Job Discussion Forums

[justme]

This weekend, we went to 4 of our usual haunts in Beylikd�z� before we found one that was open and selling alcohol. The others aren't selling during Ramazan, and the one we went to would only give it to us after 9pm. Last year, all of these places had food and drink at all times, except maybe the hour around iftar.

A co-worker in B�y�k�ekmece had the same problem-- worse, actually. Not a single bar, cafe, or restaurant in his area selling alcohol.

Anyone else running into this issue this year? Does it seem like Istanbul's getting more and more conservative?

[Mark Loyd]

A few ramadans ago Star restaurant in Cekmece was serving alcohol in teapots. But what do you expect in a place like Cekmece. Even the Wild Rose that haunt of desperadoes closes for the whole of ramadan.

Haunts in Beylikduzu-now that is an exageration of the word haunt.

[justme]

[justme]

Yeah, actually, there's some truth to that too. Taksim seems way more crowded this year, and it's not with tea drinkers, and iftar lines there looked shorter.

I was surprised my butcher withheld meat from me, because I don't see many of my neighbors having iftar (most people dine on their Pimapen balconies where I can see them). There's only one mosque in my neighborhood, and overall they're pretty relaxed. Not dirty looks for buying wine at the bakkals, in any case.

I think it's just the conservative enclave of my school getting to me. Yesterday, my students told me it's not 'Şeker Bayram' (according to them there's no such thing), it's 'Ramazan Bayram'. The restaurant thing was just an unneeded slap in the face. My husband was furious, demanding to know (from waiters and parking guys) if this is Iran or if this is a democracy. They declined to answer. In the end, I guess it was okay because we ended up at a new place that had *fantastic* kaşarlı k�fte...

[Otterman Ollie]

This is quite an interesting comment,fewer people taking part in the holy month of Ramadan, yet in a different thread about the drummers someone said the opposite was true . Do I detect a lack of consistancy here?
In Izmir each year fewer and fewer people seem to bother , those that do usually admit to putting on weight ,which seems to defeat the whole object of the exercise a bit . Alcohol is freely available ,but then , Izmir is not like "the bull" thank god . Happy fasting .

[justme]

It's probably me being contradictory-- I'm in a bit of a muddle, surrounded on one side by people who read prayer books on the service bus and claim that Şeker Bayram is the wrong word for it, but then I go to Taksim weekly or so and lose my fear of impending Sharia law...

[yaramaz]

I still feel embarrassed and slightly ashamed when I eat in public during the day during Ramazan--- that's what a couple of years in Kayseri will do to you. It took me nearly a year in Istanbul before I stopped automatically turning off my stereo/walkman when the ezan came on.

It's actually really nice teaching during ramazan when it seems to have virtually no effect on my students... no moaning about hunger or tiredness or inability to fast due to fasting. They do still whinge and complain about tiredness but it has nowt to do with hunger.

[dmb]

[Baba Alex]

[Mark Loyd]

I like a beer but do not have to bring up alcohol in nearly every thread to try and get people to think I am some kind of hard man. It is pathetic.

[Baba Alex]

[Byzantine]

Baba Alex, don't let him pull you in like that. There's absolutely no way to have a normal discussion with the 31s/Loyds of the internet world.

He has one goal - to go on and on about one topic, pressing the same buttons over and over.

[Mark Loyd]

No bans on alcohol in Ramadan in Suadiye, Taytown and Cheshire.

[molly farquharson]

i think there should be a ban on alcohol for at least one of the most infamous posters here...

[justme]

*huddles protectively around the wine*