I was walking along Baghdad Street yesterday after catching up with my gf. I was actually looking for a birthday present for her. After I got out of Zara with nothing in hand (searching for the perfect present can be such a nightmare at times!), I decided to head home and thought of walking all the way to Bostanci instead of taking the dolmus (yellow mini bus).
There was this street kid walking near me. What I meant by street kids are those for lack of better words, beggar kids. They are a pretty common sight on the streets of Turkey. You can just spot them straightaway. They are usually clad in scrubby getup and slightly tanned.
It was quite a walk from Zara to my place. Initially I didn't really pay much attention, I knew he was walking near me but it never dawned to me he could actually be tailing me.
"Hello," I heard him say. In my heart I was like, oh damn! Urghh... It always start with a 'hello'. I walked faster and simply ignored him. He then walked the same pace as me.
"What's your name?" he insisted. I pretended to not understand and look at every direction except for his. One thing I learnt is, you should never make eye contact cos that'll encourage them more.
I slowed my pace and so did he. I sped up and so did he. He was young, maybe in his teens. He kept on tugging at the sides of his jeans when he walked, as though uncomfortable with just swinging his arms carelessly when he walked. He kept staring and looking at me. I lingered around the traffic lights while waiting for my green man. He waited for me to cross before he crossed as well. What a fuckhead.
By this time, it's been like 15-20 mins of walking and I've nearly reached my place. There was a crowd coming out of a train station nearby and I dashed in, in the midst of the crowd and he fortunately lost me. What a nightmare. I was lucky this happened in the afternoon and not when it's evening and dark. I'd have been scared shit.
Never ever underestimate street kids here. One Turkish friend of mine told me once, in all seriousness,"No matter what they've done to piss you off, whether to shout 'JAPON, JAPON!' (Japan, Japan!) or tease you or disturb you, you MUST never make eye contact with them or even talk to them or response with any kind of emotions. You have no idea how dangerous they are, it doesn't matter if they're young or not. Some of them carry weapons, do drugs and they totally have no respect for laws at all and worst of all, the POLICE WON'T DO ANYTHING."
Apparently with the laws protecting those under the age of 18, some of these kids make full use of it, resorting to violence and crimes knowing and understanding fully well the law is on their side. THAT is scary.
It wasn't my first time being tailed though the last time was some time back. I carry pepper spray with me around most of the time for safety reason. Pepper sprays are not allowed in some shopping malls here and they usually get detected when you walk pass the checkpoint upon the entrance. The security would temporarily confiscate your pepper spray, take down your name and stick it on the pepper spray. You may then collect it when you leave the mall. That's quite a fair practice I think.
I learnt it's always best to just walk away when ya asked questions on the streets especially from the street kids. It took me a while to adjust to it cos I deemed it to be rude but hey I guess it's just naivety on my part. Sometimes you just gotta do what you have to do to protect yourself, especially when ya a woman.
My next post, I'll write about THE OLD TURKISH PERVERTS or so it seems. Till then, enjoy!
xo;
V
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
I'M BURNT!!! *sob *sob *sob*
Went to a day trip to Gebze with E and his parents today. His parents were retirees and they used to work for the same bank (that's how they met, awww...). Bank employees and retirees are allowed to have a maximum of 10 day stay in the bank's exclusive holiday house.
The place is nice, with lotsa houses, each comprising of individual rooms. It's something like a resort. I'll type a more comprehensive post equipped with pictures after tomorrow yea? Right now, I'm just way too sore! We tanned for 4-5 hours straight and STUPIDLY WITHOUT ANY SUNSCREEN!!! I know, I know, I should bang my head on the wall right? Cos summer's been mild for me lately (24-26 degrees), I thought it would be the case today (I was wrong, it shot up to 31 degrees today after a stretch of consistent weather temperature). Thus in my desperation to get a tan, I didn't bother putting my sunscreen and I'm all PINK NOW! I think it's the first time I've really gotten burnt by the sun! Yes, first time I stupidly went tanning without any sunscreen too.
I'm burnt from my collar bone to my toe, I look like a flamingo now. Only my front profile though, I thought I'll work on my back tomorrow but looking at things now, I don't even know if I should head back to Gebze to brave the sun. Ok I'm gonna pour myself a glass of apple juice then start my reading in bed. Needless to say, I'll be dozing off shortly after. In my next post, I'll show you guys pictures of the holiday house ok??? :) Till then, sweet dreams!
xo;
V
The place is nice, with lotsa houses, each comprising of individual rooms. It's something like a resort. I'll type a more comprehensive post equipped with pictures after tomorrow yea? Right now, I'm just way too sore! We tanned for 4-5 hours straight and STUPIDLY WITHOUT ANY SUNSCREEN!!! I know, I know, I should bang my head on the wall right? Cos summer's been mild for me lately (24-26 degrees), I thought it would be the case today (I was wrong, it shot up to 31 degrees today after a stretch of consistent weather temperature). Thus in my desperation to get a tan, I didn't bother putting my sunscreen and I'm all PINK NOW! I think it's the first time I've really gotten burnt by the sun! Yes, first time I stupidly went tanning without any sunscreen too.
I'm burnt from my collar bone to my toe, I look like a flamingo now. Only my front profile though, I thought I'll work on my back tomorrow but looking at things now, I don't even know if I should head back to Gebze to brave the sun. Ok I'm gonna pour myself a glass of apple juice then start my reading in bed. Needless to say, I'll be dozing off shortly after. In my next post, I'll show you guys pictures of the holiday house ok??? :) Till then, sweet dreams!
xo;
V
Friday, July 2, 2010
Lights out and a Girl's Day Out
I've had no electricity yesterday for a whole 3 hours. Frankly speaking, that's quite unheard of in Singapore. The last time we've had a major blackout was more than 20 years ago. It was fun back then, being really young it was kinda like an adventure for me. We would have lotsa candles in the house, it looked almost like a romantic cult house minus the shrilling voice of mom's.
Anyways back to life in Istanbul- It wasn't that much fun yesterday. I was lucky it happened in the morning right around 9am. I was watching the comedy channel and photoshopping my photo halfway when everything blinked for a second and shut off. There goes half an hour of beautifying myself (and deceiving others) on the computer (it was a passport photo meant for an updated cv!). I just looked around the house figuring what to do next. There wasn't much choice thus I curled down on the couch reading my book.
R called up and asked me for the umpteenth time whether I wanna join D, N and her for some 'manti' (Turkish dish - dumplings with garlic youghurt) in Moda and cuppa tea by the seaside. Not a bad idea except for the fact when I first met D and N (American and English girls respectively), it wasn't that much fun. I was bored to tears cos they were talking about stuff they were in tune about thus I was pretty hesitant to join this time. However with the blackout, I figured I've nothing much to do at home anyways so I said yes.
It was pretty nice surprisingly, I think everyone enjoyed themselves. There were lotsa laughters and sharing of distaster stories on our attempts to cook Turkish dishes and not to forget spoilt students here (we are all ESL teachers). Funnily all of them scored pretty well on teaching kids EXCEPT for yours truly. I rather do adults anytime, I don't know why kids just seem to hate me, maybe they have some sorta strong 6th sense and detect the vibe that the feeling is mutual.
N just casually mentioned the fact that she's just got engaged and we were like WHAT?! I think getting married is a big thing for most women (not me though!) and there she was just casually showing her ring so nonchalent about it. lol ...Apparently the dude hid the ring in a piece of napkin and put it in her bag and she saw it and said yes. Yes that was quite sweet wasn't it. How beautiful though a marriage of 2 different cultures (her fiance's a Turkish). I think the world needs more of it.
The weather was warm and humid but the girls were complaining it was darn hot and I was saying nah, it was pretty mild. D immediately drew the conclusion that I lacked of IRON in my body. HELLO??! I'm from Singapore, the heat was nothing compared to the average temperature back home! I'm sure the English can't say the same!
Now, I can't believe how it's already JULY 2010!!! I mean geez how time flies!!! I remembered back in high school, how I was always praying for the day to end but now, I just turned '2_' (not telling my specific age) and next thing I know, it'll be the end of the year and I should already make plan for my next birthday. R has the theory that time simply flies when one is enjoying his/herself.
Well, I should get cleaning. My private student will be coming over soon and the house is in a mess. I hope the 3 year old won't cry upon seeing me. Again. Really, what's up with me and kids?! I'll save it for another post. Till then enjoy!
xo;
V
Anyways back to life in Istanbul- It wasn't that much fun yesterday. I was lucky it happened in the morning right around 9am. I was watching the comedy channel and photoshopping my photo halfway when everything blinked for a second and shut off. There goes half an hour of beautifying myself (and deceiving others) on the computer (it was a passport photo meant for an updated cv!). I just looked around the house figuring what to do next. There wasn't much choice thus I curled down on the couch reading my book.
R called up and asked me for the umpteenth time whether I wanna join D, N and her for some 'manti' (Turkish dish - dumplings with garlic youghurt) in Moda and cuppa tea by the seaside. Not a bad idea except for the fact when I first met D and N (American and English girls respectively), it wasn't that much fun. I was bored to tears cos they were talking about stuff they were in tune about thus I was pretty hesitant to join this time. However with the blackout, I figured I've nothing much to do at home anyways so I said yes.
It was pretty nice surprisingly, I think everyone enjoyed themselves. There were lotsa laughters and sharing of distaster stories on our attempts to cook Turkish dishes and not to forget spoilt students here (we are all ESL teachers). Funnily all of them scored pretty well on teaching kids EXCEPT for yours truly. I rather do adults anytime, I don't know why kids just seem to hate me, maybe they have some sorta strong 6th sense and detect the vibe that the feeling is mutual.
N just casually mentioned the fact that she's just got engaged and we were like WHAT?! I think getting married is a big thing for most women (not me though!) and there she was just casually showing her ring so nonchalent about it. lol ...Apparently the dude hid the ring in a piece of napkin and put it in her bag and she saw it and said yes. Yes that was quite sweet wasn't it. How beautiful though a marriage of 2 different cultures (her fiance's a Turkish). I think the world needs more of it.
The weather was warm and humid but the girls were complaining it was darn hot and I was saying nah, it was pretty mild. D immediately drew the conclusion that I lacked of IRON in my body. HELLO??! I'm from Singapore, the heat was nothing compared to the average temperature back home! I'm sure the English can't say the same!
Now, I can't believe how it's already JULY 2010!!! I mean geez how time flies!!! I remembered back in high school, how I was always praying for the day to end but now, I just turned '2_' (not telling my specific age) and next thing I know, it'll be the end of the year and I should already make plan for my next birthday. R has the theory that time simply flies when one is enjoying his/herself.
Well, I should get cleaning. My private student will be coming over soon and the house is in a mess. I hope the 3 year old won't cry upon seeing me. Again. Really, what's up with me and kids?! I'll save it for another post. Till then enjoy!
xo;
V
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