Çok Teşekkür Ederim

Or, thank you very much is a Turkish word I used most frequently this past month not just because it was the easiest word to use considering my limited Turkish vocabulary, but because I think I was genuinely thankful for the hospitality and warmth experienced in Turkey.

Walking Across Istanbul

I spent the last 3 days in Turkey walking across Istanbul (literally) and exploring old Turkish traditions and new Turkish traditions.

The city itself with all its history has a lot to offer, especially if you want to understand the Turkish culture and some of their handed down traditions. So, a walk through the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and Topkapi palace gives you a good feel for how people lived in this area from as early the 1500’s. The Blue Mosque is still a working mosque and from what I saw tradition hasn't changed much over time as far as prayers are concerned.

Çemberlitas is the old Turkish bath… after all that walking; this was more than welcome at the end of the day. There’s so much hype today around Spa treatments; well here it just seemed like the natural thing to do (for centuries).

Nargile (or Hookah) is very very common in this region. There are tea gardens (and if like me you’re visualizing tea bushes and open spaces), a tea garden really is a place where they serve Chai. And there are some quaint Nargile places in these tea gardens which are typically housed in some ancient building. My favorite had to be the one at the back of the cemetery, and not just because they made an excellent Gözleme (potato and cheese crepe)! Looking around, it feels like Nargile is one age old tradition that’s survived very well; pictures on the wall depict men sitting around after work, talking and enjoying their Nargile and the place itself was filled with men with their laptops and iphones enjoying their Nargile! (And, I have to say facial expressions sure haven’t changed over the years)

Shopping at the grand bazaar is like walking into a 100 year old building, well technically the building itself is over a 100 years old, and then looking at everything from handmade in Turkey to I've seen that in Chinatown to hmmm, feels like something from a regular mall! Maybe lamps and carpets were sold here from the beginning of time, but it sure was interesting to see a make-up store like MAC and Godiva amongst everything else!

An afternoon walk from Kabatas station to Ortakoy to sit by the pier and eat Kumpir (baked potato with several toppings!) and stuffed waffles meant walking past palaces (the Dolmabache and the Ciragon) and Five star hotels (like the Four Seasons and Kempinski). Kumpir and waffles, no matter what you say are Turkish traditions of today; the area is famous for it and everyone was headed in that direction to do exactly the same thing we were. We picked the perfect time to be walking back through Beşiktaş that day as the team from that area, yes "Beşiktaş" had soccer match with a team called Trabzonspor and it was just about to start. The streets were filled with black and white t-shirts drinking beer, eating meatball sandwiches and singing; drunk singing or singing a team song, I wouldn't know but the locals certainly did as they all joined in!

My team will agree that I've become a little addicted to Turkish coffee over the past month and this felt like my last chance to drink as much as I possibly could… so I went to the really old places like Sultanahmet Köftecisi (Estd 1920) and Hafiz Mustafa (Estd 1864), the newer cafes attached to small inns catering to the ever growing tourist population, the street vendors and the larger chains like the Turkish Khave Dunyasi and the very International Starbucks. Turkish coffee is Turkish coffee and I loved everyplace that served it!

A Turkish Farewell meal!

Thursday being my last day in this city, I was determined to do something absolutely Turkish and enjoy everything Izmir has to offer. So, no I couldn't possibly do French food or pizza; it just had to be Turkish and having been in Turkey a month, I decided I was qualified enough to plan a Turkish Farewell meal for myself!

So, first stop Mangal for some Turkish grill. You order meat by the kilo here and we decided on some Turkish sausage, meatballs and chicken wings. Served with bread, yogurt and the traditional Turkish appetizers of tomato and aubergine; the meat we choose was perfectly grilled and couldn't have been tastier. Following tradition, we ended our meal with Chai and decided on Künefe for dessert. 

But it had to be the best so we walked across the street to Ora. Künefe is dessert made with cottage cheese, shredded wheat and sugar syrup with pistachio on the top. After I ordered, I think I may have surprised the waiter when he said Dondurma and before he think of how to translate that for me I said “yes, with ice cream”.

 

And then my favorite part… we walked down to the sea side; sat at one of the cafes right by the water and ordered Turkish Kahve!

Before headed back to the hotel, I decided to do a long walk along the sea. I remember when I landed in Izmir almost a month ago; I arrived as the sun was setting. Everything between the sky and the sea had turned an amazing reddish orange. As I was walking along that evening, I saw a crescent moon rising in the sky. I arrived with the sun set and left with the moon rising; seemed like a sign that my time here was done.

Well begun is half done.

But certainly NOT in this case!

I remember starting off on this journey and how excited I was when I first found out I was going to Turkey. I also remember being quite anxious yet enthusiastic when I heard about the project itself. The scope seemed very vast and at the same time wasn't well defined. But of course, that was because our deliverable itself was to create those definitions and develop a road-map.

When I arrived in Istanbul a month ago, I met 14 others who reflected my feelings and were just as excited as I was. There must have been something driving us through this project, passion for the work perhaps, the fact that we had a closely knit team with diverse experience or maybe it was our clients and their commitment and belief in Izmir and developing this awesome city. So whatever it was, after a month spent working and deliberating, our last milestone had arrived and it was time to present our final deliverable.  I’m guessing most of us surprised ourselves with the outcome!

Thursday was the last time I would be driving to the Iztech Campus; we were to go to the main library building and present our findings and recommendations. I have to admit while part of me was thrilled to be sharing our project findings, most of me was just sad that it was almost over.

As expected, we had an excellent morning reviewing the projects and the outcome. The rector even mentioned they were going to publish two books based on some of our findings; I will look forward to seeing that. The Iztekgeb team had done so much for us and we’d grown so used to working with them and that just made the final goodbyes so hard.

 

Friday afternoon and it’s our last stop – IBM Istanbul and a debriefing meeting with County General Manager, Michel Charouk. Phew! All done.

So, yes it was well begun and well done.

And did I mention we even made it to the local newspapers? What a surprise that was!!

Globalization.

If I were to tell you what I did most of Tuesday and you didn't know where in the world I was, you might have had a hard time identifying the country! And that in my opinion is called Globalization. We live in a world where everything across countries has become so accessible to us that we no longer have to worry about going to Louisiana to each Cajun Chicken!

At 1pm, we walked into the French Institute where they have a classic French restaurant in their garden. The food is more European rather than just French and they do make an excellent Tiramisu.

 Later that evening, while my original plan was to get some Turkish coffee by the sea, Sanjay walked in with a menu from a Chinese Restaurant. Honestly, I hadn't even thought about Chinese food since I got her; so Red Dragon it was - Sweet corn chicken soup, noodles and Jasmine tea.

When I got back to the hotel, I ended up joining Sara, Subra, Frank and Antonio to watch Monday Night Football; NFL in Turkey! Chips, Doritos, popcorn and soda to go with it!

That was pretty much the last thing I thought I’d be seeing, but well living in a multicultural city and working with a global team, what else could you expect!

There’s a reason I never paid attention in Physics, Chemistry and Biology…

…. and that’s probably because those subjects just never held my attention. I remember back in school, I’d be waiting to get thrown out of Biology Lab so I could go sit out in the garden and string flowers together or I’d go to Chemistry Lab and make really good use my time drawing in my art book.

On Monday afternoon, the IZTECH Team arranged to take us on a tour of the Research centers at the university. And while part of me wished I’d paid more attention at school so I could follow the conversation better, the other part of me might have been admiring the artwork on the wall. 

As we walked through each of the departments and were shown all the equipment and told about wave theory and cell division, I couldn't help but notice how hi tech all the equipment at IYTE was. The students all doing the doctorates were clearly very very knowledable and passionate about their work. I can certainly see all them filing for some pretty exciting patents in the near future!

Some of the artwork at the Izmir Institute of Technology.

We love street food.

There isn't a country in the world where you don’t see street food and like they say; if you want to get really really local, then you just have to try the street food. Fortunately, having lived my whole life in India I have developed some level of immunity which helps as I can now confidently indulge!

Izmir has been no different… so apart from all the freshly squeezed juices, coffee and chai that’s carted around or driven around on cycles and motor bikes, there’s everything from corn on the cob to oysters. The oysters! No, I wouldn't try it even tho they’re in plenty when you walk down the seaside and everyone seems to be slapping on lime and eating them by the dozen. 

However, there’s tons I couldn't get enough of.

   My favorite by far has been the ‘Durum’; similar to shawarma, chicken or meat put into a wrap or a bun. They vary from vendor to vendor as I guess each has his own secret ingredient, but this never disappoints. The ice cream or dondurma as they call it here is to die for whether in a cone or between a sandwich. And you really can’t afford to walk around the bazaars and not pick up peanuts, cashew nuts or hazel nuts. Hotdogs, Simit (almost like a  bagel)... I could do those in passing.

Turkish delight is a whole different story; there’s so many varieties and flavors, you could try a different one each day and not get all the variations in a year.