Yabancı Soccer Hooligans in Constantinople

Rough-looking Beşiktaş hooligans
near the Stadium











Beşiktaş fans Frances and Orin went to the game last night to see their heroes take on Bursaspor, the lowly "Greens" from provincial Bursa. Beşiktaş, with its trademark black and white uniforms, is a mix of Turkish players and a couple of Rent-A-Brazilians coached by the great former French international Tigana. The team is medicore, and although Tigana is close to 50, it might not be a bad idea to suit him up.

Frances's friends had warned her it was "dangerous" to go to a Beşiktaş game. We did, after all, watch some scattered gratuitous hooligan rock-throwing at the police and bad behavior on the news after the last game. But Frances and Orin pushed their way through the various police gates and crowd control, prison-like checkpoints and barricades with the rest of the mostly young, male, and only mildly chemically altered crowd. A few derogatory mutterings of yabancı, or foreigner, were heard from the police, who perhaps patted Orin down with a bit of unnecessary vigor and for a moment seemed ready to haul him off in the paddy-wagon as a suspiciously un-Turkish, insufficently-Ataturk adoring character.

Bursaspor, the visiting team, was hospitably greeted by a shower of bottles and the hostile whistling of 30,000 people, which Frances believed might be used by Peter Jackson as the sound-effects for the Nazgul in some future Lord of the Rings sequel. The visitors warmed up packed close in the middle of the field to remain out of the projectile flinging range of the Beşiktaş supporters, who on this night did not light any trash cans on fire or set off in rockets in the stands as their sometime custom. Ringing the field were police in full riot gear with large German shephards. We wondered how it might feel to be a Bursaspor player -- with the knowledge that only the police stood between them and having the large, restless, spoiling-for-a-fight crowd storm the field to, at best, beat them to a pulp.

Frances and Orin enjoyed the excellent chanting of the Beşiktaş supporters, who we agreed are more than the equal of our own Cameron Crazies. Our lack of understanding of Turkish was a handicap, but some of the songs sung by the fans were adulatory anthems to their beloved "black-and-whites." Others appeared to be directed at the visiting side; Frances and Orin's best guess was that they might be roughly translated as "Death to Bursaspor."

Bursapor scored the first goal and the half ended with the visitors leading 1 to 0. This turn of events was not warmly greeted by the Beşiktaş faithful. They took aim from the stands at the exiting Bursaspor players -- and the referees, who were naturally to blame for bias against Beşiktaş side. Full one-liter bottles of water seemed to be the favored projectile, and Bursaspor players showed considerable agility in dodging them. Helpfully, the Turkish police formed a Myrmidon-like tunnel with their plastic riot shield to give the visiting side a chance to get off the field.

The home team stormed back with three goals in the second half, and the appeased Beşkitaş faithful did not even throw any rocks at the police when the game was over.

Frances and Orin had an excellent time.

Turkey in Turkey

Here is the proof -- we found a turkey in Turkey (no small feat) and had a feast with friends Yvonne, Rebecca and Edie, who is visiting from California. Thanks to Edie's large suitcase, we even had sage for the stuffing and cranberry sauce. Turkish innovations included dried mulberries, pistachios and kalamata olives for starters, kabak for the pumpkin pie and kaymak, clotted cream that is so thick you slice it with a knife. Ray was, in fact, present, though hid under the table, playing the necessary role of the misbehaving child. Since it is still technically Thanksgiving in the US, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

Snow greeted us this morning -- big, wet flakes that immediately dissolved into rain on the ground. Nevertheless, we forged into Macka Park to catch snowflakes, throw some iceballs and get cold enough to fix hot chocolate at home. The snow is supposed to persist through the weekend, then Istanbul will warm into the 50s. But snow over the Bosphorus (and thunder!) is something none of us will forget...

Turkey dream country

A fun tourism video of Turkey was playing on all of the video monitors in the Covered Market recently, and I found it online -- it captures the history and many of the modern attractions of the country. I especially like the hordes in the Metro! Click here to watch...

Ray and Frances in Aphrodisias

Ray (and Frances) ran the Greek stadium at Aphrodisias while Frances also sang from the city's stunning stage (Ray was exploring the spooky caves underneath her feet).

Levels at Troy

One of the most interesting things about Troy is not the link to the ancient legend of the battle waged there, but how many "Troys" there actually were -- at least 10, not counting all the levels within each of the separate 10 eras. Here was a site almost continuously occupied for millenia, with earthwuakes, wars and invasions occasionally wiping out, but never erasing entirely the site of a settled populace. Scientists still argue over whether the Troy of Paris, Helen, Hector and Achilles (or Orlando, Eric and Brad, if you will) was 6 or 7. Both were destroyed by fire, but there is a question of whether the peoples at the time eventually returned to rebuild or vanished (as they did in the epics. Here is a shot of some of the levels, marked by the small, white placards.

Roman amenities at Ephesus

Orin, Hakan and Ray are trying out the men's facilities. Even in ancient times, the men had more bathrooms than the women!

Ephesus library

Ephesus was one of the largest cities in antiquity, and its stunning library facade can still provoke astonishment. Sadly, not a single one of the texts once stored here survived. Interestingly, the library faced the brothel (!), a true diversity of pursuits. One of the most haunting things we have found at these sites is ancient graffiti -- even in the super-serious walls of the Aya Sofya, there are, dug into the marble, ancient doodles, some quite intricate (like a ship with oars or the leavings of one marauding Viking who took the time to leave his name). Here, Frances and Ray showed tremendous stamina, avoiding getting "ruined out" by climbing the chunks of masonry, peeking into the caves and generally using every sense to explore...

Happy Halloween

Dear Friends and Family-

BOO! Happy halloween from the Starn-Kirks. They don't really celebrate it here, but at my school we dressed up and had lots of activities. It was a lot of fun! I was geek... I couldn't think of anything better, with the lack of costume I have.

This past week we went in a trip around the Aegean (Ege in Turkish) with our friends Ayse and Hakan and Grancy and Grandy, my grandparents, but they were only there for 4 days. If I told you all the things we did with detail, it would be a very long blog entry. So, I'll just tell you where we went and you can be jealous.

Ephesus (ruins)
Pammukale (thermal baths)
Pergamon (ruins)
Aphrodisius (ruins)
St. John the Baptists Church (ruins)
Bursa's Grand Mousk (mousk)
Bursa's Green Mousk (mousk, again. It wasn't even green!)

A whole bunch of other places to. I don't remember all of them at the moment though.

Over six days we spent about 33 hours driving, 2000km around Turkey. It was a lot of fun and really beautiful. Turkey is amazing.

Come visit us?

Frances

Air hockey at Ramazan

Lest anyone assume that Ramazan is a time of high seriousness, please view this video of Orin and Ray playing special Ramazan air hockey. This table is set up in front of the Blue Mosque, itself filled with book shops selling Korans and a lot of other books, including steamy romances, cartoons and the inevitable Da Vinci Sifresi, "The Da Vinci Code." While it is true that many of the devout do not eat between dawn and dusk, once dusk arrives, there is a big, happy party, with excellent food, good music and games like these. You'll hear the five times daily call to prayer come on about 10 seconds into the clip...

Pamuk and Alaadin's shop...

If you have read Pamuk’s “The Black Book,” you will remember his early chapter (Chapter Four) about the store-keeper, Alaaddin. The character is based on the real Alaaddin, whose store is five blocks from our apartment. It is a large corner store packed to the gills with things you would never expect. On our fourth day in Istanbul, Ray bought a two-foot-high robot there...

I’ll let the Nobel take it from here:

For years on end, he’d bound those old Texas and Tom Mix comics with his own two hands; every morning, while the city slept, he’d opened his shop, swept it out, tacked his magazines and newspapers to the door and the chestnut tree next to it, and arranged his latest novelties in the window. He’s combed the city for toy ballerinas that twirled when you brought a magnetic mirror near them, and tricolored shoelaces, and small plastic statues of Ataturk that had blue light bulbs in their eye sockets, and pencil sharpeners shaped like Dutch windmills; signs saying “for rent” and signs saying “in the name of God, the compassionate and merciful; pine flavored chewing gum that came with birds numbering from one to a hundred, and pink backgammon dice that you couldn’t find anywhere by the Covered Bazaar… (and on and on!)

So here is a picture of Alaaddin’s store, with the news of Pamuk’s win of the Nobel Prize plastered over the headlines (and Milliyet, playing on “My Name is Red,” with “Benim adın Nobel,” my name is Nobel).

Merhaba, nasilsinis?

Hello there wonderful family, friends!

Istanbul is getting to be home, the bus to and from school is horrible, school and school is tiring. Just like home. :)

But, I actually like it here. I like my room, friends, the pets across the street. It's becoming.. my city. Just like Durham is my town. I have exams in almost all of my subjects coming, which is kind of scary.

Other than school, friends (I went to Akmerkez, a huuge shopping mall with Selin about 3 times) nothing much is happening.

But, I want to make this a longer entry, so I guess I'll tell you about Akmerkez. I know that's what you have wanted to hear about since the day you were born. Shopping malls. : )

So, Akmerkez is huge, huge, huge. 5 stories, everything from pets shops, cds stores, and even a cinema. And, of course, a starbucks. Everytime except once I've been there I've gotten a frappucino. Thank god for people who think frappucinos are actually coffee. Don't tell them it's really just an overpriced milkshake. Shhhh.

And lots, lots, lots of clothing stores. Two adidas & nikes (I'm currently saving for a lime green nike sweatshirt that I fell in love with. Even though my dad says that buying their stuff is just becoming a human bilboard for a multi million dollar industry, I really like the sweatshirt). Plus, Akmerkez is a 3 or 4 stop bus ride & 7 minute walk from Selins house. Can you say a home away from home?

Hah, so I think I've bored you enough with my insignificant rambling.

Much love,

F.

Meet 155

On my daily runs, I make my way three blocks south to Macka Park, which slopes down to the Bosphorus just sort of Dolmabahce Palace, where the Ottoman sultans lived in the 1800s. There is some green space and trees, with pleasant walking paths and cafes advertising tea and the smoking pipes called nargiles. At the base of the park is a tangle of red stone paths were the morning exercisers gather. Most are "of a certain age" -- I think the younger set prefers the Techno-Gym with its blaring disco music and 24 hour CNN. There are many stray dogs and cats who live permanently in the park. Very soon after running in the park, I met 155, one of the stray dogs who is sweet-tempered and friendly. Several days later, I noticed that he was limping, having been bitten or hit in some way.

Here is his picture -- he was posing very nicely! I call him 155 because that it the number on the plastic tag in his ear. Most municipalities in Turkey have a "catch and release" program. They take in stray animals, spay and vaccinate them, then release them back into the city. I'm not sure how well this works -- we see many, many kittens and puppies, some not in great shape. But we also see pretty healthy (and not starving) animals like 155. Despite being a stray, he is very socialized and goes to humans easily. Unlike in Latin America, where one often sees people kicking at or throwing stones at strays, I have yet to see that here. Instead, people leave food out for them and make sure they have clean water. In some apartment buildings, they even have bowls attached to strings, to lower food during the day.

I think 155 is pretty happy, so there's no risk that we will adopt him. But I do hope he makes it through the winter (perhaps by sticking close to the pipe-smoking cafes and their ambient warmth!).

A Visit to Buyukuda

Buyukuda means big island in Turkish. It's a half-hour ferry ride from Istanbul out into the Sea of Marmara -- and, blessedly, car free with gorgeous views, wonderful seafood, funky houses and mansions, and twin forested hills. Ray, Frances, and their attendants rode the three miles eight around the island once on a bike; then they rode around in horse carriage. Ray took a nasty tumble on his bike, but came away with scrapes. Frances posed against the gorgeous Sea of Marmara; and Robin, Frances, and Ray appear with the horse driver, who is much attached to his horses, Pistachio and Feliz.

A Friend

So, I have officially had my first sleepover in Instanbul.

-wild cheer-

Yes, yes, thank you very much. With my friend Selin. I know you probably don't want to hear the details, but it was very fun and rewarding.

Other than that, school plods as usual, demanding two papers due on Wensday and Thursday, leaving me exhausted when I come home from school.

I have now met all of the girls Ayse wanted me to meet, and they are all great. Ada, whom I met last night, lives literally 3 or 4 buildings down from me. She also has a cat who I want to steal.

:D

I'm feeling a little sick today, so my parents and brother went out to a palace near Aya Sophia. I seriously wish my parents luck. They got a crazy idea that Ray can last a 2 hour tour.

Much Love,

Frances

Skype

This is just a reminder that we are on Skype (User name: robinkirk). And here is Frances to prove it -- talking with her Grandparents Frances and Randy, currently in Florence, Italy. So if you tell us when you want to call, we can make it happen! 

Shopping in Atasehir

Ayse took us to the Asian side on Saturday -- Frances and Ray attended an art class run by her younger brother, Baris, while we explored the giant Carrefour mall. It's like Costco on steroids. People don't buy in bulk, but the variety is tremendous. And virtually everything, except the bananas (Ecuador) and the coconuts (called Hindi nuts) come from Turkey. You would be hard pressed to find bacon (sorry, NC producers) but there are lamb brains, intestines, feet, tails, livers, kidneys and stomachs, plus beef, chicken and "Hindi," i.e. turkey. The liquor on display is Yeni Raki, "New Raki," the anise-firewater. We had to return home over the First Bosphorus Bridge, in the traffic that is as much a part of today's Istanbul as the ruins and the mosques...

ISTANBUL MODERN, ORIN'S PHOTOS, SERIES 1

Ray in Caterpillar Roller Coaster, Maçka Park

Ray in Bumper Car, Maçka Park

SUV and Nusriye Mosque