mishaps, maps, a serious lack of adequate naps.

Here's a little story. Hopefully the hilarity of it translates rather than it seem like I'm complaining. Because I'm really not. I just find this to be funny.


I'm a planner. Honestly, 65% of my thought time is consumed with planning.

I'm talking about planning at ridiculous levels. For me, however, reality unfortunately does not equal what is planned nearly 100% of the time.

Take this past Wednesday, for instance.
I started planning Wednesday on Monday.

The plan:

1. A slight change to my schedule, I'd go for a run on Thursday instead of Wednesday. This way I would be more likely to get out of the house on time.

2. Be out the door by 9 am.

3. By 9:15 be in and out of the post office. By 9:45 be in and out of the bank with all bills paid.

4. Go to the Emniyet to pick-up my residence permit. If all goes well, be done by 11:00.

5. Go to Kizilay. Grab some simit for lunch then hop on the ODTU dolmus.

6. Stop by the MTA to buy a geologic map of Sorgun.

7. Hop on another dolmus and get to campus by 12:30.

8. Get my crate of rocks from the Kerkenes office.

9. Go to class from 1:40-4:00.

10. Home. dinner. work. bed.

Ok, so, that's a pretty ridiculous/boring--but very well-developed--plan, no? I was going to have a really really productive day.


Now let's take a look at what actually happened:

1. Woke up. It was raining--perfect, a bad day for a run. Rain, good omen?


2. Successfully got out the door by 9 am. In fact, I was actually out the door by 8:56.


3. Post office was easy peasy and I was in-and-out like a burger.

Continued on to the bank. At the bank, I was second in line--great! When my number was called, I gave the teller my bills and my money.

plan failure 1: Processing took an abnormally long time...turned out one of the bills wouldn't go through. No explanation. Try again later. So, I managed to get two bills done but I was still gonna have to go back later and probably wait in a long line.


4. Still pretty much on time. Emniyet is a bit of a trek to get to, not something I'm really interested in doing every day. But, I was energized this morning with plan excitement and I made it there by 10:15. It was early enough that there were no crowds to deal with. Huzzah! And then...

plan failure 2: The guy told me I had to come back after 4 o'clock or on another day to pick-up my residence permit because it wasn't ready yet. What?!?! No way in hell I was gonna haul back there after 4 o'clock. Agh, just gonna have to come back another day. [Here is where planning for Friday began]


5. Oh well. It was only 10:45. I was at least not going to be rushed for the rest of my schedule. So, I head back to Kizilay, buy my simit, and hop on the dolmus.


6. Make it to the MTA. I was recognized by the front gate guards as "weren't you here two weeks ago? didn't you not have any ID? didn't we have to pull some strings to get you in? oh, that was you? Well, hosgeldiniz [welcome]!" He remembers me...for embarrassing myself. How sweet!

plan failure 3: I go to the library where the maps are sold. On the door is a little note that says "we are at the seminar." [annual Turkish geologic conference is this week at the MTA]. Umm, ok. Well, how long are you going to be there? Should I stand here for awhile? I have time.

I stand around for a bit, but then I decide that's not gonna work. So, I go into the library and there's a guy there who tells me that I should just go try to find their booth at the seminar. Ok.

I go to the seminar. No idea where to go. Ask the security guards about it and they kindly make some calls. The woman tells me to go downstairs and someone can help me. At least that's what I thought she said.

So, I go downstairs...into a basement...where there is nothing and noone. It's basically behind the scenes. I find a guy and two girls smoking and randomly ask them about it. The guy says "yeah, it's closed for the week. come back next week." Agh...it's a bit of a pain getting to the MTA too! I don't want to have to come back again next week! Oh well. Somewhat disheartened I go back upstairs.

As I'm about to leave, the security guard sees me and stops me. "No, it's over here. That was the wrong place." She was so sweet, brought me around and helped me find the table. Then the people at the table helped me look for my map. I had bought a geologic map of the Yozgat area a few weeks ago, but it was just south of where I want. So, I came back for a different one.

We searched through everything. The woman even went back to the library to bring back some maps they didn't have on the table. Well, as it turns out, the area where I'm working is too gizli [secret]...the public can't buy 1:100,000 maps of the area. WHAT?! There's nothing there! How can it be considered a top secret area?!? I guess they have been on a serious hunt for uranium around there...but still! Many parts of Turkey are that way, though...the military severely controls access to maps. But, it was frustrating because every area north, south, east, west, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest of Kerkenes...they all had maps available! Gaaaaaaah!

Despite the disappointment I would like to mention how wonderfully kind and helpful everyone at the MTA has been both times I've been there. It's been a totally stress-free communication and problem-solving experience, for the most part. Much better than other situations, that's for sure. In the end it just proves that geologists are great. I love geologists.


7. Totally disheartened, I leave the MTA, catch the dolmus to ODTU, make it there by noon.


8. Go to the Kerkenes office to get my rocks. They were in the Land Rover and Francoise was going to drop them off at the office for me to pick up.

plan failure 4: As it happens, Francoise didn't drop the rocks off...and she and Geoff are in Istanbul until Tuesday!!


9. I have plenty of time before class. I'll just go up to the geology building and sit in the cafe for awhile. It was nice and warm and out of the rain.

It was also loud and I saw my first relationship fight in Turkey. Can you say incredibly awkward? The girl was being ridiculously melodramatic and the guy kept trying to rest on her shoulder or kiss her or nuzzle her or something. It was so totally not working and the stupidest approach he could have taken...just egged her on more than anything. She was a piece of work, I'll tell ya. Not exactly sure what the fight was about, but it was by no means a secret. In the end they made up. And then it was gross PDAing for the remainder of the time.

plan failure 5: One of the girls from my class comes over to me. "We don't have class today." Now, this class I have--Geology of Turkey--has been canceled a number of times. However, since I'm not a registered student, I'm not on the class listhost...so I never get the emails about class cancellations or field trips. Cool. I didn't need to come all the way out here? Didn't need to walk the 20 minutes up the hill in the freezing cold rain to get to the building? And I have to walk the 20 minutes back down the hill in the now actual freezing rain to get home? Thanks hocam. Thanks a bunch. I'm so thrilled class was canceled...for the 4th time this semester.


10. Came home. Went back to the bank and stood in line for half-an-hour to pay that other bill. At least that went through.

At the end of the day, I seriously thought I had walked halfway around the world. I mean, none of these places were even remotely near each other.

I needed a nap. As Megs once told me, "napping is a skill. a life skill. you really need to practice, Ay." And let me tell you, I tried. Really hard. And failed.

The hilarity of it all is that I had managed to follow my plan...but man, the system just wasn't on my side. It's particularly wonderful how perfectly imperfect the whole day was.