April 13-16: Family Time...Again!

Wednesday

These past few days have been absolutely amazing! I get so complacent in life here that I forget life at home goes along without me. Mom, Dad, Uncle Kam, and Titia have been here since last Wednesday and I have been in heaven! Their flight landed at 4:00pm, unfortunately that means they were caught in the best of Istanbul rush hour on the way to the apartment. I was going crazy waiting for them at the apartment, but they finally made it there!!!!

Reuben and I helped them unload and then we all took a shot of Coffee Patron (of course). Uncle Kam insisted that shots were necessary for a proper welcome to the city and really who am I to argue with that?? Anyway I let them get settled and then we headed to Rumeli Hisarüstü to have dinner at our favorite restaurant in all of Turkey, Hazal Ana. I mean if Reuben can say that they have the best chicken he's had in his entire life, and his family is from Southern Louisiana, that's saying a lot! Needless to say they loved the food! The owners and waiters at that place are so fabulous. Even if they didn't have spectacular food, which they do, I probably would still go back just because they are some of the nicest people I have ever met. As usual the food was amazing and on top of that they brought us free appetizers, tea, and dessert. I'm glad that my family was able to see that I do have people taking care of me here! And that they were able to experience some real Turkish hospitality as soon as they landed.


More food than anyone should ever eat! Who cares though? Hazal Ana= Heaven!

After that we took everyone to Cafe Tetto. Dad and Uncle Kam were pretty tired, and rightfully so! They came on a direct flight from DC so they had been awake for almost a whole day without sleep. Mom and Titia of course were not about to go home early so we had a few drinks and I got to show them how to smoke nargile. It was epic. First of all if you know my Mom and Titia it's no surprise that they would be willing to try but not only did they try, Titia was blowing smoke out of her nose and mouth at the same time like a Turk and Mom tried to make rings of smoke! Success!!

Then it was really time to turn in. I quickly showed them mine and Reuben's apartments and put them in a cab back to their apartment. I was so excited that they were really here it was hard to fall asleep, but since I had class at 9:00am the next day and a paper to write before that it was time to get back to work!

Thursday

Today was a dreadful day! I hate that the days with the worst weather have somehow always been when one of my family members is visiting. All day it was cold and dreary but worse than that it was pouring rain, which is so weird because it has never rained like that here. At least not while I've been here! It's always just misted. In any case my family made the best of it. They met me after class and I took them for lahmacun (Turkish bread with lamb, tomato paste, and peppers rolled with lettuce, tomato, and lemon) and soup. They loved it! So far so good. That's the one constant fall back about this city, no matter how shitty weather or traffic is, the food here is so good that it really does fix everything!


Lunch at Urfam Lahmacun and Pide

After lunch I took them to the Spice Bazaar. Of course they loved it, how can you not? Even the non shoppers (Dad and Uncle Kam) enjoyed the experience of the bazaar and everyone was able to find something of their linking. After shopping for what felt like hours we headed to the restaurant overlooking the bazaar for Türk Kavesi and some good ole Turkish Balkava.




Rooftop views!


In the evening Reuben, Kalyah and I took Mom and Titia to Taksim. I've been anticipating this night for months! I just knew that going out with the two of them in Istanbul would be epic. Of course I wasn't disappointed! We went to Maytai, Eski Beyrut and of course ate tons and tons of stuffed mussels on the street! Overall it was a success we got home at 5:00am where Mom and Titia ate late night Pirzola and I passed out on the couch!

The start of an insane night


When did this happen? What? What is wrong with them??


Besties at Maytai!

Friday

I was exhausted when I woke up today but I already feel like time is flying by and there aren't that many days left in Mom and Dad's trip so we all go up guzzled glasses of water and headed out. Their apartment is in Kuruçeşme which is south of where I live. So since it was a nice day, we decided to walk to the bottom of the hill where I live from there. We walked for about an hour on the waterfront through Kuruçeşme, Arnavutköy, and finally Bebek. After that we caught a cab up the hill (don't judge it's literally straight up hill). Then we had lunch at Namli Kebap and explored the areas around campus.

We tried to go to Rumeli Hisar and climb the fort. We walked all the way down through South Campus to Bebek and kept walking north until we reached the fort but unfortunately by the time we got there it was closed :( So we found a nice cafe had some çay and börek and just chilled.

We decided to keep being healthy trekkers and walked about a mile to dinner from the apartment. We went to Adem Baba an INCREDIBLE fish restaurant in Arnavutköy. This place wasn't the fanciest but it was very neighborhood style and did I mention that it was amazing food? The waiters didn't speak much English and Reuben and I don't know the Turkish names for fish so instead of a menu they brought us out a tray of the raw fish they had and we picked from that!! We had delicious fish, calamari, stuffed mussels, salad and çay for only $20 per person! Gosh it's going to be impossible for me to eat out when I get home food is so delicious and cheap here! Anyway after that we dragged our full bellies all the way up the hill back to the apartment and passed out. Well only for about 2 and a half hours since we had to leave for the airport at 5:00am tomorrow! Oh well I'll sleep when I'm home...for now off to Bodrum, Turkey it is!