so being in an apartment is a thousand times better than being in a hostel. sure, there aren't any argentinians obsessed with walt whitman running around, but i have my own space with my books organized on the low table at the foot of my bed, a sitting room- aaaaah.
additionally, uğur is currently in germany, so i actually have the place all to myself. breath of fresh air.
tuesday i mostly just wandered around taksim/beyoğlu. when i say this, don't imagine my day was uneventful. as burcu told me in a facebook message: 'in fact, don't leave beyoğlu. i wish i was there right now.' its quite the place. the highlight of tuesday was the 'homer' academic english bookshop. seriously, it competes with my favorite place in berkeley, university press books. its dangerous, and i haven't been back since.
wednesday i went back to sultanhamet area and went to the hagia sofia. as the guidebooks say, don't be fooled by its drab exterior. it is one of the most incredible buildings in the world, for sure. one of the little plaques on the upper balcony area read 'this is where the empress would celebrate the mass.' one thing i've been trying to do wandering around in all these incredible places is to imagine the now-empty (or at least tourist-filled) buildings in the height of their glory. i have to say it was hard to fathom the hagia sofia full of people celebrating a Christian liturgy.
after the hagia sofia, i went to the topkapı palace, the main palace of the ottoman sultans. i'll have to go back because i skipped out on the treasury (because of long lines) and the harem (because i spent way too much on lunch at the palace cafe- note to self: do not eat in touristy areas), but the place is pretty cool. the view overlooking the rest of istanbul (the palace is on a little cape portion of the city) itself makes it worth it, but the blue isnik tiles really take the cake. when i stop being lazy i'll post pictures, but i highly recommend a wikipedia article or something on iznik tiles- sooo beautiful.
thursday, i took care of little things. electricity, a new pen, a pencil sharpener for my sacred orange pencils- it's amazing what an effect the little things have. additionally, i finally got over to asia and had yoğurt and turkish coffee (i won't debate the merits of calling it 'armenian coffee' since im in turkey) with nicole. taking a ferry across the bosphorus- starting in europe and ending in asia- is pretty freaking sweet. i read the english language newspaper, the 'turkish daily news,' on my way across and felt like one of the thousands of people that commute by ferry across the bosphorus daily.
friday was a trip to the istanbul modern art museum. it was fun, but nothing mindblowing- although the retrospective of a turkish painter, cihat burak, was highly enjoyable. i couldn't bring myself to pay the 60 lira for the book though- ebay anyone?
finally, a couple side comments. on wednesday and thursday, before uğur left, his whole family was around the apartment. i got several family style meals, and weds night we stayed up drinking rakı while they all played guitar, drums, and sang. quite the experience for only using craigslist- i feel really lucky to get a glimpse into turkish life a little. glad i chose to rent a room and not an apartment (so is my pocketbook).
also, i have found my little cafe. many know i love being a 'regular,' and there is this cute little cafe right around the corner from my apartment. the first day i had tea and soup, the next day there was tea on my table and he was telling me what today's soup was. they are really friendly, and it makes my day start really well when i wave and shout 'günyadın!' (good morning!) when i leave the apartment in the morning.
in other words, im finding a niche in my little area, getting a better feel for public transit, and if i could just figure out if there is a drying function on the washer...
pictures soon, honestly! iyi günler! (good day!)
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
hoş geldiniz
after finding the armenian patriarchate in the southern part of the bazaar district, i wandered in to the church (St. Mary). as i was saying the 'Hayr mer' ('our Father') and lighting a candle, the muslim call to prayer began.
yesterday, i read stories from salman rushdie's 'east, west' while sitting in the park between the hagia sofia (aya sofya) and the blue mosque (sultanhamet cami).
yes- hoş geldiniz (welcome) to istanbul!
since its been almost a week, i wont plod through details, but a few highlights are worth mentioning:
day 1 (weds): after deciding to take public transit to get to the hostel (in the rain), a young couple helped me get to taksim square. they rode with me on a dolmuş (shared taxi) and paid my way. what a welcome! right after, another man helped me find the hostel. after, we went for drinks, and, at the end of the night i was brought a bill for 2300 lira (ca. 1800 dollars). i got out of most of it, thankfully because 4-5 beers didn't turn me into an idiot. what a welcome!
day 2 (thurs): mostly i wandered around taksim area in a semi-hungover-very-ticked-off-about-the-attempt-to-be-screwed-over state. taksim has great shopping, and all the best night life. its also incredibly crowded. to imagine istikal street on friday night, berkeley people could imagine telegraph ave packed to the brim on game day, except the street is full of people too.
day 3 (fri): left taksim and bought my akbil, the little device used for transportation- very cool. san francisco doesn't even have fully integrated transport like this. the cityscape is utterly incredible. i'll get pictures up soon, but they won't do it justice. this is the day i found the patriarchate after lots and lots and lots of wandering around the bazaar district. i ate at a nice seafood restaurant and wandered back through the grand bazaar. the walk back over galata bridge is also incredible. that night, i went out with a couple people from the hostel, including one of my roomates who studies political science at the university of london.
a few words about the hostel: chillout was, well, an experience. the staff was full of characters, often there was no toilet paper or power in the middle of the night, but for 35 bucks for 4 nights, im allright with it. the people that i met were amazing. in addition to my roommate, noteables include the young man who was a university of chicago undergrad now doing his phd at oxford and the argentinian who quoted walt whitman.
day 4 (sat): went out with nicole pay, a girl i met last summer in hopes of convincing her to go to berkeley instead of some other crappy bay area school (i told her brown was okay). she is studying in istanbul, and has been for this academic year. it was nice to see a (even if only somewhat) familiar face. she took me to bekek and beşitas areas north of taksim to walk along the bosphorous. to stare across a strait of water not that wide and say ' im standing in europe, that's asia' is pretty freaking cool. we had dondurma (ice cream, yum!) and she took me to another small armenian church in the bebek area (Holy Cross). it was a nice, relaxing day. and, again, its nice to have someone familiarish to hang out with.
found an armenian church much closer to beyoğlu (bey-oh-loo), about five minutes from the hostel, and went there for saturday night services. it was really moving to be at badarak in turkey.
day 5 (sun): Easter! Christ is resurrected from the dead! Blessed be the resurrection of Christ! went back to church in beyoğlu, which was packed. again, i can't stress how incredible and moving it is to see a packed church with a bishop and 15 altar servers in turkey. i never cease to be amazed at the resilience of armenians.
i moved out of the hostel on sunday, and into my new room in an apartment. uğur (from whom im renting the room- its "uh-ur" or close to it) speaks almost no english, so hopefully my turkish will improve quickly. the room is small, but compared to living out of a bag for four days, its an incredible amount of space, and just as much as i could need. uğur is very nice and accommodating- he took care of dinner on sunday and cooked last night...
day 6 (mon): got moving slowly and headed out of taksim to sultanhamet, the main touristy district. museums (the hagia sofia was turned into a museum by atatürk, the founder of the modern republic) are closed on mondays, but mosques are in full operation. as i mentioned, i sat in the area between the aya sofya and the sultanhamet cami (blue mosque). inside the blue mosque is pretty much beyond words. i just sat and marveled for probably half an hour. the pictures will give you a hint, but certainly cannot do it justice.
ooooookay. sorrrry, very very long post. but now we're up to speed, and i should have internet in my apartment starting today, so it will be more convenient to post, as well as pictures. hope all is well, please leave me comments here or myspace or facebook- its much less daunting being on the other side of the world when i hear from my friends and family!
yesterday, i read stories from salman rushdie's 'east, west' while sitting in the park between the hagia sofia (aya sofya) and the blue mosque (sultanhamet cami).
yes- hoş geldiniz (welcome) to istanbul!
since its been almost a week, i wont plod through details, but a few highlights are worth mentioning:
day 1 (weds): after deciding to take public transit to get to the hostel (in the rain), a young couple helped me get to taksim square. they rode with me on a dolmuş (shared taxi) and paid my way. what a welcome! right after, another man helped me find the hostel. after, we went for drinks, and, at the end of the night i was brought a bill for 2300 lira (ca. 1800 dollars). i got out of most of it, thankfully because 4-5 beers didn't turn me into an idiot. what a welcome!
day 2 (thurs): mostly i wandered around taksim area in a semi-hungover-very-ticked-off-about-the-attempt-to-be-screwed-over state. taksim has great shopping, and all the best night life. its also incredibly crowded. to imagine istikal street on friday night, berkeley people could imagine telegraph ave packed to the brim on game day, except the street is full of people too.
day 3 (fri): left taksim and bought my akbil, the little device used for transportation- very cool. san francisco doesn't even have fully integrated transport like this. the cityscape is utterly incredible. i'll get pictures up soon, but they won't do it justice. this is the day i found the patriarchate after lots and lots and lots of wandering around the bazaar district. i ate at a nice seafood restaurant and wandered back through the grand bazaar. the walk back over galata bridge is also incredible. that night, i went out with a couple people from the hostel, including one of my roomates who studies political science at the university of london.
a few words about the hostel: chillout was, well, an experience. the staff was full of characters, often there was no toilet paper or power in the middle of the night, but for 35 bucks for 4 nights, im allright with it. the people that i met were amazing. in addition to my roommate, noteables include the young man who was a university of chicago undergrad now doing his phd at oxford and the argentinian who quoted walt whitman.
day 4 (sat): went out with nicole pay, a girl i met last summer in hopes of convincing her to go to berkeley instead of some other crappy bay area school (i told her brown was okay). she is studying in istanbul, and has been for this academic year. it was nice to see a (even if only somewhat) familiar face. she took me to bekek and beşitas areas north of taksim to walk along the bosphorous. to stare across a strait of water not that wide and say ' im standing in europe, that's asia' is pretty freaking cool. we had dondurma (ice cream, yum!) and she took me to another small armenian church in the bebek area (Holy Cross). it was a nice, relaxing day. and, again, its nice to have someone familiarish to hang out with.
found an armenian church much closer to beyoğlu (bey-oh-loo), about five minutes from the hostel, and went there for saturday night services. it was really moving to be at badarak in turkey.
day 5 (sun): Easter! Christ is resurrected from the dead! Blessed be the resurrection of Christ! went back to church in beyoğlu, which was packed. again, i can't stress how incredible and moving it is to see a packed church with a bishop and 15 altar servers in turkey. i never cease to be amazed at the resilience of armenians.
i moved out of the hostel on sunday, and into my new room in an apartment. uğur (from whom im renting the room- its "uh-ur" or close to it) speaks almost no english, so hopefully my turkish will improve quickly. the room is small, but compared to living out of a bag for four days, its an incredible amount of space, and just as much as i could need. uğur is very nice and accommodating- he took care of dinner on sunday and cooked last night...
day 6 (mon): got moving slowly and headed out of taksim to sultanhamet, the main touristy district. museums (the hagia sofia was turned into a museum by atatürk, the founder of the modern republic) are closed on mondays, but mosques are in full operation. as i mentioned, i sat in the area between the aya sofya and the sultanhamet cami (blue mosque). inside the blue mosque is pretty much beyond words. i just sat and marveled for probably half an hour. the pictures will give you a hint, but certainly cannot do it justice.
ooooookay. sorrrry, very very long post. but now we're up to speed, and i should have internet in my apartment starting today, so it will be more convenient to post, as well as pictures. hope all is well, please leave me comments here or myspace or facebook- its much less daunting being on the other side of the world when i hear from my friends and family!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
quick london trip
okay, since i havent written a thing, im going to break it up a little, especially because typing on a turkish keyboard is taking some getting used to.
ill start with a very short description of my day in london, where i managed to leave the airport and see the city for a little. i hopped on the rail/subway/whatever the heck its called in london, and made it to the british museum. as an anthropologist, i figured the one thing i wanted to see was the rosetta stone- so i did. additionally, there is an incredible collection of ancient near east reliefs, many of which i studied in my class on the art and archaeology of ancient syria. essentially, i walked around saying ´wow!´for about an hour. mostly, this story is told through pictures which i will hopefully post on facebook, and also have many to see upon my return.
thats pretty much all there was to my day in london. more on my first few days in the incredible city of instanbul soon!
ill start with a very short description of my day in london, where i managed to leave the airport and see the city for a little. i hopped on the rail/subway/whatever the heck its called in london, and made it to the british museum. as an anthropologist, i figured the one thing i wanted to see was the rosetta stone- so i did. additionally, there is an incredible collection of ancient near east reliefs, many of which i studied in my class on the art and archaeology of ancient syria. essentially, i walked around saying ´wow!´for about an hour. mostly, this story is told through pictures which i will hopefully post on facebook, and also have many to see upon my return.
thats pretty much all there was to my day in london. more on my first few days in the incredible city of instanbul soon!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
why turkey?
okay, so i'm prepping to leave for turkey. i have absolutely nothing ready, including a place to stay yet. yes, i'm a little freaked out- but mostly i'm excited.
as with armenia, i expect to blog once or twice a week, depending on where i am and how things go. sometimes, i'll probably wax theoretical about secularism or something else that interests me. mostly, i'll stick to travel highlights and a few pictures. more pictures will be posted on the almighty facebook.
so, before i go, a quick answer to the most common question: "why turkey?"
1) historic armenia: eastern turkey is western armenia. van, ani (although i most likely won't get there), cilicia, and chomaklou (the family village). my anthropology work focuses on armenian identity, and therefore i want to see as much of "armenia" as possible. the modern republic and caucausian armenian culture does not exhaust all what it means to be armenian.
2) istanbul: one of the most cosmopolitan, interesting, ancient cities in the world. orhan pamuk's my name is red sold me on the city.
3) turkish and ottoman history: fascinating in its own, see point 1. to understand all things armenian, turkish and ottoman history much be understood. i consider it impossible to fully understand the "armenian psyche" without understanding its relationship with the "turkish psyche."
4) secularism: turkey is one of the most fascinating countries in terms of one the focuses of my work, namely secularism. when atatürk founded the modern republic of turkey, he made it avowedly secular. he abolished the use of the arabic script for writing turkish and founded the republic on a very strict "separation of church and state." the recent outrage over the new law allowing headscarves to be worn in universities is just the most recent example of this legacy. as such, turkey will be highly interesting for my future research goals.
so, these are the basic answers to the "why turkey?" question, leaving out of course, the most simple: adventure.
as with armenia, i expect to blog once or twice a week, depending on where i am and how things go. sometimes, i'll probably wax theoretical about secularism or something else that interests me. mostly, i'll stick to travel highlights and a few pictures. more pictures will be posted on the almighty facebook.
so, before i go, a quick answer to the most common question: "why turkey?"
1) historic armenia: eastern turkey is western armenia. van, ani (although i most likely won't get there), cilicia, and chomaklou (the family village). my anthropology work focuses on armenian identity, and therefore i want to see as much of "armenia" as possible. the modern republic and caucausian armenian culture does not exhaust all what it means to be armenian.
2) istanbul: one of the most cosmopolitan, interesting, ancient cities in the world. orhan pamuk's my name is red sold me on the city.
3) turkish and ottoman history: fascinating in its own, see point 1. to understand all things armenian, turkish and ottoman history much be understood. i consider it impossible to fully understand the "armenian psyche" without understanding its relationship with the "turkish psyche."
4) secularism: turkey is one of the most fascinating countries in terms of one the focuses of my work, namely secularism. when atatürk founded the modern republic of turkey, he made it avowedly secular. he abolished the use of the arabic script for writing turkish and founded the republic on a very strict "separation of church and state." the recent outrage over the new law allowing headscarves to be worn in universities is just the most recent example of this legacy. as such, turkey will be highly interesting for my future research goals.
so, these are the basic answers to the "why turkey?" question, leaving out of course, the most simple: adventure.
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