A Great Day

This morning I was in a great mood. A mood that warranted the preparation of sucuklu menemen (eggs, tomato, peppers, sucuk). I had some olives on the side, and to drink I poured myself a glass of apricot juice. Additionally, I prepared a special treat: mulberries! I discovered the other day that there is a mulberry tree growing outside my apartment. The berries are starting to ripen these days. I eat a few when I leave my apartment in the morning and a few more when I return at night. This time I thought to have some with breakfast.

The weather today is perfect: sunny and 23 degrees (Celcius, b!tch). I have some emails to write, resumes to further edit, and a masters thesis to proofread. So, I walked a little farther from home to a cafe that has a high terrace with a 270 degree (degrees, b!tch) view of rooftops, streets, a plaza, and a patch of sea.I have another piece of news which is that last I played football and scored my first goal! Well, my first since I started playing with my Moda friends about 3-4 weeks ago. The closest I came before last night was a couple of own-goals that left my foot, deflected off the head or shin of a defender, and by way of luck and good fortune found its way to the back of the net. Last night's piece was a bit different. Our side had won a corner kick. Playing defense, I inched up past midfield to maybe catch a deflecting a ball and put it back into the penalty area if need be. But as Volkan was setting up the corner I noticed that a huge gap had formed in the backside of the penalty area. I burst forward toward the area, flailing my arms and looking at Volkan. He saw. The cross came curling perfectly over the heads of everyone, toward me. I look two more quick strides forward, closed my eyes tightly and connected my head with the ball. When I opened my eyes, I saw the ball drift just under the crossbar and into the back of the net. My friends all ran toward me in double-high-five mode. Of course I was elated. I thanked Volkan for the pass, and I played the rest of the game with renewed vigor.

After today's paper-filled duties, I will hang out with Nayat and Sezen in Taksim. I cannot wait until that moment when I am relaxing on the boat to Kabataş, the salty suds sometimes barely missing my outstretched feet resting on the railing as I recline. By then I will have commandeered a newspaper. Probably I will be circling words to study later with the half-sized blue pen I carry in my pocket. In anticipation of a an evening in Taksim I will be listening to Istiklal Caddesi Kadar. Oh Şebnem.

The Protests Continue at Night

When I returned to the scene at Levent in the evening, the event had grown tremendously in size and impact. As I climbed the stairs exiting the metro, I heard the chants. When I emerged above ground, I saw that Levent was an entirely different place.I had to push my way through packed crowds to even get a view of the chaos. People were gushing into the area by the metro-car-load, waving flags and yelling chants like "Kahrolsun İsrail" (Damn you, Israel). Flares were being lit, police were swarming. At one point everyone started yelling excitedly and when I saw the smoke I understood. A flag was being burned, but I could not tell what the flag depicted. Israel? Probably, but it didn't matter. Behind the crowds, a man was helplessly trying to keep the people out of the only remaining lane of the northbound Büyüdere Caddesi traffic. His effectiveness waned and 5 or 10 minutes later the cars and buses full of people were motionless. Their honking was mainly an attempt to encourage rioters to get out of the way, but I'm certain it was interpreted only as a show of support.


Bigger and bigger flags were moving in, followed by larger and larger signs. The ones which I could understand said straightforward and unoffensive things like "it's not alright to attack humanitarian aid ships". I can't speak for the others though.
To sum up, I will just say that the people here are very upset by what happened. I don't mean just at the protest. Killing a dozen or so Turks on a peaceful effort to deliver aid to a struggling people is just such a terrible and unnecessary thing. When you have the guns, you have the responsibility. With that, I hope that the fallout from this is policy change, not more violence. Time will tell.

Protests at Israeli Embassy

I took these about 1 hour ago. At the time the protest was just getting started, but the windows to the Israeli Embassy entrance were already broken and a police barricade established. The most popular chant was "Şerefsiz İrail, şerefsiz İsrail..." which of course means "Israel, you have no honor." As I was leaving, dozens by the minute were getting out of work and pouring in to join the protest. Sound and light equipment was being set up, tv crews were everywhere, and the folks working inside the embassy were being directed by police out of the building. I might return to the scene in an hour or so to take some more photos.

A Social Sunday, a Manic Monday

Spent a sunny Sunday afternoon in Maçka with my new friend, Nayat. We caught a movie, had smoothies and played backgammon (but that sounds weird to me because here it is called "tavla"). It was a tight match and we left it before it was over. As a side note, I learned the game and got fairly good after downloading this free computer version a couple years ago. Afterward, we took a bus to Beşiktaş and then walked to Ortaköy.
Our original plan was not to walk, but with all the traffic (and the free time!) we decided to. Actually, the traffic was so jammed that we arrived ahead of the bus that we would have taken there. In Ortaköy, there is a mantı place that Nayat likes that is inexpensive and really delicious. The air started to cool down in the evening, and the breeze coming off the water was a nice touch. And of course the mantı was fabulous. Definitely in my top 3 favorite Turkish dishes. I am thankful for these kinds of days where everything flows and the time just flies.

In sharp contrast to Sunday... Monday. Took care of a bunch of obligations, sent emails, checked job postings and the time just dragged on. To top it all off, Israeli military forces killed upwards of a dozen Turks who were part of a large international crew on an aid-delivery voyage to the Gaza Strip. Thousands of protesters have gathered at the embassies in İstanbul and Ankara. At the time of this posting I am preparing to go see the protests for myself. More on this later +pictures.