hey hey hey

what up world! sorry about not posting yesterday. I tried, but our internet was so jacked last night. It was taking me about 20 minutes to just open my email. So I had to leave youtube up overnight so I could load this video. It def took about 4 hours.

I got some more info on my triathlon this summer. It is on June 21 at Callaway Gardens. It is actually shorter than I thought too. It is a 1/4 mile swim - 10 mile bike ride - and 2 mile run.  So that isn't too bad. I'm starting my training today finally. Going for a long distance run, something I haven't in years. I'm gonna try and take it easy though, I can't be so sore that I can't walk. Over here, boots are made for walking, not just singing about. 

Wanna give a shout out to my sister, Lindy. Congrats on getting 2 pharm school interviews! I hope you get more, and get into all of them!

Tomorrow (Saturday) is the Supercross in ATL. I'm pretty bummed I don't get to go. Thats probably the single hardest thing about being over, missing all the events I usually go see. Once Superbike starts up and they go to Daytona, Barber & Road ATL...I'm gonna be really pissed. Not bummed, but actually pissed cause I have to miss it. Oh well, it will make next year that much better!

Alright, enjoy my mumbed and shallow commentary from my apartment to school

can you check animals at the airport?

cause I'm gonna try! this is our the official auburn kitty, Lutfen. Me and my friend Chris were sitting outside/downstairs a few weeks ago and this little stray kitten came strolling up. I was kinda scared it was gonna attack me, but he jumped up in my lap and starting purring. Come to find out, this cat is one of the coolest kittens ever! So whenever I go out at night (and if I'm lucky, during the day) I get to pet on the little purrrrrr boat, hehe makes me happy. 

See, me and Lutfen have an exclusive relationship. I don't touch any of the other cats here. I fed him one time, but I'm gonna have to resist cause I don't want him to get used to me doing that. I mean, I would love to have him around, but he needs to stay STRONG and a KILLER and a HUNTER and a MAN. Those words needed to be all caps.

*Lutfen is turkish for "please", so that is where his name came from...yeah its kinda weird.*

The following is for all mothers, and women that aren't mothers yet (but still act like one)

   -yes, I wash everything Lutfen touches on me immediately after

   -no, I'm not going to let him scratch me

   -and all things like that   :) 

ok and I forgot....I'm an idiot...I will film my walk to class tomorrow. Promise!!

this is for Shawn and Ashley, check out what I found in the local market!

did you just shart?

weeeeee it was sunny today! I haven't seen the sun in about a week. I'm sure I'm casper white right now, its all good though. 

decided today, that while I'm trying to put on some muscle weight over here, I'm also starting to train for a sprint triathlon this summer. It starts with a 750m swim (about .41 miles), then a 20km ride on a bicycle (12.4 miles), and ends with a 5km run (3.1 miles). I'm excited!  I'm gonna get my bicycle and running endurance up while I'm here, but wait until I get back to Auburn to train for the swimming part. If you know me, then you know swimming has never been my thing. But, I want to do this, and be able to say I have. 

Hopefully I'll be able to get back in the gym tomorrow, we'll see how the toilet trips are unfolding and make a move based on that. I finally got a picture to load, check it out from last night. It was snowing!

I'm gonna try and make a video blog tomorrow as I walk from my apartment to studio so everyone can see a little of Istanbul. See ya then!

snow!

so today wasn't the best day ever. kinda felt sick, kinda stressed out. Its all good though. I'm dropping my Muslim prayer pod idea, and switching to a local museum....think Kimbell Art Museum. Its proving to be impossible to try and push new ideas onto an older Muslim professor.

I've been trying to upload some pics from the snow today, but the internet is just so messed up here. and it doesn't work at school. So hopefully I can get the pics up sometime tomorrow. I really hope I can regain my appetite soon so I can get back in the gym! I think by tomorrow night I should be good, as I'm feeling good today. 

sorry to hear that the 500 got rained out in daytona, hope you guys still had fun though. I heard you were tailgating super early, so I'm sure you had a gangsta lean and didnt really care about the rain. 

my hair is def getting longer. Its weird having to use a lot more shampoo haha. aiggght well I'll catch ya tomorrow. have a good day :)

meat in the mosque

here are some pics from today! They are all from Hagia Sophia (except the last one, as noted) enjoy :)

Hagia Sophia from the outside, pretty much huge

everything was marble, the markings were beautiful...makes me rethink Mies....

best shot I could get of the ceiling. I had to set my camera on the ground with a 6 second exposure. The lighting was really dim....and people were def looking at me like a was setting of a bomb or something

the sloped walkway that took me up to the upper gallery...look like Islands of Adventure to anyone else?

massive marble jar. this thing is about 7 feet tall, carved from a single piece of marble

the wishing column. you flatten your hand and put your thumb in the middle, then spin your hand 360 degrees around. pretty cool

pretty cool shot from the upper deck

guilded painting/mosaic of jesus, virgin mary and john the baptist

"excuse me sir, can you get a big picture of everything behind me?" annnnnd he got nothing but the lamp

well at least now I'm sure frat boys are douches not just in auburn, but internationally. this was carved into the marble in the mosque

the blue mosque. I got to go in and sit through a prayer service. reallllly cool

starting fresh!

so yesterday I felt horrible. I literally layed in the bed all day. There has been this pooping virus or something spreading around the apartment. We aren't sure if it is from an actual virus, or just something we have eaten. Either way, yesterday I thought I was coming down with it. But, I AM ALL THAT IS MAN so I feel amazing today. See, I have this way of handling illnesses. I just tell myself that I am not sick, and the next day I am good to go. I really believe that it is 85% mental when you are sick. So, today I'm just gonna get back on my normal schedule and eat a couple oranges, and I'll be good! As my boy Jeremy said "Its mind over matter."

so, yesterday was valentines day. I meant to blog something about it, but I wasn't feeling too well. This was my first valentines day as a single man in a while, and it felt a little empty. Not gonna lie. But, its all gravy. If there has been one thing that I have learned since leaving America, it is that no matter what, you can't turn back the hands of time. The sooner you understand that, the sooner you will be good again. And right here and now, I am good. 

Thanks ma for sending me that Valentine's Day card! you will always be number one in my heart :)   

So I bought the new Bobby Valentino CD last night on iTunes (thanks Lindy for the itunes card!) Kinda ironic, Valentino on Valentines....well he goes by Bobby V. now, but that is for creepers only. So I changed it back to his real name.

I'm finally gonna make it out the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque today! I've been trying to go for a while now, but something always comes up or it raining horribly outside. Last time I checked, it wasnt raining today. But it is freezing. Oh well. 

Jonathan, I'll get ya those pics today! How long until you guys leave for Roma? I bet you guys are getting pumped!

I also get to watch the Daytona 500 live from across the world tonight! Woo woooooooo whistle tip! I'm gonna get my fam to set up the webcam infront of the TV so I can watch haha. Yeah, its ghetto, but I'm going crazy over here missing all the races. The timing is bad, all of the racing series are starting up. Its all good though, I can watch all the MotoGP stuff live on the internet. I bought a subscription on the moto gp dot com website.

alright! I'm bout to shower and hit up the mosques. love peace and pepto grease!

relaxing

today I def didnt leave the house. just chilled out. rained all day again, so I just layed around. felt like a bum. oh well. talk to you tomorrow

alabama times two

there is this strange phenomenon over here in Turkey. Somehow, nothing works. Nothing is easy. Nothing makes any sense. The hardest, and most complex way is the only way. 

but the chicken pitas are cheap

lemme give you an example. I bought one of those small bags with the draw strings that I could wear on my back on the way to the gym on Thursday from the big Nike store here. That way I wouldn't have to carry my towel, water, keys, bus pass, ID, lock, and all that in my pockets. *see that, I made a decision to do something to make my life a little more simple...apparently they only make those type of decisions in America* So I get on the metro thursday evening, and I notice there is a huge rip in side of the bag that I didn't notice when I bought it. No biggie, "I'll just take it back" says the unweary student. 

So today I went back to the Nike store to exchange it for a similar product that was entirely constructed this time. After being there for 30 minutes, talking to 8 (yes, 8) employees, using 2 computers, and sitting through 3 phone calls, I figured they were gonna give me a new one. Nope. Instead, they give me this slip. They are sending the bag off to get fixed, and I have to wait until next Friday to pick it up. I def asked them to just keep the bag when it gets back, and let me take one of the new ones on the shelf....not happening. I'm tellin ya, they TRY to make it hard here. 

ok, I'm done venting....well not yet. It wont stop raining, it has rained all but about 12 hours the past 4 days and it is supposed to rain for the next 8 days. COME ON TURKEY. throw me a fricken bone.

ok, now I'm done.

bye :)

made some friends

if ya don't know, now ya know

oh and also he also got a motorcycle. I just found this on google, weird

hahaha. happy birthday dude, I couldn't resist.

so today I went to this little hole in the wall, I forget the name. I was directed there by my fellow foreigner classmate, Jamie. The little dish of goodness I order was called 'menamin' or something along those lines. Hands down, best food I have eaten since I left America. It was cooked in this iron pot. It was pretty much an omlette. It had peppers, cheese, ham, eggs and I'm sure some other amazingness mixed in. There is this 200 year old lady that sits up in the front and makes really thin soft tortillas all day. They served a couple of those with the omlette. I think I almost went into a coma because I wasnt eating a chicken pita, but rather a delicious (and nutritious) meal  for lunch. I'm def gonna go there twice a week, easy. 

Been hittin the gym everyday for about a week now, I'm lovin it. It is about a 45 minute trip each way, but its really cool. I just love being out of the apartment and travelling around on the metro and buses. I almost feel like a horribly misplaced native...well something like that. It sounded good in my head, kinda looks like a turd nugget once I typed it.

If you havent yet, hit up Mr. Cannon via cell phone, facebook, skype, gmail, snail mail, tiger mail, show up at his place of residence, or bust in his office, visit the restaurants he frequents, or something similar. If you need the info on any of the options I listen, I will be glad to post his personal contact information. talk to ya tomorrow! love peace and chicken pita grease