Çinili Hamam in Üsküdar

Today was the perfect day to have a relaxing day at the Hamam. The weather was not much fun and we had been to Istiklal and the Besiktas Pazari the day before. We choose to go to the Çinili Hamam in Üsküdar because it is supposed to be a good one and not very touristic. We took the vapur/ferry from Kabatas to Üsküdar which was a treat on itself. On the way to Üsküdar we were brave enough to sit outside to make pictures...but it was a really cold day so on our way back we choose the more comfortable and especially more warm inside.
I had never been to Üsküdar before and I must say it was a good experience. It was much more quiet and peaceful. Lots of mosques, old Ottoman fountains, cheap markets and these herb and natural product shops. With the help of two maps we managed to find the Çinili Hamam. It looked really nice and also the interior was not bad at all.
At first we were a bit in doubt what and how to do things..but looking at the other women was a good way to learn. There were women of all ages; old granny's just wearing panties and young girls with bikini's. The atmosphere was really nice and we didn't feel so much as yabanci's! Only when we forgot the take off our slippers in the sauna they were a bit annoyed but when they found out we actually were foreigners we were also quickly forgiven. We let ourselves be scrubbed and massaged after spending some time in the sauna. And a couple of hours later we were totally reborn, refreshed and our skin felt like a baby's bum. Now I'm home and I only feel like sleeping...for some reason it feels as if I have just walked the marathon.
Some info on Çinili Hamam:
- Address: Murat Reis Mahallesi, Çavuşdere Cad. in Üsküdar
- Prices: entrance fee 14 TL, kese (scrub) 5 TL, massage 5 TL, peştemel 3 TL
- Bring your own soap, shampoo, slippers and towels (using the peştemel is unnecessary)

Bike...

How I really miss my bicycle in Istanbul.

Cultural Week

This week I've been doing quite some cultural stuff. It started with a theater play at Bilgi. The play was called Kafalar and it was about how your head can be used in so many different ways...or how everybody's head is so different. The play was in Turkish so it was a challenge to understand it. I ended up getting half of it. But the actors were really good and it was quite funny as well. I was really pleasantly surprised about the acting skills because I usually can't stand Turkish movies or soap operas because...well...try to watch it yourself. If you can actually follow the story without being annoyed by the bad acting skills, you are an absolute prof!
Than on Tuesday I went to Salsa class in Cihangir. One of the Erasmus students at Bilgi was taking it and because his dancing partner was about to leave Istanbul in a few weeks, he was looking for new dance partners. It was really so much fun. It was an advanced course, so of course I didn't know any of the steps but the music was so good and the teacher helped me out a lot. I'm still not sure if I will continue with it since it's quite expensive and also a bit unorganized. Also there weren't enough men to form equal couples. But perhaps I could just come by every now and than. I heard that in Istanbul they also have these salsa parties, so I guess I could try that out as well.
Yesterday evening me and Sabrina went to this beautiful classical concert at Bogazici. It was called 'Musica Viva ve bir Opera'. In the morning we tried to call the information desk to reserve a few tickets. So we did but they said that for students it wasn't necessary to make a reservation because there would be enough tickets and if we would come at 19.00 it wouldn't be a problem at all. So they assured us. Being somewhat used to the Istanbul traffic I left home to be at Taksim at 18.00, I thought 1 hour should be enough to go to Bogazici...Well I was wrong. It took me almost 1,5 hour and so of course we were so late to get our tickets. When we were at the ticket desk there was just ONE student ticket left! First they said that we could also buy the normal ticket..which was 20 instead of 5. They saw we were so disappointed and I tried with my broken Turkish to explain that we really want to see the concert and that we called in advance and that they said there were enough tickets..etc...making very sad faces... I guess it worked because than she gave us just a normal paper and wrote two seat numbers on it and said we should get in fast. We didn't even had to pay at all anymore! It was so funny! Than we tried to find our seats but because the lights were already turned off we just took the first seats we saw. I guess they were not even the seats she wrote down for us. So than the concert started. The first hour the orchestra played Handel and Bach and after the break there was a piece of the opera La Serva Padrona. It was soo nice and very professional. After the rush and chaotic bus ride this was exactly what I needed.


an unexpected visitor during the break

Some pictures from the Türkü Bar

Left or Right!

People of Istanbul: Please walk either on the left OR on the right side of the street!!!
It's so incredible annoying to pass by all these people who are walking exactly in the middle of the street. When you want to pass them on the left they suddenly move to the left and when you try the other side...they go to the right too. Arrhh, it's so annoying!

First steps...

Today I made a great start in the Beyazit Kütüphanesi near the Grand Bazar. I was a bit hesitating to go at first because I was alone and all the others had class. But I said to myself this is not a reason not to go. So off I went to the historical part of Istanbul not too far from Sultan Ahmed and Hagia Sofia. Of course when I arrived at the library the staff was having a lunch break and no one could help me out. Luckily there were these Psychology magazines to kill the time. It was very useful...I've found out that I am a 'Negotiator/Explorer' type and that the best match for me is with a 'Director' or also 'Explorer' type. Not long after this enlightening information the staff came back and helped me out to find the women's magazines I came to look at.
To be exact I have scanned through 135 magazines and found a lot of very good information. Most of the magazines had special corners or sections for architecture and interior design. It looks like this.

Now these articles are very important for my thesis because together with the photo's I need to collect, they will form the core of my primary source material. Hopefully I will also come across other types of primary sources, but for now these are enough.

After my visit to the library I thought I would go home walking. It was such a lovely day and I still didn't find time to look at the Sultan Ahmed mosque and walk a bit through the touristic area...and a little further..and further. And than before I realized it I was on Istiklal..so I thought I should also walk all the way home as well. This was my route:

When N gave some t's to M

This is the evening when N took us to a Greek meyhane and gave some t's to M ;)
If you're wondering why I write like this...I found out you can get in a lot of trouble by posting full names on the internet.

Birthday Song

I forgot post lovely birthday song video.

Birthday in Istanbul

Yesterday it was my 24th birthday! I'm getting old...hopefully also wiser. Together with friends we had a nice dinner and party. I prepared dinner at my place and after that we went to a Türkü Bar on Istiklal. Since I've never been to such a place before I didn't know what to think about it. I told Hasan, my flatmate, about it and he suggested we could also go to another place instead. On the other hand Miryam was so enthusiastic about it I thought we had to try it. If only for the cultural experience. It turned out not to be bad at all. There was this lovely Turkish woman singing and two musicians; one with an saz-type of thing and the other with a keyboard. It was a repertoire of melancholic and up-beat songs. The melancholic ones were a bit too much for me in the end but the other ones were perfect for dancing. Even our student coordinator from Holland also joined us to dance some kind of version of the halay.
For now I only have the pictures of the dinner at my place, I'll post the other ones later.


The cupcakes that became one huge cupcake




Happy face, not so happy face ;)

Hasan, Polina, me, Marina, Marina's friend, Esther and Miryam

First class and library trip

It looks like the registration process is almost coming to an end. I had my first Turkish class yesterday and it was really nice. Both the teacher and students are really enthusiastic so I hope this time I can really really improve my Turkish. I must say that hearing it all day long is a bit exhausting because I really have to focus all the time. But as time goes by I’m slowly getting used to it as well.
Today we had a trip to a few libraries together with our student coordinator from Holland. It was really such a nice trip. Suddenly we’re getting to know a whole different side of each other. Between the visits to the libraries we had ‘sahlep’ at the Grand Bazar and ate ‘kuru fasulye’ near the Süleymaniye Mosque. I’ve copied the pictures from internet because of course I forgot my camera today…

Registration and Fun!

Last week I’ve been quite busy with the registration at Bilgi. What started so smoothly became a disaster in the end. After I found out that it wasn’t possible to register for MA courses online I’ve been mailing and calling everyone from the International Office to the Faculty Departments. Even our supposed Erasmus Student Coordinator couldn’t help us out and referred us to our actual coordinator...it would have helped if they have given us the right information.
Luckily I had some success at the Architecture Design faculty. Yee! The instructor of a course I wanted to take turned out to be the author of the book I will use as a guideline for my thesis. I’m really happy she accepted me at the course even though she never had a international student in that course as long as she’s been teaching it. I thought this was nice and scary at the same time. Because it means that all the discussions will be in Turkish as most Turkish students don’t speak English very well at Bilgi. Well see how it turns out.
Furthermore I’ve chosen a course at Cultural Studies which Miryam also wants to take, so it’s nice if we have one class together and can help each other out. Unfortunately the department director of Cultural Studies didn’t answer our mails so we still don’t know if we can take it or not. We decided to just go to the first class as if we were accepted at it.
Next to all these registration problems I’ve been having a great time here! Together with Miryam I went to Ikea to get some things for my room. Just going and leaving from Ikea was a little adventure while it was 10 pm when we left and stood in a complete deserted dark parking lot trying to find our way back. The other day we tried to get our student transportation cards. It’s called Akbil and it’s really useful and cheap for students. But since it took us a lot of time getting it I decided to call it Kakbil…I think it suits better. Also we joined the Erasmus Student Club to a trip to Pierre Loti Hill. I still haven't decided if it was nice or not...
Last night we met with the other girls from Holland who will be in Istanbul this semester as well. We had dinner and went for Özsüt where they make delicious deserts. Tonight we’ll go out because there will be several reggae nights to celebrate Bob Marley’s birthday.



At Özsüt with Miryam, Marina and Esther



Marina and Esther



Interesting spelling of croissant



View from Pierre Loti Hill



Istanbul Fashion Week 2010 at Bilgi Santral Campus

There is rain and there is RAIN

So most people, and especially Turkish people, think of Holland as the place which is flat and that it's raining all the time. Well this actually doesn't make any sense to me at all. Because I have never experienced soooo much rain in Holland as I did here in these last two days in Istanbul. It really has been raining non-stop and in the afternoon we were treated with some wet snow as well. All the streets turn into waterfalls and pools. It's really a challenge to make your way though the city. Luckily I've figured out more or less how the public transport and the university shuttles work.
Today was also the registration at Bilgi. All was ok until I wanted to select and apply my courses online. I found out that there just simply was no option to register for the MA-courses. Also they have placed me in the wrong department, History instead of Cultural Studies and therefore I don't know yet who to contact and fix this problem. So tomorrow I'll give it another try and hopefully we can work everything out.