Three stops in Taksim
This morning I woke up late, I didn't go to that party after all, I had decided to take a nap before hand and ended up sleeping for ten hours instead of one. I was not to be outdone though, Geoff woke up a whole two hours after I did, and by ten we were wondering what to do for the day. Being Saturday neither of us had to work. I said I was planning to go to old Constantinople to tour today, but the weather was absolutely wretched. It's snowing right now actually.
With horrid weather we decided to try for indoor events today. So the two of us went to Giselle, a French ballet. It was very wonderful, I forgot how beautiful ballet was. From the magazine, Time Out Istanbul, "First performed in 1841, Giselle is French composer Adolphe Adams' most famous ballet. Featuring many novelties for its time, Giselle find out her lover has been unfaithful to her, she loses her mind, and then dies, becoming one of the haunting forest spirits of other betrayed lovers, thus taking revenger on their former lovers. The lyric and romantic feel of the work has made this one of the most famous popular ballets of all time." I thought the second half, where Giselle is a spirit, was very well done. All the dancers would move a few steps and stop in a pose. The whole experience was very ethereal. The woman who played Giselle was amazing, this is one of those times I'm glad I don't get scared away from checking out the ballet because there are men wearing tights. I described the ballet as "bitchin" when it finished.
Not to get too snobbish, we left the AKM (Ataturk Cultural Center), met up with Asli and her boyfriend Ozan and headed down to a pub to watch the big futbol match between Beshitash and Galatasaray. I have decided my team is Galatasaray, partially because it is so damn hard to pronounce and because all my co-workers seem to root for them. Ozan and Asli also were rooting for Gala. Now you might think sports are big in the US, but matches in Turkey are more important than Politics, War, and Sex combined. Beshitash and Galatasaray are both in Istanbul along with the third team, Fernerbatche. Immediately Beshitash scored a goal, people went wild the in the club, but then Gala came back with a goal. About five minutes before the half Beshitash came around and scored another. So during the break we were feeling pretty down, but early in the second half Gala scored two goals in succession, like you didn't have time to sit back down after cheering and singing before they scored the second. Here is a picture of us at the pub, from left to right are Asli, Ozan, and a friend of Ozan's he's known since Jr. High.
So the first time out rooting for my team we won. That's a good sign I think.
After the game we walked down another side street in Taksim and went to some hip joint. This place was so cool it was on the fourth floor of a building. It looked like a converted flat, but the place was pretty cool, couches and hookahs, they brought us tea and horrible coffee, and there was a fellow playing guitar and singing. All the moulding on the ceiling was painted a very dark, shiny red, it looked like sealing wax. After about half an hour at the club we split, Geoff went to see some gypsy music band down the street for 25 YTL (more than I can pay on music that I might fall asleep for) Ozan's friend took off in some direction, and Ozan, Asli and I took a cab back to the apartment.
Cell Phone Use: Calls: 1 Texts: 2 I sent a text today! We wouldn't have been able to organize without it! (I'm sure.)
With horrid weather we decided to try for indoor events today. So the two of us went to Giselle, a French ballet. It was very wonderful, I forgot how beautiful ballet was. From the magazine, Time Out Istanbul, "First performed in 1841, Giselle is French composer Adolphe Adams' most famous ballet. Featuring many novelties for its time, Giselle find out her lover has been unfaithful to her, she loses her mind, and then dies, becoming one of the haunting forest spirits of other betrayed lovers, thus taking revenger on their former lovers. The lyric and romantic feel of the work has made this one of the most famous popular ballets of all time." I thought the second half, where Giselle is a spirit, was very well done. All the dancers would move a few steps and stop in a pose. The whole experience was very ethereal. The woman who played Giselle was amazing, this is one of those times I'm glad I don't get scared away from checking out the ballet because there are men wearing tights. I described the ballet as "bitchin" when it finished.
Not to get too snobbish, we left the AKM (Ataturk Cultural Center), met up with Asli and her boyfriend Ozan and headed down to a pub to watch the big futbol match between Beshitash and Galatasaray. I have decided my team is Galatasaray, partially because it is so damn hard to pronounce and because all my co-workers seem to root for them. Ozan and Asli also were rooting for Gala. Now you might think sports are big in the US, but matches in Turkey are more important than Politics, War, and Sex combined. Beshitash and Galatasaray are both in Istanbul along with the third team, Fernerbatche. Immediately Beshitash scored a goal, people went wild the in the club, but then Gala came back with a goal. About five minutes before the half Beshitash came around and scored another. So during the break we were feeling pretty down, but early in the second half Gala scored two goals in succession, like you didn't have time to sit back down after cheering and singing before they scored the second. Here is a picture of us at the pub, from left to right are Asli, Ozan, and a friend of Ozan's he's known since Jr. High.
So the first time out rooting for my team we won. That's a good sign I think.
After the game we walked down another side street in Taksim and went to some hip joint. This place was so cool it was on the fourth floor of a building. It looked like a converted flat, but the place was pretty cool, couches and hookahs, they brought us tea and horrible coffee, and there was a fellow playing guitar and singing. All the moulding on the ceiling was painted a very dark, shiny red, it looked like sealing wax. After about half an hour at the club we split, Geoff went to see some gypsy music band down the street for 25 YTL (more than I can pay on music that I might fall asleep for) Ozan's friend took off in some direction, and Ozan, Asli and I took a cab back to the apartment.
Cell Phone Use: Calls: 1 Texts: 2 I sent a text today! We wouldn't have been able to organize without it! (I'm sure.)
posted by Alex Gray at 23:30
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