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 :)
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
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.
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.
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