Kuaför

For years I have left my hair to its natural color of grey, but before this trip I decided I didn’t want to be grey anymore.  I had Brendan at 1^st Impressions color my hair a few weeks before I left, amid questions from a number of people as to what I was going to do about coloring my hair while I was gone.  I told them I figured the women colored their hair here, just like we do at home, and if not, I wondered if they used henna. 

Well, I’ve had my hair done twice since I have been here.  The first time was in Izmir, where Abdullah’s daughter-in-law took me to her hairdressers.  Then I went again today to Elif’s hairdresser.

So, what was it like?  Well, for starters, it was much, much cheaper.  I paid 50 Turkish Lira in Izmir and 60 here in Istanbul.  That’s about 30 and 35 dollars, respectfully.  Not bad for a cut and color, but admittedly, my hair is quite short, so it may be more for longer hair.

The French word, Kuaför, is used for a hairdresser and I swear there is a Kuaför on every other corner is not more frequently.  I wondered how they all could stay in business, but now I understand a bit more about them.  Women go not only to have their hair cut and colored or to have their nails done, but also to have their hair straightened or curled for everyday wear.  It seems that women everywhere want their hair to be the opposite of what they have: straight or curly!  When I was at the hairdresser in Izmir, a woman with long hair came in and one of the hairdressers spent a good 45 minutes on styling her hair.  No wash, cut, or anything else: just styling.  When I asked if this was for a special occasion, I was told that no, it was just for the week.  As in Hungary, many women only wash their hair once or twice a week, so going to the hairdresser to have their hair styled lasts for a number of days.  Guess this is what many of our mothers used to do too.  Elif told me that many of the teachers she works with spend quite a bit of money on a weekly basis to have their hair done with extensions, etc.  Elif went the other day and had hers straightened which lasted a few days. 

Another difference is that appointments are not made, rather everyone just walks in and they help the women in the order they come in.  Today when I was in the shop, one other woman was already have her hair colored.  By the time I left, two more women had color on their hair, one was already in the chair I had been in and two more were waiting.  There were two hairdressers and an assistant: all male.  There was also a gal doing nails.  There was one sink and four other chairs and the two haridressers went between the four chairs doing the hair.  The assistant washed hair, assisted in drying and styling the hair and laid out comb, brush, scissors and apron for the hairdressers at each station.  He also helped women out of their coats, helped them with putting their coats back on, and generally ran around doing everything else so the two hairdressers could just keep moving along!  Obviously, it was quite the operation – only wish I could have understood what was being said.

Oh, and how did I communicate?  At the first hairdressers, the woman who took me spoke English, so she explained what I wanted, and the hairdresser spoke a little English as well.  Today, no one spoke English, but Elif wrote a note for me, saying I wanted the same color and a short cut.  She also stopped in before hand and told them I would be there and to take good care of me, so they were prepared for this mute woman who showed up! 

I don’t know what brand of color was used in Izmir, but the color today was a German brand.  They mixed it just like they do at home and painted it onto my hair the same way too – so, the bottom line is that yes, they color their hair here just the same way we do at home.  Oh, and all the woman I saw getting their hair done both here and in Izmir, did not wear scarves on their heads, so I still don’t know if the scarf wearing women color their hair!

Iskender Kebaps

Last night we went to dinner at Iskender Kebaps restaurant.  There is only one thing on the menu -- or, actually, there is no menu, as there is only one thing they serve: Iskender Kebaps.  This is a special recipe that was developed in Bursa and they now have a few restaurants in Istanbul as well which are run by the grandchildren of Iskender, who developed this recipe. 

Basically, it is a plate with cut up pita bread, thinly sliced basted lamb meat piled on top, covered with a tomato sauce with yogurt to the side.  Then, at the table, the waiter comes through and pours hot butter over the whole plate!!!!  I think we all know that everything is better with butter!  And this was no exception.  It was served with an unstrained, slightly fermented grape juice to help with the digestion. 



Here's Mete after finishing one and a half servings of this:  

Bursa

I did a quick two day trip to Bursa this week.  Bursa is about a 3 hour bus & ferry ride from Istanbul and was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire, before Edirne and then Constantinople/Istanbul.  Bursa is an industrial city with car and other manufacturing along with silk production, cotton towel making and shadow puppets.  It is also in a mountainous area, so it is a winter playground for Istanbulites as it has a ski area.

There are three well-known mosque centers in the city.  I say “centers” as it is traditional for when there is a mosque to also have a few other buildings.  These buildings include a medressa, usually a long, single story building, which is a school; a soup kitchen; market stalls from which the proceeds supported the upkeep of the mosque; always a “fountain” for washing of the feet before entering the mosque to pray; and sometimes a hospital and tombs of the person who funded the mosque and sometimes a cemetery as well.

The first mosque I visited was in the center of the city and one of the oldest and is in the “Seljuk” style.  The Seljuks were the first Ottomans.   I can’t describe exactly what that “style” is, but it was an impressive mosque and was unique in that it had a fountain inside of the mosque as well as the ones outside.

 There was a silk “han” right there as well, and I walked through this looking at all of the silk scarves.  A han is the same as a caravanserai which I believe I wrote about before.  This one was a brick two story building with a beautiful open courtyard in the center.

From the days of the “silk road”, silk worms were brought into Turkey and the silk production developed here in Bursa.  We learned about the whole silk process while at the carpet demonstration we went to in Cappadoccia while on the Rick Steves tour.  Anyway, this “han” was where the silk cocoons were traded and now where silk products, mostly scarves, are sold.  There was a photography show of a famous Turkish photographer that was also on display there and I enjoyed the photos he had from all over Turkey and some of the Balkan region.

After nosing around in this area just a bit, I got my hotel room next to the market and left my bag and headed to another mosque area. The second mosque I visited, I didn’t actually go into the mosque, but into the tombs of the first sultan and his family, and walked through the beautiful setting there.  Nearby was a private museum with a fantastic collection of traditional clothing and jewelry that the man had collected over many years.  There were small rooms with the displays and I had to duck through the extended doorway (about three feet), into the room.  Not until I entered the room, would the light trigger on, as well as the turntables that each mannequin was standing on.  In this way, each costume was slowly visible, front and back.   The only thing I did not like about this museum was that I could not take photos and there were no postcards or book to purchase.  I did snap one photo on my way out of some of the painted wooden cart ends. 

After the museum I started wondering and found a street produce market.  I wondered through this, and then through the neighborhood.

 After all my exploring and sitting on the park bench as it was turning to dusk, I decided I would go to a Turkish Bath to warm up.  I had only been to the one when I was on the tour in Antalya, and I wanted to do it again.  It was also getting a bit chilly out and I thought the warmth of the bath would be nice.  I was right!  This bath was very different from the one I had already visited, in that there was no big marble stone slab in the center.  Instead there were two pools – both quite hot – from the far wall down the center of the room.  It did have individual water spigots like in the other bath along the two long walls, with small basins under them and bowls for dipping the water out.  Close to the door where two raised marble platforms for laying on, either to absorb the heat, or for use for the scrubbing and massaging.  I went all out again and got both the scrub and the massage. 

So first I used water from one of the basins and rinsed myself well, then went to one of the platforms where the attendant first scrubbed me removing a disgusting amount of dead skin, and then gave me a massage.  I think I have had the worst massages in my life at this and another bath I went to in Germany.  I would call it a quick, deep rubbing of my body – quite painful actually and in no way relaxing or healing or even any kind of positive, good feeling!  I have a recurring knot under my right shoulder blade and I don’t think her jabbing at it did it any good!  It certainly did not release the tension there!  The rest of the experience was great though.  I was able to stay in there as long as I wanted, so I soaked in the pools for a bit, sat in the outer room and cooled down a bit, before I soaked again.  It reminded me of Tenakee, except this building was much nicer!  Even with the crazy “massage”, it was a great experience and I left warm and content.  I stopped at a kebob place next to my hotel for dinner before going back to my room.

On Wednesday, I carefully orchestrated my visits to the remaining things I wanted to see.  But, as most carefully over planned things, it didn’t quite work that way, and I ended up enjoying myself immensely.  I started by visiting the third mosque – well, again, it was just the tombs as this mosque was under renovation. This was the “Green Mosque”, so called because of the tile on the original minarets.  But a couple of earthquakes and repairs have done away with the tiles on the minaret and the nearby tomb was redone in the 1700’s or so with blue tiles and was absolutely beautiful both inside and out. 

In the medressi here was an ethnographic museum that was high on my list to visit.  Again, a beautiful courtyard in the center and the displays in small rooms off of this courtyard, except one large domed room with stained glass in the upper arch.  I was thrilled I was able to take photos here.  Also, there were some of the shadow puppets I had read about.  These were developed as a result of two men who worked on the building of the green mosque who were always messing around and were finally beheaded by the sultan for slowing down the work.  After they were killed, the others created these puppets and continued the joking around between the two men, or so the story goes.  Here's a link I wish I had found before I went to Bursa, as I never did find this shop in the market, even with all my wandering through it! 

http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/ThraceMarmara/bursa/sights/karagoz_antikaci.html

I headed back to my hotel and market area with the intent to stop at the City Museum, which also has an ethnographic display.  But my timing was off and it was closed for the lunch hour.  I continued on back to the market behind the first mosque and near my hotel.  I was so taken by the market and surrounding areas that I never made it back to the City Museum! I figured real life was just as if not more intriguing than the past and I thoroughly enjoyed walking around and then sitting and watching the people. 

From the first shops, surrounding the mosque, many more have built up and the surrounding area is an incredibly huge shopping area.  I wandered through this more than once and still didn’t hit every avenue and “han”.  So there were these old brick and stone two story square buildings with courtyards in the center, and each one was for different types of goods.  So between these old buildings, on the outsides of them, were covered streets or walkways with shops along both sides.  In other words, it was a huge maze and sometimes I would find myself in a courtyard and other times I would realize I was in or outside of a building again.  Each pathway focused on different types of goods: clothing, shoes, jewelry, household goods, bedding, linens, etc., etc.  I am not talking about the types of markets I saw in South America or Mexico, although there were shops from one end of the spectrum to the other.   Some of these pathways were high-end stores with name brand – big name brands –and you could see the difference in the clientele in these different areas.  There was another area, actually a basement level, where clothes were heaped up on tables in the center – more like a Walmart!  The shop keepers were out, helping everyone find the sized and styles they wanted.  At one end of the market there were a few streets before there was a western style mall as well. 

On the far outskirts of the maze, the shops became smaller, there were more hawkers calling out their wares, and the streets were not covered.  I was wandering through and I heard a lot of noise coming from one direction, so I wandered over there.  It was the food and fish market.  The venders were calling out their wares: fish, nuts, dried fruits, candies, cheeses, olives, grapes, pomegranates, fresh figs, mandarin oranges, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc., etc.  I think it was probably not a daily market, as the tables were sent up on the street with little pathways between them into the permanent stores.  As I reached the outskirts of the food market, things got a bit seedier, so I knew it was time to turn around and head in the other direction.  What struck me the most about all of this, was that the streets and pathways were packed with people. There were areas were I could hardly pass as there were so many shoppers. 

I finally made my way back out of the market to my hotel, grabbed my pack and headed to the bus depot for my trip home.  I bought new shoes a few days before and I definitely have broken them  - and my feet – in!

I'm with my last family

I've been with my last family in Istanbul for a week now, and all is going well.  They do not need me quite as much as agreed, but prefer I stick around on the weekends and travel during the week.  The 8 year old boy leaves early morning for school and returns around 4:30, so there isn't much time after homework and dinner and relaxing to spend much time on English.  Both parents are pretty fluent as she is an English teacher and he studied for his masters and phd in Albany New York for nine years. 

I was sick with a cold my first days here, and then occupied with focusing on getting my visa for Moscow for another couple of days.  But this last week, I've been able to get out and saw the Dohmabachce Palace, the Istanbul Modern Art Museum, and a special Exhibit on the art of Ebru, as well as walking around through the Galata Tower district and the area around where I am staying, which is called Kadikoy. 

I've booked my plane ticket to Moscow for the 16th of November and then on to Berlin (!) on the 25th of November.  I will be able to stop and see the Berlin wall, etc., and visit Laura who was in Ecuador and Peru with me.  Then I will make my way by train down into Italy to visit Teresa from Haines/Tenkaee and Giulia, the gal who was our Rotary exchange student!

I've also booked for next week to go to Bursa here in Turkey.  I will go on Tuesday and Wednesday.  There are two big things of interest to me there.  First, is the puppet theater museum which I read about before I came and then I also found out that this is where the silk is grown/harvested/whatever for the most expensive of the Turkish carpets. 

My last week here will be during a Beyram (Holiday), and I am still trying to decide what to do.  I am thinking of going to Ederne, but my family from Izmir will also be here, and I would love to spend time with them and go to the aquarium with them also.  So will need to make a decision soon.

The weather has definately changed to fall.  The clouds breeze through the sky all day and there is a wind.  Being so much water around Istanbul, it is humid, so with the cooler temps, you really feel the dampness in the air. 

Love the 'cafeteria' food here!

Ok, so it's not an open fire, but the chestnuts are roasting everywhere!

An organized march protesting the unrest in the south of Turkey.

Galata Tower area - narrow winding streets -- this one was all music stores and a few tourist things.

Love the old buildings.

A tulip painted on Ebru paper.

Back in Istanbul

Had a six hour bus ride today from Canakkale on the Asian continent to Istanbul's European side.  I had planned to tour Troy and the Gallipoli Peninnsuala, so stayed in Canakkale for two nights.  But the weather was so bad: cold, rain and wind, that I pretty much stayed in my hotel room for the day!  I didn't even take any pictures.  So today as we made our way up the peninsula and then through Thrace, we hit more cold, rain, wind and SNOW!  It wasn't sticking, but it sure was coming down!

The only clothes I had to wear were 3/4 length pants, tennis shoes and two shirts with a black 3/4 length sleeve sweater-type thingy.  So I added a scarf to top off the outfit and try to stay not warm, but at least not freezing.  On the bus, I added a shawl on my shoulder against the window.  (I bet whoever is reading this right now is thinking -- man, I sure am glad I wasn't with her!  I'd have been so embarrassed!)   Tonight I went to the mall (dressed like this) and found a store, bought two pair of long pants and a lightweight fleece jacket.  Aw, so much better!

As I was on the bus, there was a woman with a young daughter, maybe 5 years old, that was sitting across the aisle.  Whenever the seat next to me was empty, the little girl would sit there.  The woman was friendly, but didn't speak English and my Turkish is limited to please, thank you, hello, etc.  When we stopped for a 20 minute break along the way, she made sure to let me know that it was a toilet break.  When I went to get off at the main bus station in Istanbul, she indicated she wanted to see my notecard (I had it in my hand -- I always write the name, address and phone number of where I am going so I can give it to the cab driver if needed), so I showed it to her and she confirmed I needed to get off here.  She also called out to another woman getting off and said something about me.  When I went to get my bag from the attendant, this second woman said something to the attendant and he looked around and said something to a man that was standing there.  By this time I had figured out there was continued shuttle service into the different areas of the city and I was to get on this man's van.  As I tried to make sure my bag was steady where I set it on the van floor, another man sitting there asked me in English if he could help me.  I told him I thought I was doing ok, and confirmed in English that the van was going to the area I needed to go.  As we approached the area, the driver called something out, and the man obviously answered for me and then asked me if I was going to take the metro the rest of the way.  I replied I was going to find a taxi, as I didn't want to take the tram with my big suitcase.  When we got off a few blocks later, the man said he would help me get a taxi and waved one down for me and then told the taxi driver where I needed to go and showed him my card!  All of this was done, from one person to the next, without my approaching them for help, rather each of them stepping up to help me on their own.  I have found this to be the case throughout my travels: everyone is very friendly and eager to help.

My hotel this time is again in the Sultanhament area of old Istanbul, but just a little off from the biggest tourist area. The neighborhood has a lot of the old wooden houses, some in pretty poor repair.  Looking forward to walking through this area tomorrow to get a better feel for it.

I will meet my family on Wednesday mid-day.  One of the people from the organization will pick me up and take me across by ferry to the area where the family lives.   So, tomorrow I will get my tram pass, and maybe just hangout one more day!  It is good to have time off from being someone's guest!

Covered women and more

Yesterday Derya and I went to the old Konak area of the city where I was when I first arrived and went to the old bazaar.  This is a permanent bazaar, not like the one we went to on Sunday which is just once a week for veggies and maybe a few other things.  We had a good time walking around and then had lunch at a place she likes there.  I got a few gifts and finally found a real pie pan.

I've mentioned that some women wear scarves and some wear long light-weight over coats as well.  These are fundamentalist Muslims and this is becoming more and more common.  It has increased over the last 10 years with the current president.  Attaturk, the "father of the Turks" who lead the movement for the republic of Turkey, established freedom of religion along with many other things upon the establishment of the country.  But now there is a movement away from this freedom towards conservatism and not all people are very happy about this. 

At the Bazaar, there were many shops that sold wedding apparel.  I say apparel, because there is not just the white wedding dress.  First, there is a big family engagement party, with the couple being pinned with money on sashes that they wear and they exchange engagement rings in front of the guests.  This is a semi-formal affair.  Then, the night before the wedding, the bride's hands are "henna'd" and this is a big to-do with her female relatives and girlfriends.  The maid of honor equivalent is this night, with her carrying a tray and the henna and leading the way for the coloring of  the hands.  Then, on the wedding day, the bride wears a white gown and the bride and groom sit together and sign the legal papers and then there is a party.  I've seen the photos for both Derya and her second sister and it looks like they enjoy the party as much as we do with dancing, etc.  (Their dad loves to dance.)

So, anyway, at the bazaar, I took photos of the fancy scarves that the women who are covered wear for their engagement and wedding parties.   Besides the bridal/engagement gown stores, there are also stores that sell only scarves for all occasions/daily use!  

To give you an idea of what I mean by the light weight coat, here is a pic of a store selling this clothing and also a pic of three young women wearing them with their scarves.  This way of dressing is quite different from the country women who also wear scarves and printed colored skirts.  Often, these covered women have on very stylish clothes underneath, or just plain old jeans and t-shirts.  

I have only seen a few women with the full outfit of burka, veiled face and full length black gown.  I've been told you see more of this to the east and of those I've seen in the cities, they are probably tourists from other countries. Some Turks fear their country is going more and more conservative and taking away their religious freedoms.  About 98% of the population is Islamic, but there is a wide range in how they practice their religion.  Those that are more liberal are not too happy with the way their government is heading

Good bye for now to Izmir

Today is my last full day in Izmir with the Inceisa family.  I've had a fantastic time with them, seeing how they run a small family business, learning about the way of life for a family with a young son, and of their concerns for the future for their son and for their country.  Mostly though, I have made new friends that I will have for life and I hope someday to be able to welcome them to Alaska and my home (if I every have my own again!)

This week we had a lot of rain, so I did not do much at the beginning of the week, other than hang out at the bakery with Derya and Hakan and work on my blog and take photos.  I have met many of their customers and have learned that although some say they do not speak English, they do speak enough to greet me in the morning and ask how I am.  And I am able to do this in Turkish now, too.   I've also met one current English tutor, a retired English teacher, a professor who lived in the US for three years, and a surgeon who speaks English as well.

Our daily routine includes breakfast in the "garden" - the front patio of the bakery.  Ege loves his Nutella with his "simit" or other breads, and I have come to like Nutella too!  Add a little of the homemade cherry preserves and I am off to a good start.

I brought a deck of cards with me and we've been playing cards all week.  We've moved up to crazy 8 and it serves as a good time to have an 8 year old boy sit for a few minutes and I can teach him phrases...."It's ON the table", "I am the winner", "Are you wearing a blue shirt?", etc.  The cards have "Alaska" written on them, and the rule I made is that when playing with the Alaska Cards, you must English.

Derya's mother comes quite often to help with the borak -- it is a long process and takes up a big workspace, so it really is helpful to have two people working on it.   Her sister came one day to help and I get in there too and help with little things while staying out of the way.  Hakan pretty much runs the sales end of things and keeps the tea cups full for the customers.  Also, some of the men just come by to talk to him.  Derya likes this as they have more of a profit off of the tea than off of the individual sales of borek, so if they have a couple cups, that's good!

Derya's English has also improved a lot in these last two weeks.  She's had English lessons before and used to use it in her old job in the textile business, but hasn't had much use for it with the bakery.  But, she wants to make sure Ege has at least two languages, as this is necessary any more for any of the good paying jobs.  Derya is quite a smart women and is always thinking about how they can grow the business and what steps need to be taken and which ones first.  She checks out rent on other locations that are bigger profile, knows where the profits are, knows her customers, and tests new products and watches what her customers like, and not just what she likes to make. but what they like and buy.  She is an outgoing, happy young woman, who likes to joke and be with her family.  (She is sitting here, and said to say, "and make more money".

I have found that Turkish people use their hands to speak, probably as much as the Italians!  I had no idea.  And I've enjoyed watching these same gestures used by both Abdullah, Derya, Hakan, and their families. Below are a few I captured.  But I missed taking pics of a couple of others.  The wiping of the hands together to show something is done.  And a brushing of the hand away from the body with a "tsk", meaning, "forget it".

A click of the tongue and the lifting of the chin means "no".

All the fingers together means "very good" or "Chok Guzel"

And the thumbs up means good, the same as we know.

And a picture of the happy wonderful new friend I have made.

Besides doing a lot with the bakery, Hakam is also an engineer.  In December he will be going for the month to Nigeria where a friend has a business concern and needs an Engineer to sign off on it.  He will be gone for the full month and Derya is asking me to come back to help.....anyone want to come and stay with a fantastic family for the month of December -- you know, get out of the cold Juneau weather!!!????  Walk Ege to school so Derya doesn't have to close the bakery, make dinner so she can focus only on the baking for the business, etc....

The other night Derya's mother and father and sister, Marian and her fiance' came over for dinner which we ate outside the bakery on the front patio.  There are always 2-3 "salads", i.e., side dishes, usually a soup and always a main dish with veggies and meats -- usually tomato based.  (Derya's mother wears a scarf while cooking and also when she prays.  She is still wearing the scarf in the first picture.

On my last night, we went to dinner at Hakan's parents house.  They have been in Kasadasi for the summer and just returned.  We had a nice dinner, followed by Greek Ouzo for dessert!  Yum!  Didn't know it was so good!  We ended the evening by joining Derya's sister and fiance for a cup of tea at a local place along the waterfront.  

Izmir was a great place and I am so glad I decided to stay there.  Makbule did a great job of matching me with first her father and then her friends.