Settling in

I'm finally setting in I guess. I've explored the immediate areas and am at least somewhat familiar with things within a one kilometer radius, I think. I can't really see that much from our 10th floor office, but I think I've walked most of it.

Walking around in Istanbul is no joke, generally speaking. I don't live on a "main" road, so my walk isn't too bad - there are sidewalks and I don't have to cross any major streets. If you do have to cross a street however, beware - Erkut's advice to me was to pretend you are invisible. Maybe it is not as bad as India, but I think it is worse than Damascus. That Istanbul is so large makes it impossible to rely solely on walking, but if you combine it with the public transportation, you don't need a car, you just need to be careful.

One thing I've noticed (and expected) - unlike Damascus, Istanbul does not appear to sleep. I've been awake a couple of times well into the AM, and have still heard several cars going by, EVEN ON MY SIDE STREET. And this is in the business area. I imagine Taksim or other tourist oriented areas are even livlier. Of course, it slows down, but it doesn't really stop, as far as I can see.

Another thing I've noticed (quite painfully) is that some things in Istanbul can be quite expensive. I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but I have been thinking it - Germany is rather more expensive than the US on the whole, and Turkey is rather less, but they are in the same ball park. Damascus was not in the same ball park. A shawarma sandwich in the US might cost USD 4 or so; in Syria, it was USD 0.5 when I was last there. In Istanbul, the Doner Kebab, which is a shawarma equivalent, is about USD 4, so eight times as expensive as neighboring Syria. Now, Syria subsidizes its food, I'm sure, but I didn't think it was that subsidized.

Other inflated items on the Nauman Price index - shirts! I'm usually not one to iron my own shirts - I drop them off (Dryclean Depot) or have them picked up (Heavenly Cleaners) for USD 1-1.25 or so per shirt. I've been to a couple of places in Istanbul, and the prices range from YTL 6-8, which is pretty outrageous. Being eight times more expensive than Syria is one thing; being eight times more expensive than the US is quite another! I brought mostly 100% cotton, so ironing them myself will be a bit painful. So far, so good though (if I iron once while it is still wet, and then again when it is dry), although the fact that the detergent and the washing machine only have instructions in Turkish leads me to do some guessing - the temperatures are clear enough, but beyond that, I just hope not to ruin a load. I just need to get some starch, and some fabric softener for the t shirts; as there is no dryer, I am hanging everything on an indoor rack. (I am still doing a cost benefit analysis though - Erkut says I may be able to negotiate with one of them to just do the ironing for YTL 2 or 3 - we'll see; that would be okay).

While my birthday wasn't so great, Erkut, Gizem, and Elcin took me out to dinner/iftar to a nice kebab house called Venge, near Levent 4. We took a cab out there. It was a nice place - mostly coworkers, not families. It was a different experience than a typical western restaurant. I think we had reservations, but we did not have one waiter - it seemed like twenty different people brought us different rounds over the course of the meal. There were various dishes already on the table, including some tomato think, eggplant/garlic sauce, and even dates. Then the waiters brought successive plates of doner kebab, other kinds of meat and BBQ, as well as some baked goods. Then they finished it off with dessert. I had bought what I thought was a creme brulee cake (YTL 19) from a nearby store to eat with the team (it turned out to be a banana, vanilla cake with caramel), so we took it to the restaurant. They brought it out with all the sparklers, candles, music, and singing when I went upstairs to pray so Erkut sent them back! When I came back, they redid it. Going upstairs to pray was interesting. I asked where to pray namaz and where the qiblah was - I was directed to the coat hanging area, where the lady came out and brought a prayer rug and another rug for underneath (it was wet out - it has been drizzling on and off for days - thunderstorming as I type). She took me to a corner outside, near the wood and other fuels, and I prayed out there. Overall, the food was good, and it was interesting service. As we walked in, they had some western music playing, with an imam on the TV, as we were eating iftar.

My friend, Muhamad Haydar, has taken it upon himself to get me some friends, with good results, alhamdulillah. He sent me some contacts, as did his friend, Muizz Rafique, whom I sat next to at Muhamad's wedding. In sha Allah, I will start meeting them soon.

I got out of work late today, so I could not really eat anything until about an hour after iftar. I stopped by at a local burger joint - it was still open, but apparently, they were out of food. So I went to the Iskander kebab place and asked for a YTL 6 Kofte special - the guy said they were out too, but then said they had one left, so I lucked out, otherwise it would have been microwaved soup for me. The kofte was good - I ate it at home. The restaurant was completely empty when I went today, an hour after iftar. When I went the other day at iftar, it was rather full.

I found out today that it looks like I will be getting off 3.5 days for Bayram Seker, or the Holiday of Sweets, or Eid ul Fitr as most of us know it. I was hoping for a day, but 3.5 is NICE! It more than makes up for losing Thanksgiving. Alas, it falls in the middle of the week, otherwise I would have made a trip to HYD. Maybe for the next Bayram! Maybe I can get some essay work done. I think it also means I might be able to at least do 'itikaf for a couple of days, if I can find a good place to do it. We'll see.

My Turkish is coming okay. I know a few key phrases and some basic numbers. Everyday, I try to learn one or two new phrases. I should have built a decent vocabulary by the time I leave, in sha Allah.