Bayram Blah

The beginning of the Bayram holiday started yesterday to mark the end of Ramadan (here it's called Ramazan) but instead of participating in the revelry all I did was stay under a comforter and drink soup. The weather in Istanbul has officially gone from super great fun time to total bummer. Where are the cloudless sapphire skies and almost punishing sunshine of 2 weeks ago? Now it's rainy, drab, dreary, and cold.

There was a rather violent storm yesterday that had me a little freaked. It didn't help that I live on the top floor of a tall apartment building so not only did the wind sound more dramatic, but I had a clear view of the architectural jihad the storm inflicted on the surrounding buildings. After I saw that the wind had blown off one of our terrace roof tiles and rain water was somehow blowing through our closed windows, I ran around gathering all of our possessions and stuffing them back into suitcases ready to make a quick escape in case the roof of our apartment blew off.


Good-bye tile! Hope you blew away to a better place.


The storm had a different opinion on where the terrace furniture should be.



I was overreacting I know, but ever since the fire my panic button has been permanently switched to stand by. These days it takes very little for me to assume complete disaster is waiting just around the corner. Fortunately my friend Werner, who lives on the second floor, was home so I went down there to calm down and get my sense of reality back. He had just put on a pot of Turkish tea so after about 3 cups of it I felt jittery but in a good way. I returned to my apartment still intact and unpacked the suitcases.

But it wasn't all just mayhem and fear. I witnessed a couple really beautiful things during the storm as well. The storm started just as the mosque across the street was starting its midday prayers. As the wind was howling and the rain was beating down, about 100 men were outside in the courtyard, knelt over in prayer, withstanding the storm, until it their prayer time was over. Then they ran for anything with a roof. Wish I could be that devoted to something, willing to take a meteorological pummeling for a higher purpose.



The sky also put on quite a show later that evening as if to say, "Sorry for sending you into a panic Kho. Let these glowy clouds set you at ease." I'm glad to say it worked.