Ask an Expat: Lisa Morrow

Meet Lisa Morrow, a writer who is consistently surprised by the city. Learn more about her book and her favorite places in Istanbul below! 

Why did you come to Istanbul?

I first came to Turkey by chance, in 1990. I was living and working in London when I met up with a girl from Melbourne, and we did some travelling together. When she said she was going to Greece I followed, and then did the same when she came to Turkey. I arrived during the early days of the Gulf War and when she left with all the other tourists, I stayed. I spent a week in Istanbul, sightseeing by day and racing around the city at night, drinking cheap Black Sea cognac and eating food off street stalls and carts. It was exhilarating yet exhausting so I went to Göreme in central Turkey where I stayed for three months. That first visit was the start of a period of travelling back and forth between Sydney, Australia and Istanbul, Turkey, living between both places before deciding to live permanently in Istanbul in 2010.

What do you do here?

Like many people I work as an English teacher but my real passion is writing. I was trained in sociology and I’m really interested in the way tradition plays such a big part of life in Istanbul. It’s a cosmopolitan city in some ways yet like a village in others. I have written a collection of essays about this called Inside Out In Istanbul. Due to its diversity, Istanbul is different things to different people, and I am particularly interested in the way tradition and modernity clash and reform in the city to create something that is new but always regognizably Turkish. I write about things as seemingly mundane as street markets and as exotic as the henna nights held to celebrate a girl going off to be married. Whatever the topic I explore the similarities with life in my own country and the differences that make this such a dynamic and exciting place to live. There is so much more to the city than that experienced by tourists and I try to go beyond the tourist facade, deep into this sometimes chaotic, often schizophrenic, but always charming city.

You can buy a copy of my book in paperback or as an e-book from Amazon, or by contacting me through my blog. I try to post something on my blog once a week, either short pieces about current events or things that take my interest, as well as photo essays. I also post longer pieces, usually extracts from my latest project. Some of these will appear in a new collection of writings about my experiences in Turkey due for release in the next month. I have also completed a full length manuscript about my permanent move to Istanbul called “Where the Tulips Dance: Finding my Heart in Istanbul” for which I am seeking a publisher.

In addition to writing about Turkey, I produce a five minute segment about my life in Istanbul that can be heard on San Francisco Turkish Radio once a month.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced here?

Well there are two things that continue to challenge me. The first is the language. As anyone who has been here for even a short time knows, Turkish is a really difficult language to learn and to speak. I chose to live on the Asian side of Istanbul, in a suburb, because I wanted to try to experience life in Istanbul as a Turk would. This has forced me to learn Turkish because I haven’t been able to rely on being able to speak English when I needed things. I’m largely self-taught so I still make mistakes, but no matter how many I make, I’m always rewarded by the responses of the Turkish people I meet. The’re usually really touched that I make the effort at all, and help me out when I don’t have the right word, or, as in one case, when I accidently asked a man to give me a hug rather than for an envelope, don’t take advantage of me. Hard as it is sometimes, it’s really worth the trouble to be able to communicate without the need for help or translation.

The second thing that I have found a challenge is of a more personal nature. While I love the wonderful spontaneity of many of my Turkish friends and the belief in fate that means most people never plans things in advance, I sometimes feel disappointed when something I’m looking forward to doesn’t come to fruition. That said, living here has made me more spontaneous and joyous in my approach to life.

What do you do for fun?

That’s a hard question to answer. Its not a matter of where do I start but where do I stop? I spend a lot of time with my friends who are mainly Turkish, and our combined interests are boundless. We go to the movies, go bowling, visit museums and art galleries, drink coffee together in different locations and read our fal (fortunes), plan epic excursions to Polonezköy for cake, to Şile for swimming, the Princess Islands for picnics and bike riding and Tuzla for fish lunches. I love to go to Babylon nightclub when I feel like dancing through the night, and to Viktor Levi when I want to kick back and solve the world’s problems with my friends over a few glasses of nice wine. I go to Sureyya Opera when I want to listen to classical music or out onto my balcony when I want to hear the piano accordian being played by the gypsies who walk along my street. I know the first thing many people think of when it comes to having fun in Istanbul are the hundreds if not thousands of bars in Beyoğlu and surrounding areas. However, in my view, after a while a bar takes on the culture of its patrons rather than of the city. And when you live in a city like Istanbul, where there is no shortage of things to do, the possibility of doing something different every week, almost without limit, is irresistible.

Where do you unwind/relax? Where is your favorite haunt?

In winter days when the sun is shining I like to walk along the Bosphorus. Üsküdar is a great starting point because you can walk south towards Kız Kulesi and take in the magnificent panorama starting from the former Çıragan Palace extendng all the way to Toplakı Palace. Along the way you get a potted history of Istanbul through the ages, with architectural testaments built by its Genoan, Greek Orthodox, and Ottoman inhabitants, just to name a few. Sometimes I catch a bus north and visit Beylerbeyi or Küçüksu Palaces. Afterwards I like to drop into Çengelköy or Beykoz for a meal and a creamy yoghurt or just daydream over a glass of tea while I imagine myself living in one of the beautiful wooden yalı that still line the strait. Summer days can be stinking hot so when I’m not somewhere on the Mediterranean having a holiday I go to a favourite park near my home. It’s right by the water so I spend the day with a group of friends, eating, talking, playing tavla (backgammon) and swimming. The location is perfect which is why it will have to remain one of my secrets!

What has been your biggest surprise about Istanbul?

The way the city itself continually surprises me. I’ve lived in Istanbul for about five and a half years over a period of 14 years. I always keep track of developments and read voraciously about the city, be it guide books, websites, blogs, histories, newspapers and so on. From these readings I plan outings at least once a month. Just when I think I know all there is to know and wonder what else I can possibly learn, I stumble across something new to explore. I could be walking down a back street in Kadıköy and come across an enormous mural on the side of an apartment block or discover an Armenian Orthodox church still in use in Bağlarbaşı when I’m showing a visitor around. There’s so much to see and do in Istanbul that I suspect one lifetime won’t be enough to do and see it all.

Do you have any advice for other expats?

Be open to what Istanbul and Turkey have to offer and don’t think about what you miss from home. It can be hard to feel at home here at first, but a constant longing for what you left behind won’t help. Make an effort with the language because the least attempt will bring smiles and delight to the people you meet in shops and on the street. Lastly, try to travel outside of Istanbul. Turkey is a big country with lots of beautiful natural scenery and incredible historical sites. When you come back from experiencing the rest of the country, a lot of things that seemed strange in Istanbul will begin to make more sense.