Hyde!

The arrival of my dear friend and former roommate, Hyde, is something I had been looking forward to for quite some time. Going to the airport to meet someone rather than to leave, was an experience I welcomed happily. His flight came in shortly before midnight and we made the long journey back to Kadıköy. The city looks quite a bit different at night, but he seemed interested in many aspects of it. We discussed many things, but we were very tired.

Upon arriving at the apartment, Hyde checked in with his family and then we retired to our quarters. We were both exhausted, but Hyde especially. The following morning I, as I had been planning to do for quite sometime, woke up a little early, bought fresh fruit, dairy and veggies from local vendors and prepared a nearly-authentic Turkish breakfast on the front porch. It was most delightful. Hyde and I also split a fresh fig. It was his first time tasting one.After breakfast, we went to the park in nearby Moda. We walked along the seafront and then stopped at a çay bahçe for some Turkish tea. After that we went to Ali Usta, for some very famous ice cream. I had a scoop of almond and a scoop of kaymaklı. Both were amazing. Hyde got a raspberry scoop and a lemon scoop.
We stopped in almost every store of interest. A puzzle store, a bakery, a spice shop, a cheese shop, and so on. Each time I would explain some of the things people like to eat here or why I like these stores. In the bakery, a woman working there gave us samples of these strange and delicious apricot marmalade squares. They were so good. I think it's good that we were full before touring all those food places.
Hyde will be here for 2 weeks. We have so many plans. As I write this on Saturday afternoon, we are planning to make a night out of Taksim with 3 or 4 sets of my friends (all of whom are eager to meet my mysterious foreign friend). The moral of this post is: come visit me and you'll get to experience all this too! To hear about our adventures from Hyde's perspective, visit his blog at: http://corvik.blogspot.com/. You may also notice that I stole all his photos!

Night Out With Burcu in Taksim

After making a trip to Beşiktaş, I got a call from Burcu who happened to be in Taksim (which is close-by). We decided to hang out and so we went to the Tünel part of Taksim for a glass of wine. Later on, we went to a place close to Meydan for a beer. We sat on a balcony overlooking the other cafes. We took turns making observations about different tables. One had a guy with two women his age. We tried to guess what his relationship was to them. Another table had two really bored looking guys. Burcu deduced correctly that they ran the place, which is why they weren't drinking and were bored. It was a fun game to play. After the beer, we went back to Tünel to a really kickass club called Cuba. The music was excellent, people were dancing salsa, and Spanish was floating in the air all night. Burcu and I shared a table outside with some friendly Spaniards and an Aussie. We joked around a bunch and had a great time. The guys invited me to play football with them during the week, and I hope to take them up on the offer sometime soon.

Throughout the night Burcu and I talked a lot about guys' and girls' expectations in a relationship and how those differ across cultures. We talked about what we look for in other people in terms of their character. It got me thinking a lot about my past relationships, mistakes and my present social life. After Burcu left, I chewed on these thoughts while also chewing on the handful of deliciousness that is a burger from Kızılkayalar. Seriously, the definition of restraint is eating only one of those things.
All in all I can say that the night was great. I wasn't planning on making it a late night, but it quickly became one. I'm happy it's the weekend, and I'm glad it started well.

A combination of several memories

Safiye and I went to Ortaköy to meet up with Mehtap. When we first got there, we went to Destan, where I saw Doğu, my potential roommate from back when I was first looking for an apartment. We sat there for a bit but decided to go. We soon found ourselves by the water.

At the end of my last day in İstanbul, the first time I came to visit, I went to Ortaköy to drink a salep by the water. This was my first time back to that exact spot since then. It was a sweet kind of memory, and it wasn't the only one brought to mind.At the end of my first day in İstanbul, when I moved here 4 months ago, I had an impromptu birthday party (also in Ortaköy), where I reunited with Safiye and Mehtap. I met them in Boston a couple years ago, and I have seen them separately on many occasions in İstanbul, but this was the first time since that birthday party hanging out all together.

On the docket for the next few days or so:

- New phone plan. I will finally be able to use the phone which I brought with me to Turkey, but it means that I have get a new phone plan. However, it will be much cheaper than the one I am using so hurrah!

- Going to touristic places with Mehtap in the first installment of our plan to hang out as much as possible before she moves to Switzerland. I think as an American living here and a Türk who is moving soon, we will make an interesting pair in Kapalıçarsı (our first stop).

- Football. Playing it, watching it, podcasting about it. Strangely, as I follow it more and more closely, I find myself becoming a fan of the Turkish League more than any of the teams.

- Hyde coming to visit me a week from the day after tomorrow. I often find myself daydreaming about all the places I will take him and the things he will experience here. I really can't wait.

A hard picture to explain

But I'll try to nonetheless.

Went to the İftar tents in Ümraniye where different cities' traditional things were on display and for sale. One of my friends is Sivasli (from Sivas) and so we went to that tent. And we dressed up. Then we had tea and chatted. A little later we went to the Rize tent (cuz my other friend is Rizeli) and saw some of the traditional dancing. So in short, the evening, in addition to rocking, also produced some funny photos.