Does anyone ever sleep in this town?
Trip Start
Aug 25, 2008
1
4
15
Trip End
Aug 25, 2009
Istanbul,
Turkey
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Hannah and I have not been sleeping much lately. For the last five nights we have either gone to a social gathering or had people over to our houses for dinner. It has been great learning some of the local Turkish customs. Last night we had our friends Jihan and Mora over for drinks, and after they left, we found a nice package of baklava on our counter. If you have never tried baklava before, it is a very delicious honey-soaked cake with crushed nuts and a flaky top. Needless to say, that is what I had for breakfast this morning. It is a nice change of pace to be able to sip wine for hours and discuss religion, politics, social issues, and cultural differences with someone from a very different set of customs and beliefs. I hope that many of our friends are learning as much about our customs as we are about theirs.
Ramadan -which here is pronounced Ramazan- is currently in its second week. Many of our friends are fasting throughout the day, and feasting at night. This is part of the reason for all of the parties. The call to prayer at the end of the day -around 7:45pm- marks the beginning of the feasting. Traditionally, the fast is broken with olives, dried dates, and Ramazan pide which is a really tasty flat bread with sesame seeds on top. Some of our friends say they get up again about 3 or 4 am to eat another very large meal to prepare for the long day.
Tonight we are going over to Mora and Jihan's house for dinner. He called me today with a job offer: dubbing a Turkish movie into English. Apparently Mora is going to be a female voice and they need a male voice for one of the parts. It pays well, and if they end up using our voices in the film we get a bonus of some kind. I think it is some kind of independent film, but how awesome would it be if it was a popular action movie. In my own head today I have been practicing phrases like "I am Iron Man"; "This is Sparta"; and "Hulk Smash!. In reality I will probably be doing the voice of a taxi driver for one seen or something. Hey, a man can dream.
