Dinners in Asia

Sadly, this post is not about Chinese food. (I have only once had Chinese food in Turkey, it was ok, but expensive and not very common.) Fortunately, this post is about dinner with friends and ferry trips, both of which I enjoy very much.

On this map, I live about two inches off the upper right corner, on Robert College's campus. I take the bus down the Bosporus to Besiktas, which is just in the upper right corner. From there you can take the ferry directly acros to Uskudar, or down and around to Kadikoy. Many of my friends who are also new to RC used to teach at schools on the Asian or Anatolian side and still live there. They take the ferry or the school service bus every day, but it was an adventure for me to go visit their neighborhoods.

Saturday October 15th, Keeley and I went to Uskadar to meet Stuart who lives with his wife and two sons up the hill from the ferry terminal.












It was a rainy yucky day and we sat inside the ferry to keep warm. The trip across only took about 20 minutes and we were early when we arrived.

Stuart had told us he would meet us at the big clock. I had in mind a clock tower and we searched and searched before finally finding exactly what we were told to see, a big clock.

We crossed the street away from the water and up to the main street which goes up the hill. Here we caught a dolmus, or private mini van taxi. It goes on a perscribed route, but more frequently than the city bus and you can get off when you'd like. The driver has a bunch of coins in his dash board and there is a posted list of prices for various distances. It was great, much easier than I thought it would be, but since we sat in the first row, we were expected to pass money up to the driver from the passageners who were seated behind us. They would give us some coins and say where they were going. The driver would make change and we would have to pass the money back to right person without forgetting anything or dropping the money. I was a bit clueless the first few times this happened, but Stuart caught me up and helped with the transfers. I think if I was more familliar with the place names and more aware of what was going on, I could handle this transaction ok.

We got off the dolmus in Stuart's neighborhood and walked the few blocks to his house. This was the first off campus apartment I had been in and I didn't really know what to expect, but it was very nice. They even have a small yard since they have the ground floor apartment. It is a fairly new building and in good shape. We met Stuart's wife and Mehmet, who is four, and Metih who is 5 months. Mehmet was supposedly getting over a stomach flu, but he was quite the entertainer. He is learning both English and Turkish and seemed qute comfortable in either. Metih will be more interesting in a few years.

We had a fantastic dinner of Manti (like mini ravioli with little bits of meat in them) which is eaten with yogurt and tomato sauce as well as bread and salad. Stuart was running the marathon the next day and a friend of his (along with a new teacher) from Uskudar were running the 8k so they were carbo loading. I was just doing the walk, but I definately enjoyed the meal.

Keeley and I didn't have to figure out the Dolmus on the way back since there happened to be a city bus right there, which is easier since you dont have to talk to anyone. Back on the ferry, and another bus back to the school gate. I have plans for a bus blog post one of these days... stay tuned.

Saturday October 22nd


Sam (who teaches French, and Sibel, who teaches chemistry) also live on the other side and take the same service bus each morning from Kadikoy. (The service busses pick up students and teachers from all over the city and bring them to school in the morning and take them home in the afternoon. There are over 40 of these 16 passenger vans run by the Gursel company which come to RC at least twice every day. They could be their own blog.) Sam plays tennis with Jack, Marshal and Uzgur on Friday evenings and has been trying to organize a night out since the begining of school and we finally managed it.

Jim making a acid/base rainbow

Sibel with elephant toothpaste

This was the day of the Autumn Teacher's conference, but the timing worked out great, I got off the bus from the conference and met up with Jack, Marshall, Keeley and Corrine to walk down the hill, pcik up Janelle and get on the city bus to the ferry. This time we were going from Besiktas on a longer ferry to Kadikoy.



It was a much nicer day than the week before, but still cloudy and cool.



Jack

Janelle

Marshall

Keeley

Sunset over Sultanamet

Sam, her friend Jessica, and Sibel met us at the Kadikoy ferry terminal and we walked from there through what seemed like a secret passage way to a pedestrian walk/market place. There were lots of fish sellers, resturants, and little shops that sold anything you might be looking for.



Dried pepers and aubergine for stuffing with goodness.



I bought a Tavla (backgammon) set that is beautiful wtih inlayed wood and mother of pearl. Keeley went into the same game shop to buy larger dice for his set. (The dice they come with are incredibly small) but the shop keeper told us (through Sibel) that the dice are supposed to be small so you can flip them properly into the box. He showed me a couple of times, how he holds the dice between his thumb and middle(?) finger in a stack, and then makes a snapping motion to pop them out and into the board. I have tried this a couple of times in the relative safety of my own house, but still cant get the hang of it.

Sam had made a reservation for us at an outdoor fish place, so they were ready for all nine of us. Clockwise from the left: Keeley, Jessica, Janelle, Sam, Corrine, Marhsall, Jack and Sibel. I am taking the picture, of course. 

They brought out two trays of mezes, or starter dishes. You get to pick from what they have, most of them are cold and vegitarian and they include patlecan (eggplant in various forms) potato salad, greens, cucumbers in yogurt, spicy tomato sauce, beans, beats, shrimp, etc. There is always a big pile of bread to eat them with and they can be very good. Jack ordered Raki, which is kind of the national drink of Turkey. It is similar to Uzo in Greece, an anise flavored liquour. It is unusual in that it comes in its own bottle and is clear and colorless. The waiter also brings water and two glasses. One glass he fills half way with raki (rak-uh) and the other with water. You then add the water to the raki and it turns milky white. From a chemists perspective, I am very curious about what is going on here. I figure there must be some solute that is soluble in alcohol, but once it is diluted with water, it becomes insoluble and turns into a colloid. I tried it, it isnt bad, but I dont think I could drink a whole glass of it, let alone a bottle. (It is similar to the anise flavored beverage we were served in Peru to clear our pallets this summer.)

There are cats everywhere in Istanbul, but what made this one unusual was how fat it was. I guess it found the right street to hang out on. It was certainly very persistant, as it came over to me and kept bumping into my chair, putting its paws on my leg and mewing, hoping I would take pity on it and let something drop from my plate.

Dinner was lovely and the company was delightful. We promised to do it again sometime soon, but since I was going out for an all day tour early the following morning, I excused myself from the bar scene. Marshall, Jack and I headed back to the ferry to the bus and on campus.

In both of these excursions I felt like the other side was a bit more relaxed than the European side. People were not quite as focused, and more casual. Maybe it was because I was with friends, but it seemed a little less pretentious and more friendly.