La Dolce Vita

2/17/2002 The Turkish Opera had its auditions on the 11th for new people to become a sozmesleli, or independent contractor. You toil away for the… Read More »Six months with the Istanbul Opera

Elif’s stepfather Cos won’t be able to get any vacation at all this summer, which means he’s going to try to call in sick occasionally.… Read More »A perfect day

7/21/2002 Istanbul theaters are showing films from all over the world. Of course our Hollywood action exports do the biggest business, but they also have… Read More »Cinema and theater

6/14/2002 Turkey advanced to the second round of the World Cup for the first time in its history, and I found it out from the… Read More »The World Cup

1/15/2002 When we were living in New York, we recorded a CD of Elif singing opera songs by gay composers of the 19th-20th centuries. Somehow… Read More »Elif’s concerts with the Adana Opera

1/10/02 The apartment-hunting went more quickly than I expected, with the calm voice of reason tempering my desire to cash in on Turkey’s economic crisis.… Read More »La Dolce Suadiye

We went to Antalya (on the southern Mediterranean coast) to spend New Year’s with Elif’s father Kadri, whom my friend calls The Anatolian Predator. We… Read More »New Years with The Anatolian Predator

We spent days at the docks trying to claim our belongings that we shipped from America. Our first step was to go to the Mega… Read More »Bribing our way to our belongings

When we were making COUP last year, everyone was typing on typewriters with carbon paper – and now, I’m seeing computers everywhere. Elif’s mom acquired… Read More »Folkloric dancing (with knives)

Last night, we went to a lawyer’s/judges banquet at an all-night Greek drinking pub. I worried about corruption issues, but again, Elif says it’s the… Read More »The overzealous gynecologist