Supersize what is about to come out of me.

"He has become Turkish, and you have become American," Yetken (pictured right) said to his roomate Serdar yesterday, when he came in the room and found us watching the Vikings-Bears game -- which ran long on Fox Sports and was the reason I missed almost the entire first half of the Virginia game. I, after all, had watched two Galatasaray games that day (both basketball and soccer), and Serdar was to watch two American sporting events to even the score (or at least allow me to watch, while he surfed the Net).

But honestly, the two of them, plus their third, female roomate Nihan, already seemed pretty Americanized to me -- we ate McDonald's, Burger King and Little Caesar's for our first three meals.


Nothing to mix the old and new like a power shortage forcing us to resort to candlelight .. for a romantic fast food dinner.


But my diet in Istanbul may be the answer to a question I have not been able to resolve: Why have I not been able to go No. 2 for over four days now???????


And is this bad???????


I blame fish sandwiches, kebaps, fast food and NO fiber whatsoever.

And I am a little worried -- please, Allah, do not take your vengeance out on me once I hop onto the night train to return to the Balkans.