What I'll Miss About Istanbul

I'm sure there a many great things that I will miss about living in Istanbul but here's a list of the top things I will miss most.

1. Calling everyone I know "canım" (literal translation: my life)
2. Crossing the First Bridge at night and seeing the gorgeous Istanbul skyline reflecting off the Bosphorus
   
3. Hearing the morning call to prayer and realizing that it's time to go home and go to sleep
4. Türkçe arkadaşlarım
5. Drinking Turkish çay in the afternoons
6. Eating street mussels on the way home after a night out in Tünel
7. Taking people to my "secret" cafe and enjoying the view
8. Playing and laughing with Mina and Melda
9. Seeing people's faces when I speak Turkish to them for the first time
10. "Ciao bella, ciao ciao ciao!"
11. Eating heaping bowlfuls of mantı (Turkish stuffed pasta with yogurt sauce)
    
12. Riding the ferries across the Bosphorus
13. People watching along Istiklal Caddesi and its side streets
    
14. Eating home-cooked Turkish food every day
    
15. Everything about Istanbul, plain and simple
    

© Connie Hum 2009