Tavla

Walking down the nargile-scented streets of Kisilay, every cafe is filled with customers drinking cay and playing backgammon (Tavla). Even the internet cafes manage to have a few sets on hand. It's a very popular game and the Turks are very fast at it. For a beginner such as myself it's better to play with other beginners. My friends and I never remember how to set up the board, so we always start wrong; this creates a new version of tavla: foreigner backgammon.

Ankara

A group of exchange students headed to the Black Sea yesterday, and another group headed to Trabzon. 2 days was not enough to see the coast, so I stayed in Ankara.


We started by taking a Dolmus to Ayrancı and walking to Atakule (top). It's interesting to see how many cities have a similar tower. I know Prague does, and I'm sure I've been up into others.



After having drinks at the UFO cafe atop the tower (bottom), we walked past the botanical garden (below) and headed to Kisilay. There was a demonstration there, so we took the long way and by the time we arrived the chaos had disappeared.

İçkiler ve Kadınlar

Hold onto your hats, I have a story. (I've changed some names)

After leaving the internet cafe last night, we (Torben- Germany, Daniel- Denmark, and Clement- France) went to get something to eat and drink. We ended up at this somewhat clear bar whose walls are plastered with Turkish movie posters. Time moved on, and after my friends have a couple beers, the pub closed.

At this point, we move across the street to some hip place. Dim lights, everything shaded reddish orange. Chill out music playing. Beads hanging from the wall. Tipsy Turkish men and women sitting on trendy sofas and bean bag pillows making lots of noise, and so on. I have one beer, because I knew it'd be a long night if I didn't. The guys had 2 more. We stayed there until they had put all the furniture away and kicked us out once again (around 2:30am).

Of course, the guys want another beer, so we wander a bit down the road. Daniel says he'll sell me to the taxi driver and they can get 3 camels for me. Hardy har har.

We finally find this place with LOUD Turkish music. Daniel says he has a good feeling about this, so we go in. There's a guy greetng us at the door, and then someone sits us at a booth table. The booth faces the stage which has a skanky looking Turkish woman in a tight, shortblack skirt singing. The rest of the tables are full, mainly with men, some with their skanky girlfriends. Some woman wearing stiletto heels and fishnet stockings sits next to the guy at the booth next to us.

The waiters start by offering us different plates of appetizers which we refuse. The guys only came here to drink. It's hard for a tipsy German-speaker to explain that to the Turkish waiter. The guys each get a beer, I have a tea (we drink tea all the time). They decide to go to another place, so we ask for the bill.

70 freakin' liras!! That's about 53 USD for having a drink and sitting down for a half an hour. We ask the table next to us, they assure us we're not being ripped off. Torbin doesn't want to pay that much. 20 lira (15 USD) for one beer was too much for him, but they don't barter there. They thought we had language miscommunication problems. We paid our outrageous bill and left after 20 minutes of failed haggling. We didn't tip anyone, not even the guy at the door who held his hand out for money.

10 lira (7 USD) is hopefully the most I will ever pay for a tea. Needless to say, we didn't make METU's midnight curfew and I got to my room at 3:30 am.

[Edit] On the 17th, Torben finally brought it to my attention that the expensive place we stumbled upon was actually a Turkish brothel. I guess that would explain the woman in fishnet stockings and the waiter asking the guys if they had girlfriends. I am quite oblivious to such things.

Düşmek (Fall)

I've been stumbling a bit on protruding rocks lately, so it was inevitable that I would wind up on the ground. It just so happened that the venue was on the steps leading into Cafe Sun Shine. No major damage, just a bloody elbow. Clumsy foreigner!

?Uzungil?

Right outside of campus is a section of Ankara called Uzungil. A lot of students live here, and this way they can avoid the midnight curfew and the same-gender guest policy (and maybe get nicer living quarters for less money). There are some larger grocery stores, bookstores, a koffer, and other stores.

I bought some sweet Ataturk text book labels (you can't leave home without them) and a bunch of Izmir grapes for 25 kurus. Nothing too exciting.

Arkadaş

One roommate down, one more to go.

This one is from California. Our poor roommate-to-be is going to live in Little America.

Şarkıcıler

I had promised a friend that I'd join him drinking at the Baraka (Social Club building) with friends "for chat", so I ended up skipping out on a trip to Kisilay.

Even though this is a dry campus, the students seem to drink anyways (rarely do the Jandarma do anything). Efes, Turkish for Ephesus, is the Turkish beer of choice for the foreigners, but I hear wine is the choice of the Turkish students- and the location of choice for this activity is Devrim Stadium ("It's a tradition").

The Devrim Stadium bleachers are completely dark with a view looking over the lights of Ankara in the hills. Other groups of METU students sing traditional militia songs or Ottoman marchings songs as they drink. It's sort of eery.

That night, one of the stray dogs had gotten into the stands, and an exchange student from Denmark started yelling at it: "Kopek...Jandarma!" Our Turkish hosts started laughing. Calling the army force "dog" wouldn't be looked upon too well.