People on a Saturday Afternoon in Istanbul

I spent most of the day resting, trying to heal and medicate my aches and pains.  I know when they keep me up at night, I'm in trouble.  With 64 Turkish students, I need my patience.  Put that amount of students with the ingredient "rich",  and I REALLY need my patience.  I have to make sure I don't feed into their learned behavior. It takes a poker face and an enormous amount of patience.  They want attention for negative behavior and I won't give it to them (at least not in the way they choose).  It's affective, it just takes diligence and a mouth full of teeth to clench when you really want to scream.

At about three o'clock I decided I better get outside while it's nice to get some exercise and fresh air.  (there was a nice ocean breeze today) I started out slowly to let my body continue to rest even though I was trekking up hills, stairs and cobblestone streets.  I didn't even carry a purse today.  I have a spring coat that has zippered pockets. I stuffed them with the things I needed to keep the weight off my shoulders. I left the purse on the hook.

Man on left with his "worry beads"

I stopped first at the central park in Moda.  It's in a circle . The stones are in a circular pattern, the park benches are in a circular pattern and the traffic has to do quite a circular maneuver to get where they want to go past the park.  In the middle of the park is a huge, cone-like shape, made of metal.  There are about a hundred potted plants, with colorful flowers in hangers, all around the cone.  I love the atmosphere there.  There are always people sitting on the benches.  

At this time of day there were a couple of small children feeding the doves.  They would throw them the feed and then run around chasing them so they would fly away.  One child was a little boy. He is a beginner in walking and was teetering more than running.  I put my hand out to a bench where three older women were sitting and chatting. (I tend to use a lot of gestures instead of being embarrassed by my minimal amount of Turkish)  They smiled their toothless smiles, and nodded their approval for me to sit with them.  The sun was shining. It was pleasant to people-watch when everyone there was doing the same thing for rest and relaxation.

I was there about fifteen minutes when a woman with a bright colored skirt and and a tattered, old, army-green sweater, came up to the bench.  She started talking to the three woman (they were not responding in conversation).  Her voice was loud and practiced.  I could tell (even in Turkish), she was repeating herself.  The woman closest to me turned to me and "tick-ticked" her tongue and rolled her eyes. (she was referring to the woman talking and didn't like what she was doing) She pushed herself up on her beautiful wooden cane from her seat, smiled at me and left the bench. I decided to vacate the spot, too. I could tell from the reaction of the women, that this was a woman asking for money and telling her story to gain sympathy. (she kept using the word arkadaş/friend in her little speech for kopek)

I headed for a little shop nearby.  I mean little, like most shops in Moda.  The woman makes everything by hand and most of the items are made of blown or shaped glass.  The pieces have beautiful combinations of colors and shapes.  She has two boxes as big as cake pans, full of different size pieces she's made.  I feel like I'm on Lake Superior, at the mouth of the Two-Hearted River, looking for rocks all over again.  I go through them, pick them up, turn them over and feel each one.  She just smiles while I have my fun. She knows I'll buy something if I come in.  I've been there before.  Some of her artististic pieces are too big to bring back to the U.S.  But, I touch them and look them over anyway.  She sits at the table by the boxes of beads and works on her art. I did buy a bracelet made of glass pieces today.  Each piece is a different color and they all have the evil eye on them.   A nazar (Turkish: nazar boncuğu) is an eye-shaped amulet believed to protect against the evil eye ("evil eye", from nazar and "amulet" from boncuğu). The word "nazar" is derived from the Arabic نظر, "sight" or"seeing(Wikipedia)

After leaving there, I thought I'd find the pharmacy I usually go to. I needed to get more allergy medicine, but it was closed.  I thought, "Maybe there's a death in the family, or something".  But, after an hour's walk, I texted Elizabeth to ask and she said there's only a few that stay open later on Saturdays, called nobetci eczane/pharmacy on guard (so google translate says) So, my next stop was to find the little Italian restaurant. The food is well worth the scramble through the streets to find.

I got justifiably distracted when I saw a business-office supply place I remembered going into before. I bought some prizes for my students.  They might not have huge places like Office Max here in Moda, but these little shops are loaded with interesting, little items.  They do have the glue, tacks, tape, staples, etc.  But, among all those necessary supplies are the Turkish stickers, little notebooks, tiny envelopes, and an odd assortment of fun things to look through.  Today it felt pretty good to use my Turkish bank debit card for the transactions. (No fees!!)

I took this in Beyoğlu/Galatasaray, European side

I never did find the Italian place.  I swear places just disappear around here.  I'm not kidding.  No wonder they need the evil eye around to add some protection.  I stopped at another little shop to buy something for Elizabeth for her June birthday, then walked another forty minutes to find the Polka Cafe I love.  I could hear the instruments before I got to the little street the restaurant sits on.  All the doors were wide open, with people sitting at the little tables on the sidewalk outside, listening to the music.  I went in and sat down at a little table with two chairs.  While my meal is being made, I asked if I could play the Irish drum while they played. (the young woman who usually plays the drum wasn't there)  They motioned yes and I put it on my knee, grabbed the bar on the back of the drum and started playing along with the flute, guitar, kemençe, duduk,  fiddle.  It felt natural to join in, and it was.  There's no doubt, music is a universal language.  After I ate my vegetables rolled in two crepes, I was ready to sing.  They were more than happy to have me perform.  I sang "Early One Morning" and "Molly Malone".  I loved the feeling of surprising people with my voice. We agreed I'd return and sing and play some more with them next weekend.

While I was playing, a woman (about in her forties) sat down at a table to have tea.  She was smiling and moving to the music.  She caught my attention right away because she had a beautiful scarf on her head (It wasn't because she was practicing her religion by hiding her hair).  It was a scarf over her bald head. She had lost all her hair to chemo. We talked awhile before we both left together.  She recognized me from the school bus.  She rides the same bus in the morning as I do.  I never noticed her because I sit up front when I get on. (motion sickness!!)  Emine has been an art teacher at Eyuboglu for eleven years.  She had never been to the Polka cafe before.  Before we parted ways on our uphill climb from the cafe, I told her about my sister Mary and her fight with cancer.  I also told her I was glad she was wearing the pretty scarf over her head and out in Istanbul, enjoying the day.

Today was a rejuvenating day me.  If I had let myself stay put today, I wouldn't have experienced the special finds I came across.  I'm still achy, my muscles are tight and sore, but my heart is lighter.  I may or may not need to see the doctor on Monday.  The healing has already begun.  I'll stay on some meds and rest, but I'll remember healing also comes when people touch each others lives.