This was a few weeks ago but here goes....
After practice on Saturday I made plans to meet up with a friend of my friend Sam. Andrew is living in NYC and just happened to be visiting Istanbul for the next week for vacation. We'd never met before but we both knew having Sam in common is enough conversation to last for days. Plus I've never met a friend of Sam's I didn't adore immediately and Andrew turned out to be no exception. So I hauled ass to get downtown on a dark rainy Saturday, got ripped off my a taxi driver who had no more than 1 lira in change, and made my way down to Sultanhamet square where Andrew was waiting with an umbrella, bless him. I am never prepared for the weather here, it goes from hot to cold to rainy to windy to sunny in a matter of hours so you never know what to wear or what to bring. But let’s be serious here, I never have an umbrella even in Seattle.
Anyway, we started walking and made our way down to Eminonu where we bought fresh fish sandwiches and boarded a ferry to Uskudar, on the Asia side of Istanbul. The same as last time I went, market shopping with all the colors and smells, beautiful fruits and vegetables, hot fresh flat bread from the bakery, and puddle jumping and taxi dodging. We walked a bit further, out of the commerce area and in the destitute residential area, sharing travel stories and talking about NYC and Sam’s group of mutual friends. Its always nice to meet someone new that has experienced life in different unique ways (lived in India, France, Greece) and has that adventuresome spirit and curiosity of the world that keep conversation and life in general interesting.
We came back on the ferry to the Europe side and walked up through the Spice Bazaar with its multitude of sweets, spices, and teas, and back to Sultanhamet. We were on our way to see the Turkish Baths when we stopped at a travel agency, some Turkish guys Andrew had met the day before. Turkish people are not only generous with money but generous of spirit as well. They take a lot of pride in your experience of their country and are most hospitable. Plus they are just generally happy and nice and social. So we sat in the travel agency for a good 45 minutes while they finished up business for the day before the long holiday begins. The end of Ramazan is celebrated in a grand finale of feasting for 3,4, 9 days (we’ve gotten about 5 different answers) where most things are closed and everyone is visiting family and friends. We sat and drank chai, talking to a few Filipino nurses working in Dubai, and generally just hanging out even after the power goes out, and watching tourists walk by. I was busy staring at the gorgeous Turkish agency owner, every time he looked at me with his dark eyes I about lost it. Andrew was just laughing at me and feeling weird about waiting…. He lives in New York where if someone had you waiting around that long you would feel like a tag along and very unwelcome. Here of course it means things are normal.
Finally, in the dark of the travel agency we all decided to get going. Mus, one of the very cool Turkish guys who currently lives in Berkeley took us walking to look for some food. We stopped every few minutes to say hello to his friends, carpet salesman, hotel owners, etc. All complete
characters. We settled in an outdoor café in the hotel district where people were sitting around smoking hookah, drinking chai, eating beautiful Turkish food, and listening to three men on stage playing Turkish music. We crammed into the small booth and began ordering way too much food. Half way through our soup a Dervish dancer came on stage and began spinning, his white skirt flaring up in the night breeze, his upper body completely still and face transfixed by the music. It is a strange site but very beautiful and amazing that someone can spin that long without getting dizzy as well as do it with such precision.
After many cups of chai we made our way back to Mus’ friend’s hotel where he insisted that I get a ride home. I live about 30 minutes away without traffic and it takes me an hour on the metro. I am in fact trying to move closer in the city and closer to our gym, it just makes more sense. There is no reason for me to be in the suburbs and its boring to boot. So we all pile into the hotel’s van with a random driver and make our way up the coast to my neighborhood. Mus knows everyone in Istanbul by the way. He worked in the tourist industry for awhile and has really good connections. Plus he is super nice so makes friends with everyone. At one point I looked at Andrew and said, “you realize you met The Man right?”
I had the next day off so Andrew and Mus and I had decided to meet up and spend the day sightseeing. We met up mid day and began walking. I naively expected the first day of the holiday to be a bit like Thanksgiving where the streets are empty, everything is closed, and everyone is at home with family. Boy was I wrong. I could barely get on the metro it was so packed and by the time we got downtown people were screaming at oncoming passengers that there was no room. Getting off was like sumo wrestling, pushing your way through before the doors closed was quite the experience. Finally I made it downtown where the streets were packed, everyone out eating and enjoying themselves. Kids are off school for the next week and most jobs have a four day break. Mus, Andrew and I started walking through Topkapi Palace Park all the way through to the end where it opens up before the sea. We bought meatball sandwiches and ayran, a yoghurt drink, and sat along the boardwalk where people were walking, fishing, and eating everywhere. Fisherman were in little boats, riding the currents out further,
the ferries riding low in the water, completely packed with people spilling out from every spot available. All public transportation is free for the holiday and everyone in the city was taking advantage of it it seemed. After eating a great sandwich we too got to walking. And walking we did. We made our way down to Eminonu on foot, then over the Galata Bridge, then over to the other Europe side where we stopped for chai, then up to Taksim where we ate dinner at a packed Turkish restaurant. Finally it was time to go home but not after making more plans, to eat no less, for the next day and my brother’s arrival.
We came back on the ferry to the Europe side and walked up through the Spice Bazaar with its multitude of sweets, spices, and teas, and back to Sultanhamet. We were on our way to see the Turkish Baths when we stopped at a travel agency, some Turkish guys Andrew had met the day before. Turkish people are not only generous with money but generous of spirit as well. They take a lot of pride in your experience of their country and are most hospitable. Plus they are just generally happy and nice and social. So we sat in the travel agency for a good 45 minutes while they finished up business for the day before the long holiday begins. The end of Ramazan is celebrated in a grand finale of feasting for 3,4, 9 days (we’ve gotten about 5 different answers) where most things are closed and everyone is visiting family and friends. We sat and drank chai, talking to a few Filipino nurses working in Dubai, and generally just hanging out even after the power goes out, and watching tourists walk by. I was busy staring at the gorgeous Turkish agency owner, every time he looked at me with his dark eyes I about lost it. Andrew was just laughing at me and feeling weird about waiting…. He lives in New York where if someone had you waiting around that long you would feel like a tag along and very unwelcome. Here of course it means things are normal.
Finally, in the dark of the travel agency we all decided to get going. Mus, one of the very cool Turkish guys who currently lives in Berkeley took us walking to look for some food. We stopped every few minutes to say hello to his friends, carpet salesman, hotel owners, etc. All complete
characters. We settled in an outdoor café in the hotel district where people were sitting around smoking hookah, drinking chai, eating beautiful Turkish food, and listening to three men on stage playing Turkish music. We crammed into the small booth and began ordering way too much food. Half way through our soup a Dervish dancer came on stage and began spinning, his white skirt flaring up in the night breeze, his upper body completely still and face transfixed by the music. It is a strange site but very beautiful and amazing that someone can spin that long without getting dizzy as well as do it with such precision.After many cups of chai we made our way back to Mus’ friend’s hotel where he insisted that I get a ride home. I live about 30 minutes away without traffic and it takes me an hour on the metro. I am in fact trying to move closer in the city and closer to our gym, it just makes more sense. There is no reason for me to be in the suburbs and its boring to boot. So we all pile into the hotel’s van with a random driver and make our way up the coast to my neighborhood. Mus knows everyone in Istanbul by the way. He worked in the tourist industry for awhile and has really good connections. Plus he is super nice so makes friends with everyone. At one point I looked at Andrew and said, “you realize you met The Man right?”
I had the next day off so Andrew and Mus and I had decided to meet up and spend the day sightseeing. We met up mid day and began walking. I naively expected the first day of the holiday to be a bit like Thanksgiving where the streets are empty, everything is closed, and everyone is at home with family. Boy was I wrong. I could barely get on the metro it was so packed and by the time we got downtown people were screaming at oncoming passengers that there was no room. Getting off was like sumo wrestling, pushing your way through before the doors closed was quite the experience. Finally I made it downtown where the streets were packed, everyone out eating and enjoying themselves. Kids are off school for the next week and most jobs have a four day break. Mus, Andrew and I started walking through Topkapi Palace Park all the way through to the end where it opens up before the sea. We bought meatball sandwiches and ayran, a yoghurt drink, and sat along the boardwalk where people were walking, fishing, and eating everywhere. Fisherman were in little boats, riding the currents out further,
the ferries riding low in the water, completely packed with people spilling out from every spot available. All public transportation is free for the holiday and everyone in the city was taking advantage of it it seemed. After eating a great sandwich we too got to walking. And walking we did. We made our way down to Eminonu on foot, then over the Galata Bridge, then over to the other Europe side where we stopped for chai, then up to Taksim where we ate dinner at a packed Turkish restaurant. Finally it was time to go home but not after making more plans, to eat no less, for the next day and my brother’s arrival. 
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