It hardly seems fair that I've neglected this blog for almost a month. I can't really chalk it up to the traditional post-Thanksgiving time crunch. I can't even really say it's been a heavy workload at schoo. Part of the reason I've been absent is that Kaan is no longer working at Cafe Nero, thus my semi-regular internet access has been interrupted. This happened about two weeks ago, which can account for two of the last three weeks. I suppose it isn't really tremendously important to give an excuse for every day left un-narrated, but I'll at least try to summarize my absence in the last three weeks.

Kaan and I have been enjoying tremendously this increase in time together. We've applied for and received his first passport, which is a really neat thing for him. We were hoping to fly to South Africa over the winter break, but I don't think that will be working out. My mother has this great idea that if Kaan is able to spend some time in an English-speaking country, he might have a better understanding of life in the States (or at least the lonliness that comes from not speaking the native language). Plus, South Africa in January would be a nice break from the cold, rainy Istanbul. As the whole trip ended up being quite a bit more than I had expected, we've back-burnered the plan for the time being. He does, however, now have a passport, which is a step in the right direction. We recently acquired a tavla (backgammon) set, so much of our free time has been consumed by almost endless backgammon tournaments. Otherwise we've been wandering around rather aimlessly, sleeping in until 9am on some days, and generally wasting time and money. It's been a good couple of weeks. I believe Kaan's been feeling rather fidgety lately, so there is the possibility of his upcoming return to the work force. I'm doing my best to not pressure him in either direction, but truly, either way works for me.

His reasons for leaving Cafe Nero include a rather unfair insurance scandal. Apparently in Turkey, employers are required by law to provide their employees with some sort of health insurance almost immediately after being hired. I was previously unaware of this; when Kaan was talking about asking his work for insurance several months ago, I thought he was just being paranoid. However, it turns out that not supplying one's workers with appropriate insurance is ground for a rather hefty fine. Apparently there are public servants who randomly check the insurance status of workers around the city. One day a couple of weeks ago, they came to Cafe Nero. Kaan did his best to avoid any punishment but was still the reason for a fine. His bosses decided to ask him to pay it, which is not really his duty. In protest, he left.

Frankly, I think this situation was absolutely absurd. He had requested insurance from his bosses; they refused to give it to him. When they incurred a fine, they tried to make him pay it, despite his obvious desire to follow the law. What a bunch of bullies.

So those are the most recent newsworthy snippets from the world of Kaan.

School is finishing in one week. I've just completed a rather lengthy final paper for one class. I have a slightly shorter paper and presentation to prepare for another, as well as a test to prepare for next week. Neither are really very serious, so I haven't had as much stress as my Turkish companions, I'm sure. I have one final test in January. Really, it's been a nice way to wrap up the first semester. I hope everything goes as planned, though... I ought not to take it too easy!

I believe classes end officially on Christmas. I don't have any particular Christmas plans. It's more traditional to have a Christmas-type celebration on New Years Eve. Most likely we will exchange a few small gifts then, rather than try to falsy create Christmas. I did have a dream about constructing a paper tree, hanging it on the wall, and decorating it. If this comes to fruitation, I will post photos!


I apologize for the rather disjointed and incoherent update. As I expressed in the past, my English skills decrease as my length of stay increases. On top of this quick deterioration of the native tongue, I'm quite tired (undoubtedly from churning out a ten page paper just before its due date). I hope that my dear readers can understand.

As I will very likely not be updating again until the new year, I wish you all a safe and happy holiday season. Be healthy and wealthy and wise. I hope the quickly approaching new year will offer you many opportunities to expand your comfort zone and modify your approach to the world, as this trip to Turkey has done with mine. Peace on earth and all of that.

happy holidays

This weekend is the beginning of the holiday season for many in the States. This year, the Muslim calendar coincides nicely with my more familiar holidays. The Kurban Bayramı (literally: sacrifice holiday) begins on Friday; today is Thanksgiving! As a vegetarian, neither holiday really appeals to me (based purely on the opinion that both are rather meat-based). I appreciate and enjoy the meaning behind both, and I'm quite pleased to have Thanksgiving day included in the bayram weekend.

We don't have any plans. I might try to go find some pumpkin pie. As I'm not much of a cook, I have no desire to cook a big meal. We'll probably make a small dinner and have some ice cream. Since Kaan has never experienced Thanksgiving, I'll try to explain it to him. We'll have to see how successful that is! I remember writing a short paragraph about Thanksgiving when I was here in 2006. I'm almost certain it was completely grammatically incorrect, but I was still a young Turkish speaker at the time. Hopefully now I'll be able to explain the holiday in terms understandable!

As for the Kurban Bayram, we have few plans to speak of. We have considered going to the mosque on Friday morning for some special bayram prayers. I'll hopefully be able to go; apparently the neighborhood mosques don't have places for women, so we might have to go to an older, farther away mosque. We'll see!

Traditionally, the Kurban Bayramı is the celebration of the end of Hajj (the journey to Mecca required for all Muslims). It has a hint of new beginnings. Although not quite the end of the Islamic calendar, it is situated in the last month of the year. I consider the Kurban Bayramı to be a chance for new beginnings. I believe this is related to the end of Hajj; one who has completed Hajj is considered to be reborn without sin. Even if one hasn't completed Hajj, Kurban Bayramı is still an opportunity to begin again. For me, it also holds a spirit similar to our Thanksgiving. It is normal for many Muslim communities to hold feasts and share their food with friends, family, neighbors, and even strangers. It is important to make sure even the poorest families have food; sharing one's meal with the poor and hungry is considered a good deed.

I feel that this is a similar hope during Thanksgiving. At least in my community, we try to give extra food to the poor and hungry. It's important to share what we can. As many already know, Thanksgiving is a holiday that we use to commemorate the gift the Native Americans gave to the Pilgrims in the first few years of colonization. While that gift was admittedly poorly repaid (hi, massacres and reservations), we still celebrate the kindness of the Natives as the reason our early settlers survived. It's only fair that we today support the survival of the poorest and richest alike. Of course, Thanksgiving is also the beginning of the winter holiday weight gain!

I apologize if this post seems a little disjointed; the more time I spend here, the poorer my English becomes. My main purpose in writing this (aside from not falling into the trap of dead blogs) is to clarify one point: despite all of our cultural, religious, political, and personal differences, the traditions of being thankful and of sharing with others are common. Even being in a city that's 6000 miles from home and many degrees different from my own, I'm able to find the undercurrent of similarities. Celebrating Thanksgiving won't be the same, but it will be hard to ignore the presence of the sharing spirit.

In the Thanksgiving tradition, I'm thankful for being given the opportunity to be here, in Turkey (that means you, DU Study Abroad!). I'm thankful for my family, who have been supporting me through not only this trip but for all of my life. I'm thankful for Kaan, who's been an inspiration and blessing for me. I'm especially thankful for my friends like Jessi and Eleanor, who have been putting up with me throughout the semester. I'm thankful for my friends back home and abroad, all of my Turkish friends (hi, Evrim!) and American friends alike. I'm thankful for all of the hard times I have and will experience, because without those hard times, the good times just aren't as nice.

Please, everyone, have a safe, blessed holiday season. Happy Thanksgiving (eat your TOFUrkeys please), eid mubarak, bayramlariniz kutlu olsun.

Turkish words for this entry:
bayram (bye-RAM) holiday
Şükran bayramı (shoe-KRAN bye-RAM-uh) literally: thanks holiday
kutlamak (koot-lah-mahk) to celebrate
paylaşmak (pie-lahsh-mahk) to share
'Bayram kutlu olsun!' (bye-RAM koot-LOO OL-son) 'May the holiday be blessed.' (a common salutation during any holiday)

quick correction

Several weeks ago I wrote complaining about the possibility of Kaan being fired. As it turns out, he wasn't. The boss people were concerned that my presence at the cafe was keeping him from working. They had apparently asked another worker to come early and watch us. She reported that Kaan was working and I was putzing around on the computer. This apparently was enough for them; despite Kaan's complete assurance that he would be fired, he was misled. He's still here at Cafe Nero--and so am I! In case anyone was concerned about his being fired, there's the truth.

small updates

I'll try to be brief in this post; I feel that I have a tendency to be a little over verbose.

Midterm week passed uneventfully. I may have written this already. As I only had one real midterm, I was blessed with a relatively stress-free week. I was pleased to find out yesterday that I had done quite well on the test, so I'm feeling quite gratified. Last week we had a Turkish class "midterm", which was quite easy. I know I missed the spelling of a couple of words, but overall I feel confident that I did the best I could. I believe I'll get that score back on Friday. So overall, I've been able to maintain a level of relative success in school. Of course, we still have finals to overcome; I ought to be careful to not speak too soon.


Our visitor from DU has since come and gone. Jessi and I had a lovely day with her, showing off some of our favorite spots in the city and enjoying a good conversation throughout the day. We ate an early lunch, wandered around Istiklal, showed her the dorms, escorted her to campus, and then visited Sultanahmet. Although we had quite a limited time, I think everyone was satisfied at the end of the day. I, personally, was exhausted! But again, it was such a nice day.


Everyone will be pleased to know that we haven't had any more scorpions. Kaan thought it would be funny to rent the Scorpion King 2 a few days after the incident. I admit that the movie was more successful at making me laugh than renewing my concern for our crusty friend. It's definitely NOT a movie I would recommend anyone seeing. I was positive, after watching the first half hour, that the movie was either a spoof or a soft-core porno. Thankfully it was neither; rather, it was a mildly entertaining, quite silly prequel to the Rock's production.


Kaan's oldest brother came to stay with us for one night, en route to the 'village'. I was being a little anti-social and played the homework card. Luckily, we were able to get to bed quite early and able to avoid too much awkwardness.


And in other news, I've been quite busy making new friends. I've been spending a lot of time with some of the foreigners in my classes, particularly Niels, Jan, and Eleanor. I'm hoping to add a couple of Turkish friends to this mix, but that's going a little more slowly than I'd hoped. However, lately Jessi's been kind enough to bring her friends around, so we both are increasing our interactions with the "locals".


I'm desperately seeking a fitted bedsheet. Apparently they don't exist in Turkey if the bed is bigger than a one-person. My search has brought me to Ikea and Etsy so far. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. It's so annoying to try to tuck the bedsheet into the non-existant bedframe. Every morning I have to remake the bed, starting with the sheet. Since there's nothing to really anchor the sheet, every little move made in the middle of the night slowly pushes the sheet to the floor. So annoying!

It’s amazing the kind of things you see on days that are supposed to be normal.

After spending a lovely afternoon eating our favorite foods, Jessi and I decided to go to the local beauty supply store and pick up some new colors of nail polish. I chose bright pink, something completely unnatural for me. She picked up some sparkles, stars, and a great maroon type color. We headed back to the dorms to have tea and paint our nails and timed our trip perfectly; we were able to watch a great sunset at the same time. Sounds like a good evening, right?

We parted ways, and I headed home. I was just getting ready to play the Sims when I noticed a strange smudge of dirt on the wall. “How odd,” I thought. “It looks like that smudge of dirt has claws.” And so it did.

Yesterday at about 5:45 pm, I saw my first live, in my house scorpion. SCORPION. You can bet that I hightailed it out of the room as FAST as I could. I called Kaan, sobbing from fear. He said he was coming, to just ignore it. Not knowing how long it would take him to arrive—and desperately needing to hear a friendly voice—I called my mother. She had a good laugh and occupied my attention until Kaan could come and kill it, which he did.

I was actually surprised, upon seeing the whole thing, that the scorpion was so small. What I saw was it sticking its claws out of the wall vent, magnified by its shadow. I was ready for a cell phone sized monster; instead, it looked about three inches from tip to pincher and scrawny as hell. After seeing it in real light, I felt rather silly. All that commotion for a skinny little thing! But still, I’m glad I didn’t have to deal with it. Kaan aptly smooshed it and put it in the trash can. I took him out for kumpir and ice cream afterwards.

Today a woman from my home university is coming for a meeting with the international office at Bilgi. Jessi and I are going to meet up with her, show her around a little, and escort her to the correct campus. I just hope that she doesn’t decide to bring a pet scorpion; I don’t think I can handle any more claws!

no title today

oh what a stupid thing. I came to the cafe today to find Kaan in quite low spirits. Wondering what was the matter, I asked him. He thinks they're going to fire him. I don't get it.

The cafe has two owners. The second one has only been coming for a couple of weeks, and he will apparently leave around the end of November. The owner whom I know is quite nice and, I believe, likes Kaan quite a lot. I'm not so sure about this "new" guy, however. He doesn't seem to talk much. But anyway, I don't think he likes Kaan 'cause Kaan seems to think they're going to fire him.

It makes me quite mad. This 'new' guy comes for a month and out of nowhere decides to fire Kaan? It's absurd. If he isn't here and doesn't see Kaan working, why should he have the authority to fire him?

Whatever. It just means a lot of worry for me. If he finds another job that requires he works nights, I don't know what I'll do. I'll probably die. It makes me so mad that these fuckers are possibly going to take away the little time we have together. Whatever. I can't do anything about it; I just hope things work out for the best. I hope Kaan's wrong about this. I will be quite upset if he has to find a new job.

[edit]
okay, I won't really die. But since work here involves often a 10 or 12 hour shift, if he has to work nights, I don't know when I'll see him. That will be very tough. But things will be okay.

happy birthday turkiye

It's Republic Day! The Republic of Turkey was established 86 years ago today. Hurrah!

This, in reality, means very little to Kaan and me. We were discussing it last night; he was saying something about how the minorities in Turkey probably don't care so much about the republic. This may or may not be accurate, but it got me thinking. I've nothing concrete to write about yet, but the wheels are certainly turning. In the States, our independence day is a pretty big deal. I feel like citizens and residents of all backgrounds get pretty into it. But then, what about the Native American communities? Do they do anything to celebrate? Something I'll have to find out.

As for me, it means school is closed. But, as it's Thursday (my day off), it doesn't make a difference. There are more Turkish flags than normal, but I think, otherwise, it's just another day.

But happy birthday Turkey! I'm glad you exist because if you didn't, it would make my study abroad very difficult.


Midterms are next week. I have two, in theory, but only one in actuality. Good luck to my friends and companions who are studying hard!

oh, by the way, it's daylight savings

I wish someone had mentioned that to me on Saturday night. I suppose I just should have known, as some people do “just know”. Apparently it was in the paper on Saturday (which, of course, I don’t have much occasion to read). Kaan said he knew but forgot to tell me (which he often does). He also forgot to change his clock, so we were both rather surprised we realized it. I was supposed to meet some friends to go to the market at 11. As none of the clocks in the house had been changed, I got up and made ready for the day. I strolled into the café, sat down for some tea, and then realized I was running late. I hurriedly drank my tea and stood to leave, when I noticed the clock was only showing 5 till 10 (9:55). I called Kaan over, and we took turns looking between the clock, our cell phones, and each other. We finally determined it was, indeed, almost ten.

At this point, since I was supposed to meet some friends—perhaps they were just as clueless as I was—I decided to mosey on down the street toward our meeting point. I would wait for ten or fifteen minutes and, if they didn’t show, declare they were far more aware of the world than I was and return to the café. Luckily, my friend Niels came meandering by at exactly that time (especially fortunate as he was one of those whom I was going to meet!). We had a good chuckle at being so confused by the clocks and, with our newly discovered extra hour, decided to have breakfast. We did meet up with the other two friends at 11 and had a lovely jaunt through the market.

I like the market. There are lots of vegetables. I’m going to start cooking more as soon as I get some spices. Most of the spices that are readily available are things like mint and red pepper flakes. While I enjoy both of those tastes quite a lot, when a recipe calls for cumin, I don’t think either would be a proper substitute. So I’m tentatively scheduling a trip to the spice bazaar. I ought to make a list of what spices to buy. So far I’ve got cumin and cinnamon. Maybe also something like curry powder (or whatever makes up curry powder, since it itself is not a spice, but rather a mixture of spices. I didn’t know this previously.).

Apparently I’m feeling rather parenthetical today. I haven’t been sleeping very well because Kaan is sort of a bed-hog. For many years I slept on a twin mattress, so I don’t need that much space. However, he’s a pro at finding the prefect spot in just exactly the middle of the bed, so I get rather squished. My vocabulary doesn’t include things like “squished”, so I’m not sure how properly to tell him to pick a side and stick to it. As it happens, I get the house to myself during the day, so I have plenty of opportunities to nap. Perhaps soon I’ll become the newest siesta convert. We shall see.

The newest trend chez nous is Spider Solitaire. I could play this game for literally hours. When Kaan gets home from work, it’s among the first things he does. He’s gotten quite good. And since I didn’t actually –play- the game for the first year I used the application—the hint button can solve the entire puzzle for you—I was really impressed that he picked it up so quickly. He still doesn’t get one or two ideas (like wanting to win the game with the lowest number of moves), but he’s having fun and that’s enough for me.

Also, we’re both feeling the beginnings of a(nother) cold. Let’s hope it isn’t the flu formerly known as swine!

well hello strangers

Yes, I do realize it's been at least 10 days since I wrote, and yes, I'm sorry about that! My good friend Evrim has reminded and gently encouraged me to write today, so here I am.

The sad part is that I have no real news. School is generally going well. We have midterms coming up in about a week and a half. Since I only have one or two midterms, I'm not worrying about those at all. I probably should get down to studying and such.

I wish I had some good stories about the wedding to tell, but I didn't end up going. I was really excited to go. I was even excited about the twenty hour bus ride! But on the morning of the trip, I was spending more time in the toilet than I was packing. I decided if I wasn't feeling better by 11, then I wouldn't try to embark on the trip. We were concerned that if I needed to yak (or worse!) we wouldn't be able to stop. Bus trips in Turkey only get a 15- or 20-minute break every few hours. It's probably very similar to bus trips in the States, but since I haven't ever taken a bus in the states, I don't rightly know.

So anyway, 11:00 came and went. I still wasn't feeling much better. We grudgingly decided that I wouldn't go. Instead of having a grand, uncomfortable adventure in the east of Turkey, I spent my weekend bawling and watching movies. I did end up deciding I need to locate a pirated DVD shop pronto; although I brought a great selection of movies with me, I've seen them all plenty of times. Plus, with pirated DVDs, Kaan and I can watch them together since they've got Turkish subtitles AND will play on my region one DVD player.

Other than feeling like a pathetic lump for most of the weekend and being generally upset at missing the wedding, I guess it was an okay couple of days. Kaan had some trouble getting home afterward (and his cousin ended up deleting the entire memory card of the camera, which had apparently been filled with photos and videos of the wedding). The buses weren't running, the money wasn't enough, the plane wasn't at the airport.. it was a problematic return leg for him. He did finally come back home, so things are more or less back to normal.

We've more or less settled into a routine. He gets up around 7:30 to get ready for work. Depending on the day, I either go to school or back to bed. After school, I generally come to the cafe for a couple of hours. If I don't have school, I head to the cafe for a couple of hours. Then I either head out to spend time with friends, or I return home. At home, before Kaan returns from work, I do some housewifey things (my mother would be so surprised!). I make the bed, clean the dishes, and pick up around the house. It's really a strange thing for me; my parents can attest to my general dislike of all things clean and organized. But somehow, living with Kaan is reason enough to take care of things. I think it's fair; he spends so much time working that it doesn't seem unreasonable to do my share of things at home. If only I had come to this conclusion years ago; my father would have been a much happier person overall.

I'm beginning correspondence with the Ankara embassy regarding a visa for Kaan. Wish us luck for that!




I think that's all I have to say. I really haven't been doing anything lately that might be considered worthy of a blog entry, but I am still alive and kickin'. Tomorrow I have plans to visit the market with a couple of friends from school. However, as I don't intend on buying anything, it'll most likely be more for the company than anything.

recent developments

It's been a really slow day here at good ol' Cafe Nero, so I figured I'd post an update with the recent happenings.

I did decide to go to Ağrı for the wedding. Kaan and I decided that we'd be able to make/find enough food for me that I wouldn't have to go hungry. I decided the cultural experience of a traditional wedding was also a really important thing to see, especially since none of my Turkish friends will be marrying any time soon. I was excited to meet his family and see his village. We had decided to fly out Wednesday night or Thursday morning and return on Sunday night or Monday morning. This would mean that I'd have to miss two days of school, but sometimes absences are acceptable. There was a lot of drama over buying tickets, but we do finally have a reservation for two round-trip tickets. Now, there is an even bigger problem than food or tickets: there was a death in the bride's family. There's the chance that the wedding will be postponed for some time. I'm disappointed for Kaan's brother, but if we don't end up going this weekend, I won't be heartbroken. The wedding WILL happen; now it's just a matter of when. If we do go this weekend, I'll be sure to take lots of photos.

I ran into Doğan Amca again a couple of weeks ago. Jessi and I were walking down the street and saw his car. We peeked into the nearby shops to see if we could find him. He had been across the street, registering a new car with the local police station. Together, the three of us ventured to Karaköy to eat some amazing baklava. He said it was the best in Istanbul, and he was definitely right!

Some of you may know of my interest in learning about Islam, especially Sufism and Sufi groups. Turkey has been the birthplace of many Sufi movements, so being here has given me the opportunity to really explore some of these traditions. However, as with many things in Turkey, the opportunity is something I have to work for. This Doğan Amca fellow has been very helpful, but I haven't had much of a chance to cultivate the friendship and access these hidden traditions through him. Part of me is reluctant to get involved with anything that might require any sort of commitment; I suppose I have a slight commitment-phobia. But knowing him is a start.

As far as I understand, he goes to a Jerrahi tekke, in the same tradition in which I've done some exploration previously. There are a number of other Sufi traditions present in Turkey; the Mevlevis, commonly associated with the Rumi and the Bektaşis, associated with Hacı Bektaş are the two that come to mind. I don't know very much about these other two Sufi groups, but I do know the Bektaşis are closely related to the Alevis, another branch of Islam that interests me. While exploring Kadıköy with my friend Annika last week, I found a gentleman who self-identified as a Bektaşi. He offered, as Doğan Amca did, to show me around and, I suppose, serve as a sort of guide to the tradition. So far nothing has really come of either of these acquaintances (other than some delicious baklava!), but it's really comforting to know where to go if I get the nerve to start to really explore.

There isn't much to tell about school. Russian seems to be working out; I think I've come to an agreement with my professor about a class schedule. I think we sort of have a mutual understanding of what will happen, so that's a relief. Otherwise, there haven't really been any developments in school. I have a paper proposal coming up soon, so I need to start thinking about that. I guess I'll be spending some time in the library this week and next week!

I did finally get my residence permit. The last two trips were super easy--literally walk-in and walk-out. I'm really glad for this; after the four hour trip and ensuing frustrations I more than deserved an easy trip.

No luck on finding the cockroach eating spider, so we're still battling the damn things. I'd like to say we're winning, but they keep getting creative and hiding in new places. Someday we'll get those buggers!

I can't think of anything else that's happened in the last week, other than renewing my addiction to the Sims 3. Rest assured all my free time is spent manipulating the lives of my puny pixelated friends.

IMF Protests

Police Intervene in IMF Protest
al-Jazeera run down of the IMF protest

here's a news article. I'll post more later today.

I wrote this yesterday after I'd returned home. Just to clarify, according to the article linked above, the police used pepper spray, not tear gas. Still, it sucked. Sorry again for the typos.

[edit]
also, I want to mention that my thoughts at the end of this post seem to be accurate. The actual IMF protest was probably hijacked by extremist groups who just wanted to fight with the police. Also, there was vandalism in the Cihangir area just beyond the cafe. Today there have been some protests, but not in this area. I'm tremendously grateful for that.

There's the possibility that I'll be able to go to Kaan's brother's wedding next weekend. I'd very much like to go, but I'm concerned that I won't have much to eat and that I won't be able to talk to anyone. Most of his family speaks both Turkish and Kurdish, but I'm shy and don't really have much to say to most people. People will look at my hair and be very curious, I'm sure. I don't know if I can handle that level of scrutiny, especially with Kaan not nearby to explain/defend me. It'll come down to this: do I value my personal comfort more than seeing a really neat cultural event and meeting Kaan's family?

-------
IMF Protests

It seems like a lot of people dislike the IMF/World Bank, at least here in Istanbul. After spending three hours wrapped up in fear of the tear gas aimed at those protesting the IMF, I really dislike them as well, though not for the same reason as the protestors, who may potentially have legitimate concerns about organization. Oh no. I dislike the IMF/World Bank for the protestors it inspired and the three hours it took from my life (to be fair, I really dislike the protestors, too, and have no desire to hear why they dislike IMF/WB).

This morning when I woke up, I noticed an abnormal amount of police helicopters flying around overhead. Generally when there are helicopters flying around in the States, the police are tracking a suspect or news reporters are commenting on the local traffic. In Istanbul, apparently police helicopters means there’s going to be an event. Normally, the events that you see riot police gathering for are really rather tame, and now I know why. All those other tame protests are made up for by the ones that happen on days like today.

It started around 1030 or 1100. Kaan and I noted the police helicopters. His response to their presence was, “Maybe there will be an event.” I chortled, remembering my other protest experiences: a few people marching down the street with a megaphone and a banner, gathering in the middle of the street shouting, and then going home. Shortly after that brief exchange, the protesting started. All I heard was shouting. I tend to not pay attention to protests for the reason mentioned above—they’re usually pretty boring. I was NOT anticipating anything like today.

At some point, Kaan started to pick up that this protest was going to be big; there was a LOT of shouting. I didn’t pay much mind to it until around 1130, maybe. We heard some popping going off up the street. One of the nearby shopkeepers instructed Kaan to start pulling the napkins and such off of the outside tables. He did so with such speed! I, at this point, still had no idea what was going on. After pulling everything inside, he closed the doors of the café—something only done in the winter time and after hours. He shouted at me to go to the back, which I did. And then he started to cry.

After a few minutes of visiting with the fish in the back of the café, I got bored. I came out to sit with Kaan, who was still, remarkably, standing around outside. I started to get a tickle in my nose. Kaan explained that what they use is pepper, apparently. I’m not sure if they pepper spray protestors or tear gas them, but either way, it sucks. For a while, we all sat outside observing the general atmosphere. A few times the breeze would carry the tear gas over to us. It wasn’t anything big; I sneezed a couple times and thought, “Those wimps! This is nothing!”

Then a few canisters of tear gas were shot at the top of the street. Again, Kaan shouted for me to get inside. He came in and held the door shut as a cloud of tear gas floated by. It was completely white, like a blizzard. I couldn’t even see the tables of the café across the single-lane street. This time, my eyes started to sting and water. I could understand more why tear gas was an effective tool at protests, but I still couldn’t fully comprehend the pain of the experience. After a few minutes—ten maybe—everything returned to normal. Again, we sat outside and watched the protesting happen. The action had moved down a little bit, and we were hoping that it was done, that we were safe to go about our days.

But remember, this is Istanbul, where nothing is every easy. We turned on the news to watch some of the captured footage. We watched the police arrest a few protesters. I was beginning to think I’d be able to go to school after all (I had a class at 3, but many of the protests were going on exactly between the café and school). There was still quite a lot of tear gas floating around, and we had a few false alarms. I started to watch for masses of people running down the street; that, I said, is my cue to go inside. At this point, there was one patron in addition to Kaan and myself. He was particularly annoying because he wouldn’t do as Kaan said. If Kaan said to get inside, this gentleman would sip his tea. If Kaan said to go to the back, he would take one or two steps backward. Maybe after living through a few Worker’s Day protests the Turks of Taksim aren’t as fearful of collateral teargas as I am.

Anyway, the three of us are sitting outside when a huge wave of teargas hits us. I don’t know if a canister was shot nearby or what. It must’ve been, because I remember seeing another wave go by. Kaan was standing at the door, holding it shut. The patron was about halfway into the main room, and I was near the kitchen. I saw Kaan bent over, holding his hand to his mouth. I decided to go find a shirt for him to put over his face. I went to the back, but when I came out, he had run outside. The patron also left, for some reason. Maybe he saw Kaan run out and was afraid. As I came into the main room, a wave of teargas hit me right in the face. Not knowing what else to do, I grasped the tshirt to my face and looked around. Kaan had left. The patron had left. I was torn between wanting to hold the door shut and wanting to run to the back. Instead, I tried to find Kaan.

Kaan later told me he had left the cafe because he couldn’t breathe. To me, this doesn’t make much sense, but in a moment of panic, there isn’t much time for logic. I opened the door and stepped outside, looking for him. I saw him just to my left, curled up on the ground. ‘Good,’ I thought. ‘This is what I should do too. Kaan knows what to do.’ It never occurred to me that he might be in trouble; all I knew was that I trusted him and saw him on the ground, so I should lie down too. I went back in the café to do just that when I saw the men from across the street rush to Kaan and take him inside. He had fainted.

I felt like I’d lost my mind. I wanted to cry, I wanted to lie down, I wanted to rip my face off. My skin was burning, my eyes were welling up. I panicked; there was no one around, no one to tell me what to do. I wanted to throw the tshirt to the ground because I, too, couldn’t breathe through it. Every time I’d lift the thing away from my mouth, my skin and senses hurt that much more. I was so scared that Kaan wouldn’t be okay and that I’d die in the café all alone. Luckily for me, Kaan came back a few minutes later, grinning through his tears. I could hardly speak; my face was burning. He led me to the kitchen and squeezed a lemon into my hands. Following his orders, I started to rub it onto my skin, which only stung more. He kept giving me lemon juice, and I kept rubbing it onto my face. After what seemed like forever, he let me splash my face with water. All I could think about was how painful my skin was. And then, wonderfully, my next biggest concern was the snot dripping into my mouth.

I was really shaken up. I called my professor in tears, saying I wouldn’t come to school today due to the protests. He said he understood, for which I’m tremendously grateful. I probably could have gone; by the time I would have left, the protesting had died down tremendously. There were rumors of protests near my school, but nothing was on the news. After fifteen minutes or so, my face and sinuses and throat had all returned to normal, but I was so shaken up. I felt so useless! Poor Kaan had fainted, and all I’d done was walk up and down the café wondering what to do. Thank God for those neighbor men who took him inside and saved him.

In my defense, I’ve never been in anything like that in my entire life. The closest I’ve been to a riot was probably when the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in like 1998 and Denver fans went crazy. While this wasn’t exactly a riot, it felt like one. There were police, gun shots, protesters, and tear gas on every corner. Even walking home today, one couldn’t avoid the sting of tear gas floating in the air. I’m so thankful that I was with Kaan at the café. If I had been alone at home (though it may not be pertinent because I don’t think the protests made it over here), at school, or out on the streets, I wouldn’t know what to do. In fact, I would be even more useless than I actually was because not only would I not know what to do, but I wouldn’t have anyone to rely on to help me figure it out.

So that was my tear gas/IMF protest experience. Kaan thinks tomorrow will be bad too. I have classes tomorrow, so I hope nothing will get in the way of that. I’m scared to be apart from Kaan; although it means getting tear gassed too, I’d rather be with him than be worried for him. We’ll just see how tomorrow pans out.

I think it’s so stupid, these protests. It seems to me that all these alternative philosophical groups like anarchists jump on board events like the IMF protest just for the publicity. I suppose an anarchist might oppose the IMF/World Bank, but I think the protest would have been more effective as a peaceful sit-down or something. I wonder if it was more of an opportunity to clash with the police and be rebellious than actually to demonstrate against the IMF. Then again, it could have been an actual protest with the violence initiated by the police. I joked with my mom that although I don’t have a residence permit, the police aren’t looking for illegal aliens; they’re too concerned with squashing dissident voices than looking for those who don’t have their stupid residence permit. How true is that? I don’t know. As an American, I have a rather negative view of the police and tend to side with civilians. In Turkey, the police are one of the most trusted institutions, just after the military. My experience with them has been less than ideal, so maybe I’m prone to bias and stereotypes. But I’d rather be biased and safe at home than be biased and teargassed.

On the plus side, I got my FedEx package today. I got my glasses and residence permit and a pair of socks. Woohoo!

And at least I got a long, interesting blog post out of today. There’s always a silver lining!

adventures in bureaucracy--say what?!

As some of you may know, a foreigner wishing to stay in Turkey for longer than three months must apply for a residence permit. Having been in Turkey for the 2006/2007 academic school year, I had already applied for and received such a permit. However, upon my return to the states in June of 2007, I imagined the permit useless and stashed it in a drawer with my other trip mementos. Its location moved around and around until settling into a drawer on my desk. After two years, I had forgotten about it. When I decided to study again in Turkey, I didn't think I would need to bring my old one. I thought it was a one-time thing! How was I to know? I suppose every person must take control of his or her knowledge, but AFS didn't explain anything about the permit to us. I didn't think to look anything up. I just assumed it was a one time deal.

Operating in this mindset, thinking that I'd apologize for having lost the thing and they'd chide me and reissue the permit, was clearly a mistake. I made my application and showed up for my appointment at the police station. I waited for four hours (the idea of the appointment is a joke. It works to limit the number of people who show up any given day, but the appointment is only to take a number. You can take a number on time and still end up waiting four hours for your number to come up.) with Kaan, only to be told that we were missing the slip of paper indicating it had been lost.

Say what?! I'm standing right in front of you saying it's been lost! But of course, that isn't ever enough. So we leave to try to find this slip of paper. Apparently all that needs to be done is go to a jail (I don't know how else to explain it. Anywhere with police is a police station to me, but here somehow there are different places. The police station where we were was NOT the police station that could issue the necessary document) and announce the document missing. At that point, the idea is the policemen will write out this little paper, sign it, and stamp it; that should have been the end of it.

So Kaan and I find the nearest jail and obtain this piece of paper. We walk and walk and walk, getting increasingly more annoyed with each other and with the situation. Finally, we find the jail. We are getting hopeful; maybe we'll be able to finish the application process today and it'll be so easy! We walk into the station and are quickly reminded that nothing is easy in bureaucracy.

The police officer sitting at the desk takes one look at us and declares, "We don't do that anymore." Say what?! I can hardly believe this. Maybe it was a recent change and the guy at the OTHER police station just hadn't heard yet. Still hopeful, we returned to the first place, where the almost helpful policeman still wouldn't give me my residence permit. I had let Kaan do most of the talking, so I didn't hear or understand very much. What I did gather was that any and every jail should be able to issue this slip. I guess the police officer at the other jail just didn't feel like working.

Having nothing left to do but get this damned piece of paper, Kaan and I decided to try our luck at another jail. We made our way back to Taksim and up to the door of the police station. The guard standing there listened to our tale and seemed sympathetic. Maybe this would be more successful! Unfortunately, he said, he was practically the only person around and wouldn't be able to help us at the moment. "Come back in two hours," he said. We went to a cafe and hung out, watching a soccer (futbol) game to pass the time.

Two hours later, we returned to the police station. Our helpful friend was nowhere to be seen. Instead, we walked up to another officer in the building and explained our situation. He listened and chided me for being irresponsible. "How could you lose a document like this? Who does that?" I sighed and wanted to roll my eyes. Yes, I lost it (though not really. I just didn't bring it and didn't remember where I had put it!). Yes, it was irresponsible and stupid. But does that mean I have to be talked down to? I was peeved. But did he accept my idiocy and write the sheet of paper? No. He continued, abusing Kaan and our relationship. "Doesn't she have any other Turkish speaking friends? You're making me mad. Take your American and go the bar or the disco or whatever you're doing here. Get out of my face, you're making me mad."

Again, say what? Not only did he not want to do his damned job by writing the slip of paper, he was completely rude about it. I noticed Kaan's anger rising, and we obediently left. I can't tell if the officer was just a jerk, or if he was put off by our appearance together. Kaan's being a Kurd always worries me when we're together in a situation like that; so many people will jump to conclusions about his intentions and will refuse to believe that we do know and love each other. Is it so unreasonable that a foolish, irresponsible American could really actually love a poor, working Kurd? By the way some people look at us and treat us, you'd think it was.

Anyway, that final encounter ended a day of disappointments (except for the soccer match; my team won!). Not only had we waiting IN VAIN for FOUR HOURS, we were tired and feeling very disrespected. We were no closer to getting the residence permit than we were when we had set out at noon. I called my mom in desperation and explained what had happened. I asked her to start looking for the thing again. I named off locations where I might have put it. She, too, searched in vain. We gave up, joking that as soon as I came home I'd be able to pull it out of wherever it was. Kaan and I were not looking forward to the possibility of facing more rude police officers in an attempt at getting this 'lost document' form. We decided to venture to the American Consulate for help; that is what it's there for, right? Something like that. We decided that we'd go and show up and explain the situation. They'd be obligated to issue a statement that these asshole policemen would be obliged to write me this damn piece of paper. Then, we'd go back to the first police station and get my residence permit.

At least we had a plan, no matter how far reaching. We went to bed confident that everything would soon be resolved. And really, it shouldn't have been such a big deal. I had everything I needed, minus this ONE slip of paper. I was TRYING to follow the laws and do what was required of me. The problem was lazy, possibly racist and definitely rude police officers were refusing to do THEIR job and get me the document I needed to follow the law. It was just a silly, strange predicament. As a result of the stressful and hurtful day, I didn't sleep very well. I kept having these horrible anxiety dreams about what would happen if I didn't get the residence permit.

Despite not sleeping well, I awoke in the morning with a slowly forming idea. At 730am it had fully developed. Hurriedly, I called my mother (thankfully it was only 1030 or so there, I didn't have to wake her up!) and recited my discovery. The residence permit was in a plastic box inside a cardboard box in my basement in Colorado Springs. My mom quickly unpacked the box and pulled out the little blue book in triumph. Finally! The plan was, then, to scan the pages, email them to me, and then FedEx the book to Kaan's cafe so that we could return to the police station as soon as possibly.

The FedEx package is currently in Paris. I'm almost ready to start hoping that maybe we can solve this residence permit nonsense soon. Later that day, Friday, I decided to try to start another application (because the old one said I had lost it. now that we've found it, I can just say it's for renewal or something) and make another appointment. I left for school early in the morning to use the internet and discovered all the appointments were full. The earliest appointment I could secure was at the end of October. Ugh! I called Kaan to ask what to do. He decided that when we get the residence permit from FedEx (hopefully tomorrow!), we'll storm the police station, show up without an appointment and without a number, and demand that they finish my application.

I really hope it works. I'm not looking forward to being 'illegal' for a whole month. I have my doubts, however. It seems reasonable that they'd be particularly anal about my application and appointment. I'm anticipating getting there and barging in, only to be told to make an application and an appointment. I guess we'll see. At least this time I'll have the residence permit, even if it did expire two years ago. Inevitably, this will offer another set of problems to deal with.. but at least I have the damn thing.


On Friday, instead of going to the Consulate, Jessi and I went on another adventure together. Unfortunately for all of you, I'm really exhausted after recounting my Thursday experience. Maybe I'll type it up at home and post it tomorrow. But maybe not. If my package arrives tomorrow, Kaan and I will probably go to the police station. If it doesn't come, I have to go to school at one or something for the level one Russian class. Boo hoo. I still have to figure out what I'm going to do about that.

Until then, I highly recommend MLIA. It's wonderful.

universe: 1, sara: 0

And just to keep things in balance, our new washing machine has somehow brought an infestation of bugs. My arachnophile friends Kim and Ken, have brought to my attention the existance of a Turkish cockroach. Despite having only ever seen cockroaches in the zoo, I'm inclined to believe that my bathroom is the new home to several hundred (maybe even thousand!) cockroach friends. Of course I'm exaggerating, but after watching little bugs scurry all over my bathroom floor and walls, it wouldn't matter if there were four or four thousand. All are equally creepy and gross. Maybe it's time to get a cat or a lizard. Or maybe a cockroach-eating human-friendly spider of some sort. We had a similar problem at the old apartment; I think they had made a nest in the wood by the door, because I would often see them creeping in or out of the wood doorstop. After a couple of floor-flooding showers I didn't see so many of them, but I also adopted a policy of only using the bathroom when completely necessary and waiting a minute or so after turning on the light, so they would know I was coming and would all appropriately hide. After coming to this arrangement, my only qualm with the bathroom at the old house was the lack of toilet. That, unfortunately, was not as easily amendable as turning on the light a minute before entering the room.

This week begins the hell that is the residence permit. Today, Tuesday, I'll be accompanying some friends to the police station to translate for them at their meetings with the "foreigner's desk". I'm actually rather concerned because no one has really received a straight answer on what is necessary. I'd hate to have to come back again and again every week just to find a new problem has popped up. Many of the other Erasmus students have already gone, with limited success. My personal appointment is on Thursday, so I'm trying my best to view this trip as dress rehersal. I've already been issued a residence permit, so I'm a little concerned that this will be a big problem. If one has already received a permit and is applying for another one, the police station wants a photocopy of all necessary pages as well as the original and the number. I, of course, have put the damn thing in a box somewhere in Colorado. Thus, I have neither the original, a photocopy, or the number. I've indicated that it has been lost on my paperwork, but I'm sincerely hoping it won't be a problem.

My Russian class is looking to be equally complicated. The class for which I'm registered, LAN 431 Advanced Russian, has only two students in it. Apparently the other student isn't an advanced Russian speaker. This leaves me and the teacher. The teacher, an Estonian with a strange accent, only speaks Russian and Turkish. Between the two of us there's enough knowledge to hold a relatively successful conversation, but not nearly enough for me to inform him of what, precisely, we have covered in the last year with Luc. He seems to think I'm somewhere in first year. Regardless, he doesn't seem too keen on holding a class for two students. He's asked me to attend the level 1 class. The very, very beginning class. Where they'll apparently be learning the alphabet for a month. I'm happy to come and help out, but where is MY class? Do I get to learn anything? I need the practice, I need the review. Maybe we can work something out. However, until then, the score remains Universe 1, Sara 0.

sorry for any typos in this post. I typed it this morning in notepad, but the blogspot update doesn't seem to recognize the imported text as wrong.

riding in cars with boys

On Saturday, Jessi and I ventured to the tourist part of town to see Sultanahmet (the Blue Mosque) and Ayasofya (Hagia Sofia). With our spanking new museum cards, getting into the Ayasofya museum was super easy. It was nice to bypass the lines, for once!

It was Jessi's first time at visiting Ayasofya, so I was more than happy to wander around the museum while she took it all in. It is quite an amazing place, especially considering when it was built. Such an amazing piece of history! And it's really wonderful that it is still standing and functional. Just amazing. I've been several times, but I'm still blown away every time.

The trip to the mosque was a little rushed. It was nearing prayer time, so there quite a lot of people around. I opted to stay to the side and let Jessi do some exploring. I'm not really a big fan of ornate mosques like that. Sure, they're beautiful to look at! But I feel like that detracts from the purpose. I feel the same way about churches. I'm always more interested in looking around at the building than paying attention to whatever is being said in a service. Maybe it works for some people, but I'd rather have something simple than overly ornate.

After visiting the mosque, I decided I was going to search out the Grand Vezir tea house. Maybe two years ago, the Sheikha Habiba in Boulder mentioned that there was a Jerrahi tekke in Istanbul. She sent me very vague directions: go to the Grand Vezir and ask for Edip Amca. He'll show you or tell you where the tekke is. So for a long time I was curious about the location of this particular tea house. I'd never been able to find it, although I didn't spend an extraordinary amount of time looking. I mentioned to Kaan that I was looking for it and the tekke, but we never ended up going. So when Jessi and I were looking at the Egyptian Obelisk and I noticed the Grand Vezir tea house nearby, I was very excited. I told Jessi I needed to ask them something and ran across the road.

Excited and nervous, I asked about this gentleman. They told me to wait at the next door carpet place, that Edip Amca had just left. So Jessi and I waited. He had apparently gone to pray, and we were expected to wait for him. He didn't ever show up, which was slightly frustrating. However, we were introduced to another older gentleman, who entertained us for half an hour or so. His name was Erdogan Amca (if I remember correctly). He also goes to the tekke and will take me if I show up. He explained to us some symbolism in the Ottoman seal, the tugra. He told us of his love of carpets and of cars. Being some sort of mechanic or engineer, he had renovated a 1930 Mercedes and was still driving it! He took us out to show us the car; it was really remarkable. He said it was something like 6 meters long and had been running for 37 years. It was the sort of car I imagine Atatürk riding in.
(it's Jessi's photo!)
Anyhow, we mentioned to him that we were going to head back to Taksim to get some food and drink. Just as we're about to leave, he tells us to wait just one moment. After a couple of minutes, he comes back out and opens the doors for us. We eagerly climb into this beautiful car and off we go, three new friends in an amazing old car!

I was so incredibly thankful that Jessi was so patient. It was a long, tiring day. We were both grouchy and hungry. Waiting for a mystery gentleman in a strange carpet store for almost an hour did nothing to help our mood. But I'm really glad we stayed and chatted with Erdogan Amca, because it ended up being a really awesome thing, riding in this amazing car with a sweet old man. Even better, he told me that I'd just need to show up on Monday, and he would take me to the tekke. I'm not sure if I'll go today or not, but I'm really glad to finally have an opportunity to continue my study of Sufism.

sick for the holidays

This weekend was the end of Ramadan. In Turkey, it's celebrated by the three day Şeker Bayramı ("holiday of sweets"), in which people visit their loved ones and celebrate the end of the month of fasting. Most of the other exchange students took advantage of the 4 day weekend to go visit some other cities in Turkey. Jessi and I stayed in Istanbul, due to a lack of money. Kaan worked all weekend, so I didn't really have any desire to go anywhere else. It was a pretty low key weekend, highlighted only by my acquisition of a cold. I'm still feeling a little phelgmy, but otherwise alright. Kaan and I spend most of our free time blowing our noses and coughing like demons. It isn't pretty.

However, in light of being sick, I wrote out some tips to staying healthy while traveling. I don't think anyone should follow these as The Truth, but I think they've helped me recover rather quickly. I think they're good tips to help keep the body healthy and strong! You might still get sick, but these are good ways to minimize that risk.
Sara's Tips for Staying Healthy While Traveling
1. Consult your doctor before your trip about any specific health concerns you may have. He or she might have some suggestions for things to take with you or short-term tricks for healthy travels. You might also want to ask about any necessary immunizations for the trip or just receive a basic check up before traveling. It might be good to check in with your doctor (or nutritionist, chiro, massage therapist, whatever!) well before your trip, to allow the most amount of time to deal with any hidden health issues he or she may uncover.
2. Pack a multi-vitamin. While it doesn't replace eating healthy meals, it's a good way to make sure your body can still function on a basic, cellular level.
3. Wash your hands. It's common sense! If you are concerned that you won't be able to find soap and water, bring some hand wipes. In Istanbul, nearly every cafe and restaurant has their own supply of wipes, so they're easy to come by here. It's also very easy to buy some from home and bring them along. Almost every drug store should have some kind of antibacterial wipe.
4. Bring vitamin C for the plane ride! I like Emergen C, but I think there are a couple other 'drink mix' type C packets that are available. Since Vitamin C is water soluble, the body will only absorb and use certain amounts at a time. By taking it in a drink mix, one is able to space out the intake of C, thus allowing the body to maximize its absorption. Since they often come in flavors, it's a nice alternative to water and soda. Also, vitamin C can help keep things flowing smoothly, which can be tough to do while traveling.
5. Eat your veggies. If you're noticing that you aren't getting your regular varied diet or are relying on high carb, high fat, high sugar type foods to get full, you might try grabbing a salad next time you're out. I'm going to guess that even in the farthest corners of the earth one can find a salad of some variety. Giving your body raw veggies will help keep you in balance and ensure that you're getting those 6-8 servings a day. Eating a lot of vegetables can help keep the immune system active, which is always helpful after enduring a 8+ hour plane/train/car ride. Be sure to wash your produce well, if you plan on cooking or snacking locally.
6. Bring food from home. This can be much easier to do on a car or train ride than on a plane trip, especially with the TSA restrictions. However, if you anticipate not being able to find a lot to eat at your destination, try to pack some protein bars or easily-accessible snacks. I find that Larabars are particularly great for this; they aren't too expensive, they're raw, and they tend to fill me up. Even better, they're not too bulky, so it's easy to pack a lot. I also find that I get pretty hungry on long plane rides, so I make sure to pack some extra bars in my carry-on just in case.
7. Pack appropriate clothing. Even if you're going to be staying in a hotel just down the street from the hottest club in Russia, don't forget to pack your jacket. Almost everything can be purchased at your destination, but it can get pricy. For wintertime travels, you might be smart to check out a nearby REI (or other similar outdoorsy store) before your trip. They might have some advice for layering; some fabrics will be very warm and bulky, while others will be lightweight. Summertime traveling is much easier to pack for, but do be sure to pack some light layers just in case. While staying warm won't necessarily prevent one from getting a cold, it certainly helps.
8. Be active. Some cities are very tourist friendly and will have buses and taxis readily available to whisk one away. Other cities will force tourists to walk to and from any destination. In many cities in the States, it's far easier to drive somewhere than to walk. Depending on where you visit, it can be tough to remember to stay active! Go for a walk through the nearby park or even just around the block. This is especially helpful in keeping your immune system strong and adjusting to a new time zone. Be reasonable, though; don't wander away from your hotel (or hostel, home, motel, whatever) without knowing how to get back. Be sure to tell a traveling companion or hotel worker where you're going and when you'll be back. If it's late in the day or early in the morning, try to take a buddy. Don't overexert yourself! The point isn't to train for a marathon, just to keep those colds at bay and keep the body healthy. That being said, however...
9. Don't be afraid to stay in. If you start to feel yucky, turn off the lights and sleep for a day. While it is a shame to not be able to see the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben, it's more important to take care of yourself. Let your body rest. If you suspect that you might have picked up something serious, let your host know, be it a friend, family member, or hotel worker. They'll help you find out what the best course of action is or where the nearest hospital is.
10. If need be, don't be afraid to cancel your trip. It's definitely a bummer to miss out on a cool trip (especially when you pay all that money!), but it would be an even bigger disappointment if you, say, died or spent the duration of your trip in the hospital. Make sure you're up-to-date on what's going on in your destination. The U.S. State Department asks international travelers to register their trip. In return, they supply travelers with updates on any security or health concerns that might pop up in their destination. Another good resource is the World Health Organization's website. In light of recent epidemics, it can be good to know what's going on and what you can do.

That's all I could think of! There are probably many other lists of tips to stay healthy while traveling, but this is mine.

Since we didn't have school on Monday or Tuesday, it's been a pretty slow start of school. Maybe next week I'll be able to really feel like I'm in college again. We don't seem to have any books for the classes, so I'll see how that works out. I think for one class, the teacher will put together a collection of readings which will be available in the copy center. For another class, we'll download PDFs off of the internet. There are also three recommended books, but one is 17 lira, one is 35 lira, one is 68 lira. I don't know if I'll be buying all or any of them!

I have no other news. We're slowly getting things together for the apartment. Photos are coming, I promise!

the mysteries of college and a REALLY long entry

Classes "officially" started on Monday. My first class (Advanced Russian) was Monday morning at 10. Being the punctual American student that I am, I was up by 9 and out the door by 930. Since the school is only about a five minute walk from my house, leaving early is only slightly unnecessary. I arrived early enough to have some simit for breakfast and acquaint myself with the general layout of the building. At about 950 I found my classroom and waited outside. No other students were milling around, so I started to get a little concerned. The hour came and passed; no one showed up. I waited almost half an hour before leaving. Maybe the professor had sent out an email declaring class canceled for the day? I tried to check my email at the computer lab, only to find it locked up. Defeated, I returned home and was determined to try again on Tuesday. I spoke to an employee in the International Office who seemed to think this was normal; since it was the first day of school, maybe people were still coming back from holiday or were busy moving.

What a stark difference from the States! The first day of school isn't necessarily "important" as far as receiving information, but it is typically attended by all. We meet teachers on the first day and receive the syllabuses for all the classes. It's usually the earliest opportunity to determine whether or not you'll /like/ the class or the teacher. Apparently here, the first day of school isn't nearly as important! What a strange idea.

Since the campus wasn't very far from my house, I didn't feel particularly put off by the lack of class. I decided that the next day, Tuesday, would be far more successful. So, in a similar fashion, I woke up early on Tuesday morning. I ate my simit and sat outside my classroom waiting for any sign of life. Again, the hour came and went; still, no one showed up. I didn't wait half an hour this time! After about fifteen minutes had passed, I declared my class "empty" and left. I had intended to get some things done while still on the campus, but none of the teachers I needed to talk to were around, the computer lab was full, and the library wouldn't let me use the computers there. Again, defeated, I returned home.

Normally, a student would be rejoicing at having two extra days of summer! Don't get me wrong, I definitely enjoyed my empty days. The only problem is this: I'm terrified that this Russian class will be far beyond my current language level. I was hoping to take a 'test drive' on the first two days. If it was too difficult, I'd be able to drop it and try to take a different level or a different class altogether. Next week is the add/drop week, but Monday and Tuesday are both holidays. So, I won't have the class at all before add/drop, and I won't know if I'll be successful in the class. Most likely I'll be fine, but I don't want to paint myself into a corner with no chance of escape!

Wednesday was a much more successful school day; I had two classes, and both were attended by the students AND the teachers! My morning class, Turkish language, will most likely be my easiest class. Most of the students have only had a little bit of Turkish. Apparently Erasmus provided a month-long intensive language course, so the majority of the class is too advanced for the beginning section but well below my own level. It will be a great chance to brush up on my grammar, so I'm very excited. I think the teacher might be a great resource if I run into trouble in my Russian class. Not only is she a language teacher, but she knows Turkish and English well enough to help me with both.
The majority of the class is from Germany. I shouldn't be surprised by that, I suppose. Turkey and Germany have a relationship similar to that of Mexico (or, I suppose, much of the Latin world) and the States. Just as many students in the States take Spanish and vacation in Mexico (at least in Colorado!), many Germans take Turkish and visit Turkey. I'm told that even in Germany, Turks are regarded in a similar light to Latino/a immigrants in the States. I can't say for sure whether that's the truth, but I hope it isn't. I think immigrants in all parts of the world are receiving an unfair knee-jerk reaction by nationalist populations. What do I know, though? It's just my impression.

But anyway, back to classes. My Turkish class is mostly German, with one Czech and one Dane and myself. The three of us mostly stick together; we were lucky enough to bump into each other a few times around school and around the city, so we're pretty well acquainted. It's nice to have some almost-friends!

Jessi, the other American student, has been really a great friend lately. We have two classes together. It's nice because I can bounce ideas off of her without having to think about what words I use and how quickly or slowly I speak. We have Balkan Politics and Turkish Politics and Foreign Policy together. Yesterday was the Balkan Politics class. At this point I'm so tired of writing about school, so I won't go into much detail about it. It will be a lot of reading, but we only have it once a week. The teacher is excellent, and while the class is mostly foreigners, I'm excited to have some Turks in it as well. Even after just the first day, my understanding of nationality versus ethnicity has really evolved. It's really a line of thought that I'm exploring on my own, but listening to some people discuss their ethnic background in relation to their current nationality was really interesting.


I can't believe I'm writing this much. It's absurd! But I haven't had my laptop with me for the last few days, and I apparently have a lot to say.

Yesterday, Kaan took the day off and moved us into the new house. I can't wait to get some pictures of it! It's so big. Something like it in the States would easily go for $600 or $700US. We're getting it for 550TL, which ends up being about $375US. Absolutely unbelievable. The street is pretty quiet, except at night, when the teenagers all come out to shout at our window. It's close enough to the main road that coming and going is easy, but far enough away that we don't have a lot of traffic noise. There is a mosque practically next door, which makes sleeping a little difficult (but at 5am, it's alright. 5am is one of those times that you practically can't NOT sleep, no matter what you wake up for). There's a beautiful old church right across the intersection. I don't know if it is 'working' exactly, but it's nice to look at. The building itself is pretty old. There's a tag near the door for an electric company with Arabic script/numbers, and an address for Constantinople. I'll take a picture of it; it's really neat. The apartment has these huge ceilings which will make changing the light bulbs very difficult. We had quite an adventure trying to hang the curtains. We ended up having to put a 5' ladder on the couch in order to reach the curtain track. I was terrified, but Kaan, being the little macho man he is, fearlessly scaled our creation and got our curtains hung. I'm not a big fan of curtains, but in a city like Istanbul, where everyone is living so close to each other, they are completely necessary.

Things with Kaan are going pretty well. He works a lot, so I spend a lot of my time sitting at his cafe. Generally it's quiet and relaxed, so I don't mind passing the day here. I often read or surf the net. Plus, I get all the tea I can drink for free! You can't beat that. I wish he worked a little less, but there isn't much I can do about that.

His day starts around 8 or 830, when he comes to open the cafe. He works alone until around 12, when the only female employee, Gül, shows up. At 1, another worker comes. The three of them work until around 5, when the next guy arrives. Kaan gets off at 8 or 830--a 12 hour day. He works for an abysmally small amount of money but seems to enjoy his work enough to not complain. I'm always concerned how we're going to make it on his small income, but I trust that things will work out. The fights we have are about his smoking and my wanting to pay for everything. I find it amusing that most couples fight about not having any money, while we have some money and fight about who gets to pay for things. I end up winning most of the time, but I know it pushes his buttons that I'm the one with extra money and he can't provide for me. It's another thing I don't really understand; I chalk it up to being not only an American, but an intelligent and independent woman. I don't feel pressure to adhere to the stereotypical gender roles of a relationship! But since Kaan and I are different people, living in different societies, and working off of different backgrounds and experiences, I don't expect that he will so easily shed the standards of society. Oh, intercultural romance.

Today, Thursday, I have absolutely no plans. I'm supposed to be settling things into the house, unpacking and so on. I really don't want to though! I'd rather sit around and type novels to my audience of 7. Perhaps later I'll be productive.

registration? check!

Well! After a good long day of bureaucracy, I'm a registered student at Bilgi University, AND I have classes.

My schedule is fairly light; I decided to only take four classes this term. I've never really taken a light course load. My excuse is I want to ease into the year. I /might/ consider adding another class next week, during the add/drop period. We'll see. So far, I'm taking Turkish for Foreigners 2, which might be way too easy for me; Advanced Russian, which might be way too hard for me, given that its taught in Turkish; Balkan Politics; and Turkish Politics and Foreign Policy (something like that). I was thinking of taking the History of Istanbul class. I might still: if Russian is too hard for me, I can take this class in its place.

Monday I have two hours of Russian in the morning, from 10-12. Tuesday I have Russian from 9-11. Wednesday I have Turkish from 10-12, then Balkan Politics from 2-5. Thursday is empty (hurrah!), but Friday I have Turkish from 10-12 and Turkish Politics/Foreign Policy from 1-4. There are a couple other classes I was looking at which I could add if I desired; however, I am really looking forward to having an empty schedule. We'll see how things work out.

Today I had to go to one of the other campuses. My school has three, two of which I've seen. My classes will be at the Dolapdere campus, which is excellent because my house is close to it. Kustepe isn't so far from us, but it does seem to be in the other direction. The third location, santralIstanbul, is a complete mystery to me. I hear it's most like a stereotypical American campus, with a lot of open areas and buildings. It is where there used to be a power plant, so they have a little museum dedicated to energy production and things. I would like to see that campus eventually. For the time being, however, I have no desire to go down there just to look around.

So I'll attend my Russian class on Monday. I sincerely hope it isn't too difficult for me. This weekend I think we're going to be moving. I hope so anyway! I've heard that there isn't any electricity in the apartment for the moment; it hasn't yet been opened. Kaan was supposed to go do that today, but I think there was a problem. We'll see. I'm mostly content for the time being, but I do hope we get a chance to move before school starts (not like I have a very busy schedule!). I still need to get a desk/table to do homework on.

Cameron sent me his address, so I'll probably begin to prepare letters and gifties. If any of you would like anything, feel free to comment below with an address or send them to my email address at kaptan_sara at hotmail dot com.

Sorry about the punctuation!

All I want to say is this:
Im very excited for school to start. It will be so nice to be able to update my blog from my own laptop, instead of going to the internet cafes to update. It will be nice to have something to do during the day! I love being lazy, but Ive almost had enough.

I go to register on Friday. Then classes start on Monday! Eep!

Kaan and I are moving into a new place almost immediately. We found a very cute 'little' 3 bedroom apartment for a pretty good price. We might even rent out a room since we have so many. Im very excited, though its been tremendously stressful trying to collect all the money necessary for the deposit.

So anyway, it looks like things are finally getting going.

So I arrived safely in Istanbul a number of days ago. Kaan picked me up from the airport with my two HUGE suitcases (I think both were around 50lbs each (close to 22 or 23 kilos. The scale at the airport wasn't properly zeroed so I got away with being just over the weight limit on one bag). Together we made our way back to the apartment. I was shocked when I first walked in--it's tiny! I'll try to get some pictures later. We might be moving, so I don't want to get ahead of myself. I'll try to describe it.

We have three main rooms--a bedroom and two salon type rooms. The room in the center of the apartment has access to the bathroom and kitchen. Neither are very big; the kitchen could fit four people standing front-to-back. There is hardly any counter space. I would say one could maybe fit a microwave on the open counter. We have a sink that doesn't have much water pressure and a refrigerator in the living room. It isn't so bad, because I don't need much room. Now that we've purchased a single gas powered stove top (the gas container is about a two-gallon jug size and the burner is standard sized), I feel more comfortable with the kitchen. It's certainly workable.. but the bathroom? We have a six foot wide, 2.5 foot deep bathroom. It's absolutely tiny! And there isn't an actual toilet, just a hole in the ground. Our shower head is between the sink (approx. the size of my laptop's keyboard) and the toilet, and it points almost directly toward the door. Also, I'm pretty sure there are baby cockroaches living in the bathroom. It's pretty awful!

We do have access to a small communal courtyard. It's very cute! But unfortunately, I think the neighbors use it as a workplace during the day, so it's very noisy in the morning. I'm really very satisfied with the place except for the bathroom/bugs. The neighborhood seems to be a bit poorer, which doesn't bother me. We live with a mix of poorer Turks and Kurds, which is interesting. Lots of different things to hear walking down the street! I haven't met anyone yet, but I'm sure I'm quite a sight in that part of town. Some of the children shout "hi" to me as I pass. A foreigner in their neighborhood is bound to cause a stir. Add in my extremely pale skin and long dreadlocks, I stick out like a sore thumb.

As I said, Kaan and I have been thinking about moving. We've been halfheartedly searching for a nearby, inexpensive, slightly nicer apartment. I'm set on having an actual toilet, and he's set on having multiple rooms. This presents a slight problem, as most of the inexpensive multi-roomed rentals nearby are either out of our price range, don't have a Western toilet, or won't rent to an unmarried couple. I'm content to help pay rent to have my damned toilet, but he seems reluctant to do that (oh, masculinity!). Apparently, if we find a place through a rental office, we have to pay a month's worth of rent to the agent as commission. This is making things a little difficult on top of it all.. Coming up with three months of rent on a limited salary will certainly be a pitfall to moving.

My friend from Denver has safely arrived in Istanbul and has settled into the dorms. I haven't yet met up with her. We could have met up today, but I am only able to check my email at Kaan's cafe and didn't get her message in time. We might be able to meet up tomorrow; otherwise, I'll see her at the Erasmus orientation on Tuesday.

Mostly I've been sitting around at Kaan's cafe during the day. I don't have much desire to do any shopping; since he works all day, I'm left alone for the majority of the week. As a result, I tend to just hang around his cafe. I really hate doing that, but until I make friends/meet up with some of my old friends, I'd rather be around people than not.

So, things have been sort of slow getting started. Kaan works all the time, and our apartment leaves a lot to be desired. My goals in the next week are as follows:
-buy a better outlet adapter so that I can use my computer at home
-locate a better place to live!
-meet up with my friends so I don't feel like such a burden at the cafe
-learn more about my classes and school situation.

I hope these are reasonable goals.

My sister and I did a lot of filming before I left. I'll try to edit and upload it soon! For my Turkish readers, how do I bypass the youtube block?!

I haven't been fasting here. I was traveling for two days, and the remaining 3 we haven't had enough food at home to be able to safely fast. I hope to soon, however!

Kaan only has half an hour left at work, so I suppose I'll pack up. I'm eager to leave.

More soon!

Ramadan and counting down

Yesterday I enjoyed my last day of work! It was relatively low-key. There weren't too many customers, so I had a nice leisurely evening with my coworkers. I sure will miss those people!

I've now been fasting for a week. It isn't fun, exactly, to fast, but it is tremendously enlightening. My first experience with Ramadan was back in 2006, during my first excursion to Turkey. I only fasted for a day but was shocked to discover how proud I was of my abstinence. I felt like I was participating in something bigger than myself; little did I know how that feeling would stick with me three years later.

The following year, my first year in college, I fasted for the whole month. I told myself that I was only going to do it to see if I could. Sure enough, I did it. Again, I was overcome with a sense of accomplishment and pride. I realize now, after a couple more years with it, that fasting isn't about pride. We do it because it is humbling, and it is asked of us. I find it to be a reminder of the human condition. Many are without the luxury of eating 3+ times a day. I can say with confidence that I understand how it feels to be hungry. Certainly, I've never gone hungry for months or years. I've never struggled to make ends meet. I've never been forced to live on the street. But Ramadan is a good start. It is a time to help us remember the gifts in our lives and how easily those can be taken away. It's a time for introspection and dedication, for learning and reading the Qur'an and growing as a spiritual person. Ramadan teaches us submission, which is really the heart of Islam.

This year, I feel a lot smarter. The first year I truly fasted (2007), I was excited to talk about it with everyone. I made sure the people around me knew what I was doing. I had no idea of the religious elements of fasting; I just wanted to be doing something different. I did get involved with DU's MSA, but I never really stuck with the group. The second year I fasted, I was working full time and wasn't waking up before Fajr to eat breakfast. As a result, even though I wanted to be fasting, I ended up feeling weak and dizzy. Since I was working sometimes 10 or 11 hours a day, my health and well being were really starting to deteriorate. I decided to not complete the fast, only making it through a couple of weeks.

This year, I feel more humble. I try not to talk about it; I feel like excessive excitement about fasting can detract from the introspective, spiritual element of it. I'll certainly answer questions posed by my coworkers and friends, but I'm not shoving it in anyone's face. I'm also taking care to wake up and eat breakfast, so that I have the energy to stay upright during the day. This is particularly important, as having low energy makes it more difficult to be kind to oneself and one's surroundings. I find that I still start crashing in the early afternoon, but not to the extent that I was last year. I still don't have a good grasp on the religious aspect, but I'm getting there. I frequently find myself whispering some of the shorter surahs of the Qur'an to myself during lulls at work in an attempt to memorize them. I can almost complete a prayer on my own, relying minutely on my books to guide me. I anticipate that next year will be even more spiritually enriching for me, and I'm very excited for it. I'll try to read more of my Qur'an in the upcoming days.

I have about 2.5 days left until September 2. I've received some more information from my university in Turkey. It looks like I'll be in the political science department. I hope this won't adversely affect my desire to take international relations classes. I'll find that out the week of Sept. 11. I go in on the 11th to register, so I will (hopefully) find out more about class selection then. We have a 6 hour orientation on the 7th. I'm not quite pleased about the length of time, but I am glad it's shorter than the two-day orientations many of my friends are enduring.

Speaking of my friends, I believe that all but one has departed. It's been tough to say goodbye to so many all at once! Kyle is in Denmark, Cameron is in Russia, and Jenn is stranded in Japan for the moment. They all left within a week of each other, so it's been pretty dull for the last couple of days. My buddy Scott leaves in a couple of weeks, so I can only imagine that he's feeling pretty bummed as well. There is one girl from DU going with me to Turkey. It'll be nice to have someone nearby to talk to and hang out with. I'm excited to show her around.

In the next few days, I'll be packing and narrowing down my lists. I'm trying to find the perfect airplane playlist and reading list; it's much easier said than done! Hopefully I'll have a chance to try out my video editing software so I can start posting some vlogs. I have recorded a couple of short clips for it (mostly they're me staring at the camera and making weird faces, but it's a start), so if you're interested in that, stay tuned!

limbo

So I've returned from my trip to Seattle! Overall, it was an excellent trip. There was far too much hooliganism than I'm used to here in Colorado, but I had fun. Mostly Grant and I stayed on the island, only venturing into the city on a couple of occasions. My hair appointment was wonderful; Lish is a great woman and a lot of fun to be around. While it was long overdue, I found that the tidiness into which she forced my loose hairs didn't last very long. By the next night I was noticing the little fuzzies popping out. I'm sure most of that was due to my excessive pillow burrowing.

Grant and I spent the week catching up, smoking hookah, and generally being bums. There was lots of youtube watching, lots of drunk song singing, and much facebook stalking. I met many of his friends and was pleased to introduce him to one of mine, Roy. I believe I mentioned Roy in my previous post; he's one of my oldest friends. I had the pleasure of flying him out to Seattle and showing him around for a few days. He partook in many of our shenanigans and inspired many of his own. I introduced him to falafal and The Stars. We rode on the ferry as often as possible and exchanged gushy promises about the future. After a particularly stressful day, we even indulged in a classy dinner at the Space Needle! I took some video to potentially kick off my vlog, but it may not be posted.

So now I'm 17 days away from my flight. I'm beginning to accumulate the necessary body care items I'll be bringing (10 months worth of vitamins, face wash, and moisturizer is not only expensive but really effing heavy!). I'm getting concerned that it won't all fit into my one suitcase. Consequently I'm thinking about taking two bags. What sort of a diva does that make me, if I need an entire suitcase for my shampoo and conditioner? We'll see. I may have to sacrifice convenience for more suitcase room. Perhaps my mother can mail me a five month supply once I get settled in. Also, taking school supplies will be spacious. I was never able to find an appropriate office supply store while I was in Turkey before. I'm going to bring some of my own and hope to find the rest somewhere! So what is really happening is this: I'm compromising my limited luggage room by bringing lots of toiletries and school supplies. Will I be able to pack everything I think I need without having to pay for any extra weight? Will I have to take two bags or have a package sent midway through the year?

Ramadan is coming up in less than a week (approximately). I tried to fast last year, but between full time work and full time school, I found myself starved and weak. I'll try again this year and hope it goes more smoothly. Since I'll be traveling, I won't be required to stick with the fast for at least two days. We'll see how it goes. What was one year an amazing experience ended up being terrible the next. I hear it's been really hot in Istanbul, so it might be really difficult. Long, hot days and not eating or drinking? Sounds like trouble!

I don't know what else to say! I want to try to pack my suitcase early to make sure I can fit what I need. Now that airlines are charging for everything, I want to be prepared!

here we go again

On September 2, 2009, I will be embarking on the second half of a grand adventure.

It all started in 2006 when I decided, as a junior in high school, to spend my senior year abroad. After a few unexpected turns of event, I ended up studying in Turkey for the ten month academic year. The year was full of adventure and education; upon return to the US in July of 2007, I had become a certified turkophile, gobbling up whatever opportunities I had to read about, talk about, think about, and revisit the country as often as they were presented.

Now as a junior in college, I've been given the chance to study abroad for a second time. For much of my final quarter of sophomore year I considered studying in Russia; after all, I am a Russian major and could really benefit from the time spent immersed in Russian language. As the application deadline drew near, I began to weigh my options. While spending my year in Russia would have been a wonderful opportunity to improve my language skills and confidence, my heart was set on studying again in Istanbul.

So here I am, a month away from my flight and from the beginning of another sort of college experience. I'll be staying with my long time on-again-off-again love interest Kaan (we're off-again, if anyone is interested) in an apartment near one of the campuses of Istanbul Bilgi University. I'll be taking a slew of international relations classes, Advanced Russian, and maybe even Kurdish. The plan is to learn as much as I can, without sacrificing my free time and energy.

Here's why you might find this blog entertaining:
You might be one of my friends or family members perplexed at my continuing travels to Turkey and eager to decode my fledgling curiosity with such a complex country and culture.
You might be a student considering a study abroad experience or one of my fellow travelers looking for a way to stay in touch.
You might find amusing the dynamics between kaan and myself, especially if I go more into depth about him.
You might enjoy my anecdotes of college life, of living in a small apartment with an even smaller Kurdish man in a shady part of town, of trying to maintain a shred of privacy and normalcy in a city of 15 million.
You might even be pleased to watch some youtube vlogs that I hope to film, illustrating not only some of the beauty of Istanbul, but some of the more mundane and ordinary sides of life in the city as well.

So now, who am I?
I'm a third year student at the University of Denver. I'm an International Studies major, Russian language major, and Religious Studies minor. I don't know what I want to do after college. I'm a vegan and intend to stay vegan as long as I can while abroad. I'm a dread head, a nappy girl, and a bit of a hippie. I'm a worrier; I'm currently worried about not having enough money to eat and getting stared at for growing a head of dreads. I'm sure when I get there, I'll start to worry about classes and getting around. I'm beginning to develop a concern about the campus situation; Bilgi has three campuses across the city. I'll be living close to one campus, but what if my classes are at another? Hopefully all will be well.

Some names you might see popping up in this blog:
Margaret, my sister at home in Colorado
Roy, one of my best friends in Colorado
Anthony, another friend in Colorado
Cameron, a friend from DU who will be studying in Russia and China, each for a semester
Kyle, another friend from DU who will be studying in Denmark for a year
Jenn, yet another friend from DU who will be studying in China for a semester

I can't fathom that I'll talk about these people much, but here they are just in case.

In my month remaining, I need to renew my scooter insurance, cancel Netflix, and pay tuition.
I'm leaving tomorrow for Seattle, which may be the birthplace of my new vlog. I'll be there for a week, visiting a friend with whom I went to Turkey in 2006/2007 and getting my dreads maintained by lish.

On that note, I should finish laundry and packing. Stay tuned for more updates as I prepare for my exodus to Turkey, as I battle incompetent airline companies and suitcases that refuse to zip shut, and, of course, the whole purpose of this blog, my impending doomschool year abroad.