Life in Turkey

Since my last post, many things happened :).

I understand now why traffic here is so chaotic. There are only 2 main roads here you can travel and inside each area you have avenues you can drive. Turkey is economically growing and that's why folks here haven't felt European economic crisis yet. In spite of the huge price of cars and electronic things, lots of people have got a car and iphones. Ok, Istanbul doesn't represent the whole Turkey but I'm only speaking about what I've seen since I arrived here.

At least, there are 2 types of taxis here. The universal taxi that everyone knows and one called Dolmus which is a Ford transit properly decorated and it's much more cheaper than the normal taxi. A good advice for everyone who wants to be in Istanbul is for small distances you can get "the normal taxi" but for big distances is better to get a Dolmus in order to save more money.

Unlike you could think, girls here are conservative and very straight about relationship ideas. They have a different mind than european girls which we can consider more open minded ad talkative. Of course, language here is a barrier but if you are an expatriate you can do everything you want without many problems. They also have very hard police rules and it's better to follow the rules than to break it or you can be in a very serious troubles. But after all, it's ok and unlike you may be probably thinking, Turkey isn't an unsafe country at all nor you feel unsafe here or particularly troubled about police guys.

Still, they seem to eat very little and drink lots of alcohol. Yes, unlike I was expecting, they drink lots of alcohol but alcohol here is very expensive even wine at restaurants. And with hard polices rules, I definitely prefer not to drink than to have other kind of stories written here.

Summarizing, life in Istanbul - Turkey is very cosmopolitan, modern and unbelievable. Only being here you can prove what I'm saying and obviously tasting the special environment which is surrounding us....

Take care and stay in touch :). I leave you with a video of Taksim. It's just unbelievable and wonderful

Emanuel

Christmas in Turkey

Since Monday until today, we're living a kind of Christmas in Turkey so that we haven't worked yet. They call Bairam and this is a muslim celebration like a festival but they proudly say "this is like Christmas for you". I haven't seen Santa yet nor his parents appearing in my room, so I don't believe I'm going to receive a present this year :p.

Nevertheless, the whole crazy environment in the streets is alive and there's a lot of people  walking on the street. This country never stops living and I actually like it pretty much. One thing I can say to all of you: alcoholic drinks are very expensive and their politics about it are very tight. Of course we can drink alcohol but they manage a way for avoiding these things. 

I'm getting used to their way of driving and it doesn't seems to be very difficult. The only thing you have to do is: to honk all the time and to light signals for the car in front of you. These two things actually work very well and unlike we may think they don't stop discussing with anyone. They just go away for their destination.

Well, life in Turkey is almost like I've been describing. Hope you all have a Merry Bairam...or Christmas...whatever... 

Final Destination: Istanbul, Turkey

My first day in Turkey...my impressions: Turkey isn't so different than Portugal. Actually they are just like us, driving crazy with a big smile :). There's a lot of traffic where people can talk on the phone while they are driving, but surprisingly there aren't any car crashes or people discussing.
Food here is a little bit different but it's ok. Salads and chicken are available  and I'm sure this is my big opportunity to have a healthy life :P.

There's nothing more to tell...I just want to finish with a music that I think is the one which says everything today....

From your turkish friend,

ER