Republic Day

Iyi bayramlar! That's Turkish for Happy Holidays. Today is one of the more important Turkish holidays, Republic Day. Turkish flags fly from every building, boat, and balcony, fireworks are shot off the bridge as a prelude to the big fireworks that fill the night sky from the Golden Horn, and Ataturk smiles down on us all from everywhere you can imagine. At the mall, a marching band and traditional patriotic tunes deafen all shoppers and fill them with love of country, while a display of Ataturk pictures fills the hallways and plazas. It's a lot like the Fourth of July, except for the fact that it's autumn and there are no big picnics. We watched the fireworks from the plateau with the residential students; a good time was had by all and they let us eat cake.

Censorship Update

Apparently enough people were up in arms about the blogger website because it has been officially reinstated. I've heard two different versions of what happened, one involving a religious zealot and the other involving the major cable company here being angry about illegal streaming of soccer matches. Either way, the original decision has been overeturned and we're back on track.

WARNING! Censorship laws in effect!

Hello all, just thought I would warn you that it is entirely possible that I may be kept from my blog for awhile if the proxy servers fail me, since the Turkish government has apparently decided to block access to Blogspot.com. This is not the only site blocked by the government, but it has certainly received far less publicity than the first one publicly blocked, Youtube, which was blocked because of some videos posted that insulted the savior of Turkey, Ataturk. It is against the law here to do that, as he is highly revered as the man who single-handedly brought freedom and secularism to Turkey. I don't know what prompted the blocking of Blogger, but when I tried to log in today I was greeted with "Bu siteye erişim mahkeme kararıyla engellenmiştir," which I am told means roughly "This site has been frustrated by the court." Frustrated indeed am I!

Resident Life

One of the perks (or burdens, depending on how you look at it) of living on campus is that I am allowed to accompany the residential students (boarding students) to various activities around town. My first event was Iftar, the traditional breaking of the fast which takes place nightly in Sultanahmet during Ramazan. It was very much like a somewhat more religious version of the State Fair, complete with rides and cotton candy in addition to more traditional Turkish foods.

My second resident event was last night, when we went to the Sabanci Museum's Dali exhibit.

The art was both beautiful and disturbing, the students behaved well, and there was even a Dali animated short film showing! All in all a very fun evening that produced some very strange dreams.

Exploring Istanbul Old and New

Where the hell has Karla been? Well, exploring her new home, of course! I am finally on my feet more or less, and had last week off from school, so I have been able to make my way around town a bit at last. Last week one of the "old pro" folks, Melissa, took a small goup of us to Dolmabahce Palace, one of the two largest residences of the sultans that stand today in all their glory. Dolmabahce is also the place where Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the leader and savior of Turkey after World War II, died. He lived there for several, but not all, of the years of his presidency. The highlights of the tour were the crystal staircase and the 4.5 ton chandelier. That thing was bigger than my apartment! One evening last week I went with two of my fellow newcomers to explore Besiktas, famed for its soccer team and location next to the Bosphorus. I had the single worst hamburger I've ever attempted to eat in my life (no, I did not finish it), and we discovered a bootleg dvd store with one of the best collections of films I've ever seen. Every Alfred Hitchcock ever made, likewise for David Lynch, every Fred Astaire, Cary Grant, and Humphrey Bogart film ever shown on the silver screen, as well as a number of contemporary gems and a tribute collection of Paul Newman movies. After Besiktas it was off to Ortakoy for some guzleme, a culinary delight made by women in a row on the street who take cheese, spinach, and any of a number of other ingredients and cook them into a sandwich using a large pita. This more than made up for my sorry excuse for a burger. I also had my fortune told by a rabbit who had three babies that the guy let me hold while I had my future revealed to me via a small piece of paper written in broken English.

Also last week I took another trip to Taksim Square, during the day this time, to get some Christmas shopping out of the way (don't get impressed; I won't get around to sending the stuff until late December at the earliest). On the way I was noticing yet again how beautiful the murals are in the subway (Metro) stations here, so I attempted to capture a few.

No Joy in Mudville

As most of you know, I am a die-hard Twins fan. For the past week I have been setting my alarm, rising long before the dawn to catch a glimpse of my team's last-ditch efforts to obtain victory. Ah, at long last, the evil Sox who can't seem to refrain from open hostility towards one another within their own dugout have foiled our boys again to take the division series tiebreaker. I'm proud of what my team has accomplished this year, but a division win really would have been the icing on the cake. I feel cheated since we actually managed to sweep our division rivals when they were in the Metrodome last week, and now because they managed to eke one out against a second-rate team on a rain delay, we're out of the running. Unacceptable! I shall don my team's regalia with pride tomorrow, knowing that we managed to hang in there when no one thought we could, and take solace in the fact that the Yankees will not be the chosen ones this year, either. Go Cubs!