I was going to go somewhere today but I was out until 4 AM last night (this morning) and now it is a little late to go on a day trip. Yesterday I accomplished two things I've been meaning to do. (make that three things, I did my laundry, too) First of all, I went to Levent. What is in Levent? Nothing much. Levent is the upscale industrial area. By this I mean it is the place where all the foreign industries have their offices. It has a big highway running through it with a lot of shiny new buildings and a lot of ugly, older,concrete buildings. As far as I can tell, there is one reason to go to Levent. Nori. The editor of Istanbullshit, an English language zine here, told me there was an Asian Supermarket in Levent. It is possible to find some Asian food in the luxury grocery store near Bebek. However, they don't have nori. I have been wanting to make Japanese food (it looks so impressive) and I needed nori (seaweed) sheets. So yesterday morning I boarded the Levent bus and found the Asian Supermarket. It is underneath a Chinese restaurant with a very ornate front so it was easy to find. At first glance I was ready to be disapointed. Instead of the usual rows and rows of shelves packed with everything from the familiar (rice) to the strange (dried jellyfish) the Istanbul Asian Supermarket was just an empty room with scantilly stocked shelves along each of its 3 walls. Fortunately, among its scanty goods there was a pile of packages of nori. Underneath, there were several bottles of rice vinegar. I did a little victory dance that involved waving my packages of nori around and beaming at the store keeper. Then I paid for my groceries (nori, vinegar and bean vermicelli) and started walking towards Etiler, a ritzy region of Istanbul.

I'd been through Etiler before and had noticed lots of upscale boutiques and shiny cafes. I think there is an American community there but I'm not sure (and really don't care). I also have no interest in upscale boutiques. Etiler is also home to one of Istanbul's ritziest malls,Akmerkez. I'd been there a couple times (with a friend... I hate malls). You have to send your bags through an x-ray and walk through a metal detector going in. I can't help but wonder: Since the security is so strict going in, is it easy to shoplift since they don't check you going out? Akmerkez has the most expensive food court I have ever been in. When I think of mall food courts, I think of fast food places where you eat at because they are there. At Akmarkez, the restaurants look like typical fast food with bright lit up menus and food served in styrofoam. However, your little Chinese take out meal costs $8 and up. At Akmarkez, I took a somewhat intentional wrong turn and instead of going down the ritzy boutique street, I went to Arnavutköy.

Arnavutköy is on the Bosphorus water front so I had been there several times. However, I had never walked there from Etiler. It is a nice walk once you start going down the hill. There are some nice views of Bosphorus and the road goes by an orchard and some pretty ivy covered walls. There is also a Jewish cemetary but it is closed on Saturdays. In the distance, looking inland, you can see cranes and half built ugly new houses and skyscrapers. The two times I've walked down from the hills overlooking the Bosphorus, I've noticed there was a really peaceful village feel to the surroundings. I found myself slowing my pace and watching lizards scamper across stones. Although Autumn is almost here, there is still a hot summer meadow scent. I continued down the hill passing and then being passed by this fruit truck. Arnavutköy is a relaxing neighborhood on the Bosphorus shore. It is most famous for its ornate wooden houses. Some of these are in desparate need of restoration. They sit on an "island" with traffic going on either side, and a little patch of Bosphorus for their front yard. The street is built over the water so there are in a sense, two waterfronts: one in front of the houses and a second in front of the street. The shore of the Bosphorus is filled with fishers and boats. In summer, there are lots of boys swimming, but it is a little cool for that now. I sat in a cafe, eating really sticky icecream. I'd try to get a spoonfull and then have to twist my spoon several times to get a bite of the sticky substance.

The second thing (or third if you include my laundry) I accomplished was the reason I was out until 4AM. I finally went to the James Joyce Irish Pub. It is really close but I had never gone because of expat guilt. Expat guilt is the voice in my head that says, "You are in Turkey. Go hang out in a Turkish bar and meet Turks." As it was, I ended up meeting a few Turks at the James Joyce. I also met a Canadian, an Englishman, an Iranian, two Swedes and the owner who is Irish. The James Joyce takes up all of the second floor of a building. There is the bar, a live music room, a pool room and a video room. Best of all, the bar has hard cider and mead. I bet it will be nice drinking hot mead in the winter. The atmosphere was great, the music was good, the people were friendly, it had my favorite drink and is located about 3 blocks from my house. What more could a person want from her neighborhood pub? Eaomon, the owner, opened the pub 4 years ago after he was dragged "kicking and screaming" to Istanbul by his Turkish wife. He is from a small town in County Clare and said he never thought he would end up in Istanbul or owning an Irish pub. He plays the fiddle, guitar and sings so there is a house Irish band. The next person I met was Firuze. She is an outgoing Iranian woman who was there with her daughter and her niece. I told her she should start introducing her daughter as her sister because it looked like there was no more than an 8 year age difference between the 2 of them. Her daughter, Sandra, had just started at the University of Ankara this year. She reminded me of myself during my first year in the University. She was expounding on the benefits of Communism. Mark, the Englishman had spent time in communist countries and was making cynical comments. I was smiling at her youthful enthusiasm. Sandra and her cousin, Pinar, also are at the age where they are friendly to everyone and haven't learned to tell annoying people to get out of their faces. This one drunk guy was flirting with both of them and being completely annoying. Sandra started ignoring him leaving Pinar siting next him, politely smiling and looking a little uncomfortable. Our conversation moved on to carrot and cucumber sticks served in a lemon juice brine. Firuze told us how this one foreigner had thought it was a cocktail and took all the vegetables out and drank the brine. Jokingly, Sandra took a sip of the brine and then passed it to the annoying drunk guy who without realizing what it was, downed the whole thing in one "macho" gulp. I later heard him telling another woman the tired, disgusting pick up line, "If I told you, you have a beautiful body, would you hold it against me? " YECH!!!!!! Firuze set about trying to find me a boyfriend. Mugu, a Turkish girl who works as a model offered to set me up with her brother. Firuze said, "He looks like her." I'd actually seen Mugu and her boyfriend, Patrick at Kemal's party a few months ago. I was trying to remember where I'd seen her. Since she said she was a model I told myself I must have seen her in a magazine. Then I remembered Kemal's party.

Eammon leaned over the bar and told Firuze that there were 2 Swedish guys who were helping the earthquake victims. She waved at them and gestured for them to come over. About an hour later they joined us. Firuze asked both of them if they would marry her. They didn't answer. She went on to explain how honest and kind Swedish men were. (We had already determined that American men are liars, Turkish and Arabic men treat women like objects and Russian men are just hopeless.) For back up she would turn to the Swedish guys and say, "Are you honest?" They would answer, "Yes." and she would turn to me and say, "See!!! Swedish men are honest." I said, "No, they are just lying to you."

The conversation bubbled on. There was a lot of laughter and playful jibes. It was a cold, rainy night. From the windows of the pub we could see lighting against the backdrop of Sisli. I had meant to just duck into the pub for a quick drink. I didn't leave until 4 AM.