Friday:
Woke up after what felt like 10 minutes but was actually 4 hours when Omer got back. The magic 8 ball on the iPod convinced him to join me for Infected Mushroom, it said he might not like the show but he would appreciate the music. Then the magic 8 ball told us we should go for Mexican. We took a bus to Taksim and we went to The Bronx, only to find out the concert was sold out, I asked if it was possible to try later in case people didn’t show up. Off we went for Mexican, I missed salsa and guacamole so much! After stuffing ourselves nicely, we walked around and tried the club again, no dice. We walked around some more and went back about 20 minutes before the concert was to start. I was starting to think the scalpers might be a good idea. We waited, and waited, all the time the staff were suggesting everyone without tickets should go home. I decided 12:30 was my cut off, and we continued to wait while you could hear them starting to play inside. About 12:20, I figured it was a no go but Omer convinced me to hang on, we were rewarded with tickets not 2 minutes before my cut off. In comes the grin that would remain on my face until I fell asleep 3 hours later. There was a girl beside me and we both knew all the lyrics and watched out for eachother amidst the crazy hippies jumping all over the place, they were forgiven for the frequent toe squashing though when one of the girls got me closer to the stage and smelled my hair for some reason. Turkish hippies are weird. The venue was great, the shape of the stage allowed a lot of interaction, it was also really cool to see the guitarist as it’s a different one who plays in North America. After the encore, we booked it for some fresh squeezed OJ and into a cab home, the club was still pumping but I got what I needed. Omer ended up enjoying the music but not the hippies (go go magic 8 ball!), he jumped into the shower the moment we walked in the door and washed the hippie cooties off, I’m surprised he didn’t burn his clothes.

Saturday:
Woke up to meet Idil and go to the Bospherus. After a lot of touring around, we found a place and had a delicious late breakfast. Afterwards, we went walking and played on the exercise machines which are in random locations all over Turkey and look like kids rides as they’re painted in primary colors. We headed back in the late afternoon and Omer and Idil went out for a show while I geeked out on the laptop. The end.

Sunday:
Slept in ridiculously late, so lovely! Omer helped me book my flight to get to Kapadokya on Monday as my credit card doesn’t seem to like the Turkish Airlines website. Omer and Idil took me for proper Doner that was served with pickles that taste almost exactly like the ones my grandmother used to make from her garden in Sylvan Lake. We then went for a wander in the Ortakoy neighbourhood which reminded me a little of Granville Island for some reason. We checked out a mosque and went for some tasty desert. I had baklava (of course) and Idil had a waffle smothered in white chocolate and layered with fruits. Apparently the baklava wasn’t good enough so Omer is going to make sure I have some of the good stuff before I go. We discussed the cave man show they saw the night before and the differences in body language between countries, yes, no, ok, etc. After a phone call to some of Omer’s friends, we went to visit them in the beautiful neighbourhood they live in. The husband is from Utah and the wife from Turkey and they have the most adorable daughter, Leila. Jason told stories of his travels including raves about Kashmir which Omer’s been trying to talk me out of. Obviously I’ll pay attention to the news over the next month or so before I book anything. He’s also a music teacher and has been making a guitar for Leila and treated us to some of the most intricate classical guitar playing I’ve ever heard. The topic turned to the Turkish versions of American chocolate brands and Omer and I made it our mission to pick some up on the way home and have a little binge while watching Russel Peters.

In other news: The adrenaline from the dog bite killed the parasite, all is well in that department except even my new jeans are a little big already. I can bandage the wound myself now and the healing is progressing well, only a little bit of pain now, I’ll be good by the time I start dance and technique classes next week :)