IKEA and Other Ways to Pass the Time

As I power through these four weeks with an open schedule, with Dumi and now other fellow students in my program at my side, we realize there are not only a) a lot of practical things we could and should be getting done and b) a lot of totally impractical but fun things we can and should see before classes start.

So where do I begin?  Ah yes, IKEA!  Turka-style. 

My trusty colleague and friend Zac and I decide to trek to the "local" Ikea, which ends up taking us about 3 1/2 hours commuting.  First there is the bus to Sariyer, then the bus to Taksim, then the bus to a metro stop supposedly right in front of Ikea.  However, when we arrive at said metro stop, and ask around for "I-K-E-A", we get a lot of confused looks.  Finally, a helpful elderly gentleman repeats "oh I-K-AY-A" - so we say "evet, Ik-ay-a, tamam" and he points us in a direction, and encourages us to walk with effusive hand signals. 

We walk as far as we can until we hit a ramp, and we see...Ikea!  but in between us and IKEA are about 6 highways...

Zac and I at this point are so determined to not take another mode of transportation to traverse these highways that we decide to walk...we are sure we can find a little pedestrian path to get over there.  WRONG.  We succumb and take one last metro ride a total of 1 stop, under the crucially limiting highways, and reach our holy grail...

entrance to Ikea

So what do we do first?  We go to the cafeteria, of course - where Swedish interpretation meets Turkish cuisine.  This is interesting, because I get the distinct impression that more cultural factors are playing into the food choices in the Swedish-based company's cafeteria choices - globalization - why else would they have an American-style, lettuce-based salad with shrimp? 

notice the dish on the right: a mezze of dolma and yogurt

I am going to admit something to you all in this post that I am rather ashamed of.  On a couple occasions since getting here, I have been (overly) thrilled to indulge in globalistic capitalist chain stores, such as IKEA and STARBUCKS.  I want to know, why would these places have such a strong magnetic pull for me now, here, in Istanbul, when I rarely visit them when I am home in the U.S.?  I think the explanation is familiarity, and I am not ashamed to give in to a little comfort.  Having just moved to another country for two years, I will allow my occasional support for these stores, especially when it allows me to avoid another cup of instant Nescafe.  This is all to say, I got the pan-cultural shrimp salad.  and it was good!



Ikea cuisine (note Zac's noodles and meatballs, or Kofte)


While we were sitting in the cafeteria, recovering from the mini marathon it took us to get there, I get a message on my phone from a girl named Zeynep whom I have been emailing back and forth with.  Zeynep spent this past summer working as an international camp counselor in Vershire, Vermont, where my sister and her husband live.  One night, according to annual tradition, Jean and Richard hosted the international counselors over to their home for a dinner.  I have been there past years to meet and spend time with the counselors, but missed Zeynep this summer.  However, when my sister told her that I was moving to Istanbul, Jean gave her my contact information with the plan that we would get together.

So Zeynep and her boyfriend Murat, by some miracle of miracles, happen to be on their way out to the area by the IKEA at that very moment.  So we meet up at the entrance and the shopping commences.  Zeynep helps me manage my way through Ikea in Turkish, helping me get appropriately-sized sheets and all of these little things that a language barrier makes difficult.  Most importantly, we reminisce about the Vermont countryside, how Jean and Richard are the most wonderful people ever, and how Istanbul could not be more opposite than the slow-pace of Vershire.  Basically, we have lot's of fun and decide we have to hang out again soon.  After two lamps, bed linens, dishes, silverware, surge protectors, a pillow and dish towels are purchased, I part ways with Zac, Zeynep and Murat, but with the plan to meet up later in the week.



Murat, Zac and Zeynep outside of IKEA

What's another silly thing to do to pass time?  Get your hair did.  The next day my suitemate Dumi and I decide to meet her friend Pinar and go to her hair cut guy in Besiktas, arguably the closest major part of town. 

A big part of my experience here so far has involved just figuring out how to get around.  Istanbul is absolutely massive, with around 14 million inhabitants, spread out over what seems like ten times the area of d.c.  (Hence why it took 3 1/2 hours to get to Ikea) So to get to Besiktas, we take a bus to Sariyer (the town center in our "province) and catch a bus from there to Besiktas.  These two buses take approximately 45 minutes to an hour, depending on traffic. 

bus route from Sariyer into town (on the Bosphorus)

Once we get to Besiktas, we talk to Pinar to find a place to meet up, and we are given directions to 1) walk up a hill 2) when we see a rug shop on the left and a bakery on the right, take a right, walk one block and Pinar will meet us there. 

Let me just pause for a moment.  There ARE street signs in Turkey.  However, the locals like to give directions with landmarks such as shops and in particular, hills; "go up the hill," "there will be a hill," etc.  Now I will admit that I do the same thing in d.c. to an extent.  Wherever a person grows up, we become comfortable with points of reference that are places - this makes sense - who has met a 5 year old that knows major cross streets? 

inland bus route from Sariyer to Besiktas

However, in a place like d.c., there is only one National Cathedral or Uptown theater you can drive by, whereas Istanbul has countless hills, bakers, rug shops, etc....on any given street.

Turkish donut-like pastry, soaked in honey/syrup

Turkish ice cream chain Mado, claim to fame: sliceable ice cream

baklava baklava and more types of baklava

So once we navigate our way through the chaotic streets Istanbul is known for, we meet up with Pinar and go to her hair cut place.  Dumi and I get virtually the same haircut - a trim with very slight layering, all in 20 minutes, all for 25 TL (about $15).  This may not seem shocking to a male reader, but to any American female, this is awesome.  Am I right?

The low cost of hair cuts is actually more of a cultural thing than economic.  It's very common for Turkish women to go to the hair salon every day to get their hair "blown out".  They go in before work in the morning or before a meeting or a dinner, and the hair stylist literally just blow dries their hair, giving it maximum volume.  Think: "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," or just the 80s. anywhere.

cafe on the Bosphorus

boats on the Bosphorus

So Dumi and I have dinner plans with a family friend of mine at a place in Emirgan called "Burger Bar," and a burger place makes sense because the family we are meeting up with has a 10 year old and an 18 month old.  So we take a new bus, 25E, that goes directly up the Bosphorus, passing ritzy neighborhoods such as Bebek.  We get out in the general neighborhood that we think looks close to our restaurant is on the bus map (this is a very common way in which we get around; guesstimation).  And walk up the road about a mile before we realize there is no cross walk across the road we must cross to go into the town.

A word about Istanbul traffic.  I don't think I can accurately describe the way in which cars/motorbikes/buses get around town.  For now I will just say it is like that kid's game "Traffic Jam" where you have to move the cars in all directions to get them out of the game, except with real cars, moving at 50-70 mph.  I ride the bus with my eyes closed most of the time.

more boats on the Bosphorus



So crossing the street at any given moment is also quite a gamble, but Dumi and I prevail.  We then go up a "hill" and instead of taking a left (the correct way) we take a right, thinking it will be better, and we get very lost.  But it's ok!  Because we have a lot of fun.  We found a huge, beautiful outdoor park that resembles a clean and more modern central park.  We walk through, taking note of where we are so we can come back sometime soon.  I will definitely come back with Barnaby once his trans-Atlantic trip is complete.

After being lost for awhile, we get to the restaurant and have a lovely dinner of mini burgers and (for myself) mini falafels.  delicious!  Even better, we go back to the family's house afterwards and have popcorn, fresh fruit (plums, pears, dates, oranges, apples) and watch "Transporter: 3" and playing with babies.  My ideal Friday night.

small mosque in Bebek

Guardian Angel family had their driver take Dumi and me home, and after describing the horror that the bus system can be, I hope you understand the extent of our gratitude.  Home to sleep in brand new Ikea sheets. tata for now :)

Ramazan Bayram: Hiking with Goats and Swimming with Orenciler in Alanya

Alanya harbour

Happy Bayram!  Because I have nothing to do, officially, until classes start in a few weeks, I decided to take advantage of all this free time I have at my disposal and go South to Alanya for the Ramadan Bayram holiday this week. 

view of Alanya from Mcghee center garden

Not only are the abroad students for this semester assimilating themselves at the villa I studied in last year, but my host family just had a baby three weeks ago.  So I contact the handful of people I know in Alanya to alert them of my arrival.

Of course I forgot my camera SIM card in my computer at home, so you guys will have to settle for recycled images from my semester abroad last year....

view from the Mcghee center of the Seljuk Red Tower

at sunset

After flying to Antalya with my Guardian Angel friends (re: last posts) who happen to be traveling to Antalya for the weekend, I take a cab and get into Alanya at about 9:30 on Wednesday night.  I check into the awesome hotel, Hotel Kaptan, that my undergrad University has a deal with where people affiliated can stay for approximately $33 a night.  breakfast included.:)

patriotism!

I should start by explaining what Alanya's deal is.  Alanya is a town on the southern coast of Turkey in the province of Antalya, about 2 hours East of Antalya city.  Beginning in the 1960s, small towns such as Alanya, Antalya, Bodrum, Kas, etc. started being developed by the tourism industry of Turkey.  When my dad was in Turkey in the 60s, there was 1 hotel in Alanya (that my half-sister Jean remembers!) and now there are hundreds, as well as countless shops, bars and clubs.

Alanya peninsula - look for the small monastery!

One reason Alanya was developed as a tourist destination (aside from it's absolutely wonderful beaches and peninsula) is that it has a wonderfully-preserved Seljuk castle, complete with a historic district enclosed with the old Seljuk walls.  One of the best things to do (in my opinion) is scramble around the historic district and hike up the hillside up to the castle.  So after the official orientation tour, on Saturday a few of the students from this years' group and I walked all the way up the Seljuk wall from the very bottom of the historic district by the harbour and climbed off at a picture-taking spot tourists tend to gather in, and received some gawking stares from the photo-taking lobsters.

I should also say that these issues of how to manage and deal with cultural heritage in a place such as Alanya are exactly what I will be dealing with in my Masters program.  As we saw on our tour around the Castle in Alanya, even since last year there have been major changes in the scenery.  Electrical power lines are being planted in the ground underneath the road that goes up to the top of the peninsula so that that area can be developed...which will greatly help the economy of what is a town that entirely relies on its tourist season to keep it afloat, economically.  But still, it raises a lot of questions about how to preserve such wonderful cultural and historical  artefacts...

Iznik tile, from Topkapi Palace in Istanbul (totally unrelated to Alanya)

Alanya and towns like it attract tourists from Eastern Europe, Russia, Germany and Scandanavia....mainly of the drunken variety.  The lack of sun leads to extreme stir-craziness that results in the need for Raki and excess amounts of sun and a 5 minute faux tour of the castle.
 
One wonderful, or excruciating result of being a tourist town is the nightlife.  Despite it being a Wednesday, the bars and clubs on the harbour are impossibly loud - the same Eminem, vintage Madonna and Black Eyed Peas songs I heard last year are still being played on repeat.  So the first night I watched the 2010 World Basketball Championship tournament and tried to drone out the music.  Yes I am old. 

boat in the Alanya harbor

The next night, instead of hitting up the clubs on the harbour, I took my new friends to Cello bar (pronounced like the instrument).  Cello is a traditional "Turkey Bar", playing free live music and catering to a more hippie-esque crowd of Turks.  But even this scene has been tainted by tourist drive.  These bars are decorated in a more Ottoman-style, with lanterns, kilims and carpets and paintings/mozaics.  We were particularly entertained by the Che posters decorating the walls.  And while some of us enjoyed the Efes beer, others (myself included) had amaaaazing herbal tea...for 5 TL...which seems very silly to pay in a country where cay is given for free everywhere - I mean, even at gas stations.  but it was worth it for the ambience that once, especially to show the new kids on the program that they don't have to go to the harbour bars. 

McGhee center garden

I called it an early night Thursday and got some good sleep before our official Castle Tour scheduled with the Seljuk-guru, Dr. Redford (former Georgetown Professor and current Professor in my graduate program).
I meet up with the Professors at Yamac cafe (the best cafe in Alanya, all homemade food; their specialty is homemade manti which is a meat-filled ravioli that is then covered with garlic-yogurt and fresh red pepper mmmm if only I still ate meat.  They also make jams right there in their little restaurant, it's halfway up the road to the Castle, if you ever find yourself in Alanya....)  So I am already feeling kind of old, meeting up with the Professors beforehand for a cay, but I must get used to my new role as teacher's assistant that I will officially take on before too long. 

Our hike up to the Castle (Kale) is amazing.  We go all the way up, stopping to go through a fortress halfway up, as well as tasting carob from a tree on the side of the road (which is an emulsifier used in gum, it has a cocoa-taste to it) and very fresh rosemary - so good!



part of our Seljuk castle wall hike

 We talk about the issue of gentrification which is all too obvious to me - there are tunnels being dug up all the way up the road where electrical wires are being put in place so that houses and restaurants can be built up by the Castle.  These issues will be examined in future blogs regarding my coursework.  For now, I want to tell you all about...the baby! 

I went to visit my host family in Alanya, who I absolutely adore. They are a young couple who own a hotel where I took cooking lessons last year...so anyone that has enjoyed any of my Turkish cooking back home has Deniz to thank.  Deniz and Suha had a baby girl, Melisa, three weeks ago, which is funny because Deniz, who is only two years older than I am, made quite a few comments last year about how she was not entirely ready for a baby.  But life works in mysterious, surprising and wonderful ways, and baby Melisa is here with us...and she is ADORABLE.

I stopped by the local grocery store on my way over to their house to pick up some toys for Melisa.  Although she is only three weeks, I thought it important that she get some good motor skills right off the bat.  I perused the barbie doll toys for girls, and opted for a big red giraffe sticker and a sand dumpster truck, it will help with her coordination more than barbie ever could.

I hang out with Deniz, Suha and Melisa for a few hours, complete with some amazing baklava, a visit from Deniz' parents and some veeeeeery interesting tidbits from Deniz about all-things-baby.  I won't get into it on the blog, but...food for thought!  We also watched the Turkish movie "AY LAV YU" (say it out loud...it's a Turkish movie about an American girl, blonde of course, who falls in love with a Kurdish man) and much cultural clashing ensues, quite entertaining.  I have decided to watch it again in a few months and see how my Turkish is.  Anyway, Deniz, Suha and Melisa have plans to come up to Istanbul in a few months to watch some volleyball games (they're very into volleyball), so I'll be really excited to host them here once I get my bearings.

just another day walking and swimming in the Mediterranean

Saturday turned out to be my last day in Alanya, though I had planned to stay until Sunday.  However, my guardian angel  family had to head back to Istanbul a day early, and I happily agreed to travel back a day early - honestly, I don't think my skin could take another day of the hot Mediterranean sun - it burns!

So I pack up my things, check out and order a sandwich to go from my hotel.  As I wait for the sandwich, I watch Venus Williams lose to Kim Clijsters of Belgium, which I was OK with, the underdog always appreciates it more.  So then I have another Turkey-is-awesome-moment when my sandwich comes.  5 TL (like $3) for a massive hunk of fresh bread, tomato and cheese slices, with not too much mayo, a little ketchup (I think it's impossible to get a sandwich without ketchup here) lettuce, with cucumbers, and extra lettuce and tomato on the side.  mmmmm

another view of the Seljuk wall and the sea

The second Turkey-is-awesome moment of Saturday relates to the bus system: I take a quick cab to the bus station, where as I climb out of the cab, a man immediately filters me to the appropriate bus to Antalya, where I pay 14 TL (!!!!!) for a ticket.  I paid 160 TL for the cab going the other way when I got in Wednesday night, because I got scammed, basically :) 

The flight home was great, I helped the 10 year old neice of the family with her math homework, which were word problems related to facebook...this is now the world we live in.  A wonderful weekend, all in all!  Now I just have to find a way to kill the next two weeks before classes start...tata for now!

Alanya sunset

ISTANBULDAY

Here commences one of the most perfect days, which goes to prove, if you are ever feeling down and someone puts up an invitation to do something, do it!

The day begins with my variation on a Turkish breakfast; no olives and cheese yet, it will take me a while to be able to eat savory food in the morning, so instead I have plain yogurt, various jams and Turkish coffee (caffeinated drink count: 1).  We eat on the beautiful terrace of Onni's hotel, which of course has a beautiful view of the Sea of Marmara, because, due to some awesome assembly of factors, virtually any view one has in Istanbul includes a beautiful body of water.

After breakfast, Onni and I quickly head over to the mini bazaar near the Blue Mosque to get the leather jacket she had asked a man to keep for her.  Then we get serious: the Grand Bazaar.  First stop is the shop where I got a Damascus-style knife for my brother last year, where we spend half an hour sitting, conversing, having cay (caffeinated drink count: 2) and doing business with the shopkeeper; this is how it's done here, and it's great.  Onni buys a similar knife for her father, but the entire knife is encapsulated in camel bone, which the shopkeeper assures me, is taken after the camel is killed for meat-eating purposes.  If you are going to eat an animal, I fully support using the entire animal.  So, yay.

the map of Istanbul I really want to get....

Then we leave to begin the search for my favorite carpet-dealer, Zeki.  Zeki gave me my first carpet & kilim lesson last Fall, and also sold me a rug...without accepting any payment until it was cleaned and had been shipped to me, amazing, right?  So I had to find him, which is no small feat in a bazaar with over 4,500 shops.  But I will always remember Zeki.  We eventually find the shop, and Zeki isn't in yet, but his mentee spends half an hour giving Onni the same lesson I got last year, complete with another cay (caffeinated drink count: 3).  We discuss natural vs. chemical dyes, the different styles of Konya, Persia, Bulgaria, as well as Cicim patterns and prayer rugs.  After intense scrutiny of dozens of rugs, Onni chooses the one for her, and I pick a little one that will go perfectly in my apartment room. I will always find your shop, Zeki!

Onni getting a real feel of a Turkish carpet

Then we are off to the spice bazaar, stopping on the way to buy un-fun but necessary things such as hangers and towels.  Then the spices, oh the spices!  I get a huge bag of dried fruit (they have mangoes!!!!! and strawberries, apples, pears, pineapple, etc), a bag of pistachios, another bag of pine nuts, yet another bag of dates....and then I get to the spices :)  I do not know exactly what I purchased; there was some red pepper, cinammon, cumin, etc....all that mattered was that it smelled. so. good.

after dropping off our huge bags at the hotel, I take a slightly timid Onni to the Cemberlitas hamam - the best hamam in all of Turkey, in my opinion, although I am wildly unqualified to say that.   Cemberlitas is one of the oldest existing hamams, and is where Ambassador Montague's wife, Lady Montague, went when her husband was stationed in Turkey in the early 18th century.  Her description of Cemberlitas in her letter to a friend describes how women derobed from their conservative clothing to reveal their beautiful selves without the modesty that typefied(s) the culture.

For those of you who haven't experienced a Turkish bath, it is quite amazing.  You walk into a dome-shaped room that has beautiful star-cut shapes in the ceiling to let in beams of light.  Directly beneath the dome is a circular marble slab that you place your towel down on and lie on until one of the matronly women calls you to the side for your turn.  Once you lie on the side of the slab, you are scrubbed. thoroughly. with a special scrub pad.  Then they fill a pillow-like fabric with soap and slather that all over you, rinse you off, scrub you some more, massage you, wash your hair, rinse you again, and send you off to the pools!  There isn't really a frigadarium like in the ancient Roman baths, but Cemberlitas has a tepidarium - medium heat, tho it's pretty hot -and a caldarium - hot hot - (most modern Turkish baths don't have these pools).  Onni and I opted to pay an extra 20 TL for a half hour massage - that's 20 TL (about $14 for a half hour massage). 

After our massages we decided not to check out phones to see what time it was or if anyone had contacted us....instead we would do away with our American ways, and instead sit and have another cay (caffeinated drink count: 4).  So we have a lovely cay and chat, and then get ready to head out for an early dinner, because, we have a boat to catch!

We go to a great restaurant where I get an array of warm, stewed vegetables (eggplant, potatoes, green beans, green and red peppers, carrots) with yogurt, and another variety of cold stewed vegetables (really quite deliciously seasoned), complete with fresh bread...all for about $6.50 - another yay.  We then head out to catch our sunset tour of the Bosphorous that a bunch of the kids on the abroad program are going on - 10 TL for 1 1/2 hours cruising up and down the bosphorous at sunset, touristy, yes....amazing, yes.

When we return from our cruise, I decide to be thoroughly lazy, and, with my bags full of spices, dried fruits, nuts, hangers, towels and a rug, take a cab.  It was lovely.  35 minutes, 42 TL back to my apartment...not to be made a regular habit of, but good to know it is not too impossible...at least until I find a more Istanbul & dog-friendly place.

tata for now :)

Turka Turka whaaaaaaaaaaaaa?

outdoor amphitheater at Koc

So the theme of my first Friday at school is: Turka Turka whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa? this can generally be explained as my inability to understand the words that are being said around me, combined with my poor attempts at intermittently trying to speak Turkish and English very slowly (which is really annoying for anyone to do - as if that will magically get people to understand a foreign language). 

Registration did not go entirely as planned.  Apparently I was supposed to bring my college diploma, which is sitting in a lovely wooden frame that my brother kindly assembled.  Perhaps I should have taken that "required registration documents" a little more seriously.

anyway, registration would have been impossible had it not been for my awesome new friend, Yilmaz, who not only helped me decipher the registration documents, but gave me a full tour of Koc's campus, with a foozball game to boot (clearly, I beat Yilmaz with my years of foozball practice alone in my basement).  He also showed me where to get a sandwich (my first experience explaining to a Turk that I do not eat meat was greeted with much existential discussion) and where to get useful things such as razors....but I will never buy a Turkish razor again, we are not compatible. 

main courtyard

Random interjection - while walking around campus, I ran into a young man that I recognized as being an alum from the abroad program I did in undergrad, a very small program in a very small town in Turkey - I approached him and introduced myself, and it turns out he is one of the 9 other students doing the very same Masters program I am doing here - what are the odds?  His name is Zac and I am very glad to have seen him. yay!

Anyway, Dumi and I decided to buy a few of these necessary items in the school store, which of course added up to a scary number, and then of course Citibank decided to flag my purchase - why would she be in Istanbul?  Dumi to the rescue!  Dumi, I have your money!  No need to call your Romanian mafia friends.

The other turka translation problem I had consisted of my discussion with the truly lovely and very helpful dorm registrar.  So I have a few issues with my apartment - I am making it nice and homey, yes, but the location!  I am just far enough outside of the University that I have to flash my passport any time I want to go to campus to, say, go for a swim in their fantastic spa-like pool that overlooks the Black Sea, and I am just far enough away from the city that it makes awesome evening trips in to town more of a hassle than is worthwhile.


The upside of being removed from the city is that it's quite and very pretty: over those hills is the Black Sea.


So I ask this lovely dorm registrar man how I can rectify this problem by finding a place where I can move that is closer to the city, and he LAUGHS at me.  Apparently it is just too far to commute from Istanbul to Koc (I am still hoping this is not true and will talk to as many people as it takes to get a different answer).  I then tell him that I want to find an apartment, any apartment, (it can even be out in the burbs) that will allow me to bring my little 9 pound dog Barnaby.  My kind dorm friend tells me "no, no dogs"......and my heart is broken.  This cannot be true, no apartment in Istanbul or its surroundings cares for 9 pound dachsunds?  what kind of place is this?  perhaps I will have to show them pictures....

I'd like you to take note of the plethora of kittens on campus - why can Barnaby not play with them?

Dumi and I return to put all of our pretty new groceries and such away, a very exciting activity for anyone who has moved into a new apartment/home.  Then, I get a little down.  The whole turka-translation situation left me feeling slightly isolated and as if I would never be able to have the Istanbul experience I am hoping for - to be in the city, and have my little pup.  But I will continue to persevere on both fronts....

In fact just when I was sitting on the couch feeling glum, I got a phone call from my dear friend Onni, saying that she and the group of students on the Turkish abroad program I did last year were all going out to a nice dinner in Istanbul and I should come.  This did not initially bring me out of my gloomy state - it only reminded me of how difficult and far it was to get to the city.  Alumn friend Zac to the rescue!  He says that he will go with me to the dinner that alumns are invited to, and he is more savvy than I with the Turkish bus system (apparently he spent his Fall break traveling around central Anatolia during the program and became quite familiar with the wonderful if not slightly chaotic system.

another ampitheater and view of tower at Koc

street in my neighborhood

So I go for a quick run before showering and getting ready for said dinner.  I should mention that my run was basically an exercise in ignoring all the stares from neighbors that did not understand why a person would just run for no other reason than to expend energy, and I admit, this is a very odd phenomena that only really exists in urban areas.  After time spent in Vermont and now "rural" Turkey, seeing people work in the effort to produce some type of good, it seems very strange to work without a tangible product in mind.  These are the things I think about....

Oh yea, there are also cows in my neighborhood....and sheep.

view of my neighborhood

So after 2 long bus rides and 1 confused cab ride later, Zac and I are in Istanbul proper, Taksim Square to be specific...and the fun ensues!  My first REAL Turkish meal since getting here.  Not only is the food excellent, but it is plentiful.  Now I remember real Turkish-style eating, where the appetizers would be a normal dinner serving in the U.S.....oh my...so we have appetizers of dolma, baked cheese & mushrooms, plain cheese, eggplant/yogurt, tomato/pepper mix and a tasty pastry, and then we have the main dish of fish, stewed (and delicious) celery and carrots with lightly buttered potatoes, and then we have the dessert; fruit with...helva!  a wonderful flour/water/sugar/oil mixture that is basically like a light cookie dough without the chocolate chips....it's so good.  Oh yea, and there is lot's of raki and wine. 

Aside from the wonderful food, I quickly remember another thing I love about Turkish people; they know how to have fun.  When a live band is playing, they do not just sit and stare.  First they start to clap, and then once they get really into the clapping and can't clap any more excitedly, they get up!  and they dance!  men will even dance with men.  And then there is that absolutely joyous smile you see on each person's face, like "oh I am so happy to be here, to be with these people, enjoying this moment". It is truly special to be around people who enjoy life so much.

Onni and I at after dinner

So then the group breaks up, and I decide to stick around in the city with the plan to crash at my friend Onni's hotel so we can get up early and have a full day of fun in Istanbul.  So after a little bit of dancing, Onni and I go home...stopping to getting Caramel brittle and Chocolate ice cream on the way - no I didn't think it would be possible to be hungry after that dinner, but I was wrong.

When we get to the hotel, Onni and I fantasize on google.com for about 15 minutes about the various destinations we can go on our (coincidentally joint) vacation in November...drum roll please!  the top options are.....Italy! Helsinki!  Copenhagen!  Geneva!  What do you guys think?  please feel free to mention any wonderful contacts you have in any of the above listed cities....

and then it was sleep time before Istanbulday

Making my way to Constantinople

After the packing-fest that became a day-long fashion show (thank you Camila, Kathryn and D for providing the stylish innovations that allowed for some serious silliness), the only thing we were left with were four HUGE bags - not exactly the 1 bag under 50 pounds Air France allowed for.  Camila to the rescue!  after realizing that because of my mother's awesomeness that allowed me to fly business class the first half of the way, Cam Cam looked up the regulations and we learned that shockingly, business class patrons are allowed to bring not one, not two, but THREE suitcases all under not 50, but 70 pounds!  oh the world we live in, awfully unequal, but wonderfully so when it benefits me and my love affair with clothing and artwork.

so we get to the airport, and after a few hugs and some serious tears, I am off to enjoy a business class meal...movies! the movies of choice on this flight were particularly good because they were all ones I had wanted to see in theaters but not been willing to spend the time/money doing so - the final selections were A Single Man and Brothers, which I fell asleep halfway through.

Waking up to arrive in Paris is quite lovely, especially when it comes with a croissant and incredibly creamy, French butter and jam :)  After disembarking from the plane, I had 8 hours until my departure to Istanbul.  So when faced with the choice of going through the Passport line to exit the airport or go to the gate for my flight, I thought to myself WHAT on earth kind of a decision is this?  There is no way I am not making the most of this opportunity.

So I leave the airport, after checking in at the information desk to ascertain exactly what on earth the mangled lines on this so-called metro map I had found meant.  Upon being given some pretty basic instructions by this wonderful information-filled French lady, complete with circles and highlights, what do I do?  I lose the map.  But it's OK, because I REMEMBER!

It is one thing to know where you are going, when on the Paris metro system, and it is another to know just how in the world to do it.  But if there is one thing I have learned from long, circurlutous trips up to Vermont with my trusty co-captain Camila, it is this; do not doubt yourself.  If you think you missed the exit, you are wrong, do not turn back, do not regress, just keep swimming!  So I keep walking until the signs eventually prove to be not lying to me, and I get out at......a seemingly random intersection with a huge monstrousity of a building on my left.  So, I wondered to myself, should I ask someone how to get to the Louvre?  Well I am glad that I did not, and instead opted to independently explore this monstrousity of a building that was, in fact, the Louvre.  

approximately 3 hours, 1 medieval castle (complete with moat), 50 Egyptian sarcophaghi, 200 Levantine & Mesopotamian sculptures, 300 Flemish and Dutch paintings and 400 marble statues later I decided it was time to head back to the airport, in case I had a repeat of my train experience on the way back....BUT WAIT, there is a painting stand on the side of the street, I must go check this out.  Of course before I got to the paintings, the Seine river appears around the corner, complete with a lovely pair of French ladies sun-bathing and a skeevy but persistent French man inching his way towards them, unbeknownst to them, but perfectly visible to me with my aerial view of the situation - c'est le amour en Francais!

But I must keep my focus and remain vigilant in getting on the metro by my proposed time of 3:30...which becomes incredibly difficult as I walk by probably the cutest sandwich shop which I will forever kick myself for not going into, especially when all I have is a Cliff bar and a bag of puffins cereal to keep me alive.  so I find the metro, which proves to be slightly more difficult than I had imagined - and after a successful transfer of lines, find myself chatting with a very rugged pony-tailed Hungarian man whose skin is tanner than my (fake) crocodile clutch...he has spent the last twelve days in Paris helping Nepalese monks build boats?  what do we think of this story, this might have been lost in translation, no?

I successfully get back into the airport, checked in and by my gate a full 2 1/2 hours before my flight, to do nothing but sit and have a coffee and people watch.  I first notice the plethora of young couples congregating around me, before I notice that the gate to which I am sitting next to is a light to Seychelles - a likely honeymoon destination.  This makes me happy for them and I am in a good mood.  and then, I start crying, not because I am a lonely woman moving to another country for two years without her friends, but because I see a dog - a cute little terrier/dachsund mix in the arms of a pompous French man, and I think, "why can he bring his dog and I must leave mine at home in the care of my overly-eager-to-adopt-my-dog-brother's hands?"  it is an unfair world we live in.

but I persevere and get on my flight, having to ask a woman to kindly let me pass to get to my window seat(they are my favorite, as I am a child and like to look out the window).  So anyway, back to this woman, I forget how we started talking, but somehow we talk for the entire flight - maybe something to do with the two little bottles of wine we both ordered with dinner - but I think not.  She is Brazilian, going to Istanbul for 5 days with her husband after attending an engineering conference in Paris for her job.  We discuss lot's of good life stuff...and now I have an invitation to go to Rio de Janeiro!  woot woot.

So another perk of being the daughter of an awesome international lawyer is that you have lot's of amazing friends whom you have never even met.  This one being my mom's ex-student and current client, who we will call my Guardian Angel, who operates his business out of Istanbul.  He is also about the nicest and most welcoming guy around...and I haven't even met him yet!  After picking up my luggage, I am greeted by his personal driver, Seljuk outside the welcoming gate.  Seljuk takes me to his hot ride, a spiffy Mercedes (oh so much cooler than the yellow cabs popping around town - it's always important to travel in style, especially when you are a broke student and have no other way of proving your worth). 

Seljuk does his best to not freak out when I tell him I have absolutely no idea where I am supposed to go.  He instead calls Beyza, my Gaurdian Angel Max's assistant, at 12 am, who calls my mom and tries to figure out where in the world I am actually going (I should preface this by saying, it's not entirely my fault I don't know where to go, due to many an unanswered email from the secretary at my university), but we decide to go to the security desk at the university, bc apparently there is someone waiting up for my arrival. 

wall from Pompeii

So we go, and of course, they have no idea who I am.  but it's OK, because they are TURKISH, which means that even when they are telling me that for all they know, I could be a lying imposter, they are REALLY nice about it.  And although I am going to have to be moved to the apartment I'm actually supposed to be in in the morning, they go about doing everything they can to get me set up for the night.  So Seljuk goes home, Beyza goes to sleep and I have a room for the night!  plus two chocolates and a cay (tea).  mmmmmm :)

I sleep from 3 am until 2:30 pm.  A good sleep!  and I wake up in a stupor, a half hour into my alarm goes off, still set for 8 am Eastern standard time - good to know it only takes a half hour to work.  So I wake up and get my move on over to the apartment and a series of conversations terrify me and make me doubt my decision to come here - all conversations having to do with the fact that I cannot speak Turkish and people around me cannot speak English.  But then I go to register for classes (which I didn't end up doing because they were closing) but I meet Yilmaz, an awesome undergraduate student who has enough school spirit to spent a couple hours showing me around campus to try to help me get oriented - and play foozball.

I get to my apartment, which has been void of persons all day, and decide that the best thing to do to get settled is to unpack as I listen to my favorite American tunes.  I unpack and put up all of my letters/photos/objects that remind me or are from my friends first.  and I continue to unpack for an hour or two and I hear a knock at the door...one of my two suitemates!  Dumi.  Dumi is a Romanian girl, my age, who lives in Hungary and is here doing a Masters in History and Society. We instantly bond over trinkets brought from home, on her side are socialist pretzels, candy-covered peanuts and stuffed animals "Marsulius"? in particular is her favorite stuffed animal, apparently he is a big hit in Hungary.  She is equally excited to be doing a two year program and be put up in an apartment all for free.  She also supports my bringing Barnaby to Istanbul and having him live here with us.  She more than supported it, she brought it up on a few occasions throughout the evening, so I think she is pretty seriously behind my Barnaby cause.

our second roomate came shortly thereafer, her name is Zeynep, which is apparently a common Turkish name, because I thought she was the secretary of the school who I have communicated with (one-sided communication), upon which she told me that it is actually a common name and she is not, in fact, the secretary.  Embarassing Americanism #1.  Zeynep is a PhD student in engineering - only slightly given away by the copious amounts of math books I instantly noticed on our dining room table when I arrived.  But she could still be cool :)

That is all for now.  I will check in tomorrow as the quest for necessary items such as toilet paper and bed sheets will hopefully be fulfilled (do not ask how I have been managing today). tata