Really I did, but I'm just publishing this now!
One thing that I’ve really enjoyed about living in Turkey is drinking the fresh squeezed juice and eating the freshly baked bread. I’ve become partial to the “nar suyu” or pomegranate juice but the portakal (orange) and havuc (carrot) are also good. If you know where to go, you can score the nar suyu for 2 liras ($1.20) and orange for about 1 lira ($0.60), not bad for a refreshing drink. In fact, we’ve started squeezing our own orange and grapefruit juice at the flat here. Oh yeah, this is a good segueway about my living situation. As you may recall, I was living with a lively bunch of folks (5 in all) in a flat that didn’t actually have any real bedrooms. It was an ok flat, but since people were sleeping on couches (not me, thankfully) scattered throughout the house, it made moving around the flat a pain. You couldn’t really use the kitchen in the morning because you’d wake the people sleeping downstairs and you had to creep to the bathroom, ugh. It was just a pain. Another annoying thing was since I was on the third floor any cigarette smoke (the model would not be without one for more than a few minutes) would rise up and just sit in my makeshift bedroom. My German roommate Matthias also became sick of the setup, so he decided to move into another apartment. He asked if I wanted to join him, which at first I hesitated but after a while I just couldn’t take it either, so I did! The new flat was literally a 2-3 minute walk from the old one and very near the Galata Tower. The best part of the new flat was: it was completely newly constructed, the bathroom and shower kicked ass, we each had bedrooms (with doors), and the view was absolutely stunning. The flat sat on the sixth floor and overlooked the Bosphorus River. I could see Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the Asian side, and the Princes Islands to name a few of the amazing sites.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Past Five or So Weeks (Abridged Version) – Part 2
*I guess another lull so this should be titled " . . .Ten or So Weeks"*
The alarm at 7:45am seemed to arrive too quickly. For the past few months, there weren’t many days I had to actually get up before 8:30am. Regardless, today was the first day of my CELTA (Certificate of English Language for Teaching Adults) course. It was only a three hour orientation class from 9am-12pm. I arrived with about fifteen minutes early (again, if you know me this is impressive). I sat down and began chatting with a few students. I learned that apparently I had one of the shortest commutes here at about 10 minutes. One girl had to come from about an hour and a quarter! In case you haven’t heard, many things in Istanbul aren’t necessarily far but the traffic can hold you back. In fact, it seems to be a common phrase/excuse in Istanbul “. . . well, it depends on the traffic!” After orientation, a group of ten of us went to lunch at Dilek Pastanesi right next to the school. It was nice to better get to know my classmates, and a few of us exchanged mobile numbers. After lunch, two others and I decided to do some meandering and tea drinking. We stopped by a small café and started chatting. The two people I was with were from Belgium and England. It turns out the Belgian girl, Desta, is a singer, and a quite good one. She has had many concerts and has traveled all over the world; she has even sung backup for Michael Bublé. In any case, I would like to shamelessly plug her so you can check her and her music out. Her name is Desta Hailé and she sings both solo and with her band The Elements. You can hear her and her band’s music at www.myspace.com/destahaile and www.myspace.com/theelementsbxl and http://www.the-elements.eu Anyway, we sat down and enjoyed the weather and some drinks for a few hours before heading to our respective homes for the day. Also, I determined that there are 15 of us taking the CELTA course (10 girls and 5 guys) and the countries we came from are: 4 US, 3 England, 1 Ireland, 1 Belgian, 1 Australian, 1 Argentinean, and 4 Turkey.
The alarm at 7:45am seemed to arrive too quickly. For the past few months, there weren’t many days I had to actually get up before 8:30am. Regardless, today was the first day of my CELTA (Certificate of English Language for Teaching Adults) course. It was only a three hour orientation class from 9am-12pm. I arrived with about fifteen minutes early (again, if you know me this is impressive). I sat down and began chatting with a few students. I learned that apparently I had one of the shortest commutes here at about 10 minutes. One girl had to come from about an hour and a quarter! In case you haven’t heard, many things in Istanbul aren’t necessarily far but the traffic can hold you back. In fact, it seems to be a common phrase/excuse in Istanbul “. . . well, it depends on the traffic!” After orientation, a group of ten of us went to lunch at Dilek Pastanesi right next to the school. It was nice to better get to know my classmates, and a few of us exchanged mobile numbers. After lunch, two others and I decided to do some meandering and tea drinking. We stopped by a small café and started chatting. The two people I was with were from Belgium and England. It turns out the Belgian girl, Desta, is a singer, and a quite good one. She has had many concerts and has traveled all over the world; she has even sung backup for Michael Bublé. In any case, I would like to shamelessly plug her so you can check her and her music out. Her name is Desta Hailé and she sings both solo and with her band The Elements. You can hear her and her band’s music at www.myspace.com/destahaile and www.myspace.com/theelementsbxl and http://www.the-elements.eu Anyway, we sat down and enjoyed the weather and some drinks for a few hours before heading to our respective homes for the day. Also, I determined that there are 15 of us taking the CELTA course (10 girls and 5 guys) and the countries we came from are: 4 US, 3 England, 1 Ireland, 1 Belgian, 1 Australian, 1 Argentinean, and 4 Turkey.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The Past Five or So Weeks (Abridged Version) – Part 1
So this is where I began to fall off the world, the net, my blog, etc.
The Saturday after Halloween was Matthias’ birthday. He decided to celebrate by inviting friends to Tophane, an area in Istanbul with outdoor nargile bars. What’s nargile, I can hear you all say? You may know it as hookah or water pipe. It’s quite a nice setup. You can either sit in booths or opt for the more casual bean bag chairs. I looked around and noticed many people smoking nargile while playing backgammon and drinking tea. We opted for the bean bag chairs with some apple teas. Unfortunately, we found out later that these particular apple teas were made from powder (available from any store, boo). People started trickling off from Tophane around 11pm and a smaller group of us decided to head to Taksim to check out a pub or two for a few hours before heading home around 2am.
Sunday was a beautiful sunny 70F day. Three of us started walking around town just to do some exploring. We ended up taking a small private boat, for giggles, to cross the Haliç (or Golden Horn) River then perused a market (or bazaar). We ended up taking a water ferry (or vapur) from the market to area called Eyüp which is considered a very holy area for Muslims. During out ferry ride, we had some tea and met a couple Canadians spending a few days in Istanbul on their tour of Turkey. They joined us as we explored the area and had some lunch. We took a few wrong turns but a couple of kids guided lead us where we wanted to go. Atop a high hill in Eyüp, there is tea garden called Pierre Loti which boasts a scenic view of Istanbul and the Golden Horn. The five of us had some tea and watched the sunset. I even have some pictures that will eventually get posted, I promise. Instead of walking down the hill we rode the funicular to the bottom then took the vapur home. Overall, it was a great day with my first real venture outside of my neighborhood.
The Saturday after Halloween was Matthias’ birthday. He decided to celebrate by inviting friends to Tophane, an area in Istanbul with outdoor nargile bars. What’s nargile, I can hear you all say? You may know it as hookah or water pipe. It’s quite a nice setup. You can either sit in booths or opt for the more casual bean bag chairs. I looked around and noticed many people smoking nargile while playing backgammon and drinking tea. We opted for the bean bag chairs with some apple teas. Unfortunately, we found out later that these particular apple teas were made from powder (available from any store, boo). People started trickling off from Tophane around 11pm and a smaller group of us decided to head to Taksim to check out a pub or two for a few hours before heading home around 2am.
Sunday was a beautiful sunny 70F day. Three of us started walking around town just to do some exploring. We ended up taking a small private boat, for giggles, to cross the Haliç (or Golden Horn) River then perused a market (or bazaar). We ended up taking a water ferry (or vapur) from the market to area called Eyüp which is considered a very holy area for Muslims. During out ferry ride, we had some tea and met a couple Canadians spending a few days in Istanbul on their tour of Turkey. They joined us as we explored the area and had some lunch. We took a few wrong turns but a couple of kids guided lead us where we wanted to go. Atop a high hill in Eyüp, there is tea garden called Pierre Loti which boasts a scenic view of Istanbul and the Golden Horn. The five of us had some tea and watched the sunset. I even have some pictures that will eventually get posted, I promise. Instead of walking down the hill we rode the funicular to the bottom then took the vapur home. Overall, it was a great day with my first real venture outside of my neighborhood.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
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!
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!
The Mobile Connection
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Thanks to my friend K, I got a mobile today and now I feel super connected. Well not really, but I feel somewhat normal. Kind of crazy how we get so used to our mobiles and life sort of slows down without one. It’s total BS, though, because we got around fine without them even five or so years ago. Anyway, glad to have it!
Thanks to my friend K, I got a mobile today and now I feel super connected. Well not really, but I feel somewhat normal. Kind of crazy how we get so used to our mobiles and life sort of slows down without one. It’s total BS, though, because we got around fine without them even five or so years ago. Anyway, glad to have it!
It's Been Awhile!
What a horrible song that is, but it's been awhile since I've written in my blog. I've kept up some of the writing, but just haven't published it yet. Basically, the course I started November 3 took over my life, sigh!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Random Indian Guy
So I ran into a random Indian guy today (Wed Oct 29). I was walking back to my apartment and saw an Indian looking guy discussing English with one of the market ladies. I could hear the same thing being repeated in English so I knew this guy wasn’t Turkish. So I stopped, waited till he was done talking, then asked him straight up where he was from (that’s what we Indian folks do). We started chatting, and he invited me to his apartment to hang. I met his roommates an American (teaching English, big surprise) and another Indian guy from Australia who is doing the same as the guy I just met (IT for Turkcell, big surprise for Indians). All three of them were very nice, we sat and had a nice conversation. They all offered to be of any assistance, particularly the American offering his number in case of emergency. Pretty simple day today!
Bananas and a Cat
So I woke up Tuesday (Oct 28) morning kind of hungry for some fruit. I may have mentioned earlier that the Turks don’t really eat much fruit or veggies at least in the restaurant scene. However, around every corner, it seems there is a small market with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. So a few steps from my flat, I stop by and buy a couple bananas. They taste different over here in Turkey, but that shouldn’t surprise me since there are supposedly over 500 varieties of them around the world (or so I’m told)! Regardless of the number of types of them, they are still pretty darn tasty! I continued on to Istiklal Street, which, I don’t think I’ve mentioned, to reach is quite the steep hill from where I live. We are talking some serious incline here folks! I should probably take a picture to prove it. Once again, I was unsuccessful at cashing my Traveler Cheques. I did some further side street exploring then headed home for a few. I wasn’t feeling too well today. I think the traveling, time change, heavy food, and rain all caught up to me where I was a little beat down. I really just wanted to sleep if off, but I had read online there would be a Turkish/English language circle meeting tonight at Dilek Pastanesi, a restaurant not too far from me. On my way up to my room (third floor), I see a random cat hanging on the second floor. I ask Matthias if he knows what this cat is doing here, and he was wondering the same. Apparently, if you leave a certain window open in this flat, you can receive a little furry guest. This isn’t the type of “cat” some would welcome, at least I wouldn’t, ahem! Note to self: close the damn window! Finding the restaurant wasn’t a problem, but locating the group in the large establishment was. I can’t really even begin to explain this place w/ their multiple number of levels and half levels and quarter levels. If you think I’m kidding, just wait and see! Finally found the group on floor 3.25, introduced myself to everyone, and then tripped on the uneven floor surface. Apparently the Turkish/English circle meets every week and is for all speaking levels (and, really, any language). I met an Aussie/Brit, numerous Turkish people, a French girl, two other Americans, and a few other regions. A few of us rode out the evening until 10:30pm or so, did a number exchange (though I don’t have a mobile at this point, but I was happy to share my email address :), then headed out separate ways. Not bad for a random Tuesday!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Day 3
I don’t really remember what I did during the day last Saturday. I think it was a lot of walking around Istiklal Street and sampling random cuisines. In the evening, however, we went to a jazz bar around the Galata Tower area near Tunel (which is also right off Istiklal Street). Pretty much everyone from Thursday night was there with the addition of a few more. The bar had a live jazz band and they even covered some English classics. I got the chance to meet a few more people including a Turkish girl, S, who has lived in Germany all her life but visits Turkey often and is currently in medical school. She could also speak 4 or 5 different languages, impressive!
Day 2
So it’s been a fair while since I’ve updated my blog. Some reasons for the lag are good and some are bad. What’s going so badly? Nothing really too big of a deal! We had nonstop heavy rain for three days starting last weekend. It made for some fairly boring time, so little to really update in my blog, but alas the sky has been clear for days upon days and here I am to provide a weeklong “fill in.” And as I’ve been taught, we should always attempt to see the positive side of things. All that rain was much needed as Istanbul has been too dry the past few years. That rain helped up the reservoir which provides the municipal water for millions of people. Oh, the other major positive, for those few of you that are actually reading my blog. You won’t have to read a complete play by play but instead just the good stuff . . . I hope!
So last Friday (Oct 24), I woke up at K’s house in the morning and just sort of chilled. There’s a knock on the door some minutes later. Fresh baked bread delivered to the door! Had a goat or sheep cheese sandwich then headed off to run a few errands. Came back to K’s house, met K’s mom who had just gotten back from some shopping with her friends, and enjoyed a special blend of Turkish coffee from the southern region of Turkey, a town called, Adana. For those of you who like coffee, give Turkish coffee a try, it’s very similar to Greek coffee (very thick and strong). Didn’t hang around the house long before heading back to my neck of the woods with K. We rode the bus then Metro to get near the area I live called Taksim. Istanbul has an excellent, modern, and clean (and in English) public transportation system. We tried, unsuccessfully, to cash my traveler cheques then again, unsuccessfully, to unlock my mobile phone to use in Turkey. Walked around Istiklal Street, people watched, browsed some shops, then had some coffee to wrap up the afternoon. K had to work so I returned home and figured I’d call it an evening.
Silly me, it’s Istanbul! Turns out my German roommate was meeting some friends for dinner and some drinks and invited me along. How could I say no? We went to a very neat area near Istiklal Street called French Street. Yep, I forgot my camera again but this area was neat. It’s a steep stone staircase with many cafes, restaurants, wine bars, outdoor seating, live music, all with a dash of energetic ambiance. Our Turkish waiter didn’t really understand English so he sent his boss who is apparently “studying to be a ship captain so ‘I’ can speak English just as well as ‘you’.” That was his quote and it wasn’t true, but at least he was confident! Had some food, drinks, enjoyed the live music, and the people watching. We even saw (warning: may be gross for some) a fella being escorted out of the bar by his friends only to plop him down at the table a few steps up from him. He tossed his cookies and successfully scared a table into leaving super quickly. I thought it was funny, some of the table agreed with me, some didn’t! Shortly after the cookie tossing session, we headed home, but not before stopping by a convenience store to pick up a couple bag of chips. Got to the house, ate some chips, my roommate had a sheep cheese sandwich then went to bed, but only after brushing my teeth, duh!
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