Istanbul ABC 2006

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Timewarp to 2006. Four months teaching in a R to 12 private school in Istanbul, where I learnt all about teaching in other peoples education systems by making mistake after mistake. Sincere thanks to all of those hardworking Turkish and Expat teachers who were kind, patient and supportive. This was my first ABC. Enjoy.

There is a golden bust of Atatürk (founder of the modern Turkish Republic) in every school courtyard, and a photo of him in every classroom

Bus drivers pick you up 400metres before the stop, if you watch them pass, pleadingly. They wait while you run the last 100 metres.

Street cats are about 6 per hundred metre walk, and dine out of the rubbish trolleys.

Street dogs are desexed, given inoculations and ear tagged by the city council. Anyone bitten by one is collected daily by the police, to ensure they receive their full course of rabies shots.

Etiler, Levent, and Akatler amongst the wealthy suburbs preferred by the Expat Community, with lots of gated communities. I lived in Etiler and taught in Akatlar

A florist and a hairdresser grace the bottom of every second apartment building in Etiler.

Garbage is put in large mobile trolleys on the roadside and collected twice daily, once in the early evening and once at about 3 am.

Horns seem to make the cars go better in heavy traffic.

Istanbul was Constantinople … and was Byzantium.

Each apartment building has a janitor, called the kupujee (sp. Kapıcı), who delivers bread in the afternoon, takes out the garbage every evening and keeps an eye on security.

Kilims are beautiful rugs, in the most fantastical colours and patterns… the bazaars are packed with salesmen trying to sell them to you.

Window ledges are very narrow, and barefooted cleaners climb onto 5^th floor ledges, to wash the outside windows, regularly.

Mosques(camii) play “call to prayer” on loud hailers 5 times a day; they start them in relay, so the whole valley echoes with one after another at 5.30am.

Water restrictions needed? Simple: the city of Istanbul turn off the water supply to everyone, absolutely everyone in greater Istanbul for 18 hours, to preserve the precious water supply.

Ottoman sultans built fantastic palaces and mosques in Constantinople.

Crossing the road at a pedestrian crossing, does not ensure that the cars will stop, or even slow down for you.

Queuing anywhere, for anything is a totally alien concept in Turkey.

Street sellers and garbage pickers push barrows around, calling out undecipherable (even for Turkish speakers) messages.

Akbils are smart tickets for the public transport system – little silver buttons on a stick that make ticket machines go beep.

Unusual sight, 4 black burkha’d women in a Merecedes people mover, smoking and playing with their mobile phones.

There are 22 varieties of Turkish delight, and counting.

Working hours for locals are very long here, and many hours are spent chatting, playing backgammon, drinking tea or just sitting.

Expensive cars are common. At mid afternoon prayer time, a blue Peugeot work van pulled up in front of the Camii, and the workman popped in for a quick prayer.

Ye Te Le is the name of the Turkish Lira, worth about an Australian Dollar (2006).

Zoos are non existent in Turkey, and only crows, swallows, seagulls and sparrows appear to be wild.

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Photos

Attaturk
In the school courtyard

Attaturk again
In every classroom

My apartment
On the ground floor

San Sofia
Compulsory tourist shot

Comments

[toni]

When do we get the Jinhua ABC?

[paid to travel]

Jinhua ABC
The easy letters are written, now for the XYZ before I can publish.