My day started with a visa appointment at 08.00 at the Netherlands consulate. Thankfully the consulate is at Beyoglu on a small cul-de-sac off Istiklal, which means, its walking distance from our house. Beyoglu is where the night life thrives so it is always very weird to walk through it early in the morning. Most of the shops on Istiklal had not opened yet and it was quite empty. We (Seda and me) breakfast at Lebon, which is an ‘old school’ patisserie where service is done by very polite old man who have been doing this for ages and make you feel welcome and relaxed and it has delicious pastries fresh from the oven in the morning.
Then we went through the ordeal of visa application. The point of the entire process is designed to make it so difficult and humiliating that you will think twice before you ever want to go to the country in question ever again. Even better it is designed to make you give up during the very process deeming it not worth it. But of course I have done this so many times, at so many consulates, that I can do it without getting bothered, though I am not sure this callous attitude is something to be proud of.
Then as is the case every Tuesday I went to Santral in a taxi with Gozde, Bulent and Iskender. Iskender and Bulent teach courses that start at 11.00, while mine starts at 12.00, and Gozde comes to listen in on my lectures. We arrive around 10.30 and have a coffee and a nice chat before we go our separate ways.
After Bulent and Iskender had gone I got a phone call from Efe who was my student last year and directed me in the cameo role of a vampire last week. He said they were about to screen the film and asked me if I would like to join. So off we went with Gozde to see the short mocumentary about contemporary vampire culture in Istanbul. The film was hilarious and I laughed heartily throughout. Very witty and perfectly acted, it even contained a critique of the ethics of documentary filmmaking, the way all mocumentaries should. Then came my own lecture, which lasted three hours. After the lecture I went to Otto with Gozde. Otto is a very hip Italian restaurant, which for some reason is located inside the campus. We had risotto (my favourite dish) and homemade pasta, while Gozde convinced me that we should go to Galerist. Galerist is a gallery located in one of the most beautiful buildings on Istiklal called Misir Apartmani (which literally translates as the Egypt Building). Gozde failed to remember the name and the artist of the exhibition that had started there but assured me that it was something I would like to go to. So go we did. We ended walking up the fabulous staircase, since the lift seemed to be stuck on the seventh floor.
It turns out it was a Juergen Teller exhibition called Nurnberg. The photographs were great but few in numbers and frankly I am not convinced that they should be printed as small as they had been. It was more of a ‘teaser’ to an exhibition than an exhibition proper. My favourite photo was “Kristen lifting skirt” and the accompanying “Mein Schloss”. I loved the entire “Liliy” series as well. But can’t say I enjoyed the humour behind the self-portraits.
Walking back to Cihangir where both me and Gozde live we went past “Mor”, which is a little jewellery shop that I frequent a lot. In fact I buy all my rings and necklaces from there. I had both a necklace last mount but a bead had fallen off and since we were passing by and I had the necklace on, we popped in. I left the necklace there to be repaired. It felt wierd to go in a shop and leave an accessory behind.
Quite exhausted, I spent the evening watching the third season of “Desperate Housewives” on DVD, with Seda (love of my life). Tomorrow I have two meetings I have to attend and at night I am going to the Kaki King concert. Gencay thinks it will be like a night at “The Planet”. For those of you who do not watch “The L Word”, “The Planet” is the lesbian café/bar/club in that TV series. Of course that’s just wishful thinking on his part. Just because the performer is a lesbian will not turn the event into a lesbian night. In fact it is a concert organised by the Turkish Rolling Stone. Yesim who works for the magazine, and who is a dear friend and a fellow film critic, has left my name at the door so I don’t have to worry about getting tickets. I hope I will find time to tell you about the concert tomorrow.