Needing "normal"

I am very blessed to have this opportunity to travel and see all of these exotic places. But sometimes I am just craving the comfort of a life more similar to "home." New Years Day was one of those days. Granted I was lacking in sleep after a New Years Eve cruise that lasted until 3:00 am but the idea of standing in line to see Topkapi Palace was more than I could handle. So I asked Ellen if she would mind if we tried to find "Mission Impossible" on a big screen and get a dose of English and adventure. The quickness of her response led me to believe that she did not want to be a tourist either.

Thank goodness for google and translate. Within minutes I had located a 5 star mall and cinema. Five minutes later and I had public transport directions. The only thing that didn't work was purchasing tickets on line. So we headed out early.
Forty five minutes later and we found ourselves at Kanyon Mall, a very modern, contemporary, elegant mall, complete with aroma therapy on the escalators. We found the cinema, boughs tickets for the 7 pm show and then settled in for 2 hours of bliss: buying American magazines, sipping Starbucks lattes, sipping wine with a hamburger (unfortunately it still wasn't an "Eric special" on the grill) and people watching. I was at peace.

The movie theater was the biggest I've been to besides an IMAX and it had really comfy reclining/rocking seats. Wr settled in for a great movie and even felt like we were standing at the top of the Burj Dubai as Tom Cruise saved the world We ended the night with Ben and Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, a "normal" weekend outing.

I'm hoping this dose of "normal" will tide me over as I head back to malatya tonight.