Another Sunny Day in Istanbul

Spring break has finally arrived, and today was yet another of those perfect sunny days in Istanbul. I decided to take advantage of the good weather to check out the new coffee shop near the bottom gate to the school campus, and to get some grading done before making my way to the grocery store. Just to see what the Turkish idea of an "American breakfast" might be, I ordered one. (Beef) hot dogs, (beef) sausage patties, one potato patty, a couple of grilled peppers, some tough white cheese, a grilled tomato slice, and an egg. Interesting. The orange juice was freshly squeezed, the cappucino was very good, and the bread was fresh, so I'm not complaining. Also, the view wasn't half bad! I was soon getting sunburned, though, so I decided to take my camera for a walk from Arnavutkoy to Kurucesme.The jelly fish are always plentiful in the shady areas near the boats and yachts parked alongside the walkway, just one more deterrent for would-be swimmers...although not an altogether effective one as I have seen teenage boys jumping into those polluted waters more than once in the summer heat, in spite of the strong currents and jelly fish. Even on a Tuesday afternoon, there are always plenty of fishermen on the quay, and today was no exception. I even saw one guy in a wheelchair fishing! At the park in Kurucesme, stray dogs and cats shared their turf with stray...geese? Yes, and it was nap time for both geese and a few of the old men who sat relaxing in the sun.

Tulipmania!

Once in a while, all of the elements come together to make a day that seems meant just for me. Today was one of those days. Springtime is in full bloom in Istanbul, which means tulips, tulips, and more tulips. Of course, there are plenty of other flowers blooming, but the flower that Turkey is most known for, the flower that originated here and made its way around the world, is the tulip. Today my RC "sponsor," Pelin, and her husband Jonathan took me to Emirgan Park for the annual Tulip Festival. Technically the festival begins tomorrow, but today the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the tulips were most certainly blooming. All over Istanbul there are parks like this filled with tulips of all colors, shapes, and sizes. This year, in fact, the government had to cut back on the tulip budget, but to the untrained eye it's very hard to tell. The millions of tulips that filled the park were not as plentiful in years past when there were whole hillsides blanketed with them, but this was still an undeniably spectacular display. There were tulips in every color you can imagine, tall tulips, short tulips, tulips that looked like roses, tulips with pointed petals, hybrid tulips, single-hued tulips, and even one kind of tulip with upside-down blossoms! The park itself is beautiful as well, built overlooking the Bosphorus with several of the former Ottoman sultans' residences which now serve as cafes, restaurants, and a concert hall. There is a pond in the middle of the park with paths that wind around a small stone cliff; a great magnet for the many children in the park that is encased in decorative iron fence that keeps them from the most dangerous areas. In addition to the tulips, there are also roses, flowering trees (some with dark purple blossoms!), hyacinths, muscari ("grape hyacinths"), daffodils, and dozens of other varieties of flowers I couldn't begin to identify. The stars of the show, however, are definitely the tulips. There are tulip statues, tulip beds in the shapes of tulips, statues that hold more tulips, and even a little nursery where, for a small fee (less than a dollar a tulip), guests can bring home their very own Turkish tulips. I will post pictures of mine as soon as they bloom!

Obama in Istanbul

President Obama's visit to Istanbul this week has truly been the talk of the town. Ask any cab driver, and you're likely to learn a few Turkish swear words (although one of the worst insults in Turkey is to call someone a cucumber) along with hearing a lot of complaining about all of the roads that were closed during the visiting President's visit. Ask my students, and you will hear about how happy they were that all after-school activities were cancelled for two days due to the traffic jams caused by the visit. Turkish representatives of Greenpeace would tell you that it was a great opportunity for them to stage a protest on one of only two bridges in Istanbul; apparently he has not been signing environmentally-friendly legislation fast enough for them. Ask government officials, and they are likely to either beam with pride at being included in what was billed as a "European tour" rather than in a "Middle Eastern tour" and his support for Turkey's E.U. membership bid, or to grumble about his insistence that they come to an agreement with Armenia on the issue of the 1915 "incidents." There is a general consensus among the people at the school where I teach, Robert College, that Obama's visit was a good one if only for one reason alone: he mentioned the name of our school during his "town hall" meeting with several Turkish universities' students and faculty. (To see the whole town hall video click the red text! The RC reference is around the 9th minute or so of the meeting.) The reference was in passing, merely citing our school as one example of the good that can be brought about through international relations, but considering that it was the only school he mentioned by name, our students (and staff) were pretty proud. Yes, everybody in this vast city of 14+ million has an opinion about Obama's visit. Personally, while I take pride in the symbolic importance of what Obama is trying to do in strengthening the U.S.-Turkish relations, I was not brave enough to venture out into the city during his visit to try to catch a glimpse of the man himself; rumor had it he was staying at a palace that is basically in between my home and everything else in Istanbul, and I don't like big crowds or guys with big guns.