Istanbul: First Offense

For those who know me, know that I used to describe myself as a "freak" when it came to public transportation. Thankfully, that passion has mellowed into a more mild temperament of ardent appreciation. So, of course, upon arrival at the Istanbul airport, it was already settled that we'd ride the metro into the city and walk to the hotel. And of course, after 20 hours of flying, there are two tired, smelly people shrouded with baggage and we are going to ride the metro. Thank you Dustin for being totally game. It turned out to be very easy and it gave us our first cultural exchange - one of inadvertant offense!

After settling into the metro and arranging our bags, Dustin promptly put his feet up on the opposite chair. Moments later a harried Turk came over and with grand gestures shooed Dustin's feet off the chair. Dustin immediately switched positions and crossed his right leg over the left, with his right ankle resting on his left knee, presenting to all passengers the bottom of his new shoes. Before offending anyone else and getting kicked off the train, I hurriedly explained that showing the bottom of the feet, as we just learned, was incredibly rude! Dustin settled into a position with two feet firmly and permanently planted on the ground. Thanks to Serap, my Turkish teacher, for covering that cultural point in class!