2 Questions Every Girl is Asking Herself

Chapter 73

While there's the poetic presence of legendary artists from the past, there's also the literal presence of dreamers of the present. I meet such a girl in Istanbul.

Istanbul feels... warm, and familiar right away. On the way into town from the airport, the streets reminded me of Beijing. It is, after all, half Asia half Europe. I love it immediately. Wild, raucous, noisy, cheerful Istanbul. I love its Euro-Asian exoticism, its Middle Eastern bazaar, its graceful arabesques of tendrils on the walls, its over-the-top displays of grandeur. A city of 14 million, Istanbul is bigger than London (8 million) or New York (8 million). Traffic jams are a way of life here. Just get used to it.

Having arrived in Istanbul alone, I very much hoped for a sight-seeing buddy. That was when I met Katie. Almost haphazardly. We never would have met if she hadn't gotten her travel dates mixed up, and landed in Istanbul an entire week ahead of schedule. Her existence was abruptly thrust upon my awareness through a text message, on a Thursday, late in the evening.

"I'm with my couchsurfer Katie. She's American. Works for a charity," wrote my friend Erkan, "Come club with us!"

Instead of giggling with delight at the prospect of a female travel companion, my reaction was really... an image. As soon I saw the words "clubbing" and "American" appearing together in one sentence, my mind immediately formed a picture of Katie. I imagined a pretty and petite ditzy blonde in her early twenties. Loud, obnoxious, immature. A character out of "Mean Girls" most likely. Not at all the kind of sweet and reliable eager beaver travel companion I was hoping to find.

Needless to say, the charity bit completely went over my head.

Politely, I declined their invitation.

The next day, we arranged to meet in the afternoon at Café Nero - a popular European coffee chain originated in Turkey. I waited for a good solid 15 minutes, before two towering giants emerged through the doorway in a power gait - MIB like - against the blinding brightness of the sunlight. For the first few seconds all I could see were two black outlines. By the time my eyes had adjusted to the light and they've flanked me for conversation, I lifted my head, stared skyward, and made out their features for the very first time.

Erkan, our host, is a professional tour guide in his 30's. Born and raised in Turkey. He had invited both Katie and me to stay in his spare bedroom in the center of Istanbul through Couchsurfing. Of course, it was never Erkan's intention to have two strangers invade his home all at once. When Katie shocked him with the message, "I've just landed at Attaturk airport!" an entire week before she was supposed to arrive, Erkan had no choice but to bring her in. Which was how the two of us, by a twist of fate, became "couchsurfing neighbors".

Katie, as it turned out, and much to my private amusement, is indeed blonde, loud and attention dominating. Her physical resemblance to Lindsay Lohan could not be exaggerated. A "Mean Girls" character indeed. With minor adjustments though.

For starters, she wasn't obnoxious, immature or annoying. Katie was 29 years old. Grew up in suburban New Jersey. Founder of a charity. Due to the life consuming nature of her work, a friend booked her a ticket to Turkey, forcing her into vacation-mode. Katie had been in Istanbul for a week now yet hadn't seen anything, because, like a good American, she'd been working. I had been in Istanbul for 3 days and had only ventured to the Grand Bazaar. That made us both very lazy tourists. We bonded over this commonality. And made plans to rectify the situation just as quickly as we could. Namely, we shall visit the Topkapi Palace and the Hagia Sophia - the most important parts of Istanbul - together.

Amid our girlish yakking and coffee sipping, I found myself starting to like this girl. She's warm, charming, and engaging. But then I noticed something rather odd. I noticed that Katie's attention-span was almost comparable to that of a two-year-old. She was constantly typing away on her iPhone, on her Istanbul prepaid phone, on her laptop, checking emails and updating her Facebook, interrupting our conversations frequently and comfortably, with ever more glances at her electronic devices. This progressed to the point where I began to wonder if she perhaps suffered from a mild condition of ADD? Which worried me slightly. I got this nagging feeling that somehow our plans to sightsee would not materialize. But then when you do have her attention, she is a forceful exhibition of delight and charisma, and this nagging thought was quickly swept away as far as the ocean breeze.