Up at 5 am this morning. Showered, put on some coffee, and ate a frozen omelette for breakfast. I walked the dogs in a light rain and by the time I got back it was time for my friend Mustafa to come and pick me up for the airport. I am carrying a bag for him which his father-in-law will pickup at the airport in Istanbul. We chatted a bit on the way over and found out that Turkish Airlines is the best and will be feeding us lots of food! He also tells me how H1N1 is getting really serious in Turkey, and that Ankara has closed its schools. After reducing his bag a little bit to make it fit under the weight limit, I check in and I’m ready to go. I say goodbye to Mustafa and head through security.
There are only a few people in the security lines, so I quickly pass through into the departure area. I am flying American to JFK, so I will be departing out of the new Terminal 2 at RDU International. It is big and shiny and a major improvement over the old Terminal C. After a stop at the bathroom, I order a large coffee and sit down to check some last minute email and set my vacation auto-responder. After just a few minutes they start boarding. I take my seat in the front of the small commuter jet where Jose the flight attendant relieves me of my backpack. By this time, it is just getting light outside and the day is revealed to by dreary and overcast. At takeoff, the visibility is poor and I can’t even see to the end of the runway. After a few minutes we are above the clouds and the sun is shining brightly out of the east.
The trip to JFK International is short and I spend most of the time reading my bible. I have recently been felt encouraged to read through my Bible without jumping around, so I started with the first few chapters of Genesis. It has been a while (years?) since I have read through Genesis and my reading of it today has a sort of strange quality to it. The creation story reads more like the Silmarillion or The Magician’s Nephew than the straight factual report that it seemed to be before. I think it is sometimes good to take a break from the familiar parts of the Bible.
I arrived at JFK a little bit early with my bladder about to burst after my large coffee and a Diet Coke. After visiting the bathroom again I headed down to the baggage claim to get our bags. I’m not sure which terminal I am in nor where Turkish Airlines is located. I get some cash for the visa fee in Turkey and head to the AirTrain hoping that there will be a directory with the airlines listed on it. My hopes are met with success and I determine that I need to get from Terminal 8 to Terminal 1. After a grand tour of all the terminals, I finally arrive. The small Turkish Airlines ticket desk is right near the door where I enter, sandwiched between a large number of Korean Air counters. There isn’t anyone at the desk, but one of the Korean Air staff is nice enough to let me know that they will be in around 1pm. It is 10am now, so I head across to the upper level food court and stake out a good place to sit and wait for the next 3 hours. I can’t get onto the wireless internet so I abandon the tables with a nearby power supply and get a diet coke from McDonalds. I find a seat near a family with some several young boys. It sounds like they are speaking some dialect of Arabic.
I didn’t tell any of my family that I was going to be visiting Turkey. I was mostly concerned that my mother and grandmother would only be worrying about me. I did want to talk to them, though, before leaving, so I first called my Mom, who didn’t answer, and then my grandmother. I talked with her for 45 minutes or so, trying (despite the loud PA in the background) not to let on that I was at the airport. It was nice talking to her as it had been a while since we’d spoken on the phone. Sorry for not telling you guys!
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