Bebek Playdate

This may sound similar to a previous post about traveling TO a playdate via the Bosphorus. However, this post is about a playdate on the edge of the Bosphorus in a lovely little neighborhood called Bebek, which just happens to mean 'baby' in Turkish.

Our group consisted of us three stay at home dads from the Consulate and our children. We met up at my place and walked down to the harbor to catch the boat. As always when I take the boat, it is always just pulling in to port when I am arriving. Soon we were off to Kanlica, home of the famous yogurt; Anadolu Hisari, where there is a beautiful museum, a baby park and some lovely open green space; Kandilli, where there is supposedly a stream of delicious fresh water, and onto Bebek, known for its chichi restaurants and clubs and occasional Ferrari and Lamborghini sightings. They also have a great children's park and some other normal restaurants.

My boy was suffering from a recent cold, so he looks a little down in the mouth, but he was very excited to be out and about. He got to see boats, ships, birds, dogs and about two dozen planes where for each, he craned his neck and pointed and said his hoarse "Wow!"

On the boat. Kids stayed buckled in for safety.

A ship and a bridge!

A ship and a bridge and a CASTLE!

A castle, all by its lone.

Sometimes you get passed by giant ships. This one is a livestock carrier bound for Romania originally from Beirut, Lebanon.

We unloaded at Bebek and found our way to the park, which is quite large and very nicely kept. It was very popular and there were plenty of children, but there are enough play areas that nothing was overcrowded. The boy got to go down a few slides with his papa, which he thoroughly enjoyed. My legs are too gangly for the circular slide, so it was just the short straight ones for us.

At the park.

The boy and his accomplice spy a Louis Vuitton bag. They both love to get into bags. The owner came and retrieved it before they could pilfer anything from it.

An attempted escape!

We finally did escape and went searching for some delicious, cheap food to bring back to the park to enjoy in the shade on the grass. We wandered around for a short spell, but Bebek is so small, that you don't need to go too far to see it all. We got a hard sell for a butcher shop / deli from a man who spoke English quite well, but we weren't in the mood for what they had to offer. I wouldn't mind trying it another time, however. We ended up at a koftecisi, a place that sells kofte. We each got an order and it was so delicious and only about $6.50 for a plate with rice, fresh tomato slices, a hot pepper and plenty of kofte. The boy ate quite a few, even though the children had their own order of chicken. After that, it was a game of keep the children out of the water, away from the mean dog, let them chase the crows, but don't let them step in any piles of dog poop. We all wore each other out and headed home on the bus, where all three children fell instantly asleep.

I am excited for the warmer days to come. I plan on exploring each of the ferry stops individually and also inviting others out to join us. It's what I wanted to do all last year, but was too busy getting acquainted with everything and feeling overwhelmed. I have to thank my ever patient Turkish teacher for working with me so diligently, even when I don't study or remember my vocabulary. My comprehension of the language is growing and hence my confidence in going out to the non-touristy places (the safe ones). Here's to a great 2013 with my little guy. If only the wife could play hooky more often...

And finally, the most beautiful Consulate in Istanbul, the Egyptian Consulate. It's like a fancy French estate right on the water. It's one of my favorite buildings here, although I should appreciate the Ottoman architecture more.

Sariyer

Sariyer is the district we live in, but also a town unto itself just a ways north of us. Now that we have the car, we can venture out to these easy to get to places. The advantage of this area is that it is SLIGHTLY less crowded than the rest of the city to the south of us and affords a more gentle vibe. There are still places to walk along the Bosphorus, but the sidewalks are wider and the fishermen less numerous. These pictures are just south of Sariyer, not the town of Sariyer itself.

He doesn't show it, but he was very excited to be there.

A nice little mini harbor.

Getting a blast of cool Black Sea air.

More of the harbor.

Hey there! Despite our relaxed pose, I have a death grip on him because the water is cold, cold, cold and deeper than I can stand. So of course, he's fascinated with being as close as he can to the edge.

One of my favorite things about this little guy is that he now holds my hand...er finger when we walk.

Some gents on a boat..fishing..in leather jackets.

Asia on the right, Europe on the left. Beyond the gap is the Black Sea. This was a sunny day, but there was icy air coming down. This was also the same day as the Galatasaray game that I attended. When the sun went down, this icy fog came shooting south and made it a very chilly evening.

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.

The Grand Bazaar

We made it back to the Grand Bazaar, two weeks later, to pick up our purchase. Isn't it lovely?

It's a six-piece tile with a Turkish tulip motif in a range of delightful blues. The ceramic shop is my favorite so far with almost anything in the shop being something that I'd love to bring home. The boy loves it too because of the riot of colors and the occasional animal print showing up here and there. The array of patterns, palettes and objects they are applied to is amazing and this is quite a tiny shop! We are obviously excited to hang this up.

Before our visit to pick this up, we visited the leather shop where I happened to spy this.

Hello handsome! (Note the sleeping little boy in the mirror!) They have great prices and great service at the leather shop. I didn't pick this up today, but it may be in my future. I think it goes well with 1997 Volvo Blue.

This is one possible view you may have before you enter the bazaar. Beyazit Mosque (completed in 1506!), whimsically painted public transportation (Most definitely not the norm. Most buses are your typical corporate colors), orange rubbish bin for contrast.

Where are all the people? Sleeping of course. We rolled in around 10:15 and most Turks do not show up until noon or later. And, alas, all the tourists are gone for the season.

Checking Off The Checklists

This isn't New Year's related at all. These aren't resolutions I'm taking care of. These are activities and destinations I've thought of since before we landed. I am excited it is a new year. I get to see most of my family and in-laws this year, both at home and over here. My boy will be talking and toilet trained and will be sleeping on his own (maybe even through the night!). We have one BIG trip back to the states and I couldn't be more excited and we have a huge list of places to see in this beautiful country before we have to pack up and say our tearful goodbyes next year. A long way off? Not hardly. It sounds weird, but we've been here eight months already and it is frightening how quickly the time is going by. I'm happy to have a whole year to focus on reckless exploring after the first stage of cautious  first footsteps, just like the boy when he was learning to walk. This will be a good year for him and I in that regard.

First up, the Grand Bazaar. Yes, it took me eight months to get to the Grand Bazaar. What's the rush really? We do have time. And our first introduction couldn't have been any better. We had a guide, our dear friend who has been enough times to know most of the proprietors where we stopped. And it was a cool January day with very few crowds and quite a lot of desperate-seeming shopkeeps. I can't be sure but I think we saw about ten percent of the bazaar. We visited a rug shop, the leather goods guy and a ceramic shop. I found plenty of nice stuff at each, but we only ended up with a ceramic tile set, to be seen here at another time. Overall, the Bazaar was nice, especially if you are shopping for gifts or home goods. I don't see it as a must for me on a regular basis, but it is definitely a must see.


The next day I got a guy's day out for a chilly hike through the Belgrade Forest. The Belgrade Forest is a giant park/forest just about fifteen minutes away. We packed a lunch and walked the 6 kilometer runner's trail around a reservoir before finding a rain-soaked table where we ate some cold sucuk (Turkish sausage) sandwiches and had tea and some rather expensive salep.

I was pleased to see that there were a fair number of runners and dog walkers out on such a cool day (4C or about 39F). This park gets insanely crowded during the summer weekends, so it was nice to see it on a calm day.