Polis
Tonight was my first ever run in with foreign law enforcement. My co-worker and I were on our way home from dinner a little after 10pm, sipping some Starbucks (hot chocoloate). All of a sudden three guys in street clothes step in front of us and yell “Polis!” They pulled out very typical looking wallets and shuffled around amidst credit cards until they clumsily found a card with a picture and the word Polis marked on the top.
At this point, all I’m thinking is 1) that’s a fake ID, and 2) these guys are thugs. None of them spoke any English, and none of them seemed to know what he was supposed to be doing, only strengthening my fight or flight sense. What follows is a quick summary of the thoughts racing through my mind.
- How well lit of an area am I in? (fairly well lit)
- How many people are around? (a fair amount, though the sidewalk is not packed)
- Can I outrun any of them? (a possibility since they were all older than me)
- How hot is my hot chocolate? Is it still hot enough to throw in their face before I slug them / make a run for it.
- My wallet is in my back pocket. Darn. Don’t reach for it now.
- These guys appear to have no clue what to do with two English speakers. Crud. They’re not cops.
- Do they have the guts to try and kidnap / rob two adults in plain sight of several onlookers?
In the meantime, they kept asking for our passports, which we were not carrying. They put us on the phone with one of their colleagues who continued asking us for our passports which we did not have. We thought of calling our new friend from the DEA, but we didn’t have his card. So, for a few more minutes, we waited while they tried to make up their minds.
Finally, they “let us go” which is a bit of an overstatement since we weren’t being held or forced into anything yet. As my co-worker and I walked off, we were trying to figure out what just happened. We came to the conclusion that he looks Turkish, and the Police could have been on the lookout for someone. Still, it was very weird and we both determined to carry a photocopy of our passports next time, and a knife.
Backlog
It’s been a while, and I’ve been short on time, but I have a great report to give of Sunday in Istanbul. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is not officially sanctioned by the Turkish government, so the local branch meets on the 7th floor of a building just across the street from the Hilton where I am staying. No recognition from the government means there are no missionaries, no welcoming signs out front, and none of the “official-ness” that you would find elsewhere.
The best part of the day was taking a client with me to the branch meeting. She has had questions all week about what it means to be a Mormon, and so on Friday night she decided she was going to live like a Mormon to see what it is like. She stopped drinking tea (tough one in Turkey), alcohol, and coffee, and is asking all sorts of questions (is it OK to masturbate, cheat on your wife, etc.). She came to church and we had a great time getting to know everyone there. Here’s a quick recap of the folks I met.
Branch President – I believe he studied at BYU. A great guy who kindly gave me directions and information. He even asked me to help bless the sacrament.
DEA Agent – He is here with his family and works with both local and U.S. government to prevent drug trafficking through Turkey. He says Turkey is not a big user, but opium can make its way through Turkey’s borders from Afghanistan.
Gold Medal Volleyball Player – He has played on three U.S. Olympic teams, including the team that won gold in Beijing last year. Now he plays on a team in Istanbul. I think my neck is still sore from looking up at him. He must have been 6′7″
Couple from Texas – They had contacted the branch president before me and were asked to speak in the meeting, and from what I can tell, Sunday school also.
Group from Mongolia – Three young people who are working in Istanbul.
After church we took a taxi to Ortakoy and took a cruise around the Bosphorus. It was incredible and beautiful, and I decided that if I ever make millions, one way to spend it will be on a house here. This picture was taken from a rooftop restaurant called Banyan.
Pretty
Another View from the Top
In what hopefully becomes part of a series, here is another “view from the top,” this time from the IT Director’s office in Istanbul. The city would be fairly difficult to see by bike unless you hug the coast. In the center of town, there are several steep, steep hills, which you can get a small taste of here.
From the top floor looking north. Most of the streets here are this narrow and steep.
Today I picked up “The Hilton Daily” at the front desk and discovered that November 10 is the anniversary of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s death. Every 10th of November at 9:05am, a siren is sounded throughout the city, while many “citizens” observe a moment of silence and automobiles come to a halt and honk their horns in homage to Ataturk. Not realizing it this morning, I entered the building at 9:03am, and definitely remember hearing horns. But I did not realize what it was about until I read the Hilton Daily tonight.
While I don’t necessarily agree with his chosen means of statism to inject a new worldview in the Turkish people, he certainly made Turkey a better place by encouraging education and tolerance. Several landmarks, including a major bridge and the airport, have been named after him. I have noticed this picture everywhere this week.
Mustafa was given the name "Ataturk" which means "Father of the Turks"
Today is a very important day for another reason. Will turns 3. We celebrated with him on Friday night before I left on Saturday. But writing this is only an attempt to make myself feel better that I wasn’t with him today. I hear he had a fun day riding the train, and even shared a birthday with Buddy, the T-Rex, which is awesome. Happy birthday, pal.
Istanbul Was Constantinople
I’m so glad to be here. My first transatlantic flight was a success. I left JFK at 5pm and arrived in Istanbul at 10am local time. I shared a cab with Violet from Houston, and Diane from San Diego who are here for two days before going camping and mountain biking in Cyprus. We were mutually jealous of each other: they will have more fun, but I didn’t have to pay for my trip. It was also on the taxi ride that I learned my BlackBerry Tour will not work here. C’mon Verizon!
My room wasn’t ready when I arrived at 12pm, so I spent a couple of hours touring Taksim Square. My main impressions of Istanbul so far are 1) it smells like fish and cigarette smoke, and 2) it’s a beautiful, diverse place. Everything you would expect a crossroads to be. I used my expense alarm clock and mediocre camera (otherwise known as a BlackBerry Tour) to snap a few pictures while I was out this afternoon. I know these are terrible shots.
Hilton Garden
The weather was perfect today. 70 degrees and sunny.
More from the gardens. That's Asia on the other side.
This is the main shopping avenue. A sea of people. There were at least 2 Pizza Huts in the space of 1 mile.
After meeting up with my co-worker from the U.S., we went out to eat kebabs at Hamdi. The best kebab was the lamb with pistachio. The hummus was also amazing. The restaurant is in the Old Town, near one of several mosques.
Off to work tomorrow.
Nachoooo!
Here’s a picture I took a few days ago, but never got around to posting. This guy is an actual “luchador” and they were promoting the Lucha Libre tour. Good thing he’s wearing the mask so you can’t see how bad I messed him up before my friend could take the picture.
This is the result of a cheap shot. I promise.
Man, I Blew It
I was in the hotel lobby this morning when I noticed a Spanish-language magazine on a coffee table. I thought I recognized the man on the cover. And then it hit me. I sat next to the CEO of Ford Mexico, Eduardo Serrano, on the plane from Atlanta to Mexico City.
I’m surprised how much I remember about that. He ordered scotch with soda. He was wearing a Rolex. And he was reading and making notes on a powerpoint deck that was produced by McKinsey.
I should have spoken more with him. Shoot!
This experience rates right up there with the time I saw former Secretary of State John R. Bolton in the elevator of a Portland hotel. I couldn’t think of anything to say to him either. I need to come up with a plan. Maybe drop my pen, ask about their trip, talk about the weather. I need something.
“What am I doing here?” Moment
On every trip so far, I have had the following thought occur to me on at least one occasion: “what am I doing here?” It usually comes in a small moment of inactivity when I begin to daydream and do some self-reflection, or when I find myself somewhere that would make my wife faint.
In Malaysia, this moment came as I was standing in a bathroom stall, staring at a toilet bowl without a seat, no toilet paper, and a cut off hose (serving as a bidet) affixed to a faucet protruding from the wall. The floor was very wet. Naturally, I began to wonder, what am I doing here?
In Brazil, I was standing in line at a supermarket, sweat dripping down my face in a crowd of people on the evening of pay day, trying not to go crazy while I stood there for one hour awaiting my turn.
Tonight’s moment hit me around 8:30pm. I was on my way home in a local co-worker’s car, stuck in traffic in the middle of the city, frustrated at my poor Spanish, trying unsuccessfully to place a call to my manager in the U.S., and planning for a crazy tomorrow when Shania Twain’s “Man, I feel Like a Woman” came on the radio.
I’ve been some strange places so far, but this one is going to be tough to beat.
Mexico City
It has been an eventful first day, as always. I arrived roughly 24 hours ago, and was very impressed by the airport in Mexico City. I don’t know if I expected it to be in shambles, or purposefully tried not to let my expectations get too high. Either way, I was pleasantly surprised by the appearance and efficiency. A unique sight was full length windows near the baggage claim that let you watch as the airport staff place your bags on the belt, mere meters from the gate where your plane just pulled in (background).
A very transparent baggage claim process. You can see how close this is to the gate by noting the plane in the background.
Another pleasant surprise was my co-workers from the local office meeting me at the airport to drive me to my hotel. A thousand thanks to them for sparing me what would have certainly been a hectic and possible scary taxi ride through Mexico City at 11pm. A highlight of the ride into town was passing the Angel of Independence monument.
This morning, we held our opening meeting at the client’s headquarters, shown below.
Headquarters for the next two weeks.
As for Spanish, I’m surviving so far. The opening meeting was entirely in Spanish, and fortunately I didn’t have to say much. My Portuguese allows me to catch 50-60% of what is happening, and slightly more if I know the context of the conversation. However, when I try to speak, it comes out as a mess of Portuguese and Spanish words and grammar, that leaves my listeners with a puzzled look on their faces until I can sort it out. My biggest disappointment so far is seeing how little my Portuguese actually does for me here. Verbs are rarely the same, and ironically, nouns are so similar they’re confusing. Passaro and pajaro (bird), for instance. I always want to throw a “ção” in for a “ciòn,” or a “e” where there should be a “ie.” Quero instead of quiero. Entendo instead of entiendo, etc. The good news is I’m already starting to recognize some of the nuances that you don’t get by reading or studying, and hopefully by the end of two weeks, I’ll be a little more confident.
Keeping Up
On Friday, we visited a city called Nilai to perform some work at a satellite location. Nilai is about 40 kilometers from Kuala Lumpur (KL) and it is beautiful. Flowers and palm trees line the streets and it is very clean. Here’s a glimpse of the site where we spent the day.
There's the asterisk, I mean, star.
We’ve made good progress in our first three days, finishing most of the fixed assets, procurement & disbursements, billing & collections, and IT processes. It was time to take a break and relax over the weekend.
I don’t think I mentioned that the two directors I’m spending time with are both from Puerto Rico. Not only do they know how to laugh and have fun, but they are also hard to keep up with. They’re obviously very fun to hang out with, but as I sit here on Sunday night writing this, I realize just how much we did this weekend and how tired I am.
We hired a guide for the day and started at the Batu Cave. Inside the cave is a Hindu shrine. There are 272 steps to the top. The large statue in front is Lord Murugan who, I was told, enjoys caves.
The entrance to the cave is at the top of 272 steps
At the top, we met two guys who were letting people pose for pictures with a snake. We paid$3 for the privilege, but I don’t have the pictures on my camera, so I will post them later. We worked up quite a thirst on our way to the top, so we stopped at the bottom to get some sugar cane juice. The juicer ran on a small engine like you would see on a lawn mower, and the guy had to manually wind the starting cord and tug a few times before it started. Then, the juicer squeezed the juice from the sugar cane into the pitcher.
Our sugar cane juice vendor
After the caves, we visited a pewter factory, ate lunch, and went to an elephant sanctuary. The elephant sanctuary deserves a separate post, but my eyes are literally half open as I write this, and I haven’t even made it to Sunday. Tomorrow it’s back to work!
