I saw this from my friend's balcony and I sucked my breath in, suddenly reminded of all the things I have always loved about Istanbul and the people who live there, things that can get lost in the day to day business of living when you forget about the majesty. Views like this -- they always make want to try harder, reach farther and and sing louder.
The weather has definitely turned spring-like here in Izmir, for which I am very thankful. I was just going through some pictures on my camera though and discovered this photo, which I took last Tuesday in Taksim Square, Istanbul. It reminded me that even though it's raining here in Izmir, I'm absolutely fine with that as long as it doesn't do this!
There's a few amazing wine bars near my office and one in particular that I have really come to like. Don't worry -- I'll be telling you all about it! I took this photo one night last week while out with drinks with a friend and when I uploaded it to my computer it reminded me of all those fruit bowl still life paintings I've seen in art museums. Except that this photo reminds me of what a still life should look like in real life: the phone, the cigarettes and the bag included.
There's a few buildings in my neighborhood that caught my eye immediately after we moved to Izmir and that I continue to wonder about each time I pass them. It's not because the architecture is awesome or they're historic -- it's really for quite another reason actually. I'll let you see for yourself:
Nope, that is not a fluke of the camera or my bad photography skills. That building you see there, the one on the left, really does lean just like that! It's absolutely astounding to me that people actually live in that building.
It makes me wonder if they can get renters' or homeowners' insurance for their belongings. I'm willing to bet they can't. I wonder if, once a tenant vacates the property, it's hard to get someone else to move in? Who would want to live in a building like that?
Do they have to prop up the dining room table so that soup doesn't spill over into their lap when they sit down to eat? How do you bake a cake in a house like that? Do you have to keep rotating the cake in the oven so that one side isn't higher than another?
A friend told me once that he had a friend who lived there, and at parties, he would roll an apple all the way from one end of the house to the other with nary a push.
That's another leaning house, just steps away from the first one. I'm not sure what causes this to happen. Lack of a foundation, perhaps? What would make any contractor say, yes, let's just skip this whole cement base, shall we? We'll save a few lira that way.
What would it take to fix a house like that? How much money would you need to prop up a building that's leaning over?
Sitting in Tünel the other weekend playing around with my new camera, I happened to look up and was struck by the view of Tünel's buildings from the ground. The architecture of the buildings looks a looks a bit like an M.C. Escher print, no?
Last weekend when Jeff and I were in Istanbul I had the good fortune to be able to spend nearly an entire day with two of my favorite people, my host sister Ozgu from when I was an exchange student here, and my dear friend Muge, who I also met when I was an exchange student in Istanbul way back in 1999. Today they're both doing amazing things -- traveling the world, getting a master's degree, opening a boutique -- and I am incredibly lucky to know them both.
I never spent much time in Tünel when I lived in Istanbul, and as a result I don't get down there much when I visit the city. When I do, though, I'm always astounded by how built up it's become, with an ever-changing array of bars, clubs, restuarants and music venues. Out on the street, snaking your way around tables and chairs, trying to keep your friends close and your bag even closer, it's easy to remember what makes Istanbul such a thrilling place to be.
Over the weekend, I picked up a new camera that a very generous reader of this blog -- hi, Amy! -- brought for me from the US. She even went so far as to charge the battery and insert the memory card so that I could start taking pictures right away. Isn't that awesome?
So of course I started taking pictures of pretty much everything to see what the camera could do, and I got several pretty cool shots. One of them was my (host sister when I was an exchange student) abla's cup of Turkish coffee while we were at a cafe in Tünel. I particularly love the black nail polish.
Have you ever wondered what it must be like to work from home? To sit in your pajamas all day, take lunch whenever you want, maybe crack open a cold one in the afternoon...you probably know that it's not quite like that, although, damn, I do wish it were!
I work at home with four cats who insist on spending most of the day with me in the office. What can I say? They love me.
There's Andy, who likes to make sure that my pens stay on the floor, where they belong, naturally. And Lou, who likes to sleep on the modem. Phoenix, who generally does leave me alone for the most part. And then there's Frankie, who likes to either sit on my lap or on my chair or yell at me for not playing with him enough.
Which brings me to today, when I was trying to edit the 500 plus photos I took in Prague last week for a post -- maybe two? -- about the lovely city. As you can see, it's not easy for me.
And, yes, that is Frankie sleeping in my black leather chair while I sit on the white one. I do too much for these cats.
I mentioned earlier this week that at the Izmir Clock Tower in Konak you can see lots of people feeding pigeons. This woman, a tourist I believe, had a great time doing such that one sunny day this spring.
