We're not in the U.S.A. anymore...

There are moments in my day-to-day Istanbul life when I forget that I am living in a foreign country. And then moments sneak up on me, in which I feel like I am living on a different planet - sometimes an entertaining one, sometimes not so much. Let me rewind to Friday night. After a long week of training my roommate and I decided drinks would be a fabulous way to start the weekend, so we headed out. We walked down the pedestrian street, the Istiklal, working our way through massive amounts of people. Suddenly, I feel a kick. I look back, shocked and confused as to what just happened. A little Turkish woman stood behind me, her babushka pulled tight and an a mean look on her face. She had just kicked me in the bum! I turned to my roommate, who was behind me and saw everything go down. Jill was laughing histerically. Understandable, as it was behavior unlike anything either of us have ever witnessed. I would have been laughing if I hadn't been so in shock. I couldn't even be mad it was so ridiculous. Where in human social behavior is it acceptable to kick someone who is in your way? It's not acceptable, but it happens in Turkey.

Jill and I made our way off the Istiklal - much to my satisfaction. Our first stop was Babyface, the Turkish women's salon. We both got our hair washed and blown out (it's about 5USD to do this and a nice little treat). Our next goal was to find friends. It's very challenging to meet people here without knowing Turkish, so we keep our ears out for English speakers and aren't afraid to be friendly. We ended up befriending a couple from the States and a few Germans who spoke English enough to communicate. I have a new appreciation for the work I did at Cartus - my previous employer. Cartus organized language and cultural progams for business people moving to new countries. As I don't have an option I'll settle with the baptism by fire approach, but those lessons would have been nice!

Most of Saturday and Sunday were spent siteseeing. Jill's friends parents were in town from Minnesota, so we went to the grand bazaar (pic on right) and basilica cisterns (pic on left) with them. It was a relatively uneventful "tourist" weekend until Sunday afternoon when Jill and I found ourselves at the wrong place at the wrong time. Walking down the Istiklal on our way to lunch, we began to see many officers in uniform, all of them riot ready holding thick plexiglass shields. As I now know, we uncomfortably walked through a Hamas rally. There were many hamas flags and women in full burkas, a few signs written in English reading "people who desecrate the Quaran should be punished". It was an interesting and scary walk through the crowd. When Jill whispered to me that she wanted to take a picture I shot her a quick "nein". The rally was over when we went back through the area a while later, but it is an experience and feeling I'll never forget.

Finally, I have to share one of the most entertaining of my Turkish experiences so far. Last night while out smoking hooka with my roommate and her friend, a man sitting at the table down from us pulled out his pet monkey! Thank god it was on a leash. It was also wearing a diaper and the owner was feeding him beer (as seen in pic). It was hilarious! I'm not sure if too many things will surprise me once I move out of Turkey. It's a different world. Life's an adventure! XO

Hen Parties and Lessons Learned

I arrived in Istanbul one week ago today. It's unbelieveable how fast this week went by but at the same time it feels like I've been here much longer than one week. My life is progressively getting busier everyday, and I think it's going to be like that from here on out. Jill and I started our official training on Tuesday. There is so much to learn it makes my head spin, but this job is going to be just as exciting as the living abroad experience that comes with it. After our first training session a drink was in order so the 3 girls and I headed out to a local bar (we saw a balcony with flashing lights and Turkish music and made our way up 4 winding, narrow flights of stairs). There are winding stairs leading into every establishment, it's no wonder drinking plays such a small role in Turkish culture.

Finally in the open air roof bar, we found ourselves at a Turkish bachelorette party - they call them Hen parties in Europe. When we sat down a couple of Turkish girls, English speakers, came over to make friends with us. Soon after they began a Turkish tradition where the bride sat in a chair while her friends walked around her in a tight circle holding candles and dancing (pic on left). It looked like so much fun we almost got up to join in! The Turkish girls saw we were interested and let us in on the next tradition, putting a spot of henna on our hands (pic on right). Two days later I still have a brown blob on my hand that smells like grass and am not sure what it represents. I don't feel too bad about it, the Turkish girls didn't know either. After a drink and a round of flaming shots we left the Turkish bachelorette girls to their own devices, made a short stop at a sidewalk hooka bar, and called it a night.

Wednesday was a long workday - mainly spent learning material. We did however have a Turkish teacher come over to our apartment in the afternoon to teach us a few survival Turkish words. For the record - in my first shopping trip I did a great job guessing on what I was buying. But Ayran is such a deceiving bottle! The people in the picture look so happy and it was kept in the cold food area - Ayran is buttermilk and it does not taste good with Honey Nut Cheerios. My Turkish teacher informed me that milk is called sut, and is kept warm in boxes (refridgerate after opening?). Now that we know a few things Jill and I make it a point to say hello (merhaba) and thank you (tesekkuler) every chance we get. The Turkish people love our attempts.

Today one of the highlights for Jill and I was wearing shorts when we went out to the store. We didn't get too many looks - many people dress just as Westernized here as they do in America. I should have more cultural stories and pictures to come this weekend. Jill and I are staying in Istanbul to finally go see the sites, maybe visit a hammam? Stay posted!! Life's an adventure! XO

The 7 Senses

Sunday, my second full day in Turkey, it poured all day long. While this rain lead to productivity that resulted in my new blog, it also made me realize how many fewer options one has on a rainy day in a different country. Maybe not in every country, but in Turkey the options are limited. It would have been nice to watch TV but all of our channels are either not in service or in Turkish. Then there's the movie idea. I made the mistake of not bringing any DVDs with me and because of censorship it's tough to download movies. The minute I connected my internet and began to surf the web I realized how much we take our internet freedom for granted in the States. My first internet denial was with music. Pandora, Grooveshark, and almost every other radio satation I wanted to listen to was restricted due to liscencing constraints. Luckily, after various attempts at working around the system I managed to find an "in service" country station on AOL radio.

The second major, shocking internet denial was YouTube. There is no YouTube office in Turkey. When a video bashing Ataturk - the founding father of modern Turkey - was posted and there was no one to contact to get the video removed, the entire site became restricted. So at the end of the day, my roommate and I caught a brief 10 minute lull in the downpour to run to the corner and get doner kebobs, waited an hour for a shady un-restricted website to download the latest (choppy) episode of the Jersey Shore, and my day was made by Skype.

It was great waking up Monday morning to sunny skies. Monday I finally had the opportunity to explore our area of Taksim and beyond. Jill and I had not yet been to the grocery store so finding it was our mission of the day. We began walking down our street, passing the haunted house (pic on left), cat park (more info to come), and Taksim square (pic on right) . We started down the pedestrian only street, Istiklal Cadessi. It was much calmer Monday morning than when we had previously been there Friday night. After walking down Istiklal Cadessi a good ways we found the Metro we needed to take to Metro City - an American-esque mall with a large grocery store inside.

The metro in Istanbul is very basic, with only two lines, so it was no problem getting to Metro City. Inside, there is a large international grocery store called Migros. All 7 senses were needed to pick out items at Migros but so far I think I did alright. The only thing up in the air is the Milk - not quite sure what animal it comes from so I'm hesitant to test it out. After a successful grocery trip and navigating home Jill and I spent the remainder of the evening researching Turkey for our first official work presentation Tuesday.

So far today has been productive. This morning Jill and I attempted to find a "free gym" listed on google. Either it doesn't exist or we had the wrong directions. I don't think it exists. We decided excercise is going to have to be walking the Istanbul hills - no easy task - but buns of steel to come! No I'm off to prepare for work - first training day today. Life's an adventure! XO

Arrival and Settling In

I arrived in Istanbul this past Friday around 2pm Istanbul time, 6am Chicago time. Thanks to an 8 hour time difference between Chicago and Istanbul and 16 hours of travel, I walked out of the airport feeling like a zombie. Luckily one of the girls I am working for, Liz, was waiting for me at the airport to take me to our apartment. We live in an area called Taksim - on the European side of Istanbul. Pulling my bags down the street, I noticed how surprisingly Westernized the area was. A Pizza Hut, Jimmy's Fried Chicken, and McDonalds are right around the corner from my apartment. I was also immediately impessesd by the kindness of the people after a few strangers stopped what they were doing to help me with my bag - one of the wheels broke off in transit.

There is a very steep hill leading down to my building, which lies right next to the German embassy. The apartment is a very nice, hotel-esque, 2-bedroom with a separate kitchen, living/dining room, and bathroom. I was happy to find a nice thick roll of toilet paper, thanks to my Uncles warning that people here don't use it. I spent the first few hours unpacking until my roommate Jill arrived. She's from Minnesota, and I don't think us midwestern girls will have any problems living together. The two women who Jill and I are working for live on the top floor of the same building. They have an amazing terrace where we will all be doing a lot of our work from home. From the terrace there is an amazing view of the Marmara Sea, and a huge bridge that links Europe to Asia.

Friday night the four of us went out to dinner in Taksim, the busy, crowded, hip, international area we live in. I think vibrant is probably the best word to describe what the atmosphere is like walking around the streets. We started out down a pedestrian only street near Taksim. It's lined with many stores that can also be found on the Magnificent Mile, ie: Levi, Guess, but also many unfamiliar European brands. The street is packed with people. Some are out to "see and be seen" while others are on their way to restaurants and clubs. Right now Ramazan (Ramadan in other countries), the 30-day Islamic holy month, is coming to an end, so many people are out celebrating at night. The side streets are lined with Turkish restaurants that have tables out on the sidewalk as well as people sitting up on multiple levels and the roof. Rooftops are very popular here. Almost every restaurant has at least 3 levels and a rooftop area. Of course we aimed to get to the highest rooftop - not an easy task with the many restaurant owners outside trying to wrangle us confused looking American girls into their establishment. We landed on a semi-high rooftop where there was a fun 3-man band walking around the tables playing Turkish music. People really started to get into it towards the end of our meal and their drinks. I plan on learning these Turkish drinking songs eventually :)

After sitting down and ordering drinks, the waiter brings a large tray with many smaller dishes to the table. From these you can view and pick the appetizers you would like to start with, such as hummus, cucumber spread, etc. After eating these with bread you order the main dish. So far Turkish food is great - very similar to the Mediterranean food served in the States. After dinner Friday night I was wiped out having been awake for around 36 hours. We called it an early night.

I am lucky to be here with people who have traveled all over the world and have friends all over the place. Saturday we took a ferry to one of the Princess islands called Buyukada (big island). No cars are allowed on any of the Princess islands and they are only recommended for people to visit if they have a house there. Well, as luck goes, we were invited to Buyukada by a new Turkish friend with a house on the island. I spent my first full day sitting on a terrace overlooking the Marmara Sea with the other 3 girls and our new Turkish friend. It was beautiful and a very relaxing way to start the trip.



Right now it's Sunday afternoon. It has been pouring all day so there is not a lot to do but hang out around the apartment. The power has been dimming on and off so I'm crossing my fingers it won't go off all together. Day 1 of work starts tomorrow! I'll try to update my blog everyday from here on out.

Finally, I am very happy to share with everyone that I am writing this blog while drinking a grande vanilla latte from the Starbucks up the street and listening to country radio with a yankee candle burning. Life is an adventure :) Have a great day! XO