The Grandeur of Bazaars

Aah, the Grand Bazaar. Today I fulfilled one of my dreams of Istanbul with a visit to the heart of the city: the Hippodrome, the Blue Mosque (outside), Aya Sophia (outside), the Grand Bazaar, and the Spice Bazaar.

The Grand Bazaar is like most malls, packed with shops with items of all description that tourists and locals alike might be talked into buying. The difference is, there are over 6,000 stores in this place. No kidding. It dwarfs even the Mall of America, and I should know, I spent enough of my teen years there.

We went with the headmaster's wife, Tania, who led us through the giant maze with expert ease, showing us how to spot a bargain and how to spot a ripoff. We were then given a lesson on rugs by Hasan, one of the owners of Adnan & Hasan Anatolian Carpets and Kilims (go to http://www.adnanandhasan.com/ for more information).

He spent an hour explaining the various materials, weaving techniques, motifs, pricing, regions, dyes, and everything else you could ever want to know about carpets, kilims, and other textiles. He gave us amazing discounts because he has been friends with Tania and her husband for many years and they have brought him a great deal of business. Mom and dad, he awaits your arrival and will ship to the U.S. for you. I spent 250ytl (about $200) on a one-of-a-kind antique kilim that he is going to prepare for hanging on my wall; it was made from an old-fashioned grain sack that Hasan aquired after much effort in his travels around Anatolia and beyond. These are no longer made anywhere in the world, and mine is truly unique because it is made solely from the kilim weaving technique.

We had lunch at a small cafe in the Grand Bazaar and then wandered down an equally commericalized alleyway on our way to the Spice Bazaar, trying not to make eye contact with the hundreds of vendors trying to get our attention. We could smell the spices long before we could see the building; curries and peppers and every spice you can imagine filled the air in a warm, wonderful blend that wasn't nearly as overpowering as I had expected. Ataturk's image follows me everywhere here; they even had a picture of him outside the public toilet (which did have a seat and a flusher, for those keeping track). I will have to go back on my own sometime so I don't get held back by the people I'm with; my boss's wife is a stop-and-shop-whenever-possible kind of person and I am not. It was an awesome experience, though, taking the ferry past Topkapi and Sultanahmet, the crowded tram to the top of the hill near the Hippodrome, and the bus home past both run-down and well-kept yalis and intact palaces such as Dolmabace and Ciragan. What a day.

A fan! A fan! My kingdom for a fan!

Somehow I have managed to arrive in the middle of what the locals are calling a "humidity wave." Well, the 105-degree temperature average doesn't help much, but the humidity is definitely swallowing me whole. In addition, it wasn't until yesterday that I managed to procure a fan, aside from a little hand-held one left to me by the woman whose household goods I purchased in advance. Supposedly it will rain soon and this wetness will go away, but for now it's killing my urge to explore. Yesterday I was given my office key, saw where it was, visited the school doctor, found out lunch is free year-round in the cafeteria, did a bunch more administrative stuff, and had dinner at the faculty club. Talk about a different attitude about teachers! There are tennis courts, a handball court, a fine-dining establishment, a pool-bar area, and two swimming pools. We have free access to it all until September 8, and then we have been told to wait until November to sign up for membership since their "year" begins in November. My two new friends, Kim and Sally, have been taking care of me, as has my boss, John, who lives next door. My apartment building is called "Konak," and it would seem that I was given a place here because of my back; it's much farther up the hill than most of the single-dwelling places. I'm finally finished unpacking the stuff I brought with me, so now I'm anxious to get my shipment so I can finish filling in my gloriously abundant storage space. I honestly don't miss home yet; it's just too beautiful here to long for anything else!

Home at Last

Sometimes I see so much beauty in the world, it's like I can't take it... -American Beauty

The view from my front yard alone tells me I've made the right decision in coming here. This place is so beautiful it puts even Duluth to shame! A few steps down from my yard the Bosphorus' splendor is all the more evident; this morning I watched the sun rise over the Asiatic hills that softly sculpt the landscape as boats of all sizes quietly made their way to the Black Sea. I'm home, and I may not choose to leave here for a long, long time. As I gaze out through the huge wall of windows that face the foliage behind my apartment, I can't help but think that somehow I'm meant to be here. The Fates have brought me here, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

On Our Way!

Loki and I are in Chicago; we drove here yesterday and he was an unbelievably good cat. I didn't even have to drug him! I will tomorrow, though, if only to get him through the airport. It was a seven hour drive with a lot of road construction, but as always in the midwest in the summertime, the lush green leaves crowding the landscape more than made up for the length of the journey. The rolling Wisconsin hills, dotted with the occasional farmhouse or two; the patches of cultivation amidst the wild and rowdy natural prairie...maybe you have to be a midwesterner leaving home to appreciate it, but I was awestruck at how beautiful my everyday world can be. A few tears clouded my vision once in awhile, such as the moment I crossed the St. Croix river, but there are always a few growing pains when you leave the places you've called home.

Wisconsin

Our hotel is near O'Hare airport, which is very convenient and not nearly as noisy as I though it would be. Loki has been making himself at home in the hotel room; he helped the maid make the bed earlier, much to her delight. I drove in to downtown this morning to get my visa from the Turkish consulate, and while I was waiting for it to be processed, I drove up the shore to Montrose beach, which has a very lively dog-friendly section. I waded in the water (which is MUCH warmer than Lake Superior, for those keeping track of such things) for awhile and watched the Navy's Blue Angels fly by overhead in preparation for this weekend's show-WOW are they loud!-before returning to the consulate to retrieve my visa. So yes, campers, Chicago is a highly navigable town as long as you keep in mind where the lake is! We're off to Istanbul tomorrow evening; in the meantime I've managed to achieve the calm to which only those who over-prepare are privy.

Loki

Ah, my beloved beast, Loki. I have been reminded that not all of you may have seen him, and thus don't have an adequate mental image of what it will mean to have a caat this size on the plane with me. Loki is 14 pounds of fun-loving fur, though much of his hair has recently been shorn in the name of meeting weight requirements of the airlines. He lacks front claws, which may prove to be a huge plus if he decides to reach out and inform me of his discontent. Well, here he is in all his glory, my constant companion and soon to be international superstar, Loki.

The Calm Before the Storm

As the date approaches, then recedes, then approaches again, I find myself stuck in a holding pattern full of baseball, beers, and goodbye tears. As it stands now I drive to Chicago next Wednesday, August 13, to go to the Turkish Consulate to get me visa on the 14th; I will then fly to Istanbul on a direct flight from Chicago on the 15th, arriving on the 16th. My constant companion, my cat Loki, will be accompanying me on the plane; I can only hope that I'll manage to keep him calm enough throughout the flight that he won't manage to drive everyone on the plane insane by the time we get there. Most of my packing has been finished for awhile now, and I've been racing through as many Istanbul-based books as possible during my recovery from back surgery in May: Orhan Pamuk's Snow, Istanbul, My Name is Red, and The Black Book, in addition to A Short History of Byzantium by John Julius Norwich. The latter author is a Nobel-Prize winner who attended Robert College(http://portal.robcol.k12.tr/), the school where I've been hired to teach for the next two years. The closest to Istanbul I've ever been is Athens, where I spent a few days at the tail end of a trip to Italy several years ago, and a rural village near Budapest, Hungary, where I went with my now-deceased maternal grandmother during a whirlwind tour of Europe when I was in junior high school. My impressions from what I've read are that this city is one of the most beautiful in the world, situated as it is on a waterway between two seas, and that the neighborhood where I am to live is one of the most beautiful in the city, Arnavutkoy. By all accounts, the Turkish people are some of the kindest, most hospitable in the world, and efforts by foreigners to learn about their culture and use their language are rewarded with a graciousness and gratitude unmatched on Earth. I have been learning some basic, beginning-level Turkish (my favorite word so far is ahududu, their word for raspberries), and the school has scheduled all foreign faculty for language lessons during the week before school begins. I will be teaching 9th grade oral language and fiction classes, two of each, and hopefully helping out with the theater club in addition to my other pursuits. I will be living in an apartment on campus, so the commute will be virtually non-existent, yet another bonus of convenience I will no doubt enjoy quite a bit. I will post pictures and more as soon as I get settled, so be sure to check back sometime in the coming weeks! Wish me luck!