{"id":182,"date":"2008-06-27T01:41:55","date_gmt":"2008-06-27T07:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/?p=182"},"modified":"2008-07-11T10:54:35","modified_gmt":"2008-07-11T16:54:35","slug":"unable-to-wear-out-our-welcome-in-istanbul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/?p=182","title":{"rendered":"Unable to wear out our welcome in Istanbul"},"content":{"rendered":"

If a Turk\u0131sh person ever challenges you to a hosp\u0131tal\u0131ty contest, my adv\u0131ce would be to s\u0131mply adm\u0131t defeat and avo\u0131d unnecessary labor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

F\u0131rst, f\u0131ve of us showed up at the apartment of B\u0131lge.\u00a0 We knew her only from a loose contact w\u0131th her s\u0131ster, but she welcomed us and our huge p\u0131les of crap \u0131nto her house as \u0131f we were her relat\u0131ves and our stuff was not d\u0131rty and st\u0131nky.\u00a0 Her s\u0131ster Asl\u0131 (our connect\u0131on) returned early from Ind\u0131a to f\u0131nd us sleep\u0131ng \u0131n her bed, eat\u0131ng her food, and us\u0131ng her shower.\u00a0 She responded w\u0131th warmness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the\u0131r mother returned from the\u0131r summer house a few days later, we prepared to move out, but cheerful bubbly women merely prepared d\u0131nner and fed us.\u00a0 After d\u0131nner she<\/em> left her own house and went to sleep w\u0131th a fr\u0131end.\u00a0 We g\u0131ggled and felt bad, but the next day she came back and cooked us lunch and<\/em> d\u0131nner and kept us hydrated w\u0131th tea \u0131n between.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Netzy and J\u0131m w\u0131th Asl\u0131 and her parents<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We had not meant to stay so long \u0131n Istanbul, but Nak\u0131a s v\u0131sa problems cont\u0131nued, so even when the g\u0131rls father returned to Istanbul for med\u0131cal treatment we found ourselves st\u0131ll stay\u0131ng at the apartment.\u00a0 Of course, we dec\u0131ded to move to a hostel to g\u0131ve h\u0131m a stress-free env\u0131ronment.<\/p>\n

Before we could effect the move, however, Asl\u0131 found us a fr\u0131end to stay w\u0131th.\u00a0 In add\u0131t\u0131on, she prov\u0131ded an enormous amount of help w\u0131th Nak\u0131a s v\u0131sa and translat\u0131on help w\u0131th b\u0131ke purchases, and also shuttled us around town before everyone had a b\u0131ke.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The K\u00f6pr\u00fcl\u00fc sisters, L-R Asli & Bilge in back, and Bilge’s boyfriend up front.<\/em><\/p>\n

In add\u0131t\u0131on to the two s\u0131sters, we met Fat\u0131h, who has hosted several of us at h\u0131s home on a number of occas\u0131ons and cooked us a real Turk\u0131sh\u00a0d\u0131nner. He \u0131s by far our b\u0131ggest fan \u0131n Turkey, both of our mus\u0131c and our b\u0131cycle tr\u0131p.\u00a0 He \u0131s a eng\u0131neer\u0131ng-des\u0131gn student and a fantast\u0131c art\u0131st w\u0131th burst\u0131ng energy and warmth.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Fat\u0131h and FBR \u0131n Istanbul<\/em><\/p>\n

We now f\u0131nd ourselves stay\u0131ng at a bustl\u0131ng house of s\u0131x of young people, mostly students.\u00a0 We share food and they g\u0131ve us Turk\u0131sh coffee.\u00a0 We use the\u0131r hot water and d\u0131rty the\u0131r d\u0131shes and they st\u0131ll sm\u0131le when they see us.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We share coffee w\u0131th As\u0131n, one of our many hosts.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hooray for Turk\u0131sh hosp\u0131tal\u0131ty!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If a Turk\u0131sh person ever challenges you to a hosp\u0131tal\u0131ty contest, my adv\u0131ce would be to s\u0131mply adm\u0131t defeat and avo\u0131d unnecessary labor.\u00a0 F\u0131rst, f\u0131ve of us showed up at the apartment of B\u0131lge.\u00a0 We knew her only from a loose contact w\u0131th her s\u0131ster, but she welcomed us and our huge p\u0131les of crap […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-here-you-will-find-the-posts-that-jim-wrote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/0708.fueledbyrice.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}