Now and then it happens to me: I end up in a living room full of women. Last night I found myself in such a situation again: eight women between the ages of 17 and 54, and they were doing all the women’s things you can think of. One was knitting something for a baby. Another asked the others which …
Yesterday I even saw it in my part of town, conservative Üsküdar: ultra sexy lingerie in bright red. Bras, panties, garters, all tiny and made of (often fake) lace and with small woolen balls on it here and there. I was with a Turkish friend and asked her in amazement: are these things really sold, or just meant to draw …
I went for drinks last night with the International Professional Women of Istanbul. I have never really wanted to join in these expat things, because I want to mingle in normal Turkish life and was afraid that getting too much into expat life would hinder that. But now after three years just one expat thing would be ok, …
She thought she was dreaming. But then it turned out to be really happening: the guy sitting behind her in the night bus from Istanbul to a city in central Anatolia was touching her all over her body and grabbing her breasts. She screamed, cried and trembled, and she told her friend, who called the bus conductor. The problem was …
No change in the law was needed for quite a big change that was made in Turkey’s education system: the YÖK (Higher Education Board) decided that graduates from normal high schools and vocational high schools have the same chance of entering a university based on their scores in the ÖSS (on which I wrote a blog recently). Previously, …
The Eastern Turkish city of Van is, according to certain travel books, much more modern than you would think. And then they sum up by informing us that young people hold hands on the street, that you can get beers in nice lively bars where women too can go without a problem, and that there is a huge university. Now …
What’s International Women’s Day about? Well, in Turkey it seems to be about giving women big discounts to make them live up to the standards of women’s beauty. So on Women’ s Day you can get lingerie at greatly reduced prices, make up for half the normal price, and curls in your hair for free if you get a haircut. …
In the morning, she prepares breakfast for the family. Then she takes the young children to school. After that she cleans up the breakfast table, starts cleaning the house and when that’s finished, she knits for a while, till it’s time to start making dinner. Just a small glimpse into the life of a so called ‘ev kizi’, a house …
I met the most interesting woman today. At least, that’s how I see it after we talked for a bit. It started with my having to pay for my Turkish language class, actually a conversation class to get my speaking and listening on the same level as my grammar. So I went to the language institute to pay the bill …
I got up early to finish a story I got stuck with yesterday. Around 6 I was already busy typing. Now and then I got up to enjoy some fresh morning breeze at the open window. And then I saw one of my neighbours sitting on the threshold between her living room and her balcony. She was silently mending …
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