Book 2 !

The book I co-authored with my former professor from Columbia, John Stubbs, finally exists. I received my advance copy in the mail yesterday. Its so exciting. Here's the cover:

Istanbul !

I had a great time in Istanbul last week. I spent two days at the conference and two days sightseeing. It was a really interesting conference and I heard a lot of thought-provoking papers. And I saw some buildings on my life "to do" list so all in all it was great. Here are a lot of pictures (it was hard to choose).

A typical street in the tourist area (I bought a bag in the store on the right):

The Hagia Sophia exterior and interior:

Me in the Hagia Sophia:

Courtyard of the Shezade Mosque:

Inside the Suliymane Mosque:

The Sultan Ahmet Mosque (exterior and interior):

At the Topkapi Palace - the Heir the Throne's Living Area:

Also at the Topkapi Palace - the exterior of the pavilion where the Sultan and his Vizier heard complaints and other business from officials:

mom and dad visit

Mom and Dad were here this week-end on their way home from two weeks in Arizona visiting Aunt Maggie and Granma. We packed a number of activities into the 48 visit, including the ballet (which we forgot to take pictures of ourselves dressed up for). We did take some pictures in a lovely little garden that we toured and in which we all got inspired - even Miran wants to build a vine arbor in our backyard like he saw there.

While they were here, Dad also installed a light bar in my bathroom, which as you might recall we started redoing a few months ago. I replaced the dated medicine cabinet with built in light with a larger mirror (that Dad made), but hadn't replaced the light so have been getting ready in the dark. A few weeks ago we bought the fixture, but Miran hasn't had time to install it. Dad took care of it in an afternoon. He also replaced the light switch with one that includes an outlet, because there isn't a single outlet in that bathroom, which is very weird. So now I can put on make-up and straighten my hair in my bathroom for the first time since we moved in almost two years ago!

100,000 miles !

As we were leaving town yesterday for Atlanta, we also passed an important milestone ... the Passat went over 100,000 miles. I've had my camera in the car all week because I wanted to catch the moment. Its been such a good car these past few years and there are a few little things that need fixing, but overall its in great shape. Last week-end it got an oil change and I splurged on a car wash (including interior detailing) so it would look good for its big day.

Bosnia vs. Mexico

Yesterday we took a half day adventure and drove 4 hours to Atlanta to watch the Bosnian national soccer team play the Mexican national team. Needless to say, the Mexicans outnumbered the Bosnians in the stadium, but we were really impressed and though that maybe 1/5th of the crowd was Bosnian. We talked to some people who had driven all the way from Connecticut. I'm not sure we'd have gone that far, but we had a great time and it was well worth how tired we all are today. I managed to deliver my lecture this morning without a problem, and even got up early to add some extra slides into my powerpoint. Azra  made it to school and Miran is still at work. I think we'll be headed to bed early tonight!

Anyway, Bosnia lost to Mexico 0-2. It was a friendly game that didn't count for anything, so neither team played very hard - no one was diving for balls, but just letting them roll past. Bosnia dominated the first half, but didn't manage to score, and the Mexico came out strong in the second half and scored twice in the first few minutes.

We definitely felt like the away team, not only because there were so many more Mexican fans, but because the entire thing was in Spanish. All the announcements, the programs, even the ads. We never had any idea what was going on. Us Bosnian fans didn't even realize when their team was being introduced so didn't cheer. It was probably meant as a nice gesture by the Georgia Dome for the Mexican fans, but I guess they weren't expecting so many Bosnian fans! We had fun anyway and definitely focused on watching the field.

The most exciting thing in the second half was a streaker who ran across and all around the stadium, which you always hear about, but I've never actually seen. The guy kept his underwear on, but must have been pretty cold, even in the Georgia Dome. The police seemed very slow to bother running after him, but of course eventually three officers cornered him.

Here are some shots from the trip.

Miran as we are pulling out of town ... still smiling because he hasn't yet driven 8 hours and seen his team lose.

The view from our seats ... we splurged and didn't buy upper balcony tickets.

The teams during the national anthems.

And some shots of us fans.