A Typical Day in an Atypical Place

It was almost like a staycation, beginning with a late-ish wake-up and breakfast before heading out. Our walk took us to a busy crossroads, with shopping and dining all around. After a stop in Starbucks for a refreshing drink, we ventured down a side street filled with people and lined with shops. I needed some new pants (having only two that work in this hot weather), so we popped in to H&M for something cute, comfortable and cheap. Some more wandering took us to a mall, and we cured the kids’ munchies with some Krispy Kreme donuts. We finished our walk, chilled out with some reading and video games, then went out for a sushi dinner. All in all, this was a very typical day for our family.

Except, of course, that we’re in Istanbul and the crossroads was Taksim Square.

This is the mint lemonade they serve at Çin Büfe, the Chinese food and sushi restaurant where we ate dinner. It was like a mojito minus the rum. Yum!

All the News That's Fit to Print: Istanbul Edition

Regular local print-news consumer that I am, I plan to get a local newspaper in each country we visit. On our first full day in Istanbul, I lucked out in finding an English-language Turkish newspaper.

Color me lucky and surprised. There was a photo above the masthead of a very familiar scene - a road sign marking the exit to the NSA entrance. While I shouldn't be surprised to see stories related to U.S. federal government agencies and actions in an international paper, the photo of a scene from inside my 25-mile life radius gave me a start.

Turning the pages revealed stories about changes to the balance of power between political parties after Turkey's recent elections, the Syrian refugee crisis in Turkey and Europe in general, a new Uber boat service in Istanbul, a court case about the Turkish government's power to close prep schools, several business articles, and an update on a former Turkish heartthrob who has apparently fallen on hard times.

Oh, and this:

Wow. Talk about hitting close to home. The firing of the Baltimore City Police Commissioner gets inches in an International paper. The accompanying image shows a protest march, with people holding signs that read Justice 4 Freddie and Black Lives Matter as well as Invest In Schools, Raise the Race Conversation, and We Who Believe In Freedom Cannot Rest. I'm interested in how this event plays out at home, but I'm even more curious about how this news is received by people here in Turkey. It just begs a bunch of questions. Why would Turks care about Baltimore's police leadership? How would an average citizen of Istanbul relate to the photo of anti-racism protestors in a U.S. city? What might Turkey's elite take away from this news coverage?

This trip is all about connections - between history and today, between continents and cultures and languages, between each other in this family, and between the world and home. The July 10th issue of The Daily Sabah is a welcome and tangible example.

Old, New, Borrowed and Blue in Istanbul

No weddings for us here, but just three days in to our stay and I've had some old things and new things, borrowed and blue things.

Old Things

From the moment I read about it, I knew I wanted the Hagia Sophia to be one of our first sights to see in Istanbul. The building is old and very, very big. The main building, as it stands today, was built in the year 532. (It had been built twice before but had burned down in riots.) It began as a church for the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, then converted to a mosque when Constantinople fell under the Ottoman Empire's control (and the city received the name Istanbul). It has been a museum since 1935.

I can barely conceive of construction projects in 1935, let alone 532. To be in that space and wonder about how all the marble was laid and the columns righted, how many feet have crossed the threshold and how many ceremonies were held was something I wanted to do to start this journey. The size of the space was a bit obscured by the scaffolding in place for restoration work, but the soaring height of the domed ceiling and the winding stone ramps to the upper level did their part to convey this is no ordinary place.

If you've ever been to Las Vegas, you've probably been struck by how incredibly much is there. How much concrete and steel and glass, how much water and electricity it must take to run that town, how much food and money and everything there is. In the Hagia Sophia, I was struck by how much marble and gold and tile have lasted well over a thousand years, and by how much human labor it must have taken to build, and by how much history those walls have endured.

New Things

We're staying in a hotel decked out with everything new. It's in a neighborhood that is much more for urban Turks than American tourists. We're adjusting to new habits and ways of living in what will be a year-long process, I'm sure. For example, I've "done laundry" everyday since arrival and expect to do it every day until we get to a washing machine in Greece. We're getting sweaty and stinky and have only enough clothes for three days in this weather, so Bathroom Sink Laundry Time it is. Other new things: lahmacun (aka Turkish pizza), purses for the girls, stray/community cats everywhere, shopping for toiletries through a language barrier, noticing one child's affinity for foreign languages, doing sit-ups and push-ups and air squats every darn day, and operating as a family of six.

Borrowed Things

Clothes have already been borrowed. Minecraft ideas have been borrowed too, leading to a discussion about who's copying who and why that's so not fair! and so on. That's about it, but it's only Day 3.

Blue Things

The Blue Mosque, officially named Sultanahmet Camii. The blue of the Bosphorus as it laps against the Golden Horn of Istanbul. The blue sarong Michelle was made to wear around her leggings while in the Blue Mosque (cross-file with Borrrowed).