I recently got back from two weeks in the US. When I made the reservations I was planning to come back to my job. Since I am not working anymore, that was not the case. Instead I have been spending time with my friends planning my next step.
A lot of people asked the standard questions; was it fun? did you see your family? what did you do? where did you go? what did you miss most? One question in particular grabbed me. Someone asked me what I surprised me, or rather what grabbed me in the US that I had forgotten about, what was different from Turkey that I was now noticing after having been in Turkey for so long. I couldn’t think of anything that grabbed me about the US, but after two weeks in the US, I noticed something about Turkey: Istanbul is ugly.
I guess I never realized the extent of Turkey’s ugliness. After having visited various cities in the US, it really hit me when I got back. Once you get away from the really old parts of the city, all the building are really cheaply built, with bad architecture, cracks, peeling paint, tons of air conditioners hanging out of windows, tons of satellite dishes and antennas, the windows aren’t clean. It’s as if no one pays to upkeep the multitude of oddly colored shoddy buildings. On top of that, it’s dirty and nothing is green. Here’s a few pictures (I know this kind of comparison isn’t exactly fair, but you have to see for yourself how ugly it is when you get to the parts built in the last 20 years).
Istanbul (left) and Philadelphia (right). I went to Phily to visit my brother who is doing a masters degree at UPenn.
Istanbul (left) and Baltimore (right). I didn’t go to Baltimore, but I did go to another small town in Maryland where I visited my aunt, and her family.
In addition to having a good time I brought back some things that I felt were missing here in Turkey. I meant to get grill seasoning and good BBQ sauce but I forgot those. I did however bring a magazine listing cars for sale and apartments for rent (in Pittsburgh), which I gave to Alper. He is always asking me about how much things cost in the US so I figure those to magazines would answer many of his questions better than I could. I also brough back Beer:
From the left: Sawtooth ale from the Left Hand brewing company in Colorado, blackberry wheat ale from Long Trail brewing company in Vermont, Ruination India Pale Ale from the Stone Brewery in California, Hoptical Illusion from the Blue Point brewing company in Long Island New York (near where I am from), and the Yeti Imperial Stout from the Great Divide brewing company in Colorado. I only had limited space so I tried to grab a decent selection. Apparently, according to the only brewer I know in Istanbul, Harvey (he’s from California), the reason beer here sucks is because Efes - the leading beer distributor - won’t let anyone import, and the water here is not right for beer. There are too many unwanted salts and things in the water. He says he’s going to start using reverse osmosis to take everything out of the water, and then add what he wants, to mimic good beer brewing water. He said an IPA is on the way!
Girl Scout cookies! Of course. I can’t believe I never though of this before. My little cousin Olivia does the girl scout cookie fund raiser so my Aunt Beth (her mother) reserved a few boxes for me. I thought the best use would be to bring them to Istanbul and share them with my Turkish friends. I am planning to open them this weekend. In the US, there are boy scouts, and girl scouts. To raise money, the girl scouts have been selling the same cookies for years and years and years. They are very good, and very popular. Kind of expensive but it’s for a good cause right? It helps support the creation of strong, independent women with good leadership abilities. I used to buy a bunch of these when I was in university for $3.50 per box. I would buy some for my friends who would buy them at value. When they would run out, they would always come looking for more, either drunk or hungover. I would charge extortionist prices which they would begrudgingly pay. I think I sold one box for over 10 dollars one time.
I also brought back with me a bunch of out of print games that I want to play with some of my friends here. I unfortunately left them with Izzy so I don’t have a picture.
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May 6th, 2008 at 11:46 am
dude that is definitely not a fair comparison. you can say lots of buildings are ugly or maintained poorly but Istanbul as a whole is definitely a really beatiful city. you are looking at the zits of a good looking guy. or the few extra pounds on a potentially hot girl. she could be really hot if she lost some weight but she is still pretty good looking.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Yes, I know, but this was the very first thing that came to mind when I got off the airplane and was in the car on my way back to my apartment. The older parts and the parts around the Bosporus are nice, but when you get out towards where I live, it’s an endless sea of oddly colored buildings, with no uniform architecture. Cracks and maintenance aside, few new buildings are built in aesthetic way that blends well with the other buildings around them, or with the landscape.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:37 am
ok, first of all, i agree with izzie/izzy that istanbul is still a hot girl who needs to lose some pounds. esp. since that hot girl is the wallpaper for my desktop.
but yeah, you’re right, only near the Bosporus.
second, fucking hilarious that you charged your pissed friends for girl scouts cookies at 10 dollars a box. awesome. unless you ever try to do that to me.
third, i’m really amused that the value in girl scout cookies to you involves “creating strong independent women with good leadership skills.” not at all surprised that leadership skills are your primary concern for little girls.
May 11th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
I really do not agree with your comparison. As a person who has been to both Istanbul and Philadelphia a few times, I have seen very ugly buildings and streets in Philadelphia and much more beautiful places in Istanbul. So the picture of Philly up there is basically is one of the most famous and the best looking streets in downtown Philly. Now, find a pic that shows one of the most famous and best looking street in Istanbul and compare. Then you would be fair.
May 11th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Hi MediterraneanTurkishCook,
Well I did say “Here’s a few pictures (I know this kind of comparison isn’t exactly fair, but you have to see for yourself how ugly it is when you get to the parts built in the last 20 years).”
So yes you are correct that this is not a fair comparison. I know that, but I think i have not communicated well what I meant to say. I think that you have been to Istanbul where as I have lived in it. I lived the past year in one of the newly sprung areas on the edges of the city. Most of which has been built in the past five years. That area is pretty ugly. The inner city; Etiler, Taksim, Sultan Ahmet, Besiktas, Caddebostan… and so on, are nice and charming. It’s just the city has grown so fast, a lot of it has been built without much planning, or much attention to aesthetics.
If you only visit Istanbul, you see a very different side than if you live somewhere outside the city. This was the first thing that came to mind when I came back after two weeks in the US.
May 26th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Interesting blog. My daughter and her husband & I will be on a cruise that ends in Istanbul. It will be our first time. We are from the suburbs of Philadelphia and have to agree that their are the ‘ugly’ parts of every city. There are frustrations here as well where places are not kept up.
Sometimes all it takes is a broom, a little paint and to pull some weeds.
We are very anxious to see Istanbul in September.
Any suggestions?
aunt mimi