(no subject)
My apologies - I have been TERRIBLE about keeping people updated and at this point I can't remember what I have or haven't told who...so here goes:
I've seen more mosques than I can count in the last couple weeks. They are beautiful and I love seeing them, but its a bit crazy because we did as part of tours guided by our history prof (the crazy facial hair one) and so they weren't spread out over the two weeks...more like 6 hrs straight of mosque hopping. Yeah. Takes something away from the experience. And I feel foolish with my salvar chunni on my head lol...if only I knew how to properly cover my hair without looking like a cancer patient. We saw some palaces and other historical buildings - but you can check those out on my facebook pictures.
The nightlife here...so different than home. Cheap bars and clubs everywhere, but that sure doesn't mean they are any good lol. I mean, I suppose the bars are if you drink, but the clubs. Um. Can we say techno and people who can't dance to save their lives? Hahaha. Shit I'm missing hip hop, grinding, people who can generally shake it...certainly not missing out on any sketchiness because the shady characters here are wayyyy worse. Saturday night wound up being a disastrous night, between trying to go to this one club, getting stuck in traffic, not getting in, going back to Taksim where there's a bunch of other clubs and stuff, the group getting split up...and then me and my friend Payal winding up alone. I mean, it was a busy street and all, but wow. Girls should never be left without guys after sunset here, that's for sure. I mean, I've dealt with being harassed and even getting into scary situations where I was alone somewhere not so great at night and all that...but geez I've never experienced anything quite like Saturday night. Fat man trying to grab me and kiss me as he was passing me walking in the other direction, large groups of guys swarming around us getting in our personal space groping, catcalls everwhere, no one even trying to be discreet about where their eyes were...like sheesh. This is why its good to not live in a super-sexually-repressed society - people might stare if you're out somewhere in a clubbing outfit or whatever but like...you most likely will not have to deal with that much harassment in a very crowded place (maybe in like a dark alley or something haha). I really really really miss being able to walk around during the daytime by myself too. The most I've done is walking down the street to a food store at the end...it wasn't terrible, I just got a loooot of stares (women are like never by themselves here) and felt uncomfortable...but still. I wouldn't want to walk much further than that on my own if I can avoid it.
Lets see...what else...oh lol, I saw Die Hard 4 in a theater here - in English with Turkish subtitles. But some of the subtitles were hilarious - example, Bruce Willis crushes this woman in an elevator shaft with a car and is like, "So how do you feel now?" and the subtitle was "Nasilsin?" - which is how you would just say, "How are you?" to someone you met. Haha. We actually were going to see Harry Potter, but its not playing here yet...?! Says on the website that its released in Turkey on July 13 but uh, maybe that's wrong because it definitely just said "coming soon" on the signs at the theater. How disappointing...as long as I can get my hands on a book I guess I'll be fine. *sigh* I'm going to have to go on a facebook strike at that point because you KNOW some jerk that I'm facebook friends with for no good reason is going to have a spoiler in their status message or something. LOL. And I mean, I'm in Istanbul, I'm not going to sit around and just read a book that I could read at home - I gotta make the most of the city, right? Hmmm. We'll see how it goes. I mean, luckily most of the people in the group are Harry Potter fans (minus a few of the guys...silly people).
The only thing that I'm finding unenjoyable right now is the food. Like, I can deal with constantly eating food I really could care less about (think: dorms) - I mean, I'm used to not getting food I like for months on end. But its really hard being vegetarian here. Like, their salads are freaking nasty - no lettuce, just a few coriander leaves on top of some tomatos and cucumbers. I'm SO sick of tomatos and cucumbers - its one of the only parts of our daily breakfast that I can eat. And you know, I don't even care that much about food - I could totally live on very simple things - its just that I guess they figure if something is vegetarian then that sucks so they should make it taste better by making whatever it is super fattening and oily and gross. My stomach is really taking a toll as a result. :-/ I think I'm going to have to start doing PB&J sandwiches without a toaster...I'm just not used to such large, greasy, bad tasting meals. *shrug* I got some apples and cereal to keep me going. (And actually - though everyone can eat more because they eat meat, I get the impression that Turkish food is just not so appealing to anyone. Guess its an acquired taste.)
Anyway, must finish writing a paper I've been putting off...*sigh* haha.
If any of you have anything specific you'd like from here, let me know! :)
I've seen more mosques than I can count in the last couple weeks. They are beautiful and I love seeing them, but its a bit crazy because we did as part of tours guided by our history prof (the crazy facial hair one) and so they weren't spread out over the two weeks...more like 6 hrs straight of mosque hopping. Yeah. Takes something away from the experience. And I feel foolish with my salvar chunni on my head lol...if only I knew how to properly cover my hair without looking like a cancer patient. We saw some palaces and other historical buildings - but you can check those out on my facebook pictures.
The nightlife here...so different than home. Cheap bars and clubs everywhere, but that sure doesn't mean they are any good lol. I mean, I suppose the bars are if you drink, but the clubs. Um. Can we say techno and people who can't dance to save their lives? Hahaha. Shit I'm missing hip hop, grinding, people who can generally shake it...certainly not missing out on any sketchiness because the shady characters here are wayyyy worse. Saturday night wound up being a disastrous night, between trying to go to this one club, getting stuck in traffic, not getting in, going back to Taksim where there's a bunch of other clubs and stuff, the group getting split up...and then me and my friend Payal winding up alone. I mean, it was a busy street and all, but wow. Girls should never be left without guys after sunset here, that's for sure. I mean, I've dealt with being harassed and even getting into scary situations where I was alone somewhere not so great at night and all that...but geez I've never experienced anything quite like Saturday night. Fat man trying to grab me and kiss me as he was passing me walking in the other direction, large groups of guys swarming around us getting in our personal space groping, catcalls everwhere, no one even trying to be discreet about where their eyes were...like sheesh. This is why its good to not live in a super-sexually-repressed society - people might stare if you're out somewhere in a clubbing outfit or whatever but like...you most likely will not have to deal with that much harassment in a very crowded place (maybe in like a dark alley or something haha). I really really really miss being able to walk around during the daytime by myself too. The most I've done is walking down the street to a food store at the end...it wasn't terrible, I just got a loooot of stares (women are like never by themselves here) and felt uncomfortable...but still. I wouldn't want to walk much further than that on my own if I can avoid it.
Lets see...what else...oh lol, I saw Die Hard 4 in a theater here - in English with Turkish subtitles. But some of the subtitles were hilarious - example, Bruce Willis crushes this woman in an elevator shaft with a car and is like, "So how do you feel now?" and the subtitle was "Nasilsin?" - which is how you would just say, "How are you?" to someone you met. Haha. We actually were going to see Harry Potter, but its not playing here yet...?! Says on the website that its released in Turkey on July 13 but uh, maybe that's wrong because it definitely just said "coming soon" on the signs at the theater. How disappointing...as long as I can get my hands on a book I guess I'll be fine. *sigh* I'm going to have to go on a facebook strike at that point because you KNOW some jerk that I'm facebook friends with for no good reason is going to have a spoiler in their status message or something. LOL. And I mean, I'm in Istanbul, I'm not going to sit around and just read a book that I could read at home - I gotta make the most of the city, right? Hmmm. We'll see how it goes. I mean, luckily most of the people in the group are Harry Potter fans (minus a few of the guys...silly people).
The only thing that I'm finding unenjoyable right now is the food. Like, I can deal with constantly eating food I really could care less about (think: dorms) - I mean, I'm used to not getting food I like for months on end. But its really hard being vegetarian here. Like, their salads are freaking nasty - no lettuce, just a few coriander leaves on top of some tomatos and cucumbers. I'm SO sick of tomatos and cucumbers - its one of the only parts of our daily breakfast that I can eat. And you know, I don't even care that much about food - I could totally live on very simple things - its just that I guess they figure if something is vegetarian then that sucks so they should make it taste better by making whatever it is super fattening and oily and gross. My stomach is really taking a toll as a result. :-/ I think I'm going to have to start doing PB&J sandwiches without a toaster...I'm just not used to such large, greasy, bad tasting meals. *shrug* I got some apples and cereal to keep me going. (And actually - though everyone can eat more because they eat meat, I get the impression that Turkish food is just not so appealing to anyone. Guess its an acquired taste.)
Anyway, must finish writing a paper I've been putting off...*sigh* haha.
If any of you have anything specific you'd like from here, let me know! :)