mean afgán

5am is a dangerous time to not be able to fall asleep. not even trying. you think some crazy shit at 5am in your living room. it's cold in here. not that cold. istanbul winter is more like the annoying slushy parts of detroit winter and not so much like the brutal detroit loft winter. its annoying out today. friday is my sunday. that is bless-ed.

i'm antsy. last night i met with my former student, Barış. we met in a dingy tavern-looking place (in Kadıköy, it seems to be a theme to use really old buildings and modify them to look like old taverns - they are really cool) and laid out maps of turkey. Barış is from the black sea coast. i think this path would be the better choice rather than traveling through Antalya. I would love to see Antalya and i do plan on it but that will be before the trip to kyrgyzstan, if anything. There is a lot of cool shit to see in the north and it will be a welcome transition into Georgia and Azerbaijan. My looming concern remains with the east side of Hazar (the Caspian Sea). in the next few months i need to locate consulates from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. The US passport is shite as far as visas are concerned in these countries. a major problem of traveling these areas are the borders, so i've been told. however major progress was made yesterday and i believe the black sea to be a good decision about my course to take towards the east.


pazuzu

i do however wish to see Mardin. mardin is in the south east of turkey and known to be a place of much mysticism. people practice very old religions in turkey, many dating back to biblical times. Assyro-Babylonian religions existed in the region since 3rd century AD and still have a major influence in the culture of the Mardin people.