not chic in the least

The other day I walked through Cihangir, a charming little neighborhood with great antiques and such. Let me emphasize the fact that this is a neighborhood (aka I was the only non-Turkish person in sight). I should also preface this story by saying that it's extremely rare to see someone eating on the street in Turkey. It's considered rude, and is therefore a dead giveaway for tourists. So, I'm strolling through the back streets of this trendy section of town, attempting to look cool even though my jacket covers my skirt and therefore I look like I have no pants on. But, I'm hungry (naturally), so I grab a simit (basically challah bread off the street) and am eating quickly so that I won't embarrass myself for too long. People are definitely starting to notice and stare (oh my God the staring here...). A nearby school get's let out and packs of 12 year old girls looking uber-mature and smoking cigarettes pass me by as I am covered in bread crumbs and shoving simit into my mouth. Alone. Did I mention I was lost at this point?

Turkish women (or in this case, prepubescent girls) have a way of making you feel like you just crawled out of an ugly swamp. It's a special power they have. The secret is hidden somewhere in their perfectly styled hair, naturally beautiful coloring, or high heels worn in the middle of the afternoon.

Next time, I'll put down the simit and pick up a hair brush.

an act of love

'When humor can be made to alternate with melancholy, one has a success, but when the same things are funny and melancholic at the same time, it's just wonderful.'

Family Business

Having family in Turkey really made me feel like a local, mostly because they're the only people in this country who think I'm good at speaking Turkish. Spending time with them was magical, and spending money was comical. The highlight of my trip was probably the (two) time(s) we bought carpets. Let's begin.

The first was completely accidental. We were walking to get coffee in Sultanahmet and a man accosted us on the street, in the most charming way. He convinced us to join him in his old wooden house, with carpets literally pouring out from the windows, for homemade türk kahvesi. Which turned into apple tea. Which turned into Efes. Before we knew it we were drunk and he was throwing in table runners as gifts with the two carpets we had just purchased.

As entertaining and perfect of an experience as it was, the hysterical part came the next day when we were walking by his shop and the man somehow spotted us and ran out to invite us in for more Efes. 'Mama please!' he said. He knew he had us. Not even an hour later we were walking out with another carpet. But this one was for me, so I didn't complain, even though Simi nearly had a panic attack as we haggled for the third addition to our recently acquired collection.

Blue Mosque, Gray Day

Sneak Preview:

The Botic Family in Istanbul (minus Dad)! More on this later.

The Other Side

I think I had one of the best days of my life this past Sunday. I'm not sure why we are all in such good moods, it couldn't have just been the weather, but for some reason we were in a state of unwavering bliss. A group of us took a ferry to the Asian side of the city and spent the day there. We immediately fell in love with the side streets flooded with young locals. The fresh produce markets,  buckets of flowers spilling onto the sidewalks, and the most inexpensive and delicious baklava we've had to date. After exploring a bit and eating a lot, we sat by the water and soaked up the warm sun and the positive energy of the crowd around Ataturk's statue (half of whom were dressed up like zombies/dancing to techno music and we still don't know why). We found a great residential area with incredible cafes (where I had the best Turkish coffee since arriving here and two scoops of pistachio and blackberry dondorma for 2 lira) and some backstreets lined with tiny bars stuffed to the brim with men in jerseys watching soccer. We stopped for an afternoon Efes and managed to fall even more in love with this city. I can't wait to go back.

Here comes the sun

Golden Horn

Leighanne visits!

Steep trek to Bebek

Bogazici campus

At our favorite restaurant in Bebek

Afternoon between classes

Loophole

Turkey recently banned blogspot after one person posted some copyrighted materials. Thus the reason that I haven't updated you all in a while. However, after midnight the site seems to work perfectly fine (thankfully, or else I would have to go far too long without my usual dose). So, I'm writing a quick post before the government can stop me (aka the morning).

It's snowing in Istanbul, can you believe it? Still, I'm over the original, overwhelming feeling that there is too much to see, too little time to see it, and that I have too little knowledge of Turkish or public transportation to figure it out. Despite the cold weather, I've been exploring different neighborhoods and trying them on for size. I really like the Galata area and found a delicious Turkish restaurant there that is essentially a woman's kitchen where you go and point to the pots of food on the stove to indicate what you'd like to eat. I thought I had asked for four different things on one plate and ended up with four plates of food (as you can tell, the language barrier is still an issue). Honestly, I've never been so well fed in my entire life. There are also a ton of antique shops and small cafes that look wonderful that I can't wait to poke around more. I visited the modern art museum and saw, for the first time, modern Turkish artwork (something that's understated in a land of ancient ruins and Ottoman palaces). Basically, I've just been getting more comfortable with Istanbul. It seems impossible to start, it is so easy to think that you could ever know something so big, so intimately. But I just had to begin pushing into it. One restaurant/bus route/museum/coffee shop at a time.

So there you have it, all that time without a post and nothing earth shattering to say, but this is the most important part. This is where the most work must be done. Becoming familiar with a place that only a few weeks ago seemed so utterly impervious. Making it my home.


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p.s. I apologize for not posting photos. I haven't taken my camera out because I feel like an uber tourist, but  I will try my best to change that.

Did I mention...

how cute the stray pups here are?