sam and nikki
There are a lot of kitties, cats and dogs in Istantbul. And I’m referring to the stray ones. They are everywhere. If you don’t hear them at night, you see them during the day. It’s no wonder so many Turks have a general aversion and are downright scared of cats and dogs. You don’t want to get close to these animals or cross them on a bad day. For me, though, seeing them makes me miss animals… the ones I can pet and hold.
So today on my trip to the grocery store, I stopped by the pet store. Just seeing these kittens, puppies, cats, dogs, brightened my day. There was even a bengal cat. It was beautiful but looked like it belonged in the wild. As I learned from one of the pet shop workers, Georgi from Georgia (the country, not the state), all of these pets to be adopted were pure bred on the pet shop owner’s FARM. Now, maybe I’m misinterpreting the word, but when I think of farm, rarely do I think of a place to mass breed purebreds. But I’ve been wrong before.
I was so happy – I got to hold some of the kitties. I know, it’s the simple things in life that put a smile on my face. Animals really do wonders though to people’s soul and well-being, I’m convinced.
Through my little bit of Turkish and the pet shop folks’ little bit of English, I found out more about these little guys. Most of the kittens and puppies were three months old, which I found oddly coincidental because there were a lot of puppies and kitties. Maybe they all come from the farm at the same age? Maybe he wasn’t answering with how old they were, but instead was answering a different question he thought I asked? I didn’t delve further.
I fell in love with Sam and Nikki, brother and sister kittens (3 months old of course) – pic below.
When I held one, it would cry for the other one in the cage. Tiniest little meows. Make me melt. The shop owner was telling me they were from Thailand or Taiwan – neither I nor the other pet shop worker there could make out which. Where ever they were from, they were beyond adorable and loveable. I did walk away wondering though if they were named Sam and Nikki or not, though. The guy kept referring to Sam as Nikki and Nikki as Sam. So then I began to wonder if he really didn’t know his cats or if he had been saying “Siamese twins” instead (Sam = Siam, Nikki = ikiz, which means twins). Yes, lost in translation.
There have been many moments like this and I’ve just come to expect misinterpretation on both my and the other party’s part. I took 5 levels of Turkish at NYU, but I guess the past year that I haven’t used the language at all is cause for the cobwebs. I’m planning on getting a tutor or taking a refresher course. It’s definitely needed because the language is the biggest barrier I’m facing here. It’s awfully ackward to be an educated, intelligent person and not be able to hold a normal conversation, let me tell you.
Anyway, signing off for now. Meow.
big toe on fashion
In preparation for the move to Istanbul, as any logical girl would, I shopped. After all, you can never prepare enough for whatever type of fashion you may encounter in a new country no matter how many clothes, shoes and bags already occupy your closet.
Tonight I will debut my newest shoe purchase, my grey suede peep-toe boots, which were one of my favorite prep purchases for Istanbul. Thanks to two of my dear fashion cohorts Irina and Kim for being so crucial in the purchase of these boots.
Side note: I bought a mini-dress to accompany the boots, but that outfit is being saved for more of a night out. Tonight we’re just going for dinner and drinks with friends, so I’m going with my favorite jeans instead.
For those of you close to my big toe saga and the injury it sustained in late March, you may pay special notice to my toe in the picture. Yep, it is now sans nail as of today – exactly 5 months to the day. I know, very exciting news that has enlightened each and every one of your days.
More on fashion in Istanbul later. I promise, no more on the big toe.
jips and chicken wings
For those of you who know me, you know that I love to eat. But I’ve always been able to manage my eating habit in NY by walking a lot, working out, and good old stress. But as my mother-in-law so kindly pointed out the other day at dinner, I’ve gained a few kilos. Yes, I will admit I’ve gained about 6lbs since getting married. Maybe even 8, but since all scales here are in kilos, you know it gets lost in conversion.
But I only have my dear friends to blame. You see, if it weren’t for the crazy number of going away dinners, parties, lunches, drinks, etc, before our departure then maybe I would be 6 (or 8…) lbs less than I currently am. (Ok and the month of wedding celebrations may play a role here, too). But the problem is I love to eat. And it doesn’t help that I just discovered my new favorite chips here (or “jips” as I learned they are called from some little kid in the grocery store yesterday). They are this great cross between mini bagel chips and sour cream and onion loveliness. And the best (or worst) thing is that they are only 1.5 liras! (about one dollar). Did I mention I’ve been going to the gym a lot? 
I’m also on an official chicken wing hunt to find the city’s best hot wings. It’s not so common here, but there’s gotta be a place that does it well… and I’m going to find it! Unfortunately there is no Citysearch or Menu Pages, so we’re on our own.
We went for mexican food last night (which was surprisingly really good) and got wings as an appetizer. I know, weird that you can get wings at a mexican restaurant. Equally as weird that you can get good mexican food in Turkey. While the wings weren’t bad, they were small in size and rate a solid 5 on the Chicken Wing Scale of Loveliness. And the blue cheese got a -5. The search continues…
jazz brunch Sunday
Listening to jazz in a mini-Central Park look-alike, having a yummy Turkish brunch, and hanging out with some our favorite people… what more could we ask for? Ok, well maybe for it to be less than 100*! I don’t know how hot it really was on Sunday, but it had to be in the 90s but with NO wind, so it felt like it was over 100* easily.
We were in the park of Sebanci Museum enjoying a small-ish (400 people) jazz concert. It reminded me a lot of Central Park concerts, except for on a much smaller scale… and with cushy pillows to sit on and a fully catered, super yummy Turkish food spread. Unfortunately it was too hot for us to stay more than a few hours, even in the shade.
Update: I’m NOT running the 10K Nike Human Race
Update: I just found out that my pre-registration was cancelled due to the fact that 10,000 people have already signed up to run the race in Istanbul. Apparently there is a cap on how many people can participate. Boooooooo! Maybe they should have told me this when I registered! Anyway, guess this just means I will be running on the treadmill that day.
In non-lazy days of summer news, it looks like I’m going to run a 10K at the end of the month! The race is the Nike Plus Human Race – it’s basically the world’s largest organized race taking place in 25 cities worldwide on 8.31.08. They anticipate over a million people either running in one of the organized races or at home online which could make this the single largest sporting event in history. Pretty amazing. Istanbul and New York are two of the competing cities, so if anyone wants to run against me, let me know!
Here in Istanbul, I’ll be running across one of the two bridges that cross the Bosphorous in Istanbul (the Bogazici Bridge) – probably my only opportunity ever to cross the bridge by foot as this is not like the Brooklyn Bridge where cars and pedestrians use it. Anyway, I’ve only ever run a 5K before just this past May in the Revlon Run/Walk (my first ever race) so this 10K should prove to be challenging. Updates on my training later…
http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/humanrace/index.jsp?sitesrc=persist_tout
villa relaxation and swimming in the Black Sea
It’s been an eventful weekend so far. Last night we had dinner and drinks at a friend’s amazingly beautiful villa on the Asian side, just across the Bosphorous. Their villa was seriously just like you walked into an architechtual design dream. From the top floor of the villa there is an amazing view of the Bosphorous and the European side (where we live). Yes I should have taken a picture to share… sorry. Or maybe a video would have been better so you could hear how last night when the mosques sounded their call to prayer at 9:45p, how it seemed as if we were center-point of like 10 mosques. That is, and I’m sure will always be, a very unique Istanbul experience for me. Video next time, I promise.
The night was perfect, the moon just about full, weather perfect, super yummy Turkish cuisine, cocktails, late night swimming, and meeting a whole new group of people – Turks and Americans. And it turns out one of the couples lives right next to us. I can see us hanging out with this crew a lot, and hope that we do.
And today was just another day at the beach today… well not really. Today I swam in the Black Sea for the first time. I’ve seen the Black Sea before from a boat trip up the Bosphorous, but this is the first time swimming in it. This trip to the beach there – Burc Beach – also marked our first beach trip since living here.
The Black Sea is different from other Turkey beaches I’ve been to. The sand is more brown, the water is warmer, and there are pretty strong waves and a healthy undertow. It’s a very nice beach, but I think I prefer the crisp, clear water of Cesme beaches. This beach was unique though because since it is the Black Sea, you can look out and see all of the ships waiting to go through the Bosphorous Straight. It’s really a cool sight – see pics below.
I have to tell you though, it was a really tough day. Sitting in our beach cabana, having someone bring us drinks and food all day, hanging with friends, swimming and jumping into the crashing waves… ahh this is the life.
my first week living in Istanbul
Tomorrow will mark my first week living here. The flight over was fine, save the grouchy Delta flight attendants and the little kid sitting behind me. But upon my arrival at IST, me, my 4 suitcases, 1 box and 70lb “carry-on” was greeted by my hubby who was bearing my most favorite flowers. I can’t tell you how excited I was to be in his arms!
I was also so excited to see the new apartment, which I had only seen pictures of so far. Wow is all I have to say. I am beyond happy with our new place! Onur did such a great job finding it. It’s nearly 1700sqft with 2 balconies… a HUGE difference from our 1br apt in NY. It feels like a real home, imagine that. But more importantly what felt real was the feeling of being a newlywed. After 2 months of being married but not really together, and three months of being apart before that, we now officially feel what it’s like to be newlyweds. And yeah, it is a grrreat feeling! The whole being newlyweds thing… totally underrated.
The first couple of days here were spent furniture shopping. Our place currently echos, so we’re eager to fill it with furniture and make it a home. So we spent two full days at these furniture “cities”. Hundreds of stores, but we only went to maybe 40? It’s like an outlet mall on crack, minus the discount prices. Looks like we’re going with customized furniture for the living and dining rooms (common in Turkey, from what I’m beginning to understand), and the plan is to go modern-comfy.
We also hung out with a lot of friends so far this week, which was a nice welcome to Istanbul. And I also met a new friend – the gym – oh but it’s so much more than a gym. It’s a 5 minute walk that takes about 15 because of the convoluted way you have to get there. Hello huge hills and random Istanbul streets. And this gym is like no other gym. I’ve decided this gym is more like a beach club… well minus the actual beach. The sheer size of this place – 14,000sqm (and the size of the membership costs too!), the 3 amazing pools (1 of them being a full-on beach club pool), and the on-site spa facilities make it more of a beach club to me. I mean you could spend all day here no problem.
While I adjusted to the time difference very quickly, I’m adjusting to the sounds here at quite a different pace. We’re in a very central part of Istanbul, but because we live in a private community, we’re away from the horn honking, bus screeching, and general big city traffic noise. This is a welcome break from apt living in nyc, for sure. But on the flip-side, I hear a lot of things like wind and birds chirping and well, nature… and let me tell you it does take some getting used to – especially falling asleep in the quietness. It is relaxing though, don’t get me wrong. Sometimes so relaxing I feel like I’m on vacation. I can get used to it – well, except for when those things, those birds or lambs or goats or seagulls or whatever the hell they are, make that funky noise… at 5am every morning. I gotta find my earplugs.
Some general observations from my first week living in Istanbul:
* roosters – they don’t just crow at dawn, it’s more of a throughout-the-day thing (yes we really do live in a very comsmopolitan area, so I don’t know why I hear roosters either)
* kitties – there are a lot of them here and they are so cute… but you don’t touch them
* screens in your windows – nobody has them. We’ll be “those” Americans stapling screens into our windows.
* no one is on time here, I mean no one. I’m a role model for all Turks!
* Turkey needs Bed Bath & Beyond… big time
let the candidness commence!
Well, today is day 1 of my blog. I recently moved to Istanbul with my husband, so I decided to start a blog to keep family and friends updated on what’s happening with us… and well I’m sure there will be plenty of ramblings from me as I am transitioning to a new world here and am excited about documenting it. So read on and enjoy!
