The good the bad and the ugly

Coming up with new ideas and not getting caught up in the routine that becomes part of any life or even any life adventure is so difficult.  We all end up in a routine of some sort.  We get bogged down with the tedium of our lives and loose sight of the amazing beauty and events around us.  We all have an expectation of what we thought life was about, but we would be hard pressed to define what it would be if we defined the BEST possible life.

You could be one of the millions of Roma collecting garbage on the streets.

We are in fact living the dream.  After all, when we were young and caught up in the moment of being together we could dream of nothing but spending time together with no worries.  I am not sure that we could spend any more time together than we now do and in fact we really have no worries.  I can think of nothing that is bearing down or really dependent on me, so is this not the dream?  The only pressure we feel is the feeling that we must find the right person to serve, the right place to be and the right frame of mind to receive inspiration and guidance.  We are on a quest of service.  But we run into stumbling blocks.  How do you make sure that people are not just wanting something and that they really need something.  It seems that even the most destitute are surviving and our jar of happy dust is empty so we can not just gift happiness.  We have found that when I speak Turkish, people are able to get a laugh out of my poor ability.  Perhaps that is all the real joy we are spreading.

This man is always in the metro stop in Levent on our way to the Church.  He is obviously blind and stands there hour after hour.  Begging for a few coins.  Is he in need or no?  How do you know and how do you tell?  He gets money from Nori every time.  We give out lira like candy.

It is so funny, someone will talk to us and we have to be totally stupid looking and then Nori will say to me, "What did they say?'  Or we go somewhere and she tells me what to say, like I really understand or speak the language.  She does not like to try to use this foreign tongue and somehow thinks i have a clue.

Water (su) delivery

One of the best moments is when we order our water, cause you do not drink from the sink.  You call a number, a strange voice says, "Merhaba, ben size yardımcı olabilir".  You reply in your best turkish tongue, "iki tane su lutfen."  The party on the other party rattles off some indecipherable statement and hangs up.  You wait patiently to see if the water man shows up.  If not you do it again.  We assume they have some sort of ability to see where the call comes from cause we never give an address.  Of course sometimes we have to call a couple of times before the water shows up and the routine is always the same.  Weird.

Oh my goodness, a city of 20 million Muslims and would you believe we see two of our four elders crossing a street in Osmanbey.  What are the odds?

The bad and the Ugly.  Smoking.  This is the most common pose of all Turks.  The smoking is unbelievable.  They do tend to smoke outside, but every exit to every public place is surrounded by the smokers of Turkey.  It is like the US in the 50's.  We think we will contract lung cancer from second hand smoke before our mission is over.  One has to be careful when walking not to get bumped by the cigarette in the hand of the guy or gal in front of you.

The sad.  Come rain or shine this blind lady sits on the street and sings for a few kuros.  Just a few pennies.  Same lady every day just past the bus stop.

The view on the bus.  The most disgusting of all, packed bus or metro travel.  It is not the crowd, it is the hygiene.  Perhaps the cost of deodorant is just too high.  Summer we will be unable to breath.  I am just glad that I stand above most of the people.  It is Nori who will really suffer.

Eating Swedish meatballs at the all american, no all turkey, no all swedish mega store the swedish wall mart.