Football and Camera

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Well, today I went to Akmarkez, a mall about 15-20 minutes (walking or bus) away and bought a new camera. I don’t usually go to the mall back home, except the occasional trip to the Mall of America (because of Legoland), but I had a good time. I had no idea where I was going, so I just looked at the map, failed to find a “You are Here” looking picture, so just started wandering around.

I took an escalator to the basement level and figured I’d work my way up to find a camera shop; I didn’t have anything planned for the afternoon, so I figured wandering around wouldn’t hurt anything. Luckily, most of the electronics stores were in the basement and first floor, so I quickly found a camera shop, and after looking at some other models, I noticed that my previous model was in stock. So… I thought some more. I finally decided to take the chance and buy the same camera again. We’ll see what happens.

Tonight was also a night of football - the Exchange Commission organizes a weekly hour-long football match nearby, every Wednesday from 9-10. People sign up, show up, teams are then formed and you play for a solid hour. The field was odd, but it was an interesting set up. There is a building, which is basically a long hallway with locker rooms, and stairs to a balcony/rooftop. About midway down the hall there are a few steps leading up, which take you into a caged arena with artificial turf and a mesh/net roof (to keep the balls from flying up and out into the street). The cage aspect was pretty intense, as most of the people playing were really good, and had crazy-powerful kicks that shook the caged walls on impact.

Since it was an enclosed arena, we didn’t really use boundaries on the sidelines, and didn’t call off-sides, so the game quickly became one of fluid positioning, which was interesting. Everyone seems to be more talented at football here than in America. There was lots of passing, and coupled with very solid ball-handling skills all around, the game was hard but lots of fun to play.

Also, apparently there is a Turkish national cup going on, and a team nearby (who is supported widely in Turkey) won their match, so while we were playing, Zeki, one of the exchange people who organizes the matches stopped, looked in the direction of the arena several miles away and said to be “Brian, do you hear that? We won!” I thought he was talking about the play we had just done, in which case he had definitely lost because he totally missed his shot against the goalie. Quickly I realized what he meant, and could hear the celebratory din arising a few miles away. Walking back to campus there were more than a few cars waving the team flag and honking their horns as they went down the road. The excitement football stirs here is phenomenal - while American football has its fanatical adherents, it’s a totally different kind of excitement here.

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