parades

One thing I love about Istanbul is that the city is so big that there's always something going on. Most of these goings on happen in my part of town, so I often get a chance to see some pretty exciting things.

Today, my visiting friend Cameron and I were hanging about the Taksim Square area when a parade of boating enthusiasts passed by. There were people from Indonesia, Croatia, France, Russia, Ukraine, and even Poland. There were marching bands, songs, and some people dressed as animals. It was pretty much the best parade I've ever seen. Cameron and I got to see it three times. First, we watched it go by as it entered Istiklal Caddesi. We watched it a second time as we walked along it, passing the various groups and interrupting camera shots. Finally, after we passed the first group a good kilometer down, we got to watch it all pass by again. It was a lovely thing. I'm trying to see if we made it on the news as observers.

Traveling is always more fun with a friend. Watching the locals can even be fun with someone to chat with. Much of our day today was spent just people watching and strolling around the streets of Taksim. It's nice to finally be in a position to host someone and show them around.

I've been taking advantage of having my friend around by bouncing ideas off of him for the future. I have a lot of plans bubbling around in my head right now. It's definitely helpful to have someone to discuss them with.

I suppose the conclusion of this post is that parades are awesome, but even better with a friend.

50 days

Friends, I have less than fifty days left here in Turkey. What an upsetting thought! I feel like I have so much to do in school and so many things I haven't done, people I haven't seen!

I did have a terrible experience today. After a lovely dinner, Kaan decided to buy what looked like prickly aloe vera leaves. "Here, you'll like this," he said, handing me a piece. It was terrible. I took one small bite and could hardly finish chewing. He's eaten six or seven leaves of this thing; I don't know how he does it! I also don't know what this thing is. He doesn't know the Turkish name for it, so I think I'll forever be wondering. (Apparently the Kurdish is ribis?)

I find that I often forget that Turkish is Kaan's second language. It's difficult to imagine your partner's past, especially when it's so different from what he or she is living today. Hopefully we can go visit his parents soon, and I'll be able to have a better understanding of what his childhood was like.


Also, today is Mother's Day! I sent my momma a nice email; I'll probably buy her some nice earrings to give to her when I come home. I hope everyone has hugged their momma or at least called her to say hello. Kaan and I tried to call his mom, but we had some trouble reaching her. Perhaps we can try again a little later. Anyhow, to all the mommas out there, happy mother's day!


I want to thank all of my foreign commenters for regularly leaving such pleasant comments. I do wish to ask that future commenters refrain from linking to other websites; I will from now on moderate all comments and delete any that contain links I deem inappropriate. I would like to think this won't deter anyone from reading or commenting, but I'd prefer the be an unread blogger than be a place for advertisements.

I was totally wrong.

Today was not scary or dangerous at all! I'm so pleased. I think I saw two conflicts on the news. Considering Taksim Square was home to tens of thousands of people, that's a really great achievement.

I think today was handled exceptionally well by people from all sides.