nargile city & other turkish impressions

on the 19th march hamburg played against galatasaray istanbul on the uefa cup.

after a really rainy afternoon i met up with a couchsurfing guy in the evening who took me to his favourite shisha place (in so-called "nargile city", tophane), which was like 5-10min away from the hostel (just left, down the street).

literally that area is not a city of course, just all those shisha bars are lined up next to each other really closely; every owner trying to lure you inside their bar because of course -they- got the best offerings...but in fact every place looked rly nice tho, mattresses and cushions all over the floor, colourful carpets and some bars even with beanbags.

so we sat there, drinking tea (no alcohol at these places!), smoking shisha and watching the football game. a real typical turkish thing for sure he told me! the experience was really nice and i much enjoyed looking at all those faces, glued to the screen and then suddenly bursting out out of rage, tension or happiness ( | (but the match wasnt too bad either actually =P)

from time to time a person (not from the staff) would walk through the "bar", offering some chestnuts, corn or some sweet turkish desserts (...there are desserts made of chicken breast...!!? but gooooood! (: ). after the match he taught me how to play backgammon ("tavla"), which is also typical turkish and very very popular, no matter which age group (you can actually get a backgammon set in every restaurant and bar, just ask for it).

so it turned out to be a good turkish day after all ( |

one thing which was quite sad was that i couldnt really tell him about typical german activities. anyway, whats "german culture" like nowadays (anyway)? there are ppl going to pubs and bars and clubs everywhere, staying at your friends' house blabla i dont know!

brauhaus? playing card games, drinking beer, sausages & potatoes & sauerkraut? really no clue...its just a thought im havin here so often, because im meeting many ppl from different countries who are asking about your own country, traditions and habits...

what i also really like about turkish ppl here is that in general they are not afraid to sing or to dance in front of others. when we were on that ship to the islands a group of some turkish boys have been with us and they were just dancing, joking, singing and clapping their hands together; in clubs men are dancing with each other to turkish music (amongst others); men & women are singing in the park if they feel like it, its just so nice and positive!

dont you think?