Mega Part 2

As promised (although I am pretty slow at blogging for someone that claims to be having a lot of free time right now!), second of the trilogy of catching up to my life is here! For those that might still have survived Mega Post 1, I will try and be a little more succinct this time!

Summer07_Vacation: Turkiye

Summer07_Vacation is the name of the folder of my desktop detailing the documentation and plans for, well... the summer vacation this year! :) Fine! I confess I’m a bit of a neat freak, but that’s not what this post’s about.

Now, under that folder there are two other folders, Turkey and Jordan. For some reason every time I mentioned to someone that I was planning a holiday at these two destinations, I was seldom – actually never – asked why Turkey was on the list. The most common remark was ‘Why Jordan?’. So much so that I had an automated response ‘Why Not!’. More rhetorical than interrogative as you might imagine!

Well, turns out there is an answer to Why Not Jordan.. It’s because I can’t!

So goes the story…

As much as I complain and squirm about visa issues, I always get one/ensure the person I am sorting it out for does – whatever it takes. Unfortunately, this time around I couldn’t be doing it myself since the amazing Jordanian embassy in Pakistan doesn’t issue visas – too few Pakis going there. Unfortunately, with the eventual outcome for my permission to enter, I now realize why there are so few of us that ever make it there! That’s all there is to that story.

Of course when you find out that events are shaping up in this manner the day before you’re due to travel, it’s a bit tricky, to say the least! But then no one else is to blame but myself for purchasing a plane ticket that’s stamped with the words, ‘Non-Refundable’ on it!

So, after some mad running around, making phone calls, reservations, cancellations, and with some help from my sweet travel-buddy and her generous offer to change her flights as well, I gear up for a vacation in one of the most surprising countries I have ever been to – Turkey.

I guess this is also a bit of a moment of pride since I’ve now been to some of the most populous cities in the world: Bombay, Delhi, Karachi, Cairo, and now Istanbul. With 17 million people to it’s credit, what’s amazing about Istanbul is not the population, but the stark contrasts that mark it’s existence. The Rich History and The Intense Modernization. The religious and the very liberal. The rich and the poor. Asia and Europe.

So with all of that, I was certainly lucky to get a chance to go to virtually all the things that are worth a visit in Istanbul – some of them, twice! :P Immediately after conference, I got a chance to hang out more with Jo and her team. Also got to get it crackin' with Khamba – him and I made best friends with the last Starbucks on the busiest street in the city. The Istaklal street is really the hub of all activity, including protests. So naturally there’s a lot of security there at all times – Lonely Planet strongly advises that one doesn’t photograph the cops – but I was only told after this one was clicked point blank.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s actually pretty safe and a great place to hang out until late. Fortunately I was living on it, so it was all the more fun. Anyway, back to Khamba, the South Asian in us finally gave it to all the foreign food one night and we went hunting for an Indian/Pakistani restaurant. Oh, and we found one of the only two in the city. Unfortunately for us, he knew his competition was limited so we ended up emptying our pockets for a meal that wasn’t much to speak of though. So, we took a pic, instead! :P

Anyway, after Khamba, Sohaib and Taha left, armed with the sheet full of Turkish translations for a shopping trip (compiled by the ominous Paki men!), I picked up Pascale and the vacation was off to an awesome start! (This is the part where I see all of Istanbul all over again!). Fortunately for me, Pascale had a guidebook. Unfortunately it was in German. Fortunately, she knows German. Unfortunately, I don’t. Fortunately, she knows English too. Fortunately, so do I. Fortunately, the translations became a highlight of the trip! Haha!

As this point, I have the mentioned the two coolest places in the city – the Blue Mosque and the Cisterns! Legend goes that the ruler of the time, after whom the mosque has its real name – Sultanahmet, originally wanted this grand mosque to have pillars of gold. When the architect realized that it was unfeasible to do so, he used the slight similarity between Turkish for the word Gold, and that for the word Six, to make six minarets instead of four golden ones. Sultanahmet was bedazzled. Apparently, Makkah wasn’t so – since the Holy Mosque there had six minarets too. Ultimately Sultanahmet gifted a seventh pillar to Mekkah to make it all right. Cool!

The Cisterns are an underwater palace. Words fail me in describing it’s magnificence. Even today there is a constant flow of incoming water from the ceiling!

We were also lucky to catch the crown jewels being displayed at the great Topkapi palace – My God, that was moving. I haven’t seen anything like this outside of the movies! (Sorry, pictures were not allowed!). Now, I can’t wait to see the one’s that the Queen of England has – especially since a lot of them came from our part of the world!

Having exhausted Istanbul, we headed to Kusadasi, a summer resort in South-West Turkey. But that’s all that was Turkish about it. This patch of gorgeous beaches was ‘discovered’ by British tourists about ninety years ago. Ever since over 1800 luxury cruise ships from Britain set anchor here – Which explained why all menus quoted prices in Turkish Lira and British Pounds! Also kind of sheds some light on why I could see more British faces here than in London!

Speaking of tourists, I was moved by the amount of them a few miles off Kusadasi, at one of the oldest cities in the world – Ephesus.

So an extremely relaxing and energizing week was spent here, eating English meals, and watching football at an Irish pub! Consequently, I learnt the hard way that the logic ‘I am brown.. I can’t get sunburn!t’ isn’t quite so accurate when you’re lying in a beach chair without sunscreen! (The infamous ‘Sunscreen’ video comes to mind!)

Greatest Discoveries of Turkey: Kumpir (the All-great stuffed potato), Apple Tea, and Bakhlava (I love sugar – Ref: My first blogpost)… And the MC of AIESEC Turkey that were real kind to let us use their office as a luggage locker and the MCP, Candost, who was uberly helpful!

In conclusion, I’m totally in love with this country and wouldn’t mind living there at some point in time. Lots to come back for!

Revival

"A big post due from my end, but will have to wait till I'm back next weekend." - Blogpost dated May 28, 2007

I'm pretty apologetic to everyone that sent me countless number of reminders (Latest one by Amy! *hugs*) but I think the person that's missed the blog most has been me! (Now THAT's an expression that I thought would never emit from me!)

A lot's happened since the last post and to be perfectly honest, I'm not quite sure I will be able to remember and capture everything. Of course, I don't quite want this to be a super-boring post either, so I'm gonna try to be brief. Brief, mind you, I learnt the hard way, isn't one of my strengths!

First things first, what am I up to?
I'm sitting on a desktop PC (yes, it's been a while!) in my parent's room in Lahore (yes, they're now in Lahore) and having spent a day playing monopoly and checking out the new Wii at Saad's place, I'm waiting for a friend's skype call. That's it.

It appears life after an MCP term in AIESEC is exactly how people around me had described it: inactive! For the first couple of weeks after moving out of the Mansion and coming to Lahore, I didn't think I would be able to survive. I felt like every moment I spent reading a random book, 'walling' a random person on facebook, driving around randomly, hanging out with friends for nothing better than a random reason, was a moment that I could have been out there, changing the world! :) Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not smug - but I did feel that in some way, just when I'd gotten quite decent at the job, I was done with it! haha! I guess a lot of people share that feeling!

Speaking of feelings (told you I have a problem with brief!), the last 2 months were marked by a plethora of bittersweet emotions. It really got me as I watched Joanna pack up her room into her lil bagpack, and walked away the very same way she'd come a year ago - this time with a lot more friends. It was at that point that I first got the feeling that I wasn't as cold and deprived of emotion as I'd always been proud of being, and this time around, it was okay! I guess the year fundamentally did change me. (GRR! And I thought I was better than to be transformed in a mere year!) - To your advantage and in the benefit of staying on-track, I'm going to limit the outbreak of teary eyed words to this paragraph!

Important (mostly cool!) stuff happened in this period:

• The New MC!!! These guys were the bomb. They literally got off their plane/train/sports car, and stormed into the office ! Now, I'm fairly enthusiastic but these fellas made me look like a meditating monk with their zeal! (for pictorial evidence, check out my album on facebook)
• Interns and internationals all around - I tell you the year's been worth it!
• I got selected to facilitate at IC 2007 in Turkey! This is HUGE! And it's my 3rd consecutive IC! Tell you that's a big deal when you've only been in AIESEC for 3 years! But I'm reallly looking forward to that experience. Should be kickass to catch up with old friends and work with the awesome team!! Will also get to see the Pak delegation getting it on as full members!
• Catching up in London - The Cadbury Schweppes Assessment Centre was like a reunion and an insane experience. The CS people were awesome! Totally worth it! And alllll that chocolateeee ! My! Also got a chance to watch Pirates III (NOT worth it!) and hang out with Batool at Trafalgar square.
• Getting my Turkish Visa within 5 hours - For a Change!
• Planning vacation with my swiss friend in Jordan! - Will also get to hang a bit with my Pakistani and Ukrainian (Both now claiming to be Jordanians! WallaH!) friends!
• Going through Visa troubles with Jordan - Good ol times! Except this time around, even the embassy people are clueless about it! Turns out not many Pakis travel to their country. But Oks and Saba have been absolute darlings and they're on top of it!
• 90% of my friends leaving :(( to the US/UK for Grad School
• Kirmani Leaving! :(
• Archer Moving out to the floor below :(
• A new cell phone (For those going 'FINALLLLY', I still love my old phone VERY much!)
• FireStarters Handover - My team and I wrapped it up and got discharged - Too many feelings, and it felt right to be moving on. Missed Jo!
• Being in Islamabad on the not-nice day - I'd been told to stay off the messy parts of town since things were getting tense that day, but hey, I DO consider myself a low-level superhero you know!

Of course, other signifant things happened too. Such as Mehran's 13K jacket, and my car giving me trouble, but I'll save that for another day!

And before my momentum fizzles out, I'm going to wrap up. Always better to burn out than to fade away, they say! But for people that have been reading this space over the months, I guess there's going to be a fundamental change in content. There IS going to be a Little LESS AIESEC in there *pat pat*. But hopefully things will not get too boring as I embark upon a really fun summer ahead followed by starting work somewhere in the world with Cadbury Schweppes (Oh, did I not mention - I got selecteD! :) ).

Heading for the future is just another stage of the AIESEC Experience, and I'm sure as hell it's going to be as engaging, hectic and fun as every other!