Days 3, 4, and 5

I really need to keep up with this blog, so I don't let time slip away from me. So much is happening so quickly, and I want to keep record of it all. Day 3, Friday, a large group of us went down to Taksim, which is one of the busiest shopping areas in the whole city. First we had lunch at a local shop (we've been trying new places every time we eat out, and each one is better than the last, it seems). The place was a little mom & pop type shop, and we all had tavuk ve pilav (chicken and rice). I adore rice, but I love the way that they prepare it here, buttery, light and very flavorful. The owner also had us try ayran, which is not unlike buttermilk, frothy and often salted. I've found that I much prefer süt, which is regular milk.

We took a bus down to Taksim, and I ended giving up my seat to a little old lady halfway there. On the way, we saw many banks, stores and restaurants, including a Starbucks and a TGIF right across the street from each other. There is, incidentally, a decent amount of American stores and restaurants here in Istanbul, and they seem pretty popular if a bit more expensive than their Turkish counterparts. Public transportation is also popular here, and before long, the bus was packed with people. Traffic too in Istanbul is an adventure, let me tell you. Drivers go for every inch that they take on the road, they drive fast, aggressively, honk constantly, and sidewalks and pedestrians are fair game. At least the famous Turkish courtesy often does prevail, and drivers will stop abruptly to let people cross the street.

Taksim was a deliciously chaotic area, jammed with people swathed in scarves and dark colors, with vendors on the corners selling chestnuts and simits (like a cross between a soft pretzel and a bagel, covered in sesame seeds. I tried one - very tasty.) We quickly found the Turkcell store, and after a frenetic exchange of jumbled Turkish, English, passports, and lira, we all had new cell phones and simcards. My American cell doesn't work here, but now I can at least keep in touch with my new local friends and I don't feel quite so alone without a line of communication. After this, we wandered through Taksim and the adjacent neighborhood of Tünel, and window shopped, drooling over pastries and candies, delighting over Alex's purchase of a Harry Potter book in Turkish, sharing Verena's pistachios, and snapping photos like the silly tourists that we are. Hey, if we're gonna be tourists, we may as well as be tourists.

We did visit two Catholic churches, St. Anthony's and St. Mary's. Both were just beautiful and peaceful, and I definitely want to return to these for a good second look. We also found the Galata Kulesi (Galata Tower), which stands nearly 200 feet high and dates back to the 6th century. A few of the group went up into the tower, and the rest of us continued exploring, saving the tower for another day. I don't want to do too much touristing too early so I'll have things to see later. Dinner and grocery shopping (an adventure in of itself, I assure you) finished out our day.

Saturday, my roommate and I went off and did a little exploring and shopping around the immediate area. To give you some perspective, the Superdorm, where we live, is about 1.5 miles from the Güney Kampüs (South Campus) where we have our classes, and includes a good-sized hill, so yeah, I'm going to be doing a lot of walking. Between the two campuses are a variety of restaurants and stores, including ATMs, pharmacies, pastry shops, grocery stores, etc. We've eaten in a number of places and each one is just lovely. If you've never had Turkish food, you're missing out. It's not exactly vegetarian-friendly, but I'm pretty pleased.

We wandered around for a few hours to figure out where things were, and to our delight, found a great Saturday market, chock-full of all kinds of produce, fresh cheese, eggs, seafood, and even clothes, towels and linens, toys, and household products. It's just the way I imagined a market here would be: men and boys behind the tables hollering out invitations to buy their things, women in scarves and long skirts chatting together and bargaining good-naturedly, vendors handing out samples of their wares to try, just beautiful chaos. Together we bought stuff for salata (salad), lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, and apples, oranges, a quince, cheese. My roommate and I had a fun time fumbling through our very basic Turkish to make our purchases. It's frustrating not being able to express ourselves, nor understand the Turks, but we're learning quickly. Every day we pick up new words. What's even better is overhearing others, and understanding what they're saying. Ne kadar? Beş lira? Tesekkür. (How much? 5 lira? Thank you.)

Sunday we woke up to rain, so it was bound to be a lazy stay-at-home type day. Still we ventured out to eat and pick up groceries. I'm still just getting over a bit of a cold, and I've been tired and not feeling my best, but I think that has to do with adjusting to the new environs and food. I think that we're all taking in a lot all at once - new country, new language, new people, so many names and faces and facts that we're all feeling overwhelmed, and my body is adjusting too to Turkish food. It's very good, but the Turks cook with a lot of oils, which I'm not used to eating as I tend to eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, salad, whole grains, fiber, and mostly vegetarian. Luckily, bread is a big part of the Turkish diet, and with newly gifted kitchen goods from a local friend of Katie's, we can make at least some things now in our dorm.

Last night one of the American girls held a tea party (since alcohol is verboten in the dorms), and I was able to meet a bunch of people all at one time. It appears that most of the international students are Americans, with a couple Germans, a couple of Dutch, a Chinese girl, and a French girl. I think that I've also figured out that I am the only graduate student, and likely the oldest of the international students, which in itself is odd, since I usually am one of the youngest of any group of my friends. It's a neat experience though being able to hang out with people from all walks of academic life, and spend time with people outside of the TESOL crowd. I miss the TESOL crowd at CSUS dearly, and I have a feeling that I'm going to have mixed feelings about the TEFL crowd here at Boğaziçi, especially as I have been forewarned that I may be the only non-Turk in the classes.

(Still haven't figured out my schedule too btw. I'm more than a little annoyed that they have decided to schedule two core classes to conflict with each other. I am also more than a little annoyed that both Turkish classes conflict with the rest of my classes so that at this point, I really am just not sure what all I'll be taking. I intend to speak with an advisor before registering, that's for sure. I know what I'd *like* to say, but instead I will think of my mantra ("patience, flexibility, this-isn't-America") and try to maintain my temper.)

Today Katie and I strolled over the campus to find the infirmary (where nearly none of the staff speak English, save the Chief Medical Officer himself, who saw us personally), and then we found an Eczane( pharmacy), did laundry (or should I say dropped our laundry off to the lady who does it for us for 10 lira for the two of us), found a little market in the basement (no more lugging big water jugs a quarter of a mile back to our dorm!), before heading to Turkcell for Katie to register her phone. It had started to rain, so we huddled under my umbrella and continued exploring south as we knew that we were near Akmerkez, which is a big fancy-smancy mall a kilometer or two away from the dorm. Along the way, we started at the Starbucks and I indulged in a Chai tea latte for a mere 4.25 lira. I know, I know, I've barely been away from the States for a week, and already I'm craving Starbucks. But it had been a running joke amongst my coworkers and me about how to order chai tea in Turkey since çay (pronounced the same way) *is* tea in Turkish. So is it "chai çay", we wondered? Turns out the Turks don't seem to drink chai, so I have to find it at Starbucks. And tea with milk... the way it should be.

Oh! Oh, but the best part! We had *Mexican* for dinner! In Istanbul, of all places, there is an *El Torito* restaurant. I absolutely couldn't resist, so Katie and I went to have MexiTurk for dinner. We split a chicken fajitas dinner for about 40 lira, so it wasn't too bad that way, but it is still a bit pricey so this will only be an occasional treat for us. But oh, a chai tea latte and chicken fajitas in one day! So happy. It was a very surreal experience eating Mexican food in Turkey. Our waiter spoke decent English, and we went back and forth in English, Turkish and Spanish, teaching each other new words. He ended up giving us his phone number and extending an invitation to take us to a local soccer game. Interesting. Oh, have I mentioned how handsome a people the Turks are? Some of the men *swoon*. :)

Tomorrow is our Orientation. Supposedly. It's not mandatory, but they "highly recommend us to take part in order to have a smooth transition and introduction to Boğaziçi University and Istanbul". The only problem is that they have yet to actually let any of us international students know when and where this Orientation is. So.... yeah. The lack of communication here is really beginning to get on my nerves. There a few other things that I have some serious reservations about here, but I plan on keeping a list to report back to my program advisor and global education office for when I return.

But hopefully we will find out more in the morning. More soon.