An American Life in Istanbul

Current Mood: Happy

My weekend was pretty good. Unfortunately I currently only have pictures from Saturday and Sunday, but hopefully I will get some pictures from Friday.

Friday Night: We did an evening Bosporus cruise on Izzy’s yacht with a mixed group of about 12. Ant, Izzy and Erman were there from the people that I knew. Murat’s cousin Irem also joined us (she is visiting for the summer). At the end of the cruise we rolled up to Sortie (one of the clubs by the sea) and then spent the evening partying there. It was great fun. I met with another group of friends there (Nail’s friends) and we partied all night. Unfortunately Izzy went home before me and could not be woken by his cell phone’s rings. I therefore ended up having to wake up Tahsin at 7am and go stay at his house.

The rest of the weekend: I took a bunch of pictures over the rest of the weekend. Not feeling well from the previous night’s partying, we went bowling on Saturday with Izzy’s friends from high school. Turks have a way of sticking with their friends. From what I can tell, their group of friends hasn’t changed much since high school. Anyway, here are the pictures!

They spelled my name Korner for some reason.

That’s Adnan, one of Izzy’s friends. He lives on the Asian side but I still see him pretty regularly.

This is Erman. I have been hanging out with him more and more. He’s polite, friendly, and intelligent.

Ali Emre on the left and Dilek (sp?) on the right. I see Ali Emre often, Dilek a little less often. Dilek always seems to understand me, and responds to me, but I rarely here her speak english.

Adnan and his girl friend Amber. He looks very serious here because I was kicking his butt so badly.

So, the thing about Izzy and his friends is that they are all car fanatics. Jason (the closest one here), Adnan, Ali Emre, and Ant are all car fanatics. After bowling they all played racing games, and they all argued like crazy about some stupid cars.

It’s not just them either. I was speaking with Alper about how cars seem to be such a big deal here in Turkey. He said that because houses are very expensive, and apartments are difficult to be showy with, Turkish people like to have nice cars as a public display. This is similar in the US, but from what I can tell it is more so here. My friend Demir says that if you have a nice car, it is very easy to get a girl friend in Turkey. I guess Murat and I are the exception to Demir’s theory.

Jason playing some stupid punching game. Can you guess who scored the highest?

On a side note, I would like to tell you a story of what Jason did to his room. This is, one of the most bizarre stories I have ever heard, and as soon as I get the pictures, I will post them. While out at Home Depot, Jason’s friend told him jokingly it would be cool to make his room like a beach. Jason took this as an honest piece of wisdom and got a little carried away.

He waited until his room mate was gone for a week and then went out and bought:

• A hammock
• A palm tree
• 1 ton of sand (I am not exaggerating in the slightest)

sand+tree+hammock = beach. He even put heaters in to heat the sand in the morning so it wouldn’t be cold. Keep in mind this is an apartment, not a porch or anything outdoors. So after a month or two, he has been having back problems, the hammock stretched so now it’s so deep he can barely get out. There is sand everywhere. He managed to lose an unfinished burger in the sand which led to an ant infestation, which he solved with a flammable fluid and a lighter, which then led to his curtains catching on fire. Furthermore, because the hammock swings side to side, it has punched a whole in the wall of his room. With the new wisdom of what a sandy room is like, Jason is now left with the challenge of getting rid of all of the sand. He certainly is bold and creative. Good luck with your sand Jason.

Sunday afternoon we went climbing. Jason was terrible.

This is the first time I ever climbed lead. The lead climber is the one who sets the rope. So you start climbing with no rope supporting you and you hook it in as you go. It can be tricky when you have to support yourself in an awkward position with one hand while the other fumbles with the rope to hook it into the hook. I did two lead climbs. I was very proud of myself.

Since I weigh so much, Izzy and Jason had to hook to each other to make sure Izzy wouldn’t get pulled up as I fell.

So that was my weekend. It was pretty great. On a side note, my wrist has been killing me and I don’t know why. I will go see a doctor tomorrow. I have a feeling he’s going to tell me to stop climbing which will suck.

Also, I feel more and more like I am becoming a member of Izzy’s group of high school friends. It’s good to feel like I am part of the group.

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