Hazel and Philissa in İstanbul

On the fırst day of spring, Hazel arrived in İstanbul with her friend, Philissa, for a visit. Hazel was the first member of my family to visit me in İstanbul. It was strange and awesome to see her. We set their bags at my place and then started on a tour of the city. I loved them around and not just because I had taken the day off work. One thing that became quickly apparent was that despite the weather being a bit gray that first day, they both seemed to absolutely love the city.

It was impossible to walk very far in the city without seeing pastries! One thing about a visit to İstanbul is that there is almost never enough time to try all the food. 

I took them to the modern part of the city, to Europe's biggest shopping mall. In the upper left of the photo, you can see the "3" of the world's largest mechanical clock which makes up the ceiling of the mall. In the lower right is a stage sitting next to a small pond.

One evening I got to introduce Hazel and Philissa to my friends, Pınar and Kerem. We met up in a part of town with which Pınar is very familiar. She took us to a couple of different cafes/pubs. On the way back from dinner and coffee, we stopped in a pastry shop to buy some delights for the following morning. Somehow we got to talking with a couple that was in the shop. They were getting a cake for a birthday party and invited us along. We agreed and followed them to a pub where there was live music and the birthday boy (just turned 21), sitting with a group of friends. The whole experience of that evening with them was really quite excellent. We were all pleased with our luck.

We spent the last full day together exploring some touristic places such as Dolmabahçe Palace. It had been years since I was there. Somehow I had forgotten the sheer impressiveness of the Ceremonial Hall with its 4.5 ton chandelier.

We also went to the Büyük Mecidiye Mosque in Ortaköy. There are scarfs just inside the entrance for women who don't have one and wish to enter. Sporting them gave Hazel and Philissa a noticeably different look.

Hazel and Philissa's visit was short, but it was packed full of fun and adventures for all three of us. I was glad to have had their company, and hope to see them both again sometime soon.

Rizespor, Friends and Turkish

A few weeks ago, I went to see Freddy Adu and Çaykur Rizespor play in Güngören. Güngören! Has a nice literal meaning, but is otherwise a very bland outpost far from the center of İstanbul. I'm not here to rag on Güngören, though. It was a actually kind of liberating to ride outside the city and see a different place. The fans of Rizespor were my people. I really need to get back to Rize sometime, but that's a different topic. I guess the second to last thing I'll say about this is I rather enjoy being at football matches of smaller teams. It feels more personal. And the last thing I'll say about this is that a strange emotion came over me when I thought the following: I live in İstanbul and now I have just traveled to the outskirts of that city, where  I am standing in a stadium and watching Freddy Adu of all people playing for a team from a city in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. I guess I just never expected to find myself in that particular situation!

More recently, I started meeting new people again. I find I'm speaking more Turkish as new friends of mine are in various stages of learning English. The language is growing on me very quickly these days. I feel its effects on my mind like a drug almost. Some nights it keeps me awake and other nights it helps me sleep. The feelings that come while forging new interpersonal and linguistic connections are enchantment and delight.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures. Irony is getting my camera cleaned and then forgetting it at work on a Friday. So these were from my phone. More pictures to come as the weather is improving here and I'm getting out more.

Enchanted and delighted,
Jeremy

Fun times in Taksim

I spent a few nights last week in Taksim. Here are a couple pictures.

 

The biggest changes in my life are not that big yet, but they are exciting. My cousin Hazel is coming to visit me on the first day of spring. That's in 2 weeks! She'll be here for a few days and I'm really excited about it. She'll be the first member of my family to come visit me here.

In other news, my friend Kerem, and I are in the planning stages of some short documentaries we'll be making over the next few months. We've limited ourselves very little as to where exactly we film, who we interview and how we'll frame the documentaries, but we want to focus on political and cultural themes.

Seems life is accelerating as I'm trying to figure out what's next and pursuing some hobbies in the meantime.