sporting a new look
i've noticed a new trend in the past week or so in women's fashion
here in istanbul. it's the "i'm wearing big boots and will stuff my jeans
into the tops of the boots" look. i can't say i'm a big fan, actually, but
i have seen this so many times in the past week that it's surprising.
the boots hit at about mid-calf, then they stuff their jeans (or whatever
kind of pants they're wearing) into the boots. it's very "80's gone wild"
if you ask me....
a departure
ilhan is leaving the flat tomorrow to move down to kalkan,
which is (i hear) a beautiful city down in southwestern
turkey. he's opening a restaurant with some friends and
i'm sure it will be wonderful. i am excited for him to pursue
this new opportunity, but i am also sad to see him go. he
will take the night bus from istanbul tomorrow night and
will arrive the next morning in kalkan. well.... it gives me a
good reason to go to southwestern turkey, i suppose!!!
no other news.... boring day. working from 5:30-9:30pm
tonight and not in the mood to talk to people. i'll shake it
off soon.... just need to wake up! *yawn*
i am stormicide
yes, i am a deceased superhero with gas-emission capabilities (i am
referring to the DVD of "the incredibles"). there's something so surreal
and bizarre about being a deceased superhero, that i feel i must share
my feelings and experiences with the world.
what were your thoughts about playing a superhero with gas powers?it rocked.
how did you find the inspiration to create such a complex character,knowing that the world would be laughing at you, and not with you?well, i used the meisner technique and really got into my character.
and by that, i mean, i ate a lot of beans and cabbage. "becoming"
stormicide was more of an experience for those around me than
they had expected. (or wanted....)
ben amerikali
well, it's friday and i have the day off from work. didn't get much
accomplished, but i did take a nice walk around sultanahmet and
eminonu today. it was a beautiful day here: the fog burned off early,
the skies were clear and blue as lapis, and it felt like we've turned
the corner towards spring. i was walking between the aya sofia and
the blue mosque and the air had that green, fresh, "spring" smell.
little white flowers are blooming in the grass and the lawns were
greener than i remember.
of course, this means more tourists. i have mastered the art of not
acknowledging the "carpet sellers" on the street and elsewhere.
it's difficult to walk around sultanahmet without being asked where
you are from, "hello, can i help you? lady?" or my favorite comment
of today:
"lady, hello? bonjour? hola? how are you? can i kiss you?please let me kiss you!" ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! i just keep walking with
my poker face and they end up thinking i don't understand them
or i'm turkish.
speaking of nationalities, apparently i look norwegian or belgian. most
people are shocked when i say i'm american
..."ben amerikali."who knew?
since it's friday, some new movies have been released here. we're
going to see "hitch" tonight, which could be complete crap, but i
don't even care. it's amazing what one will watch just to see a movie
or TV show in english.....! there are a fair amount on, but most of
the shows i end up watching are on the discover channel or the
national geographic channel.... both of which have shows dubbed in
turkish. it doesn't really matter though because i can generally
figure out what's going on.
tomorrow a group of us are going to see "
gallipoli," which is a new
film about the turkish side of the battle of gallipolı. today is the
anniversary of that battle and the opening night of the film. it's
in english (i think?) or has english subtitles. i'm confused. it looks
intriguing so it's probably worth seeing (probably moreso than
the fluff movie, "hitch," but i just want to see something funny
and stupid-- sue me!).
iyi geceler
some photos from today:
a minaret in the mist....
and later, an efes..... mmmm.........
more random thoughts....
1) the state of cats in istanbul. there are so many cats here,
always digging through trash, darting out in front of cars,
and cowering in doorways. my heart sinks when i see a cat
limping down the street, but what can i do? *sad*
2) police officers (or military officers, i'm not sure) are always
stationed in front of important buildings carrying
the big guns...i.e. M-16's and such. i will never get used to seeing guns. i have
a minor panic attack in the US every time i see a police officer
with a handgun, so the M-16's make me break out into a cold
sweat. i don't like guns. never have, never will.
3) "desperate housewives" is my new favorite show and i don't
care that i have to stay up until 1:30am just to see it.
4) thoughts about the US.... i have had more conversations than
i can possibly tell you about the US government, george w. bush,
genocide, how US foreign policy sucks, how the US is taking over
the world, blah blah blah..... i'm thinking a lot about these things
every day because i'm NOT in the US. it's so amazing to get this
kind of perspective on your country. i will write a huge diatribe
regarding this at a later date.
5)
pekmez and tahini mixed together tastes a little like peanut
butter. that's exciting.
beware the ides of march....
woke up early this morning (early means 8:30am) and attempted a
run with hulusi down by the sea. i was crabby and haven't been on the
fitness bandwagon since moving here, so my "run" was more like an
"attempt to move faster than usual." ugh. so between my crabiness,
hulusi's disbelief that i was actually tired, and the creepy fog, it was
not a good time. arghhhhhhhhhhhhh.
came back to discover that there was no water.... hmm.... we're not sure
why, exactly, but i'm hoping it comes back on before i have to go to
work! i don't want to be known as the stinky teacher who can't run. :(
the good news is: i bought an exercise ball (aka stability ball) and a yoga
mat! i had been on a quest to locate these items in istanbul and hulusi
and i found them in a store near sultanahmet, in eminonu. the guys all
think the stability ball is just a large, fun soccer ball, but when i showed
hulusi how to do some exercises with it, all he could say was, "wow.....
this is
good!"
meeting with an american girl from SF on thursday about a possible
roommate situation in cihangir. could be good.
well, it's saturday.... friends in california are all up in tahoe for the
weekend and i wish i could be there laughing with them!
yesterday was fairly productive. went to işbank and got my bank card,
finally. somehow i will be able to do online banking there, but we'll see.
i haven't checked their website yet..... then hulusi and i took the ferry
over to karakoy so we could go to
carrefour. carrefour is a big mall,
basically. when i say
big, i actually mean
VERY BIG. it's an extremely
large mall and has stores like the body shop, tommy hilfiger, and nine
west in it. i had a mini-freak out when i saw the body shop, but like
most foreign brands in turkey, it is wayyyyy overpriced. oh well. i
am just happy that if i need to buy some satsuma bodywash, i can.
that's all i need to know!
they also have an enormous, wal-mart-like store inside, called... well,
carrefour. we spent a good 2 hours wandering up and down the aisles,
looking at all the brands and getting things we can't find easily in
sultanahmet. i'm making parmesan chicken tonight because their
parmesan was much less than the other markets. still an arm and a leg,
but i felt OK buying it.
note: friends and family, don't forget to bringparmesan cheese if you come to istanbul!we also tried some famous turkish ice cream by a company called
mado.
we bought an ice cream cone, but instead of a big, round scoop of ice
cream (a la baskin robbins), they put this strange, thin, square piece
of ice cream on top of the cone. it's difficult to explain, but just imagine
an ice cream cone with say, a post-it note on top. hmmm.....
oh! and i also saw "million dollar cryfest of the universe" the other
night. UGHHHHHHHHHHH. good film, but i need to watch comedies
from now on.
random thoughts
1) wearing kitten heels and running down cobblestone streets to
make sure you catch the train is, generally, not a good idea.
2) i have mastered the "tsk" sound that turks do when they want
to say "no." example:
"hello lady! how are you? the grand bazaaris over here...." me:
"tsk!" (i.e. "no! leave me alone!")
3) every day, when i walk to the train, i walk through the
hippodrome. first, i pass the egyptian obelisks, then i walk
through the courtyard of the blue mosque, head towards the
aya sofia, then walk down through sultanahmet to the train
station. every time i see the minarets of the blue mosque as
i turn the corner, i think, "my god.... i can't believe i'm living
here!"
4) turkish desserts involving milk are delicious. for example,
sut laç, a dessert made with milk, sugar, and rice, now makes
nightly appearances in my dreams. ohhhh sut laç! sweet, sweet
sut laç!
**NOTE: there is one turkish dessert that involves small pieces
of chicken. i'm not too sure about that one, but i'll let you know
if i decide to face this milky chicken dessert....
5) i now have a full and complete understanding of the "david
beckham phenomenom" -- i get it. i mean, i
really get it.
6) sara, a british girl who is married to one of hulusi's friends,
told me the cutest story about hulusi.... we were talking
about how much his english has improved and she told me
that last summer, they were all out at a bar when she asked
him:
"so, what do you say when you want to know when thebus will arrive?" he said: "hmm.....
what time does the busget up in the morning?" awww! he was embarassed when
she told me this story, but i thought it was charming.
7) thank god they show "desperate housewives" on NBC here.
thank you. thank you. thank you. it is my new favorite show!
steal this
ok.... so my phone was stolen OR i misplaced it. either scenario
is likely, so today i bought a new phone. i cannot BELIEVE how
addicted i have become to SMS technology and how i prefer to
text vs. talk. i've been W.C. (without cell) for 3 days and i'm like
a crack addict..... i hear my old ring tones and i start salivating!
(nooo not really.... well.... maybe). hrmmm.
and of course, i do realize that since i bought a new cell phone
today, the old one will mysteriously reappear shortly.
a bunch of ex-pats are heading to a bar in taksim this saturday
night. i'm tempted to go! we'll see.... i've got to work early on
sunday!
baklava in karakoy
last night 5 of us ate at dulcinea in taksim. very nice, moderately
expensive, and decent food. i had chicken fajitas which were not
the greatest fajitas on the face of the earth, but they fit the bill!
just what i needed. that, and a little white wine.
came back, then the boys went out, while sara (my new british
friend who is married to a turkish guy named omar) and i sat
around and gabbed. it was nice to have a little "girl time" and
hear about what her life has been like since moving here a year
and a half ago. she's a bit older than me, but it seems like we
come from similar backgrounds. she's hilarious in a very british
way-- and she tells it like it is!
i had today off, so i decided it would be
the day of the haircut.
i wasn't quite sure where or how this was going to happen, but
thank god my boyfriend is mr. fashion guy.... he insisted he
went with me to a place he knew, so he and i, and this other
friend of his (whose name i CANNOT even ATTEMPT to spell!!)
took a taxi to taksim.
having your haircut/color described by your boyfriend to the
stylist is one thing, then being
left with a stylist who doesn't
speak english is a WHOLE new experience. we attempted a bit
of conversation (me: "i speak very little turkish" him: "hmmm....
i don't speak any english.") well.... OK. so the color went on, i read
a couple of turkish magazines, and then he washed my hair. when
he started
cutting my hair, i began having a mini-panic attack
that he was going to cut it all off..... i'm watching hair fly all over the
place and i start to wonder what the hell is going on!
this is when i realize: let go. just relax and see what happens--
the guy is obviously good and i'm probably overreacting. so i sit
back, and start feeling like i'm on one of those makeover TV shows.....
let's just see what he does and if it looks good! well, honey.... it looks
great! i am pleased with the cut and the color looks great. yay!
after that, hulusi, the guy whose name i can't spell, and i walked
down through cihangir to karakoy to buy baklava from the BEST
baklava place in turkey:
gulluoglu baklavaci.
oh dear lord.
here is a photo with me and mr. gullu, the owner:
i learned about how they make baklava (very interesting!). did you
know that each piece of baklava has about 40 layers of pastry dough?
and each layer of dough is so thin that you can read the newspaper
through it? well, i didn't! mr. gullu let me read an article written about
him from the chicago tribune (from the january 25, 2005 issue-- i can't
find a link).
and yes, the baklava is GOOD. really, really good. he gave us each a
piece of chocolate baklava to take home, so there's a piece of heaven
waiting for me to devour it later tonight!!!!!!
walked back to sultanahmet over one of the bridges and experienced an
excellent sunset.
and me, walking to eminonu.
istanbulldog
ok.... so i've been a little out of it the past few days and haven't
felt like writing much. i'm still a bit sick, but my cold is mostly
gone and i'm mostly just stuffed up and tired now. of course,
the tiredness might have something to do with being unable to
fall asleep before 3am, but i digress....... see, the oscars were on
sunday and i had to watch them! i stayed up and managed to
watch the first 2 awards (morgan freeman for best supporting
actor and the oscar for art direction, i believe). after that, i fell
asleep..... fortunately they replayed them here the following
night in english with turkish subtitles. i saw brad win his oscar
for best animated feature, got teary-eyed, and then laughed
my arse off when edna mode presented the oscar for best
costume design. very, very funny. and so good to see brad and
john at the oscars!!! i'm so proud and happy for them, for myself,
and for everyone who worked so hard on "the incredibles."
meanwhile, in istanbul..... not too much to report. i've just been
teaching-- which is going well and i feel fine. i still need to brush
up on my grammer, but that's OK. the students are wonderful
and i have fun every time i go! last night, one of the students
brought in a cake for me to celebrate the oscars.... so sweet. i
had 6 lessons-- 5 regular classes and 1 reading club. we get to
teach fun things like reading club, songs & drama, etc every
week. i actually chose a celine dion song (hack! UGH!) for song
& drama last week, but they liked it....
today is my day off (tomorrow too, actually) so i think i'm going
to go to taksim and see "million dollar baby" with hulusi. or
"sideways" -- i don't know what is playing, but it's cold again and
it seems like a good day to see a movie. :)
