slowly becoming an Istanbullu...

I figured I'd best update this to keep up with my flickr account, which is more up-to-date than I think it ever has been. Istanbul continues to be hot, sticky, and humid; the forecast for the next 10 days is roughly 88 and sunny, with nary a chance of precipitation in sight. I would absolutely love a good thunderstorm about now.
My classes continue to go pretty darn well; I think I still speak at maybe a kindergarten level, but at least I can write and read decently. Inshallah by the end of the year I'll be much closer to fluent. Either that or I will only speak in a sort of English-Turkish pidgin...
As part of the program I'm in for the summer, we have weekly lectures in various Turkish-related topics. Our first one was on pop-culture Orientalism, and it was just fascinating. If I didn't already want to study foreign relations, I could definitely see studying popular Orientalism--the imagery is both gorgeous and fun, and it gives a lot of insights to identity and perceptions. The second one was on an Ottoman artist, which wasn't quite my preferred subject, but I still learned quite a bit, which was nice.
This past weekend, I headed to Ortaköy with my roommate Abby, to do some shopping and exploring. Ortaköy has a Saturday bazaar which is reputed to have all the non-food-pazar-stuff you'd ever want at real, not-ridiculous-Grand-Bazaar prices. I know full well that one should never actually buy thıngs at the Grand Bazaar, so this seemed like my kind of pazar. When we got to Ortaköy (after taking the ridiculously scenic route known as 'getting lost in Sinanpaşa'), we didn't quite believe there was a pazar there; the streets did not seem to lead to any sort of large open area in which to host large numbers of random vendors. Then we walked to the waterfront, where we found that the Ortaköy pazar is really more of a street market, like the Marketfest vendors, for those of you reading from Minnesota. They were laid out in long lines along the side streets and alleys all around the waterfront, surrounded by ritzy dining establishments, the local Friday mosque, the synagogue (I kid you not, Ortaköy has a synagogue. It's crazy), and the Istanbul Radisson (if you have a large accommodation budget and want to stay away from the tourist trap that is Sultanahmet, the Radisson would probably be a good choice, fwiw). While it was a little disconcerting to see the restaurants' entryway-ads for 25-lıra meals that I would normally pay 5 for by campus, the prices of the pazar goods were actually relatively reasonable, and I was able to get a few decent deals. I picked up a few pairs of 1 ytl earrings, as well as a headband-ish thing and a print of an early-20th-century German travel poster featuring Istanbul. I don't read German, but I think the print's title, 'Orientalische Eisenbahnen,' means 'Oriental Express.' After spending several hours meticulously going through every vendor's wares, Abby and I stopped at Mado. a tony Turkish ice cream chain, for some refreshment. Abby's ice cream looked good, but my chocolate mılkshake was more like chocolate milk, and not really worth the 7 ytl. Oh well. I guess I'll know in the future, stick with the real ice cream.
On Sunday, I planned to go for a run with Istanbul's branch of the Hash House Harriers, an expat running club. I was so motivated, and set off for the meeting place...only to get horribly lost and walk through the city for an hour and a half. So I still got my exercise in, but not quite in the way I might've preferred; I'll try again to find the HHHers when they hold their next run in a few weeks.

This is getting ridiculously long, so I'll close with a few thoughts:
-Every single night, at 9:30 or 10:30ish, someone sets off large amounts of fıreworks in the neighborhood. I have no idea why.
-I really love Turkish cuisine, but everything is cooked in soooo much oil; I would be ridiculously happy with some grilled vegetables or lean chicken breast about now
-The politics here have been really interesting: several dozen verrry high-ranking/important people were detained last week and are alleged to be part of a shadowy group known as "Ergenekon," which supposedly is trying to take down the current government. At the same time, the current ruling political party was in court last week as well, defending itself from charges of failing to protect/harming the secularism of the Turkish state. If they're found guilty, the party will be banned, as will its leaders, and new elections will most likely be called. Fun times.

-R