Into the Wild East….

We’re leaving on a ferry, don’t know when we’ll be back again….

Anyways Team Turkey is taking the show on the road. We’re heading on a 17 day excursion into the unknown and untamed wilderness that is Eastern Turkey…. Well that’s not completely true. We actually have a plan (more like an outline) and Eastern Turkey has only been inhabited for 10,000+ years, but we are taking a 2.5 week road (that part is true).

On our trip we will be going to Bursa, Cannakkale, Bergama (Pergamum), Izmir, Ephesus, Pamkkale, Antalya, Konya, Cappadocia, and Ankara among other places. Our primary transportation will be buses, but we’ll also be taking ferries and trains to complete our grand tour. We’ll be taking photographs along the way, we’ve been promised a wonderful architecture tour (and maybe some nice beaches… maybe). Many people gave us advice as we planned this road trip and we’re very thankful for the guidance.

Team Turkey has also added a new “temporary” member to the Team. Let’s call him a German “Guest Member.” Lukas is a 2 meter tall (you do the conversion) German from Hanover. He’s a political science major in the Netherlands and studying at Middle Eastern Technical (MET) in Ankara for a semester. He’s English is great, which is good because our German is poor. He was selected after a grueling review process and initiated only after intensive and disturbing hazing (which means he agreed to our begging for him to come along). He is fine addition to the gang.

Two other non-Turkish World stuff to report on.
1) Tim Rinaldi, our blogs official groupie has been asking for a shout out in the blog for weeks. Well this week he earned one. Tim is the head of student organization at Tulane called Mission Honduras. This organization just completed a new medical clinic in the mountains of Honduras (quite an achievement). This past week Tim was told that he will be sitting down for a face to face meeting with the President of Honduras to discuss how to improve that countries healthcare and education systems. (Sorry mom… I could only get to Turkey, after four years of College)
To learn more about Mission Honduras go to:
http://tulane.edu/studentaffairs/orgs/missionhonduras/


2) Lee’s cousin Brian popped the question this week and to everyone's surprise she (Annie) said yes. Congrats to both. May I suggest the Hagia Sophia as a wedding location (but only for a small wedding).

Going to the Black Sea on treads ...

So we came to this distant land of mystery and intrigue to meet the “natives” and experience their culture. As they say, “when in Constantinople do as the Romans did.”

On Thursday we took a new step in our “emersion” process. We decided to fast for Ramadan. For… one… whole… day. When we return home people may look at us differently, ask us for autographs, and hopeful be more than willing to sleep with us after we completed this Herculean Task. Now I can already hear the negative skeptics “One day? What about the other 28 days?” But let’s not those comments get in the way of our accomplishments. Not eating in Turkey is like having a McLaren F1 LM on the Autobahn and going 40 km/h (we have a running joke with all our friends here about how we have no idea how to use the metric system), the self control required is ridiculously difficult. If you’ve been keeping up with our blogs you understand our infatuation with Turkish Cuisine. In all fairness we took quite a large nap during the middle of the day. That night we went out with our Turkish class and were finally able to eat at 8:12pm. We ate at our teacher’s favorite kofte restaurant near the Blue Mosque. Lee alone ate two and half plates; it was like watching Oliver Twist at a Thanksgiving dinner (if he was American of course).

N.B. The trick to Ramadan fasting is sleep. Go out the night before late…. Really late…. Until its early. Once you hear the drums in the street (telling you to get up and stuff your face before sunrise) eat. Now sleep. Get up and go to class or work. Get home as soon as you can and sleep. When you wake up, go back to sleep. Sleep all day. Go to “breakfast” and gorge. Not that difficult if you’re really, really lazy. This brings us to Ramadan travel warnings. People can get cranky during Ramadan. Peoples eating patterns are messed up, their sleep patterns are out of whack, it’s 35+ degrees Celsius outside, you have to work all day without as much as a glass of water, the whole city is a bunch of hills, and did I mention its 300 degrees out. We witnessed our first Ramazan Tantrum the other day during class. A few students were sitting on the steps taking a break from class (not us of course), when all the sudden the shop keep comes running out screaming in Turkish while throwing a bucket of water on the students! At night it more of a relaxing atmosphere as Ramadan is also a festival.

Now, if we may we’d like to talk about people other than the Turks. Yes that’s right those lovable Joes from east of the Rhine (and occasionally the west too) THE GERMANS! We’ve met a lot of Germans here. Germany and Turkey have had a unique connection for generations. Guess who built all the railroads for the Ottomans? The Germans. And guess who works in all those German factories today? The Turks. I’m not quite sure the exact reasons behind this unique connection, but it definitely has deep roots.

Today in Germany, Turkish guest workers number almost 2 million people, mostly in the south western section of the country. More flights from Istanbul’s Airport go to Germany than any other country, except Turkey. In Istanbul most of the people studying Turkish with us are Germans and they plan to spend more time at home then in Istanbul. One German medical student said he “needs” to speak Turkish because he lives in Little Istanbul, a not so PC nickname for Berlin. We’ve met three teachers from Cologne, a southern German industrial Town and center for the Turkish community, who say 1/5 of their students are of Turkish decent and they need to be able to communicate with non-German speaking parents. Another student is here because her Turkish parents want her to learn to write Turkish, even though she’s lives in Germany. The Turkey – Germany relationship is an interesting one and one that we don’t know enough about to make an intelligent commentary.

What we can comment on is the fact that we’ve met a ton of Germans here and we’re getting along just swell with them. For many of whose German cultural experiences consist only of watching “Beerfest” and “Saving Private Ryan” a real German may come as both a shock and pleasant reinforcement of centuries old stereotypes (like… they take beer really seriously).

This weekend we had a beach day to the Black Sea. The weather was gorgeous, the water was amazing and is noticeably less salty then most ocean water, and the waves were great. We went to a public beach which was extremely crowded and a bit dirty. About 6 kilometers off the beach there were numerous tanker and cargo ships waiting to travel down the Bosphorus, a noticeably different backdrop to a beach day then what we are previously used to. Never the less we had a ‘swimmingly’ good time and are now all sporting new bright red birthday suits.

This coming week is a very busy one for us. We’ve got to get our school schedules in order, register with the immigration office, and finalize our travel plans. On Saturday we begin our road trip around Turkey! We’ve got some cool destinations in mind, but suggestion are welcomed (encouraged even).

-The Team

PS Check out our flickr @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/teamturkey there are a ton of new pictures up

birthdays, bikinis, and soap opera stars

Lee’s Birthday!!!!   August 16^th.  Yeah if you haven’t given me a Facebook shoutout yet it’s been duly noted.  Belated congratulations for my biggest accomplishment-to-date are acceptable.

Anyways, woke feeling a bit more mature (did I mention it was my birthday) and attempted to shave but apparently I’m never going to grow a beard.  Went to class.  They sang (that’s right: Happy Birthday in Turkish). 

After class we went and visit ITU to see the Dean of the Architecture school, Prof. Dr. Orhan “Hosh------name to long to remember”.  He looked like an architecture professor… what does this mean, he had thin rimmed but clearly designer eye glasses, he wore a crisp shirt, no tie (obviously) and had a breast pocket filled with drafting pens (really, drafting pens? who drafts anymore?).  He explained ITU’s six-step registration process which involves three signatures.  The process sounds like a real doozey compared to Tulane’s go online sign up for your classes and that’s it.  Anyways he explained some other stuff about the school but I will not bore you with the details until school begins.

We went on a little adventure.  We ended up going through neighborhoods with beautiful old buildings, nothing new, abandoned Armenian Churches, mosques, and beautiful old town houses.  This was a perfect collection of buildings that was crumbling together while still remaining a vibrant neighborhood. So many areas here shun their physical environments and are safer, friendlier, and more alive than what stereotypes would lead one to believe.  In these neighborhoods almost everyone is observing Ramadan, which means it is not the right place to look for a good Turkish meal.  So we headed up the hill a little.

We ended up at this unbelievable kebab place.  There we met a guy named Alex who was from New York but has been living in Istanbul since 1998.  When you meet an American (expat) in the middle of Istanbul you get excited, especially when he’s fluent in Turkish.  Long story short he told us that his favorite bar was right up the street and he and his girlfriend were having a drink there with some friends and that we should join them.  We did.  It turned out to a great decision.  

 (1) His girlfriend and her friends were beautiful 

(2) they were very interesting people; he’s a translator (lot of money in knowing both languages fluently) he also was in a Turkish Soap Opera (playing an evil CIA agent who blows up mosques and schools and stuff) she was an architecture history major and was beautiful and was designing textile patterns among other arts 

(3) most importantly they drew a map for us of where good bars, clubs, music, etc. etc. etc. was in the area.  The map is our prized possession; in many ways we are the sisterhood and the map is our “traveling pants.” We were idiots and didn’t get any contact information from them, but we have a way of constantly bumping into the few people we know.

Check out this work. “George Georgiou in Modern Turkey.”  This article was on NYTimes.com.

Can’t say that this is a complete view of an entire country or city, but the man is trying to make a strong point about the dehumanizing and vapid traits of modernization in a globalizing world.  I think it would serve him well to photograph the traditional living styles alongside the new and explain (if it is his opinion) how the new is adversely effecting the traditional.  All and all the photos are beautiful. http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/george-georgiou-in-turkey/?hp

(pat)
On Tuesday Tuesday tap-your-shoes day we went to Galatasarey Island. It's in the middle of the Bosphorus; Europe? Asia? Neither! Or both? But anyways you take a ferry to the island on which there is an awesome pool.  This is "sexy Istanbul" where the beer flows like wine, a little place called Isssssstanbul.  We went with our good friend Keiran (New Zealand) and had a delightful swim.  Then we fell asleep for a while and when we awoke our friend had disappeared.  He slunk into the shadows, never to be seen again (until the next day).

The view from the island is unreal.  There is a building preservation rule that prevents new construction along the shore of the Bosphorus; anything new must be built exactly as it was originally.  This is a problem for creative building and ingenuity, but it also allows for a truly beautiful image of the city as it has existed for a long time.  The steep hills of Istanbul also add impressive height to the view from the water. I love being able to see the city's geographical height and variation.  However I hate experiencing said height when I am traveling on foot, which is almost always.

And the shadows will play ...

We know we have been a bit lacking in the blog department lately so here is a quick (relatively) recap of our adventures over the past week. Hope you enjoy!

Sunday 08/08/2010 (Hey that one’s easy to read!)

Today we went to the archeological museum next to Topkopi Palace with Sadi and his girlfriend Maq. Sadi claims it is his favorite museum in all of Istanbul and after spending 3-5 hours wandering around I can understand why. First of all the museum is massive and old … some might call it massively old, you’ll notice this being a common theme throughout our blogs here. Check out the scale of the entrance!

we can all see who the fun one on the trip is ...

The other amazing thing about the museum was the sheer amount of artifacts they had in and around it. The outside of the museum looked like an antiquities graveyard. There were statues, columns, and all sorts of stone odds and ends lying around in ruins. Apparently

this was everything they couldn’t cram inside the building. The inside was stuffed to bursting with artifacts dating

all the way back to the dawn of civilization. There was one exhibit in particular that show cased column sarcophagi. These are intricately carved tombs with statues around perimeter giving the impression of columns. Any single one of these sarcophagi would have its own private room and special show at the Nelson Atkins (KC’s art museum), yet here they had crammed 10-15 of them in one room. Every exhibition had a si

milar amount of artifacts. Some of the highlights included Alexander’s Tomb (Lee and Sadi’s favorite), the Hellenistic statues (Patrick’s favorite), and the Cuneiform tablets (one of my many favorites … this is William btw). Incredible museum and high on our recommendations list for anyone visiting Turkey.

Our savior, the one, the only, Hakan, the magnificent, Sadi (&Maq)------>

Alexander's Tomb

Monday

Pat’s illness persisted, so drastic measures were necessary. We have blamed the local food (and Pat’s weak immune system, mainly his weak immune system) for his stomach “issues.” We have decided that to cure Mr. Franke we would need to return him to his natural surroundings.

So we created “All-American Monday.”

We ate at McDonalds where they have the MegaMac, a four patty monstrosity. We were quite astounded that somewhere outside would have such a gargantuan sandwich. That was until we received our regular BigMac, which was about the size of dollar menu double cheese burger. Side note McDonald’s, Burger King, and all the main stream fast food chains have a delivery option, but alas not 1 Lira menu.

We then put on our “American Suits”: baseball caps, goofy sunglasses, salmon colored shorts, seersucker, and Hawaiian shirts.

Pat and Lee then walked over to the Hilton Hotel. Built in 1956 the hotel is massive curved concrete building that sits in the middle of huge fortified estate. But dressed as we were we always get waived through security check points and treated as guests.

NB: Here’s something about being gawking American kids in Istanbul, the upper class institutions don’t ask questions. Speak loud ‘American’ and act like you know what you doing. We can walk into any fancy hotel, restaurant, or get into any night club (that otherwise wouldn’t let three boys with no accompanying girls in) without any questions. Now it’s got its draw backs too, our starting prices are higher in the bazaar and little boys come up and grab your hand to lead you to their father’s shops (if they weren’t successful at getting your wallet).

We lounged at the pool for the afternoon. With repressive heat in the city it was good to be able to dip in the water and relax.

Tuesday

Ramadan begins. WOOOHOOO Ramadan 2010 (MTV cameras everywhere… not really). At 4:30am people walk around pounding drums to tell people to get up to eat before morning light. At 5am there is the first of five prayer calls (happen year round). For our observant Muslim friends no eating, smoking, or even drinking water (it 90+ degrees Fahrenheit and humid) until sundown (currently around 8:20pm). In Istanbul about 50% of the people probably keep it stringently, others will give up smoking and drinking alcohol for the next 29 days. Many restaurants aren’t even open during the day, but when the sun goes down they are booming. In our neighborhood it’s definitely stricter, but when you get to Taksim people are drinking, eating, and smoking like chimneys. As the days of Ramadan go on more and more people seem to be breaking fast during the daylight hours. The heat has been brutal (record setting highs the last 2 weeks) and some might just do a day or two a week, since the full length of Ramadan is a true marathon. We’ve been told that unlike other years the summer heat isn’t dry. The heat wave usually comes from Saudi Arabia instead this year it coming out of the Indian Ocean creating a heavy level of humidity.

After class Sadi came and got us went to get Pat a bank account and phone. We were successful in both regards.

Wednesday

After class we went two friends that we’ve met at language school Michael and Seth went and had lunch. (I’m intentionally leaving that last sentence so the general public can understand my pain at editing these things. Times that sentence by 4 full pages…) Michael, who has been in Turkey for two years, brought us to a restaurant that served the equivalent of Turkish Fajitas. çok lazzetli as the Turks would say. (very delicious)

After lunch, which included a cup of tea (çay) and backgammon (tavla), we went to go meet Kerian another friend we’ve met in class. Kerian is a New Zealander who used to be a fund manager in London and now does property and restoration in Istanbul, a super interesting guy to talk to. He offered to take us around a couple of his projects. Before we left he showed us some maps that resembled old Sanborn maps, it’s unbelievable to see the layout, or lack thereof, of the old sections of the city. The cities layout is such an organic mess that seeing the official maps is really impressive.

Historical “preservation” in Istanbul’s older section is very much alive and as the economy booms in the city older sections throughout the city are getting a facelift and an expensive price tag. The areas we walked around (Beyoglu and Galata) used to be the centers of the Armenian and Greek communities. When these communities moved out they still retained ownership of the buildings. Therefore to buy one you have to track down all the relatives of the original owner, many of whom are currently living in Greece. Kerian once went to a closing with 26 people. The rules as explained by Kerian are as follows: (1) footprint, using old maps you can only build within a footprint that was once the original footprint of that building (2) Height, the height of the original building or a building that existed on the site (3) Facades, the historical commission wants to save the facades at all cost (Kerian showed us a “building” that was merely a bombed out brick wall, but he must keep that wall standing) and finally (4) Usage, where the other rules are enforced to the letter of the law this rule can be bent somewhat, On the street level (floor zero in Turkey, the first floor is the second floor) there is commercial space and above is residential and offices. There are few if any real “zoning laws” for these areas so the zoning is whatever was originally in place. The idea being if the facades, size of the buildings, and usages are the same, the neighborhood will be preserved.

These are the only rules. Many of the buildings are nothing more than facades with beautiful new construction inside. Some buildings are restored floor by floor, but many are merely brand new buildings with an old façade, nothing else remains of the old building. Modern and contemporary design is very much in vogue in Turkey, with a spirit that only a quickly modernizing nation could have. Behind the 18^th century façade is usually beautiful modern apartments. We started our tour at Kerian’s apartment, a beautiful modern apartment encased in an antique façade. Afterwards we saw a few other properties in development. It’s amazing to see these projects from conceptual inception to completed work. Kerian took us to a final property that had been rebuilt and had a bar/restaurant in an adjacent otopark that led to a beautiful courtyard. Of course we stopped for a beer… or two… or well anyways, we end our tour there. The bar’s design was beautiful, exposed steel, stained wood paneling (which is used a lot in contemporary designs here and really looks great) and moving glass panels.

NB: Weird thing about Turkey. Very few mortgages, only about 5% of Turkey’s GDP is mortgaged (UK and the US is ~55%+). No one gets a 30 year mortgage here and buys a house. Usually if you want to buy a house for $1,000,000 you walk into the closing with a million dollar check. A 10 year mortgage at really high interest is much more common. I’ve been told this is both good and bad (1) no credit crisis in Turkey (they’ve had a bunch in the past) (2) the real estate assets of Turkey are locked up, meaning that you can’t take your money out of your property and place it into another investment or property and (3) most people rent.

Thursday

Went to Asia (no big deal) to meet Sadi for dinner. We got decedent cheese burgers. William’s was called the Alaturka Burger, those witty Turks. Sadi our “Turkish Sage” gave us the ok to eat non-exclusively Turkish food. Sadi: “You’re local now, you can eat something other than kebaps.”

Friday

Chapter XIV: The Foodless Barbecue

Friday was a big day for the team; the reason, of course, being the class barbecue (barbeku) party. It was hosted by our German classmate Kontes (she earned this nickname because she shakes hands with people like a countess). It was in the Galata neighborhood on a rooftop deck. The view was incredible; you could say it was the bee’s knees if you felt inclined to do so. From the roof you could see the Bosphorus and the Asian side of the city beyond. It’s the kind of view that everyone in the city wants. It makes rent jump up by 500% or more. The company was also very interesting. I discovered that everyone in the entire world knows who Bob Marley is.

There also happened to be a photographer from New York there. His name was Jason something; apparently his work is pretty well-known. Interesting tidbit: he used to be a guard at the Met in NY. Most of the guards are involved with the art community in some capacity. Hmmm? I also found out that our British classmate has never seen Life of Brian. It’s like, come on…

After the party we went to our favorite bar. It’s a tiny bar that’s called “Big Pub.” Because we are three and backgammon is a game for even numbers we had the waiter (Yoker, a wonderful gent who speaks excellent English) invite some Turks over to play with us. Collectively they won something like 14 of the 15 games played that night, William being the one-time winner. They taught us how to swear in Turkish which was great fun. The Turkish equivalent of the middle finger is maybe the greatest gesture invented; it is the goofiest thing, especially because it involves licking your own forearm.

Now I will tell a very important story: We went to the Intercontinental to take a tour of their fitness facilities because why not? You know? And the tour guide (whose name escapes me) had this great lisp (listhp), it was really really great. So he is showing usth around the fitnessth center facthilities and eventually we arrive at the tanning bed. At this point he turned and looked at us, very proudly, and said “here we have the stholarium…if you wish to work on your tan?” And at this moment we decided we have to join as members if only to chat with our tour guide again.

Sincerely,
The Team

PS Pictures are a bit of a pain the alay konusu kimse to upload onto the blog so check out our new flikr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/52780911@N02/

Thursday 6 Ağostos 2010

written by Patreek (as the Turks call me)

*Here is the view out of my bedroom window*

Since I arrived I noticed a few things immediately about Istanbul:

-The city is covered in minarets. When I looked out the airplane window I saw Istanbul continuing way beyond its center, and everywhere it is punctured by towering minarets. They are very beautiful and testify to the incredible number of mosques in the city.

-There are stray cats and dogs everywhere. The cats are quite literally everywhere; one day we were walking through a park on our way to class and could see two glowing cat-eyes from inside a trashcan. We also hear them fighting at night. There is one dog that lives on our street that we have become quite fond of. The full name we gave him is Rufus Mehmet Tuba Güzel; he/she is a huge fatass and only moves about 20 feet each day. Below is a picture of her:

-Quite a few women wear the burka. It is so strange to see it right next to a woman wearing a miniskirt walking down the street, but it is a daily sight.

Today William (Villyum as the Turks call him) walked to the Galata Tower. To get there we took the Tünel. It is a short subway that goes steeply down the hillside underground. It was built by the French and is the third oldest subway system in the world behind New York City and London. Below is a picture of Villyum and I doing our best to blend in:

Architecture and Planning: One of Istanbul’s immediately identifiable conditions is the juxtaposition of extremely old and extremely new. In some cases the new buildings go even further by incorporating the old into the new structure itself (the picture below shows a building in Istiklal that does this).

The view from the top of the tower is like nothing I have ever seen; the city extends out as far as the horizon in all directions. Across the Golden Horn we could see the enormous mosques of Sultanhamet, and in the other direction the towering skyscrapers of the Levent business district.

At one point on the journey I stopped to take a picture of a painted tile display. As I was getting ready to take the picture a Turkish man ran up to pose for me. It was pretty funny. But now compare this man’s expression to that of Atatürk, the country’s national hero, in this statue we saw minutes later. He is the most respected and revered Turk of all time; his name means “father-Turk.” Clearly there is a certain look to which all Turk’s aspire.

Later that night we ate at a kebap house with Şadi. He spoke to the waiter in Turkish and suddenly plates and plates of food began coming out. The kebaps come on skewers that are 2-3 feet long; you pick them up by the side that isn’t burning hot and then grab the meat in your hand with a pita tortilla. After you pull out the skewer you apply condiments as you see fit: onions, tomato, tsasiki (cucumber sauce), etc. We also drank raki (pronounced rock-uhh), which is a liquor that tastes like black licorice. After dinner we played a few games of backgammon (tavli) where Lee beat me three times. However he also gets the award for the slowest player ever to play the game. I swear he rolls the dice then counts out every possible move with his fingers before going. Even if it is a very straightforward play, count on waiting 5-10 minutes for princess Lee to finally move the damn piece.

Happy Anniversay! Day 7

03/08/2020

On the seventh day we rested. Sort of… Today marks the one-week anniversary of our arriving in Turkey.

We got up early and went to class. A weird thing about this school is that you get a 15min break every hour. The Germans in class don’t understand the need for breaks (which is to be expected), but the even our Spanish member thinks there are too many breaks (hurray for the Spanish work ethic). I personally need the breaks to reorganize my mind.

Pronouncing Turkish is extremely difficult. There are additional characters with sounds that are not typical of spoken English. This makes reading Turkish much easier than speaking/comprehending it. When the teacher is speaking I’m a deer in the headlights, but when it’s on the board I have a chance to recognize words and break down the sentence. I think it will be easier when my pronunciation of each letter becomes second nature, but this will take some time. Vocabulary is difficult; again I can visualize the word in my head better than I can say it out loud. If you could see Lee’s English writing you would understand his difficultly with attempting to learn another language.

After class we went home and rested. Patrick has been feeling under the weather, and everyone has been short of sleep. We all took naps, ate at the apartment, and did our homework.

Apartment Confessional: Did laundry for the first time today. This was my first time using powdered detergent, it was a learning experience. I initially poured it into the softener hole and had to scoop it out by hand (huge pain). Clothes came out soaking wet, but here’s the catch: NO DRYING MACHINE! NO CLOTHES LINE! After checking to see if we could hang the clothes in the dining room and the billiards hall, we decided instead to place them in the kitchen, which is also the everything else room. Now Pat and Will get the pleasure (and it is a pleasure) of cooking, cleaning, and living in sight of my Hawaiian Girl boxers.

It should be noted that although we complain about the apartment because the place is a real trip (and real small), we really love it too. Biz odada seviyoruz. Our location is great. We’re close to everything yet enough off the beaten path that there are no other foreigners for a 5-10min walk. No one speaks English near us and our neighborhood is working class. Everyone seems to own a small grocery, fruit stand along our block. Our surroundings do have parts that would remind one of an Upton Sinclair novel, but they are few and the main street of our neighborhood (Babil Street) is lined with nice little shops, bakeries, restaurants for locals, cafes, and tea lounges. We really like being here instead of the dorms. It’s a beautiful little neighborhood and it makes us love our apartment.

Our adventure of the day is to visit the Kız Kulesi lighthouse (Maiden's Tower, Leander's Tower) near the Asian side of the Bosphorus near dusk. The lighthouse supposedly predates the Ottoman’s conquest of the city in 1453. It was featured in a James Bond movie (of course they located it in Georgia and had a Russian nuclear submarine pull in underneath).

Unfortunately, Pat was unable to adventure with us, his stomach and the food don’t quite agree yet. The ferry across the Bosphorus was beautiful. The lights of the city make for an incredible backdrop. Spot lit mosques sit along side high rise towers all under the blanket of the largest bridge I’ve ever seen. Think the Golden Gate Bridge with color changing Christmas lights. Our plan was to go up in the light house and have a cup of çay ( pronounced chai), there is a small restaurant at the top of the tower. Alas, the tower requires reservations at night. We settled for some medya dolmesi (stuffed muscles) on the banks of the Bosphorus. The tower was gorgeous! Hopefully we will make it back sometime soon and get to see the view from the top.


03/08/2020

-Lee (finally Pat edits something, with some help from Will. We are currently considering Lee’s status as main blog writer. The editing is that painful.)

Europeans Think OUR Accent is Funny!

2 Agostos 2010

Early wake up today and for the next four weeks. Today was the first day of language classes at a school (ukul) named Dilmer.

We signed up for the 9am classes so that we’d be forced out of bed to do stuff after class. Really smart strategy, painful implementation.

Our teacher Meltam Bölek is really nice and funny. Turkish is a hard language to start up; you pronounce every single letter sound and many of the vowel sounds don’t exist in English. Will is definitely the best language person and already has many of the pronunciations down, plus he can remember vocab. Pat is good also. Lee is Dyslexic which translates in all languages to füç%@’d at languages.

Our class has 15 people from around the world. A couple Germans (so serious and helpful), a Spanish guy who already knows five languages, a Serbian, a woman from Cypress (do not call her a Greek! Just because she speaks Greek does not mean she IS Greek), Japanese businessman (Matso, really funny guy… not sure if he’s trying to be), and one other American from Charrollete, NC.

We worked on the alphabet today and learn some basic language. We were able to improve in one day, but the language is extremely difficult and is proving difficult to pronounce and speak correctly; missing one letter throws an entire word off.

We left and got lunch in Taksim and got on the T (Bostonian for subway) to go to ITU’s main campus to the north. The subway system is not extensive, but its well maintained and is not too crowded. In both directions we practiced Turkish as people sitting around us laughed. Imagine hearing “please, please, please, good morning, good morning, good morning, cold water, cold water…..” I’m sure we sounded ridiculous.

ITU’s campus is quite nice, and the individual buildings could be on an American campus. We met with the feorgin exchange people who help us out, and told us to come back in a week to register with a director. They gave us a lot of information like ITU has an American Football (aka Real Football) team that they supposedly spent a ton of money on. They also have a fairly good basketball team and rugby team.

The northern ITU campus is all engineering and the school of 25,000 has no liberal arts “departments.” The campus was across a highway from a bunch of new tall buildings so we decided to investigate. This area proved quite revealing; old factories, warehouses, and apartments were being torn down to build new skyscrapers of 20-30 stories for both commercial and residential. Each building was like a gated fortress as the area around is still not great. The buildings themselves were quite nice, and one in particular that used a full glass façade system was quite intriguing, but the planning was non-existant. Each building was like a monument to themselves; a developing country’s downtown Houston. One complex of massive identical apartment buildings was in a walled-off neighborhood, and every office tower had a guard to block people from entering the front circle.

The recent development is both exciting and sad. What I’ve loved about Taksim, Old Town, and most of the rest of the city is the strong urban context that allowed for beautiful building, but it was as much about the collection of buildings as any single structure. The new construction is destroying the context of close-living and community that is present in Old Istanbul and yet you could feel the excitement and energy of the new. This area was miles from the center and in the end felt like an uncoordinated office park.

We got back on the metro and headed home for nap time (huge part of our day). Getting off the train it was like we just visited a whole other world, with different building rules and goals. I can’t fault anyone for the towers and their intransient smell of modernization, but I can say that anyone that believes in the special dynamic that a true urban environment creates would prefer to be in the older Taksim area.

After naptime we ate quickly (we bought a huge watermelon and two loaves of bread for 4tl or $3… not bad) and went to meet Caner. Caner is my aunt Birtan’s 29yr old nephew from Istanbul. He met us in the Levent (financial district) that has the tallest buildings in the city and the newest malls.

We went down the hill to the Bosperous and had a couple drinks. The bars are really nice (and more expensive than those in Taksim). The Bosporus was gorgeous and the restaurants and bar have incredible views. Seeing the Asian side of the city lit up at night behind the glimmering water and passing boats is an amazing view and worth sitting by with a beer. We then went to a café that served us çay (tea) and nagile (hookah). Caner taught us how to play the all-important backgammon.

Throughout Istanbul there are these small cafes that are full of middle aged and older men drinking tea and playing backgammon. Every one almost looks identical; a non descript room with folding tables and banquet room chairs, filled with men who play backgammon all day. One of our goals by the year’s end is to actually have the “gall” to enter one of these establishments and drink tea while holding a conversation. I imagine that day in mind as something like the VFW hall scene in Gran Torino (if you haven’t seen it, see it, great movie, Clint Eastwood is who I want to be in 60 years).

Went home, did our homework, made some food, and are going to bed. Gotta get up at 8am tomorrow. (Did we miss summer or something?)

What a bizzare bazaar! Day 5

2/8/2010

Today was our first day that the whole “Team” was together. We decided to make our first trip into the “Older Town” to see the Hagia Sofia, Topkopi Palace, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazzar, and more.

Our goal was to see as many things as possible, but not focus too much on exploring each one yet, knowing that we’d definitely be back. It’s only a 15 minute metro ride from our appt.
We took a very modern tram over the Galata Bridge and got off one stop over the bridge at the European Train Station.

The European Train Station was once the Terminus of the Oriental Express and the building was beautiful with ornate Ottoman tiling and glass. The station was worn down and the trains couldn’t have been younger then 50years.

We then began to walk up a hill following a massive stone wall. We finally realized that this was the wall for Topkopi Palace. The wall was maybe 25-30ft tall, made of sandstone with strips of red brick layered into it. Large portions of the wall had been removed in between towers and replaced with small local stores.

We then walked through the massive gates of Topkopi. The grounds of the palace are as beautiful as any park you’ll ever step foot in. Humongous smooth skinned trees lined the paths, brown wooden pavilions, and statues of regal lions and musing Ataturk were scattered around the park. On one side of the park are the massive walls of the actual palace that must be at least 50ft tall. The terrain is extremely hilly but from the top of the park is a spectacular view of the Bosphorus and the European side of the city.

NB: Many of the smaller buildings in the Old Town are made of wood and their second floors protrude out over the street. These old Ottoman Town Houses and shops are some of the most striking buildings in the city. They are quite refined and beautiful. Unlike the massive mosques, palaces, and public buildings these wooden structures have an undeniable warmth to them. They are smaller in scale and are covered in a wooden siding. Some are ornate with many decorations, but most are simple with a single pushed out center bay that overlaps the street. These bays are called “Cikma” and they developed from traditional balconies into enclosed indoor space. There is a law against demolishing these buildings now and many of them have been restored and are quite spectacular. In all wood is becoming quite popular is the contemporary architecture in Istanbul, giving the city a break from drab polished concrete with a more a material that is more dissolved in the applied form and more to the human scale. Most government and public buildings were built as large scale monuments to the power, strength, and prestige of the emperors, sultans, and other rulers of the time. While impressive these buildings are often hard to maintain due to the scale and material and frequently fall into disrepair.

A few of the many places we pasted by but didn’t take the time to fully explore today, we’ll be back, included the Archeological Museum, the Spice Bazaar, the Calligraphy Museum, and the Basilica Cistern. Keep an eye out for future posts.

Next we walked past a couple big mosques (they seem to be everywhere in the city), who were in the middle of prayer calls. To hear a prayer call, click this link. Bear in mind these happen 5 times per day 7 days per week. We can hear them from our appt. http://www.flickr.com/photos/alaskapine/2402178742/

The area of Old Town near the palace and the Blue Mosque is nice but very touristy. For the first time we began to hear many English conversations. We turned a corner and saw the Blue Mosque.

Side note: I really needed to use the bathroom and got to go by sneaking into the ruins of an old building. We were not sure what it was, but it was eerily similar to Aladdin’s hideout: big and ornate, with no roof. Definitely the coolest place I’ve ever gone to the bathroom.

The Blue Mosque (real name Sultan Ahmet Camii) is huge but its size is broken down by the multiple terraced levels around it. Even with all the pieced together levels around the center dome you can still understand the building as one monolithic structure. The bigger mosques originally contained complexes, that held shops to pay for the temples upkeep and support hospitals and schools the mosque provided. Its six minarets are controversial as it is one of only two Mosques outside of Mecca to have six (the Ottoman’s supposedly did it to show their superiority to the rest of Islam).

We then turned around and looking right back at us was the Hagia Sofia (real name Aya Sofia), directly across from the Blue Mosque. Between the three of us we debated which one was more captivating. Backless benches allowed you turn back in forth to take in the two famous structures.

The Hagia Sofia is centuries older than the Blue Mosque. The Hagia Sofia was dedicated in 360 AD and the Blue Mosque was completed in 1616. Hagia Sofia served as the cathedral of Constantinople until 1453 when the Ottomans converted it to a mosque. In 1935 it became a museum under the rule of Ataturk. It has four minarets that are not original to the building and appear to have been built in three stages, only two out of the four match. Unlike the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sofia seems to envelope many surrounding buildings of different styles creating one giant temple, in contrast, the Blue Mosque slowly builds up from smaller, similarly designed pieces towards the dome at the center. The Hagia Sofia’s Dome hovers above the complex allowing the red painted stone supports and shiny dome to stick out amongst the gray stone. The Blue Mosque seems to sit in it complex while the Hagia Sofia seems to loom over its front plaza. We entered neither of them as the Hagia Sofia is closed on Mondays and we get a steep admissions discount when we get our student ID’s (we start language school tomorrow).

NB: we got Turkish ice cream while walking, Will: “an elastic, almost chewy combination of American ice cream, gelato, and taffy.” Turkish ice cream is served by Fez wearing men who always mess with you when you order. Check out the video to see what we mean. Our guy messed with us each for about 3 minutes, much more extensive than the video below but it gives you an idea. We’ll be sure to take a video next time.
http://vimeo.com/7422047

We then wandered over the Grand Bazaar. The bazaar is a city onto itself. It is supposedly the largest and oldest “covered” bazaar in the world (1461). It employs over 30,000 people in more than 4,000 shops and stalls. Inside the bazaar was not what I expected. It was huge and was maze, but it was very clean and well maintained. Shops were not rickety lean-tos that we had expected and many had glass store fronts. Each was set into an even brick arched space. The covering was stone domes that had decretive mosaics inside each one. Walk through the bazaar speaking English and you’ll never feel unloved. They had anything you could imagine inside: antique pots, pans, weapons, rugs, jewelry, tea sets, modern clothes from the most popular futbol jerseys to lacoste polo’s, tons of trinkets and souvenirs. I’d go on but it would fill the entire bog.

We left and got back onto the tram to take us home (we got on going the wrong way at first; it only took us 4 stops to figure it out).

Food Editorial: We got off the train after crossing the Galata Bridge and got a fish sandwich from a little old man. The fish was grilling on his small charcoal girl along the banks of the Golden Horn. The fillets were pretty good size and for 4tl ($3) you got on fresh bread with fresh vegetables and lemon and great sandwich that absolutely hit the spot.

Earlier in the day we had eaten a massive lunch in a small café with no menus. We were led into the back of a small store front into a lady’s kitchen who pointed at food, and served us a “home cooked” meal with more food then we could eat. All ordering was done with pointing and smiles, really our kind of place. At the end of the meal we had tea and Turkish Coffee, which is a small cup of thick, really, really, (x5) coffee that is drank straight and slowly to allow for the maximum caffeine effect.

We arrived home, after picking up some grocery’s at a small local store (really cheap, 50 Turkish cents for a load of bread) and went home. Tomorrow we begin language class at 9am so we have to be rest and prepared.

-Lee (yhup guess who fixed most, nobody is perfect, spelling mistakes, Will)
*all apologies for the generic pictures I promise to get our originals uploaded soon*

Team Turkey ... Assemble!!! Day 4

1/8/2010

Today was a big day. Today was the first day we went to Asia.

N.B. (not everyone in Asia speaks Mandarin… that Chinese for you uncultured folk)

We met Şadi “the magnificent” at the metro station in Taksim. The metro that takes you to Kabataş (the ferry station) runs at a 45 degree angle downhill. This means that all the cars are terraced down to accommodate the slope. There is about a 4 foot difference between the front of the car and the back of the car.

NB: ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act): If you are wheel chair bound in Turkey you’re screwed. Seriously everything is steep and has stairs. The fire escapes are spiral stair cases that are probably more dangerous than the fire. They look cool though.

We arrived at the ferry and went to the Asian side. At first we went by old universities that had buildings so massive that they left the viewer mesmerized and then saddened at their deteriorating conditions. But further into the Asian side we found that a lot of the area was extremely new and modern. It would remind one of a western European country, or urban form of LA with broad boulevards and tall spread out buildings. The Asian side has areas that are poorer and more religious, but many people prefer the amenities and life style that newer areas give. We drove back over the “first bridge” a massive suspension bridge that crosses the Bospherous to pick up “Team” member #3, Patrick Franke.

We picked pat up and drove back to the apartment and Sadi left.

NB: Sadi was the greatest person Will and I could ask for. He helped us so much in the last couple days we can’t even fit it all into print. Without his help we would still be stuck at the airport.

We then decided to go out for some dinner. We got Kebaps, Doner, and Pide, at a small restaurant. We also decided to get some “Ayran”. Ayran is a yogurt based local favorite. Ayran is the first thing Turkish that hasn’t been incredible. Between the three of us we took three sips. Will: “it tasted like salted, curdled, goats milk, frothed, and sipped though straw in chilled mug.” Supposedly, it is an acquired taste; we’ll try again in a month or so and report back.

We then went out to show Pat the town and discovered a few of many rooftop and upper floor bars that the city has to offer. These are usually cheaper, younger, less touristy, and play better music. Many have incredible views of the city. Getting up to these bars can be a bit tricky: old stair cases, back alleys, and in one case an elevator we didn’t know how to exit. We then sampled some Rakı to end the night.

NB: Rakı (pronounced ra-ku) is a black liquorish tasting spirit that you mix with water, similar to the Greek Ouzo. We all thoroughly enjoyed this fine Turkish custom.

-Lee (edited by the ever patient Will)

*special note concerning pictures* We have been having a few camera difficulties, dead batteries, full memory card ... etc. Be patient and we will soon have a flikr up with more pictures than you could ever want to see!

Day three, still amazed by the city

Woke up this morning. Always a good thing. Definitely feeling the remnants of the night before.

So Will and I plunged into the fray last night and decided to go out. The off streets of Istiklal are an unending number of Bars/ Cafés/ Clubs that form a massive maze of people. We bumped around keeping our ears perked for that sweet sound of English. We met a girl from DC, she was not so cool. We then met some Turkish guys who wanted to practice English with us; they went to Istanbul University and were good guys. We bounced around a little more, and then went and got the ever so sweet solus burgers (see previous blog) which were still amazing and walked back (well we made a pit stop at the Hilton Pool, and then went home).

Drinks are not cheap in Istanbul, about 8tl ($5.33) for a pint, not terrible, but not nickel beer either. You pretty much drink Efes all the time, the Turkish national beer.

We woke up early and Murat the landlord came over to fix our internet. We then registered for language classes and Sadi (driver, best friend, only friend) took us driving up the Bosphorus almost to the Black Sea. It was like a whole different Istanbul. Amazingly we’d spent two days in Istanbul and still hadn’t seen the strait. It’s unbelievably blue and clear. The whole scene along the ocean is picturesque. Palaces, hotels, restaurants, and little main streets crowd the shorelines. Each area is a new town, but we drove about hour and we were still in Istanbul and everything was built up, the size of the city is massive.

NB: Rule of thumb for Istanbul, anything that can see the Bosphorus is much nicer and more expensive then areas that can’t. You can see the difference as you approach the top of a hill. The side which faces the water is always nice, the other side is always a little more dicey.

We ate at a sea side Bakil (fish) Restaurant; Sadi told us Turks “eat seafood, looking at the sea.” To make sure it’s fresh. We ate a bunch of different appetizers: eggplant hummus, seaweed noodles, huge kidney beans in tomato sauce, midye dolmasi, grilled calamari, and a bruchetta like salad. The best for me was “Midye Dolmasi” which is a fresh stuffed mussel. Will really enjoyed the seaweed dish. We would have been full after that amount of food, but then we got fish. It was sea bass. And there was no fillet or presentation or seasoning. When you order fish you get a grilled fish with the head, tail and everything. And it’s amazing, you have to pick through the bones but with nothing more than a little lemon, it was incredibly delicious. We have yet to have a bad meal in Turkey or even an average meal. So far the food is one of my favorite things. Will seconds this. It’s really varied and really good. We watched the ships roll in from the Black Sea (NB: The Black Sea is not actually black… little disappointing). It gets its name from the frequent storms and bad weather that have a knack for destroying ships.

We then went back to Taksim for coffee with Sadi and his girlfriend and home for naps.

After a deep nap, we decided to explore starting at 11pm. Things are still crazy till 3am and later. The streets are always packed with people, so it’s a late night city.

We ordered our first sit down meal in Turkey without Sadi, slightly difficult given the language barrier, we got “Pide” which is like Turkish Pizza, its pita like bread with all sorts of stuff on it, like a really good garlic bread shaped like a boat. Again, really good. When then decided to try to walk to the Golden Horn, which is a small river that separates the ancient part of the city from the less ancient part of the city. The roads are at a 60degree angle down and the area Beyoglu is really nice.

We then made it to the Galata Bridge which is a walking bridge with a train in the middle and underneath is restaurants, bars, and clubs. We walked across to the old city to just say we made it and began to walk back. We ended up stopping in a Shisha (hookah) bar for two hours and sipped tea while taking in a view that included the massive suspension bridge across the Bosporus all lit up, the Galata Tower, Topkopi (Ottoman’s Buckingham Palace), and a ton of massive mosques. A lot of people fish off the walking bridge above and although we never saw anyone catch anything, from the restaurants below you can see hundreds of fishing lines.
We then walked back amongst throngs of people.

NB: Who ever thought Muslims don’t party was dead wrong about the Turks. The bars were packed as we walked home. (Ramadan starts in ten days (Aug. 11) for 29 days and some Turks give up drinking instead of daily fasting during that time)

Jet lag is catching up to us.

-Lee (once again edited by Will, the grammar isn’t getting any better)

Day two, even better than the first

Dated 30/7/2010

Today Will and I got up early and showered for the first time in our apartment. Our shower is little more than a hot water hose in the corner of a bathroom stall. We lacked shampoo and towels, but surprisingly bars of soap and t-shirts sufficed.

Sadi showed up around 11am and we set out to collect the items on a long list of needs. First we went to go get cell phones at TurkCell. We were essentially ripped by a sales man who had us buy a phone not telling us we could use our American phones even when we told them we had American phones. Then they wouldn’t accept returns. Anyways I got a new phone!

We then went to the bank. The bank sent us to go get social security numbers. We went and ate next to the Galata Tower instead. Sadi ordered us his two of his favorite dishes, a sliced beef dish in tomato sauce with peppers and another beef dish with eggplant humus. Delicious! The tower is sweet, hopefully we will make it up to the top soon.

We then went to a soviet-esque DMV type bureaucratic center that was surprisingly pain free. Maybe the early description wasn’t merited, but we prepared for the worse as we went in. It looked like it was going to be bad and bad bureaucracy is legendary, according to Sadi.

Anyways we went back to the bank “AKBank” and set up accounts in which we didn’t have to pay any fees or put money into to open…. Yeah sounds like Lehman Brothers of Turkey.
We bought maps and drove to a mall. This was unlike any mall we have experienced in the US. It was next to the new Trump towers and a couple other new tall buildings.
NB: We’ve noticed with the skyscrapers every tower is a “Dual” tower. They design one building and build it at least twice. This wouldn’t be too noticeable if it was a ten story building, but they only do it on their tallest buildings. It’s like having a mirror next to every tall building in the city. You’ll be inside one and wonder “what could this building possibly look like from the outside?” and then poof right next to it you’ll see the same building.

Back to the mall… It was huge. Six stories tall with huge open air atriums rising the full height. The largest atrium was covered by the biggest clock we’ve ever seen. The glass roof was the face of the clock with huge metal catwalks as the hands. Easily the biggest mall I’ve ever been in, every western, eastern, and other directional store you could imagine. Popeye’s ads were everywhere… everywhere. In the mall we went to a super market, which was good we got a bunch of stuff that we really needed: towels, shampoo, beer, and an orange dolphin shower mat. We then went to “Koctas” a store eerily familiar to a Home Depot, down to the bright orange aprons. Here we got more necessities like power adapters, fans, and lanterns, yes lanterns, apparently the power in our district goes out frequently so we need to be prepared. We then walked mall. It was really impressive, massive.
NB: We discovered that the sales tax in Turkey is a whopping 18%!!! 18%!!! We complain about 9% in NOLA.
We drove home with our bounty. We settled in with our new stuff and were ready to eat.
18%!!! Sorry to harp.

Anyways our new best friend Sadi (whether he wants to be or not) decided to take us to a Taksim Landmark. Kızılkayalarda which sold “solus”(sp?) hamburgers which roughly translates to special sauce hamburgers, think meatball sub, meets sloppy Joe with a little Turkish flare. Amazing. Incredible. And for only 2 Lira, heaven! We then ate “Doner” in a pressed wrap with cheese, also incredible. The shop was a hole in the wall opening directly onto Taksim. Here’s the funny thing the five hole in the wall shops on either side of this one served the exact same things and copied everything on the menu. Will said it right when he said we found our new binge food spot.

We then went on our evening walk to find ITU Mimar (ITU architecture). The building is incredible. It is massive the hallways are at least 25ft tall and are so big they echo when you talk in them. The building is a former army infirmary from the Ottoman era. The center court yard is big and beautiful. The building is sadly crumbling, but walking near it or into it and anyone can understand its majesty. We saw a few boards from an Urban Planning class. Let’s say this, we’re going to have our work cut out for us, the work looked really good, so much for the idea of an easy abroad semester. That’s both good and bad news.

We then found a barbed wire lined passage back to our apartment from the school it’ll be about a 10-15 minute walk.

An extremely productive day. Thanks to Sadi. Such a g-d send or a Chadwick send.
Tonight, Will and I will attempt to go out in a city we don’t know, using a language we don’t know, to a bar that’s location is slightly unknown, this is going to be fun. One of the many reasons we came.

P.s. we’ve ignored jet lag
-Lee (edited by Will, his grammar and spelling is atrocious, not that mine is much better)