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Coming to Istanbul / reading / Italian / football

Last activity 10 September 2012 by turk35

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scassacocchi

Hello all,

I'm moving to Istanbul in a month's time to take up a teaching post at one of the universities, where I'll be lecturing on English Literature. I don't know the city at all or speak Turkish yet (I've started learning) so it would be nice to get to know some friendly people, Turks or ex-pats, who can speak English.

I also speak Italian fairly fluently and I'd like to keep that going, so if there are any Italian speakers around that would be great too.

I also wanted to ask for people's reading tips.I've nearly finished Chris Morris's The New Turkey, which is very good. Are there other books about modern Turkey, the Ottomans, Byzantium, or maybe other aspects of Turkish culture or history I'm not even aware of that would be worth reading? And Turkish fiction and poetry in translation, beyond Pamuk, Hizmet and Kemal?  I have a few ideas but suggestions would be very welcome.

One last thing (sorry for the length of this): I'd like to get to see some football in Istanbul. Who should I pick as my team??

Right, that's it! Hope to hear from you.

Patrick

FeeAcer

Welcome to Expat.com, Patrick! :)
Wish you to make some nice contacts here on Expat.com and good luck in this new adventure!

Yağız Yiğit

Hi There,

You made a great decision to come Turkey. I'm sure you gonna love it. There are a lot of expats and they organize get-togethers all the time. I also suggest you to join internationals dot org for meetings. So I'm sureyou can find lots of friends here. Speaking of football if you are coming to İstanbul i suggest Beşiktaş (my team too :D) which tranfered Gutti and Quaeresma. It's gonna be a footboll show the season but the stadium is not that great.By the way i'm from Turkey, İstanbul so you can ask me anything you want. My email adress is yagizyigit@sare-turkey.com .

Regards

Yağız Yiğit

ebru34

Hi Patrick! :)
Im an active English teacher, live on the Asian side (near Kadikoy) in a lovely area.. I go to long distance bike tours (have just got back from Europe) and also love reading etc..
If you need a place to stay or just help or just chat, feel free to write.. :)) I`ll be around these days if you would like to meet.. I dont know if you have arrived.. By the way at which university are you gonna be teaching?
welcome to Istanbul again! and good luck... :))

neochemist

Hello Patrick,

Welcome to Turkey, I hope you will like it.

And you should choose Galatasaray, it is the most famous turkish football team.

scassacocchi

Hi Ebru 34,

Thanks for replying to my posting. I really appreciate it. I might well be looking for accommodation when I get to Istanbul! The job I'm hoping to start is at Istanbul Kultur University, although I've now been told that because of a low number of students the job may no longer exist. I am rather cross about this as previously they had spoken as though the post was confirmed. Is this usual there? Anyway, I shall be looking to transfer to Istanbul in any case - if necessary I'll look for private work there. Do you think this is possible?

Where is it you teach? Is it in a private language school, a Turkish school, or a university? How long have you been teaching?

I saw on your profile that you are looking for a roommate. I'd be very interested. Would you be prepared to rent the room on a month-by-month basis? I would like ultimately to get my own flat there but would prefer to share for the first few months.

I've been wanting to take up cycling for a long time, too! My Dad is a very keen cyclist (although getting a bit old now) - he cycled over the Alps when he was younger.

Anyway, thanks for getting in touch, and I hope we can stay in contact and perhaps meet soon.

Best,

Patrick

scassacocchi

Thanks everyone for your replies! I tried to reply to you all personally but I can't send emails because I haven't yet posted enough here, apparently.

Thanks neochemist for the tips - the blog looks interesting, I'll read it properly later. And thanks too for the various football suggestions! I'm leaning toward Besiktas, but Galatasaray too is tempting. I have an idea for a blog myself on Turkish football, so perhaps I could meet up with those of you interested once I'm there.

More soon, I hope!

Best,

Patrick

turk35

Welcome to fantastic city

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