ESL Blogs

Dear friends and teacher,

Years ago I wrote this text in my diary; of course I wrote it in French which is my mother tongue. I decided to translate it into English so I could take part to this fun writing challenge Tara gave us. It was not easy at all and my biggest challenge was to use the right tenses. Written in red my new vocabulary.

Wandering around Istanbul.

It has been one month and one week since I dropped off my suitcases in Istanbul, it was the month of May ... the best to get lost in the city that was once Constantinople.

'I spent three weeks at my friend Gönuls and two in Cukurcuma with my couchsurfing friends.

I have successfully completed Level 1 in Turkish. At school, I studied in the company of Arifan, Indonesian, Ahmed, Somali, of Recail, Macedonian, and of Melike Kataryna, Ukrainian and two funny Japanese whose names I have forgotten. In the corridors between classes, I became friend with Mohammed, a Syrian and a funny Kossovar who is a fanatical supporter of Galatasaray football club.

This did not let me a second to flip through the paper guide «du Routard ». But I have visited the Aya Sophia and Blue Mosque on my own during a sunny day but my touristic peregrinations stopped there. I was at this point when my sister Chantal wrote me she just wanted to spend a few days in Istanbul to discover the city through the eyes of a 
'local'.

Chantal and I are twins but as different as black and white. She lives a quiet and tidy life as I'm still wandering on the roads of the world. She always thought I'm a little crazy but admires my independence life and I am filled with admiration for her for leading a life that I would qualify, according to my criteria, monotonous. In her mail, Chantal wrote me that she would greatly appreciate it if I could share my love of indépendance and travel with her.

So, together we got lost in the Galata district, full of designer boutiques, enjoyed freshly caught fish grilled on the Golden Horn, stroll the spice market in Eminonu, took a mini-cruise on the Bosphorus, from sea Marmara visited the island of Büyükada, rode a bicycle through the island where motors are not allowed, and slept on the boat on our way back to the Asian side of Istanbul.

We also visited the trendy district of Beyoglu .There, we met Ibrahim, my Turkish teacher who invited us to follow him. At the sunset, we are embedded in the little back streets littered with booksellers. Among shelves full of books, between a German novel and a Turkish tale, Ibrahim finally found that rare gem: a bilingual dictionary French-Turkish for only 3 Lira.

When leaving the bookseller, he asked me if we were tempted to wander into other parts of Istanbul. He took us to Cicek Pasaji, formerly the City of Pera. Nowadays, it is rather a series of wine bars and restaurants with strolling musicians directly leading on another passage, Balık Pasaji, where fishmongers proudly sale their fresh catch of the day.

Then, Ibrahim took us to Nevizade sokak, a busy street where touts are fighting to have you on their meze table. There, raki, the loca aniseed alcohol flows. It's not over. My teacher bypassed the famous Galatasaray High School and we dived into Fransiz sokak, French street formerly called the 'Street of Algeria'.There is a succession of romantic and colorful little restaurants, lighted with candles where couples, with stars in their eyes, are sitted at white tables. But the peak of my wonder is a few yards away when we arrived in Cukurcuma, the antiques district. It looks like a postcard: a green mosque, junk dealers, art galleries and, as every where else in Istanbul, cats sleeping in every corner.

Istanbul got us !

After a few days, on May 2007, Chantal flew back to Belgium her mind full of Istanbul's wonders. She came back a few other times and we both enjoyed different parts of Turkey. Five years later, I have come a long way, I am now a Turkish resident spending my time showing around to French speaking tourists.

A new life has started.