October 2nd, 2009

Mektep Sokak
Isik Apartments No. 7/4

Fenerbache-Kadikoy
Istanbul, Turkey

Hello All!

Seems I can’t get internet access here at my apartment, but I will have access to free wireless at school, so I thought my best bet would be to write these letters in advance and then post them when I have time. This way you can all get the full benefit of my reflections and experiences since I can write these letters at my leisure and not worry about monopolizing the school’s resources. In fact, as I write these words I am sitting in the living room of my flat here in Istanbul, enjoying a nice cool breeze and a much needed glass of cold water. The address above and to the right is for my apartment. Sokak is Turkish for “street” so Mektep is the name of the street I live on. There is no street number. Instead the location is identified by the apartment complex, building number and then flat number. Fenerbache-Kadikoy is the region or district I live in and of course Istanbul is the city. I will take pictures and post them as soon as I can.
Enough housekeeping. I’m sure you all want to know all that is going on! The plane ride was fine but very long. By the sixth hour I was ready for it to be over, but I just kept making myself go back to sleep and soon it was done. I also kept reminding myself that arriving in Istanbul under escort by the air marshals as “the woman in 37G who freaked out midtrip and had to be sedated” was not the kind of first impression I wanted to make on my new country. So I just kept taking deep breaths and telling myself it would soon be over. Since I had a window seat, I also entertained myself by looking out of the window, although since it was mostly nighttime and cloudy, that didn’t always work so well. I did, however, have a series of experiences (thankfully all internal) that can only be classified as uniquely Nikkian. First, I woke up from a short nap and peeked out the window. It was dark and mostly cloudy but I could see a few stars here and there. Then…I saw it. My mouth went dry. My heart sank into my stomach. I broke out into a cold sweat. How could this be happening now?!? The odds against it were, quite literally, astronomical and yet there it was. What else could it be? As I looked out the window I saw a very large, very bright but very fuzzy light that looked to be very very far away, like star-distance away. Given that distance and its size, my Discovery-channel brain concluded only one thing…there was only one phenomenon in the known universe that would produce such a very large and such a very bright light from so far away…and it was NOT a good thing…we were about to be hit by a gamma ray burst. Yes, I know…I can hear your laughter now but for an embarrassingly long sequence of seconds, this is what I was sure was happening. Then, more of my Discovery brain cells kicked in and said, “Nikki, silly girl, if that was really a gamma ray burst you would be dead and vaporized before you could even think the word gamma ray burst.” So I sat in my seat and had a good silent chuckle at my own expense. Afterall, apparently I was so paranoid about being prevented from starting my new life here that I was willing to conjure up one of the most horrific forces into the universe to stop me. Geez, talk about ego! But then I started to wonder what it really was. We were 30,000+ feet AMSL. What the hell else could be up here that would be that big and that bright? So I tried to look closer. Now, in my defense it was very hazy outside and the glare on the window from the cabin didn’t help. But I kept squinting and shifting position and then I realized that whatever it was it was also pulsing slowly but rhythmically. So I looked some more and tried to pay attention to the areas where the soft fuzzy light hit. Then the pilot came on and said we were passing along the mountainous coast of Greenland. The spontaneous stoopie juice in my brain came immediately and convincingly back to life and I said to myself, “Aha! It’s a lighthouse of some kind and that must be a gigantic, snow-covered, mountain slope!” I was thrilled and thought it was just so cool. And it looked like a mountain slope, it really did!! As if in confirmation, the pilot then put a map of the area on all of the screens and I looked at it and said to myself, “Yep, the mountains would be on our right…I’m sitting on the right side of the plane…that is definitely it.” I almost, almost, nudged the guy next to me and said “Hey! Check this out!” But thankfully I did not. And in the haze it DID look very far away and very big. So now I did go back to sleep feeling very proud of myself and very self-satisfied at having figured out the mystery. An hour or so later I woke up again and peeked back out the window to see what kind of delights my eyes would find next. Much to my alarm the lighthouse and slope were still there! EXACTLY the same size! EXACTLY the same location! I checked my watch. I checked my watch again. No, I was sure I had slept an hour and a half. “That must be some big-ass mountain” I said to myself. But the non-stoopie juice part of my brain had finally found its way out of the locked closest its jokester cousin had trapped it in and in true Back to the Future movie fashion was rapping me on the back of my head saying, “Hello! McWaters! Hello!” And then it happened. The fog cleared. The cloud lifted. And the source of my terrifying gamma ray burst/awesome lighthouse was revealed. Yep, as I am sure you guessed long ago, the whole time I was looking at the wing and the raised light on its end. Granted, the light was much smaller and easier to recognize without the fog and the sense of distance was no longer distorted, but believe you me. If I could have sunk into my seat I would have. I couldn’t say thank you enough for NOT turning to my seatmate and showing him the all-glorious, all-wonderful wing.
Other than that, the plane ride was blissfully uneventful, although we did take an unusual route. I had expected it would be a fairly straight shot east across the Atlantic, but instead we headed north from New York City and skirted the coasts of Canada, New Foundland and southern Greenland. We approached Europe from the north, passing over Scandanavia and Eastern Europe. When we reached Istanbul we had to pass over it and make a circle in the Sea of Marmara in order to approach the airport. By then it was morning so it was a real treat to be able to look out the window and see the city unfold underneath. I didn’t have any trouble with getting my visa or passport entry stamp; I just had to wait in a fairly long line, but it moved surprising quickly. All of my luggage made it through without any problems and I had no trouble finding a luggage cart and hailing a cab. The taxi took me right to the port and following a small bit of confusion over how exactly I was to purchase my ferry ticket (my Turkish came in very handy!), I was able to rest in the shade for an hour and people watch while I waited for the next ferry. It was exciting to cross the Bosphorus for the first time. Such a historic waterway! But the ferry is pretty mundane and is used by many people to cross back and forth for business or whatever. There is another ferry which runs north and south along the western coast and for only a few lira is a great way to tour the coastline for a few hours. I’m hoping to do that this weekend. After we crossed the Bosphorus and reached Kadikoy (about a 20 minute trip) it was only a very short distance to the school. It is so quaint! Via Lingua is tucked into the end of this narrow, sloping street filled with shops and cafés and old men sitting at tables on the sidewalk drinking coffee and playing backgammon. I met both the director and the student coordinator and they were both very nice. They gave me water and chocolates (they definitely know how to treat a woman) and told me a little about the program. Then the director drove me over to the flat and helped me get settled in.
He showed me around the apartment and explained how the stove and water heater work. The place is huge! So much more room than I was expecting. There is a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, an entry way and two bedrooms. I even have my own little balcony that looks out over a central garden. It’s fully furnished with more linens and towels than I could ever use in a month, and even has cleaning supplies. There are plenty of plates and dishes and a full set of cookware and silverware. I’m already envisioning a dinner party or two with my fellow students. Much to my surprise there was a full-size fridge and freezer, and a small washing machine set under the counter in the kitchen like you would see with a dishwasher. I had wondered how I was going to wash my clothes and figured it would be another adventure in Istanbul, but I am very glad for this convenience. There is no dryer, but there is a clothes rack off of my balcony and after observing several other tenants using the same apparatus for drying their clothes, I figured it will be okay for me to do the same with mine. I will keep my socks, underwear and bras inside, though. He also showed me the best way to get back to the school and where the closest supermarket is (only a block away). After he left, I took a much-needed shower (traveling by plane always make me feel so grubby) and had planned on going to the market for some basic supplies and then maybe even walking back to the school while the directions were still fresh in my head just to make sure I knew the way. But after getting cleaned up, I lay down on the bed to rest for just a moment and fell sound asleep. This was around 2pm. The next thing I knew it was 5pm. So I decided I needed to rest and rehydrate more than anything else (I’m so glad I brought that filter bottle with me!) and after drinking some more water, went right back to bed. I got up around 7pm and unpacked and then went right back to bed. I practiced some more of my Turkish language CDs and fell back to sleep around 1am. I didn’t open my eyes again until 9am this morning, but I feel a whole lot better. I’m so glad I came to Istanbul a few days early. It’s definitely going to take me a few days to adjust and get back in synch.

So this morning, after a very good night’s rest and plenty of water, I decided to do some exploring. I went first to the supermarket which is more or less attached to the large football (soccer) stadium which dominates this portion of Kadikoy and is a great landmark for navigation. It was fascinating to wander around the grocery store: at once so familiar, and yet without any English labels which makes it so very very different. I kept it simple: a kilo of almonds, some chicken breast, yogurt, eggs, skim milk and bananas. There is a small store almost right outside the flat which sells 5 litre jugs of drinking water for 2 lira, so that is where I bought my water. It is so close and so convenient I will probably buy all of my water there. It will be very nice not to have to carry it far! I also got a reusable canvas bag, and of all things, a shopper’s club card! Again, the juxtaposition of the familiar and the unfamiliar just tickles me. After bringing my purchases back to the flat and putting them away I had a light breakfast and then headed back out with my trusty compass to trace my way back to the school and do some overall exploring. I tried to keep the compass work subtle. Although I know most people are used to foreigners, compass-wielding foreigners squinting along a sight-line would probably arose suspicion. Fortunately, although I was careful to take enough readings so I could find my way home, navigating in Kadikoy proved to be fairly easy and I didn’t need to use the compass again.
I must say, though, that I won’t need to worry about not going to the YMCA anymore! Kadikoy is very hilly and I feel like I hiked at least twice as far as I actually traveled, but it was time well spent. I started out by making a big loop with the soccer stadium (called Fenerbahce, which is why this portion of Kadikoy is so named) marking the eastern side and the Bosphorus marking the western side. By the time I had worked my way back around to the start, I was recognizing some of the streets and shops and had a pretty good feel for how to find my way around. It’s so easy to become distracted here though! Every street is packed full of shops and cafés and other kinds of attractions. Closer to the ports there are streets full of open markets selling everything from fresh fish to produce of every imaginable kind to olives to breads to spices to meats (both cooked and uncooked). It’s a true smorgusborg of experience. I didn’t buy anything but I truly enjoyed wandering around. There is just so much to see.