Day 427: Turkish Summer House

Istanbul, Turkey

I learnt about an event called iKedi from a CouchSurfing meet-up. I couldn’t make head or tail of it. But “Kedi” mean “Cat” in Turkish so I went for it.

It turned out to be some promotional event where the promoters provide Styrofoam template cut outs of different animals like cat, dog, seagull, fish, dolphin, etc. It’s free but participants have to wait in line. After a half hour wait, I got my hands on the dolphin template.

While it’s fun building the dolphin, I then was stuck with it for the rest of the day. Carrying the big-ass dolphin, I walked around Taksim district in Istanbul. It’s the equivalent of the Fifth Avenue of NYC. I attracted attention quite a bit. After taking my dinner at a restaurant, I talked the waiter into keeping it for me there for a few hours.

I had agreed to meet up with Cagil at 10pm to go have some drinks with his friends. Before we headed to a pub, I went and retrieved the Styrofoam dolphin. It served as an icebreaker, for sure. Everybody wanted to touch it.

Going home at 2 in the morning, Cagil carried the dolphin instead. On our way to catch a taxi, at least a couple of people stopped us trying to buy it from us. One guy first offered $15 for it. Then he upped it by offering all of us a free shot. (Note that alcohol in Turkey is more expensive than it is in the States). Another guy joked around with Cagil in Turkish, so I had no idea how the conversation went down. I later asked Cagil what the guy offered. Cagil answered, “His summer house.”

I think after travelling around the world, I finally found my path to richness: selling Styrofoam animals in the middle of Taksim square :]

The whole incident reminded me of this guy who bartered his way from a paperclip to a house. If he got a house off a paperclip, I should get a spaceship off my Styrofoam dolphin…

In any case, the dolphin found a home at Cagil’s now. I have no means of bringing it with me.