Its definitely been an interesting few days here in Turkey. When living abroad, things just seem to happen in quirky unexpected ways. It can be hilarious and fun or annoying and pointless. We’ve had the whole spectrum of experiences already….
Saturday morning I woke up late and ate breakfast, talked on my new internet phone connection (Skype is the greatest thing EVER!), and got ready for practice. Our bus picked us up at noon and we made our way downtown to our gym, driving along the water most of the way, the huge cargo ships dotting the sea in the distance. We got ready like any other day and came together at midcourt and began dividing into two teams when I heard our coach say, “Futbol.” I immediately started cheering and looking at my teammates with new eyes, as potentially good or bad soccer players. I hadn’t played since high school but it’s a sport I absolutely love, love to play, love to watch. If I hadn’t played basketball it definitely would have been my sport of choice. Plus playing indoor soccer (or American football for that matter) for basketball practice every once in awhile is SO much fun. It makes everyone remember why we play sports, it awakens your competitiveness in a new way, and has you laughing and body slamming each other with a new enthusiasm. So we played and although my touch was way off, it was fun to trap the ball and juke someone, do a give and go, and fight to head the ball. We all argued over calls and celebrated excessively with goals; flying like airplanes down the court, lining up on hands and knees to do the caterpillar (don’t ask), and anything else to rub it in the other teams face. Ahhhh, good times. we played for well over an hour.
To finish off practice we had a four on four tournament and my team kicked ass. It was fun to just play and have fun. I really think a Saturday morning practice like that is just what our team needed.
After a very cold shower in the locker room, they still haven’t figured out the hot water situation, I headed down to Sultanahmet square to meet a friend. I am early, however, and very hungry and I am not sure if he is fasting or not so I don’t want to wait. I stop on the way and eat some stuffed mussels from a man on the corner. The salty, oily taste with fresh lemon is my new favorite thing to eat here in Turkey. I kept walking towards our meeting place, and even after sitting down a bench and icing my ankle (which got me some weird looks) I still had time to kill. So I continued to Sultanhamet Square, a huge area between the famous Blue Mosque and the Agia Sophia. There are booths set up as far as you can see with food and sweets, jewelry, and tea and hookah houses. It is Ramazan here so every night is a festival in every part of the city. At seven in the evening fasting breaks and the streets are packed with people eating kebap and lamb off the spit, handmade lollipops, made by men twisting sticky sugary colors around sticks, and a hot sweet milk drink. People sell everything on the street here and not just during Ramazan. You can easily eat dinner walking down the street, wheel barrow type contraptions serving everything from lamb, to chicken with rice and yoghurt drinks, to mussels and corn on the cob. And of course, random old men sell tea (chai) on the street from large steel kettles served in little plastic cups. I hadn’t yet tried the corn so I stopped at a booth and bought one. As I was turning to leave the three men working the stand insisted I come to the back of the tent and eat and chat. So I did. There I am, in the middle of Ramazan Festivals, with men starting up their businesses for the day, cooking chestnuts, shucking corn, and me sitting there eating and talking. What we talked about I couldn’t really tell you, we looked at mobile phones for awhile, I learned one of them was Syrian, and I think one of them took my phone number. What I will say when he calls should be interesting. I meet men on every corner in this city.
So I finished up my snack and headed to the next tram stop where my friend Ekrem was waiting. I met Ekrem last week when I was perusing the book bazaar. Very cool place. When books were banned in Turkey, they began selling manuscripts and then continued selling books of all kinds daily. They have some beautiful old leather bound books. Most things are in Turkish but books are books and I just like looking at them. Anyway, Ekrem starting talking to me and his English is pretty good so we went for chai and walked around the city that day. Anyway, this day we planned on meeting and doing some more sightseeing and then going to his house for Ramazan dinner. His friend Jim (they swear it’s a Turkish name) was with him, a textile trader that was dressed in all black Armani, a leather coat draped over his shoulder and aviator sunglasses on. He looked like a model, and was about the size of one too. So we all started walking and went into Topkapi Palace area, walking around a central park type area, the canopy of trees letting in specks of sunlight, lovers on every bench holding hands. We didn’t go in the actual palace, it was too late in the day and I was too tired for much but it’s a huge area and one can definitely see from the outside of the buildings a glimpse of a prior era.
As we walked out of the arched entry way you could see the water off the coast of Istanbul, huge mosques in the distance as we walked along the cobblestone streets to the hotel district. We chose a nice European hotel, and made our way up narrow winding staircases to the top deck for some chai. The view was breathtaking. You could literally see for miles in every direction, the evening fog rolling in from the Princes Islands. (see picture) I felt on top of the world as I sat level with the Agia Sophia and Blue Mosque, felt like a bird as I looked across at roof top decks on every building surrounding us, some with doors leading straight off the edge like a hurricane took of the top story and left on a door frame. I could see to the Asia side and all the water in between, ships rolling quietly across the foggy sea. We sat and drank our chai, and worked on my Turkish.
After chai it was time to make our way home to Ekrem’s house where his mother was busy cooking away for Ramazan dinner. Ramazan is obviously a huge holiday here, thirty days of fasting from 5 am to 7 pm really affects the culture. Not everyone abides by the rules, my teammates don’t because they are athletes and my coaches did for about a week instead of the full month. But nevertheless, especially in the smaller towns and cities, it can be difficult to get food and drink during the day. Today we walked about 15 minutes trying to find chai. That just doesn’t happen in Turkey normally. Usually, every business has chai on hand, from hair salons to travel agencies and they are all ready and willing to share.
But whether you fast or not, eating at seven is a big event in Turkey during Ramazan. Everyone is hungry and has plans to eat. The mosques all over the country announce when it is okay to eat and everyone gathers around a table where ever they are. After our practice our coaches are crammed onto a picnic table, with a feast of food waiting for them. I think just random people bring food; our teammate’s husband, our bus driver, the man that opens the gym. Wherever you are, you eat at seven. And although none of us are fasting, all the players cram around the table as well, shoveling food in after practice.
So Saturday at about 6 pm, Ekrem and I are making our way back to his house where his family is waiting for the mosque’s announcement to eat. Sultanhamet square is a mess, people are pushing past each other on the street, restaurants have lines of 200 people blocking the sidewalk, and the tram has throngs of people forcing their way on at every stop. We get on the tram and somehow, after a few minutes I get a seat. Of course as soon as I do the tram stops and a man’s voice comes over the loud speaker. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to follow the locals filing off public transportation in foreign lands with no idea what is going on. Luckily, Ekrem was there rushing me off the tram and down the street, where everyone was moving fast and with purpose. Nothing like a whole city of hungry people, its madness. We make our way past the van blocking the tram line, somehow it has crashed into the iron guard rail, bending it fully back, and to the Grand Bazaar area where everyone was trying to hail taxis and run onto departing buses. Taxis were lined up on the side but they weren’t moving, it was nearly 6:30 at this point and all the drivers were anxiously waiting for the fast to break. Those that were working were dropping people off on their way home to eat so we couldn’t get a ride anywhere. Ekrem is very frustrated at this point because we have to be at his house before 7 to eat all the wonderful food his mother has prepared. There isn’t much to do except keep asking taxis if they are going in our direction. But its not working. Finally he goes up to a random car at a stop light and asks if we can get a ride to another central location in hopes of either taking the metro home or another taxi. Sure enough the random Turkish man is going our way so we frantically get in his car as the light turns green, cars honking as we hold up traffic. There I am, speeding down a main street in Istanbul, in some stranger’s car as he darts in and out of traffic, waving at police officers at intersections as he runs red lights. I am laughing the whole way, totally high on life, and loving every second of the craziness. He drops us off and we hail a taxi who is just as intent on getting home himself and with Ekrem and I cheering him on, drives like a bat out of hell so we can be on time for Ramazan dinner. Not a boring second around here.
So we arrive at Ekrem’s house with time to spare and I meet everyone in his family, his soon to be married brother, his mom, dad, uncle, cousin, cousin in law, and a little 7 year old girl that belonged to someone. The table was packed with food and with people huddled around eating at the sound of the bells. We had chicken with rice, soup (Turkish soup is awesome), flat bread, Turkish cheese and pastrami, bean dishes, dates, yoghurt, salad, and stuffed grape leaves. The food was amazing and every dish had a story, special pastrami from Kayseri, special dates from Adana, special cheese from their home town of Cappedocia. They have a lot of ‘special’ things here I have noticed. I sat there having Ramazan dinner with people I couldn’t understand so I just kept repeating the few words I do know, ‘good, wonderful, food, etc.’ Good times. We finished with chai of course, as Ekrems father smoked, then moved into Ekrems room to wait for desert. I sat listening to music with Ekrem and his uncle as everyone rushed around getting ready for the big night of visiting the future in laws. His uncle, a rounded 50ish man, was immediately likable and through some translation I learned that he likes whiskey, works as a civil engineer, will take me and my brother out to eat when he gets here, and likes my smile. He also seemed to be in Ekrems fan club, saying things like, “nice boy”, “very good boy” so I’m pretty sure they all think we are dating. Great.
So the family all piled into one car while Ekrem and his uncle and I got in another. They had decided that they would drop me off on their way. I had made the mistake of telling Ekrem that my teammates and I were looking for some reasonably priced vodka (alcohol is highly taxed here) so his uncle, smoking and cutting people off of course, pulls to a screeching halt in front of a corner store where we rush out and buy some vodka. After a long day, filled with every kind of excitement you could want, its time to hit the town with my teammates because Sunday is our day off….. more on the nightlife later.
All in all my life here is not boring. I finished the day back at my apartment thinking of all the random things that happened to me in a single day. I kept getting flashbacks and laughing to myself; a teammate falling on her ass over the soccer ball with no one around, hungry head scarved women elbowing their way through throngs of people, a random driver waving at the police officer as he runs the red light, the taxi driver going Nascar on us. It was completely fabulous. I am loving this city….
Saturday morning I woke up late and ate breakfast, talked on my new internet phone connection (Skype is the greatest thing EVER!), and got ready for practice. Our bus picked us up at noon and we made our way downtown to our gym, driving along the water most of the way, the huge cargo ships dotting the sea in the distance. We got ready like any other day and came together at midcourt and began dividing into two teams when I heard our coach say, “Futbol.” I immediately started cheering and looking at my teammates with new eyes, as potentially good or bad soccer players. I hadn’t played since high school but it’s a sport I absolutely love, love to play, love to watch. If I hadn’t played basketball it definitely would have been my sport of choice. Plus playing indoor soccer (or American football for that matter) for basketball practice every once in awhile is SO much fun. It makes everyone remember why we play sports, it awakens your competitiveness in a new way, and has you laughing and body slamming each other with a new enthusiasm. So we played and although my touch was way off, it was fun to trap the ball and juke someone, do a give and go, and fight to head the ball. We all argued over calls and celebrated excessively with goals; flying like airplanes down the court, lining up on hands and knees to do the caterpillar (don’t ask), and anything else to rub it in the other teams face. Ahhhh, good times. we played for well over an hour.
To finish off practice we had a four on four tournament and my team kicked ass. It was fun to just play and have fun. I really think a Saturday morning practice like that is just what our team needed.
After a very cold shower in the locker room, they still haven’t figured out the hot water situation, I headed down to Sultanahmet square to meet a friend. I am early, however, and very hungry and I am not sure if he is fasting or not so I don’t want to wait. I stop on the way and eat some stuffed mussels from a man on the corner. The salty, oily taste with fresh lemon is my new favorite thing to eat here in Turkey. I kept walking towards our meeting place, and even after sitting down a bench and icing my ankle (which got me some weird looks) I still had time to kill. So I continued to Sultanhamet Square, a huge area between the famous Blue Mosque and the Agia Sophia. There are booths set up as far as you can see with food and sweets, jewelry, and tea and hookah houses. It is Ramazan here so every night is a festival in every part of the city. At seven in the evening fasting breaks and the streets are packed with people eating kebap and lamb off the spit, handmade lollipops, made by men twisting sticky sugary colors around sticks, and a hot sweet milk drink. People sell everything on the street here and not just during Ramazan. You can easily eat dinner walking down the street, wheel barrow type contraptions serving everything from lamb, to chicken with rice and yoghurt drinks, to mussels and corn on the cob. And of course, random old men sell tea (chai) on the street from large steel kettles served in little plastic cups. I hadn’t yet tried the corn so I stopped at a booth and bought one. As I was turning to leave the three men working the stand insisted I come to the back of the tent and eat and chat. So I did. There I am, in the middle of Ramazan Festivals, with men starting up their businesses for the day, cooking chestnuts, shucking corn, and me sitting there eating and talking. What we talked about I couldn’t really tell you, we looked at mobile phones for awhile, I learned one of them was Syrian, and I think one of them took my phone number. What I will say when he calls should be interesting. I meet men on every corner in this city.
So I finished up my snack and headed to the next tram stop where my friend Ekrem was waiting. I met Ekrem last week when I was perusing the book bazaar. Very cool place. When books were banned in Turkey, they began selling manuscripts and then continued selling books of all kinds daily. They have some beautiful old leather bound books. Most things are in Turkish but books are books and I just like looking at them. Anyway, Ekrem starting talking to me and his English is pretty good so we went for chai and walked around the city that day. Anyway, this day we planned on meeting and doing some more sightseeing and then going to his house for Ramazan dinner. His friend Jim (they swear it’s a Turkish name) was with him, a textile trader that was dressed in all black Armani, a leather coat draped over his shoulder and aviator sunglasses on. He looked like a model, and was about the size of one too. So we all started walking and went into Topkapi Palace area, walking around a central park type area, the canopy of trees letting in specks of sunlight, lovers on every bench holding hands. We didn’t go in the actual palace, it was too late in the day and I was too tired for much but it’s a huge area and one can definitely see from the outside of the buildings a glimpse of a prior era.
As we walked out of the arched entry way you could see the water off the coast of Istanbul, huge mosques in the distance as we walked along the cobblestone streets to the hotel district. We chose a nice European hotel, and made our way up narrow winding staircases to the top deck for some chai. The view was breathtaking. You could literally see for miles in every direction, the evening fog rolling in from the Princes Islands. (see picture) I felt on top of the world as I sat level with the Agia Sophia and Blue Mosque, felt like a bird as I looked across at roof top decks on every building surrounding us, some with doors leading straight off the edge like a hurricane took of the top story and left on a door frame. I could see to the Asia side and all the water in between, ships rolling quietly across the foggy sea. We sat and drank our chai, and worked on my Turkish.
After chai it was time to make our way home to Ekrem’s house where his mother was busy cooking away for Ramazan dinner. Ramazan is obviously a huge holiday here, thirty days of fasting from 5 am to 7 pm really affects the culture. Not everyone abides by the rules, my teammates don’t because they are athletes and my coaches did for about a week instead of the full month. But nevertheless, especially in the smaller towns and cities, it can be difficult to get food and drink during the day. Today we walked about 15 minutes trying to find chai. That just doesn’t happen in Turkey normally. Usually, every business has chai on hand, from hair salons to travel agencies and they are all ready and willing to share.
But whether you fast or not, eating at seven is a big event in Turkey during Ramazan. Everyone is hungry and has plans to eat. The mosques all over the country announce when it is okay to eat and everyone gathers around a table where ever they are. After our practice our coaches are crammed onto a picnic table, with a feast of food waiting for them. I think just random people bring food; our teammate’s husband, our bus driver, the man that opens the gym. Wherever you are, you eat at seven. And although none of us are fasting, all the players cram around the table as well, shoveling food in after practice.
So Saturday at about 6 pm, Ekrem and I are making our way back to his house where his family is waiting for the mosque’s announcement to eat. Sultanhamet square is a mess, people are pushing past each other on the street, restaurants have lines of 200 people blocking the sidewalk, and the tram has throngs of people forcing their way on at every stop. We get on the tram and somehow, after a few minutes I get a seat. Of course as soon as I do the tram stops and a man’s voice comes over the loud speaker. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to follow the locals filing off public transportation in foreign lands with no idea what is going on. Luckily, Ekrem was there rushing me off the tram and down the street, where everyone was moving fast and with purpose. Nothing like a whole city of hungry people, its madness. We make our way past the van blocking the tram line, somehow it has crashed into the iron guard rail, bending it fully back, and to the Grand Bazaar area where everyone was trying to hail taxis and run onto departing buses. Taxis were lined up on the side but they weren’t moving, it was nearly 6:30 at this point and all the drivers were anxiously waiting for the fast to break. Those that were working were dropping people off on their way home to eat so we couldn’t get a ride anywhere. Ekrem is very frustrated at this point because we have to be at his house before 7 to eat all the wonderful food his mother has prepared. There isn’t much to do except keep asking taxis if they are going in our direction. But its not working. Finally he goes up to a random car at a stop light and asks if we can get a ride to another central location in hopes of either taking the metro home or another taxi. Sure enough the random Turkish man is going our way so we frantically get in his car as the light turns green, cars honking as we hold up traffic. There I am, speeding down a main street in Istanbul, in some stranger’s car as he darts in and out of traffic, waving at police officers at intersections as he runs red lights. I am laughing the whole way, totally high on life, and loving every second of the craziness. He drops us off and we hail a taxi who is just as intent on getting home himself and with Ekrem and I cheering him on, drives like a bat out of hell so we can be on time for Ramazan dinner. Not a boring second around here.
So we arrive at Ekrem’s house with time to spare and I meet everyone in his family, his soon to be married brother, his mom, dad, uncle, cousin, cousin in law, and a little 7 year old girl that belonged to someone. The table was packed with food and with people huddled around eating at the sound of the bells. We had chicken with rice, soup (Turkish soup is awesome), flat bread, Turkish cheese and pastrami, bean dishes, dates, yoghurt, salad, and stuffed grape leaves. The food was amazing and every dish had a story, special pastrami from Kayseri, special dates from Adana, special cheese from their home town of Cappedocia. They have a lot of ‘special’ things here I have noticed. I sat there having Ramazan dinner with people I couldn’t understand so I just kept repeating the few words I do know, ‘good, wonderful, food, etc.’ Good times. We finished with chai of course, as Ekrems father smoked, then moved into Ekrems room to wait for desert. I sat listening to music with Ekrem and his uncle as everyone rushed around getting ready for the big night of visiting the future in laws. His uncle, a rounded 50ish man, was immediately likable and through some translation I learned that he likes whiskey, works as a civil engineer, will take me and my brother out to eat when he gets here, and likes my smile. He also seemed to be in Ekrems fan club, saying things like, “nice boy”, “very good boy” so I’m pretty sure they all think we are dating. Great.
So the family all piled into one car while Ekrem and his uncle and I got in another. They had decided that they would drop me off on their way. I had made the mistake of telling Ekrem that my teammates and I were looking for some reasonably priced vodka (alcohol is highly taxed here) so his uncle, smoking and cutting people off of course, pulls to a screeching halt in front of a corner store where we rush out and buy some vodka. After a long day, filled with every kind of excitement you could want, its time to hit the town with my teammates because Sunday is our day off….. more on the nightlife later.
All in all my life here is not boring. I finished the day back at my apartment thinking of all the random things that happened to me in a single day. I kept getting flashbacks and laughing to myself; a teammate falling on her ass over the soccer ball with no one around, hungry head scarved women elbowing their way through throngs of people, a random driver waving at the police officer as he runs the red light, the taxi driver going Nascar on us. It was completely fabulous. I am loving this city….
1 comment:
Lindsey --
You made me laugh. I love your description of Ramazan. In Malaysia, it was Ramadan, and the day when Ramadan ended was Hari Raya. Oh the end festival was amazing. PArty after party, after party. I'm so glad you're so open to Turkey & the culture. Madeline Beery
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