UAE

On Thursday I'm flying to Dubai to spend Christmas with my roommate from Princeton, Amy, and her family. People expect gifts this time of the year so today I went to see what I could find for these awesome people who are sharing their home with me. I ended up at Paşabahçe; this store is very cool. It has lots of stuff for the kitchen downstairs but upstairs the place sells handmade Turkish things for home decorations. I'll take more pictures next time. 

I was downstairs in the regular kitchen section looking for Turkish coffee cups, and I found these very simple and classy cups. When I flipped them over...

Yes, they were made in the UAE. That's where Dubai is for those who aren't up on their geography. It seems silly for me to bring something "Turkish" to Amy's family when it really came from the country they are already in. Why can't I just buy them when I get there? Because they don't have Paşabahçe in Dubai - this is a Turkish store that sells Turkish things. 

So if I buy these cups, I'll be bringing them back to their true motherland. How nice of me. 

Junior Boys

Abby's sister is visiting us this week! She is a freshman at Northwestern and is spending the first week of her winter vacation here. Both of them are leaving for America on Monday, and I know I'll be lonely without them here by my side so I'm spending as much time with them as I can. On Wednesday the three of us went to Şişhane to see a band called Junior Boys.

They are an electro-pop group, and they sounded awesome. I didn't know any of their songs but I still found myself bouncing along to their beats. 

The concert also gave me a peek into an Istanbul subculture: I've found the hipsters. Well, they're not hipsters exactly but they've got that very cool Anthropologie look going - without actually having an Anthropologie. The girls at this concert had style. 

Anyway, check out Junior Boys. The band has been around for over ten years and based on the number of YouTube plays, I certainly didn't discover them. In fact, this song that I really like is from 2007. They gave a great concert, and I'm glad that I was able to not only listen to them live but also see the Turks that are into electro-pop. 

Lights

These are pictures that I took when we were at Galata the other night. I like the lighting in both of them. 

This is a picture of Galata Tower from the base. It was built in the 14th century! Now, it's a tourist site all on its own but it also gives you one of the greatest views of the Old City in Istanbul. This second picture is of a building that is always lit in blue. I don't know what the building is but it's pretty!

This is on the path down the hill that Galata Tower is located on. The building is white and when its bathed in blue, it's ethereal. 

Turkish Wine

Today Chris' friend came into town so we went out to a wine bar to celebrate. The wine bar is called Sensus, and it only serves Turkish wine. It's right next to Galata Tower inside the basement of a hotel, and it has a real cellar-y feel to it. The floors and walls are all stone, and there is bright but localized light. Lots of bright and dark spaces with everything in between very soft. 

The people working there help you make selections on what kind of wine to try, and you can buy it by the bottle or the glass. Tonight we were all drinking the same Cab. I don't know a lot about wine so I can't tell you about the fruity flavors and woody aftertaste or whatever it is that wine people say about wine. I thought it was good. 

Back in August, Chris had this idea that we should try a new Turkish wine every week and rate them. He really wanted to know more about Turkish wine and wine in general. It worked for a couple weeks - he would carefully record our impressions of the wine and we would all give it a grade based on taste and price. After tonight, I think it would be fun to get back into that. 

Coincidentally my mother and my friend went to a Turkish restaurant in New York City last night and drank a bit of Turkish wine. I asked my mom if she remembered what it was called. She told me all she remembered was that it was the third one down on the list. It seems we could all learn a little something about Turkish wine.

How The Nights End

Last night I went out with some friends in Taksim, and as we were leaving, I stopped to take a picture of the clothes store Mango and its marquee. It lists every city that has a Mango, including Dallas, my hometown! Waiting to spot it has become one of my late night traditions. But they are in alphabetical order, and we showed up a little late. So we stood there watching the names of cities around the world go by, Abby and I made a game out of it by pointing out all the ones we've been to. The last time I stood outside to watch for it, my friend and I pointed out cities that we had never heard of. A very different game but just as entertaining. After about 5 minutes, we spotted Dallas!

I get really excited when I see Dallas, and it has nothing to do with the fact that it's usually very late on a Friday night. Ok, that factors in a little bit. Nonetheless, it's awesome to see this small connection from two important places in my life. Maybe people from Rome and Damascus feel the same way?

Two additional thoughts. First, Crete is an island not a city, and Deira is a part of Dubai. Why would they abandon the city theme? Crete has individual cities, I'm sure the Mango is in one of them and there is more than one Mango in Istanbul but the individual neighborhoods don't come up on this marquee so why are Crete and Deira so special, huh? Second, I had no idea where Rotterdam was. I had to Google it. 

So yes. I'm a nerd who thinks it's fun to play geography games at 1am on a Friday night in the bar district of Istanbul. Sorry I'm not sorry. 

Emily Elbert

In 2007, I was watching a local morning talk show in Dallas and saw this girl give a spectacular performance. Four and a half years later, I'm listening to her live at a bar in Istanbul, Turkey. The world is funny. 

Her name is Emily Elbert, and oh man is she amazing. You should check her out on YouTube. She sang this song last night at a bar in Istanbul. Listen and fall in love with her voice. You're welcome. 

I Hope That's Bougainvillea...Let Me Know If It's Not

A couple weeks ago, my roommate, Niko, and I were trying to find a shortcut, and we ended up stumbling upon a very beautiful church. While he took pictures of the church, I snapped this picture of these beautiful flowers.

At my house in Texas we have bougainvillea like this too. This little side street, with the church and the flowers, reminded me of home. Then I looked in the background of the photo and saw a typical Istanbul sight. A huge hill with houses seemingly built on top of one another. And that's what I like about Istanbul. It's familiar enough to be comfortable but different enough to be exciting. Our shortcut ended up being a longcut, and I'm honestly not sure I could navigate back to this spot. But I can always navigate back to this feeling.

I hope that through this blog those who have never been to Turkey and may be hesitant about a country that seems so different and so far away will begin to get a better idea of the people, of the country, of the land, and most importantly, of my time here.

EDIT: It's a crepe myrtle. The story remains the same otherwise - we have crepe myrtles, not bougainvillea, in our yard. I'm not a botanist, sorry I'm not sorry. 

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?