A Slight Respite
September 27, 2007
I’m a bit overwhelmed with things at the moment…mostly work related and probably PMS and undue stress. I have a tendancy to make a nagging little thing into a full fledged epidemic in my mind. The internet will do that to you. For example, one half of my wisdom tooth fell out a couple of weeks ago. So I have half a tooth in there, which I will eventually need to get pulled. Right now it sits and the gap collects bits of food but pretty much minds it’s own business. I woke up yesterday and it felt slightly in pain…by the end of the day (after heavily and thoroughly consulting with Google and Wikipedia) I was convinced I had some sort of jaw bone infection and I would die if I could not get to the dentist in time. This is pretty much how this week has been going. “If I don’t do this today, I’m going to die!!!!” You would think that with emminent death at hand on all fronts, I would get my butt in gear and get all this stuff done (and get my tooth pulled). But I am not a take action type during times of emergency. I would rather curl up on my bed and smell my pillow.
With that really lovely thought in mind, let’s travel back to a much quieter time. Here are some pictures from the roadtrip we took! Like all tried and true roadtrip pictures, these were taken from the passenger seat of the car:
Driving from lovely Konya to Isparta. Reminded me a little of the drive down to Las Vegas and around my farm town in California.
But with moutains! Or really large dirt hills! I could sit out here and eat a picnic. I was actually surprised that there were no Turkish families doing that (more on this in a later post).
My beautiful dear Egirdir. It’s like something out of Lord of the Rings, but I think I mentioned that before in my original post. That little island is not actually a full fledged island…it’s got a narrow thin roadway artery connection that winds to the mainland. Pretty cool actually. I also found out my friend Tara’s husband is from this lovely area!
And that’s Kas (or “eyebrow” in Turkish). Lovely, not so obviously overrun by touristic hotels, but I’m sure if you get closer to the islands, it may be more like that. It kind of looks like an eyebrow, but kind of not (maybe monobrow?). I’m actually surprised (yes this trip was full of surprises!) that they didn’t call it Camel Beach. I think there are probably 50 “Camel Beaches” along the Turkish coast. They give this name Camel Beach to any waterfront that has little island humps coming out of the water. We tourists are so easy to please.
Anyway, I have more pictures to post. I have at the moment more fatal things to attend to…but promise that after I’m done sniffing that pillow, I’ll get back to posting those photos and witty anecdotes.
4 Comments | Posted by: Jenny | Filed under: Travel + Trips
Ramazan or My Food Dilemma
September 14, 2007
The relgious holiday of Ramazan is in full effect here in Istanbul (for more cultural and intellectual information of Ramazan, check out the ever-knowledgable Wikipedia entry). If you want the lay-expat’s version of Ramazan, please continue reading…
So, Ramazan. If you tell me Ramazan, I think food…or lack thereof. During this month-long (!!!) observance, it’s custom for Muslims to fast during sunlight hours. That means, no food, beverage or cigarette smoke may pass your lips as soon as the sun rises to when it sets. That’s a long time! And the first week of Ramazan, you usually see ornery fasting Turks adjusting their moods and tummies to this lack of food. People wake up at 4am to eat breakfast, go back to bed, wake up for work, spend the day doing everything they can not to think of food and then as soon as the sun sets (or the fourth call to prayer) all hell breaks loose and people start lining up outside every restaurant and bread shop to break the fast.
In my old neighborhood of Zeytinburnu (a much more conservative, religious place) every morning at 4am FOR A MONTH, people with big drums would walk down the street pounding them and setting off car alarms to tell the slumbering masses to wake up and eat before the sun rises. It is considered disrepectful if you are not fasting to eat or smoke outside where everyone else who is fasting can see you.
They have many different exceptions and rules to fasting. If you are sick, a child or with child, or old, no fasting for you. If you are travelling more than 90 km, no fasting for you. If you are a woman who has a visit from Aunt Flo, no fasting for you (though the latter two exceptions are expected to “make up” the days you missed fasting). And alcohol is usually not drunk (drunken?) during Ramazan, so many bars and pubs are closed during this month.
I do not fast during Ramazan. Neither does Samet. But I’m not chowing down a Whopper JR. outside during Ramazan either. In our new neighborhood, things are much more relaxed and many Turkish people here do not fast (it’s more a personal choice than a religious obligation). But there is still the mad frenzy at sunset to buy all the food within eyeshot you can.
While in the Migros (supermarket chain…wait..say it slowly…ME GROSS! ha!) the other day food shopping for my non-fasting needs, I came upon a pint of my absolute favorite Hagaan Daaz ice cream (Strawberry Cheesecake). This is the ice cream Lola (my dog) and I shared one weekend when we watched 30 episodes of LOST together. This is the ice cream that reminds me of my favorite blanket. This is the ice cream that soothes my soul. It holds very special meaning to me and lo and behold, they had it in of all places, Turkey!! (They have only one Hagaan Daaz ice cream shop here…in Kanyon..yes, been there). I was just about to drop it into my basket, when I noticed the price tag. $13.00. Absolutely crazy right? I did have a minute of internal debating before I reluctantly put the pint of ice cream back on the shelf, this is Ramazan after all right? But let me tell you, I am still contemplating that pint sitting there on the shelf (though give myself some consolation in thinking it has also probably been there for a loooong time…because who would pay $13.00 for a pint of ice cream unless it had gold plated almond nuggest in it?).
4 Comments | Posted by: Jenny | Filed under: Food
Made in China
September 7, 2007
I just got back from an interview for another part time English job, this time at an actual school! In a classroom! With kids! Despite totally NOT wanting to do this job, I went to this interview purely for selfish reasons. You see, I don’t want to work there and never again want to work with children who can’t understand what I’m saying. I went out of curiosity…I got to take a new bus route, go to a neighborhood of Istanbul I’ve never been to before, see the inside of a school, and meet education management (just who is responsible for teaching these kids nothing!).
Upon getting there, I met an English teacher (he’s Turkish) who works there. Cool enough guy, seemed really open minded, very friendly and inquisitive. I talked to him for a couple of minutes then went to see the Dean of the school and the principal (who both don’t speak English, so the English teacher acts as a translator for us). I don’t have a work permit and I don’t have an TEFL certificate (a certificate that says you did 3 months of learning grammar and teaching techniques and paying probably an inexorbinantly high amount of money for something you already know how to do). I don’t plan to get a certificate mainly because this is NOT my career path nor do I intend it to be. I’m just moonlighting in the English teaching world. I’ve found from experience a certificate does not equate to be a good teacher, but people like paperwork here. Anyway, obviously they should have known this before, but didn’t and I told them directly I don’t have a certificate and no experience teaching to kids in a classroom…just some bratty 13 year old boy. I was saving this as my exit strategy, I know if you are going to teach in a school (not some course classroom) they need the paperwork because they are often checked by the state on these.
Anyway, they hemmed and hawed and tried to find some way to get me to work there while I sat and enjoyed my Turkish tea and soft leather seat. I could understand enough Turkish to know what they were talking about, but I often like to play dumb and pretend I can’t understand anything.
In walks another English teacher (Turkish, not foreigner) and she asks me directly “Who are you? Can you speak English? Are you a native speaker?” (This is said in a weird British/Austrailian accent, obviously she learned British/Australian English somewhere, but it always catches me off guard when a Turkish person has a foreign accent…reminds me of the dilemma: what if you learn a foreign language from someone who has a lisp?…but that’s another tangent). Usually I find it quite offensive if someone asks me “Can I speak English?” or “Where did you learn how to speak English so well?” (!@#*$@$!!!) but I get asked this question a LOT here. Why? Because I’m Asian (Chinese, Japanese, doesn’t matter) and Asian people speak Asian (Chinese, Japanese, doesn’t matter). I bite my tongue and always politely say “I was born in America.”
There aren’t many Asian people here, so I can understand their ignorance, but it still throws me for a loop (don’t they watch any movies??? Or Grey’s Anatomy?!?) of how Turkish people have a huge tendancy to stereotype. I’ve had people here tell me “Oh, you don’t look American.” or “I can’t understand your English.” (@*(@#$*&(@#!) along with asking me questions about every single ASIAN stereotype. Here are some of the more popular questions people have about my nationality:
Do you know Bruce Lee/Jackie Chan/Lucy Liu? (No)
Do you like green tea? (No, and it’s Japanese, not Chinese…so is sushi)
Do you know karate? (ha!)
Do you eat dog? (After I say “no”, typically a 5 minute conversation ensues that goes something like “But I heard that…” “no” “Really? Because I read that…” “no” “Are you sure, because someone told me that…” “NO!”)
Please tell me all about China! What is Peking like? (Note to the reader: The first time I went to China was about 5 years ago on a TOUR with my PARENTS).
Can you teach me Chinese? Can you give me a Chinese name? (No and no)
I tried Chinese food once, it was terrible. (Of course, because Turkish cuisine is always #1!!)
Turkish people have this saying that “Made in China” means of bad quality. [Hearty laughing ensues] (And I’m sure the iPod you covet was made in Turkey!)
Now before you think I’m racially assaulted everywhere I go, I must tell you that I have used my Asian-ness to my advantage. I’m sure I’ve gotten many jobs, simply because it’s quite a novelty…having an Asian teacher who speaks perfect (or I’d like to think it’s near perfect) English. It also gives me fodder for getting my students to speak English. Never in need of a conversation ice-breaker…all I have to say is “Hey! Look at me! Foreigner!”
And even if they know barely a word of English, they usually can muster up enough to ask:
“Do…uh..you…knowuh…BruceLEE?!”
4 Comments | Posted by: Jenny | Filed under: Culture Shock
Road Trip 2007
September 2, 2007
Samet and I just got back from an impromptu road trip. My first road trip in a foreign country! It was rather short notice and actually for Samet’s job, but I got to tag along with him and be his travel buddy. We had a week to make a big loop around the western half of the country and though we weren’t able to stay too long in any spot (a couple nights at most) it was a nice primer to see which places I would like to go back to visit and see Turkey by automobile!
We first drove through the capital, Ankara, which is just a bustling place of government buildings where no one knows how to drive. People pay no attention to any traffic lines/laws here so instead of put up with the madness, we drove straight to Konya. Konya is considered by travel guidebooks everywhere as a more conservative/religious town. I was wearing a short skirt and told Samet that maybe I should put on jeans before we got to Konya, to which he exasperatedly exclaimed “This is Turkey! Not Iraq!” Turks never like to be compared to their Arab neighbors…haha. And while there are definately more headscarved women here, there were also plenty of women in tank tops and skirts. Konya is actually a really pretty city, lots of green and public space and people riding bikes for fun and to get around!! We stayed here one night, and I didn’t get to see anything except for the roof of a mevlana museum from our hotel balcony, but would definately come back again to vist.
From Konya, we drove through Isparta and the “Lakeland” region of Turkey which is really beautiful. Rolling hills and plains that remind me of California and driving through the Grapevine…but with beautiful crystal blue lakes around each hill. One city that I thought was really beautiful was Egirdir. It’s a little town set against a giant mountain and beside a lake. And then there’s this little island (Green Island) that sits out in the middle of the lake connected by a string of land. It looks really majestic against the backdrop. And no crazy hotels/motels/resorts have taken over this area yet so it still looks really pristine.
Egirdir is also famous for its apples, and we were sure to pick up some from the road. Yum, best apples ever. I discovered each city has something it is “famous” for and builds a city monument to honor it’s claim to fame. Egirdir had a giant apple, some other cities had giant roses, giant oranges, etc etc.
We landed in Antalya for a couple of nights, by the beach and stayed in the “old region” which is basically a bunch of old houses that have been turned into pensions/hotels. I hated Antayla…it’s natural beauty totally destroyed by crazy club lights, hotels, cheesy tourists shops, motels, clubs, bars. And it was so friggin’ hot. And no breeze even though it was by the water. We had the air conditioning going on in our hotel room for 24 hours and it barely felt like it was working. We left, hot and dirty and glad to move on.
We went to Datca, where I had been before, and where we had friends whom we stayed with for a couple of nights. Datca is a lovely sleepy yachty harbour town. There are a fair share of foreigners (mostly British, Germans, some Austrailians) but things are so quiet and laid back here that it’s not annoying…yet. In just the 2 years since we came they’ve already built a crazy “club” and glitzy restaurant at the top of the hill. Two years before the only “club/bar” nightlife here was this weird back country little techno club that was more amusing than entertaining.
We loaded our car and ourselves aboard a ferry boat to Bodrum and then to Turgutreis on the peninsula. We weren’t able to see any beach, but stayed in a super nice, new hotel. That was the best thing about Turgutreis (I’m not too keen on the big Turkish beach/resort towns).
After Turgutreis, we ended up in Milas (Samet’s old university town) where I was able to meet Bedir Abi and his family. They are hands down the nicest family I’ve ever met in Turkey. Bedir Abi owns a kofte shop where Samet used to eat during university all the time and they struck up a friendship. Bedir Abi tells me he considers Samet like his younger brother, and Samet feels likewise the same about him. Bedir Abi and Ayfer Abla (his wife) have the nicest, sweetest 14 year old girl, Ege. We had only intended to drop by and say hello, but he insisted we go to their summer home and stay a night with them. We had THE BEST fish dinner they cooked sitting on the porch of their little rental. The food was so good I keep bugging Samet about it. And they are such truly genuinely nice people.
After Milas, we hunkered down and drove the 8 hours back to Istanbul. Tired and dusty, I’ve spent the better half of the weekend sleeping and cleaning. Back to work tomorrow…my last week of tutoring (huzzah!!!!). More pics to come…
1 Comment | Posted by: Jenny | Filed under: Travel + Trips
Me Speak English
July 26, 2007
I’ve just started tutoring/teaching English to a 12 year old Turkish boy, every morning for a couple of hours. He’s the child of one of the heads of a large clothing company in Turkey. This is the first time in a long time that I’ve had to interact with children. Teenagers, ok, I get them…their angst, their insecurities, their boy/girl craziness. Little kids are pretty easy to decipher as well…you can make a funny face or other slapstick routine and you get their attention pretty quickly. Pre-teens? I have no clue…partially because I don’t even remember/know what I was thinking when I was that age. What an awkward age. Couple that with the fact that this little dude has probably been given everything he has ever wanted and is definately pulling ‘tude. Triple that with my initial worries that maybe Turkish pre-teens and American pre-teens have some innate unspoken cultural difference that I had yet to discover. Putting together exercises, I worried that maybe he wouldn’t know who Madonna (do people born after the 80s know who she is?) or Princess Diana is. (yes and yes, though he refers to Princess Di as Princess D-EE). Maybe he had some unhidden hatred for America and would complain about Bush and our culture of “no culture,” like so many of the older students I’ve had to teach in the past. (no, because we talk really cool by saying stuff like “yeah yeah y’all wassssup yo!” and have the NBA).
So suffice to say after only a few sessions with him, I’m beginning to get an idea of what it is like to be a 12-year old boy. You’re interests are sports and video games ONLY. And you like to feign paying attention and try to weasel your way out of any work. Very dramatic sighing and not being able to sit in your seat for more than 3 minutes helps to add to your air of “coolness”. And you don’t like homework and any suggestions of homework must come with a “NOOOOooooooooo!” coupled with some weird bodily squirming as if I had just asked you to eat a bowl of cockroaches.
Actually, he’d probably think that would be like really cool yo!
2 Comments | Posted by: Jenny | Filed under: Daily Life, Lost in Translation
Settling in
July 19, 2007
They came. They divided. And they conquered. I write this as we settle in to our second week in the new apartment. The much anticipated movers came (late) and moved everything in astonishing record breaking time. Five dudes came, of all different sizes and ages (old and young, buff and skinny). One guy, who must have been the manager, walked into the apartment, looked, said “OK” and then they started. They all must have their own particular job…one dismantled furniture and appliances, one packed them, they all carried them. Oh, and the refridgerator did indeed go down the stairs on someone’s back while they walked…BACKWARDS. I guess it makes sense because if you take a tumble it’s probably much better to fall on a fridge than to have a fridge fall on your. Before I could get over the shock of witnessing this, we were all packed and ready to go. After they took a quick cookie break, we were unpacked and unloaded before most people even start there day.
The new apartment is super. We live in Kadikoy now, in Bahariye…which is right next to all the ferries and transportations and near Moda, which has water front walks and cafes and trees! No peering nosy neighbors, no loud children running up and down the street, no looking over your shoulder coming home late at night, and no having to take a cab home after a late night.
At first it seemed like all the forces were against us when we first moved in though…there was a leak in the kitchen pipe so that when we actually opened the door for the movers, we were greeted with about an inch of water in the apartment. Dealing with utilities here is not as easy in the states. I’m used to calling utilties and getting it all organized ON THE PHONE. Getting utilities set up here takes all day (if you are lucky) and deposits and lines and requires you to visit each of the neighborhood utility branches. Our landlord (the previous tenant), didn’t pay his utility bills for the last few (ahem FIVE!) months so the first week we got all these notices our utilities were being shut down. Today I trekked out to find the water mudurlugu (municipality) and electric mudurlugu so that I could get that fixed. I felt nervous (my Turkish is being stretched to the limits here), but pretty proud of myself when I came home to the sound of running water.
Anyway, I hope yous all can come to visit us in this new abode. I need to get my pictures downloaded to my computer, been slacking in that and all other facets of life as well (SIGH). To bide your time, here’s a photo of when Mike and Stephanie came to visit. We took them to one of our favorite spots in Taksim, Baykus (which means OWL in turkish!!!) Steph was wearing owl sneakers and that got us free shots. But here we are sipping on delectable Gin Fizzes.
(BTW, does my skin look so awesome in that pic? That’s because we went to a Turkish Bath (hamam) earlier in the day…that’s another story!)
1 Comment | Posted by: Jenny | Filed under: Daily Life
Moving…
July 2, 2007
So don’t all get your panties in some heebie-jeebies, I’m not moving home home…yet. Nope, just moving apartments here, which I have come to learn (though as I should have figured out, this being Turkey and all), is not like in the states. Though admittedly, apartment hunting is a bit less lethal and intimadating than in NYC. There were no shady brokers (brokers, yes, but shady, no…wait, is that even possible?), no putting down cash deposits, sloughing up 5 flights to look at a ratty crap hole (ok, once), no fighting over other possible tenants.
No, apartment hunting/moving in Istanbul is a little bit more laid back than that. We move on Saturday (5 days from now) and I’ve packed one suitcase of sweaters/jackets. We haven’t paid the deposit on the new place yet, nor called any movers, nor filled out any change of address forms (not like we get mail here anyway). But, like in typical Turkish fashion, everything will congeal and get done in the last few hours. Because why elongate your stress over the course of 5 days when you can jam pack it in 5 hours. My kind of peeps.
So about the new apartment! It’s on a different continent! Yes, we’re moving to the Asian side of Istanbul (Istanbul is the only city in the world that actually stradles 2 continents…Europe and Asia) to Kadikoy. The new neighborhood is cute and full of restaurants, bars, cafes, shops, ferries. Super. The apartment is cute, on a corner, above a men’s kuafor (hair salon) and across the street from some old dude tea houses (where old dudes hang out and drink tea).
Something I should preface here is that apartments here come super bare bones. I mean when you rent an apartment, there’s no refridgerator, stove, dishwasher, washing machine, bathtub (rarely), towel bars, bathroom mirrors, and whatever else the previous tenant decides to take with them (usually everything). People move their huge appliances, which means we will be moving OUR refridgerator, stove, washing machine…up and down 3 flights of stairs. Samet told me what will happen is when the movers come, these little old mover dudes will come in and hoist one of these appliances on their backs and carry it up and down the narrow staircase. I’m thinking “Hello liabilities all around here!” He told me not to worry, that they are professionals. Needless to say, I am psyched to see this in action.
So on Saturday, we’ll be (hopefully) sitting in our little apartment in Asia!
Goodbye Europe, goodbye squattie!!! MWhahahahhaha! YESSSSSS!