todduygu

Some post-dated highlights are included below for posterity.

We are engaged! May 17 2008

Snow in Abbasağa Parkı

View from Sakarya Apt.

White February

Through the magic of Turkish society connections, Duygu was able to get me seen by one of Istanbul’s eminent surgeons, Dr. Orhan Åžahin at Erdem Hastahanesi. He was excited to use some expensive orthoscopic equipment to fix up an inguinal hernia that had been increasingly bothering me.

Duygu’s mom, Saadet, and her friend Halise came by to check in on me after the surgery. I came to while they were there, but was a little groggy for my first meeting with ‘mom.’

On the way to Heybeli Ada for my birthday.

Caterpillar parade. 17 caterpillars playing follow the leader.

A delicious iyi ki doğdun kahvaltı.

Had a picnic near the top of Buyuk Ada.

Asked Duygu out to see Kim Ki Duk’s “Shi gan” (Time) at the Filmekimi festival. Despite being dead tired from school and already in her pajamas, she said yes and came to Taksim to see the movie with me.

A chance meeting at Gitar Cafe in Kadiköy, thanks to Eliot Bates and Samuel Ashley, members of the Eliot Bates ve Kaliforniya Saz Arkadaslari group.