America Is Missing Out

Ok today I will share with you the greatest thing in Bebek, my neighborhood in Istanbul. Do you see this line?

It is from Sunday night, around 9pm. It extends all the way to the street. It's for waffles. Yep. You get a waffle for 9 lira ($5). It's a pretty expensive dessert for this part of the world but it's amazing. And so worth it. First, you get a thinner waffle than you would get at IHOP or would make at home. But it's cooked in a waffle iron right before your eyes. Then you pick what spread thing you want. You can pick one for each side or get the same for both sides. Options include milk, dark, and white chocolate, Nutella, strawberry, or hazlenut spread. I like milk chocolate and Nutella. 

Then you pick your toppings. I personally prefer banana, strawberry, and kiwi. But you can also choose cherries, pineapples, chestnuts, pistachios, sprinkles, and powdered sugar. Any and all toppings. Remember you pay a flat price no matter how much you have them put on there. So pile it on. I do.

Then you fold it in half, taco-style, as best you can. And you keep a tight hold on it, burrito-style, lest any yummy (still warm) goodness spill out. Mine exploded on me the first time I had one but I've gotten much better at managing the amazingness. Now you want one don't you? 

The place is Ab'bas on the main road through Bebek but it's a chain so they can be found elsewhere in Istanbul. Their website: http://www.abbaswaffle.com. Check it out!

Does anyone know of a place in America that has waffles like this? Someone needs to get on it. 

Round Two

So I am apparently really bad at blogging. I feel like I have to carefully craft and compose posts, and I feel like they have to be long and funny and the most entertaining thing EVER. Well, I refuse to let myself be overwhelmed by a project that I don't have to do. But I want to do it so I'm making it easier for myself. Instead, I will post the iPhone (read: blurry) pictures of things that I find generally curious/amusing and then ramble about why I find them generally curious/amusing. The first:

So this is a picture of the Marmara Hotel in Taksim Square, the busiest square in all of Istanbul, their Piccadilly Times Circus Square. And this hotel is a nice, expensive hotel that has a huge gym that overlooks the hustle and bustle of the area. The people who stay here are probably business-types. They come to Istanbul for work, and instead of exploring the city (or even Taksim, a small but very important area), they spend their evenings in the gym. They go to work and then go to the gym, just like they would if they were at home. Except they're not at home. They're in Istanbul. And they are spending their time in this super artificial environment. I don't want this to ever be me.

If you're one of these business-types, please let me know. Am I judging too harshly?

In case some of you don't know exactly what I am doing, I'll explain.

Here's what I know:

a) I want to travel

b) I eventually want to work for myself

Now, I might go to law school, and I might go to business school; I don't know. But I do know that whichever thing I do, I'm taking time off. And I could take time off in Dallas, getting a job doing whatever OR I could take time off somewhere else doing whatever. I chose somewhere else.

I chose Turkey. I came here in 2008, after my freshman year at Princeton, and I had a WONDERFUL time. No, seriously, I was my at my best while I was here. I woke up early, made my bed, and ate healthily. I loved my time in Istanbul. And I wasn't half bad at Turkish.

I thought it might have been because Turkey was my first exposure to a new country, a new culture, but last summer I went to France and Italy and definitely did not have anywhere near the same experience. My senior year at Princeton, I studied Turkish. I had a great teacher, Erika Gilson, and wonderful classmates, and it was easier than French. 

It was like the world was telling me something. And without a plan post-graduation, living in Turkey and learning Turkish, which I consider an investment in my future international law career, sounded perfect. So I bought a ticket to Istanbul. It's a one-way ticket and my goal is to at least make it a year here. I need to find a job. I need to find an apartment. I need to learn Turkish. I'm not a part of any program; I'm on my own. I have the money in my bank account and all the common sense that the Lord has given me. But I also have a year. And who knows? I might just stay a little longer. 

Land of Milk and Hummus

Milk and hummus are actually pretty rare in Turkey. You can always find hummus on the menus of Turkish restaurants in America but no hummus in Turkey. And milk isn't a very common beverage either.

I take my Turkish food very seriously, and when I arrived on the afternoon of Thursday, August 15, I knew exactly where I wanted to go for dinner. I booked a hostel close to this restaurant. My friend, Kerem, had taken me a couple times the last time that I was here, and it was on the busy street, Istiklal but hidden on a roof. Not crowded with a great view. I convinced Stephen to go with me, even though I didn't know the name of the place or exactly where it was, but I knew I would know it when I saw it.

By the time I got my stuff settled in the hostel and washed the airplane off my face, it was raining. Thanks, Istanbul! We huddled under an umbrella making our way down Istiklal but because the restaurant was on the roof we had to keep glancing up. I finally saw it from below but could already tell that it was probably closed and, if not closed, probably not a good place to eat in the rain. We walked into the building and Stephen used his Turkish skillz to determine that the restaurant was actually closed. Sad.

We ate at another restaurant, and the food was fine. Between the rain and the disappointment, I spent my first night in Istanbul a little bummed out. But the morning held the promise of a week-long trip to the seaside towns of Izmir and Bodrum.