Discovering Istanbul

Sorry for this short break...

On my first day in Istanbul, i look for a flat, i decided to start with the couchsurfing faltmate groupe and contact 4 or 5 people. Then, i have the chance to read in my mailbox that there is a couchsurfing meeting at 2 pm. I join what starts with a couple cay (tch-eye), talking about politics, turkey, foods etc... The turish cs girl tells me she does not like Turkey because of womens position, the italian Cser tells me how much he loves it, the spanish Cser is discovering something new as i am and is rather happy about it. Different experiences different points of view, as always :)



We then start to drink a couple beer on one of istiklals small side streets. The typical type of streets you find in Taksim, walking only, narrow, full of people and full of terasses, half of them cafes, half restaurants. The restaurants display great ice tables full of fish, the waiters want to invite us in... The traffic is intense and the population very mixed, this is on of the things that strike me, unlike in the Balkan where it is pretty straight forward to spot a foreigner (ok i still cant recognize Albanians from Croatians or Serbian but i think this is impossible anyway), here i am puzzled by the variety of hair and skin colors, figures traits and eye colors. In the end in Istanbul i could look Turkish...
So we sit and sip our beers, the Turkish girl sitting opposite me, Eva, slams them down one after the other, i have two, the Italian dude one while she had 3... It turns out she did a year exchange in Check republic. That explains things! Later, two more people join us, they confirming the impression i just mentioned, both Turkish and yet one has chocolate skin, a round face and an American accent, and the girl has freckles, dark curly hair, also a very round face and i would have said she is German. After they join us, we head for some food, finally, i had nothing but beer to eat today. The food is nothing special and Eva gets all excited that out Turkish specialty is not served properly. An eggplant puree with some meat pieces, covered with melted yellow cheese. It is ok for me anyway.
As i sip my glass of red wine, one of the eventual flatmates i found shows up, he does not like this place so we move a bit further. Still in taksim, he and his girlfriend take me to a small alley, into a building, in the elevator and up the the last floor. There, we are welcomed by chill out music and a nice atmosphere. The Balkoon bar offers both a roof terrace and a roof greenhouse. It is too cold outside, we make ourselves comfortable at a large table. Soon three more girls join us and we start a lot more chatting about Turkish society. They paint a very unequal repartition of wealth, few people are extraordinary rich and spent a week end shopping in Dubai or a week flying around the world from Istanbul, to Dubai, Paris, London new-york Sydney and home, while many people are extremely poor... As i picture a depressed France where many people are on prosac to my neighbor, she tells me that she is as well... I meet some very nice people and a sweet place where i will come again but the cohabitation is not going to be possible, he looks for a longer therm flatmate...
Later, we all leave and i join the second potetial flat mate. She listens and sings hxc, Hard core music. Yeaaah!! She looks for someone temporary before choosing “the perfect match”. I can visit tomorrow. We understand each other pretty well in this Arsen Lupin bar, playing a lot of rock, hard rock and metal classics.
It is past two in the morning, i am exhausted and head home. On my way i find out i now live in a city, a big city with all the stuff that comes with it. Prostitutes, transvestites, drugs, violence and verbal aggressions... For the first time in 6 month i feel slightly unsafe. Mmmhh dont care, just want to get home, and i do, fast.