Istanbul!

As I write this I am sitting in my hostel room in Kadıköy, which is on the Asian side of Istanbul. This morning I said goodbye to my host brother and left Bursa via ferry, arriving in Istanbul at around 11:30. To be honest, I was very happy to leave Bursa. Two months of an intensive language program--the same people, the same class every day--was both stressful and tiring and frankly Bursa is not the most exciting place. I really did enjoy my experience and the people I met, but it'll be great to be able to do my own thing in a world-renowned city and practice a little real-world Turkish.

I'll be staying in the Hush Hostel for the next ten days. It's in what is claimed to be an old Ottoman mansion (surprisingly, it looks like an old Victorian style house in Oakland, especially because it needs a new coat of paint) and seems like it will be a comfortable place to stay. I've only met a couple of the staff members here--one Austrian, one Turkish--and none of the other guests, probably because I came in just as they were leaving to tour around. The common language here is English. After one of the staff members saw me watching TV in Turkish, she asked if I understood anything, and was I think a little surprised when I said yes. We ended up chatting for a few minutes in Turkish. Very few of the guests here know any Turkish she said.

Since arriving in the hostel, I've been mostly wandering aroundand ran a few errands. First on my list was a haircut, dearly needed in hot Turkish sun. Because haircut terminology isn't something you learn in school, the barber kept resorting to an English speaking fellow customer (actually a transplanted German, son in tow, who was "stranded here six years ago") to double check that he was doing exactly what I wanted. I ended up getting it cut very short (i.e. the longest length on a mechanical razor). Despite the linguistic difficulties, it was a good experience, and very cheap--13 TL for haircut and shampoo. I also went to buy a cell phone, because I had to return my CLS-issued one. Because I opted for the cheapest one, I ended up with the same exact model I had before (who would have thunk it?). I handled the entire thing in Turkish, and for some reason, the Turkcell guy was extremely impressed with my Turkish. Quite the confidence booster.

As I was out today I also got a few times what at first impression was a very interesting question: "do you know English?" While my first response in my head was "duh!" and both times I answered with not "yes," but "I'm an American," on further reflection it might be a good thing. First I don't immediately come off as an American and second it's further proof of English's stature as an international language, only confirmed by the example of the hostel. Next time I get asked the question I'll answer simply "yes," and try to see where people think I'm from. Hopefully someone will ask me where I learnt such great English.