Istanbul

I know I should be working on my english essay. I know I'm no longer there but I can't help but write about it. I miss it. I miss the busy-ness, the dolmis, the messy streets, the walking, the parks, the Yesilkoy Spor Klub, the ridiculously large malls that lie only 2 miles away from each filled with expensive foreign brands, I miss the way the Bosphorus looks on a stormy day, the beautiful, green, leafy trees of Tarabya, my soccer girls, the hard physics homework, Italian classes, lunch time spent in hot classrooms, warming up by the heater, eating at Burger King or Pizza Days after school, fumbling through my purse looking for the correct amount of coinage for the bus. I miss Taksim, Beyoglu, Sultan Ahmet, the Bakirkoy Bazar, the booksellers of Bakirkoy, selling their goods kept safe from the weather by multi-colored tarps. 

Heck, I even miss my crazy shower that had the ability to switch from Burning Hot to Ice Cold in 15 seconds.

AND I'M SORRY THAT I DO.

My Last Day of School and Benim Partisi

Last friday I had a goodbye party of semi-epic proportions. It was mostly epic because of the amount of planning, tantrums and drama that went into the making of it. Not that the party itself wasn't epic. It just took a lot of work.

First, I was going to plan it with Elif, Pinar, and Asli. Then things got complicated when I had to ask another boy named Eray where to have it. He decided to take things from there, and me, thinking that it would easier, left the party planning to him. Then some other boy named Baris got involved. I'm not sure why, but he did. Then things just got really crazy. I got lost in the shuffle because of the whole language thing. Everyone would be talking very heatedly about my party for a good 5 minutes, and when I asked for a translation/explanation, someone would say "Bos ver," or "Don't worry." Or just ignore me completely. I didn't even know where the party was until Tuesday night.

It ended up being in Bahcelievler, which is about 10 minutes away driving from where I live (Bakirköy.) It was supposed to be in Yesilköy, which is the party place I guess, but for whatever reason, it couldn't be. People stamped their feet because I guess Bahcelievler was too far from them/their parents didn't know of the place so they didn't feel safe having their children go there. FINALLY, SOME PARENTS AS BAD/WORSE THAN MINE.

Yannnni,

it was decided that we would have it at this place that no one knew about. I think the place got changed 2 times, but again, I'm not sure. I didn't know who was coming for realz, or what was even going to be there. All I knew was that I was having a party on friday.

This friday was also to be the last day of school for me. I said good bye to all my friends, and I was even able to sit in Pinar and Elif's class for the last period, the reason being that my IB 11th graders had left me to go to a 5 day conference at another high school called Robert College. During this history class, I sat with my two other friends, Özen and Can. The whole time the class was pretty distracted and not really working on the öss sheet that the teacher had handed out. At one point, the teacher almost made me move to the other side of the class. I stood up, Özen grabbed my wrist and pulled me back down, the teacher barked "Aliye!" and Can said "Hoca, lutfen!" all while I was desperately confused. I didn't want to get in trouble with the teacher, but at the same time, I wasn't sure if she was kinda kidding and I didn't want my arm to be yanked out of its socket by Özen. Finally, it was solved by the boys on the other side of the classroom (where my "timeout" seat was) yelled "Yes, yes, come over here!"

The teacher and the whole class laughed, thus I stayed in my seat.

While I was writing cutesy messages to my friends in the class, people in the class were talking about me in turkish. And funnily enough, I actually knew what they were saying. They were talking about my "look" and how I should dress/look more like a girl. They were also talking about this boy named Erdi and how he was going to be sad when I left. Some girls also chided Can for supposedly flirting with me even though he has a girlfriend. My friend Can interrupted the Alia dialogue by saying (in turkish) "Guys, she can understand you."

A red haired girl whose name escapes me, retorted "Yaa, she doesn't understand."

I then interjected, "Evet, aniyorum." (Yes, I understand.)

As you can imagine, there was quite a lot of laughter (and probably embarrassment too) after that statement.

Being in that classroom for the last period made me wish that perhaps I should have tried to be in that class instead of going for the all english learning. But my choice had been made, and obviously it was way too late to do anything about that.

When the bell rang, I tried in vain to kiss everybody goodbye. We went downstairs together to say my last pledge to the turkish flag together. Right before we started our singing however, the principal decided to announce to the whoooole high school that I was leaving. All of my friends around me crooned "Awwwwwwwwwww..."

Needless to say, I sunk as low as I could below the crowd. My eyes even started tearing up (which is what happens when I get REALLY embarrassed, i.e. when I gave my sophomore rep speech.) After he ended his little schpiel, everyone clapped and whistled. Even though I looked like a tomato, I couldn't help feeling a little bit happy that I had gotten some recognition.

While we were singing the song, I almost really started crying. How on earth could I leave these wonderful friends?! I know I sound like a soap opera, but honestly, I was going to bawl. I quickly turned that lump in my throat into a cough and said good bye to the remaining friends.

I caught the dolmus with my friend Idil and guess who happened to be on there!

None other than the "Dandy" Pinar.

After kissing the cheeks of these two lovely ladies, I hurried home so I could start the "beauty" preperations for party. I went to the beauty parlor, and got my hairs straightened and my eyebrows done (they had been looking like catepillars for quite some time now.)

As I was putting on my new Zara dress (courtesy of my mother) I realized that it had grown since I had bought it from the store... that or my boobs had gotten smaller. I somehow managed to save my outfit. The dress ended up falling down half the time, but it didn't really matter.

My cousin picked me up at 7:45 PM. We got lost for about 30, almost 40 minutes. I finally arrived at the place and wobbled in with my heels. This is the scene I was greeted with:

It was literally an apartment whose furniture had been taken out and replaced with a comfy couches, and a small platform for dancing. It was probably the coolest get up I had seen for a party place in a looong time. Since not as many people showed up as I had imagined, the party ended up being more like a kick-back, which I liked so much better.

We danced, sang, and drank, and were generally having a blast.

That's when the police showed up.

We turned down the music, hid our drinks (even though we were all legal, thank goodness,) and chatted quietly. I was a little tipsy by this point, so I found the whole thing hysterical.

That was until I realized I had forgotten my wallet, and thus my ID at home. Poop times infiniti. We finally settled it out with the police, and I walked away from the conversation with a nasty look on my face and flipped them off behind a curtain. Sew BA.

After that encounter, we all settled down a little bit and sat on the couches together talking and falling asleep. I danced a little more by myself and even managed to croak out some more songs.

Everyone started going home and I said some close-to-tear good byes. I walked down the red carpet with my friends and stood in the middle of the street.

Some things were said, some things were left unsaid, and some things just disappeared into the cool, crisp night.

All I know is that

I love these people so much it hurts.

And yes, I am in a soap opera, how did you know?

My Afterschool Party

It's on days like yesterday that make me wonder why I'm leaving this place.

Yesterday, afterschool, I kidnapped my friend Pinar and Elif, albeit a planned one. But a kidnapping all the same, and what do kidnappers do? They can make their victims do whatever they want. In this case, the kidnapper wanted to see a cute dog. So off the kidnappers and victims went to Elif's house. On the way, we saw Yigit and some other kid on the school servis bus, and flipped them off. Laughs insued. We continued on our way halfhazardly, stepping in mud, hiding behind bushes, almost getting hit by cars, etc, etc. We finally arrived at our destination.

Elif has a dog named Ozzy. Ozzy is a charming, little beagle with a pink collar. So while Ozzy and I rolled on the ground (Pinar doesn't like Ozzy,) Elif got ready to go out. The time came to say goodbye to Ozzy and Elif's mother. We next went to Marin, a cafe in Ataköy, close to Elif's house. At Marin, there is nargile (hookah, water pipe, what have you) and thus, it is a prime hangout spot of the high schoolers. When we arrived, I saw another group of kids I also hang out with sometimes. I waved awkwardly and said the standard hello, how are you.

Elif, Pinar and I sat down in the red, vinyl chairs and ordered food, because we were all quite hungry. After satisfying our hunger, Elif and I shared a nargile, while Pinar watched music videos that were playing, via projector, on one of the walls.

Now Pinar is the one who speaks the most english, but Elif also understands a lot of english. She insists on me teaching her more, so we have a deal now that revolves around us teaching each other's languages. At one point, Pinar had to leave because she thought her mother would be mad she wasn't home yet (she ended up not being mad at all) thus leaving me and Elif alone. This was not the least bit awkward. It is then that I realized something: language is not that big of a barrier that people make it out to be. Here I was, having the time of my life with someone that didn't even speak my language fluently!

But as all evenings must, it had to come to an end, so we paid our bill and walked to the dolmus station. After the goodbye kisses on the cheeks, I boarded my dolmus, a little bit happier and a little bit lighter.

10 Kasim Da

Today started out fantastically as I actually got up when my cell phone alarm told me to, get out of the house by 7:33, and managed to look semi-attractive in a red vest. This might be due to the fact that today was a sort of "holiday." A death day, one could say (yes, in reference to Harry Potter.)

Today was the honoring of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's passing. I'm hard pressed to find an American hero that is comparable to Ataturk, simply because not all Americans give all the credit to the same person for the founding of the American republic. Rather we give it to a group of men that embodied the "American" ideal. Just imagine having Lincoln's face put in every school room, every auditorium, even city council sign, even as people's facebook profile pictures. Yes, turkish people like Ataturk that much.

Anywhey, today was a day to commemorate his passing, and to honor him. I got to sing the national anthem twice (I think I actually got the lyrics now) and we had a moment of silence, while we stood at attention. During the 8th or last period, we went to the science part of the high school to the auditorium, where we listened to multiple presentations and speeches about Ataturk. It was full of singing, hand-clapping, and listening (obviously.) All in all, it was quite an interesting experience... to have a day completely devoted to one man who made the turkish republic.

During lunch some of my friends asked me, "Really, do people know about Ataturk in America?" and I said, yeah... all the turkish people...

I got some high fives for that.

But srsly now folks, gotta have some R-E-S-P-E-C-T for that man.

I mean, without him, I probably wouldn't even have this blog.

Taksim

So this place is by far one of my fave places in Istanbul. And yes, I just said fave. With only a few days left, I might as well start getting back into my native lingo.

Anywho,

Taksim is basically the heart of Istanbul. It's a place my mom likes to call "a young person's place." Namely, it's where a lot of consulates are (or at least used to be) and where a lot of political demonstrations go on. It also is where a lot of tourists stay, and where many a musical instrument is sold. I guess technically where all the music shops are is in Tünel, but that's basically Taksim (you walk along the main avenue to the end.) Sometimes, it's dangerous to visit (i.e. when the IMF and WB meetings were being held) but most of the time, it's a fantastically lively place. It's a large, main avenue, closed to all vehicles except police cars and the little trolley that goes from Taksim square to Tünel. On each side of the cobblestone avenue, there are all sorts of shops: fancy shops, cheap shops, tourist shops, and cafes. All of these places are nestled perfectly next to each other, almost like a puzzle. On the street it self, it's like a sea of heads. There are simit sellers, hot chestnut sellers, beggars, street musicians, cheap toy sellers, and the occasional pick-pocket.

I love wandering through that major street and if I'm feeling adventures, following some of the side streets which all criss cross with each other and lead you to the most amazing cafes, restaurants, and even fake Top Shop stores.

Taksim is constantly alive, perpetually buzzing, and so magical. I'd say it's even better than walking down Main Street in Disneyland.

Since 8 Hours of School Simply Isn't Enough...

I just learned the other day about a funny little thing called etüt. For some reason that I can't quite grasp yet, the school principal decided to add this funny little period at the end of the day, each day for an undetermined amount of time. What this means is another class... after school. So basically, it's a school extender.

Thus, instead of school ending at 3:50 PM, it will now end at 4:50 PM.

According to my pal Aslî, it's supposed to help catch up the class in the core subjects. I don't really understand why still, so maybe I'm just overreacting. But I'm pretty sure I'm not.

Just when I thought school couldn't POSSIBLY be longer...

The Weather Or Why I Might Not Survive November

I'm a SoCal girl all the way when it comes to weather. I enjoy the sun, the beach, the almost constant weather and the fact that "cold" where I live means 50 degrees (and that's with no sun.)

Istanbul is not that sort of place. It could even be called the antithesis of it. In the summer, it's ridiculously hot. Maybe it's the combination of asphalt, concrete buildings, and tons of cars that makes it 100 times hotter than my little hometown. Anyways, it's not the summer that kills me (although it does come close, what with the mosquitoes swarming and feeling like you're sweating even while showering.)

It's the winter, which is starting right about now. In one day, the weather managed to change from 65 degrees to 30 degrees. Ouch. It doesn't help when your mother is crazy and believes in keeping all windows open, even in the most frightfully cold conditions.

"Put a sweater on," she yells when we beg her to close them, and turn on the heater. What I've learned to do is stayed curled up in a wool blanket until my father final convinces her to come to her senses.

Another thing: my cute, albeit thin, t-shirts and sun dresses aren't exactly what you call sensible clothing for winter. Oh yes, there's tons of cute,

warm clothes in the shops to help me with this problem. But really the problem lies in finding the motivation to get out of my cosy blanket and brave the weather conditions. However, once outside, I buff up and actually start to enjoy being outside; sometimes, I even get the

sensation that I'm "warm." Warm meaning slight feeling in the feet, and only numbness in the fingers.

Despite my complaining, the weather of Istanbul fits Istanbul. When I'm walking through the freezing drizzle and I see people bundle up like snowmen, I get a feeling inside that can only be felt when everything seems to fit perfectly. The grey skies, the muddy puddles in the cobble

stone streets, the mass of dark, heavy coats, it's all a part of Istanbul, it makes up its core. This isn't to say it's a sad, dreary place. On the contrary,

it's vibrant and full of life but at the same time, it has a certain melancholy to it, something you can't quite place a finger on. This melancholiness isn't overwhelming, and it's most certainly not bad; it's just always there. It's the perfect mix of these feelings that makes Istanbul what it is: absolutely wonderful.