Well, I've got one day left in Istanbul before I head back to beautiful Ujar, and quite frankly I feel I've spent just the right amount of time here. The whole hyper-tourism aspect of this city is starting to get to me, and after spending a year in a small town in a tiny country in the middle of nowhere, I feel a bit claustrophobic around all these damn people. Also, I'm sorely disappointed at how useless my Azeri has been here. Basically the numbers and some basic words are the same, but conversationally it's like I'm speaking English and they're speaking Dutch. Also interesting is the general attitude difference people have here towards Azerbaijan. From what I've gathered, it seems that Turks regard Azerbaijan like a really embarassing cousin; you know, the kind you hope doesn't show up to the family reunion because he'll either get in a fight or tell inappropriate stories about his sex life. I've heard a few people say that Azeris are "they're brothers", meaning that they are also Turkic, but that's about as far as they'll go. It couldn't be more different in Azerbaijan. People there absolutely love Turkey, as far as they're concerned it's the best thing since sliced bread (pun intended...because even when people say "no pun intended", you know it was). They constantly describe their relationship with Turkey as "bir millet, iki dövlet", which means "one nation, two states", and if you ask any Azeri if they are Turkish they will inevitably answer "yes, of course, all Azeris are Turkish". If you ask a Turk if they're Azeri, they'll rarely even have the gumption to respond with a "no", much less tell you how ridiculous such a question sounds. I feel like I'm asking Tony Soprano if he's Byzantine.
But, despite these problems my stay in Istanbul has been nice overall. Despite eating a Turkish chicken dish of questionable history and preparation which left me curled up in a ball on the bathroom floor for about 12 hours, the food has been good, though not much different from Azerbaijan really. I got to see some amazing sights, most especially the Haghia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. Today I took a boat tour out to the islands in the Sea of Marmara, which was very nice, though the islands themselves were pretty boring. Tomorrow I'm either going to the Spice Bazaar or Taksim on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, and on Wednesday I'm back on a plane to Baku at 8am. I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures for the next several posts. If I feel so inclined I might provide some more commentary, but if I don't then bye for now, expect more when I make it to an internet club back in AZ.
1 comment:
That's a funny relationship Turks and Azeri have, haha.
It's like having a little brother or something.
Have you gotten the package of sunshine rainbow happiness I sent you?
Shit, that makes it sound like I mailed drugs. It was music and a letter.
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