So, finally a blog about my trip to Istanbul!
Recap: the reason I left for Istanbul was to go to my best friends wedding. Mona and Tarik met online, how cute. She converted long before even considering him as even a boyfriend. And now she is a practicing Muslim. They just moved here.
Facts:
population of 12.6 million
4th major city in the world
means "in the city", "to the city" or "downtown".
Food:
I was very worried about the food issues, considering I was going to live with a Turkish family and thus for could not pick my own meals. This family was also Muslim. She was a Koran teacher and he was a Imam. When I am in a different country with a completely different culture, I like to try my best not step on any toes. Blend being the key word. So this means I have to eat up everything that is put on my plate (the quite opposite of Beijing, where you buy / make 5-8 dishes of food and leave a ton to throw away!), and what Turkish women are masters at, is feeding you. "Would you like some more?" "No, thank you. I'm full." (puts a few more meat balls on my plate, smiles.) Heh. So as you might understand I was afraid they were going to serve sheep balls or cow liver. I had no idea what a traditional Turkish family ate!
To my luck, the food was wonderful! We would have your typical bread and spread for breakfast, and sometimes they would add a bowl of home made French fries! Odd, but tasted great! Then for dinner we would always start with a soup. I wish I remembered the name. I will have to figure that out. It was a bit spicy, a bit creamy and yellow.
Then we would have some sort of meat. Be it meat balls, meat slices, kebeb meat it was always spicy and tasted like a piece of heaven. Side dishes were always rice, mashed potatoes and bread. Now that I think of it, there was served little veggies..
When going to the food market in Istanbul, you will find a mix of foods, everything from living animals to spices and fruit. Fruit tastes so much better when it's not imported! (living in Norway where all we can grow is potatoes, you know, the weather being cold and all, I'm not used to fresh fruit.)
The best thing I ate during my stay in Istanbul was "Dner kebab". Served in a wrap with some salad and spicy sauce, it was like eating the smell of the spice marked. An explosion of taste in my mouth, orgasmic so to speak.
Travel:
To get to the main place of Istanbul, we had to take a train for 20 min and a boat for 20 min. Public transport is really cheap and easy to do, if you ever visit the outsides of Istanbul, remember that. The trains were a bit scary. No where near up to standards in Norway! They would even leave the station with some of the doors open (this cause of the heat) and to be honest, I feared the rust would tear some of the wagons in two! But it was "safe" and fun if you as me. I got to see loads of different things, places and buildings. Train ride with free sightseeing tour. The train stopped directly where the boat left. Back to the safety issue, there was no stair up to the boat. You just took a large step and hoped that the massive crowd didn't push you into the water. I never saw this happen the whole time I was there, so I guess I might fear things a little more than I should? I don't know. Any way, the boats were very pretty, and look a hell of a lot safer then the train. The boat had two levels. One inside and one upstairs, outside with a cloth "roof" to shade the burning sun. The breeze felt so fucking good.
View from the boat:
On the boat with Tariks mom and sister. Worst picture of me ever, but it was 100F that day!
Manners and ethics.
Everyone I know thought that Istanbul was full of women with Burqa . Well, they were wrong. Yes, most women choose to (key word being choose to) only show their hands, face and sometime feet. But I also saw women in hot pants and tube tops. And no, they were not tourists. They were "normal" Turkish woman who just didn't share the same belief as their fellow "typical" woman did. But if you choose to wear hot pants and a tube top, you can't complain when men stare. It's not common as 98% of Turkey is Muslim. I knew this ahead, and would wear shorts or skirts that hit me right over or below my knees and no cleavage. Or at least I tried to not show cleavage. Still, a white girl hanging with three women that actually do cover everything but their hands, face and feet, well the looks where many. Not to mention the septum piercing and huge tattoo on my back. People stared. Men, woman children all alike would stare at me, most of the times in fascination and wonder, and often by men who would yell, not so nice, things at me.
I would like to take a moment to point out something I learned that I found very important. To cover up is the woman's choice. As stated, I lived with a Muslim family where she was a Koran teacher and he was an Imam. I asked about the whole covering up thing, and she told me that her daughter had not been a practicing Muslim at all until a few years ago, and that she recently decided to use a
Hijab. She added how she despised the middle east for wrecking what is suppose to be a calm, loving and accepting religion. This family had taken me in and treated me with respect and grace. I walked arm in arm with Tarik's mom on several occasions. Even though she knew very little English, and I knew no Turkish, we had a great time together. This woman who teaches the word of the Koran everyday, never even thought twice about me because I had tattoos or piercing or because of the fact that I'm not a Muslim. She loved me as much as she did her own son and daughter. I can't express how much this meant to me.
When entering a Turkish house, you take off your shoes before entering. They will put these away for you and often ask if you want a pair of slippers. Every day when we got home from a hectic day of shopping and what not, we would all put on slacks and just hang out till dinner was served.
When greeting a person (women and women / men and men) you hug twice, once on each cheek, then kiss three times every other cheek. The reason men do not great woman like this is out of respect. If he were to do this it might make me uncomfortable and that would be disrespectful towards me.
Getting married in Istanbul.
Considering this is the whole reason I was there in the first place, I might want to add a bit about the traditions around getting married.
Usually there is a Henna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henna party before the wedding. This is for all the woman to gather together, dance eat and just celebrate. Sorta like a hen party in the Muslim world. Mona did not want this, and that actually made me a bit upset! I would have loved to experience this despite the fact that I can't speak a word Turkish and few of the woman in Tarik's family can speak English. The main reason she didn't want a Henna party, was cause they dip you hands in Henna paint making them yellow orange for three weeks. :p
Anywho, Turkish weddings are usually huge. There were a little over 100 guests there, and that's a small wedding. None of Mona's family was present, just me. So, yeah. They invite everyone!
The day of the wedding we went to the hairdresser so I could get my hair fixed and pedicure / manicure, while Mona got help putting her Hijab on. They made it all fancy and shit. This took a few hours and I met one of Tarik's cousins. She was 14 and spoke English very well! I fell in love with her, she was just about the kindest, cutest thing I had every met! Anywho, when we were done the car and driver had arrived so we got in and had to get back home so Tarik could get dressed. We were already one hour late, so stressed like hell. Driving in Turkey, well, your life is at risk every moment of the trip. They drive like maniacs. There is no structure and often no seat belts in the back. O.O Suddenly we stopped. I looked out the window and some car has blocked our way, he walks over to the car and the driver rolled down his window. Now, personally I would have thought he was yelling like hell to him, but when Turkish people have a normal conversation it's loud and sounds harsh. He finally goes away and we start driving again. We hit a red light and 7-8 young kids storm the car (hold on, I do have a point here, I promise!). The driver tells them to go away, but they wont. They keep pushing and pounding on the car till suddenly the driver rolls down the window and gives them some white envelopes. Wtf? Then I notice that on the front of the car, there is a kid, in front of the car, and wont let us drive. There is a green light, and well, everyone is honking at us. The driver fucking starts to drive, the kid wont get off. He holds tight and just looks at us. We drove a while with him there too, till finally the driver stops and the kid gets off. I wish I had a picture but I was in shock. I pretty much scream "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOIN ON?!" when Tarik explains there is a Turkish tradition where if you see a wedding car, you should go over, wish them luck, Allah be with you and all that shit. Then they will give you a envelope of money. No one knew how much, cause it was the parents that had put it there, but still. Mona turns to Tarik and says: "Why the FUCK would anyone even bother to decorate their car then?!" haha some experience you can say!
Gifts are not common at weddings, money is. And gold coins. The couple walks around and greets the guests. Thank you for coming bla bla bla. Then the guest hang money on the dress. Not kidding. They do, or gold coins that they have bought for a certain amount, and the married couple can go change it back in for the amount it's worth. Not to mention gold bracelets. I found this very odd.
Me and the happy couple!
Haha. I love this picture :p
Cutest girl ever!
Need air...
The gold bracelets..
The family
Last but not least, Istanbul is full of stray cats... I made friends with most of them!
Well, that's all I can think of at the moment, or type for that matter. Fingers = hurt!
Hope you enjoyed my travel blog
Xoxo Anthea
Recap: the reason I left for Istanbul was to go to my best friends wedding. Mona and Tarik met online, how cute. She converted long before even considering him as even a boyfriend. And now she is a practicing Muslim. They just moved here.
Facts:
population of 12.6 million
4th major city in the world
means "in the city", "to the city" or "downtown".
Food:
I was very worried about the food issues, considering I was going to live with a Turkish family and thus for could not pick my own meals. This family was also Muslim. She was a Koran teacher and he was a Imam. When I am in a different country with a completely different culture, I like to try my best not step on any toes. Blend being the key word. So this means I have to eat up everything that is put on my plate (the quite opposite of Beijing, where you buy / make 5-8 dishes of food and leave a ton to throw away!), and what Turkish women are masters at, is feeding you. "Would you like some more?" "No, thank you. I'm full." (puts a few more meat balls on my plate, smiles.) Heh. So as you might understand I was afraid they were going to serve sheep balls or cow liver. I had no idea what a traditional Turkish family ate!
To my luck, the food was wonderful! We would have your typical bread and spread for breakfast, and sometimes they would add a bowl of home made French fries! Odd, but tasted great! Then for dinner we would always start with a soup. I wish I remembered the name. I will have to figure that out. It was a bit spicy, a bit creamy and yellow.
Then we would have some sort of meat. Be it meat balls, meat slices, kebeb meat it was always spicy and tasted like a piece of heaven. Side dishes were always rice, mashed potatoes and bread. Now that I think of it, there was served little veggies.. When going to the food market in Istanbul, you will find a mix of foods, everything from living animals to spices and fruit. Fruit tastes so much better when it's not imported! (living in Norway where all we can grow is potatoes, you know, the weather being cold and all, I'm not used to fresh fruit.)
The best thing I ate during my stay in Istanbul was "Dner kebab". Served in a wrap with some salad and spicy sauce, it was like eating the smell of the spice marked. An explosion of taste in my mouth, orgasmic so to speak.
Travel:
To get to the main place of Istanbul, we had to take a train for 20 min and a boat for 20 min. Public transport is really cheap and easy to do, if you ever visit the outsides of Istanbul, remember that. The trains were a bit scary. No where near up to standards in Norway! They would even leave the station with some of the doors open (this cause of the heat) and to be honest, I feared the rust would tear some of the wagons in two! But it was "safe" and fun if you as me. I got to see loads of different things, places and buildings. Train ride with free sightseeing tour. The train stopped directly where the boat left. Back to the safety issue, there was no stair up to the boat. You just took a large step and hoped that the massive crowd didn't push you into the water. I never saw this happen the whole time I was there, so I guess I might fear things a little more than I should? I don't know. Any way, the boats were very pretty, and look a hell of a lot safer then the train. The boat had two levels. One inside and one upstairs, outside with a cloth "roof" to shade the burning sun. The breeze felt so fucking good.
View from the boat:
On the boat with Tariks mom and sister. Worst picture of me ever, but it was 100F that day!
Manners and ethics.
Everyone I know thought that Istanbul was full of women with Burqa . Well, they were wrong. Yes, most women choose to (key word being choose to) only show their hands, face and sometime feet. But I also saw women in hot pants and tube tops. And no, they were not tourists. They were "normal" Turkish woman who just didn't share the same belief as their fellow "typical" woman did. But if you choose to wear hot pants and a tube top, you can't complain when men stare. It's not common as 98% of Turkey is Muslim. I knew this ahead, and would wear shorts or skirts that hit me right over or below my knees and no cleavage. Or at least I tried to not show cleavage. Still, a white girl hanging with three women that actually do cover everything but their hands, face and feet, well the looks where many. Not to mention the septum piercing and huge tattoo on my back. People stared. Men, woman children all alike would stare at me, most of the times in fascination and wonder, and often by men who would yell, not so nice, things at me.
I would like to take a moment to point out something I learned that I found very important. To cover up is the woman's choice. As stated, I lived with a Muslim family where she was a Koran teacher and he was an Imam. I asked about the whole covering up thing, and she told me that her daughter had not been a practicing Muslim at all until a few years ago, and that she recently decided to use a
Hijab. She added how she despised the middle east for wrecking what is suppose to be a calm, loving and accepting religion. This family had taken me in and treated me with respect and grace. I walked arm in arm with Tarik's mom on several occasions. Even though she knew very little English, and I knew no Turkish, we had a great time together. This woman who teaches the word of the Koran everyday, never even thought twice about me because I had tattoos or piercing or because of the fact that I'm not a Muslim. She loved me as much as she did her own son and daughter. I can't express how much this meant to me.
When entering a Turkish house, you take off your shoes before entering. They will put these away for you and often ask if you want a pair of slippers. Every day when we got home from a hectic day of shopping and what not, we would all put on slacks and just hang out till dinner was served.
When greeting a person (women and women / men and men) you hug twice, once on each cheek, then kiss three times every other cheek. The reason men do not great woman like this is out of respect. If he were to do this it might make me uncomfortable and that would be disrespectful towards me.
Getting married in Istanbul.
Considering this is the whole reason I was there in the first place, I might want to add a bit about the traditions around getting married.
Usually there is a Henna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henna party before the wedding. This is for all the woman to gather together, dance eat and just celebrate. Sorta like a hen party in the Muslim world. Mona did not want this, and that actually made me a bit upset! I would have loved to experience this despite the fact that I can't speak a word Turkish and few of the woman in Tarik's family can speak English. The main reason she didn't want a Henna party, was cause they dip you hands in Henna paint making them yellow orange for three weeks. :p
Anywho, Turkish weddings are usually huge. There were a little over 100 guests there, and that's a small wedding. None of Mona's family was present, just me. So, yeah. They invite everyone!
The day of the wedding we went to the hairdresser so I could get my hair fixed and pedicure / manicure, while Mona got help putting her Hijab on. They made it all fancy and shit. This took a few hours and I met one of Tarik's cousins. She was 14 and spoke English very well! I fell in love with her, she was just about the kindest, cutest thing I had every met! Anywho, when we were done the car and driver had arrived so we got in and had to get back home so Tarik could get dressed. We were already one hour late, so stressed like hell. Driving in Turkey, well, your life is at risk every moment of the trip. They drive like maniacs. There is no structure and often no seat belts in the back. O.O Suddenly we stopped. I looked out the window and some car has blocked our way, he walks over to the car and the driver rolled down his window. Now, personally I would have thought he was yelling like hell to him, but when Turkish people have a normal conversation it's loud and sounds harsh. He finally goes away and we start driving again. We hit a red light and 7-8 young kids storm the car (hold on, I do have a point here, I promise!). The driver tells them to go away, but they wont. They keep pushing and pounding on the car till suddenly the driver rolls down the window and gives them some white envelopes. Wtf? Then I notice that on the front of the car, there is a kid, in front of the car, and wont let us drive. There is a green light, and well, everyone is honking at us. The driver fucking starts to drive, the kid wont get off. He holds tight and just looks at us. We drove a while with him there too, till finally the driver stops and the kid gets off. I wish I had a picture but I was in shock. I pretty much scream "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOIN ON?!" when Tarik explains there is a Turkish tradition where if you see a wedding car, you should go over, wish them luck, Allah be with you and all that shit. Then they will give you a envelope of money. No one knew how much, cause it was the parents that had put it there, but still. Mona turns to Tarik and says: "Why the FUCK would anyone even bother to decorate their car then?!" haha some experience you can say!
Gifts are not common at weddings, money is. And gold coins. The couple walks around and greets the guests. Thank you for coming bla bla bla. Then the guest hang money on the dress. Not kidding. They do, or gold coins that they have bought for a certain amount, and the married couple can go change it back in for the amount it's worth. Not to mention gold bracelets. I found this very odd.
Me and the happy couple!
Haha. I love this picture :p
Cutest girl ever!
Need air...
The gold bracelets..
The family
Last but not least, Istanbul is full of stray cats... I made friends with most of them!
Well, that's all I can think of at the moment, or type for that matter. Fingers = hurt!
Hope you enjoyed my travel blog
Xoxo Anthea
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