Last Day in İstanbul (for the time being)

İstanbul is full of people that I know, actually more than I have visited, but there is one whom I hadn't seen for quite a little while and decided to vist: Furkan. He was almost always the star player on whichever soccer team he played on during our pickup games back in Worcester. However, a while after graduating he returned to Turkey to work and I had not seen him since. In my last day in İstanbul, I decided to try to find him. We met up and walked a short distance to a really huge mall. I took a picture shown above. We had kebap at a restaurant on the top level. I had iskender kebap which was really amazing. After that, Pınar met up with us and we went to Gloria Jeans in the mall to get some coffee. Things were pretty chill. Pınar took a picture of me and Furkan which is below.

By then, I had already purchased for the amazingly low price of about 40 USD my plane ticket to the south of Turkey. The plane would be leaving the next morning very early. I would see Misa later that day. It was a lot of excitement to ward off in order to savor and enjoy the moments I had in İstanbul. That night it snowed and snowed. I was worried that maybe the snow would continue into the morning and delay me on the way to the airport or delay the plane on the way to Antalya. As it turns out I got to the airport fine but the plane was delayed a bit. It was a long trip but eventually I found Misa and what a renunion it was. But that story will come soon.

Serendipity

I don't have any pictures to go with this one but I will tell you about it. Well, two things actually; two coincidences:

1. Back in the summer I worked at KEMA in a with two guys, Aaron and Isaac. One day the topic of Turkey had come up and Aaron mentioned that he had a Turkish roommate. I was curious what her name was and where in Turkey she was from. He more or less supplied that information and I had all but forgotten about her a few days later. This was in early July. Fast-forward to my flight to Turkey the other day. I was with a friend, Leon, about to board the plane in Boston when he saw his friend, Selin. I was introduced and we began talking. My seat was very near Selin's on the plane and so we asked someone to switch with me, which the man happily agreed, for, for him it was a switch from a middle seat to an aisle seat. By the way, did you notice the use of "for, for"? I thought it was brilliant. Anyway Selin and I were talking a lot when I pulled out a notebook on which to write that happened to be an old KEMA notepad. She saw the logo and asked about it. I told her I had worked there the summer and then she gasped. After a few moments of being stunned and me really getting curious, she said "you know my roomate".

2. Pınar and I went out for dinner together in the part of İstanbul called Taksim, which is everybody's favorite place. We had a big dinner and then went looking for a place to sit and get a drink. The problem was that in Taksim there are like 1,000 places to do this. So we wandered and wandered. Too crowded, too many old people, too expensive, too loud, too sketchy looking, too close to the sketchy looking place... We thought of every excuse not to enter one place or another. After wandering for a long while Pınar stopped in front of a place we had passed previously. A man was already ushering us to sit down at a small outside table. Most of the places we went were so crowded that one had to sit outside. Anyway I figured that after a beer I might not mind the cold so much. We sat down and each got a beer. I got a large, which turned out to be huge, and Pınar got a small, which turned out to be large.

Sitting hunched over the table, we had barely spoken two or three sentences and taken two or three sips when suddenly I heard my name. "JEREMY!" Not to brag, but I am used to this thing back in the Worcester/Boston area, because I know enough people randomly that I sometimes run into them in strange places. But in İstanbul I stop wondering if I will run into someone unexpectedly because there are 10 people in İstanbul that I know and 11 million people I don't know. The odds of seeing one of them on the street is literally one-in-a-million. 

When I looked up, I did not see a Turk. Instead I saw Isaac from KEMA. He stood there smiling. I jumped to my feet to shake his hand and asked the predictable question "What the hell are you doing here?!?" He was vacationing for a few days in İstanbul with his brother and parents. They had arrived in İstanbul just a day or two before. He told me that he was in large part inspired to visit Turkey because of me and another friend of his. Sure I mentioned Turkey when we were chatting at work and spoke highly of it, but I didn't think he would visit anytime soon. As amazed as I was to see him, I could only wonder what his amazement was like. To meet someone who is more or less obsessed with a far away place and then to have a chance encounter with that person in that far away place... He must think I live here or run the city or something.

Well, I am sorry, but in my dazed state, I did not think to take a picture. I will try to pull the camera out a bit more in the next few days. Tonight, I might see Isaac again. Tomorrow, I will see Misa again. This trip is about to get out of the introduction and enter chapter one. 

A birthday in İstanbul

Today was the birthday of Pınar's dad, Sabahattin (both shown above). We had a bunch of cake and wine. Both were very delicious. After the dessert, we looked at old family photos from both of our families. It was a lot of fun, of course.

 

İstanbul again

The unforgettable Sea of Marmara

Weekend Highlights

It's always nice to get out of Worcester and especially to go home. This being the finals weekend, I did not have a lot of time to stay but I wanted to drop in at least before traveling this winter break. Highlights of the weekend:

Dinner on Saturday night. Dad and I went to Stonington to the dock to buy some lobsters. Since the economy is in bad shape, a weird situation involving the failure of Icelandic banks and the Canadian lobster industry has caused lobsters in Maine to be really cheap. So we had lobsters for dinner. You can kind of tell when I am giving you the short version of the story. Anyway, I had set the camera up to take a picture of us having dinner. Nina wasn't around because she went to see some of her friends dance in a production of the Nutcracker Ballet. The lobster was great. Of course. Salad was great. Never realized how much I have come to like beets since I was a little kid. Rolls were great. Ok I have to stop because I feel weird talking this much about food. Oh and I'll mention that I also feel weird when other people talk a lot about food. Especially on those tv shows. Food is a means, not an end. If I had eaten that dinner by myself, it would not have been as good. Kebab tastes better in Turkey, rye bread tastes better in Denmark, and beer tastes better with friends. The rest is survival.

Walking the dogs with dad. I'm not going to lie, it was cold, but one comes to miss the ol' Tom Tapley Road after a while. It's the whole back to nature thing. It is just nice to be outside and walking and talking with dad. Well we didn't talk about too much because I was busy throwing a stick for Maude, the puppy. Shown below is a picture of Dad with Boris.

Getting a Christmas Tree. I feel bad that I will not be in the country for the second Christmas in a row. Not that bad but still kind of a little tiny bit bad. However I feel like I was able to be a part of it by helping to get the tree. We went to the same place we always go and we found a tree pretty much right away. It was definitely a tree that only looks good from one side, but that of course is good enough. It did make for a few jokes and laughs though. Oh and Nina will probably kill me for putting this picture of her here, but she was asking for it by wearing her SLIPPERS out into the woods on our tree search. While I'm at it, I'll mention she was also wearing shades even though it was rather dim out. So my point is that my step-sister has style no matter what her surroundings happen to be.
This ends the start of a crazy family-visiting adventure where I will be seeing everyone in my immediate family over the next few weeks except for one uncle, one cousin, and my half-brother. You know what this means... the blogness is going to get incredible. In other words, I'll be posting pictures and stories here about my adventures frequently in the coming weeks. Anyway, ciao for now.

Ice Storm

I admit that I almost never check the weather. Life is more exciting that way, like the other night when there had been as ice storm that knocked trees across the road and knocked out the power for a lot of people. So I woke up and walked outside and was like "hunh". Whaddya know! There's ice everywhere. Yay. And it was all anybody could talk about that day. I guess the part I liked the most was that as the ice melted it seemed like it was raining but only if you were near a tree.

At least the weather cleared up for my drive to Maine later that day.

Moon Over Kampüs

A night out on the town

Last weekend, I went out for dinner with my friends, Merve, Kahraman, and Merve's friend from Sabancı, Zeynep. While we waited for a seat at the restaurant, I set up the camera to take a picture. After the dinner, we went out to explore the city. The night carried on rather late, but it was most enjoyable. I was really happy that Merve and Kahraman had invited me out because if they hadn't I would have been stuck at home with nothing to do and feeling bored.

Thanksgiving Pictures

A new roommate

My friend, Sebastian, moved in yesterday. He wanted a new place to stay because he was living in a bit of a crowded apartment, and ours had an extra room. Actually the evening started with the WPI men's basketball team winning a game 78-77. It was exciting but meaningless. Then we came home and made pancakes. It was lovely as you can see.

Green Schools Tour

I spent the entire day today in the Boston area, accompanying my former boss on a tour of green school buildings. I had helped to make the arrangements for the tours back in June and July, and upon request was allowed and encouraged to attend. There were a lot of architects there which scared me because I wondered how architects do their job. I mean there are so many details, and what if the people didn't like the building in the end? Actually one of the architects addressed that issue because some people did not like the rustic, weathered look of the exterior on one side. I noted that it kind of looked like the side of my house in Maine. The guy explained that he had opted out of completely staining the cedar shingles because he knew they would hold up without it, and he wanted a more natural look and feel to the structure. So anyway I learned a lot about buildings, I got really jealous of how nice the kids had it at those schools, and I really enjoyed the occasion overall. What else is there to say?

Now I think I will conclude this post with a picture of my friend, Ilan, in the Campus Center the other day.

soccer reunification

It almost looks warm out in these pictures. The Sun had just come out, but that didn't help much. It was so cold! Yet most of us felt like this was maybe our last good chance to play a little soccer together outdoors for the year. We played a frigid match of 5 on 4. I was on the team with 4, but I think I would have been just as tired either way.

Continuing the Streak

Feeling alright the next morning after getting a lot of sleep, i received a call from Kahraman reminding me of our tentative breakfast plan we had made the night before. We piled into the car at about 12:30 to go to IHOP for breakfast. When we got there it was really crowded so we had to wait. I took this picture while we waited:
For breakfast I had pumpkin pancakes. When asked if i wanted butter or whipped cream on them I said butter, which I regretted after seeing a huge glob of butter on top of them when they arrived. I had picture a thin slice of half-melted butter just oozing down the sides, but instead there was a heap of butter, enough to grease a large pan for maybe 3 batches of eggs. But I digress...

I took a short video of Merve and Kahraman/ In the video, there is a joke about the Turkish phrase "hayirli olsun" which means something like "enjoy it", but could be taken literally to mean "let it be with no".


So that was Saturday breakfast. Thanks again, M and K. Afiyet olsun!

Hygge of sorts

Some might wonder what happened to me. School happened. And other wonderful things but anyway, I started taking pictures again which means that I can start making blog entries again. Cuz who really reads the words anyway? It's all about the pictures.
So if you were wondering, my friends Sebastian, Valentina, and I decided rather spontaneously to have a dinner and a light gathering. After going to the grocery and liquor stores, we began making preparations for dinner. I of course cleaned the apartment frantically because I feel like it is messy all the time anyway, and also I had had no time to prepare for the company coming over. My apartment was soon a busy and exciting place with Danish hip-hop/pop music heard coming from the speakers in my room. A few additional friends arrived.
It was the kind of Friday evening that I wished for after a long week of classes, but I couldn't have planned for. Thank you to those who were there, and welcome to those who were not. Welcome to the next spontaneous totally-chill evening that comes and goes but leaves a good feeling.

Walking the dog in the woods

When I took this, I didn't realize that the dog was also posing. Actually she was probably eye-ing the stick in my hand, wondering if I might throw it. Of course I eventually did :)

A night out with some friends

I enjoy hookah on a rare occasion. Last night some close friends asked me if I would come along with them for "nargile". I recalled my last time smoking the hookah. It was New Years Eve, and I was in a hookah bar in the Cordon part of İzmir, Turkey. I remember the day fondly. So I went along with my friends last night to a place that they frequent. When we got there it was crowded, but my friends being 'regulars', so to speak, had no trouble getting us a private room in the upstairs section which had been closed. There we chilled out for a couple of hours, talking all the while about many things. I puffed charily on the lemon-tea-flavored tobacco until it saturated the senses at which point I focused less on the surroundings and more on the conversation which until then I had not noticed was in a different language. It must have switched slowly from the familiar English to the murky Turkish, but my friends' accents remaining unchanged had made the transition seamless. The night carried on in a continuously enjoyable manner. So I took a picture.

More to come.

a memorable evening

Miss you, Misa.

My song of the week

The song I listen to in the morning and in the evening and when I walk to school and when I come home: Sigur Ros - Góðan daginn (Good day)

I thought to include a picture from a part of Turkey that I would like to go to. It is in the province of Kahramanmaraş.

black holes and revelations

(T)here are the times when one feels the frustration of realizing the existence of a flaw of theirs. and who can be blamed? what can be done? There is usually no quick fix right? People change but all too slowly. Of course we regret some things in the past, but that regret will only grow as the past grows unless something is done. At the end of a sport's season, one can regret the defeats but that is all they can do. The sequel to the amazing film will not be released until next year. The next season will not begin for 9 more months. But we cannot ignore the losses and regrets in our lives because there is no sequel to our movie and there is no next season.

Aristotle said that everything people set out to do is considered by them to be 'good'. More specifically he said:

Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim. But a certain difference is found among ends; some are activities, others are products apart from the activities that produce them. Where there are ends apart from the actions, it is the nature of the products to be better than the activities.

Aristotle doesn't say anything about accidents. Curious.

Ultimately, when we regret something where there was motivation for it, we regret the motivation more than the action itself. The question becomes what really are our motives. For instance, I would like to think that I am selfless all the time, but it just isn't true. As I am with the ball near the goal, I consider passing to someone with a better shot, but sometimes the thought of the glory of making the goal overtakes me and I shoot it anyway. A harmless act of selfishness really, but it still helps me make the point: there is the person we would like to think we are, and there is the person we really are. I don't wake up each morning thinking about the mistakes I might make that day. Just before I swing the tennis racket, I picture myself hitting the ball perfectly, though it rarely works out that way.

We all hope that our lives will only get better. We don't think about the people who will die, or the mistakes we will make, or the regrets we will have. But maybe life will always be as good as it is. Maybe our expectations will go down with time and create the illusion that everything is getting better. Or maybe all we can do is practice to be more like the person we already think we are. That, plus a little luck, and life should work out fine.

Songs: Which are your top 3 of all time?

Like most people, I have listened to a lot of music. I have heard a lot of bad music, and I have found some decent music too. Sometimes I wish that some divine entity would hand me a cd with my favorite 50 songs of all time (including the future of course). That would save me so much trouble!

Anyway I got this idea which is that I will tell you what my three favorite songs are, and you can tell me yours. Seems simple and maybe a little stupid, but I think it will rock. See, you have had a lifetime to find good songs, as have I, as has everyone else. So why don't we all benefit from each other's, shall we say, well spent time by sharing with everyone what these songs are. Don't just pick the three songs on the radio that you like the most right now. I mean the three best ones ever. I will then try to get a hold of all the songs you put and listen to them to decide which ones are my favorites. You may do the same if you want. As soon as you can, post a comment with your 3 favorite songs of all time.
Here are mine:

Radiohead - Let Down

Oceansize - Music for a Nurse

Sezen Aksu - Firuze

Of course it is really hard for me to feel tremendous about these choices. I could name about 10 other songs that I could have chosen in place of one of the other ones, but ultimately I had to base it on many different factors. You may base your decision on whichever factors you please. Maybe there is a song that doesn't get old no matter how many times you listen to it. Maybe there is a song that you used to listen to during an especially memorable time of your life. So go ahead and choose the 3 that are your favorites. I will look forward to listening to them.

State Quarters

For the short story, skip to ***

Remember when the government started making those state quarters? I was 13 at the time and I was of course very excited the first time I saw a Delaware quarter. I had assumed that coins were one of those things that never change, but here I was wrong. Things do change and life is all the more exciting for it. That was my initial response anyway.

So then I thought, I should collect these! Oh what a marvelous thing to collect. Stamps are boring, bugs are gross, but quarters! So I looked around and found a Delaware quarter and said, "Ah-ha! Now my collection has started." Then I got this terrible feeling of the slowness of time when I remembered reading in the newspaper that they would be releasing the new quarters every 10 weeks for like 9 years. I tossed the Delaware quarter aside and decided that I would just forget about the damn state quarters until at least most of them were released. Fast forward to the other day.

I realized ah ha! They have all been released and I totally forgot about them until now! Ok, I really wasn't that excited. ***But the short story is I have decided that I will collect the state quarters until I have them all. For the conclusion, go to ^^^. I started the collection August 10th when I went to do my laundry and stuck a $10 bill in the change machine. I used the non-state quarters for my laundry and put the others in a box. I can't imagine why you would care, but this blog is about me and I care (a little anyway).

^^^As you guessed, the map above shows in green the states whose quarters I have since I started my collection. I will update it as the quarters come in. If you see me around and happen to have one the quarters I need, I'll be thrilled if you give it to me.

Regrets

Sometimes when I ask someone what their regrets are, they say "I have no regrets," and then I regret having asked them.

Geography Lesson

This is sort of random but I was thinking about how a lot of states in the US have capitals that are not their biggest city. ME, NH, NY, CA, TX etc etc. In fact the capital of the US is not our biggest city. Then I got to thinking, I wonder which other countries also share this trait.

On the map shown above, blue countries have at least one city that is larger than their capital. I suppose each country has its reasons. Turkey moved their capital from İstanbul to Ankara to protect it from invasion. Brazil wanted to move the population inland and so they took the opportunity to build a new, gorgeous, modern capital city in the middle of nowhere. I think I like the idea of a country having a capital city that no one has heard of because then one city in your country doesn't get all the attention. Unless of course you are like Greenland and no one has even heard of your capital city. In that case you have to stack everything into one city and hope for the best. Does anyone know its capital without looking it up? ...I didn't think so.

A Bit About Work

Upon request I have put a couple pictures here from work. Actually I don't usually look that thrilled, but I enjoy my work. It is sort of too bad that it will all be over soon and I will go back to school. Of course I am also a little excited about school.

While I am making a post about me, I thought I'd mention the highlights from the passed week in chronological order.

1- Turkish Language Meetup was great. Really nice people. Had lots of Rakı.
2- Saturday morning breakfast with Safiye. Cooked sigara böreği. mmm
3- Hiking, ice cream, and... corn of all things with two additional friends, Mike Susie and Ferit. By the way I have to remember that we have a rain check for mini golf.

And what I am looking forward to these next couple of weeks:

1- getting back into regular-ish communication with Pınar after her travels to northern Spain and Eastern Turkey.
2- going to chill with Safiye and finally get around to having an Avrupa Yakası marathon. What a hilarious tv show (the theme of which gets stuck in my head all the time).
3- weekend get together with some friends at a lakehouse.
4- sister coming for a visit before moving to Holland. I lost a bet to her back in June over a soccer match and so as agreed I will take her out for some Turkish food in Boston. Actually, the bet was rigged because I agreed regardless of the outcome of the game. Anyway, really looking forward to that.

The Rarest Dates in the Next 50 Years

Remember all that hype from back in the year 2000? I'm not talking about the y2k stuff, but just the fact that it was going to be the year 2000. Everyone was freaking out because for the first time in a thousand years, the date's fourth digit from the right changed. The 1 in the 1000's place became a 2. That digit would not change again for 1000 years.

...But then I got to thinking. What is the real significance? As with any counting system, the three things that determine the number are:

1. when you start counting (in this case sometime within half a dozen years of Jesus Christ being born)
2. how much you count by (one year, every year)
3. which base you count in (base 10)

I am going to talk about the third one. The year 2000 looks pretty sweet in base 10, but look to the right to see what that year was in other bases. Some of them are still interesting, such as 5, 7, and 10, but most of them are boring. Right now it is the year 2008, in base 10. In base 11, it is the year 1566. In base 12, it is the year 11B4. However...

I went ahead and made a list of the 18 most rare or special looking dates in different bases for the next 50 years and sorted them in chronological order. As always, click to enlarge.

Notice that I included a ranking for rareness.
Ranks 1-14 are all more significant than a century.
Ranks 1-11 are more significant than a bicentennial.
Ranks 1-3 are more significant than a millennium.
And rank number 1 is more significant than a bi-millennial.

So in the end we can see that the year 2000 was exciting, but we don't have to wait until the year 3000 for a similar celebration.

The Map 2

Shown here is a map upon which is drawn a polygon of the largest area where the points are places I've been. It is more informative and more colorful than my previous attempt at displaying the range of my travels.

A Rather Revealing Map

So I thought to get back on the subject of interesting maps...

Notice the ENTIRE CONTINENT OF AFRICA there around Kentucky. Anyway, I think this map send a clear message to the rest of the world: "Hey, you can probably get away with polluting a lot more, cuz even then you won't be half as bad as us." Ok, I'm kidding, but seriously you have to ask yourself why we let this continue.

Word Fun

Occasionally I get interested in word puzzles and oddities. A few months ago I was on a hunt for flippable compound words such as these...

houseboat | boathouse
handoff | offhand
gunshot | shotgun
outsell | sellout
hangover | overhang
layout | outlay
huntsman | manhunts
workout | outwork
sidetrack | trackside
oversleep | sleepover
guesthouse | houseguest
outbreak | breakout
outlook | lookout
outwork | workout
layover | overlay
Passover | overpass
sleepover | oversleep
bucksaw | sawbuck
overturn | turnover
bookwork | workbook
woodworm | wormwood

I think I have them all, but it would be incredible if you could come up with another one.

If you get bored of that, there is always this puzzle. It took me probably 15 minutes to figure it out. After which I felt dumb for not getting it sooner. Can you do it?

Random:
"The five boxing wizards jump quickly" is one of the shortest sentences that uses all the letters of the alphabet.

In Turkish there is this one:
Pijamalı hasta yağız şoföre çabucak güvendi.
(The patient in pajamas trusted the swarthy driver quickly)

Misa's Map

Farthest North: Vlieland, North Holland, Europe
Farthest South: Isla Bridges (Ushuaia), South America
Farthest East: Bali, Indonesia
Farthest West: Waialua, Oahu, Hawaii


... so clearly my sister kicks my butt :)

See the post below if you don't know what this is about.

Perspective, part 2: Travel

The extremes of where I have been:

North: Lyngby, Denmark
East: Ankara, Turkey
South: Orlando, Florida, USA
West: Tuscon, Arizona, USA
Shown above is the smallest rectangle you could draw on a world map that includes all of the places I have been. As a percentage of the world, it is still a bit small, but I am doing better than a lot of people in history. Also, I know some people who have never left New England, so that makes me feel fortunate. What does your rectangle look like? What would you like it to look like?

If you want me to make a map like this for you, just let me know the extremes of the places you have been, and I will see what I can do.

Anyway, all of this thought about travel makes me wonder... do I know the half of what things are like in China or what a Chinese person thinks about? I have never been to China so how could I? Is it even fair to use a term like "Chinese person"? Aren't they all different? When I was in Turkey and Denmark, I was very interested in what the Turks and Danes thought about Americans. Inevitably I was always asked early in a conversation where exactly I was from. I got sort of a strange feeling when I told them I am American because I don't feel like I am just an American. Or just any other one thing. I don't consider myself a typical American or an accurate representative of an American. But what is a typical American? Clearly, I have been reading the book "On Identity" by Amin Maalouf lately. (Read it.) In the book, the author describes some of the dangers of categorizing people and deep-rooted loyalties based on local societal expectations. I like to think of sports fanhood in this regard.

A diehard Redsox fan is so because he/she was raised this way and all their closest friends are also fans. A diehard Redsox fan has less repect for a stranger who is a Yankeees fan, than a stranger who is a Redsox fan based soley on this one thing. But the Yankees fan is a Yankees fan for very much the same reasons that the Redsox fan is a Redsox fan. It is all about their local societal expectations. The Yankees fan probably grew up in New York, the Redsox fan probably grew up in or near Massachusetts. And so conflict and discrimination arise out of almost nothing.

Fan violence in baseball is not very noteworthy, but when these sorts of tensions arise over something like religion or who was on the righteous side of a violent conflict, a lot of strife can ensue. It takes someone with a more open mind to see the other side. If that other side is a country that one that one has never visited, then I think paying a visit to that country and living like the people there can really help to see their view.

Is there a word for something that is obvious but still needs to be stated?

Let me know what you think about all this. Also, if you haven't emailed me your colors from the post below, go ahead and give it go when you have a moment.

Perspective, part 1: Colors

I associate people with colors. When I think of a friend, such as you for instance, there are colors in my head that are unique to you. I imagine that everyone does this to some extent. Most of the colors in my mind are like the ones in the picture at the right.

What I ask you to do is, send me an email* or just post a comment, and say which three colors from the picture you associate the most with me. Go ahead and put them in order if there is an order. In return, I will tell you which three colors I associate with you.

When the data is in, I will post a chart showing which ones were most popular. I wonder how closely the colors you pick for me will match the ones that I would pick for myself. Remember that of course this is not a contest of any kind, and the specifics of the answers are of no consequence. There are no rules. If you find only two colors that work, go with those. If you find four, so be it. I am just really curious to see which colors you think of when you think of me. Perhaps patterns will emerge, maybe one color will come out well above all the others. Ok, I am getting really curious now.

*jeremyrchapman@gmail.com