Tulips and Eastern Turkey

Hey everyone!

Last Tuesday I went for a wander (actually I mostly used the bus) along the Bosphorus. I realized I had never traveled north of where I live, and there are supposed to be nice houses, lots of nature, and also good borek and milk pudding! I walked down the hill to Bebek and took the bus to Emirgan Park, which is famous for its tulips. Sinan and I went last year, so some of these pictures might look familiar. I think I should have gone a week earlier because some of the tulips were turning brown and had been deheaded.












It's nice to have such a beautiful retreat not too far away. Going on a weekday was a smart idea because it wasn't full of screaming children.

After Emirgan park, I continued north and I went to the Sadberk Hanim Museum, which is just a little south of Sariyer, about a 30 minute bus ride up from where I live. This was a wonderful museum, if you are in Istanbul for over 6ish days and you're a little tired of mosques and Sultanahmet, I definitely recommend paying this museum a visit. It wasn't too big and it had a great collection of archaeological finds from throughout Turkey and from many different time periods. The signage was informative and the objects displayed were interesting, and because it's out of the way, it wasn't crowded at all. After the museum I walked the 15 minutes to Sariyer, one of the more northern villages along the Bosphorus. It's famous for the fish restaurants (not of interest to me) and borek and sutlac (very interesting to me). I didn't go with a place recommended to me so I just found a place and got some of both things to-go. I took a bus all the way home and chowed down! It was delicious but maybe the long day's journey also played a part in that hunger! On my walk after the museum I saw this great house that just really spoke to me.





It was hard to capture, I think I'll have to go back and snap some more pictures and drool. The problem with the location is that it is right on a busy road (buuuut the Bosphorus is just 5 feet behind me) so it can be a little noisy for the residents.

On a completely different note, I got 20 days of vacation time and I'm going traveling! I'll start in Cappadocia, which is in center Turkey, and then visit southeastern and eastern Turkey. Don't worry don't worry I'm not going alone, I'll be with a tour group. I'm really excited - there's so much history and different cultures out there, I hope I can get some good photos to show to you. I leave on Friday night - yipee! After the 10 days, I'll go to Antalya to visit Sinan's family and then go to Kas, another city on the Mediterranean Sea, to have some relaxing time. I'm looking forward to it but I am a little worried about being in such a conservative area and also being with either unfamiliar people on the tour and then being alone in Kas, but I think I can meet people and/or enjoy Sally time! I'll definitely keep you updated as my travels start!

Nothing new!

Hi everyone! I guess it's become part of my Sunday routine to write in my blog! This week has been pretty uneventful. I finished my one year contract at WSI, and the last couple of months I've been wavering about what to do - stay on, take some time off and try to get a job after the summer, find a new job - I wasn't sure. As my Dad has said, "Don't fix what ain't broke" (something like that) and this was a good situation for that; sure it can be tiring and stressful to teach and there have been a great deal of changes at my center, but overall, it's a professional job that pays on time, gives free health insurance, money for food, and the students and staff are perfectly nice, along with many other good things that come from teaching and being in the real world. Also I don't know what other job I could have out here! I've asked for a lot of holiday time (not exactly blackmail but sort of a "give me a lot of time off or I might not renew" kind of a thing) so that should help. I'm really really hoping to go to Eastern Turkey for a couple of weeks followed by some relax-on-the-beach time on the south coast of Turkey. Nothing is finalized but if it is, be prepared for many pictures of amazing landscapes and of course, food!

On a less upbeat note, this week there was an unexpected family illness and when these things happen it makes me question/wonder/feel guilty about being out here. It's hard to be far from home when something bad happens, and I wish I could help out. A fellow ex-pat and I were in a crabby mood yesterday and we were saying sometimes we feel selfish for what we are doing. But then these moods pass and you have to realize you have to do what you have to do. I can't spend all of my time lingering around home "just in case something happens". This is the hardest thing about being abroad though, being so far from my family and all of the "what ifs" that go through my head. I'm still so happy to be out here though, the weather is great (soon to be hot, and hooray, no air conditioning at school!), tulips are blooming everywhere, great roommates, students, friends, boyfriend, food - no complaints!

I haven't taken any pictures this week but I snapped a photo of my roommates cooking kisir - the bulgur with tomato paste, red pepper, parsley, green onion, lemon sauce, and a little tomato. So good!



That's Pam on the left and Emine on the right. Pam is originally from Iowa but got her masters and is getting her doctorate (is that the right word?) from Georgia State. Emine is from Turkey and she studied at Georgia which is where she met Pam and now they are sharing a room as Pam studies at Bogazici.



Emine's kisir is a lot greener than mine was - she doesn't hesitate to use a lot of parsley and spring onion. It was quite good!

Another visitor!

Hey everyone! It's a long one today:

The day Ms Ancy and Ms Bliss left I had a friend come in from Mallorca. We were freshman year roommates at college, and because our college was so small, we stayed friends after that because you always run into each other. Sometimes we'd meet up at her house in rural Maryland to go canoeing, or make Valentine's at each others rooms. She is also living abroad teaching English, but she teaches in a real school so she had time to pop over here because it was her spring break. She really was a good house guest. She wasn't afraid to go out and do things, even though this is a pretty different country than anywhere she has been and she doesn't speak one word of the language (but by the end she could say "one" and "bread"). To give myself credit, I did give explicit directions and ideas of things to do, but she went out and did them! What helped is that a student from our college that we both kind of knew was also here for his spring break (he's studying in Greece for the semester) so the first day they met up, and then the next day we all went on the Bosphorus cruise because I had the day off. That was one of the most fun days I'd had in a while - the weather was PERFECT, the company was great, it was so nice to be on the water with fantastic views and not surrounded by ugly apartments, and we ended the day with a huge baked potato and a hookah.



We found a little place to camp out and eat some breakfast and catch up on Goucher gossip for the 1.5 hour boat ride up to the tip of the Bosphorus. It leaves Eminonu at 10:35, but you should get there earlier because it gets crowded and it could be hard to find a good seat.



That's Anadolu Kavagi, the castle we hiked up to. If you do the Bosphorus cruise, I really recommend you do the hike. Part of the reason for doing this cruise was for Kate and Sam to go to Asia because they had never been before.



Looking to the south you see the Bosphorus...



And to the north is the Black Sea.



Here's a map to kind of help you out (via welt-atlas.de). We started almost at the south of the Bosphorus, and we go up most of the way. I live near the more north of the two bridges.



Here's a tombstone with a hat (or fez?) carved into it. I think my cousin told me that depending on what time of "hat" was carved into it depends on what ranking you were. Before Turkey became a country in 1923, most men wore the fez, but then Ataturk banned it when he became the president in order to modernize the country. He also changed the script from an Arabic/Ottoman script (I really need to check my facts) into a Roman alphabet, but if you look closely on this gravestone you can see it's still in a script. Pretty neat!



I wish I could capture the awesomeness of the castle. Even just what you see is quite vast but as we explored more we saw that it went on and on so I think some archaeologists are needed to excavate it! I've always had a weakness for castles, especially those with nooks and crannies to peek into.



After we returned from the cruise, we headed up to Ortakoy, an area of Istanbul known for it's views and little places to eat and also lots of bars and clubs. This is a often-taken photo, showing the clash of the modern and traditional, something ubiquitous in Istanbul. One thing to do in Istanbul is to eat kumpir, a potato, but a potato like you've never eaten. Trust me...



This is kumpir. First they mix cheese and butter into the actual potato part and then they put everything imaginable onto it. I wish I took a picture of the stand with all of the toppings. I'm so glad only 2 people witnessed me trying to order this in Turkish, it was so confusing because we all wanted different things on our potato. All ended well, we were happy with what we got.



I think on mine I had corn, spicy bulgur, sausages, pickles, garlicy yogurt, mayonnaise and ketchup (there were also mushrooms and olives and cabbage and probably some other things to also put on). Delicious!



Today they went to Asia and back. No big deal.



The next day Kate and I went to a hamam, or a Turkish bath. For about 20 minutes we sit (naked, or kind of wrapped up in a towel) and dump warm water over ourselves. Then a woman scrubbed us down. You wouldn't believe the layers of skin that came off of me. I'm definitely doing to make this a monthly ritual. I really recommend going to Cagaloglu in Sultanahmet, the architecture is amazing, well worth the expensive price, plus you can cross it off in your book, 1001 (or 1000?) places to see before you die.

While it was a busy week, it was really nice to have Kate here, and to spend time with Sam. We covered a lot of territory, and like Ms Ancy and Ms Bliss, they really enjoyed the city which always makes me feel good. Both of them were interested in Istanbul and Turkey and asked questions I couldn't answer, and perhaps there isn't an answer - about Turkey and EU, religion and politics, things about Eastern Turkey, women's issues. It's a fascinating country!

Visitors!

This was such a nice week because I had visitors from out of town! Ms 'Ancy and Ms Bliss came out to Turkey from the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Of course the reason wasn't exclusively me, but we were able to cross paths a couple of times while they were here. Before settling into Istanbul they flew out to Cappadocia upon their arrival. It sounded like they had an absolutely wonderful time there with a great home-y hotel, lots of new friends, a cooking class, a non-pushy Turkish carpet salesman, and many other good times. I'm glad they made it out there before the crowds were there so they were able to really enjoy the Turkish cultural and hospitality. I got to see Ms Ancy and Ms Bliss their first morning in Istanbul, first we had a lovely and delicious breakfast and then we went to the Spice Bazaar which is always fun because there is so much to look at. I saw them again last night when we went to dinner at a BEAUTIFUL location, at the top of a hotel right in between the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque and with a view of the Bosphorus. It got a little chilly but we couldn't bear to go inside because the view just wouldn't have been the same.
I was so happy to hear that they really really had a great time in Turkey. They found the people so helpful and outgoing, and they also enjoyed the culture, the food, and the monuments. It was so nice to have people come out (not just because they brought goodies from my parents sent...mmmm Reese's and jellybeans...) but it's fun to see someone familiar and also, this has been my city for the last 14 months and I want to show people around it and share the experiences with people who would appreciate it. If you are thinking of coming out this way, please do! I'm pretty sure you won't regret it. I have another friend coming in this evening, so I hope she feels the same way. Here are some pictures taken from where we ate dinner last night:



The Hagia Sophia



The Blue Mosque



The Hagia Sofia, all lit up



And the Blue Mosque



Hello!



If this video doesn't make you want to come to Turkey, then I don't know what will.