Another World – 1995-1997

We just returned from Edirne, a town bordering both Greece and Bulgaria, where we attended the 637th-annual Kirkpinar – the olive-oil-wrestling competition.  People aged 5… Read More »The 637th annual Kirkpinar

Elif and I went to visit her father Kadri, her stepmother Isik (who is twenty years younger than Kadri and looks startlingly like Elif), and… Read More »The ghosts call you back

In the morning of our second-to-last day in Istanbul, we take the boat in the morning and walk to the Egyptian Spice Bazaar. An 8-year-old… Read More »Getting engaged

Although I’d driven a manual transmission across America, Elif’s family was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to handle the stress of operating a stick… Read More »Asia minor

Outside of Elif’s grandmother’s apartment, we run into a woman named Firdevs, who looks like she is 140 years old but is really only about… Read More »What the Coffee Grounds Said

Breakfast is cheese and jams and fresh bread and eggs and pastirma – pepperoni so spicy, its stink comes out in your sweat. We board… Read More »Istanbul

July 16, 1995 It seems like an entire village has come out to greet us.  I assume these people are relatives of my girlfriend, but… Read More »First arrival