Major events of day 3

So, I've had an eventful day. Here are some of the details.
I was expecting to try to get my language school stuff arranged today. But, the cleaning lady came before I had a good chance to call and find out how to get to the training place, so I decided to just take the bus to Taksim and try to see if I could find it that way. I was planning to spend the day getting more familiar with the city anyways, so what could it hurt? But I couldn't find it. So, I wandered around Taksim for a bit, until I wondered down to Kabatas, which is where I met a friend yesterday. Now the Metro (that goes to the tourist area) and the bus lines and the boat docks all come together in Kabatash. So, I decided to try out the boats since I hadn't before. My goal was to cross the Bosphorus and get to Kadikoy on the Asian side.
What I didn't know was that not all of the boats were really going to Kadikoy; the one I got on was going to stop very briefly in Kadikoy but was actually headed for the islands out in the Sea of Marmara. So, I ended up going out there on a "short" pleasure cruise... standing all the way since things were very crowded. (Warning: personal space is not even a concept here.) On one side I had a young Italian couple. Anyways, I eventually found out from the lady on the other side of me (who had initially informed the confused me that we were going to the islands, not Kadikoy) that the first island was good for swimming and the other three were good for walking on. So, I decided to stay on the boat, particularly since I really had no clue what I was doing out there to start with. (I looked up the islands in my guide book and became a little more familiar with what was going on, but not enough to go do any exploring of the "historic sites.")


I finally disembarked for a bit at the last island because everybody had to, but I got back on and headed back on the same boat I came on. On the return trip I was comfortably seated in the shade with a really nice breeze coming in, and I decided to start "Don't Waste Your Life" again which I happened to have along; that was profitable, as far as I got. This time I had Turks on one side and a Jordanian man with a Dutch woman on the other; the various conversations and activities on the way back created much merriment for all of us. But I won't bother putting all that down here.


Incidentally, I saw dolphins and jellyfish today; I think the first time for both. The jellyfish are in this picture, but I was too slow to get a picture of the dolphins.





Finally about 4 hours after I originally got on the boat I got off again, right back where I started. It was a good little trip with some humorous moments, but nothing particular to say "this was profitable"... it just let me get more familiar with the city/area. After that I wandered back, get something to eat and came back to the house.



Throughout the day I'd been messing with the cellphone trying to get it set up, and it finally is. The display is in English finally, and the phone is activated. Now, I just need to add minutes if I plan to use it much. More expenses, but this is a relatively necessary one in this country. EVERYONE has a cellphone, and I'm beginning to understand why.