Konya to Izmir

I turned off the gray-haired man's computer. His name is Yuksel. I went over to shake his hand in order to thank him. He retorted, "Now will you buy carpet?"

On the tram in Konya, you have to buy two tickets. I only needed one. I tried to give the card wth the one trip on it to a woman in hijab. She thought I was asking her a question and thwarted my charity. After I got off the tram, I handed the card to a man who appreciated the gesture.

I spent most of the day on the bus from Konya to Izmir in silence. No one on the bus spoke English. The attendant certainly didn't. The guy I bought a sandwich from halfway during the trip didn't either. I've used lots of hand gestures today.

I was picked up from the bus station in Izmir by the son of a friend of my mother's and take back to their lovely apartment. The son and I talked about the west-east divide in Turkey among other things. Let's just say, he doesn't look kindly on the Kurds.

That's been my day, one of traveling, mostly through the snow. It's been the first day of the trip without much walking.