- Stop ordering on YemekSepeti cause you’re too scared to order over the phone in Turkish.
- Stop forcing your friends to call you cause you forgot to top up your kontor.
- Stop being so offended by the lack of good Mexican food…
- and sushi.
- Stop getting lost because you’re relying on Google Maps and don’t know even know how to direct the taxi driver to your home.
- Stop shopping at Macro Center. You can oftentimes find your precious avocados and cilantro at your local pazar.
- Stop bringing your visitors to the same three sites — mix it up with a room escape game or a cheeky trip to the top of the Grand Bazaar.
- Stop thinking you’ve seen the city when you’ve never even heard of Kuzguncuk.
- Stop rolling your eyes when someone tells you the air conditioning got you sick.
- Stop getting balik ekmek in Eminönü. Karaköy, my friends. Karaköy.
- Stop grimacing at rakı. Turk up and drink.
- Stop complaining about Turkish music when you only know that one Tarkan song.
- Stop complaining about dating Turkish men/women cause you can’t handle the “drama,” (i.e. differing cultural expectations/norms that are getting in the way of easy booty).
- Stop complaining about traffic. We all know.
- Stop complaining about having to take your shoes off.
- Stop complaining that there’s no bacon. There’s bacon. You just gotta work for it.
- Stop complaining.
- Stop going to Taksim every weekend like you’ll find something new there.
- Stop being so freaking loud on public transportation (Americans!).
- Stop taking photos of cats. (Who are we kidding, that will never happen.)
- Stop putting off finishing that Orhan Pamuk novel you started 6 months ago. (Or better yet, read some lesser known Turkish authors, like Aziz Nesin or Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar.)
- Stop side-eyeing the ıslak hamburger and try one already. You can thank us later.
- Stop wishing there was sauce on your döner kebab. (Want something saucy? That’s what the ıslak hamburger is for.)
Any other resolutions you’d like to add?
Tas Anjarwalla is a contributor to Yabangee
Traffic. So true.
I will try…
Stop relying on your Turkish friends to translate EVERYTHING for you and learn the language already. (For those who have lived in Turkey for more than a year! )
That’s a great list. BTW, if you want doner kebap with sauce, go to Iskenderun or Hatay doner places.
Shucks. I stopped reading Kar because it was damn boring…
Stop only listening to foreign news stations. Listening to Turkish news occasionally will help you learn the language and you won’t have to keep asking people on facebook if there will be a snow day. 🙂
Perfect.
number 20, you got me. I will never stop!
24. Stop saying “Ben Yabanci” every time someone starts talking to you in Turkish!
Actually, Ioki in Istinye has incredible sushi! But I agree with the lack of good Mexican. Since I’m here let me add one:
24. Stop expecting your afternoon coffee order of decaf w/skim milk to be processed correctly at Gloria Jean’s Coffees. I will share this thought with a local who recently told me that the orderly at his mom’s old folks home kept mixing up his mom’s medications!
Accept that the average Taxi driver is just some bloke trying to earn a living. The alternate route really is because of traffic/time.
there is doner kebap with sauce. it’s called iskender. not very hard to come by either..
‘Stop taking photos of street cats. (Who are we kidding, that will never happen)
A surprisingly spot-on condemnation of common expat behavior in Istanbul… fond memories!
People who travel and have experience living abroad know that not only Americans are loud on the metro in foreign countries.