Merhaba! :D

Hello dear friends! I'm happily to announce that I [FINALLY!] have the access to the internet, though they banned some of the web pages (blogger, GMail, Yahoo!mail etc. Can you believe that? yep. Neither do I *face palm*), well. at least I can write this down to you to share a bit of the first two-days experience. Shall we start, yes? :D

You have read my pre-arrival story on my comment of the previous post, haven't ya? Did you remember that I mentioned I was being "Ndeso" all the way? Yes. That was because I didn't know how to open the lavatory door! You see, I've never been in a very long flight before, so I never used the toilet (OF COURSE, I don't drink much on an hour flight, whaddayya expect??!) Thanked God, I was sitted in the second row near the toilet, and the woman sitting next to me (who was a Brazilian, by the way. And doesn't speak English that much) saw that I was desperately tried to find a way to get in! and then she helped me by easily pushing the door! (you see when I'm panic, there's no way I can see the little word "PUSH" on that door. AW! Shame on me :P). Aaaand the rest is self-explanatory :D

Had I mentioned earlier that I've searched (read: googled!) "Indonesian living in Istanbul" before I got here? Well, I did. And I only found 1 name. A college student who also works in a tour-guide agency named Randy.Well he seemed to be a nice guy (who was born on a same date with me, only he's 4 years younger. Whatta-Scary-Coincidence-Is-That? :P) After some conversations through mails, he told me here and there, this and that. He said that I should take the public transport instead of taxi because it's safer, that is-if- I don't carry a lot of luggage. He also said that I don't need to take a city-tour because I can get most benefit by going around the places of interest by myself. (a tour guide advised me to NOT take a City Tour? C'mon!) That's why I kinda trust him. Then he gave me directions where and what to take. And he was right, this city has a safe and well-structured mass transport. Though most of the people don't speak English, they're really nice and love to help showing the directions to others, especially to tourists. Or a mini-sized tourist who seemed to get lost in the midst of crowd like moi :P Oh, about Randy. He called me after I gave him my local cell-phone number (which I bought at the Airport and then I regret it because it's waaaaay too expensive. hiks.) he said sorry for he couldn't take me anywhere because he had another business in a far away part of the country, told me to go with his directions and promised to see me another day after he's done with his work. (for those with the naughty thoughts, sorry to say that I'm not interested with this guy. I just feel glad that I met ppl from my country for at least to make this first experience (of wandering around another country alone) bearable. So don't mock me around with that. OKAY?!)

Shortly afterwards, I went directly to the hotel using the Metro and then continued by Tramvay. Pretty easy, only some people starred at me from head to toe, wondering where did this strange creature come from? :D bwahahah. I reached the hotel in 15 minutes from the Airport, I made an early check-in, freshened up, laid my back pain on a comfy SPRING-Bed (seriously, do I need to share the whole details? :P). and then I decided to go out for lunch nearby. because the meals at the hotel are in Euro and so bloody expensive -_- I ate my lunch at a LOKANTA ("Restaurant" in Turkey, but in appearance they're looked more like "Warung Makan Padang" in Indonesia :D) Here at the Lokanta we can choose the A la Carte menus or separate dishes of your choice. I chose the separate ones: "Pilaf" or cooked-rice, chicken curry, and mineral water. they gave me salad as a bonus and all costs me only TL 8. I had a happy tummy! :D then I went to Carrefour near the hotel to buy drinks and breads for breakfast (I didn't take the Bed-and-Breakfast package because well,.. you can guess it :P).

In the afternoon, I went sightseeing to Sultanahmet Square. From the tourist map I read that it's just about 15 minutes far from my hotel using tramvay, so I thought I should give it a try. I went there to see the beautiful Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Basillica Cistern, there're lots of tourist spots! Sultanahmet was soooo crowded with people from around the world. You can see Europeans (not only Turkish), Americans, Africans, Asians, you can hear lots of language, see the magnificent ancient architectures and the romantic afternoon sky completed that breath-taking moment when I got there. Subhanallah. This is truly like a dream :D I smiled a lot while walking along the square (Yes, another Ndeso-ness of me came out just like that :P). Unfortunately all museums that I've planned to visit has closed. Aw. But I think there'll be next time inshaAllah :) Hey you know what, by walking around this city that afternoon, I came to realize one thing: I desperately need A WARM-HUGE-LONG Coat, and a pair of BOOTS! Istanbul has sun-shines, but it's windy. Terribly. If I had lost 1Kgs of my weight before I got here, perhaps I won't be survive for being blown away. Swissssshhhhhhh. Scaaaaaaaaaary >:D

Wait. There was an interesting scene when I waited for a tramvay back to the hotel, so there were these two teenage sisters sitting next to me. The elder sister curiously asked me "Shh. Arabbi? Arabbi? Arabbi?". "Who? Me? No, I'm Indonesian" :D ahahahah. I have this short nose and she called me Arabbi? do I look like one? Alhamdulillah :D *YES, only happened in Turkey!* and then when I realized that I've waited at the wrong side of the tramvay queue, I asked her "may I know which way to Pazartekke?". She nodded and pointing like saying "you're on the right track". but then she asked an old man in Turkish to convinced, that man gave another direction. suddenly a tramvay came acrossed our side, she yelled something like asking me to go with that tramvay. "What? you mean that way? how can I get in?" She yelled again like saying "just hop in, quick! quick!" ---well, that's kinda interpreted that way--- and... Alhamdulillah, She was right. I wasn't lost :D

Aaaaaand here comes a bit about the course in short: I'm the ONLY Asian among 11 delegates (They're mostly from Amsterdam, London, Vienna, Switzerland, UEA). Eh correction, only me and the course-instructor (he's an Indian living in Singapore). Not forget to mention that I'm also the only Central Banker who doesn't have any experience in Trade Finance practice, while the rest of the participants are all from financial institutions and 2 commercial banks with an extensive knowledge about the TF activities. Oh Dear. OH DEER!!!!! (T_T) Just pray for me so I won't get lost.. in these advanced materials. Please..Pweewh.

Okay, That's all for now guys.
Hopefully this short story [WHAT? did I just say SHORT? :P] will bring you something to be smiled about, or at least will encourage you to write more (Your writings are all good. I'm proud of all of you.)

I'm sorry if I seemed to be exaggerating things and made some confusing words inside those brackets, that was only to emphasize few things, well.. but not to confused you. If I did, I'm sowree :D hee hee

It's almost 11 pm here, so I'd better signing off now.
Until next time :D

xoxo
-UtiE-

*Merhaba = Hi/Hallo in Turkish
PS: I can't reach GMail at the moment. So if you wish to contact me, kindly send the messages to this mail address and Cc to my GMail address. Thank you. Take Care :*