Stupidity Can Be An Adventure, Too!

Yes, that's right... stupidity. And the stupid one was ME!! I was feeling better this morning (I've had the Turkish Tummy that most newcomers get upon arrival - we get too excited about all the yummy foods and forget that our systems aren't used to it) and was on a roll getting ready. My mind was racing with all the things I wanted to get done, the people I needed to see and so on... I was ready early, able to keep down my breakfast and well rested. I got my things together, remembering the things I had forgotten the day before and then I traipsed out the door, promptly shutting it behind me... with my keys on the inside lock of the door... the doors lock to outside opening immediately. It was great. I had a spare in my pocket, but you can't open it when the key is on the inside like mine was... the spare just spins and spins... So, since I was early, I ran down to the main office and asked one of the Turkish staff (Gulcan) for help. She was wonderful and didn't laugh at me too much as she called the main housing office to see what could be done. Fortunately I live on the second floor and my balcony was open. The housing office thought that they could get in. I raced back to my apartment to meet the worker (this way people would know he wasn't breaking in to steal) and see how this could be done. The worker spoke no English and my Turkish lessons haven't covered "I'm an idiot and locked myself out, please help me" just yet, so with some pantomime he got the message and a ladder. The ladder was too short for him, which prompted a great deal of running back and forth, cell phones and the like on his part. On my part, I got to look as stupid as I felt. Eventually a hero came along. One of the other foreign teachers has her lovely partner here (Charity and Jordan) and he was wandering past and asked what was going on. Even more fortunate for me, he is a rock climber and used his skills to climb the ladder and monkey his way onto my balcony and inside. What the worker couldn't do in the 20 minutes that he had, Jordan completed in about 3 minutes. Thank goodness for that!!! So my adventure into stupidity ended well and taught me the lesson to NEVER EVER leave my keys in the inside lock!! If this school had the monkey award like my school in Korea did (I never got it in the 3 years I worked there) I would have gotten it for sure for that stunt!! hahaha... what a day!!