I'm posting new pictures to the gallery tonight, and generally goofing off on the internet. (mainly on Etiquette Hell and Vagabonding.)

The trip to Istanbul was absolutely wonderful - I needed it desperately and I think I smiled the whole time. Istanbul is a reall wonderful city. I love the way that past and present coexist. And it's a beautiful city. Living in Central Asia, life is pretty short on beauty.

Kir and I ate and shopped like crazy people, and were just about the only American tourists in the city. We felt pretty safe - didn't feel any anti-americanism, just a lot of merchants desperate to sell. (and yes, we did buy)

At present Kir is supposed to be in France, but isntead he's still in Istanbul. There was an airline strike in France. And, disturbingly enough, two bombs went off in Istanbul today. One at the British consulate and one at a UPS office. There is a UPS office barely a block from the hotel we were staying in, and I actually got paranoid enough to call his hotel. The manager answered - Kir wasn't in, but he was fine. Of course. But many of my paranoias are coming true lately, and it seemed better to call than to worry.

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USAID is one of many donors for the project I work for. The views expressed herein are the author’s own views and do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s employer or especially those of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. And I mean it. I probably give the US government heart attacks.