As promised, here is the video of my recent travels in the last month. One month ago I was in Prague for a conference and some sightseeing, then went to Greece for a weekend a few weeks ago and I spent last weekend in the Bulgarian countryside! I’m having a great spring!
Since I didn’t upload any pictures yet, I decided to 1 UP my promise and to deliver a video. 🙂
Enjoy!
Or go see it on YouTube or Vimeo.
So, before I write about the joys of Prague last week… I want to get something off my chest first.
The public transport in Prague is not too expensive, although some people would disagree with me. The problem is the availability of tickets at night. There’s no machines available, no shops open, metro stations where there are offices: closed. If you can reach machines, but don’t have exact change: good luck. Even the guys from the tram/metro service won’t change money with you. Oh, and the tramdrivers don’t sell tickets.
So if you don’t have a ticket already, sometimes you’re more or less forced to ride the tram illegally, or put yourself in danger by walking through a city filled with junks and bums for 1.5 hour. So you get on the tram, but a lot of trams at night have police officers in them… who help to enforce the public transport company’s rules. By helping controllers fining you for more than 25 times the price of a ticket. That, by my book, is fascism. Using state security forces to enforce corporate interests at the cost of civilians.
There’s the option to send an SMS to a number to buy a ticket ‘code’ or something, but we were told this only works with Czech numbers… and at the information display at tramstops, the number to SMS is not mentioned. Great job, guys.
Yes, we got fined.
More about Prague soon! It was awesome. So was the 24 hour busride through Europe 🙂
Photo by Tsvety.
I’m about to embark on a 24 hour busride to Prague with my girlfriend. I’m invited to speak at a conference about social dynamics and hope to change some lives with the speech I will give there. I’ll be staying with a friend of mine who’s a DJ and who’ll be playing at 3 gigs that weekend, but before having a blast in Prague, I’ll have to make the best of my time in the bus.
I believe it will be a wonderful trip. Instead of flying across Europe from the south east to the center and seeing only clouds, we’ll be driving through a bunch of countries of which we’ll be able to see the beautiful landscapes and nature that they offer. Last summer I got in a car that was going from Holland to Bulgaria and even though it was exhausting, it was a great experience to witness the diversity of Europe. It made me feel a lot more European at the same time.
Also, when we arrive, a day after leaving, we’ll really have the feeling that we’re somewhere else – which I sometimes miss after a 1 or 2 hour planeride. Let’s hope all goes well and it won’t be too boring. 😉
I’ll be publishing some pictures of the trip if I manage to get any interesting shots and else expect a bunch of pictures from Prague up soon!
Wish me bon voyage and I’ll speak to you soon!
Image by René Ehrhardt, shared under a Creative Commons license on Flickr.
We had just been robbed… I had gotten off with just being threatened with a knife, but my friend had just lost an expensive phone. After chasing our robber we decided to go to the police and a new adventure was about to start.
We headed to the closest police station. We got there and my body was still filled with adrenaline… the rush started subsiding and I started to feel a bit weak. I realized I had to sit down for a second or I would faint. Funny how you can switch from a clear, calm and focused mental state to nearly passing out in such a short time, but then again I’ve always performed well under pressure.
We were told we had to take it to a different station, so we went there. That’s when we found out we were robbed just 3 corners away from the main police station of the district. We went in and told the cops about what had happened. We were sent to some office where there were a few people telling their accounts to police officers. My friend translated that the basic attitude of these guys was that it’s people’s own fault if they get robbed; they shouldn’t have been in that place, at that time. We were sitting in a waiting room and there was an older man (in his 50s or 60s) whose head was bleeding. My friend talked to him and apparently he had been mugged by the same guy. Apparently he had also held the knife to the head of the guy and had cut him. We told the police that it was probably the same guy and they told us to wait. They said they would send some cops in civilian clothes out to act as bait.
After about ten minutes we were told to come along and we were introduced to two super bad ass cops in civilian attire. The one had hair until his shoulders and a long red leather coat. The other was shorter and had a black leather jacket and looked like he had a mix of coffee and whiskey as blood and ate burning cigarettes for breakfast. They told us to get in their car and we started driving. Their attitudes were dead serious. I knew that if we found the robber, they’d beat him up quite badly. Turks hate thieves intensely and many people condone the violence they endure when they’re caught.
We drove back to the street where we were robbed. Nothing there. We drove through the street where we were drinking beers. At some point we passed some people who were sleeping on the street under a blanket. They stopped the car and told us to get out. We got out. The guy grabbed the blanket and uncovered the people in a rather rough manner. He asked us if it was one of them and we said no. We then got back into the car, blanket still lying on the street. The cops were definitely a bit rough around the edges.
We drove down to a neighbourhood which is right next to Taksim, not more than a 10 minute walk from the main street. We entered the neighbourhood and immediately we were in a different world. From the nicest, and one of the richest and most modern sites of Istanbul, to one of immense poverty with a high degree of f—ed upness. The streets were no longer asfalted or paved… There was trash everywhere along the dark or dimly lighted streets. There were prostitutes and transexuals in some streets and murky guys standing around in others, even though it was after 5 in the morning.
At some point we stopped in the middle of one of the streets, a rather crowded one. One of the cops got out and went into a building. As he stepped into the entryway he disappeared into the darkness of the shadows. Neither of us knew why he had stepped out to go there, but after a few minutes he came back, got into the car and indicated that we hadn’t found him. We drove around for a few more minutes and then went back to the police station.
That neighbourhood is the worst place I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen quiet a few bad places. The most alarming side to it however is that it’s right next to the area where people go out and get drunk. Robbers can just come out of the neighbourhood, go back to their neighbourhood where nobody will follow them and they won’t be found.
The next post will be about the aftermath… What I realized afterwards, how it might have affected my stay in Istanbul and the opinion of the Taksim district, and another similar event… Leading me to the conclusion there’s a 99% chance someone will try to rob you if you hang out in certain parts of the district at night. Follow the rules kids, don’t f–k around in this area! Especially at night.
What are the best and worst experiences you’ve had with police officers? What do you think about the officers in your country? Do you have similar areas next to the most important party district of your city?
BasBasBas.com is about my life abroad. I regularly write about my adventures in Istanbul, Bulgaria 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.
Packing is done… So is cleaning. I’m about to head to Bulgaria for half a year.
Let’s hope Russia puts the gas back on, but it looks like it might be a week before normal gas supplies can be restored.
Bye bye Istanbul!
Even though it’s 3º Celsius (37ºF) in Istanbul right now, it is yet to snow. Bulgaria however, has had a lot of snow already. When I was there on holiday/anniversary celebration a few weeks ago, the lovely mountain town of Borovets which we were staying in went from green to white overnight. How did it look 24 hours before? Like below.
A Dutch expat in Istanbul, Hans, told me that I definitely do not want to see snow in Istanbul. I can imagine the traffic here transforming into a chaos of epic proportions. People are crazy drivers here.
How’s it over there? Snowy yet? Plan on travelling in the holiday season?
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.
Photo by FaceMePLS
Said to be the origin of Santa Clause, the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas is one of the most typical traditions one can experience in the Netherlands (besides Queen’s Day). Sinterklaas means Sint Klaas, or Saint Nicholas in English. On December 5th, Dutch families get together and exchange gifts. If the family has young children, Sinterklaas himself brings the presents to the door or through the chimney, usually in secrecy (especially when using the latter ;-)) or it’s done by one or more of his helpers. This leads me to the first oddity about this day of the Greek-Anatolian saint, Saint Nicholas of Myra.
That’s the name of the helpers. When Sinterklaas comes to Holland on his steamship from Spain in November, he brings along his cheeky helpers which then give out candies to the children. Yes, he’s from Turkey, but comes from Spain, I don’t know why. I suppose he’s an expat like me. Back to the helpers… They have different functions. One is the guiding Pete, the other does poems, the other sings, the other climbs, the other rhymes, the other wraps the presents and they all have nicknames based on their function, much like the Smurfs.
Originally the Petes looked like south Europeans, but over the course of 50 years, they started getting darker and darker and around 1900 they looked like ‘darkies‘. Until this day, this is still the day us Dutchies dress up to entertain our kids, as shown on the right (picture by Merlijn Hoek). The Saint and his helper, that was called a servant and a slave in a book that influenced much of current day traditions, are normally seen as friends and the Petes gladly help Sinterklaas, because he’s old and cannot go around the whole country on his own. You can view the 19th century book that established much of the current day Sinterklaas tradition online.
When people started saying that this is racist, we started saying they’re black because of all the chimneys they have to climb through to deliver their presents. It’s a well-known scientific fact that soot from chimneys of houses with children living in them also causes afros and big red lips. Political correctness created Petes with faces painted in purple, green, yellow, you name it. This was not a big hit. Back to the chimney explanation it is.
When Sinterklaas is in the country in the weeks leading up to the 5th of December, the children are allowed to put their shoe under the chimney twice a week or so, depending on the parents’ generosity (and willingness to spoil their kids). I suppose the tradition varies a bit from home to home, but when I was young my brothers and I would first draw a picture for Sinterklaas. Then before going to bed we’d put one of our shoes under the chimney, with the rolled up drawing in it, a carrot for Sinterklaas’ horse, and we’d sing Sinterklaas songs at the chimney. We would then go to bed and the next morning we’d find a small present (usually candy) in our shoe! Schools and even supermarkets also let children leave their shoe overnight for Sinterklaas.
Photo by poederbach
Usually the candy you get will be kruidnoten or pepernoten, which are small ginger-bread like biscuits or speculaas-like biscuits (as seen above). You’re also likely to receive a chocolate letter of the first letter of your name. These are cleverly nicknamed “chocolade letters”, because this holiday’s a feast of creativity! I have an aunt whose name begins with the letter I, so when she was young she always got the first letter of her second name, the R. Much bigger, at least to a child, since they all weigh the same. So, candy from the chimney!
Oh, unless you’ve been a bad child that is.
Children are warned that if they are not behaving well during the year, Sinterklaas will look in his Golden book and will not be able to find your name (which means no presents). One popular song goes “Wie goed is krijgt lekkers, wie stout is de roe” which means that who is nice will get something sweet, but who’s bad will get a bundle of sticks in his shoe (a roe). If you’ve been particularly bad, you will be put in one of the sacks which Sinterklaas and his jolly slaves Black Petes use to take all the presents to Holland and you will be taken back to Spain. In recent years Sinterklaas has condemned this practice, saying that it was a thing of the past. Still 400 children are reported missing in Holland each year though. What are you hiding Sinterklaasje?
That’s what he’s hiding. Usually they’re dropped down the chimney overnight and unpacked in the company of family in the evening of the 5th of December. In my youth we’d be at our home with my relatives on the 5th and as my parents were cooking or doing whatever in the kitchen, someone would ring the doorbell and the presents would be there. As we grew older, faster and more familiar with what to expect, my poor parents had to increase their speed to run from the frontdoor around the house and back into the kitchen. If I remember correctly, usually my mom would come into the room and keep us busy for a moment saying “Heeeeeyyyy! Who do you think that is? Could it be…?” andddd it’s a blurry memory, but I think they made us sing a song before having a look at the front door.
The presents are often accompanied by poems, composed by the Poetry Pete (or the Rap Pete in families with parents that try to be too hip). The child receiving the gift has to read the often wittily composed poem out loud as seen on the right (picture by hondjevandirkie). The poem often says things about the person receiving the gifts and hints about the content of the wrapping paper.
The unravelled wrapping paper is usually a welcome and interesting object for pets, cats and dogs alike. I am not aware of turtles’ attitude towards wrapping paper lying all over the living room floor. But then again, I don’t care.
If the parents actually managed to convince Sinterklaas to come to their home to deliver the presents personally, children are often left arguing at school over who had the real Sinterklaas coming to their home and who had a “helping Klaas” over. It’s very important to be right in this case, even though in the end you’re all wrong. Some kids already know this and spread seeds of doubt among their fellow classmates over the reality of Sinterklaas, those damn fascist toddlers.
That wraps it all up (no pun intended). For expats in the Netherlands, you can have a look at the Sinterklaas survival guide on Expatica. For lazy Dutchies, you can make your poems using a Sinterklaas poem generator.
I wish everybody lots of fun with Sinterklaas this year! Especially my family. Sorry I can’t be there for the festivities for the second year in a row. Last year I celebrated Sinterklaas with some international exchange students while I was living in Sofia, Bulgaria (see the pictures). This year I’m avoiding the tradition – even though I live in Saint Nicholas’ country… Turkey!
I know similar traditions take place all over the world, especially in Europe. What about in your country? Can you tell me a little about the December traditions where you’re from or where you currently live?
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.
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.
click for more detailed version
It’s amazing what you can do with a little Photoshoping. Upon returning from Borovets to Sofia, in Bulgaria last weekend, our busdriver dropped us off under a bridge (click here to see the original photo). I immediately envisioned the above picture and snapped a photo. I was anxious to see if my idea would actually work and it’s always exciting when they do. To quote The A-Team’s Hannibal, I love it when a plan comes together.
So what do you think people? Post-apocalyptic enough?
More travel photos soon; including some snowy shots of Bulgaria! If you’d like to get them straight to your feedreader, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe by email using the form in the right sidebar.
That’s the title of a 10-15 minute presentation I’m giving soon for my Intercultural Communication classes at Yeditepe University, here in Istanbul. I designed it in such a way that it can also be enjoyed without my vocal explanations and here it is!
The Intercultural Communication course is likely to be the most innovative course I’ve taken during my higher education (sadly — universities should make more use of modern technologies). Every Tuesday, we get into a classroom at 4 o’ clock in the afternoon and have a video conference with a class in Lincoln, Nebraska, US. We present ourselves, our culture, customs, daily lives and our countries to each other. It’s fascinating, because both the Turkish class as well as the American class have students from many different backgrounds.
This part of the Intercultural Communication course, called Global Classroom, has been quite fun so far. We’ve managed to make 2 students from the Nebraskan class dance in front of the camera and they’ve managed to make 2 of our students wrestle in front of the camera (or was it Jiu-Jitsu?).
There’s only a few sessions left, so I hope I actually get to do my presentation, as our lecturer wanted everyone to prepare one, but there will be no time to actually execute all of them.
I hope the presentation has given you an insight into Holland’s liberal policies and if you have any questions please feel free to reply. I love answering questions about these issues.
How about in your countries, how is your government dealing with these issues? What is your personal opinion on these matters? Has the war on drugs failed? Is same-sex marriage morally wrong or is keeping it illegal a form of discrimination? What about prostitution?
