Sanna is in Istanbul vol 2

It's a rainy evening in Istanbul and we walk against the wind near the bus station to a small booth where a man sells bread. We step in through the backdoor, shake his hand and buy two loaves of bread for 0.4 Turkish lira while two women leave with five. He wants to offer us tea but we step back out to the stormy weather and Erdoğan tells me that the man has only one leg (but he drives a car). In one day he sells hundreds of loaves but for the day we need only two for four people because I eat so little.

I learned how to peel sunflower seeds and that çiğ köfte is the best way to eat traditional food cheap (1.5 TL for two, 0.4 euros for one). Suddenly in the middle of a movie shown in television a shiny picture of Atatürk and a waving flag of Turkey appear in the upper corner of each channel. The next day is independence day.

Aşkım

In Turkey, Erdoğan tells me, bread is compareable to the Quran. You can swear with your hand placed on a loaf of bread. You never disrespect bread by placing it on the table upside down. He looks at my way of eating my bread and advices how to make it more Turkish - always eat by ripping off one small piece at a time, and never use your teeth for that. I've also learned that to show respect you should never lay down during the call to prayer and that local men are usually surprisingly talented at singing.

The day I arrived was the second day of Ramadan. Every evening people gather in their yards, homes and around tens of tables placed in each park and wait until the time is 10 past 20 hours. Lights between the minarets in mosques say things like 'Merhaba Ramazan' or islamic wisdoms, my first nights here I woke up to ramadan related sounds from the streets in the middle of the night but I've gotten used to them already. I've gotten used to crossing the street running and stirring my Turkish tea furiously to cool it down. I've gotten an invitation to a wedding and joined the group of people who dislike şalgam.

The first day, when I was left for half an hour in the yard of the Sultanahmet Camii still wondering what is going on, listening to the call to prayer that started at that very moment, I thought I was so happy I could die.