Yalnız karanlıkta evde: Alone in the dark at home

Why was I sitting in our room, in the dark, playing with my 1996 model cellphone last night?

The background to this story is that Alex's program sponsors a number of Saturday field trips. Yesterday they went to Edirne for the whole day (The pictures will be on Picasa soon).

I spent the morning and afternoon with our flatmate, Simem, and her five year old niece, Zeynep. While Sinem was getting ready to go, I played with Zeynep. She told me all sorts of things and I did my best to keep up with her! We played pass the basketball and count to twenty... I did OK with that game. We played with the cats and she explained what the bebe and anne were doing.
Our first stop of the day was the Post Office to mail a suit, dress shoes, and hiking boots to Claudius, who rented the rooms to all of us. We took everything in plastic bags to the Post Office on the assumption they would have boxes for sale. They did, in one (very) small size. Without any explanation to Zeynep, Sinem ran off to get bigger boxes from a fast food restaurant nearby. The niece took it all in stride... at the Post Office with a stranger and auntie just ran out the door. Sinem got one big box, which we used to send the suit and shoes. And then, she asked for two small boxes, tape, and a knife in order to build a bigger one for the hiking shoes. I'm laughing to myself that in a U.S. Post Office, they would have told us to get out of the way and come back prepared. We were doing all of this box construction on somebody's desk, by the way. But it all worked out... and Zeynep didn't get antsy until the very end!
Then we hopped on a city bus to Ortoköy to take a little Bosphorus cruise. Since the cruise wasn't going to leave for an hour, we found a nearby playground for Zeynep while Sinem and I enjoyed a midday beer. We shared a cheesy gözleme that Zeynep fed to the birds. Once on the boat, we got blown about by the wind and watched the other people as much as the coastline. The cruise was just an hour long and more than enough for Zeynep, who started to fall asleep on the bus back to Taksim.
I was pretty sleepy, too, since Alex got up a 5:30am to get ready for his trip to Edirne. After Sinem's sister came to pick up her daughter, I collapsed for a nap. When I woke up in the evening (3 hours later), no one else was home. So, I did my Turkish homework, ate a lazy dinner, listened to "This American Life" podcasts, played with the cats (more on those little monsters later), etc. This was fine until the power went out. Ha.
Then I had to decide how much battery power to drain from the computer. Instead, I sat aroundin the dark, experimenting with every possible key combination with my little phone. I even learned that it has a flashlight! Ha ha. The power fluctuated for the next couple of hours before Alex finally got back from his trip. But, by that time, at least I could use my cellphone flashlight to find my way to the bathroom...

Competition: What is the best cat toy ever?

What is it?????
Post your guesses... and I will reveal the answer soon!
(See the comments for the answer...)

İlk ders Tömer'da: First class at Tömer

It's a good thing I got an early start this morning becuase I got myself lost on the way to class! When I went to register, I found the building without any problem. Today, of course, nothing looked familiar and I wandered about for awhile, and then just started over from the last point I knew was right. Once I found the building, I still had to find my classroom. Just outside the office, there was a crush of people looking for the their names on the posted class lists. I misread "Z" for "2" and headed for the second floor. Nope, none of these rooms had beginning classes. Try again. OK, then I saw it was a Z, and what can that possibly mean? No classrooms in the basement, just in case. But there was one class on the ground floor. Aha! This is my class...
In my class, there are some 15 of us, including one male student. The teacher, Sinon, is also a man. The few women I spoke to all are married to Turkish citizens. Now there's a practical motivation to learn Turkish! I think most of the students are in their mid-20s and a few of us are older. The majority are Russian speakers, then Chinese, Korean, Iranian, Rumanian, Libyan, and me. There's a significant range of proficiency in the beginner level, but that is typical of language classes. Sinon worked hard for those 3 hours and 40 minutes--and the time went by quickly enough. I definitely empathize with him!
I'm really glad to finally be studying Turkish!

Gezme: Sightseeing

I know I said that Aya Sofya is the best, and it's true... but it has real competition! Here are some photos from the Naval Museum, Istanbul Archeological Museum, and Topkapı Sarayı (Palace).

As you can see, the chain didn't save the day!

Who needs a living palm tree, when you can have one of stone at the Archeaological Museum?

Detail from the tomb of Alexander the Great (or so they say...)

Many, many shards of pottery from Troy!

Uhh, what myth is this?

Summer garden at Topkapı Sarayı. The sultans had some things figured out!

Like how to cook on a grand scale!

Roofline at the palace

Great tree in the palace garden

Vitrinlere bakmaya çıkmak: Window shopping

When I explore the city, I don't always bring the camera... and go for the unmediated experience. Invariably, I see something fantastic that I want to show people! Nevertheless, I've been wandering through the markets in Sultanahment, both the touristic ones and the local areas. These are arranged by type of goods. So, all of the electronics shops are together, then the grocers, then the clothes, up the hill to the jewelers and carpet sellers. The protocol is completely different for foreigners and local shoppers. Yabancılar (like me) get the hard sell, and any eye contact raises the stakes. I wear my sunglasses and put the peripheral vision to work. Even so, the shop keepers try their best: "You're going the wrong way! My shop is over here." and "I can not see where you are looking, but I would like to show you my carpets." Nice try, guys!

İlginç web sitesi: Interesting website

http://www.360tr.com/topkapi/index.htm

360 tours of Topkapı Sarayı... Give it a try!!

Bozuk para: Change

It's a genuine phenomenon... Turkish cashiers loathe to handle large bills. Fine, you say, just use acceptable demoninations. Ah, yes, but ATM's almost always dispense in 50s. Today I went to one of the major banks in Taksim Square to get bozuk para. I took a number, waited patiently for 20 minutes, explained myself in Turkish, and the clerk told me she didn't have enough small bills! (In the bank?!?) Guess I need to get more strategic...