I. I've started to consider what neighborhood of Istanbul I want to live in. Yesterday after "work" I decided to go on a bus adventure to see how long it would take to get from my school to my #1 'hood choice. I sort of made the decision last minute - I saw a bus coming my way and noticed its end destination and, having no plans for the afternoon, jumped on. It took more than an hour, buuut Fridays are the worst of all traffic days (i.e. the bus I take to my fam's house can take 20 minutes during 0 traffic and up to an hour plus with traffic). So, that's good to know. But that's not entirely the point of this #1.
After spending the past five years of my life in Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, and Madison, bicycles were always part of the daily scenery. And fixed geared bicycles, the flashier the better, always stood out. But here, I rarely/never see people riding bikes in my day to day life. I see some occasionally and always stare in awe when I do, considering the fact that sometimes the sidewalks are not entirely safe (thanks, delivery bros using the sidewalks to drive their motorcycles). I see more bike ridin' closer to the water, especially this one awesome pedestrian/bike path that stretches for quite a distance on da Azn side (where I live). ANYWAYS ANYWAYS! Thanks to my last minute decision to take a diff bus yesterday I - are you ready - SAW AN ALTBRO RIDING A FIXED GEAR. And he wasn't even ON the sidewalk, he was riding alongside the bus I was on. Tattoos on his forearms, messenger bag and all. WHERE WAS I for that moment?
Fixed gear photo here - you can buy this bike, people!My cousin has a super nice bike here, and when I got back I told him about what I had seen. Once I managed to explain it (in the end by using his bike as a prop), he repeated over and over again that fixed gears were "saçma" (didn't make sense, ridiculous, stupid) as well as "tehlikeli" (dangerous).
II. On a sadder infiltration note: as mentioned previously, I spotted a girl wearing Uggs on Istiklal Cad. a bit ago. Well, my epic bus adventure yesterday also took me down Bağdat Cad. (click
here for a heck of detailed article about the street) which is basically a hell of $$$ baller $$$ street. I saw approximately 5 girls wearing Uggs and, sigh, leggings. As we were turning off the road, I saw it: an
exclusively Uggs store. No escaping it. After our fixed gear conversation, I asked my cousin what he thought about Uggs. His opinion? They're ugly and expensive. Holler!
III. While I was waiting for a bus home yesterday (post-adventure) a girl waiting at the stop came up and asked me a question. I shot her an auto "bilmiyorum" (I don't know). Then all of a sudden I realized some things: I understood what she asked, and I could answer. So I did, and she thanked me, and in my little heart I was jumping up and down in excitement. The little things! In summary, I did something different with my day and some sweet shit happened.
IV. I hope I see my aunt soon so she can give me those books and/or I do that book trade with Dan. I've been reading
A People's History of the United States online [
link] since I never read it in its entirety and ugh I hate reading online (I can't underline! I can't make notes!). But beggars can't be choosers eh? Aaaand finally I need to make a pros/cons list and/or have someone talk some sense into me so hopefully I can arrange that by Monday morning (Istanbul time). Here's hoping.
Smooches,
