Friday 7/30

Last night I head out with my pharmacist Erdem and the student Semih for durum. Durum is what is basically a meat wrap. It is different from doner.

It turns out the place is right across from where the neighborhood starts to get bad. In fact we made one wrong turn and I get to see kind of what this means. It is old, run down, and the streets are winding, people scattering about. A lot of very destitute people live here, people seeking refuge in transit to Europe, sadly a lot of young people and kids with nothing to do. Erdem says the government may have plans to demolish the area in the near future.

One thing you notice it's not uncommon to see guys with machine guns around here. You see them by the police stations, some of the tourist spots like Hagia Sophia and on my bus ride every day passing the government buildings.

Erdem tells me there were security issues around 5-10 years ago including attacks and some bombings. They have problems with terrorist threats just like we do back home. It's a much safer today but as we see they are still taking precautions.

We arrive to eat. This is the same place Anthony Bourdain had visited in the show No Reservations, which looked amazing so I had to go. Erdem was glad to join me, he had never heard of this place. It's very small and simple, very local, nothing fancy at all. We sit outside...

The food is amazing. It's the best of this type I've had since I've been here. The big difference I think is the wrap itself which is lightly grilled in oils, so its just barely crispy enough. The meat is perfectly spiced and comes with onions and fresh tomatoes and parsley. It's so good I order another, this time liver.

But what pleased me the most was to hear Erdem say how an young American half way around the world could suggest such a good place of traditional food in a city he had grew up in most his life. Even though Istanbul is enormous and constantly changing, he made it clear he was very impressed. We passed the time with some more talk about politics and history. I ask things like, in broad terms, how with so much influences over the centuries, the Turkish people identify themselves.

Next we meet some of Erdem's friends at a local cafe for a beer. I feel like these sort of impromptu meetings happen all the time.

One of his friends is a recent graduate of political science who had studied in America, spent time in Rutgers and also somewhere in New York City. Again like I've heard before, impressed that of all places I would choose Turkey for a study in my field. His feelings are American young people are just not interested in learning about Turkey.

Last thing to mention today that I may have forgot to mention... it's significant how the medicines are arranged in the pharmacy. They are arranged according to disease states. For example - antibiotics, gastrointestinals, dermatalogics, etc. I say to Erdem, our medicine back home (nearly all tabs and capsules) are simply alphabetical. He says the reason they are like this is because so many times people will come in, and this have so and so problem... what should they take?

It's as if what the pharmacist is doing in the States back home recommending OTC med's for a condition except the OTC med's here are behind the counter.

Therefore, it's easier for the pharmacy team to identify products based on what discussion they have with the patient. Another case may be the patient had whatever med in the past, looks like so and so, but now we only carry this new brand etc etc.

As before I will probably leave the blog for the weekend. There are no plans yet but I'm sure I'll be in touch with the students. I have a couple ideas of my own, maybe a boat trip up the Bosphorus. I'm also told I need to see the Dolmabache Palace.