mijn vriendjes en vriendinnetjes

English in Aleppo and Damascus

May. 29th, 2009 | 05:11 pm
posted by: sarahvanthienen

"Welcome!", "Welcome to Syria!", "Nice to meet you!"

In the bazaars and on the streets, men and also women (but less) are welcoming us with English words and sentences. Syrian people are friendly and are willing to help you (bus stations excluded!). I am surprised that many young people can speak English. After some talks with students in Aleppo we noticed that lots of the youngsters are studying the language. Also girls and women are eager to start a conversation with us, partly because they want to practice their English.

..The future street life will probably not be marked with wrong spelled English slogans..

Damascus, Syria

Damascus, Syria

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Bicycling in Istanbul

May. 15th, 2009 | 12:54 am
posted by: sarahvanthienen

When a friend of mine told me he bought a bike, I tought:

"Are you cray? Do you want to risk your life?"

The city has lots of traffic, like so many metropolises, and public transport comprises an enormous range of different systems. The extensive networks of busses,blue minibusses, dolmushes, trains, trams (and two nostalgic trams), taxis, metrobusses, cable cars, ferries, give the people so many possibilities, and sometimes it is hard to make a the best and fastest choice.

A bike may be an alternative.

However..in Istanbul the drivers are dangerous and not friendly to other drivers, while most streets are not equipped with bicycle lanes. And if they do, you get confronted with walkers who cross your path.

Moda, Istanbul

If you use the bike for getting fit, I suggest you swap your vehicle for a work-out on the fitness machines, that you can find along the roads in the city.

Moda, Istanbul

Another, more drastic, possibility is taking the ferry to the Princess Islands, which are a great escape from the city. There you can rent a bicycle and enjoy the car-free environment.

Heybeliada, Princess Islands, Istanbul

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Clean shoes for a fair bargain?

Apr. 11th, 2009 | 12:30 am
location: Istanbul
posted by: sarahvanthienen

Shoe shiners are unthinkable from the streets and at first sight this 'practice' seems an innocent tradition that fits the image of the city. I don't want to discuss the fact that this can be a rewarding profession, but, tourists, be aware of the tricks of many shoeshine boys who wants to get your attention.

Sultanahmet, Istanbul

The only thing they need is a basic form of shoe polish along with a polishing cloth, and a little chair. How do many of them try to catch their fish?

     -When the shoeshine man sees a potential tourist, he drops his cloth before the tourist and pretends he didn't see that he lost his   material.
     -The tourist picks up the cloth and calls the shoeshine man.
     -In turn, the shoeshine man wants to clean the shoes of the tourist for free.
     -The tourist is happy to meet such a friendly man and in the end wants to give him money. Or, after cleaning the shoes, the man, although he wanted to clean the shoes for free, he still asks for money.

Sulthanahmet, Istanbul

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Bazaar treasures

Apr. 21st, 2009 | 11:54 pm
location: Istanbul
posted by: sarahvanthienen

It is partly because of the Turkish Bazaars, I like to live in Istanbul. Every market has its own particular atmosphere, customers and specific specialties.

I love to fit, to try, to buy, to smell, to touch, to find.

And to smile...

When finding something atypical between the 'normal' goods:

Beyoglu, Istanbul

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Belgian delicacy in Damascus

May. 28th, 2009 | 11:37 pm
posted by: sarahvanthienen

I the maze of streets in the centre of Damascus, I could never imagine passing by a shop that was selling Belgian Waffles. What a surprise!

Damascus, Syria

Brussels, Belgium (picture: Deniz)

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Children in Syria

May. 31st, 2009 | 08:54 pm
location: Istanbul
posted by: sarahvanthienen

It is worth to mention that in Syria you can see a lot of children on streets, walking with their mothers or sisters, playing with other children or sitting alone on thresholds. Where adults are separated into two groups: the men and the women, it seems that this is not the case for children. Boys are playing with girls, brothers and sisters are taking care of eachother. The children are friendly, sometimes shy and sometimes enthusiastic.

Aleppo, Syria

On the other hand, for some childer life is not easy. In Damascus we decided to climb up with a microbus the hills that are surrounding the city. What we saw were a kind of slums were children were living in tougher conditions than we saw in city centres. I cannot say more about those precise living conditions because it is not possible to look or ask for details, as I don't want to take away people's pride.

Damascus, Syria

Aleppo and Damascus have beautiful and interesting bazaars that might lead you to treasures in all kind of forms. Also children are selling food and goods. At first sight this can be a way of surviving, however child labor is still not correct. And maybe, the test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.

Aleppo, Syria

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'Institutionalized' street vending

Apr. 15th, 2009 | 06:40 pm
location: Istanbul
posted by: sarahvanthienen

Everyday I pass by the same street merchants, of which some of them are shouting uncomprehensible words, while others - a minority - are just presenting their food or goods in silence. They all have something in common: it sells. Istanbul has supermarkets with a wide range of items, fancy shopping malls (like 'Cevahir', the largest shopping centre in Europe) and artisan shops, however, the people here are still too much connected with the life on the streets to abandon the little vending mobiles on four wheels out of their hearts.

Beyoglu, Istanbul

Those 'vending mobiles' are the cheapest way of selling products and making contacts with customers. Street vendors don't have to pay the rent for a 'real' shop and they just need to provide themselves of direct costs. In this case 'street vending' is a profession that is transmitted from father to son. The little vehicle is often the only thing people have to survive in the city and that's what it makes it so precious. Here in Istanbul if have the impression that they work as other shops, they are given the character of an institution, while it seems they are incorporated into the structure and well-established system.

Sultanahmet, Istanbul

Sulthanahmet, Istanbul, Turkey

Sultanahmet, Istanbul

Karaköy, Istanbul

Beyoglu, Istanbul

Beyoglu, Istanbul

Beyoglu, Istanbul

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Some things are kept hidden

Apr. 20th, 2009 | 06:02 pm
location: Istanbul
posted by: sarahvanthienen

When meeting other cultures and people I try to avoid making judgments, however in some cases I do want to point out some remarks. In the daily Istanbul life I get often confronted to what I call 'the hide mentality'.

One day, we were sitting in a touristic setting in Sultanahmet, which is one of the oldest parts of Istanbul and which is famous for its World Heritage, the Hagia Sophia, and the Blue Mosque. Most of Istanbul's visitors are staying in this part of the city, however, although I like the beauty of the buildings and surroundings, I am a bit skeptical of the 'authentic' area. That afternoon, we ordered an Efes Pils beer, which is not an unusual order in the area where much people live of tourism. After some time, the waiter came back with a big opaque red glass, that would be perfect for serving a vanilla milkshake. We looked at each other, frowned and were wondering if the man made a mistake. A closer look to the glass and the foam on the surface made clear that the content was exactly what we had asked for: an Efes beer...but...served in a concealing packet.

Sultanahmet, Turkey

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Street dogs on drugs?

Jun. 3rd, 2009 | 04:19 pm
location: Istanbul
posted by: sarahvanthienen

When I hop of the bus in the middle of the night, I am never alone on my walk back home to my flat. In other cities I can be afraid of them, but here in Istanbul the saying “the dog is the best friend of the human being” is a truth in the deepest sense of the word. Here, street dogs are chill, friendly and sweet. Only on rarely occasions I saw a skinny exemplary, however most of them are almost fat.

“How was this possible in a huge city like Istanbul, were even lots of people are living in poorness?” My flat mates pointed me to the fact that most of the dogs have a white tag in their ear. This means that they are injected and have no diseases. People have no reason to be afraid of this animals, and the municipalities have no reason to kill them.

Beyoglu,Istanbul

To my other question regarding street dogs I didn’t find any answer. “How is it possible that there is no shit on the street, if you take the huge amount of dogs into account?”

Sultanahmet, Istanbul

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Communism in Kadiköy/Istanbul - "Money cannot be eaten"

Mar. 20th, 2009 | 02:05 am
location: Istanbul
posted by: sarahvanthienen

Kadiköy, the neighbourhood were I live, is a progregressive and upcoming area were some people are more sensitive to political questions than others. In this sense I would like to mention the small community that carries communist values. One can still speak of the backdrop of such traditions in Tukey, however it seems that Kadiköy is the exception to the rule.

In little bars you can find long haired man/students that are convinced of outdated communist theories, while on the streets you can take part of monthly demonstrations. Also, my university tries to understand the concept in the form of serving a sober lunch on a structured tray.

When I walk out of the door of my flat I cross the Nazim Hikmet Kültür Merkezi, a cultural centre that is dedicated to Nazim Hikmet, a Turkish poet and know as a romantic revolutionary communist. The garden is decorated with photographs of Lenin and consorts. What were once big ideas, are still big ideas for a small amount of people, and those thoughts are nowadays still more valuable and necessary in Turkey than in Belgium.

This left besdide, I like Nazim Hikmet's garden and his poetry

Kadiköy, Istanbul

Göztepe, Istanbul

Kadiköy, Istanbul

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What do Laundry, Mass Consumption & Turkish Elections have in common?

Apr. 15th, 2009 | 12:03 am
posted by: sarahvanthienen

Since the beginning of my stay in Turkey, the streets are filled with electoral flags that leave shadows on stones and pavements. A few weeks later I started to question the regional political run of the parties in the local elections.

'Thrown back into time' is not an overstatement. Politics in Turkey are still DIRTY. It is clear that regional elections are shaped not only by the ideas and ideologies of people, and also by the candidates and the special needs of citizens. Politicians BUY their votes with necesary provisions, like washing machines all over the country. Candy for the poor taste sweat in election times, though, when only in those periods the 'morality' of politicians reach the surface, the bitter flavour seems more persistent.

Sile, Istanbul, Turkey

Yesilköy, Istanbul, Turkey

Sile, Istanbul, Turkey

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The dance of a child is a poem of wich each movement is a word.

Jun. 1st, 2009 | 08:53 pm
posted by: sarahvanthienen

Sometimes we underestimate the power of non-verbal communication. Travelling further away from the Western countries, families are trying to welcome us, strangers, in their houses with the untouched mind of their children: heartwarming.

Gelibolu, Turkey

Lattakia, Syria

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Hitch-hiking in Turkish West Coast region

Apr. 30th, 2009 | 01:18 am
location: Istanbul
posted by: sarahvanthienen

Hitch-hiking in the West of Turkey is a relatively safe and cheap way of traveling and exploring the country. I decided that traveling with another boy is best option, although I am sure that hitch-hiking with two girls in this region is definitely possible. The event of April 2008, when an Italian artist, has been found murdered in Turkey, while she was hitch-hiking to the Middle East, dressed in a wedding dress to promote peace, is not forgotten. However, we have to bear in mind that those things not only happen in Turkey.
A short overview of my experience:

A trip of 1464 km - 7 days - From Istanbul to Güzelcamli and back.