Ohhhhh the jetlaggggggggggggggg

My body and mind don't know what time it is. Last night I fell asleep early, woke up at 3AM went back to sleep at 8AM and woke again at 1:30PM! I was supposed to see my friend Dee last night but I fell asleep so early and when I woke up it was too late. Anyhow, her daughter had been pistol whipped at work and Dee had to stay with her because she had a concussion (and stitches, etc.) Also, a woman where she works was robbed at gunpoint in the parking lot yesterday, and today someone stole food out of my car while I was at the Cooper Young Festival! Welcome back to Memphis :-( My goal is to move away from here by next summer!

I finally posted the photos of Izmir and Ephesus. Ephesus is amazing. It was first settled in the 10th century BC and later became the capital of Asian rule under the Romans. I think what I enjoyed the most was the fact that it has a gladiator graveyard and that the Temple of Artemis was there (Diana). Ephesus was one of the 7 wonders of the world and the Temple was the largest building at that time. Pillars from the temple were taken to Constantinople and used in the Hagia Sophia. Ephesus is also where Apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians and is one of the seven cities mentioned in the book of Revelations. Apostle John also lived there, and his gravesite is located in the ruins of St. John's Basilica at Ephesus. According to our guide, his bones were exhumed not long ago and were taken by the Vatican.

The museum of Ephesus is not very large and a lot of things are in storage. I asked out tour guide about it and he told us that the entire area by law can not have any more building construction, due to future excavations.

When in Izmir, we went to visit the ancient Agora. It closed at 5:00, but some locals showed us how to scramble over some old rubble and get in....which is what we did. I was thinking how nice it was to have the entire place all to ourselves when I heard Igor say, "Briget", I looked up and a security guard was approaching. Uh-oh! I played the clueless American, "Merhaba!" and smiled and waved. I pointed to my camera and asked him to take a photo of me beside a pillar? So he did, and he then led us out, and everything was ok :-)

Also in Izmir we went to an Anatolian arts festival and to the local bizarre. At the festival was a fashion show, only invited guests and blocked off from view. I asked a security guy if we could go watch for a few minutes? He said "no" and Igor walked off. The security guy said to me, "You can go in but he can't!" I walked over and told Igor, "I'll be back in 15 minutes, I'm going to the fashion show!" HA! So I went in, had a quick glass of wine and sat beside the elite locals and photographers and watched :-)

At the bizarre we saw several stores selling outfits that are fit for a prince. The boys wear these clothes at their circumcision celebration, around age 10 or so. The deed is done, money is pinned on the boy's clothes by friends and relatives and there's a party and feast, while the boy lies on an nice bed, richly decorated and is distracted from the pain by jokes, animation and presents. This is a rite of passage for boys in Islamic Turkey.

Naming children is very important, as well. All names have meaning and all boys in a family have names that start with the same letter. Once the name is chosen, an Iman or elder in the family holds the child in the direction of Mecca, recites the name three times in the right ear and recites from the Koran in the left ear.

At death, the departed are buried only in a shroud, not a coffin. When I was in Ayvalik, at the call to prayer the Iman stopped and talked. I wondered what this was and asked a Turkish friend. It was the announcement of someone's death and funeral time, which is usually the same day or next as long as relatives don't have to come from far away.

Writing from Amsterdam Airport 'cause there's nothing else to do here!

Cute - where before there were Turkish words on the Blogger, now it has "Blog Maken"in the upper corner. Dutch is a funny language, the trash can says "DANK U" :-)

I THOUGHT I had a 5+ hour layover here, so I decided to take the train into Amsterdam. While in line at passport check I looked at my ticket and they had changed my itinerary (without mentioning that they did so), so I only have two hours here. Not worth the trip :-( BUT, this trip will be over sooner than I thought.

Nihal and her husband took me to the airport at 2AM last night. I was fine taking a cab but they insisted. I feel REALLY bad because Ramazan starts today and they'll have hardly any sleep before they have to wake up and eat something before daybreak! Nihal bought me a pretty dress as a going-away present. I am going to post some pictures of the kids, etc...then later Izmir and Ephesus.

I haven't explained about those cool Soviet-era things pictured below! They belong to Yosef in Israel and he has an AWESOME collection!!

Gramma got angry with me! Balat and Fatih in Istanbul

Nihal and her husband have been out of town for a few days. The day before yesterday "gramma" came to watch the kids. It was the maid's day off, I was going out that evening and we couldn't find the key to the house, so Gramma stayed up until 11:00 - she usually goes to bed at 10:00 so she was nice about it. But yesterday the maid was here and I left for what was supposed to be only a "goodbye dinner" with two friends. But I told the maid I didn't know when I'd return. In these cases I just knock on her window (Lila's) and she lets me in. Well, the dinner came with lots of wine, and then more wine "on the house" at the restaurant, and then we decided to go to Taksim, and we went to several clubs, and had lots of fun, but I got back home about 3AM and knocked on the maids window and who comes to the door? GRAMMA! She doesn't speak English but she was furious! She held up three fingers and shook them at me. THREE THREE! I felt like I had broken curfew BIGTIME and I was BUSTED. By my Turkish mom! This morning Lila filled me in on what happened while I was gone last night. I wasn't home by 10, then 11, then midnight and she told Lila to sleep in the girl's room and Gramma stayed up until I got home. Lila said Gramma was pacing back and forth, back and forth. This is what it must be like for a single Turkish woman who lives at home with her parents (usually the case in Turkey). I posted pics below of Utabe (German) and me and Charly (Australian) and me when the night was young :-)
I met a guy last night who grew up in a cave house in Cappadocia, Turkey. Here are what some look like: http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/CentralAnatolia/Cappadocia/goreme/cave_house_tours.html
It would be so cool to see them!

My photos are going to be all out of order but I'm going to download some pictures I took in the Fatih neighborhood of Istanbul. It's very conservative, here is where many women do wear black from head to toe with only eyes showing. Some locals told me afterwards that the people there do not like foreigners and to never go there alone. I was with Igor so I was safe. We sort of just wandered into the neighborhood from another neighborhood called Balat, where we had gone to see the Chora Church http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chora_Church (an amazing place, highly recommended!) and Ahidra Synagogue. (By the way, don't anyone waste your time going to see this synagogue! The woman running things was one of the rudest people I've ever come across and the synagogue wasn't all that great anyhow.) Some people in these places still use horse and carts. I got yelled at once for taking a photo...the photo of the men sitting outside the mosque talking. As soon as I took the photo, a man in a shop ran out and yelled at me. I had a curious urge to videotape him yelling at me but of course I didn't :-) The thought just sort of ran through my head, "What a great video!"!!

I just checked my ticket to see what time my departure is on Thursday and it couldn't be worse - 5:35AM :-( I get to Memphis at around 8AM the same day. I'm going to have really bad jetlag.

Went to Israel! I am leaving for the US on Thursday :-(

I said goodbye to a bunch of people over the weekend. Today I am going to have lunch with another Turkish friend and go the Grand Bizarre to pick up a t-shirt for a friend at home (yeah - that's you Pat! :-))

Here is a quick run-down of what I have been doing, I have been slowly uploading photos and I will write in more depth about everything when I have some time - maybe on the flight back!

My best friend and his mother (Galina) visited me in Istanbul for three days. Igor's mom went back to Israel and Igor and I flew to Izmir, Turkey and saw Ephesus! It was amazing but HOT! About 100 degrees in the shade...but there's very little shade there. I wore a goofy white hat which helped and I did take an umbrella but it was no help as the heat reflected off of the marble and stones, so heat was coming from above and also from below. I wonder if the temperatures back several thousand years were cooler there? Anyhow, the ruins were awesome and we also went to see where Mary supposedly went to live in her later life, a house in the mountains close to Ephesus, and to the archeology museum which has items from the city. Izmir is a nice city, the cab drivers are honest :-) and it's much quieter than Istanbul. It is Turkey's 3rd largest city.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (I've always LOVED this movie!! I once had a party, someone put on this album and we ended up each taking characters and reinacting the entire opera...just a spontaneous thing.)
JUDAS (What a voice!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytNoiQ8LkS8

After Izmir we flew to Tel Aviv, Israel. The first day Igor was there and we drove all day stopping to see many things! The ruins of King Herod's palace were really interesting. The entire time there "King Herod's Song" from JCS was running through my head: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb_9uH-ELJE I loved the Old City of Acco as well and the B'hai Temple in Haifa. Galina gave a tour of the Old City of Jerusalem the next day (she lives in Jerusalem and is also very knowledgeable about religions, art, history, etc.), which is fascinating but also confusing! Different groups of Christians have different ideas of where Mary was buried, where the crucifiction took place, etc. etc. etc. The confusion reaches a peak at the Church of the Holy Sepultre: On a hot summer day in 2002, the Coptic monk who is stationed on the roof to express Coptic claims to the Ethiopian territory there moved his chair from its agreed spot into the shade. This was interpreted as a hostile move by the Ethiopians, and eleven were hospitalized after the resulting fracas.[3]
In another incident in 2004 during Orthodox celebrations of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a door to the Franciscan chapel was left open. This was taken as a sign of disrespect by the Orthodox and a fistfight broke out. Some people were arrested, but no one was seriously injured http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre Hmmm..I don't think this is what Jesus had in mind? (I hope nobody takes offense to this, but I don't believe Jesus was divine and I don't think he intended to start a new religion. I do believe he was a great man. Just my opinion.)

The next day Galina took me to the Dead Sea Scroll museum and swimming in the Dead Sea, and I really enjoyed the scenery on the way there! I think swimming in the Dead Sea is more dangerous than swimming anywhere else. I saw three people being rescued during the 1 1/2 hours I was there. The problem is...you don't SWIM in the Dead Sea...and if you try you get into trouble! The idea is to just float around slowly and it's very relaxing. We also took a hot mineral bath before we went in the sea and we slathered black Dead Sea mud all over ourselves, it is supposed to be very good for the skin.

Oh - about the Golden Gate: In Jewish tradition this is the gate that the Messiah will enter...so from Wikipedia: Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I sealed off the Golden Gate in 1541, allegedly to prevent the Messiah's entrance. The Muslims also built a cemetery in front of the gate, allegedly in the (mistaken) belief that the precursor to the Messiah, Elijah, would not be able to pass through, since he is a Kohen. This belief is erroneous because a Kohen is permitted to enter a cemetery in which primarily non-Jews are buried. Crazy, huh?

The next day I returned to the mayhem of Istanbul, which used to be Constantinople, which is where the Nicene Creed that Christians recite was finalized at the Counsel of Constantinople in 381 :-) More details later!

Ece is in a BAD MOOD today! I told her so. She said, in a whining voice, "What does 'bad mood' mean?" I said, The way you are right now, whining, crying, sad face. She stamped her foot and cried, "I am NOT in bad mood! Nooo, I am NOT in a bad mood!" I was working with Defne on her lesson book, Ece wanted me to help her cut something with scissors, I said, "As soon as I am finished with this I will cut it for you." She began to cry and whine. I said "Be patient, it will only be a few minutes." She pitched a fit. I said, "Bad mood!" She said, "I am NOT NOT NOT in a bad mood!" I ignored it, so she proceeded to cut it out herself. Then she tried to open the tube of glue. I wasn't paying attention. She couldn't open the top with her fingers so she tried with her teeth and succeeded, therefore getting a mouth full of glue. She shrieked! She ran around like a chicken with it's head cut off, spitting as she went. It's rather windy outside today so most of the glue-spit blew right back on her. We washed her mouth out with water, brushed her teeth and tongue and gargled. I told her bad things happen when you're in a bad mood and impatient! She's eating lunch now, she says it tastes like glue. She's acting rather meek at the moment :-)

I knew the girls loved Barbies before I came here, and bought a book of Barbie stickers that say things like "You are awesome" and "Brilliant". This book of stickers is my weapon...or call it a bribe. If they don't behave during their lessons, they don't get a Barbie sticker. This is a terrible blow, the worst kind of torture, if they don't get their Barbie sticker for the day. Today Ece didn't get a Barbie sticker. Defne did, it said "Genius!" She asked what "genious" means, I told her "Very very smart". She was putting the sticker in her book and said without a smile, "Oh, like me."

I haven't been writing much in my blog lately for several reasons.
1. After living here for a few months things are starting to feel really "normal". Not saying I don't learn new things about Turkey/Istanbul every day (impossible not to!), but the differences aren't as glaring as they were when I first got here.
2. I have made some good friends and I have been busy doing things with them and with the family that I stay with. Knowing there's not much time left here I am spending a lot of time with the people I have come to know, and the kids...rather than being the tourist. Nihal wrote to me yesterday, "Briget Pls don't say to me 'I will leave' because I am feeling very bad . I am feeling that you are one of the my relatives."

I feel the same way :-(

"I was walking in Istanbul.."

Yesterday I started at Taksim and walked for five hours! I had no plan, just started walking. (I like to do that in NYC, too!) Ya never know what you might find. (Photos below)

I found an old junk shop in a posh area of the city. The man who owned it said he was a movie actor. I was a little bit skeptical...a movie star who has a junk shop? Then I thought...well maybe it's a hobby like Paul Newman with his race cars? He spoke barely any English but he had a Turkish-English phrase book, and it was filled with pick-up lines in English!!!!!!!!!! HAHA! He pointed to my camera and to him and me...'blahblahblah' in Turkish so I said "Ok' and had someone take our picture together. Then he looked at his phrase book and said, "You have beautiful eyes" and looked at me seriously. He paged through his book again and said, "Did you come from heaven?" I couldn't help it, I just laughed and laughed. He looked puzzled. He must have thought he pronounced something wrong so he read it again: Did you come from heaven? Which only made me laugh even harder - my stomach hurt from laughing so hard and I was practically crying! I don't think he knew what to do so he laughed as well. Then he turned the page of his book, I was trying to leave, but he held up his hand like "wait"...so I waited and finally he got to the page he wanted and said, "May I see you tonight?" Since he couldn't understand English there was no way to tell him "I am busy" or whatever, a nice excuse of some sort... so I just had to say "No" in Turkish. He looked very sad. He pointed to his guest book for me to sign as I was leaving. It had a space for name, from where, and email address. Oh, big mistake! When I woke up this morning I had an email, "Hello Briget, how are you this morning? You are lovlier than a rose."

BTW, I did google him and he's had a few bit parts in some movies, including one this year: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0884805/usercomments

Further on I saw a mosque I wanted to photograph. The best angle was from a parking lot. The old man who was the attendant saw me and ushered me into his "office" for what he thought was a better angle for the shot. His office was outdoors, along an old wall which had a great view of the Bosphorus and the mosque. He must have been working there for years as he had all the comforts of home right there. There was a grape arbor above, pots of flowers, chairs, a table and beyond this he had his supplies...food, pots and pans, an habachi...and his prized possession and the only English he knew, "Jack Daniels"! He offered me some, I declined :-) He gestured toward a chair and I sat. He sat across from me. We chatted for a few minutes, him speaking in Turkish, me in English and neither of us minded that we didn't understand what the other said. We admired the scenary and discussed it. I admired his flowers and roses, and he told me all about them. He asked me to take pictures of him, then I said I had to go, and he nodded and smiled and bid me farewell.

I got a phone call from a friend, who asked where I was? I said I had no idea, so I looked for landmarks. She met me there and we had something to eat at the below pictured cafe.

OH! I was right about the nanny! One day she told the kids to go outside to play, and they did, and they disappeared. She (nanny/housekeeper) came running to me almost hysterical a while later, she couldn't find them. I figured if I were them, where would I go? The swimming pool of course! So I ran down there and that's where they were. NOT GOOD AT ALL! She was honest though, and told Nihal what happened, and the next day she was gone. Now there's another nanny/housekeeper here - Lila.

I am living in the area of Istanbul called Ulus, which is a very nice upper middle class, quiet place. But it's residential and doesn't feel like a neighborhood. What I consider my neighborhood is Ortakoy, just a walk down the hill. When I'm not doing anything else, I walk down there in the evenings. The people at Starbucks know me, when they see me they say "Briget!" (they know because they write it on the cup of course! And they remembered. And they pronounce it "Burget") The people at my little grocery store know me, the people at the sweet shop know me (oh the baklava!!). I buy stuffed mussels from the same street vendor every time. And when they realize you are more than a tourist, they treat you differently. The guy at the sweet shop throws in a few more baklava -- last week they gave me a box of fresh...something between a bagel and a doughnut? Just gave it to me. They were filling up the boxes when I was in there, to sell. The grocer had me for tea one day, and tried to talk English with me :-) (BTW, I don't think I can pronounce a single Turkish word properly!) Oh you would think I'd be getting fat, all this talk of food, but I must walk it off because I haven't gained any.

Ortakoy is a very diverse neighborhood and very tolerant. Greeks, Turks, Armenians and Jews all live there. There are art galleries, restaurants, cafes, bars and two really magnificent nightclubs - Angelique and Reina. http://www.reina.com.tr/2007/ An odd thing here - there are summer nightclubs in Istanbul and winter nightclubs. These are the most popular of the summer nightclubs and right on the Bosphorus. Lots of fun!! Although I haven't been inside, the Ciragan Palace Kempinsky is here: http://www.kempinski-istanbul.com/en/hotel/index.htm?item_id=37670 Imagine staying there!! There is an old Hamam which is closed, unfortunately, right across from the entrance to the "square". The square itself is fantastic for people-watching!

I'm worried about Nihal. In the spring, before I came, she was very ill for several weeks, she said she was almost paralyzed, couldn't move or eat or talk. The doctor's couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then she got better. But the last few days she has been very very exhausted, her calves and back hurt, she walks stiffly and she looks horrible. She cried today in the kitchen and said she was scared what will happen to her. I think something is seriously wrong with her. :-( Her husband, sorry to say, doesn't seem to take this seriously? I believe she should be in a hospital getting every test in the book and he should take her. But he just ignores it.

Meanwhile, Ece wants to know my logon password so we can have the same passwords. I can't make her understand that passwords are supposed to be secret :-) Defne went into hysterics today when she saw raspberry juice running down my leg (the bag I had was leaking and I didn't know it.) She thought it was blood. She screamed like she did when the dogs ran into my bedroom, then ran and wouldn't look at me again for a long time, she didn't believe it was juice. So, she already has a phobia :-) She got very angry at me a few days ago. I took the girls swimming and Nihal told me not to let Defne jump. Well, of course, Defne jumped, because that's the way she is. Twice I warned her not to do it. The third time she jumped, I had to physically drag her from the pool and carry her kicking and screaming up to the apartment to stay with the nanny. She hasn't jumped since :-)

Culture shock?

I googled "culture shock". I don't think I have it....much, anyhow. Here are the symptoms according to Wikipedia:
Culture shock manifests itself in different forms with different people but some symptoms can be the ones in the following list.
*eating more than usual - gaining weight
*not eating enough - loss of weight
*having an increased need for hygiene - e.g. cleaning the flat on a daily basis
*calling home much more often than usual
*being hostile / complaining all the time about the hosting country / culture
*avoiding meeting people
*increased need of sleep
________________________________________.

All aspects of daily life are more difficult, of course. How to use the cellphone with no English instruction booklet, what temperature should I set the oven? (c instead of f), how to use the washing machine? Using a foreign keyboard (the "i" is in a different place, and so are other letters and punctuation marks!) Shopping for food. Getting from one place to another is extremely difficult in Istanbul. Haggling over purchases and trying to figure out if the waiter has given you a "yabanci" (foreigner) menu with inflated prices or a menu meant for locals. The list goes on and on and when they add up it's all irritating! But it's a learning experience and I did my research before I came here...I believe that helped quite a bit. There weren't any major surprises for me and I pretty much knew what to expect. So, I'm not having any symptoms :-), but I admit it's a relief to every once in a while be with people from your own culture or similar culture, just because you know they'll "get" you. Last night was one of those occasions!! The wild and crazy expat boat party! (By the way, may Turkish repats as well!)

Put over 100 of us on a boat on the Bosphorus and it gets pretty crazy :-) Really a great group of interesting and fun people! To make things even better the DJ played salsa music for a while and a small group of us danced danced danced! A new guy from Columbia is here - Jorge - and he's a fantastic dancer. We wore the poor guy out!

I showed Ece how to change the background on her computer, she has spent two days now changing it from one picture to another. It's her favorite thing to do now. I also showed her how to look at images on Google, so she's just been googling away and changing the background from cats, to Barbies, to flowers to horses....you get the idea. She thinks I'm a genius that I know how to do this. It's one reason I love kids :-)

I finally had to slap a guy. I was in a shop trying on a skirt, and I came out to look in the mirror. Two guys were running the place. One washe owner and the other an employee. Well, one of the guys came over pretending to adjust the seams, and then he put his hand up my skirt and squeezed my butt! Theyboth spoke English well. I whirled around and said, "You better be gay!" He laughed. I slapped him. At first he looked shocked but the other guy laughed at it and so he began to laugh again. I slapped him again. There was nothing else to do, nobody to complain to, nothing to be done. I wish I knew a big strong guy to beat the *&@)$* out of him!

The Rumi exhibit was fantastic. I still have to write about him and the Mevlevis but no time now! I've been a bad blogger lately and not writing or posting pictures...I've just been really busy!

Update on orange things, and how is my yard art?

A few days before I left Memphis, I was told by a big honcho at work to mow my grass (I rent my house from a university) because one of my next door neighbors had complained of the tall grass. Well, I like the "wild look", my backyard looked like a pretty meadow filled with wildflowers. (front yard was mown short.) My neighbor didn't agree, obviously. He vacuums his lawn twice a day in case a leave falls on his grass. He keeps emergency windex ready in case a bird poops on a flower. How he could even SEE my back yard is a mystery. He must have had to climb the roof of his garage. Anyhow, he complained, so I had to get out that evening and mow the grass in 95 degree heat. The entire time I was cursing under my breath and plotting some sort of retaliation. After all, he had called my work instead of first talking to me about it! Then I thought, no, this neighbor needs kindness. I will make some nice yard art for him to look at from his patio!

I looked around the garage. Ah-ha - I spied an aluminum crutch left from when I broke my foot a few years ago. I taped a paper plate to it and wrote around the rim with bold magic marker, "I Used Crutches Until I Found God". I taped various pills and a cigarette on it, and planted the crutch art at the fence-line, facing his patio. I placed an empty wine bottle on top. Now he had something nice to look at all summer!! AND something interesting to ponder. I am wondering how it is weathering and if he's enjoying it?

Someone on the expat message board DID see the orange flying things: Actually we (my boyfriend, flatmate and me) saw it too!!! I don't know - about a week ago. Very strange! We wonder if it was some sort of military planes?

So, more expats had to comment:
1. are you all joking? or obsessed? they were red hearts! Beautiful shiny red hearts
2. ME: Maybe the hearts came out of the orange things while I wasn't looking?
3. uf ya uf. i can not help you guys. our friends have been traveling in space for eons to throw love on us. hearts!
4. Earlier in the thread I said they were spaceships. I stick to this. Everyone knows that spaceships are orange this year, it's the vogue color right now. They always have their foglights on, too.
5. Blue sky thinking: Has anyone considered that the orange round things in the sky might be... oranges?
6. That's food for thought.
7. Don't masticate over the idea too long, David.

Last night the kids and I were in my bedroom watching a Shirley Temple movie. I had the French doors to the patio open to let in the cool air. The movie was "The Little Princess" and it was just at the part where the Indian servant next door fixes up poor Shirley's bare, cold attic room in the boarding school while she is asleep. Remember? he decorates it, puts out slippers and robes, sets the table and puts food on it, lights a fire....when all of a sudden two dogs ran through the French door and jumped on the bed with us! The girls screamed bloody murder. The kind of screaming where they don't move, they just stand and scream. The dogs wagged their tails and the Beagle licked Defne's leg, and so she screamed even louder, her hair looked like it was sticking straight up. The father came running - I'm sure he thought Freddy was in my room. Then the lady who owns the dogs came running into my room. The maid ran in, Nihal ran in. The dogs barked and wagged their tails, the father yelled at the woman who owned the dog, the girls were still screaming, and through it all, I just wanted to see Shirley wake up and see her room....

Those orange things in the sky and my birthday

So...I posted a message on the expat forum, "What are those orange things in the sky?" I explained what they looked like, I hoped someone else had seen them or at least know what they are. Here are some replies from some of them:

1. They're coming to take you away *evil face*
2. Weather balloons?
3. Orange moats in your eye
4. Don't worry, that's just David Simpson's bike
5. Saw them, too. They were red. Red hearts
6. Diamonds, asked Lucy?
7. Spaceships, obviously (cue Dr. Who music)

Today the family I am staying with celebrated my birthday with me (since I HAD to see the Whirling Dervishes last night..yesterday was my real birthday), and invited some friends for dinner whom I have met through them and like a lot...and they speak English. It was a feast - tons of food and wine, a birthday cake, and homemade cards from Ece and Defne. Such nice people!! I will write later about the Mevlevis, as I am about to fall asleep.........

Orange UFOs over Istanbul, Burger King delivers and Whirling Dervishes

It's after 11 at night and I just saw three orange things fly across the sky. They weren't blinking like an airplane. They made no noise and they were in a loose formation. Nobody at the apartment is awake so I ran to the guard shack and showed him. He kept saying "camera! camera!" but I just filled up my card and there wasn't time to run back and get it and delete. Then as those ones disappeared, two others flying very close together appeared and went flying over us. Then a few minutes later, a lone one! I always thought I would die in a strange way...I hope not by extraterrestrials in Turkey..I am sitting outside to type this in case any more appear! So far, nothing...except for some airplanes flying in other directions. Normal airplanes/jets that make noise and aren't orange and do having blinking lights..

Anyhow, it's true, Burger King delivers in Istanbul...by motorcycle!

Friday night a bunch of us rented a place, it's in a nice bar, downstairs, and is like a private theater. It is filled with couches, comfortable chairs, tables, etc. and the movie screen fills up one large wall. There is a choice to either bring your own movie to play, or to play one of their's.Then there is the advantage of being served food, snacks, and drinks while watching a film. We watched "The Gods Must Be Crazy". I've seen part ll many times but haven't seen Part l in years, it was soooooooooo funny! Here is a link to the place, it's called Kafika: www.kafika.com

Today a friend took me to see something I've wanted to see very much - the Whirling Dervishes...otherwise known as the Muslim order called the Mevlevis. They are sort of the mystical side of Islam. They perform their "sema" (whirling dances, prayers, rituals, music) only one Sunday a month at the Mevlevihanesi, the Mevlevi "museum", in Istanbul...but their "headquarters is in Konya, Turkey. The sema was outlawed in Turkey in the 1920's, but followers still practiced their faith in secret. Many years later the government allowed the Mevlevi to perform sema only in public. This year is the 800th anniversary of Rumi, the poet and spiritual leader of the Mevlevi. There is an exhibit at the Hagia Sophia which I will go to this week! More about this fascinating sect tomorrow, and more about Rumi's poetry as well.

Why make-up is so expensive in Istanbul

Ah-ha, the mystery is solved. The only "make-up" I have bought here is nail polish. Sure I'd like to try some of the European brands, or even American brands, but the prices are outragous and after talking to a reformed"cosmetics runner", I know why! She'd bring suitcases of cosmetics and stuff from the US to a shop in Istanbul, and the shop owner would pay her 50% over her cost, then retail it 100%-200% more! The business arrangement came to an end over a suitcase full of battery-operated Gillette razors a few years ago. The shop owner requested a bunch of them but by the time she got back to Istanbul, Carrefour was already selling them and the shop owner refused to pay over cost.

Apparently cosmetics are subjected to the following: a 'special goods' (i.e. 'luxury') tax of 20% in addition to the 18% VAT and 10% freight charges. You can then add a 30% distributor margin and a 25% retailer margin. What do you get at the end? A cosmetic product costing $100 to the Turkish distributor ends up on the shelf at the high-end pharmacies for $341!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A lot of Turkish women apparently buy from strawberrynet, which ships to Turkey. So...anyone coming to Turkey, bring a huge suitcase full of make-up with you. If I had only known.... :-)

Domabahce Palace, Wedding Receptions and Boat Trip with VA Tech Students

I need to explain the photos that I uploaded a few days ago!

Hatice and I visited Dolmabahce Palace (means "filled garden" in English) on Friday. It is the biggest palace in Istanbul, situated on the Bosphorus. It was built in the mid 1800's, has 285 rooms, 44 halls, 68 toilets (!) and 6 hamams (Turkish baths). The styles used are neo-classical (very French-looking) combined with Ottoman elements. It has the largest collection of Baccarat and Bohemian crystal in the world. The floors are beautiful parque covered with elaborate Turkish carpets. All the furnishings are intact and original. It was home to six Sultans and in the 1920's ownership was transferred to the new Republic of Turkey. Ataturk used the palace as his summer home, and died there in 1938. To enter you must wear disposable plastic booties over your shoes. We had a bad tour guide, his English was hard to understand and his accent wasn't Turkish....or American...or Russian..or British. maybe he learned English from a robot? That's what it sounded like! The first part of the tour, the guy who was following the tour to make sure everyone kept up with their group made up for the poor tour guide, and told us many interesting things about the palace. No such luck on the 2nd part of the tour when the man doing the same job kept rushing us! And he looked mean, too!

Remember I had a craving for a baked potato? I've been passing them all along - street vendors sell them! All I saw were the toppings so I didn't know! Here, the toppings for baked potatoes are butter, cheese, yogurt, meats, peas and corn, mayonaisse, potato salad (!) and olives! I had mine with butter, cheese, peas, yogurt and mayo. Hatice said I was grinning the entire time I ordered it :-))

That evening we crossed the Bosphorus by ferry (about 1/2 hour ride) and went to the Asian side of Istanbul, where she lives. While waiting for Ferhat (her husband) to get off of work, we shopped and I bought a really cute jacket on sale for 3 Lira at Mangos (a store from Spain)! Then we went to a place called "Teacher's House". Hatice is a teacher (government school) and they get many benefits, including this one. There are Teacher's Houses in many places...they have restaurants and rooms rented very cheaply to teachers on holiday. (Teachers also have great medical insurance, cheap transporation fare and often free entrance to museums, etc.) This place was very nice and on the Bosphorus, where we could see the bridge - which changes colors at night - blue, purple, yellow, green, etc. It's very beautiful to watch and the bridge was lit at night only recently (I forget - one or two years ago they started.) There were two wedding receptions there - one Kurdish and the other Turkish and lemme tell you, the people know how to party! I took videos but still can't figure out how to upload them on to youtube??? It was great fun listening to the traditional music and watching the people dance dance dance, dances I've never see before :-)

I spent the night at Hatice's apartment. I saw parts of Jay Leno - in English - but was too busy talking to pay much attention. That's the first tv show I've seen in English in 1 1/2 months :-) Hatice is teaching me much more about Turkish culture and Islam than Nihal does. Nihal is "copying me". She is starting to buy clothes like mine, went on a diet to get "skinny like you", started drinking some protein drink (she saw I take protein powder), had bangs cut like mine. Hatice thinks maybe Nihal thinks I represent Western culture to her and she is imitating? She picked the wrong person to imitate - I'm not a Western fashion icon! My clothes are usually a bit ...unusual. (I just bought the coolest Nepalese pants!) People will begin to think she is very strange here... :-)))

Sunday I got to take a free boat trip thanks to a Turkish friend I met in Memphis (Mert) and his friend Husnu here in Istanbul. Mert got his MBA at VA Tech and ever since they have been hosting students in Turkey for a study abroad program. (Business majors) I was invited to go on the boat trip with them on the Bosphorus. We traveled down to where the Bosphorus opens into the Black Sea and the scenary was beautiful! But like typical kids, they spent more time sunbathing on the boat and making fun of the music on one of the professor's iPODs (think "Freebird") than looking at the scenary! But everyone was nice, and fun and interesting and I had a really good time. I talked with some of the professors a bit about the tragedy at VA Tech, but not much...If anyone reading this works at a university, I recommend these people for a study abroad program. The professors and students were very impressed with it, and what more fascinating, historical place to be than in Turkey!

Some recipes and more about taxi drivers

Turkish meatballs, Nihal's recipe:

1 pound ground beef
2 heaping tablespoonfuls full bread crumbs (bought - or use regular bread, crumbled)
1 onion chopped very fine
2 pieces of garlic chopped very fine
2 bunches of fresh parsley, chopped very fine
2 teaspoons of "kimyon" (cumin)
1 teaspoon of pepper
salt to your preference

With your hands squish it all together, squish squish squish! Form into flattish meatballs, about half the size of a thick burger. Place on cookie sheet and bake for about 1/2 hour at 375 degrees. Keep checking to see when they are done.

Nihal's salad:

This is made from some kind of green - not sure what it is. The new housekeeper says it grows like grass in the Philpines and when she first saw people eating it she called home, "These people are eating weeds!" :-) Anyhow, it would be great with any greens, try baby spinach.

Mix plain yogurt with 2 finely chopped pieces of garlic and a little olive oil and salt. Toss with salad greens and chill. YUM!
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Something needs to be done about the Istanbul cab drivers!! Not all, but too many of them are stupid, creepy, sneaky perverts! There must bea special breeding program to produce them. I can't imagine they have real mothers???!!!! The other night I shared a cab with another expat, at about 3:00AM. The streets were fairly empty - for Istanbul that is....and our driver decided to have a race with another cab driver. OH MY GOD!!! Racing at high speed, dodging cars, objects and pedestrians! The expat with me yelled at him in Turkish and he just laughed but he did stop. What an idiot. Then another night I had my first experience with the "change problem" cab driver.Although many cabs will take the long way around, or change a 10 Lira bill into a 1 (how they do that is a pretty good magic trick). Anyhow, most of it is sneaky and underhanded. But not the "change problem"!! I gave this driver a 10 Lira bill for a 6 Lira fare. He gave back 4 .50Lira which is of course, 2 Lira! Did he not think I would notice? I kept holding my hand out for more money. He looked at my palm and counted in Turkish, "One two three four". I said NONONO - give me 2 more Lira! He said "change problem" in English. He pretended to look around for change then shrugged his shoulders and stared out the window straight ahead, waiting for me to get out. He was holding up traffic, cars were honking like mad behind us. After arguing for a few minutes I realized I wouldn't win this one. He would just park his taxi in the middle of traffic and sit there until he died if he had to. The way I felt at the moment is a good reason for gun control....Another thing they do is adjust their rearview mirror to look at me instead of the traffic behind them, and if I am wearing a skirt they will turn around and look at my legs at any stop. It's not me..I believe they would do this to a pregnant woman!

The new housekeeper/nanny refuses to call me Briget, she calls me "madam", accent on the "am". She also calls Nihal "madAM" or any friends who are visiting, so it gets quite confusing. She says, "MadAM" and everyone looks :-)

Well, I didn't make it to the island of Lesbos, where the citizens call themselves "Lesbians". But I did accidentally buy a "Gothic Lesbian" book. There's not many books to choose from in English and this was one of them, and it looked interesting...and actually it's pretty good! It's called "Fingersmith". Speaking of books, my mother used to take us to the library once a week in summer and we were allowed to get three books each (the limit). One book I read about age 12 made a huge impression on me and for years now I have been hoping to find it, to see if it really IS that great. I thought the title of it was "The Thresholders" and I haven't been able to find it anywhere. In Istanbul of all places, I have discovered the book! Several of us were talking about our favorite childhood books, and I told about this one...but it turns out, a guy knew the book I was talking about and it is NOT called "The Thresholders", it's called, "The Universe Between" by Allen E. Nourse. Getting this book will be one of the first things I do when I return to the States!!! :-)

Some Historic Sites

Saturday, my friend Hatice took me to see some interesting ancient locations in the oldest part of Istanbul. We went to the Basilica Cistern…a good article about it is here (although it seems to be translated from another language): http://www.yerebatan.com/english/itarihce.html (Pictures below) There is a small stage in one area near the entrance where live classical music is sometimes performed, I would love to hear that!
We went to see the workshops of Caferaga Medresesi next to Hagia Sophia, where traditional Turkish arts are taught. The below video is from there, too bad it’s not in English! I have also posted pictures below. We went to a similar place close to a small mosque where Hatice takes her ney lessons (a type of flute). To tell you how generous a lot of Turks are, as I was admiring a piece of art (in photo of Hatice and her teacher – on wall), he told Hatice to tell me to please take it since I liked it so much!! (of course I didn’t!)
(youtube) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsr7MORl4Os

The teacher gave us a private concert and it was beautiful!
While there a conversation began about the mosque next door. The teacher told me, with Hatice translating, that this mosque was a “dry run” for the Hagia Sophia, and it had been a church built during Justinian and Theodora’s reign. Had to see it! I googled it later and found this on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Hagia_Sophia A man in the mosque told me that a pope is buried under the floors somewhere and that the pope used to live next door, but I kind of doubt that???!!! (Photos below.)

We also went walking through an ancient park, I can’t remember the name of it but it was magnificent and even better it seemed about 10 degrees cooler than the streets :-) Picture below!

On my own I visited Galata Tower and Galata Bridge. Galata Tower is one of the oldest towers in the world and was originally built of wood in 527 as a lighthouse. In the 1300’s it was reconstructed of stone and called “Christ Tower”. Pictures of the tower and bridge below. I also happened upon a Catholic Church in Taksim – rather a Basilica – called “The Church of St. Anthony”. It has services in English, Italian, Polish and Turkish!

The new nanny/cook/housekeeper came today. I don’t know if she will last, the kids seem to get on her nerves. She keeps telling them to go outside and play :-)

BIG PS!! I happened upon the coolest lamp shop with handmade lamps! My very favorites are the leather and iron ones. I will have to get one to bring home, I just can't figure out which to get! They have a website: www.exoticlampsselection.com Support Turkey - buy a lamp :-)

Chicken and dumplings and the running teeth

There has been some excitement in the neighborhood lately. Nihal told me that a teeth got in someone's apartment. She told me how the teeth ran and ran and then the teeth tried to climb over the security fence but the guard caught the teeth! That story gave me bizarre nightmares that night :-) Sort of like the night I watched "Hannible" and "Shrek I" back to back with coworkers at the annual "drive-in movie" in our parking lot, then dreamed that a co-worker adopted a goose from the Humane Society but it was a CARTOON GOOSE, and as soon as she got outside the building she held it up and laughed wickedly, "HOHOHO! Guess what I am having for dinner tonight!" And I said, "Oh no you can't eat the goose, it's a PET goose!" And we struggled with the cartoon goose until I got it from her grasp and ran off with it.

Then, last night while I was gone, a man in the next building up the hill beat up his wife "too much". The wife got in the car and was so excited she crashed into many walls on the way down the hill and the husband called security not to let her out, that she was stealing his car! Then the police came and the husband and wife made up. hmmmmmm

I have been trying to figure out an American dish to make for this family, but most of what I am used to really isn't available. Finally I decided to make chicken and dumplings, a Southern US comfort food. After all, I would just need a chicken and although there's no Bisquick around here, surely I could find some baking powder? I spent an hour in a grocery store, trying to find baking powder. I expected it to be in a can - probably a red one? Up and down the isle I went, searching for a can. No luck. Then I saw little packets of something...sort of like the packets of yeast in the US. One said "Karbonat" and the other said, "Kabartma Tozu". Of course neither was in my well-thumbed English/Turkish dictionary but "Karbonat" had to be on the right track. The pictures on the packets didn't help either: one has a picture of a cake and the other has a picture of a spoon full of powder.

So, I posted to the expats on the Istanbul message board, "Where do I find baking powder and what is it called?" As usual, the expats were helpful, writing things like, "You can often buy this in shops, which are very useful places. Other things you can buy are shoes, ladders and electrical fittings. Visit a shop today." The next poster wrote to the former, "You must be in advertising. I now have an unbearable urge to visit one of these places called a shop, and buy some wonderous thing." To which the first poster replied, "Don't forget to take some money, which is the currency most shops require. Some will allow you the use of a card of credit if purchase is above 5. Shops can be found in streets and places where lots of people are. Good luck!" I decided Kabartma Tozu must be baking powder.

I told Nihal I would fix chicken and dumplings for dinner tonight. She asked what dumplings are. I said, " Well, they are sort of like bread cooked in liquid." I could see the skepticism on her face, and really, it does sound weird, doesn't it? So, armed with my kabartma tozu I made chicken and dumplings. I'm pretty sure it was baking powder but the dumplings turned out sort of...rubbery. I noticed they ate the chicken, they ate the gravy, they said "mmmmm! Good chicken and water!!!" And then they slipped away one by one to get rid of the dumplings when they thought I wasn't looking. Poor people. They were very hungry and ate lots of bread for dinner.

I met Spike Lee tonight!

There was an announcement on the expat message board for a meeting tonight with filmmaker Topaz Adizes http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2055815/ about a feature documentary, THE AMERICANA PROJECT, which will have a scene in Istanbul. As part of this production, we are shooting 10 scenes throughout the world exploring American identity. The film will be shot documentary style, and will examine what American identity means in different places in the world. We'll be in Istanbul from July 16-29. For this, we're looking for volunteers in Istanbul who would like to participate with us on this exciting documentary!. The time commitment would be little ... Only few hours on 1 or 2 of the days we'll be there, and we'll work with your schedule to make it happen.

Well, last summer I had two lines in an independent film. I practiced saying my lines all sorts of ways, I practiced answering my prop cellphone. But when it came time to shoot, I messed up my lines I was so nervous, and also, I kept looking at the camera instead of looking at the director like I was supposed to do. My two lines were cut of course :-) So I figured, maybe I could handle a documentary? So I went to the meeting at Cafe Marmara. It was more like a brain-storming session and I don't know if I'll have anything to do with the documentary, but it was fun and everyone was interesting..and we had a few drinks...and we got silly...you know how it goes! :-) Anyhow, in the midst of our meeting, in walks Spike Lee. http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=116711 <-----He is here for the Istanbul Jazz Festival. Of all celebrities, Spike would be the scariest one to ask for a photo, an autograph, a dime, to help me up if I fall... at least for me. He always looks so mean and grouchy and has that chip on his shoulder, so would he slap me down if I asked him? But a strong martini gives me courage (and this is one of the few places in town that knows how to make one!) There's me and Spike on the sidebar :-) Also a pic of Topaz Adizes, and me with the two editors of "Tales of the Expat Harem", below. http://www.expatharem.com/ (I've mentioned the book before.)

Pat - I went to Pera Palace today just for you, to see Agatha Christie's room where she wrote "Murder on the Orient Express". Sorry - but it's closed for renovations :-(

Sarah - the Peruvian band is still following me!!!

I am writing this from my prison cell

Gotcha! :-)

I traveled back to Istanbul by bus today - 10 hours with all the stops! I usually hate riding but the trip was interesting -- we went on a two-lane road most of the way and I saw some great scenery! I saw a HUGE stork's nest on top of a chimney, with two grown storks and babies. I couldn't believe how big the nest was! http://www.kookynet.net/media/17lhuw-cigogne-v.jpg This is how big a stork's nest is! We went through a beautiful pine forest way up in the mountains (I am wondering if it was Kaz National Park but can't find any info online or maps)and stopped in little towns, and I saw lots of very small farms, people working in their fields ...no tractors or herbicides, they were bent over working hard. Also farmers riding donkeys, horse and carts, etc. One of the towns we went through was Bursa - the place where towels were invented! The luxurious towels that cost a fortune in high end department stores in the US are manufactered here. Here is a bit of history: http://www.turkishtime.org/sector_5/165.asp

The bus system in Turkey is fantastic! The seats are very comfortable, the bus was air conditioned and there is an attendant just like on flights.

I got some thingy's for souvenirs for people, they are hand carved of wood and old and I bought them in an "antique store" (junk shop) in Ayvalik. I was told they were used to make bread...in some way, something to do with the dough. When I got back to my pension I showed it to people and they had assorted ideas of what they were used for. One said it was supposed to hang on the wall and hold wooden matches. Another said it was a fertility symbol. When I got back to Istanbul Nihal said very seriously that she thought maybe fisherman used to use them - they would put them on their hands like flippers when swimming :-) If you know what these are (pictured on sidebar titled "thingies"), or have any creative ideas, please post :-))

Below is a mini-journal of my week in Ayvalik and I am posting photos on sidebar and down below. Photos tell the story better than I do.

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Sunday night – Ayvelik, Turkey
Tonight, for the first night since I got to Turkey, I will sleep with air conditioning! I think it will be a good night’s sleep! I’m in a B&B (a “pension”) in Ayvelik on the Aegean Sea. Last night I barely got any sleep. I shared a room with Nihal’s aunt at her mother’s house...a big, beautiful house by the sea. The elderly lady kept going in and out of the room all night, and she talks to herself. Finally I got to sleep, my fan blowing on me because it must have been 90 degrees in that room. I woke up sweating and realized my fan was off? The aunt told Nihal (and Nihal translated) this morning that she didn’t want me getting sick with that air blowing on me, so she turned the fan off! This is my first experience with the “Turkish draft syndrome”…drafts or blowing air will make a person sick! (Maybe it isn’t my first experience with that, now that I think about it.)
Istanbul spans two continents, and yesterday I crossed the bridge from Europe to Asia. We drove through Yalova, where 8 years ago a terrible earthquake killed more than 17,000 people. http://www.drgeorgepc.com/Tsunami1999Turkey.html I was horrified when it happened, and it was very strange to actually see the place. Nihal said her brother was riding back to Istanbul from the sea that night just when the earthquake struck. At first he didn’t realize what was happening… the bus ride started getting crazy-bumpy, then he saw the road was heaving and there were huge cracks appearing in the ground, and he realized it was an earthquake.

Before Yalova we took a ferry across the Marmara Sea. The entire ride here was beautiful – very mountainous, lakes here and there, sunflower fields and hay fields. But the countryside around Ayvelik (Ayva=The fruit quince Lik==> a suffix that is used to denote place where something belongs. So Ayvalik is "garden/or place where quince fruit is grown" MD thanks :-))
is almost all olive groves and pines. Ayvelik (was known in ancient times as “Kydonia”, and its history dates back to 330BC, first under the Romans, then Byzantine civilization, then Ottomans. Another interesting thing about Ayvalik is that it's air supposedly has the highest oxygen content of anywhere in the world! My pension is right behind Taksiyarhis Church (Greek Orthodox), which was constructed in 1873 and the area around here was the first in the city to be inhabited by both Christians and Muslims. Tomorrow I will tour the “Clock Mosque” and Taksiyarhis church, even though a brochure I got reads, “The churches of Ayvelik, which have greatly been collapsed, but are still erect, contribute to the historic identity of Ayvelik.” I’m not quite sure what to expect after reading that !

Anyone who knows me knows that I get lost very easily. Absolutely NO sense of direction. I got lost twice today! I couldn’t find my pension. These are ancient winding, hilly, narrow stone streets and it’s like a maze! This afternoon when I couldn’t find the place, I showed the address to an old woman and what was probably her great grand-daughter. They walked me the entire way here and straight to the door! When they left they kissed me on both cheeks and the girl, who was probably around 14, gave me a hug. It was so sweet! Then tonight I asked a woman for directions, after wandering around for about ½ an hour, and her and her entire family, and also the neighbors (more and more people joined along the way – it was like a funny scene from a movie!), walked me here. By the time we got here I was being escorted by a fairly large crowd! Even though I don’t speak the language, I feel that I am amongst friends here.

Monday
This pension is absolutely beautiful and decorated with the coolest things! It’s a very old Greek house. The first floor stays amazingly cool. (It’s very hot here), 2nd and 3rd floors don’t fare so well. I will upload pictures of the inside of the house below. I don’t understand why the bathrooms are built like they are. There is no stall around the shower. The toilet and sink are exposed to the water, the tile floor slopes down to a corner where there is a drain in the floor. There’s also a Turkish toilet here, but I use the “regular” one!
I’m writing this on Word on my laptop because there is no internet connection here and I don’t feel like lugging my laptop to the internet café. I’ll cut and paste it in Istanbul and upload some photos.
I got lost again today. I think I ended up in the slums of Ayvelik, and it was a bit scary. The women seemed more conservative and the men were in my face. I finally found my way out of there and discovered old carts and horses that give tours. For five Turkish Lira I got a carriage ride all over town and a bit out into the country, and it lasted for 2 hours! The driver didn’t speak a word of English. As the sun was beginning to set we sat on a hilltop over the city and watched the sunset over the sea. I saw a man in a house below tending to his pigeons on his rooftop. Behind me was a flock of sheep with a sheep herder and sheepdog. I’ve never seen that before! The cicadas were humming and there was a cool breeze blowing. Oh – and I got to drive the cart for a while! Anyhow, I saw a lot of the town and surrounding countryside, and I wouldn’t have seen so much otherwise. I absolutely love the country around here, it’s beautiful! Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera went dead almost immediately. I did take some photos of some grand old building with ornate columns that is falling apart, I have no idea what it used to be, but I’ll post pics below. Maybe it was one of those churches “which have greatly been collapsed, but are still erect”!!
Tuesday
I wonder…is N. America the only place where people use top sheets? How did this happen? Who invented top sheets and why?
My cellphone, although programmed for English, still has a Turkish dictionary for text messaging. So for the letter “A” I get words like abi, abla, acele, etc. Not much help for me!

Turkish women here ask me the following questions:
1. Where are you from?
2. Are you wearing contact lenses? (colored ones, and no I’m not wearing any lenses)
3. Why did you come alone? (They don’t like the “alone” idea.)
Turkish men stare. It’s not a “look” then look away. There is no smile. It is a plain stare that can last for hours. Why do they do that and what are they thinking?

Yesterday I went to the Island of Alibey Adasi, a 20 minute ferry ride away. I only went for the evening since it was so hot. I had dinner there and a couple from Scotland asked me to join them. But their accent was so thick and they used so much slang (“shut your gob”, etc.) they needed subtitles, like the movie “Trainspotting”. The guy was actually a Turk who mostly grew up in Scotland. When he ordered coffee he said to the waiter in Turkish “and don’t spit in it”. (The girlfriend asked him what he had said.) He explained that a good Turkish coffee should have some little bubbles on top and if there aren’t bubbles, people in restaurants have been known to spit on top of it to create some!
Speaking of coffee, I am having Starbucks withdrawal…their hot chocolate! And I’d love a baked potato…
Wed.
With elections coming up, candidates have vans equipped with loudspeakers (one is pictured on the sidebar) that go around blaring what seem to be patriotic songs and their own spiel. One is going by now and the speech sounds like the Furer in Turkish! I bought a big Turkish flag with a picture of Ataturk on it. I’ll hang it in my hallway at home.

There must not be many lawsuits in Turkey. The sidewalks will drop off a foot for no reason, a person has to look at the sidewalk all the time. I have seen people in wheelchairs cruising down the streets along with the cars! Curbs are usually between 1-1 ½ feet high. No lifeguards at beaches or pools, at least I haven’t seen one. Traffic lights are just a suggestion and crossing the street in Istanbul is just crazy. Turks seem to have a protective invisible bubble around them so that they don’t get run over, so I just wait until they cross and stay close to them!

Tonight the girl who takes care of the pension and her guy friend took me to a place that has Turkish folk music and dancing. I loved it! I took a video, now if I can just figure out how to upload it to youtube… But, I did take a few photos and will post them below. We also went to a nice outdoor club that has house music, but it could have been anywhere in the states. It was called “Fly”.
Thursday
Thursday is the big day in Ayvelik- a huge flea market in the streets. I was hoping to find some cool and unique stuff but no luck, all I bought were three bars of the local olive oil soap and lost about a gallon of sweat. It’s soooo hot here! Then a crazy lady latched onto me and wouldn’t go away. She talked non-stop in Turkish and followed me the entire way back to my pension. She followed me in the door. She told the people who work here that I have the ability to become invisible and all kinds of crazy nonsense. They politely pushed her out the door. :-)
Yesterday was the first day I met another lone traveler – a woman…she’s from Colorado. She is spending the night here and taking a bus to Izmir in the morning. Today I met a Canadian guy who is traveling here in Turkey and then through Syria and Jordan and other parts of the Middle East.
Last night I went with a local to a very nice seafood restaurant on Cunda. I had grilled sardines wrapped in grape leaves and there was olive oil with a bit of pomegranate sauce to dip them in – very good! We then went to another small town past Ayvelik, it was packed with Turkish vacationers. I had homemade ice cream and we went to the beach. There are little huts on the beach that in the daytime serve drinks and some food, but at night people just hang out there – the one we went to reminded me of the Big Kahona’s beach hut in the old Frankie Avalon/Annette Funachelo movies. They had a movie screen hanging on one wall and a movie on a laptop connected to a projector and they were playing some Jude Law movie. At night all the little straw umbrellas on the beach reminded me of a surreal mushroom scene(no I wasn't drunk!), so I took a picture of it! I’ll post it below. I was going to go to Lesbos, Greece, but it is just too hot in July so I will return to Istanbul on Saturday by bus. This is a great place in summer to hang out at the beach all day but for anything else, too sweltering except in the evenings when it greatly cools down. People sit outside on their steps or stools on the narrow stone streets until late, talking with family and neighbors and enjoying the night breeze, eating fruit and drinking tea (cay).
Friday
I bought my ticket today for tomorrow’s trip back to Istanbul and went swimming at the beach as usual. Tonight was a fun night at the pension. The upstair's terrace has a great view of the mosque and the sea beyond, a grape arbor for a ceiling and cozy places to sit. About 8 of us spent the evening there eating good desserts and fruit, drinking wine and talking. There were people from Turkey, Belgium, Canada and Germany. Stayed up too late - 2:00 and have to get up at 7:00!

Expat party

First of all, this isn't at all like "Rick's" in "Casablanca" :-) A DJ instead of a pianist. We requested a salsa song and the DJ's name isn't Sam. People aren't trying to escape. The bartenders don't know what a dirty martini is...in fact most of the expats don't know what a dirty martini is!!!

3/4 of the expats are from the UK. I was told last night that aside from the consulate people, there are usually between 30-50 Americans living in Istanbul at any given time. I am quite the minority! The only other American there has been living in Istanbul for a long time and wrote a popular book last year entitled (popular both here and in the US): Tales of the Expat Harem: Foreign Women Living in Modern Turkey. You can check it out at Amazon if you wish! It's interesting -- all the varied experiences of foreign women living here.

People ask, do I get bothered a lot by the Turkish guys. The answer is YES. Unwanted attention. First of all I'm blond...I look like a foreigner and to them that means "easy". I have not had to slap anyone yet but I have come close! Maybe if I knew what they were saying in Turkish I would have slapped some already :-) I was advised not to make eye contact with them, and to just ignore them. Last night I was warned about a few things that happen in the Taksim area - especially the places run by Russians. They have a trick - they hand you a drink as you come in...most people think it is hospitality...like an Italian thing. Well, it's not. After you drink it they will say "That is $300.00" If you refuse to pay, several big Russian gorilla types appear. Then the owner will approach and act like "good cop" and say "Ok you didn't know, you only have to pay $200.00.) I was also warned not to let my drink out of my sight for even a second. If I lose sight, just order another one.

I am heading to Ayvelik with the family today...we will drive. It's about 5 hours. It will be interesting to see the Turkish roads and countryside. I will stay about a week...will write from there!

Raki

I tasted Raki tonight, Turkey's traditional alcoholic beverage. It is also called "Lion's Milk". A glass is filled half way with the clear Raki, then water is added to it, which turns it a milky color! It is distilled, not fermented. This raki is made with aniseed. I took one sip and almost spit it out! It tastes like liquid licorice with a bite. NEVER AGAIN! Ick! Aweful, just aweful. I am told it is an acquired taste but I think I will skip this Turkish tradition...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rak%C4%B1

Very nice kebap place and sharp instruments

Last night I went to a very nice restaurant called "Venge". We dined outside. The food kept coming for hours and it was delicious! Salad made of tomatoes and green onion, eggplant with cheese, all kinds of meats, goat cheese, caramelized pearl onions...then plates of fruit and later cake, and then Turkish coffee (I passed on that)

Another example of how small the world is: I was at a place in Taksim (area of Istanbul) the other night when a woman I had never seen before approached me and said, "Briget?" It turns out, she is the one who saw my ad on craigslist and gave it to Nihal, they are best friends! She recognized me from my picture and she called Nihal and said, "There is someone here who looks JUST LIKE your Briget." Nihal asked her where she was, and said, "Briget is there right now! That must be her!" So she came over to say "hi" :-)

I learned a new Turkish superstition today. Don't hand any sharp instruments to another person (scissors, knives, etc.) Put it down and let them pick it up. If you actually hand it to another person it means you will have an arguement :-) Yesterday Ece was walking around the house with an open umbrella...it took all I had not to say "That's bad luck!! Stop it!"

Observations and the Sleeping Place

* Local construction workers bring their dogs to the construction site every day, complete with doghouse!
* The Starbucks allows smoking, even in malls. There is no tip jar and someone is constantly running around cleaning tables and emptying ashtrays.
* I have no idea what 3/4 of the stuff in the grocery store is. I can't find baking powder or baking soda...
* There are a few things less expensive here: laser hair removal is very cheap, lasik is around $500!
* A dolmus is anything that is stuffed, including peppers, minibuses or grape leaves. :-)

Tonight as I was walking I saw a huge gate, with a beautiful mosaic around it. I thought maybe it was an embassy, or a palace? There was a guard there, I asked him what the place is. He spoke very little English. He did lots of sign language...he put his folded hands to his face as if he was sleeping. I said, "Oh, hotel!" He laughed and laughed and laughed. Nononono. He said, "The end. The end!" I couldn't figure out what he was trying to explain so I smiled, thanked him and left. It was a mystery until I got home, and asked Nihal what it is, and it's a cemetary! That explains the guard doing the shoveling movements :-)

Buttocks is very popular in Turkey!

Yesterday afternoon Nihal and I took the kids to a local mall that has kids rides and games on the top floor. (See photo below.) Afterwards, at the food court (I ate yogurt soup and they all had KFC, ironic, huh?...doesn't Nihal look like Susan Serandon?) Nihal made the comment, "Buttocks is very popular in Turkey." I must have had a blank look on my face, as she continued, "People have vay too much buttocks." I said, "Do you mean big buttocks?" She said, "Too much, vayyyyyy to much". (Where is Ava Gabor from? Turks have a hard time pronouncing "w"...they pronounce it as a "v" just like the Gabor sisters.) I patted my butt and said, "Do you mean this?" She said, "Buttocks in the face. Too much."

I wondered briefly, was it true the REAL Borat was a Turk as the rumors said, and was Nihal related to him? But she added, "Look! That lady! Too much buttocks in face!" I looked at the woman she was referring to, her eyebrows were in the middle of her forehead and BING - I finally got it - botox!!! :-))))))))

Nestle the nanny...

isn't happy. (Picture of us below.) Usually she makes border runs every three months to Bulgaria, stays a few days to visit family, then gets a new visa when she comes back to Turkey. A friend called her and said there's a new law, that she won't be able to return for 6 months...which means she'll lose her job. Her family is very poor, she sends almost all her money home. She's leaving for Bulgaria tomorrow and we all hope she can return on Monday! Maybe her friend is wrong, or maybe she can bribe a border guard....

Heat wave!

It's 99 degrees here as I write this and no AC! The only fan in the house is the one I bought for my room....so I am going to sit in front of it and watch season 1 and 2 of The Office! (I brought them with me)I have been at the pool all day. Tomorrow it is supposed to get down to 92 and then the next day in the 80's again. Whew...

To escape the heat last evening I went to two malls - one called "MetroCity" and the other called "Kanyon" (which means in Turkish...you'll never guess..."canyon"!) The power kept going out at MetroCity, some of the stores are the same -- I saw a Claires, The Body Shop, etc. Most stores are different and I'm happy to report the "maternity tops" aren't as popular here as in the US! Unfortunately clothes are more expensive here :-(

Kanyon is a BEAUTIFUL ultra-modern mall...with the most expensive clothing shops - European brands and way out of my price range! I was told the sales start in July :-)))) I went into a make-up store - again lots of European brands and very expensive. The SAs literally followed me around...either that's the custom here, or I look like a shop lifter, or they wanted to see my "glow" :-) I ran into a person I had met at Saturday's party -- out of all these millions of people, isn't it strange! We had a Starbucks together and spoke plenty of English!

Time for the fan.....

For the BBers...

I was told there is a MAC in the part of town called Taksim. You know what I will be looking for :-D

Another round with a cab driver, the hoity toities and Saturday night

Just had another fight with a cab driver! I walked walked walked tonight, and just wanted a cab ride up the "hill". Now this hill isn't an ordinary hill, it's soooooooo steep that when I walk down it I have to lean backwards to keep from toppling forward. It's about 1/2 mile long. I caught a cab at the bottom of the hill - should have been about 2 Liras? It was almost 18 because the a$$hole took me for a ride around the city! When I got to the apartment I pointed at the meter and said NONONO! I got Nihal out to translate. We both yelled at him - Nihal in Turkish and me in English. I finally threw a 5 at him. He threw it back and yelled at us. Then he went to the guard shack and complained, they called the apartment and Nihal then called the cab company. Oy.

There is an oh so posh set in this neighborhood. (See picture of shoes below - who wears stillettos and diamonds to a swimming pool? Well these women do!) They don't dare get their faces wet or their make-up will wash off. They run their servants all the time...."blow up the float for my daughter! (usually HUGE pool floats of some kind) Bring my dinner to the pool! I said I wanted a PEACH martini! Crush the ice!) etc. It's amazing to watch!

I went to my first expat party last Saturday. Only one other American there...mostly German, Turks, Brits, French and Asian. It was a blast! It was in a small bar on the first floor of an ancient wooden Greek house, run by two German/Turkish women. There is a small patio outside but at some point a neighbor called the police and we all had to go inside. Which was ok because it had cooled off by then (around 1AM) and then everyone was feeling pretty good and then the karaoke began...although people didn't sing alone, everyone sang together - UK style. I left at 3AM and heard from a guy who said he didn't get home until 10AM :-)

That's it for tonight!

The evil eye!

In Turkey, you will see the Evil Eye (Nazar Boncuk) everywhere! It's on key chains, hanging by doors, on bumpers of cars, on children's bracelets. It protects people from bad fortune. If someone thinks a bad thought about someone, the person to whom the bad thought is directed can be protected by the evil eye, in which case, the "eye" breaks. Pictured on the left is an evil eye hung beside the front door.

Introduction to my Turkish family and home in Istanbul

My last day of work for the summer at my university job in Memphis, TN was 2 Fridays ago. A week ago tomorrow is when I flew the friendly skies to Atlanta, then to Amsterdam, then over Bulgaria and Romania and the Black Sea to Istanbul, Turkey. I will be spending most of my summer in Istanbul (a few days in Ayvalik -- a small seaside village --Israel and the Greek island of Lesbos) before returning to the states on September 13th.

I am staying with a family in the section of Istanbul called Ulus...considered an upscale neighborhood. I am tutoring the two daughters, Ece and Defne, age 7 and 5, in English and I am being treated as a guest. Turkish hospitality has a reputation for being amazing, and this is how I have found it. There is a live-in nanny/housekeeper/cook from Bulgaria. Whenever I wake up in the morning, a Turkish breakfast is served to me -- olives, various breads and cheeses, thinly sliced meats, tomatoes and cucumbers. Cay (tea) is served from a double stacked teapot - one pot has the tea and a glass (not a mug) is filled half way with strong tea, and the rest of the glass is filled with steaming water. Sugar cubes are used for sweetening...I haven't seen loose sugar.

The neighborhood is landscaped very nice, with winding stone paths and all sorts of vegetation and flowers -- it looks like a resort and extremely hilly. We live on the side of a mountain and there are almost always nice breezes. Down one path is the swimming pool, which I go to every morning! The wife, Nihal, is very nice. The husband, who is a doctor, is rarely home It's late and I am going to bed - more tomorrow!

A letter from Ece and Defne

Hi Briget's friends in America:

From Ece: My name is Ece and I live in Istanbul. What are you doing? I am seven years old. How old are you? Today I go to swimming pool at summer house by the sea. I have dark brown eyes and black hair. I have a big mouth :-) Yesterday was my friend's birthday party. My friend's name is Mina. I love ice cream too much! I love flowers. I like to color in the coloring book.

From Defne: I love butterflies. I love coloring and drawing. I love to sleep a lot! I like strawberries. I love dogs. I like cats. I like cherries. I am five years old. I love balls. I like to swing. Yesterday a baby rabbit come her name is White-Black, because she is white and black.