20121125

KUAFÖR


i cut my hair last week. there are man/woman/man-woman hairdressers every ten steps and i was wondering how it feels inside. some of them are always full and those have to dry towels outside their studio otherwise they run out of them. almost every hairdresser designs his working place unique. the best are the most sincere ones, of course. unfortunately i didn't have my camera with me, but i'll try to describe it as detailed as i can.

on the window is written kuaför orhan. i can see him from outside. he's an older man with long white hair and black mustache  he's chatting with his friend who immediately returns back to his shop when he sees a new customer. i say merhaba and using pantomime ask if he could cut my hair. tamam! he almost jumps out of his armchair and offers me to seat on the middle one of the three old pink leather seats.
he steps out to get a towel. i look around. velvet-like textile of electric blue colour covers walls. there are posters hanging on one of them. i look at them again. they're showing orhan! first one is addressing him as 'kuaför orhan, the legend'. on the second one he poses proudly, with wind in his hair and the third one is suggesting whole world is coming out of his chest with harem girls, flowers and music!
he covers me with black and white striped fabric. there is sink in front of me and unlike in other european studios i put my head on another towel and lean forward. he's mainly man hairdresser so he washes my hair with man shampoo.
we use gestures again to say how much he can cut. i try to answer his other questions. i cannot understand them even if he speaks very slowly because language is not similar to any i know. so i tell him where i come from and why i am here. i suppose he's asking me this. meanwhile he combs my hair, takes his scissors, cuts twice and puts them back again. it's done.
because he's already finished half of his work he lights a cigarette. he offers me one as well. i take a sip of tea he prepared for me in the beginning. i lean back. i expect him to start drying my hair. instead, he puts a fresh tissue on little machine he takes from a shelf. 'massage' he smiles into his moustache. he massages my face, hair and neck. it feels so relaxing..
next, he dries my hair. he doesn't put tons of strawberry or cocos or other fruity smelling balsams and waxes on them, nor any of weather protection or lack of vitamin sprays.  i feel amazing, i promise him i'll come again and pay, according to his price list, 10 turkish liras (4 euros).      


prejšnji teden sem se šla postrižt. že dlje časa me je zanimalo, kako je, glede na to, da so moški, ženski, moški/ženski frizerji na vsakih deset korakov. vedno so polni in zunaj sproti sušijo brisače. vsak izmed njih si po svoje uredi svoj salon in najbolj iskreni so seveda najbolj izvirni. žal mi je, da nisem imela s seboj fotoaparata, ampak ga bom poskusila podrobno opisati.

na izložbi piše kuaför orhan. čez okno vidim, da je starejši gospod, z daljšimi belimi lasmi in črnimi brki. stopim notri, klepeta s kolegom, ki se nemudoma vrne v svojo trgovino, ko vidi novo stranko. pozdravim merhaba in ker seveda ne vem kako se reče postriči lase, primem majhen šop svojih las in z drugo roko nakažem škarje. tamam! vzkline in me posadi na že precej oguljen usnjen stol svetlo roza barve. 
stopi ven po brisačo, jaz pa se ozrem naokoli. vse stene prekriva žametu podobno blago električno modre barve. na eni izmed sten visijo posterji. pogledam še enkrat, če prav vidim. nato spet njega, ki se zdaj vrne. osebi sta isti. orhan je očitno zvezda! posterji prikazujejo njega v frajerski pozi z vetrom v laseh in ga naslavljajo z 'orhan kuaför the legend'. na enem izmed njih se mu iz prsi vije cel svet, poln lepotic in rož in glasbe!
ogrne me s črno-belo črtasto prevleko in se ves čas smehlja. pred mano je čisto navaden umivalnik in v nasprotju z evropskimi frizerji, kjer glavo nagneš nazaj, se tukaj skloniš naprej in jo nasloniš na brisačo. ker je večinoma moški frizer, mi lase umije z moškim šamponom. 
zopet se s kretnjami zmeniva koliko me naj postriže. vmes mu poskušam odgovarjati na njegova preprosta vprašanja. tudi če me vpraša počasi in skoraj po zlogih ne razumem, ker besede niso podobne nobenemu izmed jezikov, ki jih vsaj malo poznam. vseeno na pamet odgovorim iz kje sem in kaj tukaj počnem.
v tem času mi razčeše lase, dvakrat razpre in zapre škarje in jih odloži. to je to.
ker je na pol že opravil svoje delo, si prižge cigareto. ponudi tudi meni. čaj, ki mi ga je pripravil na začetku, se je med tem primerno shladil in naredim prvi požirek. naslonim se nazaj in čakam na fen. ampak!
na pripomoček, ki ga vzame s police položi čist papirnati robček. 'masaž' se zahahlja v svoje brke. zmasira mi obraz, lasišče in vrat. tako sproščujoče..
nazadnje mi torej posuši lase. ko konča, me ne polije s sladkimi vonji jagode, kokosa in ostalega sadja, niti ne polepša s sintetičnimi laki in sto zaščitami proti vremenskim vplivom in pomanjkanju vitaminov. počutim se odlično, obljubim da pridem spet in za opravljeno delo po ceniku z veseljem odštejem 10 turških lir (4 eure). 

one of many kuaförs..but none like orhan!



20121118

BULUT



yesterday we finally realized some of our ideas that we came across while living together. our apartment is on top of an older building, which means that (as most of the houses here) has a terace upstairs. unfortunately is quite neglected and we're spending there less time than we should. we wanted to do something about it, tidy it at least..
terace is covered with roof tiles that are visible on some parts. not that much to hide them, but more to revivive the atmosphere we decided to put large piece of fabric above the table. we couldn't get appropriate width so we took two smaller parts and tied them together in very simple way. we tied the fabric around the two beams so it can be easily removed (owner doesn't allow any permanent changes).
there was a fantanstic party under 'the cloud' afterwards with good food, drinks, music, amazing view and this is only the beginning. welcome;)


včeraj smo končno uresničili par idej, ki so se nabrale v tem času. na vrhu stanovanja imamo noro lepo teraso z razgledom, ki pa je žal precej zanemarjena, zato se na njej zadržujemo manj kot bi se lahko. že nekaj časa smo si želeli nekaj ukreniti glede tega, jo vsaj pospraviti..stvari so se odvile tako. terasa je pokrita s strešniki, ki so tu in tam vidni. niti ne zato, da bi jih prekrili, bolj zato da bi poudarili vzdušje, je bila ideja, da nad mizo obesimo kos tkanine. ker ni bilo mogoče dobiti potrebne širine, smo vzeli dva manjša kosa in ju zvezali skupaj na preprost način. na vseh štirih koncih smo blago nato zavezali za tramova tako da ga je mogoče kasneje tudi odstraniti. s tem smo ugodili lastniku (upam), saj ne dovoli nobene trajne spremembe. pod 'oblakom' se je nato odvil hud hud žur, z dobro hrano, pijačo in glasbo, zjutraj je sledil zajtrk, ki se je prevesil v popoldne  in sploh je to šele začetek. dobrodošli;)






20121115

BIRSEN TEZER


sometimes i listen to turkish singer birsen tezer in the morning. her songs fit perfectly with it and it reminds me of times in ljubljana, when I was listening to them in my little room on stari trg, waiting for all of istanbul to happen.

včasih zjutraj poslušam pesmi birsen tezer, poleg tega, da se popolnoma zlijejo z jutrom, me spomnijo na čas, ko sem jih poslušala v ljubljani, v svoji mini sobici na starem trgu in so bile vse skupaj šele sanje in me prijetno zvije v trebuhu. dobro jutro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml0yoRT_e2c&list=PLAm6n6RrA172i4dNeVa1Vl-zfp9Mq6T6E&index=3


20121111

MARATON

since it's not allowed to walk across the fascinating bosphorus bridge, we didn't hesitate to register for eight km 'fun run' accompanying big istanbul maraton, starting at asian and finishing at european side of the city. we were a bit worried about the distance after two months of erasmus lifestyle but once we saw that also turkish people enjoy maraton doing everything else but running, we strolled slowly across the bridge and enjoyed the view and weather while asking ourselves at which step asia stops and europe starts.

ker se ni mogoče kar tako sprehoditi čez fascinanten bosporski most, smo se brez odlašanja prijavili na spremljevalni tek istanbulskega maratona, imenovan 'fun run', ki se je začel na azijski in po osmih kilometrih končal na evropski strani mesta. vsaka zaskrbljenost zaradi morebitne nepripravljenosti na takšno razdaljo po dveh mesecih erasmus življenja, se je izkazala za neupravičeno, ko smo videli, da tudi ostali 'tekmovalci' počnejo vse ostalo kot pa zagreto tečejo. tako da smo se lagodno sprehodili čez most, občudovali zaslužen razgled in se spraševali, ob katerem koraku se konča azija in začne evropa.


erasmus world cup

so smart!

security 

we, runners

any words needed?

20121106

PORTAKAL SUYU


freshy squezeed orange juice for 1tl (40 cents) is not just an orange juice if it's served together with a story from a syrian guy, waiting for his visa to france. 
'how did you come to istanbul?' 'i escaped two months ago.'
'how will you go to europe if your visa request is rejected again?' 'illegally.'

i look at him with my eyes wide open and listen to his story, it's not the first syrian story i hear, but still, i'm admiring his voice not shaking while talking about the things he is confronting.

'do you work here every day?'  (we're talking at the kebab restaurant:)
'i used to but now they cannot pay me full-time job anymore because there is not enough profit. so i offered them to work three hours per day for free (11pm - 2am) in return for food and place to stay. i also teach arabic in the morning and sometimes work at the construction site in the afternoon. there is big one in tarlabaşi, you know.

(tarlabaşi is a neighbourhood i live in and about which i'll tell you more next time)

sveže stisnjen pomarančni sok za komaj 40 centov nima samo okusa po pomarančah, sploh če je postrežen skupaj z zgodbo sirijskega begunca, ki čaka na francosko vizo.
'kako si prišel sem?' 'pred dvema mesecema sem pobegnil iz svoje države'
kako boš šel v evropo, če ti prošnjo za vizo zopet zavrnejo?' 'ilegalno.'

gledam ga s široko odprtimi očmi, ni prva sirijska zgodba, ki jo slišim, pa vendar, njegov glas se ne trese, ko govori o stvareh, katere je videl doma in s katerimi se sooča sedaj.

'ali vsak dan delaš tu?' (pogovarjava se v kebab restavraciji:)
'na začetku sem, zdaj pa me ne morejo več redno plačevati, ker ni dovolj prometa. ponudil sem jim, da delam tri ure na dan zastonj (od 11h zvečer do 2h zjutraj) v zameno za hrano in prenočišče. dopoldne poučujem arabski jezik in popoldne včash delam na enem izmed večjih gradbišč v bližini, tarlabaşi, mogoče si slišala, kaj se dogaja.'

(tarlabaşi je predel mesta, v katerem živim in o katerem bom še pisala)




20121103

KAHVE




According to turkish criteria this coffee is far from what it should be (no foam on top, not dense enough) and I don't even dare to think what destiny is inside it. I will practice more, although in my opinion this cup of coffee promises at least a nice saturday afternoon. 


Po turških kriterijih sem še daleč od profesionalke (premalo pene na vrhu, preredka) in si niti ne upam pomisliti, kakšno usodo skriva usedlina. Še bom vadila, čeprav po mojem mnenju tale skodelica prerokuje vsaj lep sobotni dan.

20121101

IYI BAYRAMLAR!


bayram is a four-day religious festival during which sheep are slaughtered and their meat distributed to the family, relatives and those in need. not everyone does it and not everywhere is done, of course. however, it's time of the year when people visit their families and consequently cities are suddenly scarely empty. we visited some of them, drank a lot of çay with locals, improved our begamon skills, looked for butterflies on an ex-hippie beach, ate soo good all week and in the manner of bayram prepared fish ourselves under the full moon!

bayram je štiridnevni praznik, prvotno namenjen žrtvovanju živali, predvsem ovc. po vaseh (no, tudi manjših mestih in slišala sem, da pri mojih sosedih v istanbulu prav tako) je to še mogoče videti, v glavnem pa je to predvsem družinski praznik, ko se vsi iz velikih mest vrnejo domov k družinam in posledično mesta ostanejo skoraj srhljivo prazna. na enotedenskem izletu smo se sprehodili po nekaterih izmed njih, se ustavljali v vaseh in srkali čaj, v polomnljeni turščini spraševali za smer, se urili v priljubljeni igri begamon, našli rajsko, nekdanjo hipi plažo, vse skozi noro dobro jedli in si v stilu bayrama pripravili ribjo pojedino ob ognju pod milim nebom!


istanbul_çanakkale_izmir_çesme_fethiye_kelebek vadisi_denizli_pamukkale_bursa_istanbul

sweet!

village life

our paradise

is it true, is it snowing in europe?

watch and learn

morning, afternoon and evening tea

winning breakfast of the trip!

preparing fish is easy if you can buy fish, grill and charcoal at the same place

each olive tree has its own wall

in six?

the (fish) end