Where's the fun, eh?

March 23^rd

How does a Canadian keep herself from going crazy in Istanbul? Well you just accept the insanity and go with it. I guess you could say my culture shock has not been so much of a ‘shock,’ more of a gradual understanding that I am not much of a city slicker. But if you grew up in Antigonish Harbour, it’d be hard to pick city living over that. In Antigonish, what do we typically do for fun, besides drinking. Outdoor activities. For all of you who know me well, or have seen glimpses of my facebook, know that I love being outside enjoying whatever the weather has to offer. In MY opinion, there are few things in life more satisfying than canoeing down West River, hiking to James river falls, snowshoeing, bushwhacking, ski-dooing, sailing the Harbour and St. George’s Bay, a day of skiing at Wentworth and surfing in Point Michaud. I’m sure most or all of my friends would agree with some or all of these statements. And let us not forget to add a few beers to those activities and you're having yourselves a time.

So how does a Maritimer have fun in Istanbul? This city and most cities lack natural elements, and are swamped with too many people. Travelling 14km by bus takes close to an hour in good traffic. So not only is it cramped and lacking in nature, but you’re very isolated in particular areas. I want to expand on this idea I have, because it doesn’t really make sense that I feel isolated in a big city. Antigonish is probably one of the most isolated places in the world. However because there are so few people our daily radius is much larger than any city dwellers. And our freedom to move far distances quickly gives us the perception that we’re not really isolated. Whereas in Istanbul, I’m basically in the center of the planet. East meets west/ Europe to Asia in three minutes. I’m exposed to so many cultures, materials and people, this is far from what we typically consider isolated. However because it is so congested it is incredibly difficult to get from point A to point B, even if we’re talking about just a few kilometers in the distance. So my daily radius here rarely exceeds 1km, whereas back home my daily radius is anywhere between 1-100, with no problem. So basically what I’m saying is I miss my car, and all the freedom is provides me. 

            So I’ve lost two hugely important things by coming here, freedom of movement and nature. So yes this has left me truly lost. Lets see what my new options are. This is a city, there is a lot of fun to be had, you just have to pay for all of it. Alright, thankfully this city has beer. Perfect! That's already half the fun. This city also has nightlife. I’m sorry Antigonish, I love you but you have no clubs – unless you count the pub, which I don't. Let us actually count the places you can drink at in Antigonish (believe me the list is longer then you’d expect!) The Pub, The Inn, Dooley’s, Split Crow, Boston Pizza, the Town House, legion, almost all of our restaurants and even the Bauer Theater has gotten me buzzed during it’s summer months. However, only 2.5 of these places can you dance at, without too much embarrassment. Now Istanbul on the other hand is littered in bars, I rarely hit the same bar twice. I even found a shot bar called Montreal with a Mexican theme, and their most advertised special is 35 shots for 125tl, about 62$CAD (less than 2$ a shot.) A real deal that one, just don’t do it on your own. 

        As a newcomer, not knowing the language, I try to drink in places where I know my surroundings. That leaves me drinking in two districts mainly – Taksim and Kadikoy. These are good places for me to drink. The atmosphere is very diverse, full of other tourists or expats trying to negotiate their way through this city. Kadikoy is definitely the safer place, not as many tourists, just a trendy area of the city. Taksim has more options, but also more tourists, which means tourist traps and creepers. Watch out for both, and don’t talk to strangers. Somehow I find Arlene's hard headed french attitude and scare the creeps away. Also riots frequently happen in Taksim so..got to avoid those. And always bring a man. Luckily the men also need woman in order to enter the bars. I can guarantee any decent club won’t let a group of men in without there being a few woman with them. So where I go, the boys will follow.

The clubs are awesome, you can choose clubs based on the music they play. R&B, reggae, top 40, dubstep, rock and roll, the options are endless. I love when bars have a mix of songs that vary in languages. It’s amazing listening to German, French, English and Turkish songs all in the same place.

 The only thing I wish I was more knowledgeable about is happy hours, I’m not even sure if Happy hours are a thing here. Drink specials also tend to be a rare occurrence as well. Rarely do you see ads outside of bars promoting their drink specials. So often you enter a bar only to be disappointed or pissed off that you’re paying 15-20tl for a beer. Often we jump from bar to bar in a matter of minutes looking for the best prices, or until our money runs out. If you’re lucky you can also purchase 500ml beers from convenience stores for 5tl and drink them in the streets. Yes that is illegal to drink in the streets and to purchase beer after 22:00 (10pm), but the police won’t care. They only care if you’re protesting. So that is probably your cheapest option.
On Friday we went on a boat party. I shouldn't say boat, because you might get an image of me on my sail boat, this was a yacht party. 20tl and it included 4 free shots, and the beers were only 7tl. The boat launched at 22:00 and did't come back to port until 2:00. We 'sailed' up and down the Bosphorus all night. It was amazing. Also hilarious watching people get seasick off the side. 

The nightlife is fun, and drunk food is even better. You can eat an ıslak hamburger, basically a burger steamed in its own grease.  Çiğ köfte, google translate is telling me it’s a raw meat ball… whatever it still tastes good. Kumpır is a baked potatoe with cheese, mayonnaise, ketchup, couscous, pickles, and other stuff. Döner it’s the mystery meat on the vertical spit. Its really popular here, you can get lamb, chicken or beef in a sandwich or a wrap. Of course Mussels, midye dolma, but I’ve mentioned those before. Oh and one of my favorites kokoreç, a lamb intestine sandwich. It’s spicy and delicious.

My other favourite activity is just wandering. This city is very atypical. Its is one of the oldest cities in the world. It mixes rabid urbanization with nostalgia. On a wander you will not encounter many things that resemble a Canada, not even brands or advertising are similar… I haven’t even see a walmart. The brands that are similar include, Doritos and Coca-Cola. And that’s about it for major brands. Even their advertising methods are different. Our media is littered with half-naked ladies. That kind of advertising is not received very well here, unless they are advertising underwear. Typical Istanbul is a of mix modern high-rises, apartment building, buildings that are falling down, construction sites and of course historical buildings. 

Currently there are municipal elections going on, and the election will take place next week. So we are currently at the height of the campaign trail. Flags, streamers and headshots of candidates litter every inch of the streets. Campaign vehicles create intense noise pollution, blaring music made specifically for the political parties campaign. Today while at a restaurant we saw a parade of cars honking and driving slow, decked out in the colours of the CHP political party, with the candidates hanging out the windows of the cars waving and yelling at people. Right after this the waiter in the restaurant kissed my hand and jokingly proposed to me, after my Dutch friend jokingly told him I was looking for a husband. Just your typical morning in Turkey. 

Surprisingly, I really enjoy public transit, that is I like being able to watch the city pass me by somewhat quickly. Istanbul is extremely hilly, so it always looks picture perfect, if your on top of a hill. The hills also make the city seem smaller, because you can only see until the next hill but you can’t see the rest of the city behind it. Unless you’re on a massive hill, then the city looks endless. The metro is very quick but there isn’t a view. Expect for the brand new line they just opened up that goes from Yenikapi to Taksim, this route goes over the Golden Horn and you can get an amazing view of the Galata bridge and some impoverished neighbourhoods that the city is trying to revive. Ferries are also a lot of fun, I frequent the ferry from Kadıköy to Beşiktaş. But last weekend I made the voyage to the Adalar, the Islands just off of Istanbul. We took last ferry over to the Islands at 14:50. We went to the bigger Island, the furthest one away from the city. The Islands are full of summer homes and restaurants. The cool thing about the Islands is that there are no cars. Everyone rides bikes or takes a horse carriage. On a nice day I will go back and bike around the Island. However we only had 2.5 hours before the last ferry was going to leave the Island. So we sat at a restaurant, ordered seafood, fruit and a bottle of Raki, like a true Turk. Then we stumbled back onto the ferry, and enjoyed an hour long ‘raki’ voyage back to Kadıköy. Raki is the drink of Turkey. Its 45%, tastes like black liqourice, you mix it with water and presto instant drunk - if you can down more than on sip of it. I wonder how much I can take back to Canada?

There were so many sail boats out in the water, but few of them had their sails up. It really made me miss good ol' Sea Clusion and the fun that was had on that 'hole in the water where my money goes.'

At the stern of the ferry, overlooking summer homes. Its nice to see real houses and not just apartment buildings. 

Nargile - flavoured tabaco smoked from a hookah. Very popular all over Istanbul. My favourite flavour is melon. 

Elina and Mi Mi waiting at the bus stop. You can see campaign flags in the background.

Selfie in my dorm room. I think I look like my sister Aly. 

   
                               Wide angle shot from the stern, nice with the Turkish flag.

Cappuccino, I need a lot of these to keep me going. 

Kavalti - Turkish Breakfast

My friend Elina captured this one. I love it so much, she is very talented.

At Vida Pera, the hardest bar in the world to find but it has an awesome rooftop view. It is off the main street in Taksim, Istiklal Caddesi (independence Avenue).

Oh Raki.....

View of Maltepe from the Ferry

Lahamcun!!! Turkish pizza minced (mystery) meat, veggies and spices. Roll it up with lettace tomatoe onions and lemon. Sooo good.

Puffed Dritos? Cool

 I keep having to tell myself, “I didn’t come here to get skinny,” In order to justify the consumption of all this food regularly. I’ll sleep, diet and study when I’m back in Canada. Until then I’m going to eat, stay up late and go exploring instead of study. 

           

Reality check

March 11^th 2014

So today a young boy of 15 died after spending 270 days in a coma, after a tear gas can struck him last year during the Gezi protests. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/03/clashes-turkey-over-death-boy-coma-2014311164012592935.html  Here is the full story. 

In the six weeks that I’ve been here, I’ve seen and experienced many things I never would back home. Of course some of them are hilarious, such as fitting 8 people into 1 taxi, stealing a taxis, seeing four-wheelers with 6 people on them going down the roads. Other things like protests, poverty, harassment and general disorganization have not been the most pleasant experiences, sometimes even a bit scary. I need to remind you that this is not a free country, so don’t even try to say that expression while you’re here.

Most of the time I feel like I am living in an ignorant bliss, in the most liberal university, in the most liberal city of the middle east. I’m ignorant only because of the language barrier, but some things you cannot avoid. Today during lunch everyone began clapping, same as they would in meal hall if someone had dropped a plate. But this clapping was not followed by laughter or chants or hooting. It was continuous and only got louder and louder, until I noticed some students waving pictures around of a young boy. I had no idea who he was or what was going on, but I clapped anyway. Later in the day what seemed like the population of Antigonish gathered around my campus, yelling and protesting and waving the same picture. Whatever had happened was huge. Was he a student here? What had happened to him? Through the grapevine I discovered that it was Berkin Elvan, a young boy who had nothing to do with the Gezi protest but died anyway. He is now used to demonstrate how brutal the police can be during riots, they do not discriminate between protestors and the civilians. Even last semester, two exchange students from my university were imprisoned during one of the protests only because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. They had nothing to do with the protests and were unable to communicate with the police who only spoke Turkish.

The last few weeks have been quite heated in Turkey, maybe its always been like that and I’m only aware now. Every Saturday you can guarantee that there will be a riot in Taksim, I got to watch one from the window of a McDonalds. People were digging up the cobbstones and throwing them at police, tear gas was being fired, massive bonfires in the streets, people dropping their motorcycles, police in swat uniforms charging through crowds. Real Hollywood material, Terrifying and I had a great view complete with McDicks. That’s all easy for me to say, I’m just an honest onlooker intrigued by this exotic place. But in reality things are only going to get worse it seems. Government censorship has already been implemented, which means websites that are deemed improper by the government can be shut down within four hours. The president has also been accused of trying to embezzle about a million dollars with his son.

Unfortunately, from what I have been hearing, things are not going to get better. There are municipal elections coming up within the next few weeks and with the death of this young boy, it will spark more and more protests. I can only hope that the violence will be kept to a minimum. 

For me I am merely a temporary student, and really a tourist. Yes I am living here, but I am not living within the normal context. Most people especially away from the university have an honest curiosity about me. ‘I’m from Canada!’ ‘What the hell are you doing in Turkey?’ Is often the response I get. No most laws do not apply to me, I am a foreigner and can’t speak the language, what do I know. People don’t even bother to tell me if I’m doing something the wrong way. Actually they think its hilarious or cute when I do things wrong. Which is great if you love awkward moments, miscommunications and embarrassment, so I’m thriving.

But sometimes the curiosity for the foreign woman is not so innocent. I myself have not had any problems, maybe from my lack of fashion sense or non-feminineness, I don’t know. Maybe my quick middle finger reflex has stopped anything from getting out of hand for me. But I am not afraid to be rude or tell creepers to fuck off. Unfortunately not all of exchange girls have been so lucky. One had a taxi driver harass her. Another man on the bus yelled at one of the girls for talking too much. Sometimes it is easy to forget how to act when you are with other exchange students. But woman in Turkey do not have it great. March 8^th was international woman’s day. In Canada we celebrate how far woman have come and future goals that we are determined to get. In Turkey, it seemed more of reminder of how bad things can really be for a woman. In this picture are some statistics and here is what was translated to me.

·      Only 7 Million woman in turkey are employed

·      Only 3 millions of those working woman are registered

·      Only 910 woman are in employer positions

·      4 million woman cannot read or write

·      165 woman, 14 children and 3 infants were killed last year due to domestic violence

·      167 woman were married last year before they turned 18

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/02/turkey-life-battered-woman-2014257594926477.html This is a real eye opening article that I read after I arrived and has terrified me into not acting like an idiot.

Woman's day Parade

            It really makes me value how lucky I am to be a Canadian woman, yes we still have inequality issues, but it really is not comparable to what it is like over here. It common to be to be extremely outnumbered by men on the bus, in the bars, in the streets, everywhere. There was one time I took the subway alone in the morning (Dad don’t kill me!) and I was the only woman on the subway. The other day myself and three other girls were the only women on the bus at 10:30 at night on a weekday night, and some of the stares that we got, made me a little uneasy. It was probably because we were talking English, and people tend to hate it when you don’t speak Turkish.

          And now for something completely different....Pictures!

Good 'ol ferry rides

 A really clear day where we could see the Sea of Marmara and part of the Bosphorus

So if you didn't realize, I really like street food. Above is Kumpir - a baked potatoe with anything you want on it. Below in my favourite and will probably kill me if I keep eating them everyday is a mussel stuffed with rice and lemon and I added paprika cause I was drinking. 

View From Galata Tower

This is the awesome thing about Turkey. Although they are urbanizing at an unstoppable rate and natural things are in decline. They cherish most living things, from seagulls to pigeons to dogs. This dog is homeless and he is the fattest dog I've ever met. Although he picked a great location to live, the bustling bus station of Kadikoy. He has been given to many scraps I think. Also people will buy bread solely to feed to the seagulls as they travel by ferry. The seagulls have lost their ability and instinct to hunt fish and scavenge sea waste. Cool.  

Ahaha this one makes me laugh. Canned "DRAFT." 1% more alcohol than regular Efes.  Only in Turkey.

Not the greatest picture, but the words say "Will you marry me?" So cute!!!OMG Bridge Proposal