One win, One loss

So we had another game on Saturday. Since I'm not really in the mood to write something suspenseful I'll just tell you we lost by 3. It sucked, it was a home game against a team we were tied for second place with. We are now 9-5, in third place. There are 12 teams, the top 8 make the playoffs. So we're looking alright, but a win would have been nice.

It has been snowing here like crazy. Apparently this is the coldest it's been in Istanbul in the last 50 years. You can tell people aren't prepared for snow when they are wiping off their cars with tshirts and sweeping the streets with wicker brooms. Seriously their brooms look EXACTLY like a witch's broom. It's too cool. But yeah the snow has sucked for me cause it causes more traffic, which increases my commute. Lame.

So two funny things happened before our game on Saturday. The first was a couple of my teammates were drinking coffee, and they offered me some. This is like, 30 minutes before tip-off. I politely decline and they couldn't believe it. I told them I've never seen anyone drink coffee right before a game, I mean, not only will it dehydrate you but it will leave you crashing somewhere in the second half, when you need your energy the most. They disagreed and told me drinking coffee and smoking before games is a Turkish tradition.

The second funny thing was after the game I was standing by the door, zipping up my jacket and getting ready to go out in the cold. One of my teammates walks up and asks me if it's my first time. The look on my face cleared up any confusion he had (he thought) and he said, "Is it your first time seeing snow?" I had to conceal my laughter and say I had seen it before. I mean, I know not everyone knows a whole lot about America...but it's not like we're on the Equator...or in Africa. Funny.

Another thing that weirds me out about Turkey is the large number of wild dogs. While I haven't asked them if they are wild, they have to be because I see them everywhere, unaccompanied by anyone. I see them going in and out of abandoned buildings, and with all the snow, I see them walking around covered in snow. How are there so many wild dogs here? Don't they have a pound or something? Do wild dogs ever attack people? I mean, say they aren't hungry enough, what would they do? I've seen them running around in packs of up to 6. There are not a lot of people who, without a weapon, could fight off 6 wild dogs.

Before anyone asks, no I haven't had an opportunity to go see anything historical. We only have one off-day per week, and it happens to coincide with the one day per week that the Grand Bazaar is shut down. So that sucks. What also sucks is the snow that is covering the city makes it much less appealing to go outside and explore. So yeah...haven't seen much except every square inch of the walls of my hotel room. Exciting.

Ummm...guess that's it for now...

I'll be putting pictures up later, when I get the time to actually take some.