the "trail".  It was like a scavenger hunt with a party at the end.  The group was a nice mix of Americans and Europeans (including Serbs).  It was a very scary thing to go to a party where I didn't know a single person, but I'm really glad I went.  I hope to be able to join on their runs while I'm in Belgrade.  People remark on being brave; going to a party alone where I didn't know a single person was the bravest thing yet.  The good thing is that they have monthly runs, so I can join in with them, explore Belgrade's running paths, and have a reason to run a few times a month during the really cold months.  So I'm making progress on the friend front and am really glad to have my first social outing in Belgrade that didn't involve work!

To Protect and Serve...

Well, it finally happened; I got stopped by the police while driving. I had been warned that this could happen, but I was really hoping that it wouldn't.


I went out to a very nice dinner with my manager and two colleagues from the UK. It was a nice evening with good food and some live jazz music near the Sava River on the riverfront. The other three took a cab, but I had driven. I made a wrong turn going home, but eventually got on the right path. And then, I saw 3 cops in the middle of the road. They were not wearing the green vests of traffic cops. They motioned me to get behind their car, which was parked in the middle of the road. The cop didn't speak English, but what I got was that he said I was driving on the trolley tracks (WHICH I WAS NOT!). He kept saying "BAD!" and then pointing to the road. It reminded me of how you would yell at your dog. Anyway, I knew what he wanted, but I made him ask for it. 1000rsd. That is about $15. So I passed over the cash, and got home.

Gotta love Serbia.

Weekend in Budapest

Remeber at the beginning of my trip to Belgrade I said I had a great weekend trip planned?  Well I finally got to go on it!  I went to Budapest Hungary with a friend that I used to work with in Plano.  He now lives in Holland.  We met up on Friday night.  All day on Friday, I was very nervous.  I almost missed my plane back to Belgrade from Istanbul (stupid traffic) and anyone that knows me knows how I freak out about getting to the airport early. 

My other source of stress was the fact that I was going to be driving outside of Serbia and going through a border crossing in the Marbo car.  Everyone said it would be ok, but that you can always get stopped for no reason.  Plus I wasn't sure if I had all of the necessary documents.

Anyway, I made the 4 hour drive with no troubles, other than it was amazingly boring.  The sun goes down at 4pm and by 5pm, it is pitch black.  But I collected some new stamps for my passport, and can cross Hungary off the list!

I had seen pictures of Budapest, but I wasn't expecting it to be so beautiful.  The buildings and statues were really cool.

Here is the Chain Bridge at night.  It was right outside of our hotel, and it was very pretty.

Near Castle Hill

Parliament from Buda

Hungarian Statue of Libery built in honor of the Russian Soldiers in 1945

Cathedral?

Pest from Buda Hills

Interesting roof tiles

Buda and Danube

Creepy bird with a golden ring that was part of the gate at the castle

Statues in the Castle

We saw all of these things on Saturday.  The weather was cloudy as you can see, but we still managed to see a lot of sights.  We also walked around Pest (on the other side of the river) and had a nice dinner over there.

On Sunday, we walked to Margaret Island, which is in the Danube between Buda (where the hills are) and Pest (the flat commercial district).  It was a big park and very pretty, but we didn't get any photos.  We walked along the river near Parliament and saw this display.

It is a memorial to the Budapest Jews who fell victim to the Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest and depicts their shoes left behind on the bank when they fell into the river after having been shot during World War II.

And before heading to the airport to drop off my friend, we drove to Momento Park.  This is where you can find socialist/communist statues that were deemed inappropriate after the fall of communism in the early 1990's.

This statue was at least 20 feet tall.  I guess he is running in a hurricane.

Here were three statues.  They all have their arms raised.

And just a few more from around Budapest because it was so pretty:

It was a great weekend and was exactly what I needed after a stressful week at work.  I highly recommend a visit to Budapest.

The most important thing is to keep an open mind...

That is the advice that everyone gave me before I left.  It made me think.  Were they implying that I don't normally have an open mind?  What exactly did they think was going to happen on my trip?

Well, I think when people say "the most important thing is to keep an open mind" what they are referring to is don't be surprised when things go wrong, when things are terrible, when you can't help but think WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?

I have been feeling kind of out-of-sorts this week.  I wasn't feeling well on Monday, and then spent a long day in the office on Tuesday.  I had one of those days on Wednesday.  I flew to Istanbul in the afternoon because I needed to meet with my boss and team on Thursday.  My flight was delayed, so I ended up landing in Istanbul late.  For some reason in Istanbul, the lines for passport control are always really long.  This was my 3rd trip here, and everytime it has been the same.  But this time, people were trying to cut and shove past me.  My backpack is really big, and people were touching it, which drags me down (literally).  We're all in this line and I wasn't feeling generous about letting people go by me.  Wait your turn! 

I finally get through passport control and get my bag.  I find my transportation and am being driven through rush hour traffic to my hotel, which is on the Asian side of Istanbul.  Two hours (yes - 2 hours!) later, the guy is dropping me off at a hotel that has a different name than the hotel that I thought I was staying.  You know the saying "trust your instincts"?  Well, I should have.  I asked the driver if this was the right hotel, showing him the name of the hotel that I had written down.  He says "oh, that is the old name of this hotel".  Ok.  So I pay him and get out and go to check in.  They can't find me in the system.  Guess what?  It is the wrong hotel.  I have no Turkish money to get a cab, but the front desk guy is nice enough to call the hotel car and have them drive me (for free) to the correct hotel.  Whew!  Good thing I kept an open mind:).

Luckily Thursday was a bit better.  I had a great day talking and working with the Istanbul team.  It is so nice to have a team and not be alone in the office!  I had a 2 hour meeting with my manager in the hotel lobby from 6-8pm.  It was not good.  But it is always helpful to get a different perspective. And getting a different perspective is one of the reasons why I took a job halfway around the world.

The day ended well with coffee in a restaurant near the Marmara Sea.  Even though it is winter and it is dark so I couldn't actually see the sea, it was nice being near the it.  So keeping an open mind is a good thing, even when things don't turn out the way you want...especially when things don't turn out the way you want.

And finally, after a long post with no pictures, here is one for you.  It's a hazy picture of bridge of Bosporus from my first trip to Istanbul in August.  Europe on the left, Asia on the right.  I got to spend my first nights in Asia on Wednesday night!  Here's to keeping an open mind...Serefe!

What I'm thankful for...

I'm thankful for good friends, good family, and good beer.  I'm thankful for free will and surprises.  I'm thankful for pain, because it makes me realize not to take love for granted.  I thankful that I like myself...and for homemade mashed potatoes.  I'm thankful I have the opportunity to move across the world and spend time getting to know new people and have new experiences. 

I know that I'm a few days late, but Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Ziveli!

Istanbul bound?

Well, last night I officially heard from my manager that they are relocating R&D for Serbia (with our HUGE team of manager + me) to Istanbul.  I had heard rumors about this for a few weeks.  What it means for me is that for the duration of this short assignment, I will stay in Belgrade.  If, by chance, the assignment is extended, then they might want me to relocate to Istanbul. 

Hmm.  I just got settled here, but I guess you could say that I'm not that settled.  But for now, the thought of more apartment hunting, finding another new bank, etc. makes me feel so tired.  I'm just barely set up here.  So hopefully I can stay in Belgrade for a while.

The upside is that I will get to travel to Istanbul frequently to get acquainted with the Turkish R&D team (my new team).  I was in Istanbul for 9 days in Aug/Sept, and it is an amazing city.  There are about 18 million people in Istanbul (vs. 2 million in Belgrade and 5 million in DFW).   The city has an energy.  And it is much more exotic than Belgrade.  Istanbul is not clouded from recent wars and economic sanctions. either.  And Istanbul is where East meets West (literally the city is in Europe and Asia).

Here is a picture that I took in Istanbul of the Hagia Sofia.  It is a beautiful city.

So the million dollar question; would I move to Istanbul?  I think I would. Of course, that isn't the intent of this assignment/rotation. But as many people advised me I will keep an open mind.  If the opportunity arises, I think I would have to take it!  Luckily, even if I don't move there, I will have lots of travel to and from Istanbul and many opportunities to explore this city.

One more Istanbul picture for the road:

Here is a view of the Galata Bridge from the Tower.  The water way is called the Golden Horn, and it empties into the Bosporus which separates Europe from Asia.  Amazing!

 

My Belgrade

I have been here for 3 1/2 weeks, and this is my 4th weekend.  I spent this afternoon, in typical fashion, walking around Belgrade.  I'm finally starting to have a good mental picture of the city.  Every time I go on one of my long walks, when I get home I look at my Belgrade city map to see where I've been.  After 4 weekends, I think I'm starting to understand and even though I still get "lost", I generally know which area of the city I'm in.  Now, some of you might be thinking "what's so hard about finding your way in Belgrade?"  Well, the problem is that the map is written in Latin and the street signs (if you can even find them) are written in Cyrillic.

For those of you that know Cyrillic, what does this say?  The best I can translate is this:

ulicha

NIKODIMA

MILASHA

This was translated with the help of a book.  I can't exactly be dragging my book out at every intersection to figure out what street I'm on.  To me, Belgrade is a man wearing dark glasses.  It is an enigma.  There are secret sights, cafe's, and views hidden everywhere.

Here are some more pictures of my explorations.

So many of the buildings are gray here, but this one was painted green. 

Here is some "decoration" on someone's terrace.  I guess they were going for a jungle/tropical theme.

Here was a monument in a park near the New Cemetery.  I think it is a WWII memorial, because there was the year 1944 on it.  But I couldn't read the Cyrillic.  I thought it was a nice fall scene.

Same park, different view.  Fall is my favorite time of year.

Finally, I saw these roses and I like how they are juxtaposed with the rusted fence.  This is very symbolic to me and it epitomizes the Belgrade that I have experienced thus far.

I only walked about 2 1/2 hours today.  I capped it off by trying out a different coffee shop near my apartment.  They have really good sweets.  I love the cafe culture here.  I just wish I knew more people to experience it with here.

I also wanted to thank everyone for reading my blog.  I like all the comments, even if I haven't figured out how to respond to them.  Keep reading and I'll keep posting.