"Anything and everything a chap can unload/is sold off the 'barrows in...Istanbul?"

We mentioned in a previous post that the fine art of selling goods here in Istanbul is ruled by one dominating factor: any specific type of item that you want CAN be found, but, more importantly WILL invariably be found in a store, or on a street, that sells it to the exclusion of pretty much anything else. While walking and riding around town in the past few weeks, we have found the following:
* Stores selling nothing but tape. Every possible kind of tape.
* Stores selling nothing but costume jewelry (ok, that's not so strange by anyone's standards, but seriously, you should see these places! Floor to ceiling, room after room).
* A street dedicated entirely to the sale of mannequins. Mannequins of all shapes, sizes, colors, poses, and degrees of anatomical correctness. At first we thought that they were to be sold to clothing stores, but now we've decided that they are used to populate the ubiquitous historical dioramas that seem to be such a passion for Turks. On that note, here's a sample of one of those dioramas -- the Circumcision Room in the Museum of Ethnography in Izmir (which we visited while in Ephesus) as furnished with authentic Ottoman furniture and an appropriately apprehensive young male mannequin (see detail) that just MUST have been special-ordered for the room!


















Other good finds:
* A scale store. You know -- bath scales, kitchen scales, hanging scales, scales large enough to weigh small cars. Whatever you might need.
* A store full of industrial-size shrink-wrap machines. Probably for shrink-wrapping the gazillions of tea sets sold to tourists every year.
* And, my personal favorite, this one:



Oh, the irony!

Another interesting aspect of shopping in Istanbul is that storefronts are deceptively small and simple. We might walk into what appears to be a tiny jeans boutique and find out that below it are two gigantic floors of super-cheap underwear. In fact, we went into the building across the street from our apartment window because we could see some clothing racks and occasionally someone hanging out the window smoking, and we wanted to find out if they could see into our windows. So now we know that we live next door to a massive (at least four story) bargain-basement-priced lollapalooza of a clothing store. It looks like nothing from the street, but you could literally get lost inside, and come out with a completely new wardrobe for under $100.

So perhaps in some ways Istanbul is a shopper's paradise. And we've decided that the Stamboulis are absolutely going about their marketing in the right way. There's psychology in all of this -- if you walk past enough stores that are all selling toilet seat lids with jungle animals on them, you really start to think "Hey, maybe I could use a tiger in the toilet." Plus, you know that if you pass up the deals on that street, when you DO decide you need whatever it was, you will have to come all the way back there because you sure aren't going to find it anywhere else!

Just some random musings...

Visit to Ankara

Anit Kabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

It seems like an eternity ago that we were in Ankara, but as promised we are going to try to write about our adventures there. The trip was organized by the Fulbright Commission in an effort to get all of us Fulbrighters together in one place so we could meet, mingle, and learn about how to survive in Turkey. Considering that the Fulbright grant holders are stationed in several far-flung locations in Turkey this year (a big change over past years), it was an interesting meeting. We have colleagues, mostly fresh from undergrad degrees, teaching English, as well as university professors who are involved in a professor exchange program between the U.S. and Turkey and are teaching college courses in various disciplines in not only Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Denizli but in other less-well-known locations such as Konya, Balikshehir, Gaziantep and Erzerum. The Turkish Fulbright Commission considers this a big step forward for the program, to break out of placing people in the usual large cities, and to introduce Americans to other parts of Turkey, as well as to introduce Turkish students in more rural areas to American language and culture. It does mean, however, that some of our colleagues may feel a bit more isolated than others.

There are 7 of us total who are based in Istanbul. Most are fresh university graduates who are here to teach English to Turkish students headed to university, and to learn what it's like to live in a foreign culture. Of the others, one is a recent MA grad in architecture researching the use of "green" and eco-friendly architectural technology here in Turkey (there's not much of it), and one is a college professor teaching English literature and Theatre. Now that's a difficult job -- teaching Shakespeare to someone whose native language is not even English. But he says he's having a good time doing it.

There are other interesting people in the larger group spread around Turkey. One is a geology professor studying earthquakes, which is of course a very important topic in this country. Another is a grad student researching a dissertation on folk remedies for diarrhea -- again, a very important topic, but not the easiest one to discuss in a group. We felt very sorry for her when we met with the Ambassador -- over lunch -- and he asked us all to go around the table and fill him in on our research topics! Oh, and there is a professor from Baylor University, Candace's alma mater, who is writing a book on Ataturk. He and his wife are both very friendly, and they will be visiting us in Istanbul at some point, so we look forward to that.

Most of our four days there were spent in meetings. We had panels with talks given by various members of the American and Turkish Fulbright offices, as well as from the U.S. State Department, and a few by Turkish professors from universities there in Ankara. They were of, shall we say, varying quality. We did acquire some important information, however. For instance, the Cultural Affairs Officer from the US Embassy informed us that a poll conducted last year showed that the United States is ranked dead last in terms of the Turkish public holding a positive view of us. We scored only a 9% approval rating, below even Palestine! However, most Turks separate American individuals from their perception of the US government, and organizations such as the Fulbright Commission are working with the State Department continually to help promote a positive view of the US, since Turkey is an important ally for many reasons. One of the ways that the Fulbright program would like to promote a better understanding of US culture and Americans in general is to have their grantees travel within Turkey and present talks, not necessarily academic, on topics relating to American culture -- baseball, movies, etc. They asked for volunteers who are willing to go to high schools and universities to give such talks, and Candace has put her name in, so we'll keep you posted on that.

We also had briefings on Turkish culture and politics. We learned important things like why we should not call the AK Party (the current ruling political party) the "Ak" party, but rather the A.K.P. unless we really agree with their politics -- the word "Ak" means "pure," so even though it is a common way to refer to the party, it implies that the speaker approves of their pro-Islamic stance. In addition, we had security briefings that mostly boiled down to not being stupid -- not carrying lots of cash, not traveling into areas controlled by terrorist groups close to the Iraqi border, not getting into cars with strangers or petting stray dogs -- nothing particularly new. In general, Turkey has very low crime rates, so we are probably safer in Istanbul, for the most part, than in L.A.

We did manage to have some fun while in Ankara. The first day we arrived, we visited Anit Kabir, the mausoleum of Ataturk, constructed in the 50s as a memorial to the father of the nation. As mentioned in a previous post, Ataturk is absoutely everywhere inTurkey. He's inescapable. But his mausoleum -- now THAT is really something to see! When you enter the grounds you walk down a long pathway that is "guarded" on either side by lions that look very much like the ancient stone guardian lions set up on either side of Hittite ceremonial ways and gates. This is not surprising, since Ataturk was a vehement supporter of the reclamation of the Turkish past, which of course included the Hittite kingdoms. The buildings in the complex are also covered with low-relief decorations that while very much in the style of fascist art (celebrating the nobility of the Common Man and Woman), also reference Hittite reliefs of gods and kings as still extant on the stones of some of their sacred sites such as their capital at Hattusa, not far from Ankara. The buildings surrounding the central square, including the one in which the body of Ataturk is buried (the building at the top of the stairs in the picture), are extremely reminiscent of Egyptian temples (and, somehow, of Greek architecture as well), and are quite imposing and beautiful. In the buildings are displayed Ataturk's personal effects (clothing, pipes, a rowing machine(!)), and dioramas (the Turks do love them) of the decisive battles he directed during the war for independence. We both feel that we now understand much more the love of the Turkish people for their greatest hero. It would be difficult to visit the site and not come away impressed with the life and persona of Ataturk.

After that grand introduction to modern Turkey, we headed to the Old City of Ankara, which is at the highest point in the area. Candace had been before, last summer, but since this time it was nearing sunset during Ramadan, this was a very different experience. The neighborhood is a fairly economically depressed one, and most everyone had gathered in one area for a communal iftar meal (the breaking of the fast). Because we did not want to interrupt, we were not able to walk through the neighborhood completely, but it was interesting to see a local event instead of just the usual tourist shops, etc.

The next day (after hours of informational panels), we had our big reception at the Ambassador's house. His residence was impressive, although we did not get to see much of it. We did have the opportunity to speak with quite a few members of the State Department stationed there about topics such as careers in the Foreign Service (hmmm...). The Ambassador, Ross Wilson, is quite friendly, and a huge supporter of the Fulbright program. He served previously as Ambassador or Consul General in Azerbaijan, Melbourne, Prague, and the USSR. He has been the Ambassador here since 2005, but will be done with his tour in November, after the election. Candace had an interesting political discussion with him, and he said that the greatest thing about holding his post has been his ability to be involved in most of the important International Relations issues that the US has dealt with in recent years. Besides, obviously, the war in Iraq, he has also been heavily involved in the decision-making processes concerning the oil crisis, the ongoing prevention of terrorist activity in the Middle East, and of course relations between Russia and Turkey (and, therefore, the West). No one knows better than he how true it is that Turkey is the bridge between East and West. Both conversation with him and the talks we heard over the course of the week really highlighted how important the role of Turkey is, and will increasingly be, on the world stage. It is truly an exciting time to be here!

The day after the reception, we had more talks and informational meetings, then a guided tour of the Archaeological Museum (the picture below is of its ceiling). Although a bit dated in terms of its displays, the museum houses and extremely important collection of artifacts including prehistoric wall paintings and other objects recovered from mounds, or Hoyuks, around Anatolia (here are some objects dating from ca. 7,000-5500 BC!).
















This Bronze Age decorative emblem, dated ca 3,000-2,000 BC, has become one of the symbols of Ankara and is reproduced on a monumetal scale in one of the city squares. Also on display are artifacts from the "Tomb of King Midas." Although it may not in fact have belonged to the historical King Midas, ruler of ancient Phrygia in west-central Anatolia in the 8th century BC, the great tomb excavated at Gordion, the Phrygian capital (and where Alexander the Great famously cut the Gordion Knot), housed extremely well-preserved examples of wooden furniture, metalwork, and other luxury goods. Here are a few Phrygian bronze pitchers dating from 1200-700 BC. The museum also has a collection of Greek and Roman art from sites around Turkey, but it is not the focus of the collection. In the background of this picture you can see the newest acquisition the museum has made in that collection -- a Hermes statue excavated from the site of the Roman baths near downtown Ankara. Last year it had just been unearthed when Candace visited the museum, and one of the archaeologists at the British School in Ankara told her to ask to see it. She was shown it in pieces, lying in the back garden. This time she mentioned to the tour guide that she was happy to see it in one piece and out on display, and he insisted that she could not have seen it last year because they had "just found it." He refused to believe it was the same piece, but here's a year-old picture to prove it! (and because she thinks it looks quite aesthetically pleasing in its former, un-reconstructed state).















The real pride of the museum is its collection of reliefs from various Hittite sites, such as this one, from a late Hittite period (1200-700 BC).

After the museum visit we rounded out our tour of Ankara by getting caught in a sudden, torrential downpour, very unusual for the city. It stopped raining by that night and we had a nice dinner out with some of the other Fulbrighters, and then the next day it was 6 hours back on the bus to Istanbul for one day of rest and preparation for the trip to Ephesus, which will have to wait for the next installment...

Quick Update

We made it back from Ankara last night, and today is our turn-around day to get ready to leave for a week in Ephesus (modern Selcuk for those who want to consult a map) tomorrow evening. Whew!

We will write when we get back about not only Ephesus but the great time we had in Ankara. We met some wonderful people, including the Ambassador, and had a good (but very wet) time seeing some of Ankara. Stay tuned for pictures, etc...

Modern Turkish History

It's 9:35 pm here and Peter is reading a book on modern Turkish history. We are headed to Ankara on Wednesday am (we have a reception with the other Fulbrighters at the US Ambassador's residence Thursday night) and Peter is eager to see the tomb of Ataturk. For those of you who don't know, he (Mustafa Kemal, now known as Ataturk) is the father of the Republic of Turkey. He led the military against the British and Greek forces in the 1920s and formed the Turkish Republic. He is the one who made Ankara the capital, and who Westernized Turkey a great deal through such measures as banning the wearing of the head scarf for women and the fez for men and demanding that the Turkish language be written in the Latin alphabet rather than Ottoman script (which looks a lot like Arabic). He is everywhere here -- on the money, on every official building, his portrait hanging in restaurants like some people hang pictures of the Pope back in America. He is the symbol of modern Turkey more than anything else, and is held in such high regard that to say anything negative about him is regarded as a crime. Sometimes it is difficult not to laugh just a little when we see a statue of him that is not particularly well-proportioned -- like the one outside Topkapi where he is posed like Abraham Lincoln on the Lincoln Memorial but his head is just a bit too big for his shoulders, which are a bit too broad for his torso, etc. This is especially true in some of the famous paintings or photographs of him in which he bears striking resemblance to Bela Lugosi. But we try our best to be respectful. Even when he has a tophat.


Our turistic excursions this week, which have been a bit limited by the rainy weather, have revolved quite a bit around modern Turkish history. Our main outing was yesterday, Sunday, when Peter and I walked to the Turkish Military Museum. Ironically, when the museum collection was first formed in the 17th century, it was housed in the church of Hagia Eirene, which means Holy Peace. Now, it is housed in the former military academy which was attended by guess who? Of course, Ataturk. There is even a recreation of one of his classrooms, where they display, among other things, the gradesheet from his class. Now there's a nightmare for all of us: 100 years after we graduate in the middle of our class (he was 6 out of 12), thousands of people a year troop through every year to look at our grades in every subject!

But there is much more in the museum than just Ataturk's classroom. There is a rather amazing panoramic life-size diorama of the fall of Constantinople to Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror in 1453 (from the point of view of the Turks of course), lots of weapons from the 15th century on, and from many countries. Some were given as gifts to various Sultans, some not quite so willingly. One of the most interesting exhibits was of flags of ships from various nations that were captured by the Turks at one time or another. There was a Union Jack among them, but most interesting of all was one captured from a ship of the Byzantine state of Lavaron in a 15th century naval battle.

Other highlights include the chain that was stretched across the Golden Horn during the Seige in 1453 -- according to history/legend, Mehmet got his navy past it by pulling his ships up off of the Bosphorus and carrying them across the Galata shore of the Golden Horn (through our neighborhood no less) and putting them back in the Horn on the other side of the chain. Outside the museum visitors can also see two of the cannons that were used by Mehmet during the seige.

Also, we visited the Hall of Martyrs. It seems that the word "martyr" is used differently in Turkish tradition (perhaps in Islamic tradition in general?). Every soldier who is killed in combat fighting for their homeland is considered a martyr. The Hall of Martyrs bears the names of many who died, especially fighting at Gallipoli, as well as the famous words of Ataturk "Peace at home, peace in the world" in the languages of many countries. One interesting detail in this hall was the uniform and Koran of a soldier who fought at Gallipoli. According to the museum text, he was wearing the Koran around his neck, and it protected him from shrapnel, and although the edges are apparently damaged, the area with the words is not, showing, of course, the holiness of the words of the Prophet. This is very striking considering that a similar story is often told of an American soldier who was saved from a bullet by the Bible in his pocket, or something similar.

Another detail of interest: apparently the Turkish military was the first military in the world to fire a torpedo from a submarine.

But by far the highlight of the Military Museum was the concert by a military band which was dressed in traditional Ottoman costumes, including big fake moustaches. Well, some of them were fake anyway. The guys in armor and the ones with the long white hats are dressed as Janissaries, the personal guard of the Sultans and the most highly-trained of the Ottoman military units. The music was very good, and it was actually possible to imagine that seeing a line of Janissaries marching towards you would have been a terrifying thing (even with the moustaches).

All in all, we saw only just over half of the museum I think, so we might make a trip back sometime. Some of you will be sorry to hear that the shooting gallery that used to be open to the public so they could try out Turkish firearms was closed in the 1920s, but the Museum is still worth a visit.

In other thrilling news, yes, we did figure out how to use the washing machines and driers. But our clothes are once more lying all around our apartment drying since the electricity in that part of the building went out before we could get them into the dryer this evening. Neither electricity nor running water is guaranteed 24 hours a day here, although the Center does have a generator and a 40 ton water reservoir that the director says will provide enough to withstand a siege. Apparently the generator only provides electricity to some rooms though, and the washroom is not one of them. But we would rather have it here in our apartment than in there.

Speaking of the apartment, here are a few pictures, finally. It's difficult to photograph because the flash makes everything look white, and without the flash it's a bit dark. But the walls are a pleasant sage color really.

Old friends and new experiences

So you know how they say (or at least I say) that you have to be on your best behavior when traveling abroad because you never know who you might bump into, and that you will always see someone you know? Well we were here a short four days before it happened to us.

Thursday, Peter and I walked (quite a long way) across the Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn to the Sultanahmet neighborhood, the old part of Constantinople where Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque are. We were strolling through the First Court of Topkapi palace -- the area that is outside the ticketed area, so it's a free place to spend a pleasant afternoon -- when suddenly we saw Sarah Morris, a professor from UCLA. She and her husband John Papadopoulos, who was one of Peter's MA thesis advisors, were in town leading a group of UCLA alumni on a tour of Turkey. I guess it's not so odd that two professors of classical archaeology would be in Istanbul, but what are the chances Peter and I would be in the exact same place at the exact same time? It's was definitely one of those "Fancy meeting you here" moments. It turns out that they are both on sabbatical and spending the year in Athens, so Sarah invited us to come over to visit, which I think we will plan to do at some point.

That day was Peter's first introduction to parts of Istanbul outside our immediate neighborhood, but we are pacing ourselves -- we didn't go into any buildings but the Blue Mosque, his first mosque visit. We mostly wandered around and got lost in little neighborhoods. We found the fish market (stinky but interesting), and a man offered to take us across the Golden Horn on his VERY small boat, but we declined. There is so much to do here, but we have time, so there's no reason to burn ourselves out.

Yesterday (Friday) the Center took us all out to the campus of Koc University, where we took a tour and had lunch with the President of the university. Peter and I sat across from him at the table and had a good chat. He's a very nice man, a mathematician, who keeps saying that "People who know these things" told him the best way to set up the Research Center program. For instance, he wanted to house it on campus and have the Fellows teach classes at Koc, but "someone who knows" told him that that would make the program less attractive because it would not mean time off for research (which is true) and that no one would want to live on campus (also true) because it is far far out of town and away from all of the libraries and archives. I'm glad they set it up the way they did!

that being said, the Koc U. campus is pretty amazing. It is only 7 years old in that location. It sits in a heavily wooded area (which we were all surprised existed so near to town) on the point of land directly where the Bosphorus meets the Black Sea. We went up to the top floor of the administration building, which is almost like a lighthouse tower done in the Ottoman style with cushioned benches surrounding it so you can sit and admire the view. Some of you may remember from your mythology (or from your Ray Harryhausen movie "Clash of the Titans") that the spot where the Bosphorus and the Black Sea meet is where Jason and the Argonauts had to dodge the clashing rocks that the Greeks said were put there to prevent ships from passing safely. The rocks were said to come together and crush any vessel whose crew was foolish enough to brave the passage. Interestingly, the entrance to the Bosphorus looked so peaceful (picture above) that I had a difficult time understanding where they myth came from until a professor at the University explained it to me. Apparently the tides in that area are extremely dangerous under the surface. There is one tide that flows out from the Bosphorus to the Black Sea, and one that flows in the other direct, above it. These two tides form whirlpools which could easily catch a ship, especially a smaller one. She told me that within the last few years two divers who were working for the city, doing some maintenance on underwater pipes in that area, got caught in the current coming in from the Black Sea and it was so strong that by the time they were able to escape from it hours later, it had carried them all the way into the Dardanelles!

After our campus tour and filling out a lot of paperwork for residence visas, insurance, etc., we were treated to a Bosphorus boat tour. The University had chartered a small private boat and it took us very slowly from the Black Sea back up to the Golden Horn. We passed several smaller communities and saw some surprising things, including pretty young children out in the middle of the Bosphorious fishing alone (see picture below)! All in all, the tour took about 4 hours. We had drinks, and a really fabulous meal including fresh fish from the Black Sea, and we all chatted and listened to music and let the Turkish Fellows point out all of the landmarks to us as we passed them (mosques, Ottoman palaces, military buildings, etc.). It was really the best way to get oriented. Istanbul can be difficult because it is easy to forget that it is really a maritime city that is split by two waterways (Bosphorus and Golden Horn), and without seeing it by boat (or from the air, I assume), it's hard to understand where you are standing at any particular time. But I think we get it now!

Disclaimer: the pictures, which Peter took, are a bit blurry because the boat was small, so it was rocking quite a bit, especially when larger boats passed us. We saw the Norwegian Jade sitting at the mouth of the Golden Horn, hogging the entire thing! It was really kind of obnoxious.

The Research Center

So much has happened this first week in Istanbul that I am already playing catch-up with this blog. Since I can't stand the stress of always being behind on something, I think we will all have to agree now that this will not necessarily be a regularly-updated record of mine and Peter's lives, but more someplace where we can post interesting events and thoughts. Of course, since practically everything that has happened so far has been interesting, there is still a fundamental problem with this solution. But I suppose we have to start somewhere...

We are pretty well settled in now. Still no pictures of the apartment to share because we haven't really gotten it 100% together yet. We bought all the hangers we were able to find at the only shop we have found them so far, and it is not enough to hang our clothes. But tomorrow (Sunday) there is some type of market in our neighborhood and we have been told that there is a section devoted entirely to plastics where we may be able to find hangers.

Other items we have not located, or had great difficulties locating:
* laundry detergent without perfume (it apparently doesn't exist here)
* cereal bowls (we had to settle for decorative pieces to use for everyday)
* electric converters/adapters. We thought this would be easy in such a touristic destination, but it took several days of searching to find them, but we finally located them underground, in a strange electronics mall that is in the metro station.

Things we HAVE found in case we should ever need them:
* a street of chandelier and lamp shops
* riding lawnmowers and Miracle Grow
* a complete neighborhood of hardware stores and building supplies
* homemade violins
* about a dozen trophy shops
* a store that sells nothing but stamp collecting albums

Basically, our neighborhood, Beyoglu, is centered around Istiklal Caddesi, a famous street with a trolley and lots of overpriced clothing and food shops, but opening off of the street are Pasaji (passages) in which you can find basically anything you could ever think you might want (except hangers, cereal bowls and electrical converters). Here's a picture of Istiklal in the daytime, just down the street from us. We'll put in some night pictures before long.

Most of this week has been spent being walked around to libraries and other research centers that might be useful to us fellows for our research. In the evenings, we all have dinner together at the Center (it is catered by a restaurant), and mostly spend time getting to know each other and finding out about each others' research projects.

But what else do Fellows do with their spare time in the evenings, you might ask? Well, one popular pastime has been riding the Center's elevator. I know that might seem like an odd thing for adults to do (repeatedly), but it really is quite interesting, because of the design of the Center. Basically, the Center is two historic buildings standing next to each other. The Merkez Han, the building we all have our apartments in, was the building that Vehbi Koc (the founder of the University we are a part of) lived in when his family first moved to Istanbul, before he grew up and became an insanely wealthy man. In his will, he stipulated that any buildings the Koc family owned could be sold EXCEPT Merkez Han, hence its use as the Center. However, in its prior condition it was not suitable to be used as a research library and housing, so the Koc foundation purchased the building next door and reworked both of them to make one large complex. Happily, one of the projects was bringing both of the buildings up to the most recent anti-seismic standards by reinforcing everything with structural steel. We were all very relieved to hear that. Then the two buildings were joined by a roof which is actually a massive skylight that provides all of the light for the library, salon, cafeteria, and residential hallways (see picture). The exterior of the buildings were preserved to maintain their historic appearance, but the interiors were divided into the necessary apartments and other spaces. It's actually a pretty amazing building.
In the picture at left, the apartments are in the left building, behind the glass walls, and the right hand side houses the kitchen, salon (sitting room), library, and Dutch Research Institute, behind the columns.

But back to the elevators...so the elevators (which are glass on three sides) start on floor -2 and go up to 5 (that's 8 levels because there is a floor "0"). At level 3 they "break through" the glass ceiling in a very Willy Wonka fashion and keep going up for two more levels, but since the building stops at 3, there are no longer any walls on either side of you, you can't tell where you are going to stop, so it's like you are just shooting up into the sky! Add to that the amazing view from the top, and it's a trip worth taking (again and again and again). So that's one pastime. I'm sure it will get less interesting as time goes by, but for now it's not only fun to do, but to watch the expression on other people's faces while they're going up and down -- because every wall in the center of the complex is glass, you can sit in the library or the lounge and watch people come back down through the ceiling and pass through the room you are in. It's kind of difficult to explain, but a very interesting effect. I'm sure the guards think we are all crazy! (Note: I just went out and got in the elevators to take the pictures I put in above, and when I passed through the library the Fellow from Georgia -- the nation, not the state -- was in there working and laughing at me for riding by!).

That's another thing I should mention about the complex -- we have 24 hour security, and all the doors in the complex are run using magnetic keycards, so it's quite secure. We each have one key that opens our apartments but also all the doors in the Center (for exiting as well as entering). Plus, in a very cool detail, there is a card slot when we first walk in the door to our apartment where we can keep our "keys." When we come in and put a card in, it automatically turns on any lights that were on when we left, and when we take the cards out to leave, it turns the lights out and locks the door, so no forgetting anything! Or, if we don't shut the door to our room well when coming or going it beeps at us to let us know. It's taken some getting used to, but I think it's a good system!

So that's about it for the Center. Unless I forgot to mention in the last post that we share the building with the Dutch Research Institute, so we have two libraries on site to work in, and there are other scholars coming and going, which is nice.

I'm going to move on to the next post to talk about things we have done so far, to keep this one from going on too long. and I promise we will post pictures of our room as soon as it is clean, but here is a picture of our hall at least...

Welcome to Istanbul -- Hos Geldiniz!

This is a blog that will allow our family and friends to keep up with our adventures while we live (and work) for a year at the Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations in Beyoglu, Istanbul. We arrived in the early morning in September 15, and had to hit the ground running.

We have a gorgeous two-bedroom apartment in the Research Center (RCAC) -- more about the RCAC and the building in a later post.

It seems like we have been here more than two days. Physically, it feels like a week. Mentally, a month. So much has happened in the brief time since we arrived.

Everything here is so amazing -- the Research Center is gorgeous (we'll send pictures later). Our neighborhood is very lively, day and night -- so, not quiet, but vibrant. Today Peter and I took two very long walks -- one to the Fulbright office which was a bit further than we thought (doesn't that always happen?), and one in search of hangers. I'll bet most people never think of it, but finding hangers in a foreign country can be very difficult. Now all the other scholars want to know where we got them. Maybe that could be Peter's side job -- selling hangers at a profit.

The director of the Institute also arranged tours of two libraries for us today. The Netherlands Research Institute shares our building, so that is convenient. The other we visited is the Istanbul Research Institute, which is 5 minutes on foot and has three floors: one dedicated to modern Turkish history, one to Ottoman history, and one to Byzantine history. They also hold a large manuscripts and rare photographs collection, which Peter is very interested to spend time in. Tomorrow, we will go to the French, German, and Swedish Institute libraries, which should be useful for me, especially the German. Then on Friday we will all go to the Koc University main campus to lunch with the rector and provost, then we will be given a tour of the Bosphorus by boat. They say this is so we can understand the geography of Istanbul better, but I secretly think it is so we can all drink wine. Either way, it's free, so we're certainly not complaining!

Although we haven't gotten around to taking any photos of our apartment or the RCAC in general, I am attaching a few pictures taken from our rooftop terrace. We have an absolutely incredible view. Our building is situated on a point of land almost exactly where the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn come together, so when you look at the picture which is a general view from our roof, you are looking at Europe on your right and Asia on your left. Last night we all had dinner up there and there was a lightning storm in the distance, perhaps in the Black Sea area, and it was incredible to think that we were seeing lighting strike two continents at the same time! There is really something magical about this spot. We can see Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia, and the Blue Mosque, in the second photo from left to right. The third photo is a view of Hagia Sophia that I took from the roof as well -- I'm pretty happy with my new camera!

The other pictures are interesting in a different way. Yesterday afternoon (our very first day, remember), the restaurant next to our building caught on fire. The firemen were able to contain it to the patio area, where an outdoor stove had gone crazy, but flames and smoke were pouring out of the smokestack and our entire rooftop was enveloped in smoke. At first it was being fought by the waiters who had climbed onto the roof, but soon the fire department showed up and took care of it. Three hours later, the restaurant was cooking again, in the same oven! We were all thinking that that is exactly the type of accident that 100 years ago would have destroyed this entire neighborhood!

OK, I'm signing off now. We are trying to learn how to use the washer and drier here, and so far we have only managed to get our clothes really wet and soapy, but somehow not rinsed, after an hour in the machine. Tomorrow we will have to get a Turk to show us how to use them properly.

I hope all is well there -- Celia says their power finally came back up today after Ike took it out. Any other excitement to share?