At home

The two pictures above are from an earlier party at Graham and Metin's.  The top shows the view of the Bosphorus from the garden.  The two guys are Danny on the the left, my colleague Kristine's husband and our genial host Graham Fleming on the right.

On Friday my shipment was finally delivered.  We spent a couple of hours unpacking the 26 boxes. Everything arrived undamaged, but in quick order we managed to wreak minor havoc.  The first box Sim tackled with a knife to cut the tape happened to have my leather coat on top.  It now has a nice slice down the lapel.  But I've been told by three people that the Turks can do wonderful leather repair.  Then while I was unpacking glassware, I knocked the box off the chair and lost 3 wine glasses.  And Saturday morning I plugged in our radio-iPod player and there was a pop and a phtt and a little puff of smoke.  It is no more.

We took a break from the unpacking Friday night for social events.  I went to my first meeting of my new book club.  It's pretty much like my old one:  lots of eating and drinking before we finally talk about the book.  Sim will join it for the next book.  But he skipped this one and went to Metin and Graham's for a fish, raki, and games party.  The book club joined that party at about 11. Apparently, earlier in the evening Metin gave tutorials on the art of drinking raki and playing backgammon.  When I arrived darts and drinking games  were in progress.

Saturday Sim and I finished the unpacking and then made a list of household items we still want to make things homey.   We walked to Ortakoy and wandered in shops, bought odds and ends in secondhand places.  We picked out a big mirror that we'll go back for today and take a taxi home.  We had dinner along the waterfront, right near the Ortakoy cami (mosque)  which is an architecturally important one. (Picture above) It was a restaurant that served nargile...water pipes... so we observed (and smelled the practice.)

More Büyükada

 Here Ron is pointing out where I live from the 360 degree view at Ayia Yorgi

Most of these photos are of our lunch at the former monastery of Ayia Yorgi (ST. George in Greek) at the top of Buyukada. We hiked up there on this gorgeous afternoon with some friends Fusun met through playing tennis.

More pix from Buyukada

The veranda at Ron and Fusun's house.  Sunday was a perfect day.

A Visit to Büyükada

Last Saturday, Sim and I took the ferry to the island of Buyukada  where our friends from Montreal have a house.  No cars on the island, just horse drawn carriages, bicycles or hoofing it, as I'm doing in the photo above.  The sunset from their terrace over the Marmara Sea and the island of Heybiliada is spectacular.

Saturday

Sim and I went to the Grand Bazaar this afternoon. Went to the rug store to have pockets sewn on the kilim we bought so that we can hang it. We shopped hanging light fixtures and stopped at a shop where I bought a scarf a month ago when I was there with Tania, the headmaster's wife. I wanted a scarf like the one I'd bought, only a different color. I found it and said to the guy, "15 lira?" and he said "No way, 25 lira." I said, "When I was here with my friend Tania Chandler, I paid 15 lira." "Oh, why, didn't you say so? Of course, 15 lira." Tania lira is great currency.

When we stopped at the Sultan cafe in the bazaar, our waiter looked at Sim and said, "He looks like Morgan Freeman!". To which I replied, "But handsomer and younger." "Of course," he said. "Morgan Freeman's like 60." As many of you know, Sim is like 59.


We then went to the spice bazaar and in the street outside where there are pet stores and plant stores we bought a rosemary plant. We walked over the Galata bridge and browsed some book stores. (Sim wants a Turkish cookbook but we haven't found one in English.) Stopped and had beers in one of the thousands of places, then went to a restaurant recommended by our friends Felicia and Andy. It's called Antiochia and all the food comes from Antioch. We sat inside because it is unseasonably cold and we don't have warm clothes. The food was excellent and we had a bottle of red wine and the price was quite reasonable. After dinner we walked back to Taksim and headed home.


We're now home, checking out our newly installed Digiturk Satellite TV. Two movie channels, news, BBC series. The flat is warm and cosy though we haven't turned on the heat.

I got a bit down yesterday when one of the guys in my department told me that his shipment was in Istanbul for three months before it was delivered to him. Worse yet, was the fact that folks at the school repeatedly told him that it would be delivered the next day. I have resisted buying anything that I have coming in the shipment, but tomorrow I plan to buy some tights. My party to celebrate my ship coming in may have to be postponed.

Sunday morning update:  We watched the Manchurian Candidate (original)  on the MGM movie channel.  I went to bed.  Sim was delighted to find the Yankee game on one of our stations.  But that was at about 4am.  He made it through the 6th inning.

Earthquakes

a week ago there was a 4.4 earthquake. I didn't feel it but my students told me about it on Monday morning. It caused me to do a little research on the earthquake subject. Last spring I spoke to Professor Barazangi, who's a seismologist and prof. At Cornell. I know him because his daughter was a student of mine at IHS. When I told him I was moving to Istanbul, he said how wonderful the city is, but then said, "You know, Istanbul is a city waiting to die.". The research I did seems to confirm that...or at least it says that the expectation is that within 20 years there will be a major earthquake. But if it happens, I hope I'm on campus because apparently we're quite earthquake proof. In fact the expectation is that folks will be trying to storm the campus in the event of a major earthquake.

Holiday

Today was an Istanbul holiday marking the liberation of the city during WWI.  It was grey and fallish and we didn't really do much.  Late in the afternoon I took a walk around campus and in the neighborhood of Kurucesme which is just a 2 minute walk from our flat through the alumni club.

Walking in some of the places at RC is like walking in a woodsy park.  I hardly saw anyone and I finally found my way through a somewhat circuitous route to the Plateau.  It's the RC track and maybe the highest point on campus.  I posted a picture of the Bosphorus view from there.

Alas, the shipment has still not been delivered.  I cooked fettucine carbonara tonight (substituting sucuk for pancetta) and caesar salad (homemade dressing and croutons) It came out very well, but it's a challenge with the kitchen equipment I've got.  What I can't wait for from the shipment:  garlic press, pasta pot, a large skillet, and a big bowl. Though fallish, we still are managing with very light bedclothes but I'm looking forward to having a comforter and some sweaters.

View from the track at RC

The Galata Tower at night

The James Joyce Pub

This is the alley

At an alley cafe in Taksim Saturday afternnon

Another weekend

The shipment has still not arrived.  After I signed papers, I got word that they needed my passport.  But I remain conficent that it will come in the next few days.  Wednesday is a holiday, so we might be in a position to spend it unpacking.  I've already begun an invitation to our "My Ship Came in"  Party.  There's a nip in the air and we are going to be wanting some blankets pretty soon. 

Yesterday was Saturday and Sim and I had a good exploring afternoon and evening.  We took the bus to Besiktas,  about a 15 minute ride along the Bosphorus.  We browsed a book store and I bought a Romeo and Juliet in Turkish and another pocket Turkish-English dictionary. We then took a long walk past Dolmabache Palace (and Sim swears the guards outside are statues, I say they're alive.  We were across a wide busy street and they definitely didn't move a muscle.)  We walked up through a large park and over to the Nisantasi neighborhood.  Orhan Pamuk grew up in that neighborhood and it figures large in his memoir Istanbul and in his latest novel The Museum of Innocence.  It's a very fashionable area,  Armani, Vuitton, etc.  Beautiful people in black abounded. 

We walked to Kabatas, took the funicular to Taksim Square.  The walk down from Taksim to the Galata Tower (and then even more so the walk back on our way home)  is the biggest strolling crowd I've ever been in.  We window-shopped, stopped for mezes and drinks, wandered through the fish market, then the Avrupa alley where we bought a couple of photos of Ataturk,  stopped again at the James Joyce pub (where they have not a single Irish beer).  We went again to Molly's cafe by the Galata tower.  She was having a double birthday celebration: hers and the cafe's.  Free food, inexpensive drinks, good conversation. 

The trip home, door to door, took about an hour and 45 minutes.   Some of it was walking in the huge crowd from Galata to Taksim, which is fun as long as one stays mellow while doing it.  We waited awhile for our bus at Kabatas, then there was some traffic on the road along the Bosphorus.  And of course the end of it all was the 15 minute uphill walk from the front gate.  We need to get clear on how to do the bus from Taksim that heads uphill at some point and can deposit us a 10 minute downhill walk from our flat. 

Today after I did the Times crossword, some laundry, etc., we managed to get a cell phone and then took the bus to Ortakoy for some grocery shopping and to buy a covered cat litter box (and some air fresheners; this adorable kitten's poop stinks big time). We bought some lovely salmon fillet and had that tonight with a caesar salad. (I made the dressing, but, alas, no anchovies because I couldn't find any.) 

Anybody coming to visit?