How I Met a (Novice) Spy

Leaving London, on the last leg of my trip back to Turkey, I met a newly hatched, not quite ready for prime time CIA agent (purely my supposition, of course). He was one of the last people on the plane, and he sat next to me. At first he was quite chatty, and I decided to be social for once and asked if he was on his way to Istanbul or travelling on. He said he was staying in Istanbul, and in response to my other questions, said it would be his first time there, and that he planned to stay for two years--hanging out! (Rich kid's vacay?) So then I asked if he had already learned about the residence permit process, which has gotten much trickier in the last few months. He said, no, but his "friends in the consulate would help." Then he ended the conversation by putting on a neck pillow and eye shades and falling asleep (snoring, I might add) for the rest of the flight. Fine, whatever, dude. But I realized something, from the neck down, he looked normal in a "I- wear-punk-rock-t-shirts-but-don't-know-the-music" kind of way. From the neck up, he looked like a young, conservative, religious Turkish man. In the customs area of the Istanbul airport, I saw him breeze through the diplomatic staff line, and the pieces finally came together. Aha! This one doesn't quite have his cover story down yet, and probably is too excited not to talk at all about his first job. I can only hope that he doesn't cause too much damage to the rest of us in his part of the CIA machinations.

Balat

Balat is a neighborhood on the European side of Istanbul where there used to be large Jewish and Greek communities. The old buildings are slowly collapsing and/or being gentrified. A couple synagogues and orthodox churches are still there as well as a Greek primary school for boys. 

The Greek School

Saint Mary of the Mongols

Tunnel in Saint Mary of the Mongols

Cat!

The Ecumenical Patriarchate

24 Hours in Bursa

This weekend, I made a quick trip to Bursa with my friends Mary and Lauren. Mary is leaving Turkey soon, and she wanted to get souvenirs from the silk markets in Bursa. When we left Sarıyer in the afternoon, the skies were dark and grey, and the wind was picking up. We were taking the metro all the way to the end of the line to get to the ferry boat port. When we got to the escalator to the street, it was pouring, and in the three minutes from the metro exit to the street, we were completely soaked. At least it wasn't a cold rain. We took a tiny cab ride to the port (it would have been a 10 minute walk), and arrived with all of the other soggy passengers for the ferry.

Three Hour Tour

There are two boat options: the car ferry and the "sea bus." The sea bus only takes foot passengers while the car ferry takes both. We had thought it might be less hassle to take the sea bus, but we didn't count on it being a much smaller boat that would get buffeted about in the choppy waves. When we got to the Bursa port (about 1.5 hours later), they could not dock safely for nearly 20 minutes. The boat kept rocking and smashing into the wall of the dock. All the impatient passengers were crowded by the stairs, lurching with the boat. We sat, and waited. Just before they let passengers off the boat, these two very young men in pilot?? uniforms exited the front "personnel only" section of the boat. They looked about 14 years old and were blushing pretty deeply. Oh my. Even though passengers could get off the boat, it was still moving unpredictably, and it was a real relief to get back on land!
After we checked into the hotel, Mary and Lauren's first order of business was to buy new shoes--theirs were too soaked. We got that done around 7:30pm, and we started walking around the area looking for a place to eat. Of course, it's Ramazan, and if it hadn't been so close to sunset (8:48pm), we would have found a place relatively easily. There were attractive restaurants all around, but they were set up for the iftar meal. We finally figured out that we would have to wait until sunset, too. By chance, we found a welcoming, small restaurant, with a table for three on the patio. The other lucky part was the iftar menu wasn't meat heavy. We sat and waited for another 15 minutes, others have been waiting since sunrise by the way, for the canon to sound the end of fasting.
On Saturday morning, the souvenir shopping extravaganza began! Bursa has countless intertwined covered markets, passages, and hans. Each han is a remnant of the Silk Road, where caravans would stop to rest and to sell their goods.

We arrived around 10am, and most shops were just opening up. At the first place, Lauren bought a scarf and when she put the money on the counter, the shopkeeper grabbed it and threw it on the floor. What? Later, at the next shop, Lauren asked the shopkeeper about this and he told us that it was an old tradition to throw the money from the first sale of the day on the floor, just a superstitious gesture, not a comment on Lauren's payment!

Here are a few details from my photos: 

Lunch time!

One major item on Mary's agenda was to eat Iskender kebap one last time. Neither Lauren nor I were interested in this, so we had our lunch at the Arkabahçe Cafe (pictured above). We sat with Mary, though, while she enjoyed her meat-fest of a meal:

Lamb, tomato sauce, bread, yogurt, hot pepper; all drenched in browned butter... mercy!

After our late lunch(es), we had a little more time for shopping; then it was time to collect our bags from the hotel, and make the trek back to the ferry port to return to Istanbul. The trip back was much smoother because the only option was the car ferry, not the sea bus. We had seats close to the front windows, so I was able to get a few shots of the approach to Istanbul.

Welcome back!

Ramazan in the summer

Sign: Welcome to the Sultan of the 11 Months

The fasting month has begun; in Turkey it's called Ramazan, and it apparently began a day earlier here than most other Arab and African countries. In any case, these are the longest days of summer. People get up around 3:30am to eat before sunrise (5:30am) and the fast lasts until nearly 9pm at night. Sunset is around 8:40, but there is one last prayer before people should break their fast with the iftar meal. In our area of Istanbul, there are plenty of people, Turkish and foreigners, who are not fasting. (Our neighbors, whose kitchen abuts our bedroom, are observing Ramazan. Good thing we have extra beds in the "office" rooms!)

Where are all the people?

Yesterday, we went on a walk in the very beautiful and usually crowded park, Emirgan Korusu. It was nearly empty because so few people were there to picnic during the day. There were hundreds of empty picnic tables!

On Istiklal, the huge pedestrian street where there are frequent protests, there was massive iftar organized by the "Anti-Capitalist Muslims."

The more typical public celebration is a month-long Luna Park / arts and crafts fair after sunset. I might try to go to one of these this month... we shall see.

Pasta Salad Fail

There have been very few completely inedible dishes at the university cafeteria. Veggies are generally overcooked, but today's "pasta salad" wins the dubious prize of: Foods I Can't Take a Third Bite Of.
First bite, hmmm, strange sauce, what is it? Second bite, NOOOOOOOOO! It's ketchup!?!!!

THE HORROR

The sandalet saga

Hypothetical sandelet

Ahhhh, summertime--how nice it would be to have a pair of sandals to wear! Oh wait, I still have gigantic, godzilla size feet unlike the rest of the female Turkish population (strangely enough there are three of us monster-footed women in my office). What to do...

In one of my wandering walks around Sarıyer, I noticed that one of the shoe stores on a side street had a sign advertising they could order small or large sizes. Well, then, I went in and browsed. Most of the shoes had scary high heels, but there were a couple pairs of sandals with reasonable wedge soles (not as nice as the image above, though). 

I managed to ask whether they had the sandals in size 42, and the owner dutifully performed the "shock-and-pity" reaction, staring down at my feet in case I had simply gotten my Turkish numbers confused. No, they didn't have them in stock, but they could be special ordered. The price was reasonable, so I said yes. He told me to come back the following Tuesday, but since we would be in Trabzon that week, I told him I would come back the week after next.

On Monday of this week, I went back to the store. He was on the phone, but he stopped for a second to tell me, "Yarın," that is, tomorrow. On Tuesday, I returned around 5pm. When he saw me come in, he said that he needed to make a phone call. He reported back that the sandals would be in the shop by 7pm. I said, OK, I'll come back tomorrow. On Wednesday, I returned and told myself that if the sandals weren't there this time, I would quit chasing after these non-existent shoes. This time he said that the shoes came, but the shoemaker put a heel on the sandal, not a wedge. We both agreed that wedge was better, and that is what I originally wanted. He then said he would personally go to the workshop and see that the sandals were made with a size 42 wedge sole. Got me! At least this time I got a business card with his name and phone number. 

But, I wimped out about actually calling...and went back to the store two days later. As I was walking down the street, the store owner was outside, and he told me, "Olmadı" -- It didn't happen. Apparently, the size 42 wedge soles were not available after all. I guess I should be grateful that he finally said so... 

Trabzon & Batumi

What a week! We really packed in a lot in a few days. On Monday we flew to Trabzon to visit our friend Sarah and her family. Of course, the weather was rainy almost all week... thank you very much Black Sea!

A break in the clouds at the end of an all-day rain

We enjoyed our time hanging out with Sarah and her family. Here is her son Deni at an uncharacteristically calm moment.

Deni in a more typical mode

Deni and Ruslan 

While Trabzon is much smaller than Istanbul, it is quite lively with its 1 million people in the city center. We went to Trabzon's Aya Sofya, which has recently been reconverted from a museum to a mosque. There is a small inside area that is set aside as a secular space, but the main floor design is completely covered by the rugs for the mosque. Plus it's too bad that very little care was put into making the mosque itself look interesting. Here are some details that show the overlapping church and mosque from centuries before:

Aya Sofya Church/Museum/Mosque

We also went to the Trabzon Museum, which features ethnographic and archaeological artifacts:

Do not adjust your set, this is Flat Mercury.

Oh dear, Turklish.

We walked around town:

In the market

Our big adventure was going to Batumi--just over the border into Georgia. Sarah had spent two years there before settling in Turkey, so she was happy to shepherd us around. She speaks Russian and some Georgian, which made everything much easier! Ruslan heroically stayed behind to watch Deni. Before we left, Ruslan kept telling us that Georgia is "wilder" than Turkey. If by wilder, you mean on average poorer, then yes it was; for example, the infrastructure was crumbling, cows meandered across main roads, and there were second hand shops on every corner. Other differences include masses of Russian tourists, Dubai style modern architecture, public drunkeness, and men folding up their shirts to expose their beer bellies when they get overheated. Aside from the Russians, who were dressed to party, most people were in very humble clothes. 

In about 24 hours, we walked along the coastline, walked around the city center, went to the Archaeology Museum, went to the Botanical Gardens, rode a funicular, and ate a lot! It rained, of course, but we never got soaked. For me, the Botanical Gardens were the highlight. They were just out of the city and amazingly lush.

Archaeology Museum

Botanical Gardens

The funicular ride was more fun for some

Our new favorites: Tarragon Lemonade and Borjomi mineral water

Important decisions to be made

Waiting to eat, again!

The minibus at the Botanical Gardens

I know I dwell on transportation details, but this trip represents a new level of ad hoc getting there. So, from Sarah's apartment we took a taxi, a minibus, and an intercity bus, which picked up and dropped off passengers every 10-15 minutes along the highway. At the border between Turkey and Georgia, we got off the bus, and walked through customs. The bus was stuck in line with all of the commercial traffic. We called the bus driver once we got to Georgia, and he said it would take a long time for the bus to catch up with us. From there, we got a minibus to Batumi. The whole trip took about 5 hours.

On the way back, we caught the minibus back to the border, walked through customs, and negotiated seats on a random intercity bus back to Trabzon. This part was the most haphazard because the bus assistants didn't tell us where to sit, and in the middle of the trip two new passengers got on with tickets for our seats. Grumpiness ensued, and Sarah and I had to move to other empty seats. At least there was a friendly person who switched seats so that we could sit together. Alex thought they were going to kick us off the bus, and he got up too. The bus assistant told him to stay, and as Alex walked back to his seat, he got yelled at for tripping on the loose carpet in the aisle! Jerks. The other detail they didn't bother to tell us is that the bus would stop on the highway next to the airport in Trabzon to let us off (as opposed to the dropping us off at the bus station). So, we were completely surprised when they yelled at us to hurry up and get off the bus. Luckily there was a minibus right there to take us to the city center in Trabzon, where we caught one more minibus to get back to Sarah's place. Phew.

Then we just had one last day to hang out before going back to Istanbul. That trip was remarkably easy and low-key. We came back laden with goodies: Tarragon lemonade, Sulguni (a kind of Georgian cheese), and mountain honey (and everything stayed intact in our checked luggage!!).

Tomorrow I go back to teaching for the 5 week summer term. Ever onwards...