Quidditch anyone?

Istanbul is a fascinating mixture of old and new. One of Europe's biggest shopping malls is here, - Cevahir at 3.47 million sq ft if you're interested - and skyscrapers tower over roads full of sleek automobiles worth a year of my salary. And yet, you can see the evidence of ancient civilizations all around you, and a person can hardly dig a garden without coming across some Bizantine artifact or other. Last week while dining in a very nice restaurant in Taksim, I saw a man walk by WITH HIS GOAT, and this enormous campus is swept daily with brooms our custodians make themselves. It is these contrasts and surpises that make working overseas such a treat.