Quick Update

It is late, and I've really been procrastinating, so I'm just going to give a quick list of this week's highlights, in no particular order:

* My friend Nicole, from Lithuania, visiting for 4 days!

* Using the gorgeous university swimming pool every day

* Taking a ferry trip up the Bosporous under moonlight

* Making Lithuanian saltibarscai (cold beet soup) for my co-workers for Sunday dinner

* Going with a friend to find Harry Potter 7 for sale at the English bookshop down the street

* Wandering into the Catholic church this morning to find it FULL of Africans, Phillipinos, whites and Turks, and lots of beautiful singing. I've never seen that before in Europe (a full church), and it brought tears to my eyes.

* Enjoying my second visit to the Union Church, as well as a lovely after-church lunch with great people and believers from all over the world

* Conversing with Lithuanians in the Aya Sofia mosque - in Lithuanian!

* Savoring a long dinner with Nicole, looking out on the city as the sun went down

* Baklava. Yum.

* Chatting with and teaching amazing students from the entire Central Asian region

* Laughing a lot with colleagues and friends. Working hard on lesson plans.

* Being present, here and now, to the gift of this time, this city, and the souls I'm here with.