Went out to dinner tonight in Sariyer (the town outside of Istanbul where the university is). As we were waiting in a cafe for the last person to arrive, the lights went out on the whole downtown. This was completely unexpected for me-- there wasn't a storm, no noticeable construction or any visible cause for the power outage. But for the other customers in the cafe, it seemed to be a normal occurrence. They continued sipping their tea and chatting as if nothing unusual had happened.
Fortunately we were able to find a restaurant that still had power. There was quite an eclectic mix of food on the menu, ranging from pasta to fish-and-chips to burritos. The music playing was just as varied-- we heard a jazzed-up song from the opera Carmen (complete with steel drums!), an Edith Piaf song that we also heard in Bulgaria, and Happy Birthday-- more than 20 rounds of it. I guess there was a birthday party in the other room, and someone felt the need to play the English birthday song repeatedly. But the food was good, and the company was better. All in all, a successful outing!
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