better

Okay, you all indulged my little rant. I’m done (for now). After I had my little typing tirade, I took a walk around my neighborhood (the very bohemian Beyoğlu) and tried to solve my power adapter problem. You see, I blew a fuse last night when I was experimenting with my various power adapters (a long story, fortunately the only thing busted is my American surge protector which wouldn’t have helped me here anyway). It took a while to explain the fuse thing to Ali, the guy who mans the front desk of my little hotel. His English is actually very good but I had to literally show him the plugs that weren’t working. So that’s been fixed now and everything is okay.

But anyway, I still needed to buy an adapter that would take my three-prong computer plug. What to do? The guys in the internet café didn’t really speak English but they assured me that there was an electrician’s shop (elektrikçi!) nearby. I have no idea if I found the store they were talking about (I am still trying to successfully interpret directions here, and having been brought up without the metric system doesn’t help) but eventually I found one and had a hilarious gesturing conversation with the guys that worked there. I ended up with what I needed, though I wish I’d known to buy a EuroSurge while I was still in the States because it would be a little bit safer for my electronics. But anyway, for now I am up and running, and there are lots of places around the neighborhood with wireless internet.

And speaking of little places around the neighborhood, Beyoğlu really knows how to do cafes. It reminds me of Paris in many ways. There are even similar fancy (and not-so-fancy) pastry shops with serious young men scooping various goodies into little bags. Most of them have to wear ridiculous outfits with paper hats. I haven’t tried any pastries yet (surprising, I know), but I assure you I will very soon. The cafes here run the gamut from what Americans probably imagine (old guys smoking cigarettes and playing backgammon) to Evil Empire Starbucks to wonderfully cozy little places tucked away on winding streets. I went to a place last night called Montreal (!) and though the food was pretty mediocre I was so blown away by the hospitality and kindness (and good English) of the waiter that I’m back there now as I write this. I asked where I could find an internet café and he gave confusing directions, and then suggested that I just use their computer in the back. I did a quick email check with waiters rather obtrusively looking over my shoulder, but more importantly I was pleased with the gesture.

This afternoon’s project was to find a hair dryer (saç kurutma makinesi – I kept having to look it up over and over again). I was successful but I didn’t buy it because it was kind of expensive. I’m sure dry hair will win out over frugality very soon.

Some bullet points:

- I cannot seem to remember the words for yes/no (evet/hayır), and under pressure can only remember “ice cream” (dondurma)

- Overhearing French tourists in a café, and understanding what they were saying, filled my heart with joy

- Tomorrow I am actually going to explore the main tourist district that has all the big sites. It's time to just get out there and look around.