Adjusting to Istanbul

I am a bit sick. I must have gotten it from Erik, though curiously enough we also have friends laid up in London and the US, not to mention our host here in Istanbul. Anyway, I don’t feel too awful (so far, knock on wood!) and resting perfectly suits my continued inclination for quiet time.

{as always, click on images to enlarge, or mouse over for my notes}

Our first several days here I was constantly suffused with feelings of otherness. I suppose this is how I would have felt in Hong Kong or Taiwan, if I weren’t Chinese. As it was, in those places, even though I was a foreigner, faces and foods looked familiar, I understood much of what I heard spoken, and I could even read a little. Here — although by now it feels almost normal to be in a strange city where the customs are unknown to me — almost everything is new.

When I look around, I cannot even tell who is local and who isn’t. I have not yet learned to distinguish the sounds of the Turkish language from other, equally unfamiliar, languages — although I am getting more comfortable with trying to pronounce its words. And, of course, we are in the second most populous city in the world, which should be enough to discomfit anyone.*

But by this time I’m getting so accustomed to being a stranger that self-consciousness no longer feels as debilitating as it did when we started our trip. I have grown less sensitive about being stared at, or not smiled at, or possibly making a misstep. I don’t think being used to foreignness actually makes me any bolder, but at least I’m more comfortable with it now. Who cares, after all? The feeling will pass, and even if it doesn’t, I’m still glad I came here.

Slowly and in little bits, we are getting to know more of the city. On Friday I paid my first visit to a bakery, where I ordered cookies by pointing and holding up fingers. The momentary awkwardness was completely worth it — two of the cookies were so incredible I can’t wait to go back for more.

Yesterday we met up with my dad’s boss’s daughter, a fellow UC Berkeley alumna about our age, who took us out for a delicious breakfast, our first Metro (subway) ride, and a walk around several neighborhoods. Thanks to her kindness and friendliness, the city feels infinitely more navigable, even approachable — and now I know that Sunday mornings are a good time to avoid crowds!

And we’ve picked up a street map and learned our way home from Taksim Square, our nearest landmark.

Our walk confirmed what I’d already suspected: our neighborhood, while relatively quiet, hip, and extremely lovely, is also particularly confusing/overwhelming. I would not want to be staying someplace else, but that probably would have made for an easier transition during our first days here. The first photo in this post is one of our street; the photo below is from a larger street 1.5 km away.

I’m looking forward to feeling better so I can explore the city some more. On our way home from dinner last night I spotted a cafe where I might enjoy doing some writing; Istanbul Modern, the modern art museum, is only a short walk from our place; and I could sit pretty much anywhere and get some interesting scenes for sketching (I’m very curious how people will respond to that!). And there are a billion other things to do and see, even if I skipped all the major sights, which I do not intend to do. Let’s hope I wake up tomorrow all back to health and ready to wander!

*However, the population density is lower than that of LA, which probably explains how our street can be so quiet that I can wake up at noon and think it’s still early morning. Still, all I have to do is walk a few blocks to İstiklâl Caddesi to be smacked with a hefty proportion of Istanbul’s 14 million residents!