Tag: International life

Sofia (Part 2)

Posted in Bulgaria, Culture1 Comment

Sofia rises with the sun – as do I – and a good cup of coffee is on offer early. I had my pick between Urban Embassy Specialty Coffee and The Expressionist Coffee Company. After enjoying a latte and watching the trams run past, I got on with my favorite way to explore a new city – a graffiti art tour.

Since I travel on a budget, I love AirBnB Experiences because they put you in touch with local guides who are passionate about their city’s history and culture. I also find other like-minded who interested in similar topics. Sometimes we even all go out for a beer afterwards. Graffiti art tours can take you to unusual parts of town or even to the back of the Sofia Opera House (below).

Sofia is covered in graffiti, and though this art form is not appreciated by everyone, it is so embedded in the fabric of the city that it stands as an example of tolerance and a voice of the people. The city was blanketed in the stuff which included a lot of political messages and large murals created by talented artists such as Bozko (above) and Mary Ann Loo (below).

I had also signed up for a Communist History Tour but couldn’t convince myself to concentrate for another few hours. Instead, I opted for The Red Flat, a family apartment preserved from the Communist Era (mid-80s, in this case). It was particularly cool to compare to other flats of the time from Moscow. This Bulgarian family had a father who worked overseas and were privy to a commissary stocked with special novelties (ie. Johnnie Walker Red Label) as result. Visitors can grab tour tickets for The Red Flat at GIFTED, a fantastic shop which supports local Bulgarian artists and poets. Горичката (“House of Flowers”), an artist collective nearby, is also not to be missed.

It was fun to find stores with Russian products, like the condensed milk below (for which my sweet kitten is named). Blueberries are also popular (haven’t seen those anywhere outside the States before) and, of course, Bulgaria is proud of its own honey (a common export of eastern Europe). One slight bummer was how prevalent cigarette smoke is in Sofia. I was pretty surprised to find 420-friendly stores around the city as well (ie. weed dispensaries). The times, they are a-changin’.

The highlight of my time in Bulgaria, however, was getting up into the mountains. I took a day trip up to the Rila Monastery, about a 2-hour drive from downtown. The ribbed decor represents the colors of the Bulgarian flag – red, white, and deep green (reads as black) and the monastery was founded over 1,000 years ago.

Wish I had stayed the night (book a room for $15USD/night) but I enjoyed a few hours soaking in the gorgeous frescoes and mosaics inside the church. How those paintings stay so well preserved while open to the elements is beyond me.

The foliage was beginning to pop and I had some time to paint up on the mountain. A babbling brook ran alongside the monastery walls.

The Nevsky Cathedral was basking in the autumn sun as we arrived back in Sofia.

Off the main vestibule, stained glass provided a beautiful moment for peace and reflection.

The stunning inner chamber reminded me of St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg and it was comforting to be surrounded by Orthodox churches and onion domes once again.

All too soon it time to say goodbye to Sofia. Made in Blue was a great spot to sketch and spend my last few hours in the city before heading to the train. Such a kind staff! The farm-to-table movement has definitely arrived in Bulgaria and I was so appreciative of all the delicious and fresh offerings. Amazing how different a food scene can be, only 500 kilometers and a border away.

Sofia certainly ranks among my favorite cities ever visited. Easy to explore with plenty to do and very friendly locals – I couldn’t have asked for more. Now it’s back to Istanbul to enjoy the Biennale and autumn in Turkey. Hard to believe the winter holidays are only five weeks away. Loving this sunshine!

Sofia (Part 1)

Posted in Bulgaria, Culture4 Comments

Back in early September, as I began to brainstorm fall break destinations, Bulgaria sat firmly atop my list. I’d long heard that Sofia, the capital city, would be my kind of town – slightly rough around the edges with a good art scene, cafe culture, and plenty of green space. Bulgaria borders Turkey, Greece, and Romania, all colorful countries in their own right. I knew it was a former Communist Bloc state and the purported home of Viktor Krum. My new neighbor to the north beckoned and I accepted.

Having been landlocked in South Korea and restricted from exiting Russia by rail, I was eager to find a train which ran in between Istanbul and Sofia. Following a thin trail of websites, travel blogs and YouTube vlogs, I discovered the Sofia Express. The overnight journey would take roughly 12 hours and I was warned to bring my own food – there would be no dining car. There are two ways to purchase tickets for the Sofia Express and both involved in-person purchases at train station ticket windows. For anyone interested, you can find the details at the end of this blog.

Fall break arrived and I boarded the Sofia Express at Istanbul’s Halkalı railway station for a 8:40pm departure. I had opted to purchase a full sleeper cabin for myself for security reasons and the cost totaled to $128 for the roundtrip journey. Pulling down the seats to create my bed, I made up the lower bunk as we got underway. Sailing past my school on the outskirts of town, we headed due west towards Bulgaria.

The Bulgaria-Turkish border intersects at the town of Edirne, which just narrowly skirts the edge of eastern Greece. Disembarking at the first border crossing, you are stamped out of Turkey by passport control around 1am. After settling back into your train berth about an hour later, the train rolls on for few kilometers and then begin the knocks from the Bulgarian border guards. These guys kindly take your passport away to stamp it and return it to you about an hour later. The whole procedure takes nearly three hours in total – not a smooth night of sleep, I’m afraid. But it could have been – the cabin beds were comfortable (for someone of my shorter stature) and very clean. The private sink and tiny fridge were nice features as well.

After a few hours of sleep, I awoke to the golden glow of the Bulgarian countryside. Mountains wrapped in orange ringed the edge of my horizon and fall was in full effect. We rolled past harvested fields but otherwise there was little trace of humanity beyond our train tracks.

As we approached a number of small towns on the outskirts of Sofia, the homes reminded me of the dachas (country homes) outside of Moscow. The graffiti soon appeared, tags upon tags blanketing bridges and the side of the tracks. Cyrillic text took me right back to Russia.

We rolled into Sofia’s Central Station around 10am and I set off on foot for downtown. Having no Bulgarian lev (local currency) and hours until my AirBnB was available, I made the most of the fairly flat walk, soaking in the beautiful foliage among the classical buildings.

With no visa required for Americans, my travel preparations consisted of downloading the Google map of Sofia (a helpful thing to do when you don’t have wifi). I make sure to bookmark local cafes, bookstores, and art shops. These spots are great not only for my own hobbies but also for getting recommendations from friendly shopkeepers. My Sofia bookmarks included: Altruist (cafe with a patio out back), Slanchogled Sofia (art store), and The Elephant Bookstore (English titles). At the latter, the owner recommended The Little Things (pictured below), a sweet courtyard cafe where I found a cup of tea and lunch to get my trip started right.

Sold by the views of St. George’s Orthodox Church, my AirBnb was located in a residential neighborhood just off a main thoroughfare. The graffiti that blankets the city can give off an initially nefarious vibe, but I quickly realized that this was a cozy spot, with residents walking their dogs in the evenings and a wine bar just around the corner. I awakened to the ringing of church bells each morning.

I met up with my friend Linda soon after checking in. A Canadian who is married to a Bulgarian, Linda has lived in Sofia for over 20 years. Our paths have crossed at a number of conferences over the years and we caught up over dinner and drinks, having not seen each other since before the pandemic began. She approved of the walking tours I had lined up and recommended a bunch of great restaurants to check out. Nothing like advice from a local!

I’m going to stop here for now. I really loved Sofia and there’s just too much to share in one post. Thanks for reading and look for Part 2 in a few days 🙂

Purchasing Tickets for the Sofia Express in Istanbul:

Option 1: Go to Halkalı railway station, which is located 17 km from the city center on the Marmaray train line. Halkalı is the departure station for the Sofia Express. You can buy tickets from the ticket window at the top of the escalator.

Option 2: Sirkeci Railway Station or İstanbul Garı (located in Istanbul’s Fatih neighborhood). Directions told me to go to Ticket Window #4. I never saw Ticket Window #4 but I did find the ticket window labelled “International Trains” and was helped by a kind cashier who spoke plenty of English. My paper tickets in hand, I emerged victorious into Fatih and took my bus back to the ‘burbs.

Advice for the journey: Try to get to sleep soon after departure as you’ll be awake at the border from approximately 1am – 4am. Prepare for cabin knocks from border guards, line-ups at passport windows, and generally no attempt to make haste whatsoever. Both trains arrived 1-2 hours late, in my experience, so be careful when booking connections at your destination. Do bring your own food and some extra toilet paper wouldn’t hurt.

Seasonal

Posted in Exploring Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey1 Comment

Autumn is beginning to make its way to Turkey. Chilly mornings and windy days signal the changing of the guard. We had our first rainy day on Saturday and it was much appreciated – required respite after all my busy travel of late.

Sunrise over Gölet Şelale (Şelale Park)

As I often do on Saturday mornings, I made my way to our nearby Pazartürk, our vibrant neighborhood bazaar. As the skies overhead threatened, I ducked under the garage doors of the warehouse and was immediately engulfed in the hustle and bustle of the marketplace.

You can really appreciate the change of seasons at a local market. Turkey, much like Korea, only offers seasonal produce. Once the strawberries are gone, they are gone until next summer. Granted, the growing season is longer here than in Korea and then in certainly Russia, so I’m still able to find an avocado or two.

Mandalina – a tart Turkish tangerine (green when ripe)

Plums are no longer on offer but apples are, much like in the States. After a summer off, lemons are coming back around while watermelon is on its way out. Pomegranate is ripe for the taking with, as we found out in Daylan, a growing season from August to November. Peaches (thankfully) still abound and soon will give way to dried apricots (my favorite).

Pomegranate – Turkey’s pride and joy, red and ripe from the tree

Mushrooms and walnuts have never looked better but peas have passed. Broccoli can be found occasionally but is mostly finished. Chestnuts are just getting started and soon Istiklal Street will be teeming with vendors, roasting the nuts as the tram runs past.

Walnuts – vendors always toss in a few extra for free after they’ve weighed your bag

Sadly I’ll have to wait until next summer for my beloved artichoke but thankfully the all time Turkish delight, eggplant, is just gearing up for its run. What would a mezze be without eggplant?!

A mezze platter with yogurt, eggplant, peppers, and grape leaves above. Fried borek and charcoal roasted bread below.
Thankfully, my new favorite – grilled olives – seem to be available year round. Love the colors!

After an afternoon of napping with the cat, I walked to the local supermarket (Migros) for the essentials I couldn’t find at the marketplace. Peanut butter is available and so is a myriad of chai in this tea-rich country. Green tea with ginger and lemon is my latest find.

Çay = tea (pronounced “chai”)

I’m always amused by the t-shirts with English text available for sale at the supermarket. The shirts may not boast the grammatical challenges as they often do in parts of Asia but the random sayings are just as puzzling.

That one took a weird turn…

This weekend capped off with a trip downtown and lunch with a few lovely new friends. With a view of the Bosphorus and sunshine to boot, we enjoyed borek, mezze, and – of course – baklava for dessert.

Lunch gifted by my very thoughtful coworker from Innovation Charter, Scott, and his wife.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this little food tour. This is just the tip of the iceberg as to the delicious delicacies that Turkey has to offer. Have a great week, everyone!

Florence

Posted in Italy3 Comments
Sunday morning from the Duomo bell tower

This past weekend, I had the chance to attend a conference in Florence, Italy (rough life, I know). I’m member of the Global Art Teachers Exchange (GATE), a group of art teachers who put on workshops for each other. Makes for amazing professional development as teacher conferences don’t often serve subjects outside the core subjects. We’d planned on meeting in Florence for 2020 but COVID of course intervened. Here it is 2022 – two schools and two countries later for me – and it finally came to be.

The exchange was a reunion for my art teacher friends, most of whom are scattered all over Europe. I’ve known the group since 2017 when we first met in Luxembourg. Aberdeen followed in 2018 and London in 2019. For the past three years we’ve taken part in a monthly sketchbook exchange, and that’s what we’re doing in the picture above.

It goes without saying that Florence is an extraordinary city. The gelato is superb and the pasta is even better. My colleagues Saleshni and Michele joined me (Australian, both) and we flew into Bologna, direct from Istanbul. We stayed at a gorgeous villa up in the hills behind town, a spot called Bagno di Rivoli. Chilly mornings with beautiful views – no complaints here.

Our first day was spent enjoying the galleries downtown, including a wonderful exhibition of Olafur Eliasson’s work at the Palazzo Strozzi. Danish-Icelandic, his contemporary installations include light and other natural elements such as water and wind. At the Palazzo, he projected light and sound using the Renaissance architecture of the building, transforming the historic space using contemporary materials. The results were powerful and eye-catching.

After the musuem, we did some made some art in the streets near the Ponte Vecchio. I had making something out of nothing in my friend Ryan’s sketchbook, creating a collage of all white items sourced from a single street corner. A Hertz receipt, ticket stub, and a couple of stickers all dropped from the pockets of tourists in the five minutes we sat on the sidewalk nearby. One man’s trash…

Back at the International School of Florence, we soaked in the view and made more art. The stunning views from their school cafeteria paint a truly Tuscan scene including two castles on the hillsides surrounding. I took a watercolor painting workshop and a cyanotype printing class. Both were loads of fun.

Making the most of our time, my colleague Michele and I climbed both the Duomo dome and the bell tower. 450 steps apiece! The sunset views from the dome were worth it.

Nothing like sunset and gelato at the Ponte Vecchio. Florence is stunner for sure.

Back home in Istanbul for the next few weeks. Hard to believe I’ve already been here for two months. Now we’re into the nitty gritty of the school year with parent/teacher/student conference next week. Soon enough it will be fall break and I am headed to Sofia, Bulgaria. My adventure on an overnight train awaits!

Dalyan

Posted in Exploring Turkey, Turkey1 Comment

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In Turkish, the name means “fish trap”. With the Mediterranean lapping at its Turkish shores, the beachside town of Dalyan proved to be the best spot to start exploring all that Turkey has to offer. As a chaperone on this Grade 7 trip, I was pretty stoked to be along for this four day adventure.

Our flight from Istanbul International Airport to Dalaman was just over an hour. Having surrendered their passports and phones to us at the airport, my students were extra talkative. After 2.5 years of pandemic schooling – the majority of which were 100% distance learning by Turkish government decree – their enthusiasm was at a fever pitch.

After touching down, we stopped at a gorgeous Turkish restaurant nestled in the reeds of a quiet fishing village. The vibe was pure vacationland and the breeze was gorgeous. Evil eye trees decorated the outdoor restaurant. The food was simply delicious (a mezze course followed by grilled vegetables and meat options). My students loved watching the fish and crabs below. We even saw a turtle feeding.

After lunch, our Turkish tour guide took us to Turtle Beach where we visited the Dekamer Sea Turtle Research, Rescue, and Rehabilitation Center. Turtles are brought there from all over the Mediterranean, the vast majority having been injured by boat propeller strikes. The center does a lot with just a little. The only of its kind in Turkey, the center is responsible for nursing many sea turtles back to good health. My students and I were moved by the efforts, not only surrounding rehab, but also protecting local nesting grounds and conducting scientific research. If you’re interested in sponsoring these efforts or volunteering at the center in the future, please click here. Support is needed to continue this truly important work. Boat owners – cage your rotors!

Most regions of Turkey have their own speciality, from chestnuts to honey to baklava. Dalyan is known for its pomegranates. Our time there included a trip to a local pomegranate farm. We met the workers in the fields who showed us how to properly cut a pomegranate from a tree (they hang like apples). The farmer discussed the economics of the journey from tree to table. We learned that it takes four years from planting a tree until it is able to yield fruit. That tree can then produce for 20 years. We ate the deliciously rupe pomegranates right there in the fields and there is hope of turning this portion of the trip into a service project in the future, especially during the harvest months of August through November.

One of our afternoons was spent hiking up to and swimming under a waterfall. We enjoyed fish at a restaurant straddling the mountain stream. The students loved the rope swings and were eager to jump into the refreshingly chilly water.

One full day of the trip was spent on the open water. Our group of 50 boarded two local boat charters, each equipped with a roof deck/viewing platform, a sizable galley, and BBQ cookers on the stern. As we wound our way through the marsh out to the open ocean of the Mediterranean, we passed Lycian rock tombs (The Tombs of Kaunos) created in 400BC. These exquisite carvings towered over the delta below, a reminder of just how long man has walked this region of the world.

On the boat, we hopped from cove to cove, reveling in the bright and clear turquoise waters. You could see straight down to sand and rocks over 15 feet below. The guides organized challenges and games for the kids, mostly carried out on paddle boards, as we floated along in the salty Mediterranean. Food never tastes as good as it does on the ocean! The kids had a blast jumping from the roof deck in deeper waters and we kept the Spotify playlists going all day.

Another activity local to Dalyan is mud baths, which I would love to check out next visit. Super chill and a guaranteed good time, I could definitely see returning to Dalyan with friends and family in the future. For now, I’m resting up for my next adventure – an art teacher conference in Florence later this week. More to follow!

Sanat

Posted in Uncategorized6 Comments

After nearly a month in Turkey, I’ve begun to settle in. I’ve got my little two-wheeled grocery cart, rearranged my apartment, and I’ve finished two successful weeks of classes with my students. The honeymoon period has ended and I am facing the day-to-day challenges of life as an expat in a foreign country. I celebrate every success (water delivery!) and try not to dwell when things don’t well (a wild goose hunt at the Turkish Immigration Office). This week I began coaching middle school tennis – which is incredibly fun – and also hosted friends for drinks on my sun porch. Both are wins.

I shuttled in and out of downtown Istanbul twice this past weekend. On Saturday, Ali and I met a Turkish friend from Moscow, Arzu, at the Pera Museum. We had a lovely lunch, drank in Arzu’s generous advice about Istanbul’s sights and traditions, and enjoyed the museum galleries.

The exhibitions taught me a great deal about the technological and mathematical discoveries that have taken place in the region since the time of Mesopotamia (remember the Fertile Crescent from history class?). Most impressive were tools of measurement such as the compass and the brass aerial balance, both of which had great impact upon Islamic art, geometry, and other engineering domains. I also learned about Osman Hamdi Bey, a 19th Century Turkish statesman who was a pioneer of art education and a revered painter.

Sunday morning dawned bright and early as Moloko and I watched the sunrise against the Bahçeşehir skyline. Wonderful coworkers had organized a brunch boat trip on the Bosphorous Strait. After catching the tried and true city bus from Bahçeşehir to downtown, we walked the last mile to the pier and boarded Le Vapeur Magique for a 2-hour cruise.

There seems to be something especially kind about individuals who end up in Istanbul. Multiple coworkers had offered for me to stay at their apartment the evening before but the commute in was no problem. Sitting atop a double decker bus as the world wakes up, on a ride costing 80 cents, I have zero complaints. Both the company and the Turkish breakfast were wonderful, to say the least.

Finding one’s place in a new country is a bit of an art form. Not everything about this move has been easy and some days are certainly better than others. At this point, I’m striving for acceptance – acceptance of the choice I’ve made to move here, respect for the traditions and trappings of the local culture surrounding me, and the wisdom of knowing how to reset when things get heavy (my current meditation is found swimming laps). I’m open to what Istanbul and Türkiye have to offer and really pleased with what I’ve discovered so far.

Sanat (n., Ottoman-Turkish origin) art, artistry, museum, culture, music, creative. The methods used in the narration of a sensation, design or beauty, or the superior creativity that emerges as a result of this narrative. A narrative created in accordance with the metrics of pleasure of a particular civilization or community.

Superstition

Posted in Istanbul, Turkey5 Comments

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The first week of school is done and the year is off to a promising start. I am a Grade 12 advisor, teaching Grades 7 & 8 (MYP Art) and Grades 11 & 12 (IB/DP Visual Arts). The range of ages is nice and the energy is positive from all of my classes so far. Amazingly, I have two of my old students who I taught in Russia in my classes here in Turkey! When the war began in February, schools in the region offered asylum to international students from Moscow. These students hail from Denmark and France originally. It’s wonderful to see them a year later, making it work in this new environment.

On Friday night, the school took us on a boat ride downtown. We caught the sunset and danced the night away as we cruised up and down the Bosphorus Strait. The faculty has been so welcoming and I am really enjoying getting to meet all the teachers. Many have links to schools in Moscow or Bangladesh, as it happens. A robust group of international teachers with very interesting life journeys.

On Saturday, Ali and I took a bus back downtown for a little Moscow reunion with our friend Joseph, who has set up counseling practice here for the next few months. We enjoyed the area around İstiklal Caddesi and watched the tram patiently make it’s way through the crowd, bells ringing. Tuesday was Victory Day in Turkey and national pride runs high here. Many Turkish flags still proudly wave in adoration of Atatürk, founding father of the Republic of Turkey (more on him in a future post). As we walked around downtown, I was struck by the lightness of the mood on the street. The crowds are thick but people are happy, stepping aside to let others pass, and enjoying their time out with family and friends. You are just as likely to see a woman dressed in a full burka as a woman wearing a crop top and short shorts. Everything goes and everyone is welcome.

When moving to a new country, I always enjoy learning about cultural superstitions. They run as strong here in Turkey as they did in Korea (hello, fan death). One of the most well known is, of course, the evil eye.

A gift from my school upon arrival. It hangs next to my front door for protection.

The name is misleading, as an evil eye itself stands for love and protection. Known in Turkey as Nazar Boncuk, you should never purchase an evil eye for yourself – it must be a gift from someone who wishes you well in order to contain protective powers. Should the eye fall or break, this indicates someone had wished you harm and the eye protected you from those ill wishes, absorbing the blow. With the eye representing peace and the infinite, it is speculated that the blue color likely comes from the influence of the Byzantines in which blue, the color of heaven and water, was sacred.

Another interesting Turkish belief is that air conditioning will be make you sick. Instead of air con on our school buses, the rear bus door is often left wide open to provide air flow, even on the highway. I have experienced this superstition first hand in that my landlord refuses to put in air con units (more likely due to cost than tradition). Waking up to 88% humidity with temps the high 80s has felt like wading pea soup. Without screens in my apartment (very much the norm outside the US), it has been incredibly hot and stuffy. Mercifully, I was able to have custom screens made and they were installed just yesterday. The cat and I are today basking in the free flowing air on the 7th floor. Jumping back to cultural superstitions – it is also believed that sweat will make you sick. Children are sent to school with little towels around their necks to prevent illness. That these views on air con and sweat seem to lie in direct opposition to each other is not surprising to me, here in this country of many strong contrasts.

My apartment is starting to shape up and I’m reveling in the early morning glow from the sunroom. Alongside the screens, I’ve also had earthquake proofing completed on my wardrobes and heavy furniture. Having never lived in an earthquake zone before, I was schooled in the necessary preparations (liters of water, a go-back containing first aid supplies, copies of important papers, and non-perishables to last 72 hours, and food for the cat). My school is fully prepared to house our entire population for up to three days, should the need arise – from mattresses to food storage. I’m thankful that I live in a suburb where the buildings are up to earthquake code, unlike downtown with its 150 year old structures. Because of my proximity to the school (roughly 9 miles away), I could also walk there in a matter of hours and find safety among the sunflower fields.

As a new school week approaches, I’m reminded that I’ve only been in country for a mere three weeks. On the one hand, I am shocked at how settled things feel. On the other, I am very aware how much I don’t yet know (probably many layers I’m not remotely aware of). I’m struggling to accept the very loose interpretation of time on the part of the Turks. It’s not easy with an American sensibility, believing that A + B = C and every effort should (generally) lead to a completed outcome. I’ve been sent to Immigration offices for paperwork, taking hours from my day, only to be turned away on small technicalities my school could not have known ahead of time. I still can’t figure out how to tell which direction the 76E bus is going when it hits the roundabout near my house. This resulted in massive detour one Sunday, as you can see in the picture below (left). We are the blue dot. The red route is where we intended to be (lol). All’s well that ends well and we learned a little more about how the buses work (and made the most of our time downtown).

On the other hand, there is a lot available to me here that would never be possible in the States. An hour long bus ride to downtown costs $1 USD. My generous apartment is covered by the stipend I receive from my school. I now have a cleaning person who comes once a week. She stays for 8 hours and I pay her well above market rate at $35/day plus some fruit thrown in for good measure. All of these are gems I would not experience living as a teacher in the US and I greatly appreciate them.

Diving into a new culture can bring great challenge. Armed with respect and an open mind, I’m finding that good things are possible here and there are, of course, many amazing people here very willing to help me with the adjustment. I still have a lot to learn!

Sustenance

Posted in Istanbul, Turkey8 Comments

The Turks do food exceptionally well. A stop on the Silk Road, Istanbul straddles both Asia and Europe. It is therefore no surprise that I am finding widely diverse cuisine within the city’s fortifications. Turkish cuisine is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Eastern European, Armenian, and Georgian cuisines. Within a one block radius in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu District, you can find traditional Turkish fare (doner, lahmacun, etc.), a handful of bakeries selling simit, and food from countries around the world – Korean, Russian, and Ethiopian to name a few. On Friday night, we opted for the later.

On a rooftop overlooking the city of rolling hills, we enjoyed a drink (rarely found in my far out district) and celebrated the conclusion of orientation. A lot has happened in the last two weeks! Ripping the tart, spongy bread and dipping it in the lentils, cabbage, corn, spinach is a staple of Ethiopian food the world over, something I’ve enjoyed ever since living in close proximity to Washington, DC’s H Street Corridor. If you haven’t tried Ethiopian before, I can’t suggest it enough. It was wonderful to make new friends, discussing where our work has taken each of us (Malaysia, Shanghai, Korea…) and what we should enjoy here in Istanbul.

Myself, Joanna (from Providence), Gizem (Istanbul), and Ali (Chicago)

Last weekend, our wonderful Uzbek music teacher took Ali and I to our local market. Only a 15 minute walk from my apartment, the market is the heart center of our area, attracting vendors from all over the region to sell on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The downstairs is full of clothing, rugs, and antiques for sale. The upstairs is an explosion of color and taste. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

Check out the tongue on that pup! Even the local park dogs (indicated by his tagged ear) get lucky at the market sometimes 🙂 As much as it breaks my heart to see them striving to survive on the streets, dogs are treated well here on the whole. People build them wooden shelters in the parks and there are stations with water and food set up all around town. Stray, a documentary available on Amazon Prime, follows the daily life of a few Istanbul pups. I highly recommend it. The cats of Istanbul are a breed all their own and I will definitely profile them in an upcoming post. That’s mine (below right) doing her morning yoga 😉

Turkish breakfast is such an amazing experience that I’ve covered it twice in four posts. “A classic Turkish breakfast always features a selection of fruit preserves, jams, and spreads. For example, apricot, cherry, and apricot jams are traditional options at any Turkish breakfast. Likewise, black olive spread, molasses, and tahini are popular spreads.” Mirroring the Mediterranean practice of dolce far niente (Italian for, “the sweetness of doing nothing”), the practice as all about enjoying a leisurely meal with family and friends on a day when no one has to rush. While the mindset is peaceful, the spread is intense! Turkish breakfast encompasses many small plates (hello, banchan), washed down with strongly brewed Turkish coffee and chai. Borek, menemen, and pisi are some of my favorites, along with the delicious cheeses you see included below. Not required but surely adding to the flavor – a view of the Blue Mosque, captured during our new hire breakfast last week (below, left).

Cafe culture is strong in Istanbul. Coffee shops, bars, and clubs stay open until all hours of the morning. Smoking is still a very common past time, though now relegated to outdoors at bars and restaurants. It is common to retire to a cafe after dinner, to enjoy a strong coffee or an apéritif.

Istanbul nights are awash in a warm, golden glow. Ringed in vines, the streets look like something out of a fairy tale. People watching while surrounded by a multitude of languages being spoken, it’s easy to see that Istanbul still retains its Silk Road reputation – it truly feels like the center of our universe.

Sunflowers

Posted in Touching Down, Turkey12 Comments

Istanbul is notorious for its traffic. For this reason, I asked to live outside of downtown and I’m very thankful for the result – a large apartment with an incredible view, a pool to help beat the heat (85F+ daily), and a park to enjoy in the evenings. Teachers who live downtown can face a 1.5 hour bus ride home thanks to the congestion. Instead, I live 25 minutes from school and the bus ride includes fields of sunflowers in full bloom and shepherds tending their flock. In the small village near school, the bakery is occupied with locals having breakfast after morning prayers at the mosque.

My school is made up of two campuses – one close to downtown for Grades K-5 and the Marmara campus (Grades PreK-12) which overlooks Büyükçekmece Lake, which leads into the Sea of Marmara. I work at the latter and my classroom is located in the art cabins, connected to the school by a covered walkway.

While the exterior reminds me of camp (love it), the interior classrooms provide generous space to create and explore. The primary school art teacher has one room, my DP Visual Arts classes have a small room just for Grades 11 and 12, and I also share a large studio with a part-time art teacher. Just yesterday I had to move the full size human model – it was so lifelike that it kept freaking me out.

The school is located on a gated piece of land featuring fig trees and views of the rolling hills beyond. So far, the property gates have only been breached by our school dog, Hope. A stray who has been adopted by the community, Hope sprints the half mile in the woods alongside the driveway to welcome us each morning. Here is Hope, below, with Ali on our first day.

The school hosts students from 62 different countries and the most diverse staff I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Teachers hail from countries such as New Zealand, Ecuador, and South Africa, to name a few. With just over 35 students in last year’s graduating class, it will be an intimate community, but one I look forward to becoming a part of.

Our first week of orientation flew by – from the IKEA trip to a scavenger hunt at the Grand Bazaar and a rooftop Turkish breakfast with the new hires, it was busy but also chill. This dichotomy seems to represent the push and pull of Istanbul that I’m beginning to discover. It’s challenged me to loosen up and also determine what’s really important. A friend of mine has a 5 year rule – when something is frustrating or a decision needs to be made, ask yourself: “Will this matter in 5 years?”. It’s a work in progress. Thankful to have a quiet place to return home to each afternoon.

To celebrate the success of Week 1, Ali and I returned to the rooftop shisha bar, Chapee, on the outskirts of the nearby park. The frozen drink hit almost as smooth as if it included actual booze. As the muezzin call rang out from the mosque next door, the heat of the day gave way to cooler evening temps (a low of 75F). Happy to report that cooler heads have prevailed throughout the stress of making this big move, starting new job, and beginning to carve out this new life. It’s only been seven days but they’ve been well spent. Thank you to all of you who reached out after my last blog. Would love to hear any questions you have about life or school here in Istanbul in the comments below. Have a wonderful weekend!

Supermoon

Posted in Touching Down, Turkey10 Comments

We landed under a glowing supermoon, the last of 2022. Upon our approach into Istanbul, I could see the Bosphorus Bridge glowing neon red, a physical and metaphoric tie between Europe and Asia. My cat sat on my lap as I watched the boats bobbing below, lit up like Christmas lights on the Sea of Marmara.

My last few days in the States were bittersweet, as always. It was a terrible relief when my visa came through but I was also wistful to be leaving family and friends after a year that was nothing short of a gift. Time with my parents, seeing friends in the States and Canada, and exploring northern Massachusetts – I couldn’t have asked for more. Moves like this one take consideration, determination, and a great deal of planning. I don’t enter into these contracts lightly, but I also know what I’m looking for. So when the job opportunity in Istanbul arose, I knew that I had to go for it.

Landing as dawn lit the horizon, I made my way through the brand new Istanbul Airport to Customs. After claiming my luggage (thankful for my direct flight!), I found my hosts – my new principal, an HR representative, and the housing and transportation coordinator. Big smiles all around, the group became quickly smitten with Moloko who took up residence in her first Istanbul cafe like it was her job, reposing on the tile floor. We waited for my good friends from Moscow, Ali and Shalene, who landed only minutes after me on their direct flight from Chicago. Ali is teaching at my school this year and Shalene came for the weekend to help transport Ali’s two cats, also Russian expats 😉

Next stop was Bahçeşehir, our neighborhood in the western suburbs of Istanbul. The name translates to Garden City and it’s apt – from my balcony I can see swaths of green winding between residential buildings as far as the eye can see. Called “B-town” by the expat residents, the park paths are beautiful and I’m so lucky to have an amazing view, day and night. My apartment itself is incredibly lovely and I will share more when it is fully set up. There is a spare bedroom and visitors are very welcome!

Usually the first few days in a new country are a blur of meet ups, dinners, and local tours. Your head can swim with new social norms and the goal of making a positive first impression. It’s helpful to do more observing then concluding during this time, and try to relax any expectations. Here in Turkey, I am beginning to suspect that everything runs on a slightly different timetable. There was nothing on our schedule for the first two days. Thanks to my friends staying just across the park, the three of us began exploring on our own, beginning at my old TASIS staple, Migros. Swiss in origin, Migros is a food market and home goods store, a very welcome one-stop-shop. After purchasing a few essentials, we enjoyed dinner at a local outdoor cafe which specializes in lahmacun, a flatbread with meat, spices, vegetables, and herbs.

There’s no better way to fight jet lag than to make plans you want to keep. Knowing this, we decided on Turkish breakfast for the morning. Turkish breakfast is no joke and we located an adorable spot a little over a mile from our park, replete with a garden setting and a resident cheeky cat (more like kitten). More on the cats of Istanbul to come in a future blog. The meal was as delicious as it looks with the shakshuka as my personal favorite.

Fortified for the day, my friends took off to see the sights of downtown Istanbul, making the most of Shalene’s crazy quick long weekend. I retreated to my own apartment to finish unpacking and take a dip in the pool to beat the heat. Moloko busied herself trying out every possible perch in the apartment. She seems to be adjusting just fine.

Meeting for dinner at a rooftop shisha bar, we enjoyed non-alcoholic frozen drinks (mine was mulberry) alongside halloumi, manti, and, of course that foreign delicacy of corn on pizza (throwback to my SoKo days). Shalene shared some beautiful Turkish delight purchased from the Grand Bazaar and we had a great time playing games at my apartment. No better way to kick off a new country than with good friends trying out amazing local fare.

As has become standard for my overseas postings, a trip to IKEA is scheduled for tomorrow. There is something comforting about walking through the prearranged rooms, seeking an item that might make your life a little easier when assimilating to a new country. With that, I thank you for enjoying this first blog installment from Turkey. Much more to follow in the coming weeks, no doubt!