No Shortage of Vegetables

I woke up famished. Thought my stomach may have eaten itself in the middle of the night. But, I survived the walk to a little café/restaurant that my (I guess I’ll call her landlady) suggested. I think it is Mayek, or Mayk.

Put all of your thoughts that they speak any English in Turkey aside. I read in some guidebook or online somewhere that “you could get along just fine with English in Istanbul”. Lies, I tell you! Though the two folks at the counter were quite accommodating with my struggling and pointing at my Turkish/English dictionary and pointing at some tomatoes behind the counter, it never really got anywhere. Eventually, the girl says something that sounded like “omelet” and I nodded my head emphatically. At this point I thought I may faint from hunger. The guy says something that sounds like “tea” and I say my one little Turkish word “cai” (tea, there’s a squiggly thing under the ‘c’, but my computer doesn’t make those, it sounds like ‘ch’). I pay 6 Lira, about $3.87 and I got this.


Breakfast

Yay!
Nope, no shortage of vegetables here. Fresh tomatoes, big hunks of cucumber, delicious olives (trumps the Spanish ones in my opinion *wink), a pile of fresh whole grain bread, and eggs loaded with some pretty super goat cheese. And the tea? Exactly how I like it. It’s brewed really strong, but somehow not that bitter. Just a little sugar, no milk, and it gives you the little caffeine buzz to start your day.

I spent the remainder of my time at the café completing the first chapter in my “Teach Yourself Turkish” book. I love language and am determined to learn enough Turkish to get around, or at least to be able to order breakfast.

The grocery store was not so different as the ones in the States, except for the fact that everything was in Turkish. So, there I was wandering the aisles with my cart, wondering why none of the milk is refrigerated, grabbing for my dictionary, and trying to decipher whether or not the freezer bags have Ziplocs on them or not.

Upon checkout, I realized I had seven grocery bags full, five of which that were heavy (the other two were bulky, one with paper towels and the other with TP), and about a quarter mile to walk. Needless to say, I made many stops along the way and got a lot of funny stares. By the time I got home, I thought my arms were going to fall off. I am sore this morning.

After grocery adventures, I dealt with some Turkish bank stuff with a friend of my “land lady”, to get my rent paid. She was really nice and helpful. She used to teach English, so she was the perfect translator. The bank felt more like the DMV. We took a number and waited for about 45 minutes along with a small crowd of people. Apparently, all the banks are closed on Saturdays except for the one in the mall. It was Saturday and we were at the one in the mall, along with everyone else who has to do banking but works Monday through Friday. *Sigh

I spent the rest of the day and evening resting, doing what I could do speed up the process of deleting my jetlag.

Today, I set out for the modern art museum and public transport adventures. Full reports in the very near sometime future.