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Tag: living in istanbul

  • How I’ve Lived – Part 2

    Part two of How I’ve Lived where I talk about all the places where I’ve lived since moving out of my parents’ place 3.5 years ago. Part 1 is here.

    Zaagmolenkade, Huize Te Laat (Map)

    Huize Te LaatWhen I got back to Holland I first moved back to my parents but really want to live in my old city, Utrecht, again.

    How I Got There

    I looked at a few places online and replied to some, was invited to one. They were renting out a furnished room for 5 months, since one of the guys was moving abroad for his study. I figured I’d take the offer and just find something new in the summer – but it turned out I was moving to Istanbul, so everything worked out perfectly.

    How I’ve Lived There

    It was an all-male house and in the half year I lived there I lived with Remco, Niels, Jurre, Tim and Pim. It was an all-male house with a nice living room and everyone had quite spacious rooms. The bathroom and kitchen were also quite big. This is the only time I’ve lived in an all-male house and I never expected to enjoy it like I did. After this place I moved to yet another all-male place…

    Turkish Prison, Istanbul (Map)

    Well, not really Turkish prison, it was a state dormitory in Istanbul and one of the better ones. It just wasn’t for me though.

    How I Got There

    I decided that in Bulgaria I didn’t get the culture shock I anticipated, so I decided to take it one step further. The language course I was taking housed me in this place for 3 weeks. I couldn’t wait to find my own apartment.

    How I’ve Lived There

    Well, I got some flu from the climate change, so I spent a lot of time near the toilets, which were not European toilets, no they were holes in the floor, with a little tap for water and a little bucket to use for washing your ass… with your hand. There were no power outlets in the room, so I had to go to communal study areas to charge my telephone or to use my laptop. There was also no wireless internet, but there was an internet cafe in which I spent quite a lot of time. See the video below for my impression of this place:

    There were some fun parts. Every morning I’d meet with the international students for breakfast and we were off to the language course and in the evening we’d often leave the place to go have a beer somewhere. It was nice, but it still sucked. More than Uilenstede. Much, much more.

    Moda, Kadıköy, Istanbul (Map)

    How I Got There

    I got in touch with an agent and looked for a few flats. We were in a rush because we had to move out of the dorms, but plans fell through and in the end we couldn’t finance the flat we found. I got to work with some friends at my university and called a whole bunch of places, but with no luck. I ran into a Danish guy I knew and he gave me the card of his landlord and told me the guy had more places. I then called him and he said “ok, can you meet me in 1 hour at the Starbucks in Moda? Ok, bye”. Well, I rushed my way to find the place, since I had never been there before. I found it on time and the guy showed me three affordable apartments. I said I’d probably be interested in one of them and the guy immediately gave me the keys. I told him I’d have the rent in a week as I needed to find some flatmates, which was no problem.

    How I’ve Lived There

    I found 3 flatmates; one from Germany, one from Italy and one from Poland. 2 guys, 2 girls. I figured it would work well, however I should have listened to my feelings when getting my flatmates in. There was one person that didn’t sit too well with me from the beginning, but I ignored my gut feeling, because I really needed to fill the flat up and let this person in. Because of this, I could never really feel at peace or at home in the apartment, which was a shame, because it was in a beautiful location. Looking back, I also realize I had a slight culture shock and it was hard to deal with that if there’s no place where I can really be at ease and feel at home. Also, just when I arrived I got some stomach flu – maybe because of the change in climates – and it stayed with me for about 4 months (maybe it was stress though). It was a great half year though, living in Istanbul. I had a really light schedule in university and had plenty of time doing things that really mattered; like developing my knowledge about topics I’m interested in and networking with people there – oh and of course hanging out with fellow students.

    The apartment was really close to the sea, so every day on my way to school I’d pass by palm trees and a stunning view of the Bosphorus. Annnnd another video of the apartment:

    That’s it. Part 3 soon… Including a video of my newest apartment here in Sofia, Bulgaria! 🙂

    BasBasBas.com is about my life abroad. I regularly write about my adventures in Istanbul, Bulgaria and travels in the region, but like to ponder about the future also. If you’d like to stay up to date, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or get email updates in your inbox. You can also follow me on Twitter.

  • “Slowly! … Slowly!”

    Recently I went to an international student party here in Istanbul, but I don’t want to talk about the party. I want to talk about our way to the party. We were hanging out in an apartment on the Asian side of Istanbul, where we all live. We had dinner together, some wine and around 11 we decided to get on our way to grab a bus to the Taksim/Beyoğlu district of the European side of Istanbul; it’s where all the parties happen.

    So we got on our way and into the bus… As we were sitting in the bus, waiting for it to leave, it was noticeable that we were attracting some attention. Of course, we were all chatting and foreigners in Turkey generally attract quite a bit of attention.

    As the bus started moving, we started getting some ugly looks from people turning around and looking at us… Maybe it was not just us being foreigners, maybe we were a bit too loud (even though we weren’t loud, especially by Turkish standards).

    Then, upon one guy’s third turning around and staring at us, he said in a very direct and rather rude tone:

    “Excuse me!!!!” There was a pause.

    “Slowly!” Another pause.

    “Slowly!!” He kept staring at us.

    One of the girls present said okay and then the guy turned around to start a conversation with his neighbour. No doubt that it was about the nuisance and the suffering he had to go through, with us in this bus.

    Even though the guy was quite rude – and drunk, as was obvious upon him exiting the bus – this small anecdote says something about the culture in Turkey, or at least Istanbul. You will hardly ever see someone eating in a bus, or even on the street. When two friends get into a bus together, they usually lower their voices and speak rather softly. This is quite different from other countries I’ve visited, where people generally talk with each other in a normal volume.

    Also, a lot more so than in Holland, people will actually immediately get up for a woman, an old person or a person with disabilities. Not 100% of the times, but a lot more than in Holland. Over here I started feeling that the whole bus should be ashamed of themselves if there’s an old lady standing while there are young people sitting.

    However, all of the above does not mean that the guy yesterday wasn’t completely out of line. First of all, you’re in the bus to Taksim at 11 o’ clock on a Friday night… What do you expect? Second of all, he was eating when he got into the bus. Thirdly, he could have asked us politely at least, or just have made some gesture instead of shouting at us.

    Photo above by ibcbulk on Flickr, shared under a Creative Commons license.

    How is the bus culture in your country? How are people’s manners? Can you comment about some of the things mentioned in this article and how it is in places you’ve been to?

    BasBasBas.com is about my life as a Dutch student living in Istanbul. I regularly write about my adventures in Istanbul and travels in the region. If you’d like to stay up to date, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or get email updates in your inbox. You can also follow me on Twitter.

  • Marmara Sunset Cruise

    A few weeks ago, or was it a month, we (the exchange students) received a special invitation from the rector of our university (or chancellor/president, if you will). A special boatcruise was planned and we would be having dinner with the rector on the Bosphorus in Istanbul. Amazing!

    Afterwards we would dance and the rector might teach us some Turkish folkdancing. “Wow”, I thought, “it’s really incredible what this university is willing to do for their exchange students”. Everyone was excited about it, partly because of the promise of free food and drinks ;-), and most of the 100 exchange students at Yeditepe University planned on attending.

    On the day of the cruise we arrived and it turned out the boat had already left. Miscommunication. The boat left 2 hours earlier than was announced to us. The university bus took us to another dock where the boat would come to pick us all up. When we got there, the boat was a lot bigger than I anticipated and what surprised me was there were a lot of people on board already…

    We were then told that kids from high schools and their parents were already on board and that the rector had ordered the boat to come pick us up. Great! I let the new information sink for a minute and then realized that it had all been a great PR stunt. There were hundreds of people on the boat and this way Yeditepe could show off their international character. The cruise was quite different from what I expected and definitely not as intimate as it was made out to be, but it helped me achieve one of my goals for Istanbul:

    To party on the Bosphorus! The Bosphorus is the strait that connects the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea (and thus ultimately to the Mediterranean) and runs between the European and Asian sides of Istanbul.

    As we got on we sailed out to the Marmara Sea and saw the Prince’s Islands (I think) and witnessed the beautiful sunset pictured above. Later, as the skies turned dark we sailed through Istanbul. The lights are beautiful and as I’ve said before, the best way to see the glory of Istanbul is from the water. We partied on the deck of the ship with a bit too many high schoolers and very loud Turkish house music. Oh, and free beer (which finished within half an hour) and free wine!

    View the pictures of the trip on Picasa! Pictures of the sunset and the sea and of course the party! Sorry, I don’t have the right equipment to catch Istanbul by night. You’ll have to come and see it for yourself. 😉

    If you took a ferry or boattrip in Istanbul before, how did you like it? What was your experience? In the past I’ve partied in an empty office building, under a bridge, in an abandoned church (controversiaaaaal), a parking lot and in the forrests on a mountain in the Balkan range. What’s the most spectacular location you’ve partied at?

    BasBasBas.com is about a Dutch student living in Istanbul. I regularly write about my adventures in Istanbul and travels in the region. If you’d like to stay up to date, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or get email updates in your inbox. You can also follow me on Twitter.

  • The Street Accordionist (Video)

    There’s a lot of business coming through my street here in Istanbul. Men carrying big stacks of bread on their head, men with carts with second-hand junk, women selling flowers or tissues, but we also have street accordionists… Not sure if I mentioned them before, but it’s time to dedicate an article to them, since it’s a really unique thing about living in Istanbul.

    First things first… The video! Click play. If you’re on a slow connection, like me, pause the video directly after clicking play and wait until the black bar becomes grey.

    I’ve encountered this before in my neighbourhood, but didn’t think of making a video. Last time it was a gypsy father and his son, the father playing the accordion and the son collecting the money thrown from the windows. Yes, I was following the ‘ettiquette’. You’re expected to throw the money from the window as a reward. They then stay around your corner for a little while before they walk further down the street.

    This custom of accordionists collecting money thrown from the windows might seem strange, but since a lot of business here happens in the street, as described in the first paragraph of this article, it’s completely logical. For instance, something else I’ve seen is people lowering buckets on a rope to receive vegetables from the sellers coming through the street with their carts. They then put the money in the bucket and lower it to give it to the salesman.

    Truly some romantic customs here, even though they might seem ‘uncivilized’ to some. I know a lot of people from all around the world visit this blog… My question for you is: do you have street musicians like this? Do you have customs of purchasing stuff right in your street?

    If you have anything interesting to share, please do! And remember, what might be normal, or boring for you… migth be extremely fascinating for someone living at the other side of the world… and since my readers are from all over the world, you really have no excuse not to contribute. 😉

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  • Crossing The Bridge – The Sound of Istanbul

    Last night I was relaxing a bit, since that’s the main reason why I came to Sofia, and I was looking for some documentaries on Istanbul. Hoping to learn about some interesting things I didn’t know yet in my current hometown, I came across a famous 2005 documentary called Crossing The Bridge – The Sound of Istanbul. It shows a lot of the music and culture that Istanbul has to offer, but also captures the daily life quite well. From rock to gypsie to Turkish traditional to rap to the whirling dervishes… It’s all in there! Without further ado… the documentary. (some commentary below)

    Press CC to turn subtitles on. The subtitling is decent and sometimes inaccurate (both for the German as well as the Turkish parts). However it doesn’t prevent one from enjoying and understanding the documentary. So don’t let it hold you back. If you prefer to watch the video on Google Video’s site, click here.

    My commentary
    Ok, so most of the sights seem really special, right?     That’s what I see every day. The sunsets, the Bosphorus… If I want to go to the European side, I go on one of the ferries displayed in the documentary.

    At some point the video shows a group of rappers walking the street (one of them stops to say hi to a girl that’s on the phone)… I walk that street every day. It’s the street that goes from the main Kadıköy busstation to my neighbourhood, Moda. The next shot shows them walking down a street and it has the Bosphorus in the background… I walk down that street every day too. 🙂

    I thought this documentary shows the daily life and the cultural life in Istanbul quite well. Some I have experienced, some I will experience, and some I will probably not experience. Having seen this documentary, I’m more inspired than ever to make the best out of my time… living in Istanbul!

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