#10 Canterbury Road

The Jizzler

As promised to Laura, here is the (brief) skinny on my super-fantastic trip to visit Jesse Meyer, blog member, in Istanbul. I have included a link to pictures of the trip, which true to my unavoidable form come with extensive explanations, stories, and random factoids. This would not be a Zack post without all of those things, of course, and I have long accepted my nerdiness.

That being out of the way, here is the straight dope that I might not have included in the random assortment of sly comments and historical asides. Jesse is teaching English at what is purportedly a very good school, although the spoiled children of wealthy Turks are in many cases less than appreciative of the fine educational opportunity they have been afforded. Jesse said these kids are even worse than the inner-city Baltimore kids he worked with while doing Teach for America. That said, it is a sweet hook-up, with spacious, furnished accomodation provided a stone's throw from the school, and he's actually able to save money, which doesn't always happen with these jobs. He lives on the Asian side of the Bosphorus straight, which divides the two continents and the city itself (okay, we all know that Europe-as-continent was a European idea, but nevermind...). This meant Zack's first time in Asia, just scratching the surface of that most vast of continents.

Jesse has a pretty serious, and lovely, girlfriend named Abigail, who has a similar job in South Korea, where Jesse plans to join her after teaching another year in Istanbul. I didn't get to meet her, for obvious reasons, although she is coming to visit him this weekend. I will allow him to fill in the gaps should he wish to post on this blog before she arrives.

I had a wonderful trip, and reconnecting with Jesse, whom I'd only seen once before since Oxford, was the highlight. We had a great time, and some good talks, and I'm already looking ahead to a Korea trip in two years. I really needed this trip as well because, sadly, my girfriend Jen and I broke up after three years the night before she left London, and two nights before my trip. Getting out of London for ten days was a good distraction from that. I hate to mention this only in passing, but I might as well say it.

Back to the trip, I tell much more about everything in the labels attached to the pictures. I can e-mail the link to the pictures to anyone who did not get the original e-mail. Assuming, however, that I set this up right, you should be able to click on the title of this post to access the pictures. Enter my screen name, zshaef@yahoo.com, and the top-secret password, 'zachary'. Don't try to be a wiseguy/girl and change all of the titles on my pictures now that I've let you into my confidence (Ryan...). Oh wait, did I just put ideas into his head? Crikey, I'm thinking out loud again... Anyway, hope the commentary doesn't annoy you. It's just the way I am... Please post comments, ask questions, whatever. I am still glowing from my trip and talked Nicole's ear off when we hung out earlier today. Cheers, and enjoy the pictures friends!

posted by Zack @ 6/15/2005 01:10:00 AM