Wishing for Istanbul

Today is October 4, and there are 47 days until I leave for Istanbul. There is nothing I want more than to skip straight to November 20 and be in Turkey already. Now that fall is here, wanderlust has struck heavily again and I would much rather be living abroad somewhere than being here in Minnesota. Istanbul is never far from my thoughts - last week when flipping through a new Turkey guidebook, I was brought to tears by the thought of being there again (Mosques! Lagman! Hookah! Elma çay! Isik Cikmazi 26! Ortaköy! Adhan! Cheap clothes!). Then, I found a wonderful poem by Turkish poet Yahya Kemal Beyatli about Istanbul that made me miss it even more:

BİR BAŞKA TEPEDEN

  Sana dün bir tepeden baktım aziz İstanbul!

  Görmedim gezmediğim, sevmediğim hiçbir yer.

  Ömrüm oldukça, gönül tahtıma keyfince kurul!

  Sade bir semtini sevmek bile bir ömre değer.

  Nice revnaklı şehirler görülür dünyada,

  Lakin efsunlu güzellikleri sensin yaratan.

  Yaşamıştır derim, en hoş ve uzun rü'yada

  Sende çok yıl yaşayan, sende ölen, sende yatan.

English translation:

I looked at you from another hill, dear Istanbul!


I know you like back of my hand, and love you dearly.


Come, come and sit on my heart's throne as long as I live


Just to love a district of yours is worth a whole life.



There are many flourishing cities in the world.


But you're the only one who creates enchanting beauty.


I say, he who has lived happily, in the longest dream,


Is he who spent his life in you, died in you, and was buried in you.

My friends just moved back into my old apartment, a friend from Kyrgyzstan is currently living in Istanbul, and I've been planning a meetup with a Bulgarian friend, so there are reunions in Istanbul to look forward to as well. I'm also hoping to take day trips to Edirne and Pamukkle, places in Turkey I haven't been before.

It's been a while since I've been looking forward to the future rather than living in the moment, but the next months are going to be just that. It will be interesting to see if I love Istanbul as much in reality as I have this past year in memory and nostalgia. If so, I will definitely try to convince Aissa that he wants to live there so that we can move.