Chasing Turkey Lurkey...: November 2010

And that would be…stop blogging because of the crazy hectic life I lead here in Istanbul. I’m not complaining. I mean I am rather used to it—I’m quite fond of the 3 extra hours you must tack on because of transportation time for any excursion one might want to do! As long as I bring a book [homework] or an ipod, 3 hours wastes doesn’t seem so bad!

Anyway, I’m going to go backwards for a while. I will start with my most recent events of noteworthy blogging---FAMILY!

First, let me start with my day yesterday-- 12 hours later and I achieved so little. A friend and I ventured out to get our haircut, pick up her computer in a part of Istanbul, find a movie theatre with Harry Potter in English, go to the city to shop for souvenirs, meet up with another friend to find a Hookah bar and then come back…

1. 1. The hair cut was quite an experience. In the kuafor shop, a young bride was getting her hair done, except it wasn’t her hair that was showing. Rather, the cloth or veil was getting beautified. It was stunning. They had a beautiful design of folds and then a mesh material covered the silk and they added glitter and ornamentation! It was so pretty, but it was interesting that not a strand of hair showed through the veil. Moving on to my actual haircut? Well, as one would guess, I don’t know fluent Turkish and the little bit that I have learned does not involve what one should know for a hair salon. I tried to show them via gestures but that failed. Then I showed them a picture but I really didn’t want my hair to look like any of the available pictures so I picked the best one. I tried to say I did NOT want bangs and I thought they understood. Well after some chopping and layering, they gave me bangs [at least they are long] but it defeated the long, drawn out process I have been undertaking to be able to put my hair up without bobbypins. Oh well…I got what I asked for…and since I couldn’t ask for anything, I got what they wanted to give!

2. 2. We got the computer and then we got lost trying to find our way to the metro station. Oh well. It was a fun walk around Sisli, a part of town I otherwise would not have explored! We had Sbarro Pizza and Krispy Kreme donuts—yes it was our AMERICANIZED day!

3. 3. We found the metro got off where we needed to and then the troubles began. We coouldn’t find a dolmus to take us where we needed to go so we started hopping on a dolmus, asking if it was the right one and then hopping off when it wasn’t….we didn’t pay for 2 means of transportation and definitely got yelled at in Turkish! Oh well…Finally, we found HARRY POTTER….but unfortunately we were 30 minutes late for the showing. So we waited….we waited 3 hours in the mall. This mall was massive….about 6 stories and 2 football fields wide…if that doesn’t seem large, them my proportions are off…because it was HUGE! After waiting forever, we saw Harry Potter 7 part 1 in an IMAX theatre and it was amazing!

4. By the time we got out of the theatre it was 9pm so we decided to head back. Again, our limited knowledge of transportation was most unfortunate. We ended up going to a place we knew to catch a dolmus that we knew would take us where we needed to go but we definitely backtracked for 30minutes. Oh life in the city!

OKAY—NOW FOR THE WONDERFUL WEEK WITH MY PARENTS AND ANDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [Nov 18-25]

Luckily, my dad has great connections and they were able to stay at Roberts Kolej at their guest house which made the entire experience so much more relaxing and cost efficient! On the first evening, we walked to Ortakoy to experience the famous potato! I can’t explain it suffiently but perhaps I’ll try to replicate it someday! The giant potato was a delicious dinner, which we followed up with Turkish Apple tea. We walked around Ortakoy for just a little bit and headed back to the house. It was a fun filled evening of conversation, catching-up and going to bed! Early the next day, however, we ventured to the city in hopes of going to the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar. Little did I know that because it was a holiday, EVERYTHING was closed. Instead, we got lost searching for the bazaars and ended up going to the magnificent HAGIA SOPHIA and Blue Mosque. After being amazed for a second time, I advised the rest of them to go to the Underground Cistern to be amazed once again. I studied in the courtyard between the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. Afterward, we walked on Istiklal street in Taksim. This is the pedestrian street, traversed daily by 1-3 million people. Around 5pm it was busier than usual and WOW…it was overwhelming for us all…I’m pretty sure it was not enjoyable for my parents but I don’t want to put words into their mouth! [We got back via taxi…traffic was so bad that we got off at Ortakoy and walked 1.5miles just so we didn’t have to sit in traffic and pay the taxi driver more!] Again, it was an early night in preparation for an early morning!

On Saturday we went to Dolmabahce Palace…one of the most gorgeous structures I have ever seen! Thanks to Anda’s illegal photography, you can see a few shots from the interior. The palace is home to the heaviest chandelier [4.5 tons]. The ornamentation of the entire palace is just incredible. The structure is set along the Bosphorus and even the exterior is quite a site to see. The interaction between the natural elements is remarkable-the fountains, water, gardens and building elements join together create a fascinating complex. It was well worth the money!

We walked from Dolmabahce Palace to Istanbul Modern Art museum and while the family went through the permanent collection, I again did homework. Then we walked to Tophane and partook in the hookah environment. We had peach hookah and tea. and played a few games of Backgammon! Afterwards we walked a long way to Eminou to eat under the bridge at a fish restaurant. It was a crazy experience. As you walk underneath the bridge, it is lined with restaurant after restaurant. The host tries to intice you to eat at their “wonderful and different” restaurant when in fact, they are basically the same style of restaurant. Sometimes the hassling goes to such an extend that the person will walk in front of you, with a menu shoved in your face, for 30+ seconds. It is the most annoying thing! Since we were having a lunch/dinner around 2, we decided to walk across the entire bridge. When we reached the other side, we stumbled upon the spice bazaar which interestingly enough was open (despite the fact that we were told the Bazaars were closed for the entire weekend because of the holiday)….oh Istanbul! So we went to the Spice Bazaar and did some worthy shopping. A shop keeper that my dad made small talk with decided that I was “Turkish” because I go to school here and thus, we all get the Turkish-price for things…which in fact is about half the price they try to sell to tourists! We bought some spices and fabrics and other souvenirs!

We came back to the house and crashed---super early morning. We went to Princess Islands in the Marmara Sea. I helped the family rent bikes and told them how to go around and up to the church. I sat and did homework in a coffee shop. When everyone returned from the bike trip, we had to wait around for 2 hours to catch a ferry to the Asian side—to Kadakoy. The wait was not fun because on the small island, there was only so much to do and see. Eventually we boarded the ferry and after a long 1.5 hours we arrived in Kadakoy. We went to the candy shop, bought lots of Turkish delights! Then we found CIYA…and had a very Turkish dinner. Finding a bus back was an adventure but we managed to make it back to the house. It was a long day even though we didn’t do too much. I had to go back to school that night as well. I was very sad to leave, even though I knew I would see them again. It was so nice to be with my wonderful family again….I am more than half way through but at times it seems like the day will NEVER come. Istanbul can be so overwhelming. The population. The lack of language knowledge. The lack of transportation knowledge. It is frustrating. But nonetheless, I feel like I was a great tour guide for my parents and Anda!

I know that Anda and my mom made it to the Grand Bazaar and back to Ortakoy for another potato! Dad was doing his art-thing with the students at Roberts Kolej and I am sure they loved his presentation/demonstrations!

I went back to the house to see my parents on Wednesday for several hours. I skipped class and got there around 3. We went out to dinner and have a nice, relaxing last day. I made sure they were set to go and then I hopped on a bus and made my way back to Koc University. The next day, I find out that their flight was delayed again and again and well…they made it back 24hours after they were supposed to…I HOPE THEY THINK IT WAS WORTH THE TRIP ANYWAY, BECAUSE I SURE HAD A FABULOUS TIME WITH THEM!