uefa finals
ok, well tonight is the "
uefa champion league final," which is a soccer
match between liverpool & milan --- which is being held here in istanbul.
ohhhh boy. walking home last night was an interesting experience,
passing tons of drunk italians and brits on the street.... all wearing their
team colors, crazy hats, and singing cheers as they walked around.
supposedly, most of the italians are here in sultanahmet and most
of the british people are in taksim. they tried to separate the fans
to prevent mass mayhem, but i am a little worried about the aftermath
of the game. i received a warning from the american consulate saying
"don't go to sultanahmet or taksim!!" which i think is pretty good
advice. i finish work and will be home by the time the match starts,
so i should be OK. i will
definitely not be walking around tonight,
however. the last thing i need to is to be caught up between drunk
italians and british futball fans! uh...no! i will be at home, thanks!
my brother left for germany yesterday with his girlfriend. have no
idea what they are doing or where they will be, but i'm sure they will
have fun. i can't believe they're not coming to turkey, but whatever,
to each their own.
darth at the mall
on sunday, i went to town center (the mall across the street from
where i work) on my break to get some dinner. i walked in, took
the escalators up to the top floor, where i saw two turkish guys
dressed up like jedis, fighting each other with plastic lightsabers.
it was so random, i just thought to myself:
"that is awesome.officially the best thing i have seen today, BY FAR!"it
was the best thing, until i was leaving and darth vader was on
the escalalor going up while i was going down! wow. i really wish
i had my camera, but i was just happy i got to see such a bizarre,
random thing during my break.
also went to cam ocagi this week.... on saturday, a group of about
20 or so students came with hande (one of my fellow teachers)
and i to see how they make glass objects. it was amazing. i don't
think i will ever go there again (unless i have a car) because it
was sooooooo far.... i felt like we were driving to cappadocia! i
highly recommend it though. we made glass beads, glass plates,
and saw a man make a beautiful, large glass bowl. who knew
glass could be so fun?
star wars 3 - istanbul-style
well... i booked it over to taksim today thinking i would either
A) be too late to get "episode III" tickets since i couldn't figure
out how to do it online
or
B) i would be stuck in the front row
well-- HUZZAH!!!!!!!!!!! not only did i score a ticket for opening
day, i got a sweet, sweeeeeeet seat!
not sure how i feel about it. i'd give it a B. an A for "effort," but a B
for cheesy dialogue. i will elaborate on this more later.
random night
ok, i have a lot of random things floating around inside of my head
right now. it's time to get them all out...
1) i have seen more transvestites in the past 24 hours than i have
seen in the past 2 years ("
why?!" i don't know.... i have just seen a
shocking amount of them in various places around istanbul)
2) i saw a live band play at an irish pub in taksim. they were turkish,
but they were singing in english-- singing
kick ass covers of everything
from elvis to starsailor (p.s. starsailor is a really popular british band
that i had never heard of when i was in america)
however, male turkish singers are ridiculous dancers. they should not be allowed to dance or play air guitar. unfortunately, this lead singer was guilty on both counts.... ouch!3) the mall across the street from where i work has ever-changing
themes... last month it was barbie (?) and now, as of a few days ago,
it is episode III-themed. it's out of control!
he-she
last night, my bus stopped in traffic directly outside of a new
store in aksaray.... the store's name is HE-SHE. i found this
name quite amusing (in SF we called sexually-confused , not-
easily-identifiable men/women "he-shes" -- like the SNL
character of "pat").
of course, it's not nearly as great as my favorite store name
in istanbul:
lord of the earringsi haven't yet made my quest to find the one ring (well, the
one ear
ring). perhaps one day, i will venture out, frodo-
style, to procure such a thing.
the big toe threader
well, yesterday i got my hair cut & colored by my fabulous
turkish kuafor-- not a word of english, but i love him! i knew
more turkish this time, so he was impressed and said i was
doing well. i'm feeling like i know
nothing, so it was nice to
hear.
anyway, while i was sitting with aluminum foil wrapped
all over my head, a turkish girl came in for a manicure &
a pedicure. this in itself is not terribly exciting, as most
people know... but this pedicure was different! the woman
giving the pedicure whipped out some thread and my
jaw dropped
...."oh my god!!!! she's going to thread thegirl's toes!!!! holy lord!!!"now, americans, for the most part, don't yet know about
the middle eastern art of
threading.
from the above site:
"The history of threading is not clear, with some claiming it begain in Turkey. Threading hair is so basic to women in the Middle East and India that it can be compared to girls learning to braid each other's hair as children. Traditionally, threading is used on the entire face, including upper lip, chin, eyebrows, sideburns and cheeks. Most American cosmetologists are not trained in the procedure."
ı've witnessed a woman getting her eyebrows threaded,
but seeing a girl get her toes threaded was a new one for
me! not only did she get her big toe threaded, the woman
threaded her entire foot! it was amazing. more
thoughtson threading from hairchick.com.
first stop: kumpir at charlie's in ortakoy.
what is kumpir? well, kumpir is basically a baked potato
filled with cheese and butter-- which is then whipped
together to create a lovely potato/cheese/butter mix.
toppings are then added.... everything from mushrooms,
cous cous, peas, olives, sour cream, peppers, and so on.
basically, you can pretty much put anything and
everything in a kumpir, and hey-- they're pretty damn
good!
the glory of the kumpir!
the gathering of ex-pats was interesting, but i was
feeling very shy and anti-social... not exactly the best
way to meet new people, but whatever. what can i do?
it was fun, but i was happy to leave when we did. there
were a lot of brits there and if i hear the phrase "well,
most americans-- and i don't mean you, of course...."
(whatever follows this phrase is generally not a flattering observation of america or americans) heard
this a couple too many times last night for my liking,
because how can i defend everything american? i can't!
ugh.
anyway, left and got ice cream at mado's and
listened to the live jazz playing for some jazz festival
in ortakoy. the jazz was good, but the ice cream was
better....
emniyet fun
went to the emniyet again yesterday to pay for the residence
permit and
hopefully pick it up. well, i paid for it, but it won't
be ready until next week. so..... i'm looking forward to another
fabulous trip to the emniyet. goody!
today's my day off.... heading to sislı in a bit to drop something
off at the head office for my school, get my hair colored & cut,
and then go to ortakoy tonight for some ex-pat fun!!!! every
month a bunch of ex-pats from the US/UK/various other
countries get together here in istanbul and from what i gather,
they are a
rowdy bunch! i can't wait. bring on the efes!
my pet peeve of the week is regarding my favorite band of all-
time: U2. i was reading the may edition of time out istanbul,
and they mentioned that U2 isn't coming to turkey for their
tour for
political reasons. now, i will be the first one to admit
that turkey has some work to do, but i just feel like that's
such a B.S., lame reason
** not to come here!! UGH! i mean,
the U.S. has some pretty
"interesting" political things
happening, but that doesn't seem to stop U2 or any other
band from playing there. i think it boils down to money,
not politics.
** (but of course, i am annoyed because i would kill to see U2 in istanbul! how amazing would that be??!)
2 may 2005
been MIA this week due to a busy schedule and lots of "official"
business. went to the
emniyet (police station where you get
passports, residence permits, and such) and started the process
of getting my residence permit.
in about 3 weeks i will be taking about 20+ students on a field
trip to
cam ocagi-- a glass-making studio and school over on the
asian side. we're going to meet in bakirkoy, take a minibus to
the asian side, have a picnic, see glassmaking demonstrations,
and possibly try our hands at glassblowing! should be interesting
and a
lot of fun.
here are
some products from their gallery. i will be leaving my
wallet at home!
