My father, twin sisters and Turkish step mother live in Istanbul, Turkey. This ensures my visiting the 'largest city in Europe' once a year to kiss my family, practice yoga at Ciyangir, and sip Turkish wines at the top of one of thousands of secret roof-top apartment-bars. However, this last trip was different.
Not only was I able to attent the Turkish president's party for Istanbul being named the Capital of Culture 2010, I was invited on a snowboarding extravaganza in Kartalkaya, Bolu 3 hours East of Istanbul where I found myself being pampered at the ever-so-shi-shi Golden Key Hotel. After living in Bali for over a year, I was deep in powder soft snow—observing individual snowflakes as they graced my mittens.
After a long day of training on a board with the Turkish champion of kite and snow boarding and too many lovely glasses of red wine, my crew headed to the hotel room for much needed sleep. Someone in our room opened the window in the beautiful living-room to smoke a joint and then, forgot to close it. In the morning, the rooms were like icicles. We dressed and made our way downstairs to the lodge. Empty. Restaurant—empty. What the heck?
This may be the only time I'll give weed credit for saving the day because 16 people went to the intensive care unit at the far away hospital. The cause: Carbon Monoxide poisoning.
Our open weed window allowed the winter night air to circulate the rooms, saving us from a fatal woe.
Just another day in the life of Emily.
