Radio show, night run and farewell to Hytham

Friday night, I connected via Skype with twitter friend and fellow Turkish football fan, Ata Dizdar, to be a co-host on his podcast, Turkish Football Weekly. The show was mainly a preview of the Turkish Süper Lig as well as an account of the national team game that I went to (described in the previous post). You can listen to the show here.I was at my good friend Batuhan's house, because it was a quiet place to make the recording. After recording for a couple hours (which was totally fun by the way; I absolutely loved the experience), Batu and I spontaneously decided to go for a run. The time was about 11:30pm and so the air was not too hot. We ran ~10 kilometers round trip between Bostancı and Caddebostan. There is a bike path that runs along the sea. I found an excellent panoramic photo of the place we ran, from the photographer Yığıthan Doğan (click to make it bigger).
We were both really tired after that, but we agreed that we felt much better.

Saturday night the 14th of August 2010 was a night of celebration for Hytham. He lived with me for about 2 weeks, and he was a very enjoyable roommate to have. Through him I met a lot of new people and we all got together the other night for him. I brought my friend Gülşah with me. She's the one from Kartal, mentioned in the previous post. I speak more Turkish around her than with anyone, because she gets really annoyed with me when I try speaking English to her. She was happy that nearly all of the people we were meeting up with were Turkish.Anyway, we were in Taksim which is always nice but also really crowded. We were a diverse crowd ourselves. I was the only person there who knew everyone else, and the six women in the picture below knew on average only two of the others before that night.
From left to right: Aslı, Aylin, me!, Neslihan, Hytham, Pınar, Melek, Gülşah.

It was a late night, but I awoke early to see Hytham off. It was sad to see him go, but I'm sure I'll see him again sometime.

Friends in Kartal and a Friendly in Kadıköy

A couple nights ago, I was invited to a barbecue in Kartal by my friend, Gülşah. I met some of her friends including Pelin, who is also in the picture. Additionally I met her brother, Murat, whom I also quickly determined to be cool. We went to a forest for the barbecue, and though the weather was hot, the atmosphere was nice. I think I spoke more Turkish that night than any other.
Then last night, as I was reading an article about the Turkey-Romania international friendly match in preparation for a podcast that I'll be a guest on, I saw that the game was going to held at a stadium very close to my apartment. So I figured, rather than watch it on tv, I should just go to it. I didn't know how to get to the stadium but I saw some people dressed like they were going so I followed them. Less than 10 minutes later I was there. I never realized how close I live to the stadium. I found the ticket booth where some people tried to scam me while I was in line by selling me tickets for more money than they were worth and also lying to me by saying that purchasing a ticket required ID and a credit card. There was a sign that said this, but that was only for if you bought the tickets online. Anyway, I didn't fall for their sh!t. The lesson I learned from it though: damn it's nice knowing a little Turkish. I've met foreigners who have lived here for 10, 15 or 20 years and know almost no Turkish. But I digress... The match itself was not the best I have seen, but Turkey did get the victory, 2-0. It was rather exciting and unreal to be there because I had never seen a national team live before. I am a pretty big fan of a few of the players, and it was cool to see them.

Return to Büyükada

Last week, I went to Büyükada for the afternoon with friends. I had been in a similar situation 1 year ago, but with different friends. I try to be grateful for the good times, but sometimes I long for them or others like them. It has been my mission to create new memories here in İstanbul- to replace or at least compliment the old ones of times and circumstances that will not repeat themselves. Took a picture from this point last year.
Büyükada was healthy, painful, refreshing, and relaxing. With my mind all over the place, I took a walk alone and called a good friend. "Guess where I am?" I asked. The island where we came together to say goodbye 1 year ago, was not what she guessed. At that time, we were four people with four slightly different directions to go, each containing an uncertain future. That was then, and I'll have to come to better terms with it. In the now of last week, I met friends of friends, including a resident of the island. When I asked about her unusual first name, she explained that she is Jewish. I asked her some questions about hers and her family's views regarding Jewish-Muslim mixed dating and marriage. You may be wondering, as she was wondering, why I wanted to know. My friend who was with me on Büyükada 1 year ago, just wrote a masters thesis on the subject. Anyway, she answered my questions and I enjoyed the discussion that ensued.

I took a picture just before leaving the island, as the sun was setting. I hoped then that it would stand to represent forgetting someday the parts of my past that contain and cause pain. The scene and the night air that followed was therapy enough.

A new roommate and some changes

I have a new roommate for a couple weeks. He is Hytham (on the right in the photo), and he is from Saudi Arabia. In addition to teaching me Arabic and Arabian cooking, he hangs out with me some during my days in Kadıköy. However, the picture is from when we were hanging out with friends in Taksim. It has been nice having some company in the apartment. I have really been fixing the place up more since he moved in. I got some new furniture from an American who was leaving (ironically moving to Saudi Arabia). Before Hytham, I never had people come over because my place was a bit empty and not a fun place to hang out. But now it is really becoming cool. In fact, on his last day we are planning to throw a party. So far the party plans include: Arabian foods, mangal (that means 'barbeque'), lots of beer, and lots of friends.

These are fun things to think about, but I have a million other things on my mind. I'm trying to establish some goals for myself and build a healthier and fuller routine. I've had trouble keeping in touch with everyone. I have been getting so caught up in my life here, that I have also been forgetting to write about it here. Forgive me these faults. I'll have some more interesting things to say soon.