First day in Istanbul Saturday June 9, 2012

June 9, first day in Istanbul. Our driver was ready in a good size mini van. We walked back with him to his van in the parking lot. His 5 year old daughter was asleep on the front seat. The van was parked in the shade of a parking deck and the windows were rolled down. In America, a person would be arrested for child abuse for putting their child at "risk" of being kidnapped, or of driving off in the car or of being slowly roasted even though the windows are down. That's because Americans live in a society that strives to be 100 percent risk free but where the concept of responsibility for one's own actions has been abandoned. Is there really that great a risk in America that if I leave my 5 year old daughter in the car for five or ten minutes that some registered or unregistered sex offender is going to come along and take her back to his cave, never to be seen again? It doesn't seem there is such a risk here in Turkey and I submit that many of such alleged risks in America are imagined rather than real. Let's go back to living life a little. Anyway, we travelled the busy streets of Istanbul, a city of 16 million or so people. We drove under an ancient aqueduct and across the Golden Horn into Beyoglu to our residence located next to the Galatsaray High School and a hammani (public bath) built in 1481. I had found our apartment on the Internet through vrbo. The owner is Italian and we paid him up front by wiring the money, so there is a certain amount of trust involved. We had Troy who was living in Istanbul for a semester of college to check it put in advance so we had a comfort level. On arrival, we were met by Selman, who lives on the first floor and manages the apartment for Enzo. She took us up the elevator to the apartment. The apartment occupies the top two floors of a five story building and has its own elevator that serves both floors. The top floor consists of a kitchen\dining room, bathroom, living room area and balcony that overlooks Beyoglu and commands an amazing view of the Sea of Mamara and the mosques of Sultanamet. The balcony is huge with beautiful plants and a table that seats 8. Troy came shortly after we arrived. We had not seen him since January 17 when he embarked for the middle east so it was quite a reunion. You can read about his adventures at www.thomesley.wordpress.com We settled our belongings and went for a walk to Istiklal Street which is a mere block from our apartment. This street is a pedestrian only street which stretches from Taksim Square to the Tunel funicular which can take one down to the Galatsaray Bridge. We have learned that Istiklal is brimming with people at all hours of the day and night. As we walked down our narrow one way street to Istiklal we saw that we have a small grocery, a liquor store and several restaurants including Turkish and Chinese. We also quickly learned that all of the restaurants have a guy out front who approaches with the menu and tries to convince you to eat at his restaurant. We entered Istiklal and noticed several ice cream stands where young men in fancy costumes handle ice cream with long handled spoons (more about that later). The local economy is extremely vibrant and is demonstrated in the economy of Istiklal. There are many nice clothing shops and restaurants. An historic tram runs down the middle of Istiklal. Literally tens of thousands of people appear to be walking up and down this street where no vehicles other than the tram are allowed. Every side street has fascinating restaurants or bars. We were surprised to see many, many bars in this country that is 99.9 percent Islamic. But, I guess these are the kind of Muslims who would say hello to you in the liquor store! We would later learn that different parts of town have different cultures as it relates to alcohol use. Being a long retired drinker myself, I mainly see it as a curiosity. We turned down a pedestrian street that was lined with cafes and bars. The outside seating is plentiful and it really makes you know you are not in Mooresville any more. We took some stools and sat at a bar and Fariba and Troy enjoyed some 50 cl Efes beer, the local brew. Darius and I had some water and sat and enjoyed watching the parade of people. There were very few women sitting at the bars and if they were Turkish, they were with their boyfriends or husbands. Some european women might be in groups. On this Saturday in Istanbul on Istiklal, more women were not wearing the hijab than were. We did notice the women who wear the hijab are also very fashionable and wore hijabs that are colorful along with clothes that have fashion sense. We saw very few women in this area wearing the black chador from head to foot with faces covered. We did see more later in Sultanamet when we went to visit the many mosques, but e en there most women wer the more stylish hijab and other clothing. After the beers, we headed back to the apartment and stopped to eat at a Turkish restaurant nearby. The food was very good, basically consisting of casseroles containing eggplant and ground meat as well as fish or lamb. We had a wonderful dessert and hot tea. We went back to the apartment and of course were wiped out, having been up since 6 a.m. EST the previous day and it was now 10 p.m. in Turkey or 3 p.m. EST the next day back home. Troy invited some of his exchange student friends over to socialize on our expansive deck overlooking the city. There were two young men from India, Neil and Priyank, who are students at UNC. There was Jean Marie, who is from Asheville and also a student at UNC and Eunis who is half Turkish and half American and is a student at Wisconsin. The kids enjoyed beers and a little Jack Daniels. Priyank brought some Cuban cigars which the guys enjoyed. I won't get started on Cuba, but how silly is it really that 60 years after the revolution the United States still capitulates to a small Cuban contingency in south Florida to not have free trade with Cuba? Anyway, we enjoyed the conversations one can have with young people who are truly wake and who understand that we live in an international community that is wholly interdependent. Jean Marie had just returned from Jordan where she had travelled alone for a week. Many people would be concerned for their daughter to travel alone to Atlanta, much less in the middle east. But, Jean Marie had handled it quite well and had seen Petra, a true wonder of the world. We as Americans operate with fear as our mantra, but with the help of young people like Jean Marie, maybe we can start to see the world other than through the filter of Fox "News" or CNN, and we can start to understand that people the world over are striving no less to succeed and perhaps more than people in the US. We talked for hours about race, religion and politics. Then we walked back down to Istiklal around 12:30 after midnight and Troy ordered me a doner, a flatbread sandwich consisting of meat shaven from a large circling mound of compacted roasted chicken served with peppers and French fries for about $2.00. The kids went on to one of the hopping nightclubs and I wandered down a street where small clubs thumped to the sounds of young men on guitars and vibrant Turkish men and women singing the songs out loud. Back to the apartment and on the way I passed the many cats that populate the streets of Istanbul and a drunk or deranged woman in the street yelling the same phrases over and over. I slept really good after about 36 hours awake.