rebecca soble

I’ve lived in Istanbul for four years, and never expected that I’d go to not one, but two, new places in the city on the same weekend.

Taking advantage of a half-day of work, I visited the Atatürk Arboretum on Friday afternoon.  This facility is only open to the public on weekdays, so the timing was perfect.  The arboretum is a bit of a ways out of the city in Bahçeköy, but there is the convenient 42M bus from 4.Levent that goes right there (or nearly).  Get off the bus at the Kemerburgaz Yolu stop, and then take the road to the left about 3oom to the entrance to the Arboretum.  Entrance fee is 2 lira, 1 for students.  The Arboretum has two distinct feelings inside it – there is a well-groomed area with lots of lovely plantings near a couple of small lakes, and walking paths around them.  There are also some other paths that basically lead into the meadows and woods, for a more natural experience. I wandered there for almost two hours without even noticing the time pass.

I fell in love with the fern undergrowth.

This sky blue and leaf green combination is my favorite.  I once painted my bedroom these colors (blue walls, green trim).

Japanese maple in the wind.

The next evening, Saturday, I met Claire for dinner and she took me to new place #2, a casual fish restaurant in Karaköy, on the inland side of the Golden Horn.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn about this little corner, I had never wandered far enough to find it.   To get there, walk through the fish market on the right side of the Galata bridge and at the other end there are a bunch of outdoor tables.  The view is of the bridge and the Suleymaniye mosque across the Golden Horn.   The fish was as fresh as can be, the hamsi (anchovies) was 5tl for a plateful and the barbunya (red mullet) was 15tl, but in my opinion worth the jump in price.  Accompanied by a salad (5tl) it was a lovely meal with a great view.  Sorry, I didn’t take any pictures as I didn’t have my camera with me.   That should teach me not to leave the camera at home even when I don’t expect to be going anywhere photo-worthy. Here’s someone else’s description of eating fish there, along with pictures.

All in all, these two excursions made me feel happy about being in Istanbul. And the lovely spring weather is a help too.

April has been a busy month, in a mostly positive way.  Nevermind the broken waterheater and the visits to the Emniyet, here are some images of the fun moments…

Ilkbahar tatilinda, Emrah ile bir gün Eminönü’de dolaştık.  Arkasindaki cami “Suleymaniye Camii”. Önünde balıkcı tekneleri, orada taze balık ekmek falan yenir. Ortasinda otobüs durağı.

Over spring break, spent an afternoon wandering in Eminönü with Emrah.  In the background is the Suleymaniye Mosque and in the front are the boats where people can eat freshly caught and cooked fish.  In the middle is a bus depot.

İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi kampüsünde evim yakında küçük bir göldür. Emrah’in yardımıyla, sonunda yaya yollarını keşfettik.

Near my home on the Istanbul Technical University campus there is a small lake.  With Emrah’s help, I finally discovered the footpaths that lead to and around it.

Gölet yaninda güneş batmasıyı seyretmekten zevk aldık, ve mahalli arkadaşlarla ziyaret ettik.  Onlara kurabiyeyi verdik.  Emrah’in gölgesi görebilirsin…

We enjoyed watching the setting sun by the lake, and visited with some local friends.  We gave them our cookies.  You can see Emrah’s shadow…

Yeniköy’den Beykoz’a vapura bindik.

We took a ferry from Yeniköy to Beykoz.

Nisan Türkiye’de lale mevsimidir.  Beykoz Korusunda pek çok güzel çeşitleri vardı.

April is tulip season in Turkey.  In the Beykoz park there were many lovely varieties.

Ayrıca, biraz örgü yaptım, bebek battaniyeleri (Nasıl Türkçe ile örme açıklamaya bilmiyorum.)

I’ve also done some knitting this month, baby blankets.  All in garter stitch, but some Entrelac and some Log Cabin.

Doğum günüm bulutlu başladı….

My birthday started out cloudy…

…ama çok nefis sona erdi!  Kadıköy’deki  Çiya Lokantada Alinazik kebabı yedım.  Altındaki patlican+sarımsak ezmesi en iyi parça.

…but ended yummy!  I had Alinazik Kebab at Çiya in Kadıköy.  The best part is the eggplant+garlic paste underneath…

Çocuk Bayramında, Büyükada’da kalabalığa dayanıp yukarı manastıra tırmandık.

On Children’s Day we faced the crowds at Büyükada and climbed up to the monastery.

Insanlar bütün yolu iplik çekiyor, iyi şans için (zannedersem).

People were stringing thread the whole way, for good luck (I think).

Günün sonunda  vapurla eve geri döndüm.  Vapurlardan çok hoşlanıyorum.

At the end of the day I rode the ferry back home.  I love the ferries.

yesterday, day one of my weekend, was spent mostly asleep or half-way there, working through a head cold most likely picked up at my new university job (read: teeming masses of teenagers). today, day two of the weekend, I woke up feeling less congested and slightly more energetic, but still happy to spend the day at home. here’s how i entertained myself:

Made breakfast, which actually was brunch because I took the time to do the hashbrowns right.  Peel a potato, dice and boil the bits until soft, saute with onions, pastirma (a turkish dried meat like pastrami), salt, pepper, paprika.   While the potato bits were boiling and frying I tidied the balcony and sat out there for my meal.  Earl Grey tea.

Planned some lessons and marked 30+ student papers. The students had done an experiment in class in which they were in groups of 8 and within those groups they had to put themselves in order from who liked technology the least to who liked it the most (these are students at a Technical University, so most of them were on the technophile end of the scale).  Then they had to write up their methods and results.  Considering it was the first week of class, I was really impressed with what they produced.

Knitted.  A few inches on a couple different socks, sitting on the balcony listening to my favorite weekend podcasts “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me”, “Best Of The Left”, and “Car Talk” (I save the heavy newsy podcasts for falling asleep at night!)  Actually before the end of the day the purple sock was finished.  It’s for mom.  It’s done with Classic Elite Alpaca Sox (60% Alpaca, 20% Merino Wool, 20% Nylon) and the pattern is Embossed Leaves from Interweave Knits Winter 2005.

The yellow one is for me. I love the yarn, Plymouth Yarn Sockotta (45% Cotton, 40% Superwash Wool, 15% Nylon), because I like the cotton which adds a bit of definition to the yarn. However it can also make the yarn a bit less elastic. I chose the Hermione’s Everyday Sock pattern (found on ravelry) but modified the top to have a picot edge instead of ribbing. I think the picot edge plus the scaly texture of the sock makes it look like fish. They will be my fishy socks, for wearing on days when I feel suspicious of the world.

Watched the rain. No picture because I blanked out, but there was a nice bit of rain midafternoon that was hard enough to be refreshing yet light enough I could still sit on my balcony (with the overhang) to enjoy it.  And then the sun came out briefly.  It was lovely.

Did some yoga! Yay for the yogadownload.com podcasts – they are 20-30 minute audio accompanied by PDFs that include pictures of the poses in order.  Very professional and useful for do-it-yourself-yoga when you need a little guidance.

Took a shower. Evening showers for me these days, because I get up early and don’t want to waste time with the blow dryer or go to work with wet hair.  The shower was improved by my newly knitted washcloth combined with my newly purchased Body Shop Satsuma Shower Gel.  I think I really like evening showers, the hot water relaxes me and prepares me for evening mellowing and eventually sleep.  I also really like how it shortens morning prep time.

Plans before bed are to turn off the computer* and read.  Currently reading “Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith” by Gina Nahai, kindly left for me by my friend Jenney when she left Istanbul.  That was a while ago, I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get around to this book, but I’m very glad to have it now.

That’s all, a quiet peaceful day to recuperate and prepare for a busy second week of classes.

*I mean it about turning off the computer, but it’s much easier said than done.   I can only do it if the mp3 player is fully charged and ready to provide a droning voice in my ear to fend off insomnia.

1  a newly-finished project.  it was so fun, I want to start another one right now.

I’ve heard news of a yarn store in Göztepe that might actually have some nice natural fibers (as opposed to most Turkish yarn stores, don’t get me started) so I’m thinking to wander by there this week.  The weather has cooled off enough to make random outside wandering not seem unbearable any longer.

2 I’ve been keeping an uneasy eye on US presidential election polls.  The numbers are disagreeably close, which then naturally leads to the intolerably painful consideration of a Republican win in November.  I think back to the New Hampshire Democratic primaries where Obama was polled to win rather strongly but ended up losing to Hillary Clinton.  The Washington Post assures us that wasn’t related to latent racism, but really the reason doesn’t matter, what does matter is who is the ultimate winner.  Since I’m living in a foreign country, I really don’t want to be further embarrassed by my country if Obama is not elected.  I saw a  poll on the net with a great interactive global map graphic which showed worldwide people support Obama by huge numbers (for example 70% Obama/20% McCain in Germany) so why is it so close at home?  I’ve temporarily lost that link but when I find it I’ll update this post.  BTW, 63 days until Election Day.

3 Simple food.  It may be related to the stomach bug I picked up this week, but I’m into simple foods these days. three super-easy recipes for you:

Yogurt-Wheat soup:  Ingredients – plain yogurt, water, salt, dried oregano, whole wheat grains (see pic below).  Cook the wheat like oatmeal (approx 2:1 water to wheat) until the grains are soft but still pleasantly chewy.  Let it cool.  Dollop some plain yogurt into a bowl, add in water until it’s a nice degree of soupy, not too thin, not too thick.  Sprinkle in salt liberally (basically you are making ayran.  Spoon in some of the cooled wheat grains and top with oregano.  Yum!

Cold carrot salad:  Ingredients – carrots, olive oil, sugar.  Grate the carrots and saute them in olive oil until soft and tasty.  Sprinkle a small amount of sugar over the carrots and stir in.  Serve cold.

Cheesy scrambled eggs:  Ingredients – eggs, feta cheese, vegetable oil.  Heat the vegetable oil (small amount) in a frying pan, crumble up the cheese and stir it into the pan, letting it melt into the oil.  Crack the eggs into the pan and stir until lightly scrambled.   Eat with sliced tomatoes (preferably a yummy heirloom variety).

This is my third year in Turkey but it will be my first full Ramazan (Ramadan), as in both previous autumns my visits home overlapped with this special month of the year, though not intentionally.  So this year I’m gearing up for the full experience.  Though let me clarify that “the full experience” will not include me actually following the Ramadan practices (though I might once or twice, when I’m not working) but observing and experiencing what happens around me.

For those who don’t know the practice, observant Muslims follow Ramadan by not partaking of any food, drink (including water), cigarettes, gum, or sex during daylight hours for the course of the month, and tend to be more observant of the five-times-per-day prayers as well.   Each day starts in the wee hours with the banging of a drum in the streets to wake people up to eat before sunrise.  They get up early enough so that they can eat slowly and thoroughly, at least I hope they do.  And then after a day of sacrifice, everyone comes together for the iftar, the meal that ends the fast after sunset.  This is a celebratory and festive meal, best partaken with lots of family and friends to support each other through the month.  For the people who have to break their fast alone, I imagine it isn’t as enjoyable an experience.  Because the Islamic calendar does not coincide with the Gregorian calendar, the month of Ramadan moves through the seasons over time.  In recent years, Ramadan has been in the autumn, when the days were relatively short, making the fasting a bit easier.  This year, coinciding exactly with the month of September, the fast-day is getting longer and I’ve already heard several people comment about how it gets longer and harder every year….

Of course, there are a lot of non-observant Muslims who won’t be following Ramadan (just like there are plenty of Catholics who don’t observe Lent and Jews who skip Yom Kippur – and Emrah is Alevi, so he doesn’t observe Ramadan either) but I’ve been asking around in preparation and several of my students will be fasting.   For the ones whose lessons are in the 8-10pm time frame, they’ll have time to eat something before their lessons (the sunset time will start around 7:45 at the beginning of Ramazan and gradually get earlier over the course of the month) though it obviously can’t be a complete iftar meal because of lack of time, but I’m a bit concerned for the ones whose lessons are in the 5-8 time frame, the very end of the day when they will be at their most hungry, thirsty, most caffeine-and-nicotine-deprived.  Not really conducive for learning, so I might have to modify my lessons a bit.

Out on the street, it will pay to be a bit more careful in traffic, as drivers who already have a rather high baseline of impatience and scofflawdom (if that isn’t a word it should be) will be even more so, especially later in the day.  Also I wonder about the overall levels of productivity and whether Ramadan is visible as a blip in the quarterly GDP of predominantly Muslim countries.  Do companies make allowances for fasting employees?  What about ones who work with dangerous factory equipment or need to make split-second important decisions or be very detailed about accounting figures?  How many more mistakes will there be, and will any be life- or business-threatening?   I actually have no idea what percentage of people observe Ramadan in Istanbul, I would guess a lower percentage than in the rest of Turkey, but still a significant number.

At the end of the month, there is a 3-day holiday called Şeker Bayramı (Sugar Holiday) which apparently is a big hooplah.  I have three days off from work so I’ll have to find somewhere to go, something to do.

Well that’s about all for Ramazan, starting tomorrow morning.  I’m clearly not a food photographer, but here is a picture of the dinner I ate tonight:  mucver (zucchini patties), cold carrot salad (sauteed with olive oil), and wheat grains.  I had been eating the wheat in a cold yogurt soup and had some leftover.  Plus yogurt and cold tea.   Hugs to all my friends and family!  xoxo!