So today I decided to investigate the modern culture of Istanbul. The best way to do this, in my opinion, is to people watch. With my coffee in hand, I sat in the park and watched the interactions between school kids, business men, and tourists alike. As I sat there, the same group of school boys from a few days ago were sitting around in the park (apparently they don't actually go to class). Anyways, one of these guys, no doubt prodded by his buddies, finally approached me and started up a conversation. He could only speak fragments of English, but then I have no Turkish under my belt. We got through the conversation though, mostly by American pop culture references and hand gestures. They taught me some Turkish - like Tesekkür ederim, which means thank you. There has to be a Persian influence on the Turkish language, because it sounds very similar to another Persian dialect I've heard called Dari (the language of Afghanistan). I sat there and talked with these guys for a good two hours (all while wondering why they weren't going to class), and had a good time. One of the guys, named Ercan, even showed off his beatboxing skills....and needless to say, I have a new facebook friend!
In the evening, I sat down with the hostel manager to watch the local Turkish football club get trounced by the Porto (city in Portugal) team. The game was being held right down the street, near the manager's home. He left in the 50th minute so that he wouldn't have to deal with the traffic (completely understandable), and because his team was losing so badly. The game ended up 3-1, with Turkey's only goal coming in the 91st minute. Surprisingly though, there were no riots or even booing - apparently Turkish soccer fans don't even drink (that much)! It's always nice to see well behaved football fans, and it's even better to sit down, watch a local game, and cheer on the home team even if they don't win.
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