A weekend in the life

This weekend I had no homework because we'd just had our midterm (we're halfway done already!). I spent Friday going to museums (the Mevlevi Lodge and Ottoman Bank Museums near Galatasaray, and the Pera Museum), and Saturday at the Grand Bazar, another bank museum for Republican Turkey (because it was free and we were in the Golden Horn so why not) and Mısır Çarşısı, both days with people from my program. So today was a day to wander on my own.
This afternoon I went to a bilingual (Turkish-English) church service off Istiklal, where we sang in Turkish and Farsi. There were people from the UK and the US (both of us from the US were in my program), from Canada, Iran, Korea, and Bulgaria. The service was led by a bilingual Korean-Turk, and it was a music-prayer Sunday without a sermon. Afterward I met and talked to a guy who's medical student in the Ukraine, where he had met some American missionaries and converted. He's originally from Iran, but his family now lives in Turkey and he is currently visiting them for the summer.
Being in that church reminded how much of an international space The Church has become; earlier today, there had also been morning services in English and a service for East Africans. Evangelical Christianity is no longer the religion of the American South; it has spread across the globe and already contains people from almost everywhere. Every tribe and tongue, I guess.
After the service I went to the Lambda office, where I found out (in Turkish, which may mean something got lost in translation) that basically nothing's happening around there for the rest of the summer.
Then I headed to Cevahir Mall, which is in Şişli (right by the metra stop). It felt a lot like home, like Northlake or South Park. Though I suspect it was the size of the two put together, along with Concord Mills. I wandered around the six stories of the mall, looking for a duffle bag (which I ended up getting from Columbia Sportswear, because I couldn't find it anywhere else). I got a falafel wrap (a la Naf Naf Grill) from a place called "The Upper West Side" that specialized in Philly cheesesteaks and Falafel (which I guess is pretty representative of the mid-Atlantic region, all things considered). I learned there that electronics are actually considerably more expensive in Istanbul than in the US (a small computer that if I were being generous I'd value at $500 was telling for 2500 lira (which means it's more than twice as expensive), but that in general middle class Istanbullus shop at the same price range as American mallgoers. Also, their food court was two-stories high.
Anyway, classes start back tomorrow. This weekend I've done a lot of talking in Turkish (buying things at Cezhavir, talking to the person at Lambda, generally being out and about), so I'm hoping this weekend, in addition to letting me experience both touristy and less touristy things, was helpful on that front. I feel much more confident that I could survive in Istanbul on my own if I had to, and that I have made obviously recognizable progress.

Culture Shock: Expectations versus Reality

First I'd like to establish that Istanbul is actually no harder to adjust to than any other city in Europe or the US, and all of the things I'm talking about are minor.

Second, here are the things that you expect to find shocking but really aren't:

1. The food. Actually, most restaurants have at the very least Italian-style pasta dishes and some vegetarian soups. The worst thing I can say about the food is that if you don't eat meat the food tends to be a bit bland, because all the spices go into the meat. Also, Menemen is amazing. It's literally diced tomatoes with eggs, spices, and peppers cooked in. I've been told it's a good hangover cure, though I just eat it because it's delicious. There's also lots of fresh fruit everywhere.

2. Recitations from mosques several times per day. You kind of tune them out after a bit. No one seems to notice them when they happen.

3. Access to various basic goods. Actually, there are lots of corner stores that sell just about anything I want other than first aid stuff, which I can get from an Eczane. I even found the Turkish version of Claritin.

Now for the things that you don't expect to be shocked by, but are actually pretty strange:

1. Smoking. Everyone here smokes, including most of the people in my program. People don't seem to care if you smoke or not but they have no problem smoking near you. I've gotten used to the smell but it throws me off.

2. Water bottles. Your water comes packed in plastic in Istanbul. There are no reusable bottles in sight because no one likes the taste of the water (though it's usually safe in a newer building, and I've been keeping a water bottle). You can't get water at restaurants except in bottles, so everyone does. In general consumer environmentalism is less of a thing here as well; no one uses canvas bags for groceries.

3. Public transportation. Google maps doesn't know. I can't find any place online that lists stops of various bus routes, let alone times. There doesn't seem to be paper copies either. You basically have to find out how to get places by asking people who have been here longer. Luckily cabs are pretty cheap.
EDIT: http://www.iett.gov.tr/

Finally, the one thing that I can confirm is rather hard to deal with: Language barriers. I mean, I'm learning Turkish, but it can be hard to ask questions if I don't know the words in Turkish. I think that'll get better over time, but it'll takes some work.

On a quick positive note, though: Istanbul has the best night time cityscapes I have ever seen. Seeing Anatolia over the water still makes me stop every time I see it. I hope I can come back at some point in my life.