Another post on Istanbul, human rights work, and my need for sleep.

Twice a year, diplomats, government officials, civil society, and human rights defenders from all over the world descend on this city for an international institution's annual and spring meetings. Those weeks are nuts for me.  This time around, it was six days straight of meetings upon meetings, side events, conversations, working lunches, dinners, endless cups of coffee, and just a touch of sleep.  It's mostly tiring, but some moments (particularly, I find, when you meet communities who have been working on human rights issues related to these international development projects) it's inspiring and a little rad.  There were a few of those moments last week.

With that week behind me, I took two days off to rest. Time off was needed.  Time off was great - except that when I have free time, I start to plot. And invariably, that plotting involves places I want to visit. 

And today, I thought:  What I wouldn't give to be back in Istanbul right now . . .

Did you know that the mosques in Istanbul were often (always?) built with an attached market, where the rents of the shops went to the upkeep of the mosque?  One day, as we walked around the tourist-laden district of Sultanahmet, we came across a small mosque. It had an adjoining garden and a strip of shops.  I asked the shopkeeper how long his shop had been in business.  He looked at his wife, and they laughed.  He shrugged his shoulders and said, "always."