Life!

One might assume that the decline in frequency of my posts here is due to a change in the amount of publishable content in my daily life. That is not the case!The truth is, every day has been an adventure. From a short ride with a friend in a cable car to a vista.To a chill moment while waiting for the boat to Bostancı after a long day.
In between these special moments, moments that warrant the use of a camera despite the message it sends to the locals about my role in the society, there is life. I am referring to the things that either make a blog too boring or too personal. There are the afternoons spent trying to deal with legal things. There are the moments when I am uncertain or sad. I tend not to write about those here. Anyway, there are so many great moments shared with friends.
These next few days will be some of the busier, but I hope to be able to keep you updated on where I am with everything. There should be some pretty excited news coming very soon. Ba dum dum dum!

That about sums it up

This week I spent most of my time worrying about apartments and roommates. At the end of the week, I am in many ways back where I started. True, I found a couple guys who might want to get an apartment together with me. But I'm not really sure what to do. Part of me wants to live alone and part of me wants to be more efficient and integrated, which I perceive to be life with roommates. It is hard to predict this, and of course it depends a lot on who the roommates are. In this case it turns out that one of them is a fashion model and the other hosts a music tv show. I think that if a person is kind, clean, and stays out of my way, then I can live with them. But should I risk it? There's something sort of romantic to me about having a place to myself in the big city... peaceful times alone, learning to cook, reading a book, working on my Turkish. This is what has been on my mind all week. Even while I am hanging out with friends and trying to forget real life, I can't stop running the possibilities in my head.

Side note: I think this is how I want my life to be. I want to be constantly thinking about the challenges and the other aspects of my life. To clarify, I don't want it to be I go to work and then come home and forget about work completely. Or I don't want to go to work and forget who I am in my home life. I want my thoughts to kind of blend everything. This is in sharp contrast to the mentality of a Danish person (or so I learned when I was there).

So on a daily basis, I hang out with friends and think about what I will do with my life in the short term. I was doing these things almost all weekend. I hung out with Safiye on 23 Nisan (basically National Children's Day ). We met up in Taksim and there I met some of her friends. We went to a French street (really beautiful section with cozy French restaurants). Afterward, Safiye and I had some time to kill so we decided to catch a movie. We were at the theater at an awkward time, so we didn't have many choices for what to see. However we decided on the How to Train Your Dragon movie (in 3D!), which I kinda wanted to see. Since it is a children's movie, it was dubbed instead of subtitled. I was worried that I would get bored, but in fact I really liked watching every bit of it. Most of the time I could tell what was being said anyway from the actions and expressions, but occasionally there was a streak of a couple of minutes where I understood almost all the dialog. I loved the movie! It was a great story with a message of non-violence (nicely done for a picture about vikings!). Also I thought the voice acting was great for the most part.

After the movie we went to Beşiktaş to a party at Mehtap's. It was chill and fun. I drank rakı, Tuborg, and a mixed drink that was fruity and minty. We ate fish and börek. Both were amazingly good. I had a great time and even made some new friends at the party.

Saturday, I hung out in Fenerbahçe with a bunch of friends. We watched a football match, ate dinner, and then much later went to a rock/blues club. There was live music! It was lots of fun, of course. Most exciting to me was that I met up with a friend I made the morning before while riding a dolmuş (cross between a minibus and shared cab) to the European side. She was Turkish but new to İstanbul like me. We decided to hang out and get to know the city together, so I had invited her to come to the club. I met her there and we relaxed and danced.

Sunday was fun. I helped some friends of Kuthan move into their new apartment. Later I went to Etiler near Akmerkez to meet with my friend Mine, get coffee and beer, and watch the Galatasaray - Bursa match. I met some funny Fenerbahçe fans there who thought they could convince me to change loyalties with a history lesson and some peer pressure. A brief and friendly yet intellectual and passionate conversation ensued, at the end of which all the Fener fans shook my hand, said I was one of them, and told me that I should remain a fan of GS. It's amazing the respect one can earn with a healthy knowledge of Turkish football.

At the bar I also met an American who had been living in İstanbul 2 years. I asked where exactly she was from but first ventured a guess. She said I could have 5 guesses. I concentrated on her accent. There was definitely a hint of Michigan in there. I guessed Michigan and she said she was born there! But it turns out she grew up in Iowa (my 4th guess). We had a fun conversation. I treasure those rare, good interactions with foreigners. I respect her though because she loves the country as much as I do, and she is knowledgeable about the culture.

After the bar, I played football in a very intense 6 v. 6 match. I almost scored with a left-footed shot, but the castle-keeper (as they call it in Turkish) made a great save. Tired, winded, and in a great mood, I came home and wrote this blog post. And that about sums it up.

Oh Beşiktaş

Thursday was spent looking at apartments almost all day. Kuthan was busy and so my friend Pınar stepped in to be my sidekick. We met up in Kabataş which where the boat from the Asian side took me. First we had breakfast in a sunny café. I was so relaxed. Part of me didn't want to leave and go hiking around in search of a place to live.Pınar and I spent most of the day in Beşiktaş, hopping from one place to another. I had a few flashbacks from previous visits to İstanbul, but other than Beşiktaş being where I first got out of the car from the airport on my first visit and crossed the street to meet a friend, I hadn't spent much time there at all. I really liked the area. I took lots of pictures and videos of the apartments. The weather couldn't have been better.Today, I will go look at more apartments in the early part of the afternoon. However today is a holiday here, National Children's Day, and I have plans in the late afternoon and evening to go out with some friends. We're going to go for dinner in Bebek. I feel like I could use a holiday, as the pile of things I need to take care of has only grown in magnitude since I arrived. Truth is the pile was always this high, but I'm just beginning to see it now. For tonight, I'll forget about the pile for a couple of hours. Though it will be a busy weekend overall.

Superstitious About License Plates

Remember how I like to read into the meanings of license plate numbers that I see? There was the one that looked like IST 86 (IST like İstanbul and 86, my birth year). Then there was the car I saw in New York City whose plate said ISTNBUL. Well, today I saw this one: This can't be good.

Glorious Tuesday.. for how long will the awesome streak continue?

Tuesday was glorious. In the afternoon, I met up with Pınar Y., a friend I met in Boston while she was on vacation there. We hung out together in Ortaköy and it was really fun. First, we joined in a monopoly game with Kuthan and Hazal. I was starting to get the sensation I was going to lose. Then something incredibly fortunate happened. No, I didn't land Park Place (in fact it was a strange İstanbul version of the game, but no, I didn't land Etiler). One of the guys who works at Destan came over for a chat with Kuthan and Hazal. Since they are such regulars, they know all the people who work there. Anyway, they got to talking when he said to them that he was looking for an apartment and a roommate. Short story shorter, we're going to get an apartment together. This is really good for me for a few reasons:

1. from my interactions with my new friend, he seems cool, and would likely make a great roommate
2. it will lower my rent payments/expenses tremendously
3. he doesn't know much English but wants to learn. I don't know much Turkish and I want to learn.

I was reluctant to get an apartment with a roommate at first because you don't know who you can trust and if I got a difficult roommate it could nearly ruin my time here. Anyway, we left Destan to go look at an apartment. It was alright, but we'll look at others on Thursday.

Feeling pretty great, Pınar and I left to grab some beer. We went to a place with an awesome view.
It was such a relaxing evening spent together there. We played backgammon and checkers, talked, joked, and caught up. Pınar is so kind. She wants to help me with the apartment hunt and so she will join us on Thursday's excursion. Also this weekend we are planning to spend some time together in Taksim (basically the most happening part of town). Finally! I can't believe I still haven't spent any time in Taksim yet.

The night ended in a strange and brutal way. Kuthan and I joined a bunch of guys in a pickup football game, with the game starting at midnight. I was wishing I had eaten more because I was hungry and weary before the game even started. Also, the other team was much stronger than ours and we got our asses kicked. The turf was rougher than most and my knee was shiny and blood smeared by the end. At one point as I was going for a header I got kicked in the face. I ran so much and I was exhausted the entire time. We lost 11-3 and I felt as if I had been beaten up by a group of ruthless people. Still it felt sort of nice. In a way the defeat was refreshing. The point was to run, get exercise, hang out with friends and have fun, and that we did.

Now I feel as if I will sleep into the morning of the next day.

The Best Monday in a While

It seems like things just clicked for me today, much like a jigsaw falling into place. First I got my tax number which was required in order to get a bank account. Then I went to Garanti and opened a bank account, which was required in order to get a residency permit. I have an appointment for next Tuesday to get the permit. In the meantime, I have to gather a couple of forms, get some passport photos, and put some money in my new account.

After he bank, Kuthan, Murat and myself went to go apartment hunting (for me). We looked at a couple furnished apartments and one non-furnished one.Of the furnished ones, both were in really nice locations and much cheaper than you'd expect for being where they are. In looking at these apartments I went to Kadıköy for the first time. It was awesome! There were pedestrians everywhere walking narrow brick streets lined with bars and cafes. Many of the people were in their late teens and early twenties. It was just such a vibrant atmosphere. In between apartment visits, the three of us went for burgers. Mine was a garlic mushroom burger. It was super delicious. After the meal, the waiter asked me if the burger I just had was better than the ones in the states. I answered yes, though honestly it really depends.In the evening we watched a movie together, ate dinner, and then went to Murat's place to watch a football match. While there, I called a close friend from Skype and also chatted with Murat's dad a bunch. The conversation eventually found its way to Scottish music and bagpipes, at which point Murat produced from nowhere, a bagpipe. He claimed that it didn't work. Immediately I jumped up to investigate. Then Kuthan joined the effort and after a short while, Ahmet (Murat's dad) came to help. I learned a whole lot about how a bagpipe works. After about an hour of fiddling with reeds and pipes, we discovered that the biggest problem was a leak in the bag. Still it was fun to try to get the thing to work. We all really put our heads together on it.Still in a problem-solving mood, my eye caught the Bulmaca section of the newspaper. Bulmaca is basically a crossword puzzle for anyone who doesnt know. I never get more than 2 or 3 of the words (out of about 30-40 maybe). The reason for this is obvious. First of all I have to understand the clue and secondly I have to know the answer! Both are of a low likelihood. Well I studied the board and answered a couple of the questions. They were easy though. For example, the first one I got was "Rusça evet" which is "Russian yes". Da being the obvious answer. Murat, Kuthan, and Ahmet came to help me out. At one point, I noticed the clue "Sezen Aksu şarkısı", which corresponded to the largest answer on the board. A few of the letters were filled in. This is what I had to work with:

_ _ _ _ _ D _ _ I _ _ Z

I stared at it for a short time and then the answer faded into my mind's view. Masum Değiliz. I pointed the answer out to Ahmet who had the pen. He was genuinely shocked out of his mind. He suggested that I might be a reincarnated Turk. I explained that a close friend once introduced me to the music of Sezen Aksu, and in fact Masum Değiliz was one of the first songs of hers that I ever heard.A similar moment occurred a short while later with the clue "Elif Şafak bir roman". I only know the titles of two of her books, but one of them happened to be the answer. It was Araf. It turns out I have read this one (the English translation of course). Curiously I read the book on the suggestion of that same close friend.

Monday had success, apartments, good food, bagpipes, and Bulmaca. It's been the best Monday in a while.

The Middle of Everywhere

Finding myself in between happy and sad, relaxed and stressed, confident and worried, and busy and calm, spending the day in the middle village of Ortaköy was a perfect choice and not just for the name. Even the weather was neither good nor bad with bouts of rain and sun, warmth and cool. At times sure of the rain, but unsure if my mood was a cloud or a bow, I did the best thing that I could. I surrounded myself with friends and beautiful scenery. For these in between days I feel alright floating, not deciding, not settling. Just be who you are, someone who loves me told me.

Safiye came to join. It was only when I was in her company that I realized how bored I had been sitting, relaxing, pondering, and not moving. We soon got up and went for a walk. The more I get to know this place (Ortaköy, the city of İstanbul), the more it is new to me. Sure, sparks of familiarity illuminate my mind for an instant like the realization of a pattern. I remember looking at that table of jewelery before. There was that same oldish woman and there was a peculiar cat walking upon that table first time as I recall. What was it about that cat? It was fluffy maybe, cute? old? Beautiful I think. And the old woman was telling us some story. I try to replace the old memories with a new one as I pass by.

I saw three women taking pictures of each other at a scenic point and like a reflex offered to take one of all three of them. Then they offered to take ours, snapping the one below.Safiye and I returned to Destan to rejoin Kuthan and some friends to watch the Manisa-Galatasaray match. At halftime we left again to drink some beer at a bar that is kind of becoming 'our bar'. I think I would like to have a place with everyone. It can be a particular place to eat, or a place with a view. Then I will always think of them when I return to that place alone. I realize that I already have places with many people, though we may not have acknowledged it yet.
Though the weather had gotten better, I wondered why my mood seemed to sink like a bucket into a well. Not all the way to bottom, rather it hung somewhere in the middle, suspended. Like everything in my life today. Then I realized that I had been staring out the window at the awning below. Something about it struck me. Then it I connected it: the color. The rope slipped and the bucket plunged. The dim dark green like that of fake spruce trees matched that of the lamppost in Beşiktaş and the nearby Starbucks sign and the color of the jacket worn by someone who moments later punched me to see if I was really there. Remembering the punch seemed to stop my runaway thought train. Looking back at it, was it really the color? Was that all? I glanced out the window again. It was like a switch. A flood of previously-forgotten memories washed in and out of my mind. They were specific moments from earlier visits: a glance, a glass of beer, an afternoon at the pool, a barrel of joy, a bottle of stress, sickness, helpful, helpless. Snap out of it the voice in my head screamed to itself. The rope winding quickly, the bucket rising back above the surface but holding water. I faked a yawn and wiped my eyes. It was the damn color.

Gripin played over the speakers. Durma Yağmur Durma. Safiye and I spoke only Turkish for a short while. At first it was difficult but then it felt so nice. Sometimes when I started to lose my balance, she would catch on to what I was trying to say and then finish the sentence for me and then continue which was nice because the conversation moved but still I learned from it.

We returned for the last time to Destan where Safiye left, and I talked with Kuthan, Furkan, and Sayra about many intellectual things such as politics, philosophy, and emigration. It really got me thinking about my place in Turkey and what I will do with my time here. Everything seems to come back to that. In the US I never questioned my role in the country, I just lived it because it was all I knew. But here I feel a greater responsibility, like I have to find/earn my place here.

Eventually, inevitably, the conversation lost its intellectual flavor and became an exchange of stories about various encounters with girls/women. I preferred hearing the others' stories to sharing my own. There will be other times for that. Anyway, it was a fun topic and the time just disappeared.

A Week Later

I have now been in the country for a week. It feels nice that the weekend is finally here again.
Friday was lovely. I took myself from Bostancı to Nişantaşı for my meeting. I was excited about the meeting but not that excited about trying to get to the other side of İstanbul by myself. I haven't always had the best of luck getting around in this city. Today was an exception though. I got to Taksim and asked for some help, then I walked from Osmanbey in what I thought was the direction to Nişantaşı. After 10 minutes of not seeing anything to indicate I was going the right direction (other than of course the Sun and the coincidence of its position in the mid afternoon sky with the piece of map I had glanced at 20 minutes earlier and the direction I was walking). Still I was about to start panicking, when I overheard part of a conversation in Turkish a passerby was having. He said something like he was near Nişantaşı and would be there in a few minutes. He as walking my direction. I followed him at a distance and within a few minutes arrived to a spot just meters away from the building I was looking for.

The meeting went well. Eren Bey and I discussed many aspects of my plan here. He really got me rethinking my strategy a bit. I'm not going to change my whole plan, but I think I will package it in a better way. More specifically, Eren showed me a way that I can pursue all of my interests here without really having to put any on hold. Ok I guess that wasn't too specific either. I don't want to say anything more about it right now because the ideas are soaking in my head and I have some things to look into.
When I thanked Eren Bey and left, I found my way back to Bostancı and eventually to Dragos through the combined use of the metro, a dolmuş, and a train. It was with relative ease that I got from one to the other. I really felt nice knowing that I can get around on my own here. A real confidence-building day this was.

Friday evening brought the week to a an excellent close. Kuthan and I gathered at Murat's place for a big dinner of schnitzels. In addition to the awesome meal, we also hung out a bunch playing instruments, watching our favorite videos on YouTube, and discussing various topics. Also there was the Bursa-Antep game of which the final score was correctly predicted by Kuthan 25 minutes into the match.
Saturday will be largely spent in Ortaköy. I'm really hoping to run into some of my other friends then because I have missed them this week. Of course now that I finally know how to get around, it shouldn't be so hard running into them during the week. I have a lot on my plate but also a lot of joy waiting for me everyday.

encouraged, ready

I rested again for much of today. I hate resting. Of course it is supposed to be relaxing but I want to get on with my life and lying around trying to get better from a what is now a mild cold is not my idea of progress. In the afternoon, Kuthan and I left to run a few errands. I'll skip over the bulk of what happened and just say that it seems crazy to me that I should have to get a passport officially translated before using it to get a document from the tax office. Seriously?? Can't I just tell them where it says my name and last name? I mean I was already at the gorram (oh Firefly) tax office. For the last time... errrrrrrg Turkish bureaucracy, how I loathe you. But with that out of the way, I went to the translator and go that stuff worked out. I'm still jumping through the hoops that come with the transition. For all my complaints about the system, I am thankful that there is a way through it. Truth be told it is not that bad as far as these things go.
After a long afternoon, we met up with Murat and went to Fenerbahçe for hookah and beer. We talked about our plans for tomorrow and the weekend. As it got dark, a breeze picked up off the water. I love the smell of the sea. I love the narrow streets and the sidewalk trees. These things I love and these things I enjoyed this evening.
I often like to romanticize at the end of these posts about how great the next day is going to be, but this time, it's really going to be a good one. In the morning I will run a few errands. Afterward I will go to Nişantaşı to spend some time alone, exploring, and then to meet with someone who can probably help me get established here. After that I will return for a special evening at the home of Murat and his family. There will be pictures and stories and probably good news.

The Plan in More Detail

These past couple days have been a bit of a struggle for several reasons. The first of those is that I got sick. I had a mild fever before I went to bed and the next day it became a cold, which I am still fighting. Being sick while in Turkey is really nothing new for me. It has happened almost every time I have come here! It seems that the cause is some combination of coal, coldness, and stress. There is so much coal being used in this country to heat and it hangs heavily in the air in some spots on cold days. Also, as much as I have enjoyed this country sometimes the situations I find myself in can be stressful. It is not so surprising, but for some reason my body can't take it in large doses. This time I think it was mostly the kömür, the coal. But really who wants to hear about how I have passed the last couple days mostly lying down, taking medicine, and eating lentil soup?

Actually I did go out yesterday to run a few errands, but almost everything I tried to do failed in some way. I thought life would be a bit easier here if I opened a bank account but it turns out that there are a couple hurdles to jump through (I mean over?) and... you jump through hoops and over hurdles, right? Because I wanted to say 'jump through' something but I also wanted to use 'hurdles'. Anyway, getting the account at this point is more trouble than it is worth.

I tried to get my phone working. Turns out I have to register my actual phone because it is foreign, which means Turkcell will need a week to retrieve the papers and do whatever bureaucratic bull they have to do in order to get the damn thing working. So I decided to just buy a new SIM card and hence get a new phone number right then and there so they could register it in the store. It would cost about 20 bucks. But... the system was down! Can anything else go wrong? I have now found peace in knowing my phone wont work for another week and I'll just continue to borrow my friend's old one for now. This is life.

I went online to the expatriate forums to see what other Americans experienced when they moved to İstanbul. I learned quite a lot. It turns out that the two best things I can do for myself right now are to: 1. apply for a tourist residency visa and 2. get certified to teach English. Both are on my schedule, though it's nice to know what I can prioritize in these early days. Perhaps #3 is to find that apartment. Yesterday I passed near Acıbadem and it seems like a perfect location. My thanks Kahraman for that idea.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with an international education consultant. He is the acquaintance of a friend who thought I might benefit from talking with someone who deals all the time with people starting new lives abroad. I called him the other day and he sounded eager to meet me. I am not sure what we will discuss, but I think I can learn a lot from him.

Today's plan: shop for a couple things, pursue the phone thing, buy an Akbil thing (for the bus/metro system), gather materials for the residency visa application, and then rest in the late afternoon and play football in the evening.

I had a dream last night that I went to Denmark but forgot to take any pictures. I think it is because yesterday I saw the first place I went to in Turkey but I didn't take a picture. It was just a piece of sidewalk where I met a friend but my mind was in such a nice place at the time. I will take a proper picture of that place at some point. And I will take some pictures today, so that we will both have something to look at in the next post :)

Bağdat Caddesi

In the late morning, Kuthan, Murat and I left in the westerly direction. They dropped me off on Bağdat Caddesi (a street that is famous here for its awesomeness).There I met up with Bürin, her mother, and her grandmother. It was fun to see three generations of family sitting there in a coffee shop, enjoying a nice day together.Meetings with Bürin, like those with any of my good friends, feel like one of those calm respites out of a Hemingway novel. That sentiment disappeared as soon as we started a brutal round of backgammon. We are currently tied 4-4 with a highly anticipated tiebreaker bound to commence at some point. Kuthan and Murat had joined us by this time and we conversed for a while. The other three would sometimes speak in Turkish and sometimes, when they began to explain what they had been talking about, I finished their sentences. I think the language is growing on me rapidly in these early days.When evening came, we split up and Kuthan, Murat, and I went to a great döner place and ate enough for four or five people between us. To drink I had some of that really good foamy ayran that comes in a tall glass. I freakin' love that stuff!
In the nighttime, I feel so relaxed and exhausted. My days are just packed, kind of like Calvin and Hobbes. These nights come and I dwell on the goings on of the day. I write about some of them. I think these posts will dwindle in frequency soon, but maybe not. Every day so far has seemed like my birthday. There have been the feelings of growing, the good friends, and the special sense that heut' ist mein tag.

24th Birthday

I think the birthday wishes that everyone sent me came true. It was a very happy day indeed.

First thing I did was have an absolutely delicious Turkish breakfast. It was savory and satisfying. Homemade butter from Trabzon, rose jam from Zonguldak, cherry jam from the place I was sitting. I'm making myself all hungry now. I'll just say that I had really missed a good Turkish breakfast and I enjoyed it to the fullest.

Then I went to my room to wash up and get ready for the day. When I returned downstairs, to my great surprise Kuthan and his parents were standing around a cake. The sparklers were lit and when they burned out I made a wish and extinguished with a quick puff, the candle. Kuthan's mother then handed me a bag and inside was a cool shirt they got for me. I changed into it immediately and then we all at the cake. The cake had bananas and berries in it with coconut shavings on top. It really was perfect. Not just the cake, the whole thing. I was so surprised!Kuthan and I left to go to the mall and buy a SIM card for my phone. I have a new phone number now! I got to pick which phone number I wanted from among many. For some reason I really enjoyed putting my mind to that. After quickly going through the stack twice I settled on 534-601-1577. The '534' is a common cell number prefix, and the rest of it can be said like "60-11-5-77" which has a nice ring. With that taken care of, we went to visit a neighbor friend of Kuthan's. His name is Murat. I really enjoyed talking with him because he is an interesting and friendly fellow but also because I could hear several things in the way he spoke English that told me about where he had spent some of his time. I like his accent. It contains a hint of British but with speech mannerisms suggesting German. Turns out he is half German and studied the language several years and also had spent a summer or two in London earlier on.
Through beautiful streets running along the sea and gorgeous weather all around, Kuthan and I rode to the European side to, of all things, deliver a birthday package to a friend. I had carried a gift in my luggage for some close friends who asked that I make the delivery when I arrived in İstanbul. Originally I was going to get here on Thursday which our friend's actual birthday, but in lieu of what happened a couple days late would suffice. We dropped the package off and turned south to go to Ortaköy.On the way, we picked up Hazal and stopped for some food at a dürüm place with a great view. I had a lamb-intestine wrap for the first time. It wasn't bad. A controversial food in Europe, the ban of kokoreç has been a prerequisite of Turkey joining the EU.

We finally arrived in Ortaköy where some friends were waiting. Most notably there were: Safiye, a good friend who lives in İstanbul and Mehtap, a friend I met a couple years ago but with whom I had lost touch. We had a great time hanging out in a café, catching up and making plans. One plan is to go to the Galatasaray-Bursaspor game in two weeks. Anyway, we had an awesome time.

When I got back and was in lying in bed writing to friends, Pınar, a friend from Boston came online. We were talking for a bit when I asked her, as I have asked many people now, when will she come to İstanbul to visit. She replied with something like "I am already in İstanbul". I couldn't believe it. She had moved back a few weeks earlier. What's more, she lives in Kozyatağı (which I have started to refer to as Cozy-Bed) which is 5 or 10 minutes away from where I am. It seems I have more friends here than I knew! We walked for a while and then said goodnight. It was a perfect end to an already magical day.

10 April 2010

If the weather is any indication, today is going to be awesome.

Arrival in İstanbul

I arrived at Chicago O'Hare in high spirits. I checked my 24-hour analog watch and saw that I had 8 hours to get to my gate. With that kind of time, I was relaxed about finding my way to the ticket counter. In fact when I arrived I learned that it wouldn't open for another hour or so. Then I saw a gentleman who had been one of the most vocal the night before about his discontent with the flight situation. I struck up a conversation. We talked for a while about the events of the night before with missing the flight. I encouraged him to think of an appropriate response as being something that falls between the least the airline deserves and what his health and mentality could withstand. The conversation changed to one of the priorities of life and so forth. When the ticket counter opened, we got our tickets at the same time. The man, whose name I learned was Selahattin, then turned to the (very attractive) woman at the ticket counter and asked if it was alright if I joined him as his guest in the VIP lounge. She said "certainly". Dumbstruck, I turned and thanked my new friend.I killed the following six hours in two different VIP lounges. The first had a broken chair but was otherwise not bad. The free drinks, food, nice chairs, and quiet atmosphere made the wait much easier to bear. I slowly drank several beers and snacked on gourmet cheese and crackers while making use of the high speed internet. I also talked a while more with "Sel" about many things. Later on, I met a kind Turkish man in the lounge who after we talked a while said that he could likely set me up with a weekend job being a private English tutor to a couple kids he knows who live on Buyuk Ada (a paradisaical island near İstanbul). I took his card and wondered if my day could get any better. It did. Shortly before boarding I asked Sel what his seat number was, and it turned out to be right next to mine. He explained that he had requested at the ticket counter that we get our seats together and that they be near an emergency exit door so that we would have the most legroom. In fact slouching and stretching my legs all the way in front of me, my feet still didn't reach the wall in front of us. The plane took off with at least one passenger feeling like the universe was smiling upon him. The plane ride was unremarkable. Though I did switch my seat early into the flight with a woman who was having trouble sitting next to a woman and toddler next to her. I struck up a conversation with the woman with the child. She was Uzbek but ethnically Russian. Seeing as she had her hands full with her little boy, I assisted her whenever she needed. I think her kid is the cutest toddler I have ever seen. He liked to play a game where I would hold a magazine and he would randomly flip the pages and then freak out at whatever was on the page by letting out a brief cry of joy and slapping the page repeatedly. At one point, a flight attendant approached me and informed me that the seat 14G was available should I want to sit somewhere away from the children. Before I could respond the woman requested that I stay. I was surprised but she said she liked talking with me. I enjoyed it as well so I stayed. I met some other nice people on the plane, too. There was Maleki the Iranian and JC and Jordan the New Zealand couple. I loved their accents!

On the plane I watched a movie on my laptop. It was called "I Love You Man". I love this movie. Instantly it is in my top 5 of all time. Please try to watch it sometime and then let me know what you think.

As planned, I slept roughly 4.5 hours on the plane. When it landed, I went through passport control, retrieved my bags, and said goodbye to JC and Jordan after describing how to get to the taxis. Then I walked out to the arrival area with Selahattin and introduced him to my friends who were waiting for me. I thanked him again for making a bad day into a good one for me. He smiled, shook my hand, and departed.Kuthan, Hazal, and I rode through İstanbul during sunset in relatively heavy traffic to Ortaköy. The sights and sounds captured me and I couldn't stop thinking about how happy I was to have returned to this beautiful city. We stopped at one of Hazal's favorite hookah bars and each ordered some kumpir and drinks. On the slip of paper marking my choices for the kumpir, under the name I put 'Asım'. I don't feel like pushing a strange name like 'Jeremy' on the people here. A while later we were joined by another friend, ordered hookahs and tobacco (I didn't but I tried Kuthan's), and played a weird kind of 3D Monopoly game where the city was İstanbul.

As it started to get late, we decided to end the game which was awesome because I was losing! I went with Kuthan back to his parents' place where I will be staying for a while. They are both lovely and I was happy to meet them. We talked a while and then each retreated to our quarters.

Here it is already Saturday and I am very much looking forward to what this day will bring.

An account of what has happened with my travels

My experience at Logan Airport was good, although weather between Boston and Chicago was causing delays for earlier flights. I was worried, but it was out of my hands.

I find that my attitude when I travel is very positive. I know everyone is stressed out and so I try to be the one who isn't. When I was checking in, there wasn't any clear indication of where exactly one should (which booth etc) and also there was a self-check-in system that was confusing. However, I knew I had hours to figure it out so I took my time and asked for assistance when an assistant looked available. Standing near me was a guy who was loudly complaining about how the service was terrible and he had no idea where to go. He was talking to anyone who could hear him and he was turning his head as if to say, "Am I right, guys? Am I right? This is ridiculous." I turned to him and told him what I had learned about how to check in. He wasn't too pleased and his patience was waning. Then I asked him politely "Are you in a big hurry?" To which he calmly replied "No." Then what's the big f*cking deal? I thought as I smiled. I then saw that he was there with his wife and three kids. He was playing Mr. Responsible For Everything.

As I waited at the gate an announcement came that the gate had changed. I walked over slowly. Then I saw a woman and her son who looked lost. Our eyes made contact and I asked them which was their flight (I think I actually used "which" instead of "what"). Theirs was mine, and so I informed them of the announcement that had been made moments earlier. The woman was exceedingly thankful for my volunteered assistance. Her husband caught up with her and the kid and as they walked off, I heard the woman saying, "A very kind gentleman told us that the gate..." They walked quickly ahead and out of earshot. Simple, but gratifying. I smiled to myself.

My positive attitude continued even after I learned that my plane would arrive in Chicago just 10 minutes before my connection. I wrote a note and handed it to a flight attendant. She disappeared and returned informing me that they could not determine the schedule of my flight to Turkey, but she did move up to the front, just behind first class. I studied the map of O'Hare from a magazine and then asked the same flight attendant to describe to me the quickest way to my terminal (which unfortunately but unsurprisingly was located on the opposite side of the airport). She gave me detailed instructions.

I was the first person off the plane and I ran like hell. Sprinting for minutes and minutes I rounded corners, skipped stairs on escalators, and hurriedly asked security guards for updated directions along the way. As I ran, I thought about how thankful I was for the 2 or 3 soccer games per week I had been playing. However after 5-10 minutes of running flat out, my chest felt like it was going to explode. I finally reached found tram and took it the rest of the way. I was so close to the terminal. I glanced quickly at a computer. The plane was delayed 20 minutes! I glanced at my watch, the 20 minutes was up. I had to go through security again. My shoes and watch flung off, all my things speedily shoved through the x-ray machine. I had never been through security so quickly. I slipped my shoes back on, stepping on the heel. I shoved my loose items into my pockets and began to run again. When I rounded the corner to the gate, every part of me sore. I asked if I was too late, the reply was "yes."

I collapsed on the nearest chair and sunk my head into my hands. Sweat was pouring from my whole body and my shoulders ached. Completely winded, I was still gasping for air after resting for a couple minutes. I was disappointed, upset, but not broken. I gathered up my things and packed them into my backpack. I walked slowly away. An assistant caught up to me and offered to help me. I followed her to where a small crowd of others who had missed the plane were waiting. Had they come on a different plane? Had they found the tram before me? It didn't matter, their presence confirmed that there was probably nothing more I could have done.

My flight got rebooked and I hopped on a hotel shuttle. Once at the hotel, I relaxed in the lobby and then ordered a medium pizza. While in the lobby, I saw a man approach the desk and proceed to be a complete dick. He had had a bad experience trying to find his way to a nearby restaurant despite the receptionist's detailed directions and thought it necessary to take it out on the receptionist in the form of shouting and harsh words. As I listened, I just wondered what the world would be like if the dicks were quiet and the nice people were really loud.

The pizza arrived and I went to my room and collapsed on the bed. I fell into a deep sleep. I woke up after just six hours feeling like I had slept two nights. I climbed out of bed and embarked a very long morning preparation that included a long shower, shave, and ironing all my clothes. Well, all the clothes that I happened to have packed into my backpack. My checked bag is still at the airport and I'm told it will be loaded onto my flight today. I charged all my electronics and repacked my backpack even more efficiently than before, with the most frequently accessed items near the opening of each pocket. I had my leftover pizza from the night before for breakfast. Ingeniously, for lack of a refrigerator, I had insulated the box in between the heavy curtains and the very cold window to the outside. However, I did not attempt to reheat the pizza using the iron! I like cold pizza well enough.

I feel completely refreshed. I took a picture of me with my webcam while having a chat with a nice Iranian fellow who had missed the same flight. A little while later, he took the 1:30 shuttle. I told him I'd see him at the gate.
In 15 minutes, I'm going to take the 2:00 shuttle to the airport from the hotel. The arrangements in Turkey have been made, and so I am really back to where I started only this time I'll get to the gate well in advance. The plane doesn't leave for 8.5 hours.

If you just read all of that, congratulations! Anyway, that's what happened. And now the shuttle is here, so I must go. Take care everyone! Thanks for good travel wishes. I think it will be from here on out. :)

Waiting in Logan Airport

*Note: Links to flight tracking information below.

So I really did stay up ALL night last night, packing and preparing for the trip to İstanbul. I rode into WPI this morning as a passenger and actually fell asleep at one point mid-sentence. At which point I kept talking only about something completely different, and then woke up forgetting what the original subject was. Throughout the morning I fought off the exhaustion in order to visit more people to whom I wanted to say goodbye. In between I napped about 2 hours total in 30 minute spurts.
Right now I'm at the airport in Boston and I couldn't feel better. In fact I have not eaten more than a bagel today and yet it hardly fazes me at this point. Probably I just jinxed myself and will start feeling super hungry soon.

My flight plan is as follows:

Leg 1: Boston to Chicago O'Hare nominally, depart at 19:15 arrive 20:55 (local times)

Leg 2: Chicago to İstanbul nominally, depart at 22:20, arrive at 17:05 (local time, following day)

The links lead to respective flight tracking information. In case I can't get online again, I'll say that I'll be in İstanbul tomorrow in the late morning (for those of you on the east coast). I'll try to send immediate word of my successful arrival.

I like having a laptop and I like free WiFi. The time is passing nicely. Though I am starting to get hungry. Might go do something about that soon. Really I can't wait to be eating the food on my Tukish Airlines flight. Oh god, someone with really strong smelling old-person perfume just walked by and I'm gagging.

Family Visit + Road Trip

On the drive back from the DC area to Boston, I made a couple stops along the way to see family.
Captured at exactly the right moment, the dog looks like she is wildly excited about being in the photo. :)
Ultimately I made it to Boston in time to see my friend Dorothy's viola recital. Simply put, she was phenomenal. The music was really intense at times and really peaceful at others. After the performance, we all went out for drinks and snacks. It was a nice finish to yet another long and awesome day.