Walking with Purpose -- Istanbul, Turkey

My meeting with Melek was canceled this week because her well-traveled husband is, well, traveling. He's currently gallivanting about Ireland, Spain, France and Belgium, interviewing important people and in general, being much more productive than me. So instead of gorging on homemade Kurdish food with Melek whilst correcting her English and then challenging her to a rousing game of Foosball, I spent Wednesday lackadaisically meandering about the city center. I wrote at the Coffee Point. I napped at Cesim's in front of the ever-present, all consuming Turkish TV.

I've been in Istanbul for nearly two months and can still barely understand a word of the language, but all the crying women and indignant men and melodramatic music make me think I'm better off not understanding. Although it isn't tremendously difficult to infer what's going on.

And I thought American shows were bad. These make me cringe. How can people watch this stuff? I wondered as I drifted off into a shallow sleep, haunted by mustached men and underscored by sensational, exaggerated violins.

I've been spending as much time as possible in the city center, as of late. I love Umit, Seher, Ayse and Öykü, but Beylikdüzü makes me feel an uncomfortable combination of detached and confined. It's a safe area of Istanbul (due to the fact that no tourists visit. Ever), but terribly uninteresting and not a place one walks for the pleasure of walking. In Beylikdüzü, one walks to the pharmacy for baby supplies. One walks to the supermarket for a gallon container of yogurt. One walks to the bakery for simit and ekmek. One walks to the café for sahlep or çay. One walks as quickly as possible to avoid getting hit by cars and as carefully as possible to avoid stepping in gigantic, steaming turds.

I am becoming very efficient at walking in Istanbul. I walk with purpose and with my earphones in -- even if I'm not listening to music or podcasts. People with earphones are assumed to be natives. People who walk with purpose are assumed to know where they're going. Natives who know where they're going are seldom harassed. However, if you use this tactic, be aware of the fact that you will often be asked for directions. Then you'll have to remove your earphones and say with a slightly embarrassed smile, "I'm sorry, I don't speak Turkish."

"Ne?"

"I don't speak Turkish."

"Tamam," the befuddled Turk responds as you pop your earphones back in, feeling slightly embarrassed herself that she confused an American tourist with a local.

This happens to me all the time. I find it amusing because even if I were a local, I probably wouldn't be able to give proper directions.

After rousing myself from a monotonous but melodramatic nightmare (in which I almost got married but didn't four times), I walked Çapa to buy a new month pass on my bus card. Umit had given me the money, a note written in Turkish that I could pass to the cashier and strict instructions to get a receipt.

"You're a tourist. They might take advantage of you."

But people rarely take advantage of this tourist. This tourists walks with too much purpose. Even if she has absolutely no idea where she's walking.

I ended up in Karakoy that night. I can't exactly explain why.

Cathy! This is where we have to go to catch the ferry to the Princes' Islands. It will take approximately one hour. We can leave at nine thirty in the morning and be back around seven at night. The islands should be fairly deserted this time of year, but I'm sure you'll appreciate the peace and quiet after a couple of days in deafening Istanbul.

Cat versus Duck

Perhaps we can explore this palace together. You're in the back of my mind always. Whenever I see something interested/tasty I think, "Goodness... I can't wait to show this to Cathy." Your visit is giving me so much to look forward to. Six days!

 Umit arranged for me to meet with a group of highschoolers on Thursday morning for an excursion and English immersion. They were bright, unique and very talkative. I had great fun chatting about film and music with this group and I appreciated that they asked if I could give them suggestions of films to watch. I love meeting people and I love asking questions, but sometimes I just want someone to ask ME a question.

I thought it was marvelous that these kids asked questions.

We boarded the ferry for Kadikoy, which is a touristic part of Istanbul on the Asia side.

A typical Turkish breakfast that can be purchased a typical Simit bakery

Cathy! This is a great place. We should visit here.

The kids brought me to a small church. We lit candles and took pictures until the disgruntled candle seller grumpily informed us that no pictures were allowed.

I learned that when you place a piece of jewelry on the cup, it makes sure the fortune is about YOU. Not the person to your left or the waiter who brought you your overpowering caffeinated beverage with a cheerful "afiyet olsun." This Turkish coffee told me that A) I am in excellent health B) Someone with money will come into my family  C) my best friend will betray me and D) I am good at understanding people. I don't quite understand how my best friend will manage to betray me if I'm good at understanding people, but I don't question the wisdom of Turkish coffee grounds.

I ask each group to teach me a word/phrase in Turkish. This group taught me, "Hayirdir Bilader".

The unreasonable amount of rolled "rs" makes this short phrase utterly unpronounceable for my poor American lips, but I'm greatly amused in knowing that it means something akin to, "What's up, brother?"

I hurried back to Beylikdüzü that night for a meeting with Seher about planning lessons for the airport guys. After a one or two awkward lessons wherein both parties were watching the clock with the anticipation of elementary students on the last day of school before summer break, we decided that activities are rather important. One can only ask the same group of people the same questions so many times.

However, my Turkish family was out shopping, so I made myself a cup of coffee and settled into the living room to discover...

INTERNET! Beautiful, functioning more than 4 gigabytes a month internet!

I have never been so happy to see the blinking green lights of a modem. I immediately logged into facebook (I found it easy to guess the internet password) and started writing my friends. Only having consistent access to internet in cafés has had a huge influence on how lonely I've felt in this city. As a long term traveler, internet is how I stay connected with family and friends. Because of the time difference between Istanbul and Colorado, my family and friends are usually asleep/working when cafés are open. I've had two Skype dates in the last three months.

I spoke with my parents this morning. It was a wonderful thing.