I'm going to....

ISTANBUL!

That's right, I've found a new use for this crazy grant after my Beirut newspaper job fell through. After weeks of emailing friends of friends of so-and-so who knows so-and-so who has a friend who works in journalism in the Middle East, I emailed one Editor-in-Chief directly and got a dream job: an internship at the Turkish Daily News! Seems random, I know. But also AMAZING. Look at this city...

http://www.bitrot.de/city_istanbul.html

I heard only a few days ago, but I'm leaving THIS SUNDAY for TURKEY. What??!?! TURKEY? This is so surreal, especially after a semester of Lebanon planning. But I'm incredibly excited, and I don't regret cancelling my trip to Beirut. There were more bombings after I made my decision, the threat hasn't totally subsided, and fighting continues in the north - and now south - of the country as well. If I were a hardcore freelancer in my 20s seeking a life in mortal peril, maybe I'd still go. But as you know, I'm not quite that type...

Well, I can't exactly practice Arabic or French in Istanbul, but I'm having my first Turkish lesson tomorrow so that I can at least pronounce the names of my coworkers. (There are a few crazy accent marks to figure out...) In many other ways, Istanbul is a logical replacement for Beirut -- they are both cosmopolitan cities that have been cultural crossroads, East-meets-West sorts of places throughout history. The Turkish Daily News is the major English-language daily in the country, known for its aggressive reported on controversial issues like the Armenian genocide. The whole staff is Turkish...except the Editor-In-Chief, who is from San Francisco! Random...

I'm particularly excited to be in Turkey for the parliamentary elections on July 22. They're a big deal this year and were rushed up from the original date in fall, in hopes of averting increased political tension. In a nutshell, Turkey has had a secular government since independence, which has set it apart from much of the Middle East. But recently there has been more of an Islamist influence on Turkish politics, and many Turks feel the country's historical secularism is under attack. These elections should be somewhat of an assessment of that growing Islamist movement. So as long as there isn't a military coup as some fear, it should be a fascinating time to be there. (I mean, I guess a coup would be interesting in its own way as well...)

Meanwhile, Hayley is staying at my house while she starts a class at UC Berkeley! It's great -- it's like Spring Tour 2.0 on a more manageable scale. (Of course, I loved having all of you here too, as did my mom. She talks about you all the time. In a good way.) It's been a lot of fun hearing about Hayley's Malian adventures and catching up in general, although I fear our staying up late has probably made her early morning physics class somewhat less tolerable. Drew, Hayley and I shared some real Mexican food (yay California) a few nights ago, and hopefully we'll manage a RHB reunion with Matt Gabb and Chris Mathias soon -- both are at Stanford right now!

Alright, typical, typical...I wrote a novel. I'll stop here and post next from Istanbul (!). Justin, I want you to know that Istanbul is known for its cuisine - exquisite kebabs, apple tea, fresh fish, wonderful salads...

Missing you,

Katharine