"Appointment in Istanbul
By HENRY ALFORD
Published: November 5, 2009
Sometimes what you get is not what you thought you wanted. I had just broken up with my boyfriend of 10 years back in New York, and had flown to Istanbul to try to sightsee my heartbreak away. But then here, unexpectedly, was this very handsome Istanbul native sitting in the placid park just outside the Hagia Sophia: we’d been staring at each other admiringly from our respective park benches. After our glances grew less furtive, he waved me over. I feigned surprise, introduced myself and sat down. His name was Zia, he said, and he had been studying English for three years. He proudly pulled a Turkish-English phrase book from his pocket. His slightly awkward manner seemed situational — but I couldn’t tell whether the situation was that his English was halting, or that he was Muslim and flirting with a man, or that he was Muslim and flirting with a man in front of such a historic mosque."
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