Customs day

I took my final Wednesday morning and immediately headed to the exchange office to meet Fernando from Spain who also had to go to customs. On the bus to Kabatas I looked out the window to see a Turkish man blowing me kisses. SMH. (Shaking My Head) I pointed this out to Fernando and we shared a good laugh. We proceeded with our conversation which was Fernando's desire to hijack to Syria with Michal from Poland. I explained to him that hijack was an off limits word to an American and that the right word was hitch hike. After that a Turkish woman shushed us. I got pretty annoyed since it seems that Turkish people only have something to say to non-Turkish people talking on the public transportation but it's completely fine for them to talk.

We reached Kabatas and took the tram to Topkappi and then headed over to customs. What a primative place. I can truly say I am thankful for the accurracy of the USPS. I started at window 1 to show my notice, window 5 to hand in another paper then window 6 for customs to go through my things. then back to window 1 and window 6 to pay. All in all my process took only 30 mins and cost 2TL. Fernando on the other hand was running arround because his mother declared his package to be 300Euros or 600TL. I sat down while Fernando was sorting things out and a few seconds later the TA, Emre that proctored my final was getting his own package out of customs. He waited around and helped out Fernando since we were heading back to campus. Thankful Emre got Fernando's charge down from 200TL to 100TL.

On the way back we took Emre's way - the Metrobus to Medickoy. Immediately on the bus Fernando and Emre conversed in Spanish and English as Emre lived two years in Spain. I on the other hand listened and snacked on some of Fernando's Haribro Gummy Bears. The real kind. Once we got back to Sariya we boared the dolmus were Fernando immediately opened a pack of his Serrano ham. He said this taste better because it's forb-i-den not forbidden. I corrected him and he laughed and said all the same at this point my ham is for me. He offered me a piece but I could not express the same love.

Later on that night, Becca cooked dinner - herbed chicken and bruschetta inspired pasta. Yummmy.