tea, turkish delight, and a club called peyote
hello again!
mark and i are just readyng ourselves for our trip back to steve and zeynep's place after a couple of days in taksim by ourselves. it's been really nice, and we have a sneaking suspicion we'll be coming back here for a longer stay after we get back from the next side-trip... but more about that later. let me fill you in on what's been happening from the last entry to this one.
mark's toes are almost back to normal, they went through the full bruisey spectrum and are now just a little red around the edges. all the walking has been helping them heal, we think. anyway, on tuesday he decided to stay home and veg while i went to work with steve. he's a grade school teacher and is at one of the private schools there. it was an interesting journey - the kids were very cute and precocious, just like kids anywhere i guess, but there were a few marked differences - they were all learning english as a second language, and most of them had never seen a brown person before. steve was introducing me as his cousin, and this confused one little boy so much that he asked why i was darker. it was cool, as a turkish teacher gave the class a little talk about how everyone is different, and the kids got it and got on with it. actually seeing and hearting steve converse so easily in turkish is quite amazing - he's obviously a local now. in contrast, i keep wanting to say 'scusi' instead of the correct 'pardon' (in the french manner) when trying to get attention. don't ask me why, cause i have no idea! also, i have found when i use turkish words it elicits a turkish response, to i have stuck to the general niceties - i no longer ask 'ne kadar?' (how much?), but am liberal with my teshekular's (thank you, phonetically).
on wednesday we caught a bus, a train and a tram to get to istanbul city. it took around 2 hrs and cost less than a fiver each - rue you, melbourne, and your zones one, two and three! apart from some dramas re: accomodation (which all worked out in the end), we are loving it here. we're staying in an area called taksim, on a winding and steep stone pathway. there are music shops galore on this street, and further up on istiklal cad. (street), the street gets wider and it's miles of shops and people. we were wandering around one night and like a floating signal, i heard bjork in the air and we discovered a club called peyote. great place, we went back there last night. sightseeing wise we have not been as active as we could have been due to a man that here they call papa - the pope is in town and there have been many street closures and access has been limited. but that's cool - we knew that was going to happen, and that's why we're in taksim and not enimonu - listen to me, like i know it all. it sure pays to know someone who has excellent local knowledge!
yesterday we had the most interesting brush with the pope's visit. after visting the spice bazaar, we decided to go into a travel agency in sultanahmet to plan our next leg (which i will reveal later - haha!). anyway, while we were in the travel agency (which was just across the rd from the blue mosque, closed because papa had pre-booked it), we notice the street outside filling with cops. and cops. and more cops. in riot gear, in plainclothes. they cleared the street, and we were told to stay in the agency till the whole thing was over - so we were in there for maybe 2 hours. we booked our tickets, broke open the box of turkish delight we bought at the spice market, took some photos and made some new friends. we were starving by the time that was over! took some amazing pics though, and actually saw the motorcade. never seen so many police in one place before.
we're heading back to gurpinar today and then at five we all take a road-trip to galipolli, where zeynep's parents live. should be an excellent weekend. then monday is laundry day, tuesday is curry day, and wednesday we're off to......
egypt!
mark and i are just readyng ourselves for our trip back to steve and zeynep's place after a couple of days in taksim by ourselves. it's been really nice, and we have a sneaking suspicion we'll be coming back here for a longer stay after we get back from the next side-trip... but more about that later. let me fill you in on what's been happening from the last entry to this one.
mark's toes are almost back to normal, they went through the full bruisey spectrum and are now just a little red around the edges. all the walking has been helping them heal, we think. anyway, on tuesday he decided to stay home and veg while i went to work with steve. he's a grade school teacher and is at one of the private schools there. it was an interesting journey - the kids were very cute and precocious, just like kids anywhere i guess, but there were a few marked differences - they were all learning english as a second language, and most of them had never seen a brown person before. steve was introducing me as his cousin, and this confused one little boy so much that he asked why i was darker. it was cool, as a turkish teacher gave the class a little talk about how everyone is different, and the kids got it and got on with it. actually seeing and hearting steve converse so easily in turkish is quite amazing - he's obviously a local now. in contrast, i keep wanting to say 'scusi' instead of the correct 'pardon' (in the french manner) when trying to get attention. don't ask me why, cause i have no idea! also, i have found when i use turkish words it elicits a turkish response, to i have stuck to the general niceties - i no longer ask 'ne kadar?' (how much?), but am liberal with my teshekular's (thank you, phonetically).
on wednesday we caught a bus, a train and a tram to get to istanbul city. it took around 2 hrs and cost less than a fiver each - rue you, melbourne, and your zones one, two and three! apart from some dramas re: accomodation (which all worked out in the end), we are loving it here. we're staying in an area called taksim, on a winding and steep stone pathway. there are music shops galore on this street, and further up on istiklal cad. (street), the street gets wider and it's miles of shops and people. we were wandering around one night and like a floating signal, i heard bjork in the air and we discovered a club called peyote. great place, we went back there last night. sightseeing wise we have not been as active as we could have been due to a man that here they call papa - the pope is in town and there have been many street closures and access has been limited. but that's cool - we knew that was going to happen, and that's why we're in taksim and not enimonu - listen to me, like i know it all. it sure pays to know someone who has excellent local knowledge!
yesterday we had the most interesting brush with the pope's visit. after visting the spice bazaar, we decided to go into a travel agency in sultanahmet to plan our next leg (which i will reveal later - haha!). anyway, while we were in the travel agency (which was just across the rd from the blue mosque, closed because papa had pre-booked it), we notice the street outside filling with cops. and cops. and more cops. in riot gear, in plainclothes. they cleared the street, and we were told to stay in the agency till the whole thing was over - so we were in there for maybe 2 hours. we booked our tickets, broke open the box of turkish delight we bought at the spice market, took some photos and made some new friends. we were starving by the time that was over! took some amazing pics though, and actually saw the motorcade. never seen so many police in one place before.
we're heading back to gurpinar today and then at five we all take a road-trip to galipolli, where zeynep's parents live. should be an excellent weekend. then monday is laundry day, tuesday is curry day, and wednesday we're off to......
egypt!
Labels: general
posted by shalini akhil at
8:15 PM
1 Comments:
I am so envious!!! It's lucky I like you both so much - helps me stop cursing every time I check up on you. I am, of course, very soorry to hear about Mark's toes. thank you for the updates. While you have been hanging out with the Pope, I have been enjoying the start of the Feral Season. Managed to get to the Long Walk Women's Lunch this week - a fundraiser supported by Michael Long and raising funds for development of indigenous community leaders. Could have all been a bit fraught as the range of attendees was really diverse -anything from Liberal pollies to blunt spoken elders from rural communities and the odd politically correct white wimmin (jeez I hate that word)in purple glasses and orange cardigans. Luckily, they had Julia Zemiro as emcee, and she did a fabulous job of celebrating the good stuff and stopping people bogging down in the points of contention (land rights frinstance). We are trying to get work to book her for some upcoming events. But the range of views and the stories people shared was really interesting and I think a few people in the room came away with ideas of action they could take to make their communities a fairer and safer place for all to live in. So that was a nice reminder that what I do for a living is so meaningless, I really shouldn't get stressed by it. I haven't been to Turkey yet, but went to Egypt ages ago - spent nearly a month there in 1991 not long after the first Gulf War. It was challenging to get around, but so worth it. My highlight was a few days on a felucca on the Nile - particularly the dawn and sunsets when with the villagers and fisherfolk around you could lose all sense of being in a modern era. The light n sound shows at all the temples seemed to be narrated by Charlton Heston. I just couldn't stand it, but maybe things have improved :) Stay in touch!
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