Missing Istanbul

I came here to write a sad post about missing Istanbul. I'm homesick for everything I loved about it today. It's warmth, the noise, the chaos, the friendliness, the life ... maybe that's what I miss most of all, the life. Istanbul is a city full of life and the living.
But Aynur Dogan's music was playing as I wrote and it's impossible to hold onto the sadness. 'Ahmeda' is stunning, 'Ni Diyem' made me smile and I love 'Heseniko'. She's worth listening to if you can find her music.
Tarkan's 'Kiss Kiss' is another ... I defy anyone to listen to it and not smile. I introduced Gert's children to him and they loved it too.
When I'm missing Taksim, I dig out 'The Waltz of the Butterfly' ... really, it was the music that so many of the shops on Istiklal Caddesi played out onto the street and it became the music that I most associated with those days of strolling through Istanbul. Beste's mother bought me the cd on my last night there.
I miss the people ... Beste and Jason who took me home for Chechen food over in Kadikoy; Kagan and his family ... the Sweet Bayram and Ramazan feasts with them and the stories they might still laugh over when they think of this yabanci breaking things in Ankara. The kindness of Nilay, Mutlu, Evran, Lisen and Yakub, Remzi ... the stunning warmth of so many people.
And then there's the students and oddly enough, I miss them and dreamed of them yesterday, I was reapplying for a job in the first school I taught in.

Mmmmmm, so it is that today I am missing Istanbul .