A Kebap a Day Doesn't Keep the Doctor Away

Tim and I just got back from the doctor's, which was a several hour ordeal. After a crazy week with the basketball tournament, Tim got really sick. Since there were kids here from all over Turkey (and many of them sick), it's not too surprising. He was sick enough that we needed to head to the doctor's. Thankfully, there is a wonderful Turkish doctor who many of the British and American people use. He speaks very good English and is very cool with his long hair and uber trendy glasses.
Tim had me drive over there, which was a fairly big deal. It was my first time driving in the city and as previously mentioned in my other blog entries, it's quite an experience. At one point, Tim said, "Remember, when you have a green, the other guy has a red, which means the same thing as a green." As I drive, it helps me to remember the American cheer, "Be aggressive. Be, Be aggressive." It is actually safer to be more aggressive than passive. Rather than wait for pedestrians to get out of the way, you just go. You don't wait. You look like you're about to run them over, but somehow they magically get out of the way at the last second. Everything about driving here looks like it's going to be a disaster, but somehow at the last second things work out and there is no disaster. Amazingly, this whole driving without a lot of structure actually seems to work.
It was good for me to drive today. It made me feel more independent and more like myself again. Tim was very astute in knowing that I needed that today. It was also nice to have a change of scenery. Lately we've only seen a basketball court or our apartment.
After the doctor examined Tim, we went upstairs to the lab, so he could have a blood test done. It is interesting to sit in these waiting rooms and look at a variety of people. There are many women with covered heads (and it is funny to watch them text on their cell phones) and then there are very Euro, trendy looking women with tons of make-up, long nails, and big hair. Very symbolic of the diversity in Turkey. Many of the patients were also not Turkish. I saw a lot of Iranian passports today. There are many refugees here, mostly coming from Iraq and Iran.
It was also fascinating to me that, though the waiting rooms were full and there were many people there before us, we were usually ushered back first. I hope it was because the other people's paperwork (because they were refugees) was taking awhile and not because we were Americans.
While we waited for the bloodwork to be done, we headed across the street to the Turkish version of Starbucks, called Gloria Jean's. They are all over Turkey! We both think that the coffee is much better here than Starbucks (not to mention they make a heart design in your cappucino foam:) Besides driving today, I also needed to go to a coffee shop. For some reason, I missed that today. This particular Gloria Jean's was on the top floor of this huge building. You could look out over all of Ankara, which, let's just say, isn't the most picturesque city. It was nice, though, to sit there for a bit and drink coffee and eat a piece of cheesecake:)
After coffee, we headed back to Doctor Ungen's. He still wasn't quite sure if it was bacterial or viral, so he was going to have the lab run one more test. We'll find out later the results and if Tim needs to take an antibiotic. He said, though, several other Americans have come in with this same illness. He prescribed lots of rest for Tim and told him to stay home the next 2 days.
Ahh, I hear the evening prayers coming on the city loud speakers. This means that it's about dinnertime. Time to call NYPD pizza:) I hear it's the best medicine:) For the record, I have been a good wife and cooked a lot too, but tonight the patient wants a margarita pizza really badly. Who am I to stand in the way of his recovery?:)

P.S. from Tim: Kate did a very good job driving. She pushed in front of a bus, drove through heavy traffic, and didn't scare me a bit.