Monet Comes to Istanbul

photo credit

Nestled along the Bosphorus is a mansion on a hill overlooking  the Asian shore. This was once a embassy and then home to one of the richest families in Turkey. Now, it houses a museum which brings some of the most famous artists to Istanbul. People still talk about the Dali exhibit that occurred 4 years ago, and now Monet sits at the heart of the exhibition space of the museum. The pieces are on loan fro the Marmottan Monet Museum, which holds the larges collection of Claude Monet’s work. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year was my fifth Thanksgiving away from home. While it breaks my heart to away from the established traditions, lively discussions, delicious food and my wonderful friends and family, I am delighted by the wonderful new and established traditions that shape my own celebration!

My friend and I befriended a Turkish man with a New York accent on the bus, while we were returning from the Sabanci Museum yesterday. He was a Business professor at the esteemed Bogazaci University and lived in the United States for many years, while teaching at Temple University. We started by talking about Seattle and the Bosphorus, but after leaving the bus, our interaction continued with one final conversation. He reemerged from the crowd to wish us a happy Thanksgiving. In fact, he was off to celebrate with his Turkish American friends!

He inspired us. His enthusiasm for American life and Thanksgiving was surprising, but also endearing. Originally, I was saving all of my energy for our established weekend extravaganza with friends (we always reschedule Thanksgiving festivities to ensure we get the whole weekend to celebrate and prepare), but we decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner of our own last night as well. Now, keep in mind we came to this decision at 6 PM last night…so we did not have much time.

How do you prepare for Thanksgiving dinner in 2 hours?

Some things I miss from my life in the states…

Photo Credit: http://www.jerkmagazine.net/columns/ps-qs/stereotypes-by-state.html

While Istanbul is my home and my life is full of wonder and richness. There are some things I miss from my life in the states.

In no particular order, here they are:

1.) Seeing the stars at night
2.) Seattle’s coffee obsession and the numerous funky cafes devoted to this coffee culture (and addiction;)
3.) The numerous and overwhelming options at a grocery store
4.) Living somewhere where you can run, walk and bicycle freely with good company
5.) House parties, potlucks and other inexpensive and easy ways to surround yourself with good friends in an intimate setting 

Finding an Apartment in Istanbul

In a city of 12 million people, there is no shortage of housing options in Istanbul. However, when you narrow your search to a furnished apartment, walking distance from a metro station, it gets a little more complicated…and expensive.

Turkish Traits of my Own

It has been three years since I first moved to Istanbul, and during this time Istanbul has become my home. In the most surprising and silly of ways I have adopted numerous Turkish traits, here are some of them:

1.) I will not enter a house with my shoes on

2.) I have no restraint when my phone rings during a meal… I must answer it.

3.) Everything can be improved with more olive oil, salt, paprika flakes or thyme.

4.) Plans can change en route, and I am ok with that.

5.) I have accepted that work schedules are unpredictable beasts. This includes late evenings and weekends.

“My Body, My Decision”: The Abortion Debate in Turkey

Photo Credit: Turkish Daily News

Coming from the states, I know what a divisive and overly politicized issue, abortion can become.  Until recently, I was impressed by the lack of politics that surrounded abortion in Turkey. All of this has changed in the past week. Abortion (and the nation’s over reliance on c-sections) has become Prime Minister Erdogan’s recent target. Obviously this comes as no surprise. He is a social conservative who loves to assert his power and opinions in the public and private sphere. His power is virtually unchecked and the AKP party can pass almost any piece of legislation they desire.  Calling abortion ‘murder’, Erdogan wants to severely limit women’s access to abortion. In his current proposal, he attempts to ban abortion after 4 weeks, and implement a series of restrictions on doctors that perform the procedure.

Turkey prides itself on being a secular state. How can the government implement a law justified by religious beliefs? Erdogan celebrates the false claim that Turkey strives to be a democracy. No country can claim to embrace democratic ideals, while also limiting the freedom of its citizens. Nor can a democracy thrive with the oppression of 50 percent of the population. A woman’s body should not be controlled or regulated by anyone, especially the government. Any attempt to do so is oppression.  It is not easy for any woman, couple or family to choose to have an abortion. It is a decision that nobody wants to make, but a  freedom that men and women must value and protect. How can we penalize women for unwanted pregnancy in a country that lacks sex education programs in their schools? How can we penalize women who are taught to be fearful of using the birth control pill, and are encouraged to rely on their partner for ‘withdrawal’? Also, what expertise does the government have to control and regulate medical procedures?

The medical community has spoken. In a report presented by the Turkish Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology to the Parliament’s Constitutional Reconciliation Commission,  the following was written: fertility health and access to an abortion must be guaranteed to ensure the health and vitality of the country. The report also emphasized that the mortality rate of mothers where abortion is illegal is high.  The right to an abortion does not necessarily prevent abortions, it limits access to safe abortions. We must reevaluate the underlying issues that cause a woman to seek an abortion, before we can even consider limiting this procedure.

Hundreds of people attended the protest today in Kadikoy. I hope their voices are heard.

The Significance of a Smile

The friendly American in me struggled with this seemingly bizarre fact: Turks do not smile.  Growing up in a small town, I was trained to make eye-contact and smile at everyone I pass. However, when I moved to Istanbul, I quickly learned that this only brought unwanted attention from men, and skeptical looks from women. It boggled my mind, how could a country with such an emphasis on hospitality,  with such deep bonds between friends and family, be so closed-off to the people they encounter on the streets? Well, a recent op-ed piece in the Turkish Daily News attempts to explain this mystery. He asserts the following:

1.) “Turkey is a ‘transitional society’, one that is in the critical middle of a long transformation from a traditional (rural, agrarian and communal) to a modern (urban) nation. So, traditional mores are eroding, whereas new ones are not fully matured”

2.) The political climate is incredibly divisive and promotes significant levels of distrust between parties, people and government as a whole. This distrust spreads to the unfamiliar. Problems within the country are blamed on “enemies within and without”. In the absence of a true democracy, there is a lack of openness.

2.) Despite the rapid urbanization of Turkey, Turks still identify their hometown as their father’s place of birth. Very few people are from Istanbul, however this growing metropolis has become home to a diverse group of people from all over the country. In a ‘colossal city’ like Istanbul, there are too much that is unknown and unfamiliar. You no longer know or trust your neighbor. These neighborhood and local bonds are no longer relevant or possible in large urban environments.

While this is not necessarily unique to Turkey, it is interesting to contemplate how the political climate impacts social bonds and interactions in a place I call ‘home’.

Family Breakfast

Every two or three weeks, we make our way across the city to Caglayan’s mom’s apartment for a special breakfast. The table is full of treats of every flavor and origin. There are numerous options covering the table.  Every type of breakfast pastry, homemade jams, special cheeses, fruit and nuts, a constant flow of tea and lively conversation. We have been gathering more frequently with his parents and grandmother to plan the wedding and discuss the details of the event. Our last mission: to introduce a western-style ceremony. It did not go well. The YouTube video selection is somewhat limited. I found Kate and Will’s wedding video, but obviously our wedding will be nothing like the royal wedding of the century. I am still searching. However, the opportunity to bond and laugh on a Sunday morning is always a treat.

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Why I hate being sick in Istanbul…

One of the unfortunate results of teaching 5-year olds is the constant sickness that comes with the elementary school environment. During my first winter in Turkey I was sick every week with a different ailment. I was even lucky enough to bond with my future mother-in-law when we both caught the swine flu at the same time. While my immune system continues to grow stronger and more able to fight every variation of the flu and the common cold, I have also adopted a strict regiment of vitamins to ensure I am not constantly ill. However, it is not entirely avoidable. This week, I was reminded of this the hard way. Out of necessity, I spent my birthday and the day that followed it sick in bed. While everyone hates being sick, there are some more reasons to despise this miserable condition in Istanbul.

1.) There is not an emphasis on preventative medicine. Thus, you cannot stay home to ‘nip it in the bud’, you must be deathly ill to rationalize staying home from work. Unfortunately, this means sick colleagues, as well as sick children are potential carries of disease.

2.) If you do elect to stay home, you must call your boss at 7 AM to inform them of your grave condition. This is a call everyone fears, especially because it is a call everyone is discouraged to make.

3.) If you are sick, you must go to the doctor and get a doctor’s note to prove that you were ill. Thus, you must get out of bed (when bed rest is often the best cure), force yourself to go out into the chaos of the city and descend into the cest pool of public transportation as you attempt to secure the proper paperwork. It is often easier to simply go to work…

4.) There are not general health practitioners or local clinics in Istanbul. There are public hospitals which are very inexpensive, but require fluent Turkish (or a lot of humility) and a full-day to maneuver. Instead, I go to the private hospital Aci Badem which resembles a 5-star hotel. To use these facilities, you must call the hospital operator and arrange an appointment with a specific doctor, within a specific department. With a simple cold and cough, you must arrange an appointment with someone who specializes in Internal Medicine. The appointment itself usually takes less than 15 minutes, but costs more than 100 lira because you are paying an expert to diagnose you with the cold or flu you already know you have.

5.) The obvious: At your most vulnerable state, you miss the comforts of home the most. I crave a Winter Elixer from Blackbird Bakery, Chicken Noodle Soup and the eclectic mix of Celestial Seasoning teas. The child in me misses the sick beds my mom would prepare in front of the television, and the familiar sounds and smells of home.

A Walk Through My Old Neighborhood…

Our first neighborhood flourished in the shadows of the Istanbul’s Trump Towers. It remained relatively untouched from the business district that developed around it. The neighborhood is called Gulbag  (pronounced Gool-bah). Its residents vary from families and university students, to recent African refugees.  There are two large mosques and two public schools in this small neighborhood. On week days you can hear the school bells throughout the day (the same tune of the ice cream truck from my childhood). Five times a day, the mosques in the area would broadcast their call to prayer, a few seconds before or after the others in the neighborhood.

 I was the first foreigner many of the store owners had ever met, and often was the first person they had ever heard speak their own native tongue. I developed relationships with my favorite vendors in the neighborhood by dispensing daily greetings and pleasantries. One shopkeeper would always give me small treats when he ran into me at the end of a long day. It was in these exchanges where I practiced and developed my Turkish, and began to feel a part of the community where I resided. In the 15 minute walk that led to the metro from our apartment, we would walk through the three bustling commercial streets. On these three streets, anything and everything could be found at some of the cheapest prices in Istanbul.

We observed a lot of development in the neighborhood during the two years that we lived there. New modern apartments were built, an office building opened, a park was renovated and the roads were widened. The face of Gulbag changed during this time, and will probably continue to do so as the city develops around it. These are some of the first pictures that I took in the neighborhood in October 2009 in my effort to capture the Gulbag we knew as home.

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