Istanbul: my first weekend

Well, here I am, the place I've been thinking about since July.



It seems a bit like a dream sometimes. Other times I think to myself, "Holy smokes! I'm really here!"I've been keeping a journal of everything, but it would take a long time to write everything I've been doing, so I'll just summarize:

I almost missed my flight out of Chicago. Nevermind that I arrived three and a half hours early to the airport. Nevermind that I sat at the correct gate for two. My legs got tired of sitting so at 5:30 pm I decided to go for a walk. I walked for an hour, thinking that boarding time for the 6:55 flight wasn’t until 6:45. At 6:30 they announced the final boarding call over the airport PA system.

“That’s my flight!” It felt really good for my legs to run 10 gates, but I was the very last person to get on the plane. (As it turned out, I didn’t have to fight any crowds so it was much easier to find my seat and put my things away. I reccomend this technique to anyone boarding a plane.) The Indian security guard (I was flying with Air India) scolded me for being so absent minded. Once I found my seat and settled myself, the girl next to me said they had started boarding at 5:45. Man, my spacey brain almost cost me dearly. This flight only flies once a week!

As the plane wasn’t very crowded, I was able to snag a couple seats and sleep for about 3 hours. Then I had a layover in Frankfurt, which was mildly frustrating because I consider Germany my second home and I wasn’t able to leave the airport and enjoy it. For one, I had two bags and an instrument to lug around. Secondly, I left all my relatives phone numbers in Madison. I’m such a genius. So I spent my time hanging out in the gate that I was to leave from. No chance of me missing any flights this time! Nothing else to do but sleep.

Upon waking from a nap, I found myself talking with a group of retired professionals who were going to Bodrum (southern Turkey) for vacation. One gentleman, a retired professor from a Boston university (I think) began telling me about the Black Sea. Did you know that below a certain level, there is absolutely no oxygen in the Black Sea? I’m not sure yet as to why this is, but it has something to do with the sulfate level. As a result there are lots of ships at the bottom that aren’t rotting because there isn’t any bacteria. Since arriving in Trabzon I’ve seen a few signs advertising scuba diving lessons, but my Turkish isn’t good enough for that yet. There are three courses I want to take while I’m here: Turkish, the saz, and scuba diving. First things first. I have to earn money.

By the time I got on the plane to Istanbul, it was Friday afternoon. Next to me sat a retired school teacher who was very inspiring to talk with. It was great to see a school teacher who was still enjoying life. Teachers especially are prone to burning out at some point during their careers for numerous reasons. (One of my friends actually is studying, or planning on studying, this very topic.) While I didn’t have an opportunity to ask her about how she felt towards the end of her career, I got the feeling that she probably still enjoyed certain acspects of teaching. This was just another affirmation that I am on a path that will bring me inner joy. (Note to Krishna: If I’m wrong about this, let me know!) I got into Istanbul on Friday night and Bahadir, an old friend from my college days, picked me up from the airport. My luggage was lost, but for some reason it didn't bother me much. We hopped in his car and began zooming through the chaotic streets of the city. Even though he drives a bit like a madman, I tried imagine the Turkish driving style as a river rushing down the mountain, smoothly dodging obstacles and still moving. Two hours later we arrived at his apartment and I met his lovely wife, Neslihan.



She was so sweet to make dinner without garlic for me at the last minute and I hardly ate any of it. I later learned that this was a little rude as she had taken the time to make something for me to eat (and in a hurry no less). Next time I will do better at stuffing myself as my stomach will be able to handle more food. I wasn't scheduled to fly out to Trabzon until Monday, so I spent the majority of the weekend with Bahadir and Neslihan, who went all out to make sure that I enjoyed myself. Saturday Bahadir and I went for a walk by the water which felt good after sitting for 24 hours.



When we got back to his house he called the airline to find out what happened to my luggage, but after hanging up his face was grim. He reported that my bags wouldn't come for 5 days as they were on their way to Malaysia! Great. I had no clothes! No underwear! How was I going to get my bags to Trabzon?? Oh, this was wonderful indeed. Then Bahadir began to chuckle.

"I'm just joking, Nicole. They'll be here this morning." Phew!

After my luggage was delivered, we drove to the royal section of Istanbul where I met Nelsihan’s mother and sister. Neslihan’s mother was especially fond of me for some reason, even though I didn’t say anything. She didn’t speak any English, but I think she told me to be sure that I came back for another visit



Then Bahadir and I went to Eminönü,* the toursist district. We ran some errands then went to a Nargile place. This a cafe type place where one can smoke fruit flavored tobacco from a hookah.



The whole place smelled of apples and was quite lovely. I gave it a try and it even tasted like apples! I'm not sure why I didn't smoke some more. At the nargile cafe I met one of Bahadir's friends, Oğuzhan (Oguzhan-the "g" is silent). He is a freelance tour guide and is an expert on the history of Turkey and art. He invited me to join a tour he was giving in the morning. So the next day we all got up early to meet him at the ferry station I used to frequent seven years ago.
A few hours later I found myself touring around with a bunch of Bulgarians who didn’t speak very much English. Oguzhan would elaborate in English and one of the older gentlemen would translate for the group. First stop: Topkapı Palace. This place is worth a whole day and we had to breeze through it in less than two hours. My jet lag was beginning to kick in so I don’t remember many of the historical details of the place. The jewels were fantasticly beautiful to see and the religious relics were pretty awesome. As a non-Muslim person, I admit it was a little strange to see hairs of the prophet Mohammad preserved, but one must remember that Mohammed was the founder of Islam. Allah revealed the whole Koran to him, and he is considered the most holy man of the Islamic faith.

Next stop was the Hagia Sophia, the oldest building I have ever been in. Originally built in 532 as a cathedral by Emperor Justinian, the dome collapsed in 563 by an earthquake. It was then rebuilt with a higher dome and other adjustments were made to increase durability. The architechure of the church represented a revolutionary change in the way churches were built. A dome in the center supported by pillars and walls had never been done, and this is exactly why the first dome collapsed. In rebuilding the dome, arches were added in the form of two half domes on the sides of the center dome to add extra support with arches. Since the initial earthquake in 557, it has survived five major earthquakes.



It served as a Byzantium church until 1204 when Roman Catholic invaders from the Fourth Crusades pilaged the place. They ripped off all the intracit gold mosaics destroyed the chruch in other ways. (Just as a side note, I find it interesting that the Crusaders came and stole from their fellow Christians.) In 1453 the Sultan Mehmet took control of Constantinople and declared the Hagia Sophia his mosque. He left the remaining mosaics on the wall, stating that this is a holy place and they are holy images. Eventually plaster was put over the images (Islam does not allow the worship of representations of human likeness) in order to make the mosque useful for their purposes. It remained a mosque until 1935 when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk declared it a museum.

I found all of this wonderful. Walking around the building, I tried to imagine all the thousands of people who had passed here before me. Here is something someone wrote about this very idea.

“Where once potentates and patriarchs, prelates and priests, saints and sinners
moved in solemn procession, tourists now loiter and stare. The images
looking down from the walls are no longer the windows to heaven but silent
witnesses to the profanities of the Muslims and the vulgarities of the
tourist trade. Gone are the chanting priests; gone too are the smells and
bells of the East. No longer do the cherubim descend to accompany and to
praise the Holy Mysteries. The Great Church is little more than a mound of
architecturally ordered stones devoid of the life of liturgy. Away from the
rule of the heathen Turk, in other places where orthodox Christians may
gather one can still perceive imperfectly that vision of the splendor of
heaven unfolded in the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, for ours is truly a royal
worship, the prayer of kings.”

Next stop was Sultanahmet Camii (the Blue Mosque). It was of course beautiful and named after the traditional hand-made blue tiles of the Ottoman Empire.









Afterwards we went out to dinner with Oguzhan.

Later that evening I met up with Selim, another old friend. It was cool hanging out with him because he would say to me, “Do you remeber (insert name of place here)?” I would of course say no, and he would take me there. As we would approach the place, I would instantly remember being there before. In an email before coming back to Turkey, I asked him what he had been up to since we last talked and he said something about traveling around and going to the States. Not until we hung out did I realize to what extent that he traveled. He went as far as Moscow and almost all the places in between there and Turkey. He even went Iran! Talking with him made we want to skip out on work and just fulfill my wanderlust.



On the way back to Bahadir’s apartment I re-met Selim’s old roommate, Mehmet, and played with three little kittens that are growing up in is electricty-less apartment, and rode around in his red Beetle. It was a lovely time, but too short.





Bright and early (actually dark and early) Monday morning, Oguzhan picked me up from Bahadir's apartment at 6 am. Monday was the first day of school and he wanted to beat the crowds which get really bad in a city of 15 million. It ended up being worth it because I got to see the sun rise over the Bosphorus and get three history lessons from the man. I was really tired because I had only five hours of sleep. Anyway, I thought I would sleep on the plane but that was impossible because the Black Sea coast was visible the whole time.



This isn’t a very short summary, is it? Well, I like to tell stories, so I hope you are enjoying this. It certainly is a joy to write.


* There are a few extra letters in the Turkish alphabet that I'm not sure will show on computers in the States. Some of them are ş ("s" with a hook on the bottom), ç ("c" with a hook on the bottom), and ı ("i" without a dot). There are a couple vowels with umlauts, but I hope these show up.