I’m Still Here

This is a blurry picture of the first bridge across the Bosphorous in Istanbul that I took from a taxi. I haven’t taken ANY photos of Istanbul except that one, and this one of some of the buildings:

I will take a lot more over the next few weeks. Sam is coming, and so is my dear friend Liz and we’ll be tourists and I’ll take my camera everywhere, and I also got my phone working enough to take photos (hence the ‘vintage’ look.) Oh, and you should all thank Becca who kindly reminded me that I’ve been on hiatus.

I’ve been really busy though!

I’m learning Turkish through Ankara University’s Language School(TOMER) in the mornings, then running around with the girls in the afternoons, and trying to fit in a semi-social life and keep up with the latest episodes of Glee and get ready for the least Christmassy Christmas ever.

Update: Glee is not very good. Girls is equally addictive and soul-destroying and makes me want to yell at people. Game of Thrones is very good. True Blood is ok, but I think mainly because after 5 season I’m pretty invested in it. Boardwalk Empire is good. And Mad Men is no longer very good but I like looking at all the pretty 60sness. I’m looking for a new series to watch in my downtime, any suggestions? Muhteşem Yüzyıl is pretty good but entirely in Turkish so I get tired watching it. But oh, the intrigue of the Sultan Suleiman and his hareem! (You should all totes check it out – it’s played in 52 different countries!)

Anyway, so Turkish classes are going. I was going to say pretty well, but I don’t feel like I am any more capable of speaking Turkish than when I started. But I can write and spell now, and understand the grammar far better. I have a lot of vocab I need to learn, and I think next month I’ll just try and find a more conversation based course to do rather than an academic one. It is a good course but because I skipped the first level I struggle with the vocab more than I should. My teacher is awesome; she is this crazy Turkish girl with peroxide hair and very fashionable clothes who stops the class every thirty minutes for a cigarette break and has decided that me and Liz are her favourites. (Which means she uses us for every example in the class, and takes delight in making fun of Liz.) The other students are a mixture of Turkministan, Greek, Turkistan, Jordanian, Ethiopian, Chinese, Korean, and Morrocan. And then there is Liz (American girl who came and stayed with my Turkish family for a month and is here for a yearish on a music fellowship) and I who giggle too much and get away with answering in English rather than Turkish. I think a lot of the other students are learning so they can study and work here.

Monday night I had THAI FOOD. OH MY GOD, PROPER SPICY FOOD THAT DOESN’T HAVE TOMATOES IN IT. OR MINCE. I do like Turkish food, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think I’ve ever spent this long eating one kind of food before. Anyway, afterwards Liz invited me to a classical music concert, which I was a little unsure about. Years of studying classical music has led me to the conclusion that it is beautiful, and I really enjoy it, but quite often do not wish to sit in a draughty hall for two hours to fully appreciate it. But it was going to be Turkish classical music which was intriguing and without asking much more about it we went to the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall where it turned out the whirling dervishes were doing their thing in memorial of Rumi’s death. It’s a lovely venue, but wow, was I not prepared for how mesmerising the whirling is. Photos courtesy of Liz, but I don’t think a photo could ever capture how entrancing the sufi are.

 

Other than that I haven’t been up to much that I can think of as being particularly interesting to talk about. I go out on Sunday nights because most of my friends have Mondays off, and going out usually involves going to bed at about 8 or 9am, which i appreciate because I never quite got used to the start-drinking-at-5, bed-by-11 thing in London. It’s usually pretty busy most nights in Taksim, and going out with locals means not spending a fortune in tourist bars. I still find the public transport a pain but don’t often resort to a taxi out of sheer stubborness. (I walked to school the other morning after my akbil card ran out of money and I couldn’t get a bus – it took an hour and a half.) (I got lost.) Walking is a bit of a novelty for most Istanbulites I’ve noticed – I get tooted at a lot and pavements here are for dogs to lie on, advertising boards to be placed in the middle of, or cars to park on.

It also rains New Zealand-style pretty much everyday but with less wind. I now own an umbrella. It is awesome, and I bought it from the oldest umbrella shop in London town, James Smith & Sons. Look at the foxy handle!

It’s also getting much colder. Down to 4-8 degrees most days. The family were going to go skiing for Christmas (the girls get time off school because of the many foreigners attending) but it had been unseasonally warm for this time of year and there isn’t enough snow on the fields in Bursa. Speaking of Christmas, it doesn’t feel at all like Christmas. not even a hint of Christmas flavour except for the big shopping malls dousing themselves in fairylights. The other night I peeked out the window and the neighbours had wrapped their pine tree in lights though so that felt kind of special. I’m not that fussed about Christmas, but it is one time of year I feel a bit homesick for family and friends. Though I do love London at Christmas. So pretty!!

Oh yeah, I went to London for a weekend to catch up with people, attempt to get my residency visa reinstated, and start my TESOL course. It was wonderful. I didn’t get my visa reinstated though so it looks like it will be holidays ever more. It felt so nice to be able to speak English and ask for directions, and know exactly where the bus was taking me, and be sarcastic and have pop culture references fly around with no confused faces. Also, I got to eat Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, proper pizza, pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, avocado, flat whites, cider, good cheap red wine, porridge, and a number of other delightful things I’ve forgotten the taste of. So happy…

Last month was Kurban bayram, or Eid….. A cow was killed for the family on the farm, but we didn’t participate in the ceremony. I wouldn’t have known at all except that when we arrived the meat was all in pieces in four big bin bags on the kitchen floor – unexpected to say the least!

I spent the first few days with Sarah until the family came home and then we headed West to the farm they share with a few families. Horse riding, feeding the calf, and collecting eggs! A big breakfast on Saturday with the extended family included organic, homemade butter, cheeses, fresh milk, tomatoes, cucumbers and chillis from the garden, menemen (a tomato-egg dish), homemade peach jam, honey and fresh bread. Beef stew and rice for lunch followed by a new baklava that looks like a bird’s nest with pistachios in. Here are some pictures of the girls riding a horse with no protective gear on, and no saddle:

     

Mmm, another brain dump post. I do apologise! I will try and do an nice orderly tourist-friendly post for next month after I’ve actually experienced being a tourist in Istanbul!

Merry Christmas to you all, love and öpücükler!

x

Too many words from Istanbul

I'm in Istanbul! I'm supposed to be in Cyprus but it turns out that just because a country controls half of another one against the wishes of the international community, does not make it part of that country. (i.e. I had no idea that (Northern) Cyprus was a semi autonomous state unto itself, and I'd have to go through visa control. Stupid visas. I'm a little over them! I'm still waiting on my residency, and because it's kurban bayram next week it's going to take another few weeks to process.

Anyway! I'm living with a wonderful family in a very affluent part of the city, next to a big park where I go running every couple of days and am teaching two super cute girls English. Mondays off again so I've been doing a little siteseeing (especially last Monday thanks to the lovely Bulent - a friend from the hotel - and his wife who showed me around Istanbul and spoilt me rotten) and catching up with friends I made in Bodrum over the summer.

Istanbul is a bit like someone took London and Madrid and shook the cities over the hills of Wellington and the Kapiti Coast. Actually, maybe not London because it isn't anywhere near as multicultural, but a really, really big city. The Bosphorous running through the middle is stunning, and Taksim (central city, Europa side) is a maze of alleyways and cobbled street. I haven't had much time to see any of the zillions of neighbourhoods, but hopefully I'll slowly see more. I've ended up containing myself to Istinye, Emirgan and Resitpasa Mahallar (around where I live) and Taksim, Sishane, Beyogulu in town. Sarah is here from tomorrow so we should get some siteseeing going over the next few days too!

Ohhh the weather outside if frightful. I think I was going to burst into song then, but it's the first time I've seen rain in five months! It's still fairly warm and it's nearly November (Winter is coming.) I felt a little Game of Thrones-ish then.Istanbul is seasonal, and it's nice - I like that for summer it was spectacular and sunny and hot everyday, with a chance of strong winds, and now it's jeans and tshirt weather and always quite comfortable. Not sure how winter will go but I know that I'm not missing all my winter clothes in London yet. Hopefully I'll get to pick them up mid-November so it won't be a problem.

I was thinking how Turkey is my kind of everyday life, yet it can be pretty different from NZ or London. There are things I miss, and things I don't even think about. The following is just a mind dump into a post so apologies. i could probably do some research but it's been so long since I did a proper post I figure you can just pretend this is an extra long email from me!

I could probably write and entire post on the food of Turkey. Even something as simple as breakfast is completely different. With the family gone for a week I'm going to the supermarket to buy cereal - I've been craving muesli, eggs, mushrooms, my normal breakfast foods! Breakfast here is set out on the table on little dishes by the housekeeper - sliced and peeled tomatoes and cucumber, bread, a selection of cheeses, maybe some jambon (veal ham), maybe a hard boiled egg, jam, olives, butter.

Normal lunch and dinner fair included rice and meat stuffed capsicums, many stews, maybe white beans in a tomato sauce, rice, pasta with white cheese (kind of like feta) and butter, okra (can't stand it), green beans, salads, this turnip/potato/carrot dish with fennel, stuffed vine leaves, this kind of finger sized spinach stuffed pastries, a lot of fish, and lots of yogurt.

Oh the sweets! The Turkish has a ridiculously sweet tooth. Becca this post is for you! Desserts of course there is baklava that we all know and love - a sticky syrup and nut pastry (my favourite is hazelnut)- and then there are these kind of small churro like things called tulamba which are also covered in syrup. Kunefe is a bigger sweet pastry thing with cheese in the middle which seems to be fried and covered in sugar syrup. (I can't handle this one.) There is a milk pudding, or rice pudding dessert, and of course halva made of semolina spices and sugar. Lokum is the ever famous Turkish Delight, starch and sugar with spices, flavourings and/or nuts which I actually got through all summer before having any in Turkey. Fruit platters of cherries, peaches, strawberries, nectarines, apricots, plums, honeydew melon, watermelon, figs, and grapes are standard at the end of dinner dependent on season. And Turkish icecream is a extra sticky and particularly nice!


The Turkish drink a huge amount of black tea which is made in a double boiler where you end up with a very strong hot tea concentrate and then a second pot of hot water which you dilute it with. The Turkish all like a LOT of sugar so I add none and get funny looks, and have seen some of the men in the cafeteria add up to seven or eight teaspoons in one tiny little cay cup. Of course there is the Turkish (or Greek) coffee we know overseas with the silt in the bottom, and then alcohol wise there are some fairly average wines. The Turkish love to drink raki in the evenings which is an aniseed liquor drunk with water and ice, and eaten with melon and cheese. There are also lots of vendors selling fresh orange or pomegranate juice.


They are all mad. This is what Sarah and I say to each other when everything gets a little too culturally different. But seriously, the Turkish people I have become acquainted with are extremely kind, generous, and hospitable. Relationship wise they seem to be very caring, affectionate, jealous, and incredibly possessive. Marriage and children are an expectation fairly young and I've met some girls who would have been ridiculously young mothers. Family is really important. I kind of knew this while working in Bodrum since half my Turkish friends send their wages back to their parents and seeing foreign girls navigating the whole family approval thing, but living with a Turkish family has highlighted it even more.


A lot of you have asked me about Turkey being an Islamic country, but I honestly don't notice it at all. As much as I would see in Spain amongst Catholics, or even the UK with Anglicans. There are mosques everywhere (though they probably couldn't compete with the churches of London) and the call to prayer is LOUD. I've seen far more headscarves in Istanbul than Bodrum (where they were almost non-existent to be honest) and most of the Turkish seem to drink (heavily.) No one eats pork, but a lot of people confess to having tried it butI don't know many people who go to mosque, and harking back to my university days when I actually did know what I was talking about I'd still argue that it is traditional conservatism in Turkey is stronger the further East you go and less about Islam than about ingrained cultural norms. I could be being naive about this, these are just my observances so far but its fairly complicated to explain.

Next week is kurban bayram as I said, which is a holiday based around the story of Abraham sacrificing his son to God, and God in his mercy changing his son into a lamb. Following this tradition Turkish households sacrifice an animal for a feast and excess meat is donated to charity. The last bayram celebrated the end of Ramadan and I didn't really notice anything in the way of religious celebration but it might be the circles I run in. Some of my friends stopped drinking during Ramadan, but I don't know anyone fasted during the day.

Oh man, this has turned into a novel. Sorry about the lack of photos! I'll try get some up over the next few days.

Pamukkale and Hierapolis

 

This is a long overdue post but I guess that means it's been an awesome summer! In my last few days in Bodrum I jumped on a bus and headed to some of the tourists sites I'd been asked about all summer. Being me, I didn't do any research beforehand and went to Pamukkale over Ephesus (the more popular ancient city near) on the advice of friends. Very glad I did!

 

There is this ridiculously random site in Turkey in the Denizili Province called Pamukkale or 'Cotton Castle' when translated. By random I mean, in the middle of rolling dust and scrub covered hills is a white 'castle' of limestone terraces and hot spring water, topped with the ancient city of Hierapolis. I booked through the hotel and was picked up at the very early hour of 6am for a lift into Bodrum to the coaches which were taking approximately 100 Russian, French, Italian and English tourists to the site. A four hour bus ride with a brief stop for breakfast was made easier by the fact that I am small and can sleep anywhere. Apparently there was a presentation and talk about the area on the way, but I missed it.

 

 

 

Once the bus parked up at the top of the hill after a four hour drive I immediately disentangled myself from the group of tourists I'd arrived with and set off straight for the ruins of the city. Pamukkale was heaving with half-naked tourists (hilarious to watch) and the ruins were wonderfully hot and desolate, but peaceful. I actually ended up writing blog notes sitting on a umpteen thousand year old piece of marble that had fallen by the Necropolis road, pleasantly sunning myself while these awesome lizards baked on the tombstones and the call to prayer echoed around the valley below. Pretty special, especially as there was no one around except the lizards and hundreds of butterflies, birds and bees.

 

 

Anyway! The city is of Greco-Roman and Byzantine eras, rebuilt and expanded at different stages after various earthquakes. Famed for the sacred hot spring waters that flow through and believed to have healing powers, and the city worshipped the God Apollo, and Pluto (of the underworld, probably because of the natural gases that rose up around the city.) Some of the ruins of the Temple of Apollo have had a giant natural swimming pool form over them, and for the bargain price of 30TL you can swim with other tourists in a surreal moment where ancient, natural beauty meets heaving commercialism.

 

 

I spent a fair amount of time giggling at the mud because I'm awesome like that, but it had dried to this awesome crackle effect that had curled up like clay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So pretty! You can only walk in certain places, and no shoes allowed so that the white calcium carbonate doesn't get muddied or damaged.

 

I paid 70TL for the daily excursion - they are advertised all over Bodrum and it was the cheapest and easiest way to get to Pamukkale but probably not the most efficient. If there are a group of you it'd be good to just hire a car and go because the excursion includes a particularly terrible example of 'traditional Turkish cuisine' (read extremely bad buffet Turkish cuisine) and a stop at a leather factory on the way home - which with the four hour ride each way made for a very long day.

 

I also caught the ferry over to Datca - absolutely beautiful but I forgot my camera. It felt very different to Bodrum and as soon as you get off the ferry you feel a million miles away from the crowds of Bodrum. I wandered through Knidos, another ancient city which was actually spectacularly placed (kinda felt like I was in lord of the Rings oddly.) Don't miss your ferry though! Because it only runs twice a day - once in the morning and once at night (and you'll have to stay the night like I did...)

 

 

 

I didn't really see as much as I liked of Bodrum - in summer it was a bit hard to handle because of the crowds and I was working but one day on our day off Elena and I stumbled upon one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - the Mausoleum of Halicarnasuss - the first mausoleum ever built. There isn't much left on the site since the British took away anything of significance to the British Museum, and the Knights Templar dismantled it in the first place to fortify the nearby St Peters Castle circa 1400AD

 

 

 

 

There's also this huge amphitheatre at the top of the hill overlooking Bodrum - it's still used today for concerts and plays! The view is wonderful - you can see St Peter's Castle in the background next to the harbour. Elena and I wandered through the back streets until we got to the water and then spent a merry afternoon in wandering around the castle. My favourite part was the glass exhibition showcasing all these very fragile and beautiful glass artifacts found in the various shipwrecks around the area.

 

 

 

 

And then of course we went to our favourite Bodrum fish restaurant - Trata - next to the fishmarket where you choose your fish, pay the monger then have the restaurant cook it up for a 5TL fee. Don't forget to choose some mezzes! We usually end up with cheese stuffed mushrooms, seaweed, smoke aubergine and peppers, and a yoghurt based dish of some sort. And fava of course! And later headed in to the Bodrum shops to try and haggle for the massively overpriced but awesome selection of fake handbags. I got a travel wallet and big leather tote and can now pretend I can afford real Hermes. (Though having arrived in Istanbul and now living in Istinye I've suddenly realised how many Turkish women can and do buy real Prada, Chanel, Gucci and Hermes.)

 

Anyway! How was that for a brain download. I'll try get you an update on Istanbul when I get a moment.

 

x

 

 

İyi Bayramlar!

and it’s my 100th Post! Very late I know… but I guess that means I’m not doing as badly as I thought at this blogging lark. In honour of such a milestone post I should probs write something awesome but it’s unlikely to happen, so here is a quick update and a reminder of some of my favourite trips in the past two years.
Turkey is much the same as when I last told you – the weather is cooling (or I’m getting used to it) and it’s down to about 35 degrees during the day. I get goosebumps when i get out of the pool now! Generally everything is awesome here, and I’ve been offered a job for winter in Istanbul teaching English so I’m going to look at getting a residence visa and staying on in Turkey. Apparently not too difficult, but let’s see! I’ve been working pretty hard here, and playing hard too. Most days are spent waking up having a quick breakfast, coffee and cold shower before cycling to work. Evenings are spent working or drinking and I have started to put on weight again (oops) and am craving cardio exercise – time to find some running shoes I think!
The season is nearly over – Ramazan finished today and kicked off today and ends on Thursday so it’s going to be very busy. Yaayy… On top of that, my darling artist Annalisa is disappearing tomorrow for Kos having realised she’s massively overstayed her visa and might have a problem. Fingers crossed she doesn’t because if she does, I definitely will.
I haven’t actually seen much outside of the Torba/Bodrum area. I’m hoping I’ll get time at the end of the season. I’ve definitely had my eyes opened to how ridiculously wealthy people can be. CDA is very upmarket, and seems to host European rich and famous. The amount of money one can spend here is incredible, and the other night I watched a group of visiting Lebanese buy 30 bottles of Moet Chandon at 1000TLR a pop, and dance up a storm on the deck (they sure know how to party.) There was a birthday party for one of the Egyptian family members staying here the other day and a huge banquet lunch was prepared followed by acrobats, contortionists and jugglers and this thing:

My Turkish has improved minimally. Apparently I have a nice accent, but the sentence structure is hard because they just keep adding bits on to words and the subject is at the start, and the verb ‘to be’ goes on the end of other verbs or nouns or even adjectives aaaaaargh. I can speak to children enough to find out what they want to do at Kid’s Club, but as soon as they speak fast I go blank. I’d really like to be fluent though!
The people here are really nice. In general as a foreign girl I’m treated differently, and I can’t quiiite work out what the norm is. This is partly because Bodrum is a big tourist town, and partly because the coast is very European, partly because I don’t speak the language and partly because Turkish women seem to be much more reserved and I don’t actually get to talk to many. I have two female Turkish friends but there are really not so many working at the hotel. Noticeably different things include fashion, and the high level of maintenance and grooming both men and women expect. Bling and bright colours, high heels, manicured (male and female), pedicured, tanned, blowdried, men’s hair cut and chins carefully shaved every week.
My brain has switched off here. I can’t even think about what to blog about! I haven’t been reading too much, haven’t seen much of the news, completely ignored the Olymipcs and the only tv I’ve watched has been the Turkish football – they are totally mad about and one of their favourite players is called Alex D’Souza so I get a lot of comments, especially since I have a ‘man’s name’.
I guess a 100th post should mention the previous posts, using Sarah as a starting point since I’m here in Turkey because of her - I met Sarah in Madrid over a year ago – and it’s turned out awesomely much like the weekend itself. Nepal was life changing and I would really like to get back there some day soon. Trekking in the Annapurnas was spectacular, and I will always remember the week in Delhi (though far from my favourite trip.) Arriving in London to a ridiculously cold winter almost drove me home again, but I’m very, very glad I stayed! A wonderful trip around Croatia and Santorini with Nana.Oh, and Berlin was excellent, as was Amsterdam, and then the World Cup Final, and dress-ups for Halloween!
I noticed that I put a lot of exclamation marks into my posts. I should find some photos too I guess, but man am I being lazy!
I think I’ve managed to reply to most of the emails lately, love hearing from you.
SIZI SEVIYORUM

I can “play a car” and other awesome language mixups

I’ve been babysitting every night for the past week so am pretty tired. There is no internet today in Torba due to the wind (apparently) but I figure I should take advantage of some down time to write an update. I’ve just been for a swim at the beach followed by a glass of wine, calamari, cherries and Turkish coffee. Yum! Pretty standard these days though!

View Larger Map

On my Mondays off Sarah and I have been hiring a car and driving round the Bodrum Peninsular. Turkey is very pretty, even with all the white concrete box developments popping up everywhere. I’m hoping to go up to Ephesus next week

     

I spend most days in the swimming pool with the kids, or under the big arches alongside the pool where we do art – painting, drawing, hand prints etc. It’s getting much busier and Anna is back to do art with the kids so we can split the kids by age and/or activity.

I’m slowly learning a few Turkish words and phrases but man it is a HARD language to learn. The sentence structure is difficult and the pronunciation is insane. A lot of the Turks I’ve met speak a little English but because they have a lot of words that mean many different things their translation can be pretty amusing. Also the insistence that I bring my ‘photo machine’ to take ‘model pictures’ of everyone. (Massive posers!)

Haha, I’ve got a movie on in the background and I’ve just noticed that they always blur out the cigarettes, or put a little kind of electronic sticker (which just seems to highlight that the person is smoking.)

Love you all. Send me your addresses if you want a postcard – also I miss hearing from you so email me pleeeeease!

x

CDA

  

I’m feeling ridiculously contented and more relaxed than I’ve felt in months. I started with the kids last week and it’s been quiet but fairly busy (I realise that doesn’t make sense.) The past week has been swimming, painting and playing with children under 5, and good food, too much wine and beer, lots more swimming, a fairly even golden tan, reading my heart out, millions of mosquito bites, a smattering of Turkish phrases, an art exhibition, a wedding, lot of new friends (the Turkish are wonderful), late late nights and fairly early mornings, yoga, and a fair amount of frustration at the Turkish way of getting anything done.