Culture shock?

I googled "culture shock". I don't think I have it....much, anyhow. Here are the symptoms according to Wikipedia:
Culture shock manifests itself in different forms with different people but some symptoms can be the ones in the following list.
*eating more than usual - gaining weight
*not eating enough - loss of weight
*having an increased need for hygiene - e.g. cleaning the flat on a daily basis
*calling home much more often than usual
*being hostile / complaining all the time about the hosting country / culture
*avoiding meeting people
*increased need of sleep
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All aspects of daily life are more difficult, of course. How to use the cellphone with no English instruction booklet, what temperature should I set the oven? (c instead of f), how to use the washing machine? Using a foreign keyboard (the "i" is in a different place, and so are other letters and punctuation marks!) Shopping for food. Getting from one place to another is extremely difficult in Istanbul. Haggling over purchases and trying to figure out if the waiter has given you a "yabanci" (foreigner) menu with inflated prices or a menu meant for locals. The list goes on and on and when they add up it's all irritating! But it's a learning experience and I did my research before I came here...I believe that helped quite a bit. There weren't any major surprises for me and I pretty much knew what to expect. So, I'm not having any symptoms :-), but I admit it's a relief to every once in a while be with people from your own culture or similar culture, just because you know they'll "get" you. Last night was one of those occasions!! The wild and crazy expat boat party! (By the way, may Turkish repats as well!)

Put over 100 of us on a boat on the Bosphorus and it gets pretty crazy :-) Really a great group of interesting and fun people! To make things even better the DJ played salsa music for a while and a small group of us danced danced danced! A new guy from Columbia is here - Jorge - and he's a fantastic dancer. We wore the poor guy out!

I showed Ece how to change the background on her computer, she has spent two days now changing it from one picture to another. It's her favorite thing to do now. I also showed her how to look at images on Google, so she's just been googling away and changing the background from cats, to Barbies, to flowers to horses....you get the idea. She thinks I'm a genius that I know how to do this. It's one reason I love kids :-)

I finally had to slap a guy. I was in a shop trying on a skirt, and I came out to look in the mirror. Two guys were running the place. One washe owner and the other an employee. Well, one of the guys came over pretending to adjust the seams, and then he put his hand up my skirt and squeezed my butt! Theyboth spoke English well. I whirled around and said, "You better be gay!" He laughed. I slapped him. At first he looked shocked but the other guy laughed at it and so he began to laugh again. I slapped him again. There was nothing else to do, nobody to complain to, nothing to be done. I wish I knew a big strong guy to beat the *&@)$* out of him!

The Rumi exhibit was fantastic. I still have to write about him and the Mevlevis but no time now! I've been a bad blogger lately and not writing or posting pictures...I've just been really busy!