turkified

I’m back from my two week trip to Turkey and I’m excited about the delicious 4 GB of photos I get to sort through and upload.

This trip was sponsored by The Institute for Interfaith Dialog and it was the most eye-opening and intellectually challenging trip I’ve been on. It was also the most exhausting trip I’ve ever been on.

I am only a little bit jetlagged. Traveling was exhausting yesterday. We left our hotel in Istanbul at 3 in the morning and I didn’t land in Houston until 4:30pm. We went to bed early last night and woke up early. We went to the grocery store to get milk, Apple Jacks (for me), Cocoa Pebbles (for the husband), and Salsa Verde Doritos (for me). I was craving chips.

I don’t feel the culture shock I usually do when coming back from foreign travel. Maybe it’s because I’ve been doing laundry all day and catching up on email and responsibilities. I think it’s ironic that I started reading The Ugly American before I left for the trip because I think the trip showed me in some ways how ugly of an American I am myself.

I’m not prepared to blog about the trip yet– partly because the photos aren’t ready and partly because I haven’t really had to a chance to process all the things I experienced/observed there. Unfortunately the husband wasn’t able to go on this trip and I have hours and hours worth of ideas, thoughts and questions I need to sort out with him. Luckily we have all next week to laze on a beach in Mexico and talk about Turkey.

What I can say is that the trip has unexpectedly affected me spiritually and has renewed a sort of fervor for living out what I believe to be a good, meaningful life.

Oh yeah, and I’m glad I missed the travesty of the Lakers’ last game.

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