Queen of cities
I am never ever flying easyJet again.
My flight was at 6:10 on Saturday morning from Luton. So check in began at 4:10. The tubes stop running by 1:00 am so this meant I had to get there by bus and train. I left home at around 2:00 and caught a bus to Camden Town, which was full of drunks stumbling around, piss in the streets and discarded styrofoam takeaway containers. Then another bus to Kentish Town which was tidier but emptier and therefore felt much more unsafe. Nothing open, quite dark, very few people. Then I had difficulty finding the entrance to the train station and in the end discovered that to get to it I had to go back behind the main road along a dark and dodgy-looking side street. I went through as quickly as I could and luckily there were a few people on the platform. However, it was 2:55 and the train didn't come until 3:25. Then it's about half an hour to Luton. At Luton there's a shuttle bus from the traın station to the airport, so I arrived in departures at around 4:15 but the check-in desk wasn't open for another quarter of an hour. Then I stood in a queue for the better part of an hour and had my suitcase weighed and got my boarding pass and was then directed to another queue to check the damn suitcase in. Then another massive queue to get on the plane. By the time we took off I didn't want to do anything but sleep, which I did, the whole flight.
Not much better on the Istanbul end. Flew into Sabiha Gökçen, the airport on the Asian side. Julia's directions for how to get to Acibadem (and take a taxi to their house from there) were not so great and the bus I got on took me all the way to Kadıköy, where I waited for, again, the better part of an hour before another bus came to take me up Acibadem Caddesi -- luckily that was a very useful bus as it dropped me off basically right outside their house. Also luckily I discovered my phone somehow works here (although it costs 50p a text, so I'm using it sparingly) so I could text Alex and get their exact address.
I was ready to eat a horse and chase the rider by the time I got to their flat so Alex ordered me a big kumpir (stuffed baked potato) which filled the hole. We hung about and chatted a bit and I had a little nap and then we all went out in Kadıköy. As well as Alex, Julia and their flatmate Anne, whom I hadn't met before, Liz, my former DOS, Kris, who was DOS at the Kadıköy branch of Interlang when I arrived, and Graham (IRISH!), who now actually works in Vietnam and is also visiting, where there, which was lovely. Sadly Stephen is on vacation in Canada! Law of bloody sod.
I had a lovely sleep last night and woke up this morning perfectly refreshed. Went to Kız Kulesi (the Maiden's Tower) with Alex and Anne in the morning while Jules went off to do a private lesson, then we got the ferry to Beşiktaş and the metro to Taksim, walked up Istiklal and I bought a lovely red corduroy skirt for YTL5 -- around two pounds, and I swear in London it would have run me at least forty -- ten or fifteen from a charity shop even.
Anne went off to buy a print from a museum that she's been pining after for months and Alex and I went to one of the fish restaurants under the Galata Bridge and ate meze. Then Alex had to run off to meet Liz in Kadıköy to get a reference but I stayed where I was and Julia came along and had a bite to eat before we set off to see Süleymaniye mosque, which I thought I hadn't seen before but it turned out I had! It is very lovely, though, probably the loveliest in the city, so worth a bit of a hike up the hill from Eminönü to see it.
Well, we were supposed to be meeting Alex for an open-air Mustafa Sandal concert in Kadıköy, but we just missed the eight o'clock ferry so we decided to get a bite to eat at one of the little restaurants opposite the iskele. However, we became so engrossed in our food and chat we almost missed the eight-thirty ferry! We realised the time at eight twenty and Alex rang at eight-twenty five and I bellowed "Bakar mısın! Hesabı ala bilirmiyiz?!" (Excuse me! Can we have the bill?) we shoved the money at them, shovelled the last of our food in and sprinted onto the ferry, holding our bellies, I with an ayran (salty yoghurt drink) in my hand!
We've just come from the concert which was fun -- open air and free, so drew all ages and stages dancing in a square. Nice.
I'm thinking of heading down to Efes perhaps mid-week. We'll see how things go. Almost everything is slightly more expensive than it used to be. Damn inflation. It is funny how familiar it all is though (except for this keyboard! My fingers have forgotten how to Turkish touch type and this is taking me an age). I said to Julia that coming back to İstanbul feels in a weird way like coming back to real life. There are things that I just love about Turkey. I love how people dote on you. Waiters can't hop to help you fast enough, people in the streets go out of their way to give you directions or advice. I love how they don't give flying fuck about health and safety. Buses drive with their front doors open in the summer. Pavements are dangerous and uneven but if someone trips over one the idea of trying to sue someone for their sprained ankle wouldn't even float across their mind. I love how they have a pleasantry for everything, from having bought something new (Güle güle kulan! -- smile smile use!) to someone having just cooked you a meal (ellerin[iz]e sağlık -- health to your hands). I kind of love how if they disapprove of your dress they'll tut at you in the street. I kind of love how they think it's fine to just stare at you if they think you're interesting.
Of course there are flipsides to all this. People dote on you, but sometimes they pay too much attention to you. I hate how every restaurant has a tout. If they don't have a litigation culture, they also don't have a social safety net, and it's sad how many destitute people there are in the streets. If they're open and emotional and demonstrative, they can also get in your personal space a bit too much and of course being stared at by random people also includes being leered at by strange men, which is not pleasant.
But somehow it all seems so real here. It's probably good I'm coming now. I can stare it in the face and think that this is what I'm giving up, the good, bad and very, very ugly and go back to London to start my course with a clean slate.
My flight was at 6:10 on Saturday morning from Luton. So check in began at 4:10. The tubes stop running by 1:00 am so this meant I had to get there by bus and train. I left home at around 2:00 and caught a bus to Camden Town, which was full of drunks stumbling around, piss in the streets and discarded styrofoam takeaway containers. Then another bus to Kentish Town which was tidier but emptier and therefore felt much more unsafe. Nothing open, quite dark, very few people. Then I had difficulty finding the entrance to the train station and in the end discovered that to get to it I had to go back behind the main road along a dark and dodgy-looking side street. I went through as quickly as I could and luckily there were a few people on the platform. However, it was 2:55 and the train didn't come until 3:25. Then it's about half an hour to Luton. At Luton there's a shuttle bus from the traın station to the airport, so I arrived in departures at around 4:15 but the check-in desk wasn't open for another quarter of an hour. Then I stood in a queue for the better part of an hour and had my suitcase weighed and got my boarding pass and was then directed to another queue to check the damn suitcase in. Then another massive queue to get on the plane. By the time we took off I didn't want to do anything but sleep, which I did, the whole flight.
Not much better on the Istanbul end. Flew into Sabiha Gökçen, the airport on the Asian side. Julia's directions for how to get to Acibadem (and take a taxi to their house from there) were not so great and the bus I got on took me all the way to Kadıköy, where I waited for, again, the better part of an hour before another bus came to take me up Acibadem Caddesi -- luckily that was a very useful bus as it dropped me off basically right outside their house. Also luckily I discovered my phone somehow works here (although it costs 50p a text, so I'm using it sparingly) so I could text Alex and get their exact address.
I was ready to eat a horse and chase the rider by the time I got to their flat so Alex ordered me a big kumpir (stuffed baked potato) which filled the hole. We hung about and chatted a bit and I had a little nap and then we all went out in Kadıköy. As well as Alex, Julia and their flatmate Anne, whom I hadn't met before, Liz, my former DOS, Kris, who was DOS at the Kadıköy branch of Interlang when I arrived, and Graham (IRISH!), who now actually works in Vietnam and is also visiting, where there, which was lovely. Sadly Stephen is on vacation in Canada! Law of bloody sod.
I had a lovely sleep last night and woke up this morning perfectly refreshed. Went to Kız Kulesi (the Maiden's Tower) with Alex and Anne in the morning while Jules went off to do a private lesson, then we got the ferry to Beşiktaş and the metro to Taksim, walked up Istiklal and I bought a lovely red corduroy skirt for YTL5 -- around two pounds, and I swear in London it would have run me at least forty -- ten or fifteen from a charity shop even.
Anne went off to buy a print from a museum that she's been pining after for months and Alex and I went to one of the fish restaurants under the Galata Bridge and ate meze. Then Alex had to run off to meet Liz in Kadıköy to get a reference but I stayed where I was and Julia came along and had a bite to eat before we set off to see Süleymaniye mosque, which I thought I hadn't seen before but it turned out I had! It is very lovely, though, probably the loveliest in the city, so worth a bit of a hike up the hill from Eminönü to see it.
Well, we were supposed to be meeting Alex for an open-air Mustafa Sandal concert in Kadıköy, but we just missed the eight o'clock ferry so we decided to get a bite to eat at one of the little restaurants opposite the iskele. However, we became so engrossed in our food and chat we almost missed the eight-thirty ferry! We realised the time at eight twenty and Alex rang at eight-twenty five and I bellowed "Bakar mısın! Hesabı ala bilirmiyiz?!" (Excuse me! Can we have the bill?) we shoved the money at them, shovelled the last of our food in and sprinted onto the ferry, holding our bellies, I with an ayran (salty yoghurt drink) in my hand!
We've just come from the concert which was fun -- open air and free, so drew all ages and stages dancing in a square. Nice.
I'm thinking of heading down to Efes perhaps mid-week. We'll see how things go. Almost everything is slightly more expensive than it used to be. Damn inflation. It is funny how familiar it all is though (except for this keyboard! My fingers have forgotten how to Turkish touch type and this is taking me an age). I said to Julia that coming back to İstanbul feels in a weird way like coming back to real life. There are things that I just love about Turkey. I love how people dote on you. Waiters can't hop to help you fast enough, people in the streets go out of their way to give you directions or advice. I love how they don't give flying fuck about health and safety. Buses drive with their front doors open in the summer. Pavements are dangerous and uneven but if someone trips over one the idea of trying to sue someone for their sprained ankle wouldn't even float across their mind. I love how they have a pleasantry for everything, from having bought something new (Güle güle kulan! -- smile smile use!) to someone having just cooked you a meal (ellerin[iz]e sağlık -- health to your hands). I kind of love how if they disapprove of your dress they'll tut at you in the street. I kind of love how they think it's fine to just stare at you if they think you're interesting.
Of course there are flipsides to all this. People dote on you, but sometimes they pay too much attention to you. I hate how every restaurant has a tout. If they don't have a litigation culture, they also don't have a social safety net, and it's sad how many destitute people there are in the streets. If they're open and emotional and demonstrative, they can also get in your personal space a bit too much and of course being stared at by random people also includes being leered at by strange men, which is not pleasant.
But somehow it all seems so real here. It's probably good I'm coming now. I can stare it in the face and think that this is what I'm giving up, the good, bad and very, very ugly and go back to London to start my course with a clean slate.