Last Work Week

Our CSC assignment is now over and many of us are back home trying to adjust to timezones and the routine of our regular jobs.  But here is a recap of our last work week in Izmir.

Dr. Guden (the president of the university) arranged for us to take a tour of some of the university labs.  We had the privilege of seeing a materials test lab, a bio-technology lab, and the electron microscope lab.

On Tuesday, we had a 'high protocol' final meeting.  i.e. the press and heads of our client organizations were there.  DOT gave a short presentation about the CSC program and one rep from each team spoke about our experiences in Izmir.  And of course, there were lots of pictures taken.

Newspaper articles

Rosanna, Frank, Zoran, & Antonio

Wednesday was our final day to work from the hotel and polish our deliverables.  Here are teams 1 and 2 hard at work in our usual 'workroom' on the patio.

Thursday was our final day on the ITYE campus.  All 4 teams took the bus out to the campus and presented our full deliverable presentations to the 4 host organizations as well as a few misc students who showed up to listen.

Final drive to IYTE Campus

Final Presentations

On Friday, we flew back to Istanbul and met with Michel Charouk, the General Manager for IBM Turkey.

Then it was time for a final team dinner and good byes.  I'll post a few more pictures from our last dinner final night in Istanbul in another post.

#ibmcsc Turkey 8

Counting Down

It's our final week here and we are all starting to count down until we go home. The experience has been incredible but I'm ready to be home with family again.

Before we go, we all have our own personal checklist of items to do. Here are a few misc things we've been doing this week.

Final eating ...
La Cigale (at the French Institute) and Ristorante Pizzaria Venedik have been our two favorite places. So it's Pizzaria tonight and and final team dinner at La Cigale tomorrow night.

Monday night was a misadventure in food but I don't have any pictures to prove it :-) We had seen a Fish -n- Chips place down the street that we wanted to try at some point. So Monday night I wanted fish and chips. Zoran wanted to go back to a little 'home cooked' restaurant called Atakimi they had found a few days earlier and really liked. Subra was the tie breaker and voted Atakimi. It's a little mom & pop shop with a display case full of casserole dishes. Some hot, some cold, meat, rice, etc. Choose any 3 items and they put them on a plate, warm them up, and bring it to your table. But the lamb and rice that Zoran was hoping to find wasn't on the menu that night. And the food was served only partially warmed that night. And everything was just ... mediocre. (Zoran and Subra theorize it was because 'grandma' wasn't working that night.)
So we decided to proceed to Phase 2 and try the Fish -n- Chip shop. You should know that because Izmir is on the sea there is a lot of great sea food here. Which I hate. I'll admit it. Seafood and I do not agree with each other. Unless it's the most non-fishy fish available (i.e. cod), beer battered, deep fried, and served with loads of tartar sauce. You know, good ole London Fish and Chips. So I had high hopes when we walked into the Fish -n- Chip shop. The menu looked great even if the restaurant was a little kitschy with over-the-top sea shore decor. Even the proprietor greeted us by saying "Have you had fish and chips before?" "Yes", I replied, "but not in Turkey." So I ordered and we sat down to wait. When our order was ready, Subra picked it up from the counter and looked at me skeptically. Was it deep fried fish? Yes. Did it have a nice thick beer batter? No. A rather thin layer of flour stuck to the fish fillet (which still had skin on it as well). Was it a non-fishy fish? No. Was the tarter sauce enough to cover up the previous two sins? No. Looks like we're 0-2 tonight.
After eating the chips (plaid old french fries) we headed back to the hotel. The only saving grace was walking past the Swiss Cake Shop at Movenpic hotel. Mini Mint Chocolate Bundt Cake to the rescue!

Final cultural sharing ...
One of the best parts of our evenings here is when we gather on the patio at the hotel. It's nothing formal or organized. Just whoever wants to show up. Some people come and go. Some people come and stay. There's usually a bottle of wine or some beer to pass around. And we sit and talk about nothing. And everything. A mix of brainstorming about our CSC projects, complaining about work, talking about our families, sharing stories of our travels, discussing politics, and everything else.
Sunday evening we were sitting around watching the scores from the NFL games roll in. Frank is a big Dallas fan so we were watching the drive chart / play-by-play on NFL.com. And trying to explain American Football to Zoran from Australia. And in return, he was trying to convince us that American football players are pansy's and his rugby teams could crush them any time :-) So to settle the matter once and for all, we gathered Tuesday night in the basement conference room to watch a replay of the Denver - San Diego Monday night game. (I was unsuccessful in getting everyone up at 3:30am to watch it live).

After the football game, we watched some highlights of Australian rugby, and then switched to the 2nd half of the Turkey vs. Hungary soccer game. The Broncos won the game. Turkey did not. Sorry Seda! And I don't think we settled the (American) Football vs. Rugby vs. (Soccer) Football debate. But we had a lot of fun.

Final shopping ...
I have one last gift to buy but fortunately I can get it at the store just around the corner. Others have been walking all over Izmir to find the perfect gifts and souvenirs to bring home, especially buying Turkish Delight at the last minute so it's fresh when we get home. Yesterday we went in search of the 'American Bazaar'. We were walking down the street, talking amongst ourselves, not sure exactly where we were going, and a delightful old man called out "Where are you from?". We stopped to say U.S.A. and he said "I'm from New Jersey!". (I think he was Turkish but had lived in the States for a long time but I'm not exactly sure.) After chatting for a few minutes we asked if he knew where the American Bazaar was and he walked a few blocks with us to show us personally. We actually spotted him again later on the street and he called out "Hello friends!". You never know who you're going to meet!
The American Bazzar was a bit odd. It was basically just lots of American brand toiletries and liquor that you don't find in the regular grocery stores. And pipes. And tattoos. Odd.
We were also looking for baklava and Turkish Delight (not in the American Bazaar). We did not find any baklava (it's surprisingly hard to find in Izmir compared to Istanbul). We did find some Turkish Delight but not the flavor that Seda recommended so we'll go back out this afternoon for one final look.

We had a 'high protocol' meeting yesterday (i.e. dignitaries and press were there). Tomorrow we deliver our final presentations. I'll post tomorrow night with an update on our final work week.

#ibmcsc Turkey 8

Rewind ... Zagreb, Croatia

(Catching up on old blogs.  This one is from Friday, 21 Sept)

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since I was in Croatia.  Here are a few final thoughts and pictures from our last day there.

We left Split way too early in the morning for a flight back to Istanbul.  The only flight available (or maybe the only one with a price low enough we were willing to pay) included a 7 hour layover in Zagreb.  Fortunately, even though Zagreb is the capital of Croatia the airport and town are relatively small and easy to get around during our layover.  We landed in Zagreb around 7:30am and took a bus from the airport to the main city bus terminal.

Our first stop was St. Mark's Church (Crkva sv. Marka) in the heart of old Zagreb.   The church was completed in the late 1400's and is famous for its roof tiles depicting the Zagreb coat of arms (white castle on red background) and the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia.  Although this is one of the top tourist destinations in Zagreb, it was pretty deserted at 8am.

Since it was fairly chilly out and nothing was really open yet, we stumbled into a wine bar that happened to be open and had free wi-fi.  (Why a wine bar was open at 8am I have no idea.)  But the gracious young gentleman working at the bar made us a ham & cheese panini and fresh squeezed orange juice for breakfast.

I should have mentioned that old Zagreb is at the top of a hill but is mostly just government buildings so we descended a large hill in order to find restaurants.  After breakfast we decided to go back up the hill to a museum.  Rather than climbing all the steps we paid a few kuna and rode up the hill in style in an old funicular!
(Definition: funicular: (of a railroad, esp. one on a mountainside) Operating by cable with ascending and descending cars counterbalanced)

Next up was the Museum of Broken Relationships.  It's a unique little museum that collects mementos and stories of love and heartbreak.

Next we wandered back down the steps into the newer Zagreb city center for shopping and lunch.  One mandatory stop for the geek in everyone is the Nicola Tesla statue :-)

After lunch we walked along Zagreb Park which looks a lot like the National Mall in Washington D.C. and back to the bus station and then a flight back to Istanbul.

Saturday & Sunday

This weekend was 'catch up' weekend.  Catch up on a little bit of CSC work, catch up on a little bit of IBM work, catch up on souvenir shopping, catch up on local Izmir sight seeing, and of course, catch up on sleep!

On Saturday, half of the group (not including me) attempted to go to Pamukkale but their car broke down on the highway.  I'm sure that will be a good story whenever someone gets around to blogging it :-)  Must have been a sign that we needed more work time!

I slept in and lounged about the room until about 11am when I ventured out to find a coffee shop.  Being too lazy to walk all the way to Starbucks I tried the local coffee shop at the Swissotel and found that they make a lovely hot chocolate.  Then back to the hotel to work on some of our CSC deliverables for a few hours.

By 2pm we (me, Frank, Subra, Zoran) decided to call it a day and went out sight seeing and shopping.  First stop was the Smyrna Agora.  It's an ancient market place (agora) that is being restored but has a long way to do.  We didn't pay the 5 TL to get in but did take a few pictures from the perimeter.

 
A side note: In the evening we were telling others about our adventure to the Agora and shopping in the bazaar and Subra jokingly said "So does agoraphobia mean fear of shopping?" (It's the fear of being in public.) So of course we had to look it up.  And the word agoraphobia does literally translate to 'fear of the marketplace'!

Next stop was the bazaar where Subra and Zoran needed to do some last minute souvenir shopping.  I had been to the west side of the bazaar before but this time we entered from the east and stumbled upon the food courts where we stopped for a beer.  Most of the streets in the bazaar are narrow and twisty so there is no motorized traffic allowed.  The shops hang tarps and other coverings between the buildings so most of the streets are covered and it feels a bit like you are indoors but with dappled sunlight and pleasant breezes blowing through.  After sitting and people watching for a while, we found the 'old' bazaar ... a bazaar within a bazaar.  This was a square brick building with vaulted ceilings and an open courtyard.  It was much like the bazaar in Istanbul but smaller.  Inside was souvenir paradise with jewelry, pottery, scarves, evil eyes, rugs, bags, and more.

The old bazaar with a mosque behind

Today has been another mix of work and laziness.  I slept until almost 11am and then ordered room service for lunch.  (P.S.  I haven't slept in like that since before Elly was born.  Elly is a great sleeper and has been known to sleep until 9am on some weekends but getting to stay in bed until 11 was wonderful!)  Then I headed downstairs to work with the team on consolidating our presentation for Monday.  Most of the team is now out exploring and shopping again but I've decided to stay here and catch up on my blogging.  I probably should go get a bit of IBM work done as well.  And we've got a team meeting in a few hours to review each others presentations.  Too much to do, too little time left in Turkey!

#ibmcsc Turkey 8