Go East, Middle-Aged Woman!

James and I have recently been given the opportunity to travel to Istanbul with the Pittsfield Sister City Jazz Ambassadors, possibly as early as next May or June.  The head of the Sister City Jazz Ambassadors, Andy Kelly, is a go-getter who doesn't diddle around once he decides to do something!  So now we're taking a crash course in the history and culture of Istanbul, as well as how to play/sing jazz (a new genre for both of us!), to prepare ourselves to make the most of this trip.  Major travel always sets my anxiety motor going, and when I'm anxious, I read and study and make lists and organize facts and background—pretty much do the research for a dissertation on wherever it is I'm headed.  Being a student I understand, so whenever my anxiety goes up, I return to my student ways.  I've spent the past couple of hours (while James is out teaching a class at church) in the "virtual library" finding books that look intriguing in the wider Massachusetts library system and requesting to have them sent here to the Pittsfield library for me.  I love interlibrary loan!  Spoken like a true nerd.  I actually found one book right here in our very own small-town library (Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul: Memories and the City)—once again proving that I shouldn't underestimate Pittsfield.

Having this new challenge presented to me, I decided to use this blog once again to chronicle my journey towards the journey, much as I did at its outset when we were preparing to leave Tucson for the Berkshires.  Writing is sort of like snorkeling for me—it helps me get below the choppy surface to the quiet mysteries that lie beneath.