Hopped up on Lentil Soup

my eyes are buggy after spending some time catching up on email and trying to get us home without ransoming a few of our digits, but a few notes:

it's the 2nd day of Ramadan, and though we have eaten breakfast later than the 4:30amish that most of the people around us eat at, we've been not eating or drinking during the day. needless to say, we were rather excited to sit down to a place that had vaguely vegetarian lentil soup (mercimen corba) and tea. i'm fantasizing about ice cream later on. i think Corey has visions of Efes pilsner dancing through his head.

nothing makes me angrier at our President than when we divulge our nationality with the effect of a sad nod of the head and pursed lips with those whom we have enjoyed some good conversation. strangely, three people (Iranians to boot) have stated their affection for Bush and the army. i don't know how to process this.

if there is one lesson i've learned from my visit with Turkey, it's hospitality. i must strive to become the kind of host everyone in this country seems to be effortlessly.

excuse me now, but dondurma (ice cream) is calling.

Oddysseı: Mardın

after more stops than ı really care to count wıth a bunch of toıng and froıng and a screamıng baby who was quıckly shuttled off the bus (learned that ıt was actually theır stop; after all, just because someone crıes doesn,t mean they should get booted off), we arrıved at shortly after 4am ın Mardın. we were a ways from the cıty center, and a quıck tour of the nearby cheap hotel saıd that ıt was all booked up. started walkıng when a nıce fellow scooped us ınto the car and summarıly brought us to the door of a hotel. a very expensıve-lookıng hotel. we asked how much a room was and then almost choked. walked back out and weıghed the optıons of walkıng back towards town before dawn and most lıkely encounterıng large dogs. ıt was a beautıful vıew of the cıty, though! ın the end we decıded to pıck up some rocks and my paultry stıck as preotectıon from the bayıng dogs that had become part of the audıal landscape shortly after the roosters made themselves known. gendarmes protectıng the power plant laughed at the 3 forıgners walkıng along deserted streets. we got a faır ways, actually, when a fellow whose name ı thought was Oscar gave us a lıft. and none too soon! no sooner had we gotten ın and started drıvıng than we encountered 2 dogs, one of whıch attacked the car and trıed to take a bıte out of the wındshıeld. needless to say, we were grateful. he took us to a hotel that looked even more expensıve, but by thıs tıme we fıgured we would just have to suck ıt up for the nıght. ıt turned out to be about $US35 for each of us, whıch, okay ıs expensıve, but we,re also stayıng ın a castle datıng from the 13th century sıtuated ın ancıent Mesopotamıa. here are some pıctures of the hotel (the only pıctures to date sınce ı can,t download yet): http://artuklu.com/tr/ARTUKLU360/panoramic/kraldairesi.htm

ıt turns out our savıor,s name ıs Alı, and hıs job ıs an "osker", or soldıer. we sat up on the terrace drınkıng tea for about an hour whıle Alı went through the flashcards ı had made hım. we communıcated as well we could about football and chıldren untıl Alı suggested that he come back at 2pm and show us around the town. we agreed (though he had mentıoned payment, and we were now completely broke from the hotel), ı gave hım my flashcards, and we shuffled to our prıcy but absolutely luxurıant room complete wıth shower and complımentary cotton swabs!!!

starvıng by the tıme we woke up at 11:30 or so and found a pıde place along the road. Mehmet, ı belıeve hıs name ıs, has owned the pıde place for a number of years and follows a long tradıtıon of pıde owners ın hıs famıly. we sat and kıbıtzed whıle watchıng the three fellows make dough ınto magıcal bread through the huge maw of an oven. they made us specıal vegetarıan pıdes (whıch are Turkısh pızzas) usıng a huge glob of butter that permeated the entıre pızza. they were great!

a lıttle ınternet for Justın and Corey whıle ı trıed to get more mınutes for the phone Shawn and Becc loaned us. there were 5 young fellows who gave plenty of attentıon to my phone, then asked where ı ws goıng. ı was tryıng to say that ı ws meetıng my brother (Corey) at the ınternet, but ı guess ı ended up sayıng that ı was lookıng for a boyfrıend on the ınternet. two of them offered to chat onlıne. ıt was embarrassıng. ı don,t want to talk about ıt anymore.

got back to the hotel and waıted for Alı after fellows at the desk saıd that he was comıng. twenty mınutes later a glorıous young lady named Güşeln who spoke fabulous englısh ınformed us that Alı was NOT comıng. ı had heard "gılıyor", but they had saıd "gılıMIyor", whıch ıs the dıfference between "he,s comıng" and "he,s not comıng". bıg dıfference!
so we got to talkıng wıth her for a few hours about lıfe ın Turkey, her lıfe ın England, arranged marrıages, thınkıng posıtıvely as manıfestıng good thıngs ın your lıfe, etc. we begged her to joın us for dınner, and she acquıesced.

meanderıng ıs my favorıte pasttıme ın new places, and we all meandered up to a Madrassah that overlooks the cıty. ı thınk we hıt the chıldren,s quarter, because we ended up spendıng a goodly amount of tıme wıth a bunch of youngsters who spoke a lıttle englısh and a lot of Turkısh. good tımes, good tımes. when theır parents haıled them back, we kept walkıng to fınd a famıly hangıng out on theır stoop whose patrıarch offered us some tea. hıs name ıs Omer. another great tıme. walked down and around, a dollop of fabulous pıstachıo ıce cream at lıdo, a short nap, then dınner wıth Güşeln.
what a great day!

AlSo: Kucukcekmece, the Unpronounceable Neighborhood

Woke up to find another at the house. I had been hankering to get out of the house earlier to allow for more walking time, and even though he had been up late the night before, Ben was kind enough to accompany me. What a spring chicken! On the ferry, we talked about his work and experience with EcoTopia, , traveling in eastern Europe, and his work with Platform, a London-based NGO that, among other things, creates commemorative installations for the people’s heroes. He had us stop at a borekci. I’ve never had borek. It’s great and certainly staunched the spinach craving I’d been having, then found Aya Sofia and the bus to Kucukcekmece (say it 3 times fast). Carbon offsetting presentation there was only nominally about carbon offsetting, but what it was about were research methods and findings relating to carbon emissions by vehicle type in urban areas of Istanbul. This was done by Sebel of EMBARC and World Resources Institute. FANTASTIC! Their study was funded by Shell, Ford, BP, and Caterpillar, which raised Joerie and my eyebrows since we had just been discussing CSR and greenwashing with Joroen, Sylvia and Corey. When asked, Sebel said that they are interested in improving the fuel efficiency of their products. Her powerpoint will be available in November and has promised me in 3 different ways that I can grab a copy when it goes public. I was seriously salivating. Ton spoke about his bike programs in Latin America through his NGO, Movilisation, and Andras spoke about true costs of sprawl. Later, he was gracious enough to agree to send me some info. on the data he has collected. Yeay! Eda presented on the future of Istanbul transport, which captured a number of the themes that had been discussed through the last few days. We all piled back in the bus and stopped at a parade of sorts, which we were told was for Victory Day (the reason Rick had the day off school). A few of us just got a little skittish when the flags came out and the torches and applause for the speaker who was positioned on the roof of a nearby building and hooked up to a powerful sound system. So some of us soft-shoed out to the nearby bus terminal. Corey and I had a chat with Rick on a few housekeeping issues while Meghan and Elly had a bit of dinner. Then Team Portland headed to the tastiest vegetarian durum place in Turkey. Oh man, so good! And on the pedestrian street in Kadikoy, which was also a definite plus.

AlSo: Presentations et al

Rick was off from work but was still up ahead of us on his daily walk or run. We headed to the Urban Center for presentations by the keynote speakers. The most stand-out presentations had to be by Halik and Ole Thorson. Halik talked about the urban planning history of Istanbul and was quite open about the city’s lack of planning for bike and ped master plans. I accosted him after the presentation to compliment and ask about how he would suggest dealing with challenges of changing traffic infrastructure in such an ancient city. Ole lives in Barcelona and has created an extensive ped master plan. He is adamant that all cities should develop a ped plan and decried that almost none do. Corey and Zeren had a lenghy chat with him just after the presentation, and I spoke with him later in the day. What a fascinating fellow, and such a marvelous presentation! After these presentations we were invited to go outside where there was a PARK-ing demonstration where the parking lot had previously been. Astroturf, benches, bike parking, a 4-tandem, bean bag chairs, art exhibition and yoga. Good times, good time. After lunch came time for our presentation on “Changing Car-Oriented Attitudes”. Meghan had put together a lovely powerpoint (though next time we should focus more on ped and calm down on bikes), and Corey, Meghan and I had been up late the night before tweaking it some and forming an outline. The presentation went well, I thought (although, to be honest, I am rather senSitive about being contradicted and interrupted during formal-ish presentations). We broke up the discussion into 4 groups and then came back at the end for general feedback which seemed pretty popular. Meghan typed up comments that each group had made based on our notes. Daniel then presented on Rails to Trails and Greenways with an interesting discussion about the evolution of master plans. A few people in the room had actually been involved with the inception or development of master plans and building networks. I believe Eduardo, Daniel and Thiago have all been involved with this process. Unfortunately we missed the presentations on carfree housing which had occurred the same time as ours, but we got a rundown from Ralph, Markus and Ed on the topic. The evening was all about a wonderful boat tour with lots of wine (that sadly ran out before the boat docked. Bikers can drink!). talked with Corey, Sylvia, Maura, Jason the Great Facilitator, Ben and Pippa. Pippa works with BankWatch, a largeish NGO that monitors WTO, European Bank, etc. Maura discussed how she decided to go into Urban Design and how their teacher decided to put Istanbul’s bid in for 2007 TCC. Maura and three of the other coordinators are working together on a baseline study and urban design project, so it was a natural extension to work on this Conference. They are all such good company. And good dancers! I try to remember what Sylvia, Corey and I talk about, but it’s hard because we seem to talk about . . . everything. Jason talked about his background in international activism and the G8 Conference. He has previously been involved in World Carfree Network and is acting as their facilitator for the AGM this year. When the boat docked, everyone spilled out. Corey and I, aged and wizened as we are, went back to Rick’s while Elly and Meghan headed out on the town with some others.

AlSo: TCC07 Conference

Elly, Corey and I flummoxed across the ferry to Karakoy (by now an old friend) and walked across the Galata Bridge, through the hardware peddling section of town and wended our way up to Istiklal Cadde and TCC07s headquarters. There were opening comments and introductions, including our 15 minute presentation on next year’s Conference, and then a split for some short workshops. We heard Ralph from Cologne talk about map making, Joroen and Joerie about the anti-SUV campaign from GreenPeace and Friends of the Earth, and Karen and Lena about leisure-focused transport and density (almost 50% of car trips in Sweden are for the purpose of leisure!). Panel discussion in the afternoon was about “Car Culture v. Public Space”. I had thought this would focus on infrastructure, but the overriding themes turned out to be fear, identity and isolation. We met Zeren and Sebel from World Resources Institute with some great conversation. There was a walking tour throughout the European side, but I honestly spent more time talking to other Conference-goers to the detriment of sightseeing. Oh well! Spoke with Milan, Thiago and Karl at some length. The evening was in Ortakoy for a movie night which we had to skip out on early in order to walk to a bus home. Then it was back to Rick’s and a talk about the basics of Turkish linguistics.

Oddyssei: Alighting on Istanbul

we got to the bus stop to find Bas, Justin, Julia and Daniel, then the trek to the border crossing and then on to Istanbul. We took the tram to what we thought was the correct spot to find Rick. Note: Karakoy is NOT Kadikoy, even if they do have the same waterfront street name. after some unsuccessful explorations down cat- and litter-festooned alleys on the wrong side of the Bosphorous, Corey and I, with Rick’s help, managed to make the ferry to his hospitality. Met Elly who had preceded us and slept our first night in Turkey’s most bustling city.

Oddyssei: to Arcadia, a Craigslist adventure

as the first real vacation in almost 2 years, i decided that the trip to Turkey via California and Belgium should be a good one filled with transportational questionmarks and as many random experiences as possible.

and what better way to begin than a rideshare to LA through Craigslist, melting pot of all that is random and strange? all the more ironic to begin a journey to a carfree conference in a car.

i had started looking a couple of weeks beforehand and responded to two ads before getting a response from one fellow traveling from Seattle to LA. as soon as he said his name was Brian, i knew it was all going to be okay; my dad, brother, and former roommate are all named Brian, and all of them are luminous fellas.

Brian picked me up from work in Portland, and we started south. i was wondering how a Long Drive with a new acquaintance would be. how was it, you may well ask? a 15-hour conversation blitz! topics: what is it about our fellow Americans that promulgates celebrities and reality TV shows? have we as a society obliterated cohesion in favor of individualism? what IS scary, and how does one depict, say, a monster, in makeup? how is it that one can point to something in China, ask about it in Chinese, and not be understood? what does one do for fun in Mozambique?

and not only was the company sparkling, but it was, remarkably, a great prologue to the Carfree Conference. when one's primary transportation is a bicycle, one forgets certain conventions such as, say, the highway clover leaf. hypnotic, unyielding, monomodal clover leafs. the ballet of cars and trucks between lanes. lack of turn signal use in California. the complete absence of bikes or peds along stretches of road. drive-thrus. i TOTALLY forgot about drive-thrus. gas stations with adjacent motels. we have a long way to go, people.

so at the end of a long drive, we wound up on Jan, Ed and Kevin's doorstep. thanks for driving, Brian! you're fabulous.