October 4th, 2009

Hello!
It has been a great first weekend here in Istanbul. It’s around 6pm now and I am sitting in my flat enjoying a nice pot of ginger tea. School starts tomorrow at 10:30am and I can’t wait to get started. The past four days have been time well spent, though. Today is the first day I feel fully myself again as all signs of jetlag seem to have finally dissipated. I felt pretty good yesterday but was starting to droop by mid-afternoon. Today, however, I was all good to go. I’m glad I’ll be able to start school with a fresh and level head.
Yesterday I took the ferry back across the Bosphorus and toured Topkapi Palace and the Archaeological Museum. They were amazing. I’m so glad I took the time to study Turkish as it has made getting around the city much easier and cheaper. For example, I was able to ask for and buy a refillable transit tag called an akbil that is good for all of the ferries, the buses and the trollies and clips right to my keychain. So much easier than trying to fish for exact change every time! I bought a pass for a month so now I really have free reign to get out and explore.
Topkapi Palace was absolutely beautiful. It was the seat of the Ottoman Empire up until the mid 19th century and as a result, shows a remarkable degree of preservation. I took lots and lots of pictures and will post them as soon as I get a free moment. After Topkapi Palace I visited the Archaeological Museum. Truly stunning. There was a great little drink kiosk out front and I decided to sit and drink some water and rest for a moment before tackling the main museum (there are three altogether). The courtyard behind the kiosk was filled with broken columns and other statuary with the small tables interspersed between. It was neat, although I did feel a little bit like an interloper sitting between all of those relics. By mid-afternoon I was done with the museum and as I still felt pretty peppy, decided to visit the Egyptian Spice Bazaar. (It was on the way back to the port, anyway.) What an explosion of sight and sound and scent and color! Oddly, it reminded me a little bit of Las Vegas; I think it must have been the sensory-overload factor. Next weekend I might try the Grande Bazaar which is a little further to the south, but as the name implies considerably bigger. It covers several city blocks and I figured it would be best to give it at least a day all to itself. When I got back to my flat I took a shower (it is still fairly hot here, in the 70s during the day, and all that walking leaves me sweaty), made some dinner, drank some tea and settled in with the required pre-course paperwork for school. It’s all pretty straightforward stuff: some basic biographical information, a curriculum vitae (which I already had) and a brief statement of goals. I finished it last night and was happy with the result so I felt free to go back out and do some more sight-seeing today.
I got up early and headed back across the Bosphorus on the ferry to visit Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. They were simply too beautiful for words to describe and it brought back so many memories of the trip here in March. Again, pictures will be forthcoming. I knew both sites wouldn’t take me all day and was really looking forward to doing some exploring and finding a little café where I could have lunch and coffee, but just as I was a few blocks away from the mosque…rain! I wasn’t expecting it so of course I got thoroughly soaked. Fortunately I had brought a scarf to cover my hair while visiting the mosque so I was at least able to keep my head dry, but the rest of me was pretty squishy. As soon as I passed a trolley station I used my transit tag to scurry right on into the stop and out of the rain. Although I only had about 5 blocks to go to reach the port, my sense of adventure only runneth so far and it does not typically run in the rain. I was very glad to get dropped off by the port and make my way into the ferry station. I only had about 10 minutes to wait for the next ferry (they run about every 15 minutes) and was able to get on early and find a nice dry seat by a window. Attendants always come by selling juice, tea and coffee and I was very glad to shell over a lira for a cup of steaming hot joe. Twenty minutes later we reached the port at Kadikoy and I felt like a real woman again instead of drowned cat (I like getting caught in the rain about as much as they do. I’m so glad it wasn’t raining when I arrived!). Fortunately it had mostly stopped raining, just a scattered drizzle now and then, so the 20 minute walk back to the flat wouldn’t get me soaked all over again. As a result, I couldn’t help but let myself become distracted by the fabulous open market just a few blocks from the port and treated myself to some cooked dates and dried white sage. I love the way the white sage smells and I placed several bowls around the flat when I got home. I used to do this all the time at the cabin in Indiana and it was very nice to have a touch of the familiar.
I had bought some chicken breast at the grocery store the other day and since I was home early, decided to cook them all up so I would have ready-made meals for this week. I then more or less just puttered around for the rest of the afternoon. I reviewed my paperwork for school and made sure I had everything ready to go tomorrow morning. We are starting out with an introductory get-to-know-you breakfast at 10:30am and I thought I would bring the small package of maple sugar candy to share. I’m excited to meet my fellow students and get started with the program. I know it has only been a few days but I already feel like an old hat here in Istanbul. But you know me. I’ve been doing my best to blend in and for the most part it’s worked very well. Several folks have told me that my accent is actually pretty good, so it’s only my limited vocabulary that really gives me away. (Although my pale skin will always be an indicator no matter how fluent I become!) I have a small Turkish phrase book that I bought at Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago and it has been incredibly handy. It’s small and light enough to carry in my purse and has been very useful for identifying words on signs and ferry schedules that I don’t yet recognize. It also has a pronunciation guide which has been great whenever I’ve needed to speak a word that wasn’t included in the CD lessons. I’ve been picking up pamphlets and brochures as I see them and using them to expand my vocabulary. Something as seemingly simple as being able to read the word “Women” will go a long way towards preventing a potentially catastrophic faux paus. I’ve also been trying to learn the various words for the kinds of meats and vegetables I like so ordering food will be a lot easier.
As I mentioned, there is a large soccer stadium just a block or so away and tonight there must be a game. As I write, loud chanting and singing is coming through my open window, accompanied by what must be foot-stomping and clapping. The Turks do enjoy their soccer! Again, so familiar and yet so different.