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Istanbul. Land of Cats.
In some strange Anna-fulfiling-stereotypes type way, I have become a cat-afficianado thanks to Istanbul. Orhan Pamuk is constantly referring to the gangs of street cats that wander the streets from Bebek to Kadıköy and oh how spot on. Cats on street corners, at restaurants, riling through trashcans, hissing in the streets, and using every opportunity to alternately maim or steal food from unsuspecting Istanbullu.
I’ve moved into my friend, James’ Cihangir apartment while he is in Spain for the month of August. If anyone wants a wonderful distraction, check out his blog at jamesheywoodistanbul.blogspot.com.
Along with the beautiful, New-York-City-Defying apartment, I have become the temporary guardian of Kebap Heywood, a former street kitty. Thank all deities that I had an insane cat growing up because otherwise this cat might have gotten the better of me. He spends half of his time crawling into my lap only to scratch me and the other half wandering the alleys around the Cihangir Cami. Despite my arms looking like I’m some angsty tween, I have undoubtedly fallen hard for this feline firebrand.
This last weekend most of the Norwegian Delegation took off for minibreaks, leaving me in charge of cat duty. I think I’m turning into one of those crazy cat ladies with as much as I think about cats lately. I need to think about something else. I know…Politics!…wait… no. That’s depressing. Better to stick to cats.
In other news, Michael has left us to return to the states and I am bracing myself for a slew of visitors in the next while including my sister and my best friends. After a few months of trying my hardest to act the part of the local, I think putting on my tourist hat will be a welcome respite.
I was recently asked by the wonderful WMC to advise one of their affiliates on the political climate here in Turkey. If anyone is bored and wants to know about the U.S. election in relation to my take on Turkish politics, please feel free to read through this:
