Dinner with the family

Last night we had Meltem's family over for dinner. Here's everybody. (For those of you who never met her, second from the left is Elif, Hasan's wife.) Also, if you look really, really closely, you can see how I screwed up building the Ikea bookcase: the top and middle shelves are unfinished-side out. Feh! Stupid instructions. Feel free to make fun of me, they all did.



After dinner we watched the DVD of the making of the Jameel Gallery at the V&A. The first part is the hour-long program they made for British TV, the second part is short video clips of us curators explaining stuff in the gallery. Yours Truly was in several such clips. Everybody commented on how I looked healthy and handsome (or at least healthy) in the TV program, for which I was interviewed in 2004, and more like an AIDS patient in the video clips, which were done last July. Yeah, well, that's what London does to a guy. At any rate, here's what I look like now, big hair, shiny forehead and all:



Meltem is holding the latest addition to our little home, a stuffed lamb that goes "baaa" when you squeeze its paw. Hasan and Elif gave it to us as a house/car-warming gift.

OK, we're both chained to our desks today, despite the nice "pastrami summer" weather. Hope all is well with our loyal readers.

The view from apt. 23

Here's what you see when you look in one direction off our kitchen balcony: the lazy strays who hang around on this patch of grass 24/7. The yellow one was here first; the black one has joined him recently and may be a new girlfriend. We're still not sure if she's right for him, but at least he doesn't chase her off snarling the way he does with other canine interlopers (of which there are a couple). Both of these layabouts get fed by kind-hearted faculty from our buildings.



Here's what you see when you look in another direction off the same balcony: the dogs of WAR! Yeah! Football! And I'm talking REAL football, not this mamby-pamby pantywaist soccer crap. These are the manly men of Bogaziçi U., out there putting it on the line against, uh, other manly men from somewhere else.



Witness my awesome action shot:



Chalk one up against homesickness: I get football in the autumn. How cool is that? (The crowd, such as it is, even does American-style rooting, and they just played a little "Sultans of Swing" on the PA system. Hmm, maybe there will be cheerleaders next...)

Remembering Atatürk

It's November 10, the date of Atatürk's death in 1938. He died at 9:05 am (in fact his last words were "What time is it?"), and at that time on every November 10 Turkey stops what it's doing and pauses to remember him. I was ready with my camera to catch the occasion. It's very impressive, and moving, to hear the air raid sirens and to see people pull over to the side of the road for a couple of minutes.



Some people even get out of their cars to stand. (You can't see it too well in this picture, but trust me, that's what they're doing.)



Like I say, it's really moving. Turks can be tacky in many ways, but this really has an air of serious reverence for the founder of the Republic. Would that the same thing happened for George Washington every year.

Bööööğk

... as they say here for "ugh!" Just spent two delightful hours in Istanbul traffic sucking bus fumes on the way to work. Great way to build up enthusiasm for teaching! At least this week I am just administering midterm exams, so it doesn't matter if I'm cranky. (Actually it's better, since this way my blood is up for catching cheaters.)

Evil Jungle Prince(ss)

Here we see the master chef researching her next amazing culinary creation. "Fish sauce and lemon grass?" she says. "Where am I going to get fish sauce and lemon grass?"



Note, at the bottom of the image, the cute slippers with pre-attached bears.



These were a gift from Sehnaz, our friend who has Elvin, the World's Cutest Baby (until ours comes along to give her a run for her money). I guarantee you we will plaster this blog with pictures of Elvin in due course.

Weather report

Oh, the weather in Istanbul. Last week was miserable, cold and rainy and generally inconducive to a good mood. Then on Saturday we got this:



Yep, our very own snowstorm, the kind with big wet soggy flakes that go smack! when they hit you in the head, as they did to mine when I went down to the car to pick up some groceries Meltem had bought. Sad to say, it wasn't quite cold enough for the snow to stick, so all we got was the show. Maybe it was for the best; if you've seen what mere rain does to the traffic in Istanbul, you have an idea of what a veritable apocalypse a couple of inches of snow would be.

After the snow, it cleared right up and yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. Cold, but gorgeous. We went to Emirgan park (where Meltem photographed patches of tulips last spring) and had the place practically to ourselves, making it even more enjoyable. You'd never know you were in a sprawling urban metropolis – it was all bright sunshine and pine trees swishing in the breeze. Rumor has it that it's going to warm way up again this week. Indian summer, or as they call it here, pastrami summer (I kid you not). Bring it on.

Meltem's first post

Barry is much fatter now than he looks in the picture!

Your happy hosts

Here we are on our Blue Voyage (August 2006), together at last.

Basliyalim!

Behold, the splendiferous new blog of Meltem and Barry, in which you can read all about their wonderful adventures in Istanbul.