Halloween

Friday, October 31, 2008 - Halloween

This morning I headed out of the house a little early to meet up with a friend from the language circle for a traditional Turkish breakfast. It was quite nice, and I bet many people have had breakfasts very similar to this with a few additions. There were a variety of cheeses, breads, meats, jams, Nutella, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, and maybe a few more random accoutrements, haha!

After the late breakfast, both of us did some walking around popping in and out of stores before heading to a common expat hangout around Taksim/Tunel area. It’s called Linda’s Book Exchange and people pop in and out to have a tea, conversation, peruse books, or just say hi. We ended up sitting there for nearly two and a half hours drinking tea, having great conversation, and absorbing some must do’s and general tips on Istanbul and Turkey.

Around 7pm, I headed back to the flat but not before spotting a small restaurant that looked like it had some fresh looking food. I popped in to see what it was all about. The clerk and I could not understand each other so we spent a few minutes trying to communicate. He had a large serving of what looked like couscous, but I couldn’t quite tell. Finally, I think he just gave up and gave me a little to try on a piece of lettuce. I thought it was great so I bought a wrap. It was absolutely great food that had a little bit of a spice kick. I asked how much and to my surprise was only 2ytl (~$1.20). Finished it up then headed home. Matthias and his friend were hanging out at the house. I told them of my discovery, and Matthias told me I need to watch out because what I ate is called Cig Kofte and sometimes it contains raw meat. I sorta freaked, but later found out this was the vegetarian version. Anyway, you must try cig kofte, it is absolutely great! We decided to walk Matthias’ friend to the metro station around 12:30am and noticed that some people were dressed up. It took us a moment to remember that today was Halloween. Not a big celebration here in Turkey, though a few people were wearing devil ears that light up. Oh yeah, the walk to the metro included another freaking huge steep hill. Bummer! Came home and crashed!