Ramazan

September is upon us, and with it comes cooler weather and the holy month of Ramadan (aka Ramazan in Turkish - go here to read an excellent summary of Ramazan in Turkey). I had only previously had contact with Ramadan from friends and students in the United States, where it was honestly more of a novelty to me. Now it is everywhere, in all five senses, all happening at once.

For a religious time of self-examination, manifested most obviously by fasting throughout the day, Ramazan does not seem to mesh well with capitalism or a megatropolis of +/- 10 million. I cannot imagine fasting at all (you know what I am like when I have not been fed), let alone fasting while trying to cope with the frenetic insanity of Istanbul. Perhaps the village is one thing - perhaps people really do have the time and energy to put their mortality into perspective - but here, to this total outsider, it seems almost impossible. On the other hand, we outsiders have noted the iftar (breaking fast) tents set up around the city with a bit of envy. It all seems worthwhile when you can share a meal with people after a long, frustrating day.

This day begins with someone walking through the streets with a drum so that people can feed themselves before sunrise (as in, really effing early). I had previously thought that those of us in Cihangir would be exempt from such drumming because there are so many expats here. Ha! Surprise! Further examination, this morning for example, proves this theory incorrect. After the drumming there is the call to prayer around 5:00. We had already mostly accustomed ourselves to the call to prayer, barely noticing it at this point even though there is practically a minaret in the window. Ramazan, however, is completely different - the calls to prayer go on for more than five minutes and are especially elaborate and loud. But, so it goes.

Though there are certainly plenty of people, especially in my neighborhood, who do not take part in Ramazan, the cafes do seem noticeably emptier than usual. "Man bars," my name for places where men go to escape their wives, still have men in them, but most are without their ubiquitous tea and cigarettes. I have seen women at the grocery buying piles of food (which must be hard when you're fasting all day), and there really is a rush for the nearest restaurant at 7:30 when mosques throughout the city signal that the sun has officially set.

I haven't yet shared an iftar meal with anyone and I doubt I will, but I have a month to get it to happen so we'll see. In the meantime I will make more observations from afar.

Speaking of meals, in my next post, by popular demand, I will describe two unforgettable dinners.

greetings once again!

Hello faithful readers, I'm back in Istanbul, and have been for almost two weeks. I know I haven't written, but you haven't missed anything, believe me. I have spent almost my entire time here searching for an apartment, a task I knew would be difficult but had no idea exactly how frustrating. BUT, after hitting the pavement and seeing everything from hovels to extravagant palaces, I finally found a truly lovely spot, plopped in the center of the expat and generally funky neighborhood of Cihangir. I'm writing you from it now (via pilfered internet of course), sweaty but happy. We're going to be paying through the nose, but it's worth it, compared to dry-as-dust Bakırköy (where my last apartment was located).

The apartment has been completely renovated, and so far everything works and is quite pristine (this is kind of unusual here). There is one bedroom and one large living room/dining area, as well as the best kitchen and bathroom I've seen on a teacher's budget. There are giant bay windows that go all the way around the main room, which, after spending most of the day unpacking and poking around, I learned get full sun from about 11 to 6. This is a sweltering thought now, but it should be quite lovely once the weather cools down a bit. You don't need any artificial lighting at all during the day. There is even an a/c unit, which I turned on for about 45 minutes but then turned off again after I was consumed with guilt. It is now torturing me silently. Best of all, because we're lazy Americans, there's an elevator (this is totally posh for such an ordinary building! no sweaty, grocery-laden walk-ups!) and a TV with two channels in English plus some English-language programming on the other channels. Bliss!

Will write more, but have to do 4th load of laundry of the day.

This weekend's plan: buy an electric fan, go to school to check out schedule, poke around the neighborhood.

police raid - now I have seen everything

Early this morning, a big, burly Turkish plainclothes policeman and his little lackey knocked at our door with a warrant (in Turkish) to search our apartment. The big guy spoke perfect English, but he refused to tell me what was written on the warrant, so I wouldn't let him in. After a long time of standing in the doorway, during which both my foot and the dude's foot were planted against the door (mine to prevent him from coming in and his to prevent me from closing the door), they came in on the grounds that they wanted proof that we work here legally (almost no English teachers do). At no point did we admit to working here, but it was pretty obvious. What else were we doing with an apartment and several tourist visas between us? However, while they were searching our stuff, I noticed that they were looking under our mattresses and in our medication, and I had a hunch they were probably looking for drugs (which we did not have, thank you very much).

While we were still standing in the doorway, the lackey went to fetch our landlady and her husband. Instead of reassuring us, or defending us, they were absolutely terrified and told us to do whatever the policemen asked. I already felt like a child in trouble for something I didn't know I had done; to see two terrified adults who are from this culture made it even worse. Our manager and school owner (whom we phoned) couldn't do anything for us either; we just had to let them humiliate us by searching the place. I know our neighbors had a field day. Later it was translated for us that there had been a "tip" that we had drugs in the house, which was ridiculous. Our school owner emailed us later and said that they were doing a big drug bust on foreigners throughout the city, and we just happened to be caught up in the whole thing. We'll never really know the truth. The fact that we were foreigners made it easy to use the story that they wanted proper documentation, but I think the drug thing is more likely.

The whole incident has been "cleared" by our school owner, and don't ask me how. It has been a long day. Well-deserved cocktails were had at 4pm.

Now I really can't wait to go home.

new post!

Hello, dear readers! Now, before you point out how long it’s been since I wrote here, let me say that I know and I’m sorry. I don’t have any excuses, really, other than the fact that ever since I moved out of my old apartment it’s harder to get internet access.

Much has changed since I last wrote here. The weather is the most obvious example: after about two months of absolutely lovely, sunny, dry spring days we are entering the reign of soup, which apparently doesn’t abate until around mid- to late-September. I wish I could say that my time at home (from July 5 to August 19!) will be a relief from the heat and humidity but sadly I know that will not be the case.

Yes, you read that correctly – I’m coming home soon! Despite all the good things going on here, and there are many of them, I can’t wait. I look forward to eating lots of different foods (Thai, Vietnamese, Salvadoran, Mexican, Ethiopian, Indian, Pakistani, mom’s…), seeing everyone, and having some snobby microbrew at Galaxy Hut or Paradiso. And yes, I will be coming back here, perhaps with a sidekick…all will be revealed in good time!

But back to Istanbul. As you have probably read in any publication that cares about countries other than America, a lot is going on in Turkey. I am not the person to give you in-depth analysis, but essentially Turkey’s supporters of secularism are rallying against the Islamic government, run by PM Tayyip Erdoğan, As much as I am in favor of a secular government in theory, I cannot help but be taken aback at the attitude of the pro-secularism supporters here. The sentiment seems to be that anyone who is Muslim is somehow anti-secularism, and if Muslims are allowed to be leaders in the government then Turkey is certain to turn into another Iran. I can’t think of any Turk here, Muslim or not, who wants Turkey to turn into Iran. I think religious people here, especially women, value their (relative) freedom (which includes unrestricted abortion, by the way), and rightly want to be able to be covered in public universities and government offices (at the moment this is illegal). A letter-writer to the Economist this week expressed this better than I ever could:

The AK Party [Islamic ruling party] has not promoted a single law that directly challenges Turkey’s secular system. Turkey’s problem is that any form of religious piety is considered to be fundamentalist. That not all Muslims desire sharia law is unfathomable to radical secularists. The irony is that they resemble radical Islamists: each wants to control state and society to the exclusion of everyone else. The real divide is between liberal-minded secularists and Muslims who want Turkey to blossom into a more plural, liberal democracy, and illiberal secularists and Islamists whose intolerance is inimical to democracy. – Melinda Negron

As I write this there is news that there was a bomb in Ankara; I don’t know how this will affect the political situation here. I don’t even know who set off the bomb, so I don’t have an opinion yet.

It is really interesting being in a place that both literally and figuratively straddles the East and West. As much as that is a cliché, it’s so true. There is so much talk of Turkey joining the EU, especially in the Economist (the school has a subscription, leave me alone), but now that I am here I believe that it will never happen. Not because Turkey is too “backwards,” or not developed enough, or lacking the necessary infrastructure/education/human rights, though some of that may be true, but because Europe could never handle it. I think white, Christian Europeans are terrified of Turkey. It’s a shame, too, because I think there is so much potential here.

I have a lot more to write, so I'll be back soon. I promise!

long-awaited update

Hi, all.

I've been a bad blogger, I know. I've let you down. And I have excuses, lots of them. Needless to say I've been busy - up to my ears in visitors, work, and mild apartment disasters. Jonathan's visit was great, and he even got to experience a very Istanbul predicament: one day we got home from sightseeing and there was a notice on the front door, which of course I couldn't read because it was in Turkish. I forgot about it but I noticed it was soooooooo cold when I got up the next morning. It turns out, the two things were related. Kramer pointed out that my gas box thingamajig was gone, taken away because the previous tenant had closed the account, leaving us without gas or hot water. Bummer! Several days and $100 later, I had a new kombi (the heating system), but I'd also reached my last straw with my apartment. It has been nothing but a series of unexpected expenses, and my creep of a landlord (who doesn't even live in Istanbul) has done nothing to help me out. So, starting next week, I'll be living with another teacher in her fabulous apartment, also nearby school. I'm really looking forward to it.

Now my mother is visiting, so I should probably go look after her before she gets hustled into buying a carpet. More later, and I promise not to wait so long this time.

wow.

As of today, YouTube cannot be accessed in Turkey. Incredible!

more food

First and foremost, thank you for your sweet birthday messages. I didn't have a particularly exciting day because I was working, but one of my students got me a cake (at 9:00am!), and after my last class (at 9:30pm, arghh) I went out for a couple beers with the other teachers. I can't really ask for more, especially when you add in some great phone calls. So, thank you!

I spent most of Saturday with Murat, a friend of my family's, as well as his cousin and the cousin's girlfriend. The day had started out mild but pouring rain, but suddenly, as I was riding the longest bus ride of my life, the sky cleared up to a lovely deep blue. It stayed that way for the rest of the day and was definitely a sign of how beautiful things will be as spring sets in. We went to a fish restaurant on the Bosphorus in Istinye, a far cry from where I'm living right now. Picture a tiny bay with little yachts docked along the banks of the Bosphorus, with hills rising up all around and the Asian side of the city across the water. Lovely! Also, you need to understand how fantastic fish restaurants are here - generally you get some kind of appetizer, and then while you're waiting for your fish (chosen from a list of completely unrecognizable names - mostly from the Black Sea region), an enormous bowl of luscious salad arrives, which you mix with lemon juice and olive oil and toss. Then each person's fish arrives, simply a whole grilled fish which you can season with salt and lemon and then devour. Delicious!

Then, even better, we went to a different swanky part of town and had kunefe, to date the best dessert I have had here (and I am quickly becoming an expert). It's a large, round, flat disc of one layer of something like shredded wheat, then a thin layer of sweet cheese, then another layer of shredded wheat, all completely doused in honey and butter and served warm and melty, with a dollop of cream on top. Then you sprinkle coarsely ground pistachios and walnuts all over and die and go to heaven. Bliss.

We're back to grey weather but I'm looking forward to more desserts, more bike riding, more fish, and more days off. Jonathan will be here Wednesday, hooray!

dog days of February

As I predicted, the weather turned icy cold and windy as soon as I picked up my bike from the store. I'm not even making excuses, either, I swear. Still working on finding a Pilates class, too.

Things are pretty quiet around here. Payday is coming up (on my birthday, if everything is prompt, which it usually isn't), so we're all short on cash and laying low until we get our dough. The days have been dreary and cold, making me long for sun and sandals. I know that will all come soon enough and before I know it I'll be complaining about the heat.

At the risk of being taken away in handcuffs, I must mention that the pirate DVD market here is incredible and I've picked up several titles to tide me over to warmer weather. There is also enough trading of DVDs and books among the teachers that I won't have to worry about entertaining myself for cheap. Nonetheless, if you are planning on visiting do not hesitate to bring along some books with you.

Speaking of visiting, a very nice young man will be here next week and I'm so excited! If you know who he is and want to put in an order for a cheap pashmina, let me know. I promise he won't mind that I am volunteering him to be a scarf mule.

More soon!

bikes

I bought a bike today! I think I got a good deal, too - it's a used, deep red, lovely Peugeot (I didn't know they made bikes) in good condition. $80, including a good lock. They're cleaning it up for me and then I'll pick it up Friday, at which point it will promptly rain and destroy the lovely weather we're having. Now I just need a Pilates class.

Thanks for your worried messages about the earthquake. Thankfully, it was in southeastern Turkey and not here, but it's an understandable concern - Istanbullus live with the understanding that it could happen any time. I think the one that struck in Izmit in 1999, plus the predictions that a "major" one will hit Istanbul "within the next 30 years" really color Turks' identity. Maybe that's why they smoke all the damn time.

heaven

One of my students went on a business trip to London last week. He asked me if I wanted anything, and the first thing that popped into my mind was peanut butter (of course). I just had a peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich - bliss.



I also had kesme dondurma, shown above. Basically, it's extra-frozen ice cream that is sliced, and you eat it with a fork. It's scrumptious. This is why you all need to visit me.

Tomorrow I am looking into Pilates classes and bikes, so I can keep enjoying this food.