Blogging from the Bosphorus

January 3: It may be cold and wet here, but, wow, do we have an amazing view of the Bosphorus Strait and the old town of Istanbul with the beautiful Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque in the background. As I sit here writing from the fourth floor of Mühürdar Caddesi 113, the fog covers the other side of the city, so I can only barley make out the minarets, dome of the mosque, and skyline. Oh, not that the address seems to matter…much like the address to our house in Lindos, the difference being, of course, that Lindos was a village of less than 1,000 people whereas Istanbul is a massive city of roughly 15 million residents.

Let’s put our new location into a bit of context, geographically. I knew next to nothing about it, so I’ll write a little something for anyone who knows as little as I knew. Most of Turkey (almost all, actually) is on the Asian continent (one Jeremy and I had never been to—now we’ve just got two continents to hit at some point, Antarctica and Australia—quite eager to visit both). Istanbul is located on both the European and Asian continents, divided by the Bosphorus Strait. On the northern side of the strait is the Black Sea; on the southern side is the Sea of Marmara, which leads to the Aegean Sea and down to the Mediterranean Sea. The old town with the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia (pronounced Aya Sofya), Grand Bazaar, Spice Market, and Topkapi Palace sit on the Europe side. Our side—the Asia side—seems to have mostly residential and upscale commercial areas, fewer tourist spots. We’re in the district of Kadiköy in a neighborhood called Moda, one with many educated residents. To get to the other side, we have a ten minute walk to the ferry station and a twenty minute ferry ride. Istanbul has many modes of transportation, including ferries, old trams, a metro system, light rail, funiculars, buses, and trains. And you can find a taxi (spelled “taksi”) at various taksi stops around the city.

Since it appears that we’ll likely be spending a considerable amount of time indoors while we’re here, it works out well that our apartment is amazingly modern and beautiful with spectacular views through our floor-to-ceiling windows (including fabulous sunsets over the Bosphorus). The place has lovely hardwood floors, a flat screen television (something we don’t even own back home…yeah, we’re not exactly up to date on technology), remodeled kitchen with a fabulous oven/stove (not that I care, but it looks nice), heat that actually keeps the place nice and toasty (unlike our Jerusalem apartment in which we always seemed to be cold), nice Krups coffeemaker, two bathrooms, great area for Jonah to play, many stuffed animals for Jonah to play with belonging to the daughter of the guy whose place we’re renting, and a doorman that delivers water, milk, you name it. Not that we appear to have a doorman. For some reason he’s called a doorman, but he seems to operate more like a superintendent of the building who also runs errands for people. We just leave an empty water jug outside our door in the morning, and there’s a full one a couple of hours later. In glass, of course. Not plastic.

Speaking of water, the stuff that comes out of the faucets—even in our luxury apartment—is not potable. We have to use bottled water for everything, including brushing our teeth. And the bottle of water lists the ingredients, noting that there is “0” fecal matter in it. Thanks for letting us know. I think that’s the point. Turkey is a strange combination of hypermodern and underdeveloped. On the one hand, the upscale commercial areas boast stores such as Starbuck’s (several, actually), MAC (a fancy make-up brand), The Body Shop, and GNC. On the other hand, you can’t drink the water coming out of the tap without likely getting giardia or some other parasite. The grocery stores also seem stocked more like Barcelona’s old town with not much selection. I did see a few huge supermarkets from the taksi this morning, so maybe there is more variety than can be found in our smaller nearby stores. If I were being an obnoxious American (a role I try to avoid playing, although I stepped into it at the airport when I got yelled at for not having American dollars to pay for the visa to enter the country…I yelled back at the nasty woman), I’d say the fact that not a single person seems to speak English (except the people at Gymboree…more on that later) also makes it seem less developed. Turkey is in the process of joining the European Union, which requires the country to go through many hoops and hurdles before becoming a member. Jeremy tells me that having potable drinking water isn’t on the list of such requirements. Seems like access to potable drinking water is a kind of basic right that should be required as a matter of public health. In any event, Turkey is sort of the flipside of Israel, which didn’t appear to have stores like MAC and such (although maybe so in Tel Aviv), but did have the basic potable water thing going on. Israel also had organic products, which may or may not be here. I did find organic apple juice in boxed cartons for kids, but it seems to be a bit random what organic products I might be able to find here.

As we were walking around the old town yesterday, Jeremy and I were talking about the fact that this place has given us the biggest culture shock yet. We’ve traveled quite a bit, so it’s not major, major culture shock. But it’s the biggest shock of our sabbatical yet. (We’re thinking of nixing Sicily for Morocco next month for warmer weather, which would give us perhaps even more of a culture shock, but that’s a bit for another time.) Israel might have been a major culture shock had it not felt so familiar. Even Jeremy, who had never been to Israel before, felt the comfort of familiarity in being there. I assume it’s our being Jewish that made it feel so familiar. Here, it seems that we’ve really gone east compared to the Western European places from which we’ve come. It’s not just the language, although that’s certainly one thing. It’s something else. Can’t quite articulate it. (On the language… It’s impossible to try to figure out what a Turkish word might mean by looking for roots of words similar to English. And, like Greek, the words that I’d want to use most often just aren’t that easy to remember. It seemed to take me weeks to remember how to say “thank you” and “good morning” in Greek. I really hope I can nail these two words in Turkish earlier in the course of our month here.)

And so, let’s go back a couple of days to get us to me here, sitting in a comfy chair (though I could use a little more lower back support) watching boat after boat—big and small—cruising by in the water below, while Jonah naps in his room and Jeremy works at the desk about twenty feet from me. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the Temple Mount on Wednesday as I had hoped. It was raining and miserable outside, which would have made for a most unpleasant visit. Should have done that earlier in our stay in Israel. Along with walking through the cemeteries on the Mount of Olives, it’ll have to go near the top of the list for our next visit to Israel. If Micha decides to get married in the next few years or so (Ofra is really pushing for grandkids, so maybe this will happen sooner rather than later), we may be back earlier than we expected. More unfortunate, however, is the fact that the violence and hostility in Israel continues. The Temple Mount was closed again yesterday to Muslim men under fifty years old. I can only say that I think this kind of move gives people more reason to be violent. So our last day in Israel was spent back at the science museum, which was practically empty because kids had returned to school. Jonah had the run of the place, and that’s exactly what he did—ran from one exhibit to the next. From the wheels, to the balls, to the cars, you name it.

I packed while Jonah slept that afternoon, and we played inside after he woke up. We had a delicious and lovely dinner with Su, Ofra, and Micha, all of whom braved the elements to make their way to Jerusalem to bid us farewell. Sad, sad to say good bye, but I know our reunion will be much sooner than the sixteen years that passed since our last visit. As per the norm of the last couple of years (i.e., post-Jonah’s arrival), we didn’t bother staying up to enjoy the final minutes of 2008. The time was better spent sleeping to make the next day’s journey more pleasant.

Pleasant and uneventful it was, our move to Istanbul. After a couple of hours at the children’s play area in the Ben Gurion Airport (which we arrived at two and a half hours before our plane took off—not something I usually agree to because I feel like it’s a waste of time to sit around the airport, but I figured security in Israel would be tight and extensive—it was, but there was no one at the airport), it was only a direct, two-hour flight to Istanbul from Tel Aviv. Perfect. On the airplane, Jonah enjoyed running up and down the aisles, reading books, and having the flight attendants ooh and ahh at him. Speaking of which, people from Turkey love, love, love babies. I’m talking adore in the biggest way possible. And the most unexpected people fawn over babies. From older men to young men, women, kids, everyone. Jonah has had his cheeks pinched more times in the last two days than in his entire life, and that’s saying something because I like to pinch them on a fairly regular basis. He’s also had more strangers pick him up than ever before, especially guys in their 20s and 30s. In the restaurants, on the ferry, guys love picking him up and showing Jonah the things around him. It’s really super, super cute. Jonah, of course, is not that thrilled with it. He turns to me, reaches out, and says, “Mama, mama, mommy, mommy,” in a desperate sort of plea.

On our flight over Turkey, it became apparent that we were getting ourselves into super cold weather. The snow-covered ground portends the weather to come. We also saw tons and tons of boats on the Bosphorus as the airplane came in for its landing. Jonah loves looking out our window and watching the boats go by. When we first got into the place, he ran over to the window and yelled, “Big boat!”

We landed at the airport, got SIM cards for our cell phones, money from the ATM, and we were off. Never mind the fact that I lost my cell phone shortly thereafter on a stroll through our neighborhood. I’d given it to Jonah to hold to settle him down, as he was quite unhappy about being in the stroller. The guy whose place we’re renting was showing us around, so there wasn’t really a better place for Jonah at this point. I’m really not the type to lose things. That’s my brother Sam, not me. The only thing I ever remember losing as a kid was a purse I left at a restaurant by the auto race track where my brother Jeff was racing somewhere down in Riverside, California. Of course, I had nothing of any value or real importance in it, but I loved the little purse and some little key chain I had inside it along with my pretend keys. On this sabbatical, I’ve already lost more things than I have in my entire life. I’ve lost a cell phone, the best hat ever for Jonah, a sweatshirt, and, drum roll please, my Klean Kanteen!!! When was the last time anyone saw me without my Klean Kanteen water bottle!!??? Well before Jonah was born, certainly. To me, this is more of a bummer than the wet weather outside, to make an odd comparison. And I don’t care that I lost my cell phone. It was easily replaced (though annoying that I had to spend money on a new one). But my Klean Kanteen!!?? Back to the point…we’d gotten ourselves almost entirely set up within moments of arriving in our new city—faster than any place previously. Not bad.

We took a fairly long taksi ride to our apartment, during which Jonah snoozed. The traffic was insane over the bridge from the Europe side to the Asia side. This is why most people take the ferry to cross the strait, as we did yesterday. We arrived at our apartment and met the guy whose place we’re renting. He’s a professor at a private university who plans to spend most of the month in London visiting his daughter. He very graciously showed us around the neighborhood, which gave us a decent sense of what’s where. Without him, it might have taken the entire month to figure things out here. There is no grid system, and there are little streets every which way. Had we longer than a month, it would have been fun to figure it out on our own. As it is, there is still plenty to figure out. Ahmet (the owner of the apartment) left us, and the three of us took a quick pit stop at the playground located in the park just below our apartment by the boardwalk along the water. It’s not a particularly nice park. It had lots of trash, cigarette butts, and such laying about. Ahmet told us of a better one just up the street near some cafés, but we haven’t ventured that way yet.

Then it was off to dinner, which was really a trip. We managed to find our way back to a restaurant Ahmet had recommended. Given how confusing the winding streets can be, this felt like a major accomplishment. We walked in, and I swear it sounded like a guy said “Good Shabbas” to us. I’m sure he didn’t, but for a minute I thought we might be in the clear in terms of language. Alas, no. The place did have English menus, although it turns out that this is not particularly helpful in understanding what it is that will be put on the plate in front of you. I ordered something with chickpeas, potatoes, carrots, raisins, pine nuts, some spices, and hummus. I guess I expected some sort of stew. Instead, all of the ingredients were pureed together and shaped into a rectangular block. The consistency was just strange. Jeremy had lamb, which he loved. Lamb, in fact, was a common ingredient in the vegetable kabobs. Only one person spoke a little bit of English, which made asking any questions about items on the menu pointless. We asked for milk for Jonah, and we were told there was none. Then, when the one guy who spoke a little bit of English realized that it was for Jonah, he sent someone out to go buy some from a market next door. Wow. Amazing customer service. This is exactly what happened to us in the Istanbul airport on the way to Israel, except the desired item was yogurt and honey for Jonah. Maybe I should ask for a Klean Kanteen next time and tell them it’s for Jonah. For dessert I ordered the “pumpkin dessert”, which was basically a long chunk of dried pumpkin with an unbearably sweet candied glaze of some sort drizzled over it. They gave us a sweet drink at the end of the meal (on the house). Maybe it was made from dates or something. I don’t know. Jeremy—hypochondriac that he is—immediately said his stomach was bothering him after the date drink. The whole meal was…interesting. The next day when we went to lunch, we dined at a place where we could see the pre-prepared food in the window. Unfortunately, in both cases, Jonah only nibbled on some bread and that was about it. I think we’ll be sticking to our beautifully remodeled kitchen and my fabulous husband chef.

The first night sleep in our apartment was our most restful first night in any new place that we’ve moved to yet. I’m sure I’ve just now jinxed the situation, but this news seems significant enough to mention, particularly given Jonah’s up and down sleep pattern in Israel. Jonah went to sleep around 8 pm and slept until around 7:30 am the next morning, and he didn’t wake up at all during the night! I heard him stir at 5:45 am (either moving around or chatting for a minute, I can’t remember), but he went back to sleep until the 7 o’clock hour. Again last night, he went to sleep around 8:30 pm and woke up after 7 am this morning. Plus, he wakes up happy and just chats to himself and his animals in bed until we get him. He hasn’t done that for a long, long time, since before we left the states I think. I always try to figure out what creates the sleeping conditions that allow for such a good night sleep for Jonah, but I have no idea if any of my hypotheses are ever correct. Whether it’s the fact that his molars have already broken through or that his room here has a cozy feel to it (surrounded by kids’ things), I’m not sure what accounts for the last two nights of sleep. I just hope it continues.

Yesterday we decided to check out the old town on a day when it seemed it wouldn’t rain, since the weather prediction for the following several days looked bleak. Ahmet met us at our apartment to show us to the other side of the Bosphorus and for a quick walk around his campus. How thankful I am that he did because it would have taken us forever to figure out that we needed to buy a key pass from one place and add money to it at another to pay our way on the many modes of transportation in Istanbul. Jonah loved the ferry ride. The ferry has long tables on either side of a long aisle that goes from the front of the boat to the back. Everyone sits down, and wait staff come around serving little grilled cheese sandwich paninis (okay, that’s what I’d call them) and some sort of tea. You can also go to the little bar at the front of the boat to order these things. Jonah immediately asked for a “muffin”—the term he uses for any bread-like product that isn’t his toast and hummus—so he and I headed to the bar. Two older guys were standing there waiting for tea. One motioned to me to order. I pointed to the panini, so he handed it to me. I handed the other guy my money, and the first guy motioned to me that he was going to pay for it. This, after he pinched Jonah’s cheeks and tried to get Jonah to smile. Totally unnecessary but very nice. We clearly stick out as foreigners here, and people are over-the-top nice to us. Really, we’ve encountered the nicest people on our sabbatical in Istanbul without a doubt (except for the nasty woman who “greeted” us at the airport).

We got to the Europe side of Istanbul and took a bus to Ahmet’s university, where we had coffee/tea together at the gorgeous restaurant on campus. The bus ride gave us amazing views of Istanbul and the architecture that combines the very old and new, side by side, one on top of the other. Talk about eye candy. I really just wanted to be outside taking a gazillion pictures.

After a look around Ahmet’s campus, we bid him ado and went to the bus stop to get back to the old town. We got on a bus that seemed headed for the old town, based on the final destination listed on the bus stop kiosk for this particular bus number. It did in fact get us there but not before it crossed a bridge over the Golden Horn (a horn-shaped estuary separating the European side of Istanbul). Jeremy said something to me like, “Oh, no, what are we going to do?” A woman who apparently saw the surprise on Jeremy’s face motioned to him that the bus was going to head back to the other side over another bridge farther down. Phew.

We got off the bus back at the ferry terminal and walked toward the old town. We passed the New Mosque of Mother Sultan (that’s what it’s called even though it dates from the 17th century), where men were washing their feet outside before heading inside for prayer. After the call to worship, the Imam gave his sermon over the loud speaker. I really love the call to worship from the mosques. It’s a beautiful, melodious sound, and we hear it throughout day, everywhere we go here. We decided that we didn’t have time to visit any of the main attractions in the area due to the late hour and Jonah’s need to eventually nap, so we just strolled through the streets and passed the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. We enjoyed lunch nearby before hopping on the ferry back to our apartment.

During Jonah’s nap, I headed out to the shopping area in our neighborhood. There isn’t just one main shopping street. It’s a web of streets with tons of stores, open market shops, restaurants, book stores (many, actually), phone, stationary, and clothes stores, cafés, and tons of people walking about. It’s incredibly alive. On my outing, I bought us some Tupperware, hangers, ski hats, a new cell phone and SIM card, and a few more groceries. Again, I had amazing customer service. At the phone store, I wanted a Vodafone brand SIM card, which they didn’t carry. The owner had one of his guys run to the Vodafone store to buy me one. When he came back without it, the owner made him go to another store to find it.

We enjoyed dinner at home and played with Jonah for a while before he went to sleep for the night. I’ve spent the last two nights trying to figure out some things about our surroundings—where Jonah and I might be able to go when it rains, places I want to make sure to visit, whether there are any playgroups in the area, etc. Jeremy did some searching too and found a Gymboree with classes somewhat nearby.

This morning I called the Gymboree and arranged to visit the place, try a class, and talk to the owner about buying a one month membership. Jonah did Gymboree back home for a few months when Jeremy was taking care of him three days a week and afterward on one of my days off. I stopped going because Jonah didn’t seem to be getting much out of it. Well, we went today, and Jonah loved it. It’s a big indoor playground for him! We took a fifteen minute taksi ride to the place and got to see another part of Kadiköy along the way. The Gymboree looked just like the ones you find in the states. It’s got a big play area with bridges, tunnels, balls, cool play structures, slides, a rocking horse, and other fun things. We went to the Level 4 play class for little ones Jonah’s age. Jonah played on all of the equipment. We sang songs. Well, the instructor and I sang songs. This place is run exactly as they are in the states, so the songs are all in English (i.e., Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star). That seemed a little weird to me. After the class, I went upstairs to talk to the owner about joining. Jonah played in the locker area, trying to put a key in the key holes of various lockers. He loves keys, but they have to be real keys, not fake, play keys. He also played in the waiting area, where another mom gave him a piece of cake and a fork. I looked over and there he was sitting at a table with another little girl, eating a piece of cake. There seems to be more of a “everyone-helps-with-everyone-else’s-kids” mentality here. Or so it seemed at Gymboree. Anyway, we’re all set on something to do two days a week. On Mondays we’ll be going to a 10 am art class where Jonah will get to paint, color, and get messy, messy. On Thursdays at 10 am, Jonah will be participating in the Level 4 play/activity class. We can also go during off-class times to just use the play area. So it should be a good rainy weather place for us.

Quick Jonah update before I sign off. He has taken to saying “please” on a regular basis. When he asks for something, he almost always uses the word now. It’s really the cutest thing to hear him say. “Milk peez.” “Daddy, help peez.” “Cheese peez.” He especially uses the word when he really, really wants something. Also quite cute was his trying to collect all of the stuffed animals last night before bed to take them with him. First he grabbed his donkey. Then he grabbed a cat. I said, “Okay, let’s go to your room,” and he replied, “Monkey too.” His crib was already starting to get crowded in Israel when he wanted to sleep with his donkey and giraffe, so now the big monkey sits on the chair by his bed and giraffe joins the usual three animals (frog, monkey, and bunny) for nighttime sleep. Sometimes the cat joins the nighttime sleep. Sometimes the donkey joins the naptime sleep. During the day, Jonah has taken to driving all of the animals around in a “taxi”—little side tables with wheels on them.

Since it’s going to rain tomorrow, Jeremy is going to work while Jonah and I find something to do. Maybe we’ll ride the old tram in Kadiköy. It does a complete loop around four of the neighborhoods in Kadiköy, including Moda. Then maybe we’ll check out the shopping center to buy Jonah some warmer pants along with a blanket for his legs when he’s in the stroller in the freezing cold. And freezing it’s going to be…snow is predicted for next Saturday. Oy vey.

Picture descriptions: View of Bosphorus Strait and old town of Istanbul (and playground, of course) from our window; sunset from our apartment; Jonah enjoying the view from our apartment; non-potable water pouring out into a river in Istanbul near Ahmet's university; on the walk toward the old town of Istanbul, along the light rail tracks; Jonah enjoys the play area at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv; view from the airplane of snow-covered Turkey; the many, many ships making their passage through the Bosphorus Strait; sunset view of Istanbul's old town from our window; Jeremy and Jonah about ready to board our ferrry to the old town; Hagia Sophia with modern-day light rail in front; Blue Mosque; again the Blue Mosque, view from our ferry ride home.