sultanahmet diaries

a counterfeit friday

it's saturday morning and it's already hot. i am dreading my 15-minute commute (that instantly turns me into a shiny, sweaty american, identifiable by the fan and the look of unhappiness on my face). i just don't do well in hot weather.

correction. i just don't do well in hot, HUMID weather.

but it's saturday, that's good.

so yesterday i sold my depeche mode tickets (*pout*) for 150 YTL and decided to go see a movie. thing is, the girl i sold them to GAVE ME A FAKE 10 YTL BILL! i don't think she knew it was fake, as i didn't know it was fake until i tried to buy some water with it. the man promptly "tsk-tsked" me and i dug around my purse until i could find some change. i looked at the 10 YTL note and yes.... it was suspicious. FAKE! holy sh*t! it had the shiny silver line that is "knit" (or whatever) into the bills here and IT EVEN HAD A WATERMARK! there it was-- the watermark of ataturk's head. only, it was kind of a crappy version of it. wow. i was very impressed by this fakery (also annoyed, as i was seemingly stuck with a bum 10 YTL note).

but, instead of dwelling on my new counterfeit posession, i decided that i needed to try and get RID of it as soon as possible. after all, a bum bill given is a bum bill i don't want. kind of like the game of hot potatoes, no one wants it, so why should i? anyway, went to the movie theater and am sorry to say, but i paid for my "superman" ticket with the counterfeit bill. sorry, AFM theater. i feel a little guilty about it, but it has also made me realize i need to definitely double-check my change as there are masterful counterfeit bills in circulation. i've seen a counterfeit coin but this was my first counterfeit bill.

posted by camille @ 10:14 AM 3 comments

cheers! welcome to my 30's!

it came. it went. i survived.

i was woken up by the delivery of a giant bouquet from okan, waited for the water to come on (it was off, of course!!!), went to the kuafor for a blow-out and a haircut, then selin and i went to leb-i-derya and had a cocktail before my party. i ordered a fabulous french cosmopolitan, which i drank while overlooking the bosphorus and the gorgeous view of istanbul from leb-i-derya's terrace.

selin and i then went back to cihangir, where we met up with about 15 of my friends. it was great. a low-key affair, but enjoyable and i had a great time! we capped off the evening with a last drink at 5th floor, then i wandered home... another birthday come and gone!

cheers.

posted by camille @ 11:40 PM 0 comments

thoughts upon turning 30

this morning, i turned 30. well, technically, i'm not actually 30 since i am in istanbul and my birth TIME is 6:28am PST (pacific standard time). if i want to be horribly precise about it, i will turn 30 at approximately 4:28pm in the afternoon istanbul time. i'm going to set the alarm on my mobile phone to remind me of this.

last night, selin and i had a beer and it hit me:

i'm turning 30. ok. but i'm turning 30 in istanbul, turkey. that's pretty fantastic.

i take it for granted that i live here, that i've done so many things. i've explored caves in cappadocia, sold handpainted clogs in germany, explored paris by myself, explored cities like london, new york, chicago, and even little cedar rapids, iowa. i've explored underground cisterns in istanbul, got my legs wet in the black sea, swam with fish in the mediterranean, spent an afternoon drinking beer in greece, drank tea on a ferry crossing the marmara sea.

i've been blessed with amazing friends and family, people who fill my life with love and laughter. i've landed on my feet time and time again but if i fell, i know you'd be there for me-- whoever you are, reading this. because i'd be there for you. i'm 30. i've had love, i've lost love, i've had my heart broken and i'm sure i've broken some hearts, too. but i'm still me, still optimistic, still brimming with insatiable curiousity about life. i'm really thankful that i've been able to do and see as much as i have. every experience, every moment, every minute has shaped me into who i am, and for those of you who know me, you've affected my life and i thank you. thank you for experiencing this life with me.

here are some of my favorite quotes, which i'd like to share because they are close to my heart and have helped shape my life:

******************************************************************
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
--attributed to Mark Twain
******************************************************************

and

******************************************************************
Keep walking, though there's no place to get to.
Don't try to see through the distances.
That's not for human beings. Move within,
But don't move the way fear makes you move.
--Rumi (Mevlana), translated by Coleman Barks
*******************************************************************
anyway. those are words i live by.

hope you are enjoying my birthday, wherever you are. if you have mexican food nearby and available, please eat a taco for me. if you have peanut butter, make a PB&J sandwich and think of me. or if you have cranberry juice and vodka, make a cape cod and send me a little birthday wish. happy birthday to me!

posted by camille @ 12:30 PM 4 comments

happy birthday to me.... happy birthday to meeeeeee

ok, technically it's 25 minutes into my 30th birthday.

my current stats:
-25 minutes into july 22
-3 beers later
-2 episodes of "big love"
-3 dolma medya later

30? 30! wtf?! when did THAT happen? ok.... good thing it's midnight and i can just pretend it hasn't happened yet. um. ah!

posted by camille @ 12:28 AM 1 comments

cloudy day

it's tuesday afternoon and i am sitting in the living room, playing fetch with the cat. he plays fetch. i can't believe it!

my trip to the emniyet was not nearly as painful as i had anticipated it being, thank GOD! it took me a long time to get there but i did manage to arrive before it opened. joined the gigantic line out front, trailed inside to the courtyard and worked my way up to the second floor of the building. of course, it was already packed and sweaty, with angry people pushing and shoving to get a "better" place in line. i got in the line to get a number and immediately began a push-and-shove drama with the russian woman behind me (who was desperately trying to get in front of me). uh-uh. no way.

anyway, before this drama could unfold, i felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see paul, my old boss from bakirkoy! praise be! he was there to pick up his new ikamet (with his change of status from single to married) but it wasn't ready yet. he stayed with me until i had to pay, which was so kind of him. the emniyet is like going to the DMV but 20 times worse (at LEAST).

all in all, it took around 2 hours, which is FANTASTIC. i was comparing emniyet times with some friends and they've had some good 6-8 hour experiences which i do not envy in the least.

have to go back to pick it up, but that should be easy. in theory.

***

so what about this photograph? interesting, huh? in the US we get bibles in hotel rooms, but in this hotel i had a green arrow pointing to mecca, a prayer rug, and a koran. it was a conservative hotel (lots of arabian families, i believe) so it was interesting for me.

***

ok, i'm off to eat dinner and enjoy my evening. cheers!

posted by camille @ 6:36 PM 0 comments

trying to be zen in the face of bureaucracy

i wish i was doing yoga or taking a nap in this forest....

i'm trying to take it easy tonight because tomorrow morning, i will go to the emniyet and get a new residence permit. i've been trying to prepare myself mentally for the past 2 weeks because going to the emniyet is like walking straight into hell for 2-3 hours.

i don't know. maybe i'm exaggerating, but last time it was just hot, sweaty, confusing, and a fine, fine example of turkish bureaucracy. my friend john went a few weeks ago and somehow got in a minor quarrel with the man behind the counter. after exchanging words, the man behind the counter refused to acknowledge john, had 2 cups of tea, and let 45 minutes go by before speaking with john again. let this be a lesson to anyone needing to go to the emniyet. DO NOT QUARREL WITH THE GOVERNMENT WORKERS! they will drink tea and snub you until you have lost the will to argue with them! (or the will to live, if you've been waiting in line too long).

so yes. tomorrow morning. hopefully it is as painless as possible. however, i am fully prepared to spend hours in line(s) and fight back tears due to frustration and anxiety. (insert pouty sad face here)

posted by camille @ 10:22 PM 1 comments

I'm back

Came back this afternoon from Abant, Turkey and the 6th WSI National Convention (my 2nd one). It was OK. No horsebackriding, no paintballing.... just a lot of crazy "teambuilding" activities. I've never been a fan of those types of activities (example: Write a phrase about teamwork using 5-12 words. Finished? OK! Great! Now, take this pen and some ropes and write the phrase.... without touching the pen! You have to be a team! See how fun TEAMWORK is!??!). Yargh.

Definitely better than last year (for MANY reasons) but mainly because I knew a lot more people. I knew the Bakirkoy, Sisli, and Taksim people, as well as all the managers from every branch. Despite the forced teamwork, I managed to have fun (see my Flickr photos). Abant is gorgeous. I saw ducklings and horses. The lake was lovely. The air was fresh and crisp. There were frogs on lilypads.

The last night, I drank wine. Enough to dance. After I sat down, I got one of the best compliments EVER! Asli, the daughter of Dundar Bey (the founder of WSI Turkey and thus my ultimate boss) came and sat down next to me. I don't know her well, but she said "I just had to come tell you, you dance just like a Turkish woman! It's so nice!" I dance like a Turkish woman! Wow. For those of you who don't know, Turkish women (and MEN!) can DANCE. I think it's one of the nicest things anyone has told me for quite some time.

posted by camille @ 10:29 PM 0 comments

sitting here with a cup of coffee on a sunday morning

i'm sleepy. i have watched too many "lost" episodes and i think (i think!) i may have reached "lost" saturation point. i don't even want to reveal how many episodes i have watched; i need to take a break. since selin isn't here, i'm freaking myself out: "who are 'the others'? what the HELL is going on on that damn island?! i really like jack. should i have watched 'party of five' when it was on??! no! PO5 would have killed off my brain cells. ok. i'll just watch ONE more episode of 'lost' since no one else is around...."

and to top it off, i had a LOST-related dream last night.

time to separate from the DVD player and join the real world.......

which i will do. tomorrow morning. promise. actually, i have to wake up at 5 or 6am tomorrow and go to harbiye to catch a bus to abant, turkey. all the people who work for the various branches of my school are going to our yearly convention. it's being held in abant, a small town up in the mountains that is famous for its beautiful lake and forested landscape. all i know is that we will possibly be riding horses (!) and will be doing "ENFORCED KARAOKE" (how my boss put it to me). not sure how that's going to work, but if i can have a drink beforehand, i may become the grand karaoke champion. OR i will hide in the corner. it's a toss up.

posted by camille @ 11:15 AM 1 comments

a quest of sorts

i've written about my new-found addiction to the television series, "lost." well.... for weeks i have known that the second season would be arriving (via a friend of a friend, to borrow) yesterday. in preparation, i decided that i needed to purchase a DVD player. i had had a small portable DVD player (a gift, thanks Pixar!) but it finally died. maybe it's fixable, i don't know. that's really a potential headache for me at this point.

i had been thinking that our TV was too old to connect to a DVD player, as there were no yellow/red/white cable connectors in the back. i was sad. no no.... i was LAMENTING this.

there's an older technology still in use here, really old school, just a big, black, scary cable. i discovered this technology at work and then came home to look at the back of our TV and HUZZAH! HUZZAH! the scary black cable connector existed.... and thus..... my quest for a multi-region DVD player began. not only did i need to watch "lost," i need to watch the many DVDs i have from america that are all "region 1."

went to one store. explained what i needed. the guy was like, "oh, yes yes... this is multiregion." well, of course it wasn't. came home, plugged it in, and was completely defeated when i saw the "yanlis bolge" (wrong region) message pop up. damnnnnnnnnn. was prepared to fight to the death to get my money back from this store, but a nice girl who spoke decent english was helping me, and she found one that she was certain was multi-region. she said if it wasn't, i could bring it back to her and they would give me the cash back. it was 89 YTL (~55 USD) and let me tell you........ it works like a charm! i watched 4 episodes of "lost" last night, popped in a few region 1 DVDs and they ALL worked. hallelujah. it's very exciting! i think it will play all kinds of media-- DVDs, DIVX DVDs (illegal ones), mp3s, data discs, whatever.... it even has karaoke.

so.... if you're wondering where i am or what i am doing, now you know. my quest has been fulfilled.

posted by camille @ 11:08 AM 2 comments

Happy 4th!

It's the 4th of July-- my second 4th of July outside of the USA. It's strange because this is probably one of my top 3 favorite holidays (#1 - Christmas, #2 - 4th of July, #3 - I'm not sure.... I have to think about this for a while) . I love going to friends' houses and cooking hot dogs, hamburgers, and drinking a cold beer while waiting for fireworks. The last 4th I spent in the US was with my friends in Oakland, up at Lauren's house in the Oakland Hills. I loved spending time with all of my friends-- interesting how things change and people leave, people grow apart, and life leads everyone down a different path.

And here I find myself in Istanbul, Turkey. Instead of celebrating Independence Day, I found myself cooking menemen for Selin and I, celebrating the deliciousness of tomato, onions, peppers, and eggs. Culinary fireworks, perhaps, but hardly a substitution for one of my favorite holidays.

And.
And.
And.

My 30th birthday is coming soon. F***. It's funny how I had this picture in my head about how my life would be when this birthday rolled around. It's so different than what I ever imagined, but I'm really thankful for all of the twists and turns my life has taken. There have been good days, bad days, extraordinary days, life-changing moments, and things that I never would have imagined. But the one thing that I am the most thankful for is never living a stagnant, unchanging, unmoving life. I have met people from all around the world, worked with amazing people in the US and here in Turkey, learned incredible things. I've kept myself challenged and this makes me happy.

I have an eternally hopeful and optimistic view on the world, which has burned me from time-to-time, but I'm thankful for it. I think I would have given up if I didn't have this kind of outlook on life-- after all, I've had a lot of really terrible times (like most people, I suppose). I'd like to think that those days are coming to an end, however. I am really feeling good these days and a lot of it has to do with being content in my life here, as well as meeting someone really special to me. I don't like broadcasting super personal things on here, but I will say that I have someone really wonderful in my life now. It's good.

posted by camille @ 1:37 PM 4 comments

it's july. temmuz.

tonight i had an apple martini at 360. it was the first apple martini i've had in a long while, and as a former fan of the apple martini, i have to say i was quite pleased with what i was served.

of course, 360 is one of the swank restaurants of istanbul (and of europe, see link!). it's full of beautiful people but the view is aptly named and is absolutely gorgeous. i am a complete sucker for terrace views of the bosphorus and the golden horn.

in other news..... just got back from a week away. i have a lot to say about it, but not yet. it's like a bird waiting to be hatched. but good things are happening. good things.

ok. time for bed.....

posted by camille @ 1:11 AM 2 comments