Making Drake Proud...

How do you chart your travels?

This is my new favorite technique.

:)

Cyrillic is a really fun script. I love it.

Mapping the journey...

This was one heck of a day (see below).

Oy... Massive task ahead. I'll get you yet Arabic!

April 1, 2012

3:30 AM  - Wake up. Groggy. Smile, cause this is the last time I will wake up in the annoying dorms at Yeditepe University.

4:00 AM  - Get on the bus. Run around herding the students into the bus. Feel terrible as it is breaking hearts on both sides of the car doors.

4:15 AM  - Cross the Bosphorus Bridge from Asia into Europe. Frown, because it hits me that this is the last time I will be in Istanbul until who-knows-when. Recognize that I love this city.

4:45 AM  - Get to Atatürk airport and try to check-in. There is no one from Turkish Air at group check-in. Uh oh.

5:25 AM  - Still no one. Don't Panic. Where's my towel?

5:45  - Finally she shows up and tries to expedite our check-in. This technique kinda works.

6:05  - Get passport stamped.

6:10  - Begin running to gate.

6:20  - Still running.

6:30  - Gate in sight. Still running.

6:40  - Get on plane for our schedules 6:45 take-off. Phew.

7:15  - Plane takes off. Birds on the runway keep us taxiing for far too long on the tarmac.

7:20  - Watch the sunrise over Istanbul. Officially miss it for the first time. That didn't take long...

8:45(Egyptian Time)  - Land in Cairo, Egypt, Africa (counting the continents?)

9:00  - Get passport stamped (#2).

9:45  - Hop on tour bus.

10:05  - Cross the river Nile. Think: 'Woah... I'm in Egypt.'

10:15  - Realize that Cairo isn't at all how I imagined it. Officially give up on thinking that I can try to transliterate any of the signs.

10:30  - Get to the Great Pyramids at Giza. Say "This is SO surreal!" for the first of at least 100 times that day.

10:45  - Climb all over the stones. Obligatory. Get caught in sandstorm of epic proportions. Perfect setting.

10:50  - Get back on bus, drive to panorama shot. Remember to get in a few photos. Proof.

11:10  - Take a bunch of pictures at the Sphinx. This is pretty awesome.

11:35  - Herd cats...er...students back onto bus. 

12:00 PM  - Cross back over the Nile. Still can't believe where I am.

12:20  - Start to process Cairo. Fail to understand the terrain - so much sand.

13:00  - Return to airport. Easy and successful check-in.

13:05  - See Sarah Iskander. Talk separated by glass wall. Feel particularly like I'm incarcerated.

13:30  - Get passport stamped (#3).

13:50  - Get told that since we put together Jordan, we are calling all the shots. For the next 10 days, we are the Program Directors. DON'T PANIC. Start clutching said towel...

14:30  - Take off from Cairo. Watch as we ascend in the sandstorm. Surface from the storm at about 20,000 feet. It was this serene picture of a horizon created by the sandstorm, dotted with huge clouds on top of it, and a stunning look at the full moon in broad daylight. It felt kinda like this:

That said, I have never in my life felt like Keanu Reeves. 

16:00  - Land in Amman, Jordan, Middle East, Asia (full-continental-circle).

16:30  - Drive through a city that feels how I imagined the Middle East would feel. 

17:15  -  Check into our residence for the nest four nights. 

19:00  - Mind melts from complete overload.