In which mrleedy attends a football match

Those familiar with me know that I love the game of football (i.e. soccer) and I love my Portland Timbers (and that team from the depressing town in northern England a bit too). Living in Turkey gives me the opportunity to see a new brand of football and I've wanting to see a match since I passed the massive new stadium of Galatasaray on my way in from the airport when we first got here.

I mentioned it in passing to whomever I thought might seem interested. I had plenty of people that would look at me as if I'd just reminded them that the game existed (the usual response in the states too, by the way), but no one seemed as excited as I was.

I took the drastic measure of advertising in the consulate newsletter and receieved...two replies. One for a Galatasaray game and one for their arch rivals, Fenerbahce. I offered myself up to be a fan of the home team in exchange for some company to the games.

A match between Galatasaray and Orduspor (Spor is the Turkish word for sport. Ordu is a lovely looking village on the Black Sea.) was found to be suitable for all involved. The date approached quickly and I assembled my team of two friends and tried to coordinate the ticket website as best I could with my feeble Turkish abilities. I found several areas around the stadium for 40TL (~$25) and after conferring with my cohorts, was surprised to see that all of them had sold out except for one corner. One corner...

We made our way to the stadium via an easy and direct subway line, followed the fans decked out in red and gold and were right at the mouth of the stadium. First we had to acquire the actual tickets that I had purchased and reserved online. We found the queue for the section of the stadium where we'd be sitting and waited an interminably long time to get to the front. The stadium is brand new and state of the art. The act of getting your tickets is unnecessarily complicated. It's a combination that is sadly quite frequent here.

With the players already on the pitch (we could hear the roar, no pun intended since Galatasaray are also called the Lions), we finally got our tickets in hand and raced for our entry point. We began circling the stadium and noticed that our entry point was missing. Cohort number one inquired to this and was directed to a metal gate and stairs leading down below the stadium. I also mentioned that our section had "misifir" on them. He informed us that means "guest" in Turkish. Uh oh.

We approach the gate and show our tickets and are cautiously let in. Down the stairs we go, into a battalion of riot police with shields and tear gas guns. I was relieved only because they were carrying their helmets and not wearing them.

We are frisked and proceed to the inner workings of the stadium. We present our tickets and are frisked again. I am fine to go. Cohort number one must surrender his stabby-looking umbrella. Cohort number two is asked to deposit his Lira coin in a collection box. We joke that he had to tip the guy who frisked him. We then climb the stairs to our nosebleed seats with plenty more regular police and find ourselves in a plexiglass box with netting over the top. Nobody gets in, nobody gets out. We figure we'll be fine as long as the home team wins. Before we can sit down, we hear our new seatmates going nuts. Their team is up 1-0.

Luckily the section is mostly empty. We can sit in whatever seats offer the best view, that is, whichever ones have the least obstructed view. The game is not terribly exciting. I think we are all just thinking about how early we should leave if the score stays the same. But wait! Orduspor have been awarded a penalty. They are now up 2-0!

Relegation-threated Orduspor are leading table toppers and reigning Turkish League champions by two goals. The several hundred fans in purple are going nuts. I am impressed with the score, but would like to watch as much as I can without fearing for the intact-ness of my limbs or my scar-free handsome and boyish face.

Galatasaray make a substitution early on in the second half and they seem to be playing as a cohesive unit and have remembered how to pass the ball. Maybe they have just warned up from the freezing Black Sea fog that has been rolling in all during the first half.

*side note* No alcohol is served at Turkish sports stadiums. Plenty of fans arrive with it in their bellies. You have to settle for hot tea at the stadium, which we all did.

New signing Wesley Sneijder scores a beauty of a goal to give Galatsaray some hope. His name is still being called when another goal is scored for the home team. And another. And another. Apparently during all this, the Galatasaray manager is sent off, followed by the team's assistant manager.

Actually we missed the final goal. We decided to leave fifteen minutes early in the hopes that we could walk out unmolested and besides, we didn't want a fancy riot police escort. We follow our footsteps back to the outdoors. My cohort retrieves his stabby umbrella and we ascend to the menacing metal gate. They have it locked and tell us that we have to leave the other way. What other way? Along the freeway offramp, where it so happens, there is no sidewalk so we can hop the railing and walk in the mud or walk between the parked taxis and the cars hurtling off the freeway down the ramp.

Then we have to run across the actual offramp and climb over safety barriers that were erected most likely to prevent people from doing just that and we are back to the safety of the sidewalk and off to the Metro we go.

*side note* After the game, kofte (delicious Turkish meatball) are sold from tiny rolling carts everywhere outside the stadium. They are generally delicious. It seems like excellent post-game food. I didn't partake on this occasion, but I see some in my future gamedays.

It was an amazing time. I can't describe how different it all was, how amazingly loud the stadium was (it holds a Guinness record for loudest crowd roar at a stadium), how bizarrely we were treated, but how safe we felt overall. I was disappointed only because I was there to root on the home team and was hoping to explore the stadium. Instead, I had to focus on watching a quite amazing game of football.

Here are the highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=hRKq5U8nw1M&NR=1

The guy in the red and gold kit bending down at the far left edge of the circle is Wesley Sneijder, Dutch football legend. The guy in the red and gold kit standing at the far right of the circle is Didier Drogba, Ivory Coast football legend.

Nine Months!

It is February. Cold and smoggy February. Warmer days with clearer skies are right around the corner. February also means we've been here nine months. I can say, finally, that I'm starting to feel at home here. The obstacles seem easier to surmount. I'm learning some of the dozens of districts and neighborhoods (on the European side at least). I'm understanding a few phrases and at least learning the personal suffixes so I know the basis of the questions being asked of me. Having a car means I can now ditch taking taxis, which are convenient, but are usually out to scam a few extra Lira off you.

Here's a picture of some fruit.

First of February

The weather has been a combination of cold, wet and polluted for the past week and my boy and I have been working our way back to health after suffering from colds. We've been doing a lot of staring at the walls and trying to find fun stuff to do indoors. Our trips outside have been around our place and very brief. So when Friday arrived and we saw that temps would be all the way up to 10 degrees (C, or 50 F), we jumped at the chance for our Bosphorus walk. I invited my very good friend and his daughter along and we had a good time of it.

We stopped at the park, which the boy and I had only visited once, shortly after we first arrived. It was full of dead grass and cigarette butts and beer cans. I took him out reluctantly to change him on the grass and attracted several groups of young girls fawning over him and taking his picture. Now it has been transformed into a pleasant green space with a kids' play area and plenty of benches scattered here and there.

The boy got a kick out of the swings, but was happiest setting off on his own to find leaves. Needless to say, it didn't take him long to find a few good ones.

Running away, always running away.

Showing me his latest "catch". Ah, my, the blue waters of the Bosphorus right behind him.

He was very impressed with his leaf.

There is a restaurant by the park that I've never tried and always seems to be less busy than the more well known one down the way, so we all decided to check it out. It was a little breezy, but we found a nice table on the upstairs terrace out of the wind. And it afforded wonderful views of all the transportation going by. The boy was in heaven watching planes coming in on their final approach and all of the ship traffic as well.

Our breakfast view; sun and ships and planes and helicopters and buses. Oh yeah, and DOLPHINS!

There was something on the sweets menu that caught my eye. Something I'd been wanting to try before arriving here. The tavuk göğsü, a sweet pudding with chicken breast. Yes, you read that correctly. How was it? It was good! The texture is more on the thick side, but the flavor is mild and sweet and the chicken is in extremely fine fibers and not really noticeable. Apparently, it has quite a history. 

tavuk göğsü

Did I mention how much he loved his leaf?

A portion of our breakfast spread.

Our breakfast was good and filling. The picture above is the basic kahvalti, or Turkish breakfast. This one is a little on the thin side, but most items are available a la carte, so it is easy to add items to get the perfect breakfast. We ordered menemen, which is a tomatoey, cheesy egg dish and a borek, which is a pastry with any number of fillings. Ours had a simple white cheese.

In all it was a wonderful day. Then we got the news. It would have been sad no matter which day it fell on, but was especially depressing considering what a wonderful day it had been. I still feel so lucky to be here and everyone (save a few cab drivers) has been absolutely open-hearted and kind. So it felt kind of insulting to see the damage inflicted and unfortunately only ended up hurting the local population. We got the news right as we were walking back home. It felt good to get home and shut the door and be grateful that we were all safe and appreciate each and every member of our family. It is really too bad to think that among all of the smiling faces we see, there may or may not be one in there that means us harm. The best we can do is to stay vigilant and keep love in our own hearts and be appreciative of where we are, who we are and of those around us.