Istanbul, Turkey 06/23/06

Another day in the land of the 7 churches! Just a little fact about Turkey, 99% of the population is Muslim. The Christians that used to live here were killed many years ago and the rest fled for their lives. The only thing that remains are the ruins and very few Orthodos churches. There are only about 300,000 new born believers.

Anyway, Friday was another productive day at work. Except for the fact that I over slept! Although, in a way, it was good that I did oversleep because now I feel more rested. I was only late for half an hour. When I got there, I was happy to see everybody working on their assignment. I went over yesterday's lesson again and looked at some new stuff. Then they continued on their assignment. Of course, I was going back and forth to make sure that they were doing everything correctly. God is great! I am seeing results. Everybody is very motivated!

After work, Yani and I went to the ice cream place to watch another game. This is so cool to be watching the soccer world cup in Turkey. I never thought I would do so! The owner gave us a great welcome and everybody that was around him did too. Oh by the way, the ice cream is very good. Cherry, vanilla and chocolate! The game wasn't that great, but the ice cream sure was!

About 7pm, Yani and I made our way to Kadikoy where the hotel is located. We took the Ferry boat to the other side of Istanbul (the European side). We were suppose to meet some of the trainees at 8pm in Istiklal to watch a movie. Istiklal is a long road where people walk. It is not opened to the traffic. I got carried away taking pictures that we took a long time getting there. This city is exciting! (Crossing to the other side, you can see Hagia Sofia, which is the mosque that used to be a church. Well, now it is neither. It's a museum. I will visit it next week sometime. There were other mosques and awesome architectural sites!) We got there on time - Turkish time! (we were 40 minutes late!) We had to go through thousands of people in the streets. It seemed like everybody in Istanbul was walking this street. So it wasn't all my fault!! We had to wait for someone as well, when we got there! We watched Bandidas! Anybody seen the movie? It's not going to win any Oscars any time soon. Watch it when it comes out on video or DVD.
It was great hanging out at the movies in a Turkish Theater!

After the movies, we headed out to a very cool looking place where they had a huge menu on just desserts. So we hung out there for a while. Yes! we missed the football matches tonight! We crossed the sea back to Asia and back to the hotel.

Istanbul, Turkey 06/22/06

Namaste as they say in Turkey!

Things are going real well at work. Training started on Thursday. It was great because everybody is eager to learn. The book of Revelations in the Bible talks about 7 churches. Earlier on in the year in Nashville, TN, we produced 7 programs 12 minutes each on the 7 churches. Each person has been assigned one of the programs. Towards the end of the day, I had them start editing their assignment. I was going back and forth supervising them. I was glad to see the results. The day went so fast. At least it felt like it.

After work, Yani (the Finnish guy from Turk 7) took me to an ice cream place around the corner and we watched one of the football matches. I'm really liking how friendly people are here in Istanbul. The owner of the place was the coolest. They treated us very well. After watching the match, I went to the hotel early. I thought I would try to get some sleep and finally beat the jetlag.

Oh, I was forgetting to write about an awesome experience I had on the second day. Before catching the Ferry to the European side, I decided to get my shoes polished. So I sat down on the "throne" and the guy started to work on my shoes. I was excited about everything around me. So while I was getting my shoes shined, I took out my camera and took several pictures. Then, suddenly, I felt this hot sensation on my foot. So I quickly looked down! Lo and behold! My shoes were on fire! Wow! It was a major shock! My shoes were looking pretty shiny, so I decided to let it go and have faith that the guy knew what he was doing. That was awesome!

Istanbul, Turkey 06/20/06

Hi y'all!

Well, as many of you know, CBN, the company I work for, sent me to Turkey to do some training. So here I am in Turkey. I got in at 10:00am from New York. It was a 10 hour fligh. Right now, I'm at the TV Station (Turk 7) (in the Asian side) and so I was able to get a hold of a computer with a normal keyboard. I've already met some of the people that I will be training. They are very young. There are two or three Finish people and the rest are Turkish. This place is small, but some times that's how some big things get started. Remember how many people were fed with 5 loaves of bread and a few pieces of bread! Or remember David and the big guy Goliath! Anyway, we discussed in general this week's and next week's itinerary during my stay. We will discuss it more tomorrow. We're going to try to get in touch with a couple of people for stories to propose at CBN.

Pues bueno, como ya algunos saben, CBN, la compañía para la cual yo trabajo, me mando a Turquia a entrenar a un grupo de personas en una estacion de TV: Turk 7. Entonces aqui estoy en Istanbul, Turquia. En este momento estoy en el canal. Ya conocí a algunos que voy a entrenar. Son jovenes. Hay unos Finlandeses y los demas Turcos. El Canal es pequeño, pero asi es como algunas cosas grandes han empezado. Acuerdese de la cantidad de gente que comio de 5 pesces y unos cuantos panes. Acuerdese de David y el grandulon Goliath. Ya hablamos de mi itinerario de esta semana y la proxima. Mañana hablaremos mas. Tambien vamos a tratar de contactar alguna gente para unas historias que proponeremos para CBN.

Before getting here, I had learned that Istanbul had an Asian side and a European side. I was able to hang out in the Euro side because that's where the airport is located. I also went to the Finnish Consulate. Kari, the producer and the man in charge of this TV Station is Finnish and had to take care of some issues there. Well, the issues were related to his new daughter born about 3 weeks ago. Istanbul is a very huge city, so to go from point A to point B takes hours. Since he was already on that side of the city, he decided to go take care of business. It's normal to take about 1 1/2 hours to 3 hours just to travel 20 miles. It's incredible. I don't know if I'll complain about traffic ever again. Travelling around the city has brought flashbacks from my childhood when I used to live in Damascus, Syria and from the Arab neighborhoods in Israel.. It's awesome!

Antes de llegar aqui, ya sabia que Istanbul tiene una parte en el Asia y la otra en Europa. Ya estuve en el lado Euro porque el aeropuerto es alla. Tambien fui al consulado Finlandes porque Kari, el productor y el encargado de este canal, es Finlandes y tenia unos que haceres alla. Esos que haceres tenian que ver con su nueva hija que nacio hace 3 semanas. Istanbul es bien grande. Para ir de un punto a otro, facilmente se demora uno horas. Por ejemplo es normal tomar 1 1/2 horas a 3 horas solo por andar 20 millas. Es increible. No creo que me queje del trafico otra vez. Paseando por la ciudad me ha traido recuerdos de mi niñez cuando vivia en Damasco, Syria o de los barrios Arabes en Israel. Que chevere!

Anyway, I will be going to my hotel in a little bit. But I wanted to check in with you. I'll try to keep in touch.

Pronto me ire al hotel. Solo queria escribirles.

Tonight I will be experiencing watching a soccer (football) match at a local Turkish bar. Germany vs. Ecuador (go Ecuador!) and England vs. Sweden (go England!). We'll see how rowdy Turkish people are. I'm also trying to stay awake until tonight. There are 7 hours of difference. It's now 2:46pm in Istanbul and in Virginia Beach, it should be 7:46am. So I have to beat the Jetlag. So my adventure begins. To be continued . . .

Esta noche voy a tener la experiencia de ver un juego de futbol en un lugar local Turco. Alemania vs. Ecuador (viva Ecuador!) e Inglaterra vs. Suecia (viva England!). Vamos a ver que tan locos se ponen los Turcos. Tambien estoy tratando de quedarme despierto hasta esta noche. Hay 7 horas de differencia. Voy a tratar de ganarle a la diferencia de hora. Mi aventura comienza. Continuara . . .

take care,
cuidense,

ed