A Change In Scenery
Well, the big move out of the apartment is complete. I've moved from crowded yet hospitable Mecidiyeköy to the distant Baçeşehir (for which the university is named) Where I'm staying reminds me most of St. Louis, Missouri. Humid, lots of mosquitos, but some well-kept grass, a few unoccupied benches dotting paths through the grass, and no one going outside without good reason. I can't say the change is unwelcome, despite the bug bites. No internet access except the in building's foyer, I would have traded the TV and mini-frige in every room for an ethernet jack or wifi signal. But the majority of residents probably wouldn't agree with me, judging by the number of blaring television sets being watched by kids drinking cold beer.
To get to my new temporary home I board a minibus from the campus here in M.köy and go for a thirty minute trip down the highway that skirts Istanbul, along the highway are high-rise apartments, built in clusters, or nice homes splattered over a hillside, great empty spaces between them. Close to the city everything is concentrated, and buildings near the freeway are draped with advertisements. But further away it looks like some sudden growth along highway five or eighty in California. All the buildings are uniform in design and age, laid out in a logical pattern of regularly intersecting streets with sidewalks. It just doesn't feel like the lawless Turkey I've come to love.
Then we have these folks, in exactly the same spot as I saw the super right wing party from the country side of Turkey, they have also come apparently to tell the dwellers of Istanbul how they should feel about culture and politics. But they're so adorable in their dresses and hair ribbons! Greeks and Turks, oh my! There were lots of Turkish flags and pictures of M.K. "Can't Touch This" Atatürk so perhaps this was more of a cultural heritage, reconciliation thing than a political rally. It did seem to be drawing the tourists. (overweight people with cameras, they stand out more than they think.)
Waiting for the minibus outside the Campus in Baçeşehir
Sheep being herded while I wait
Camouflage
To get to my new temporary home I board a minibus from the campus here in M.köy and go for a thirty minute trip down the highway that skirts Istanbul, along the highway are high-rise apartments, built in clusters, or nice homes splattered over a hillside, great empty spaces between them. Close to the city everything is concentrated, and buildings near the freeway are draped with advertisements. But further away it looks like some sudden growth along highway five or eighty in California. All the buildings are uniform in design and age, laid out in a logical pattern of regularly intersecting streets with sidewalks. It just doesn't feel like the lawless Turkey I've come to love.
Then we have these folks, in exactly the same spot as I saw the super right wing party from the country side of Turkey, they have also come apparently to tell the dwellers of Istanbul how they should feel about culture and politics. But they're so adorable in their dresses and hair ribbons! Greeks and Turks, oh my! There were lots of Turkish flags and pictures of M.K. "Can't Touch This" Atatürk so perhaps this was more of a cultural heritage, reconciliation thing than a political rally. It did seem to be drawing the tourists. (overweight people with cameras, they stand out more than they think.)
Waiting for the minibus outside the Campus in Baçeşehir
Sheep being herded while I wait
Camouflage
posted by Alex Gray at 09:37
4 Comments:
I do like your cat photos...a lot... (To be honest, I give the credit to cats mostly, rather than your photos! No offence please!) This "Camouflage" photo is the best...
Alex,
Aren't you the Alex who took a Turkish course at Dilmer some many weeks ago? If so, I am John Hogue who dropped the course and am now about to return for the intensive four week one in July. What will you do this summer?
Wow! Thanks for reading, I love to hear from people who enjoy my little blog.
I'm not that Alex I'm afraid, my training in Turkish is limited to imitating what I hear and my practice comes from speaking Turkish for survival. I can express needs and wishes, but my understanding of the grammar is very limited.
Because I am no longer working this summer I will be taking my most ambitious adventure. On July 6th, I travel to Diyarbakir and Batman, I will be filming everything as well as publishing many photos. But I won't have a computer with me, so the stories won't start rolling in until the 11th, when I return. After that I will try to make it up to the black sea, before I return to sunny California on August 1st.
Alex,
I am a professor visiting in Istanbul for 4 1/2 weeks teaching for a foundation. I have been reading your blog before and during my trip and it is helping me adjust to my culture shock.
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