Genius

I heard a quote that I have loved ever since- "Smart people copy. True geniuses steal." So in keeping with that spirit, I'm stealing my good friend Jaime's posts from her blog. They are similar experiences to mine, only she writes about them much better than I could. And she notices the little day-to-day silliness that I giggle about and then promptly forget to tell you all about. So here it goes. By the way, if you want to read more of her blog, you can find it @ http://jmillerrapp.blogspot.com/. Happy Reading!

Gevrek Geliyor (or, The Bagel is coming)

I've heard him many times before. Walking around the neighborhood, hollering something to draw attention. And despite his daily tour and incessant wailing, I could never understand what he was saying--is he collecting junk? talking about vegetables?--until yesterday. I left the house at 8:28, still in a fog of sleep. As I stepped onto the sidewalk, a teenager sauntered by with a tray of gevreks (the Turkish equivalent of the bagel--only waaaay cheaper and more common and CAKED in sesame seeds) resting on his head.

He hadn't finished his first holler before I recognized him. It's you! You're the one disturbing the neighborhood's peace. Every. Day. At about 8 am. I sped up, wanting to evade his path. When I was a mere meter in front of him, I could sense an immanent holler. The air behind him was sucked into his massive lungs and experienced a momentary vaccuum right before he wailed.

"Sicak gevrek." (Hot gevrek.)

God it was loud. Sort of sing-songy but unappreciated since I was still technically asleep. My hollerer kept hollering.

"Gevrek geliyor!" (The gevrek is coming!) I walked faster, joining the few other people heading to work. No one looked particularly excited about the hot, coming gevreks, let alone rush over to him to buy their own piping hot gevrek before all the gevreks are gone. In fact...

"Sicak gevrek... bir lira... Gevrek geliyor!" (Hot gevrek... 1 lira... the gevrek is coming!)

... Everyone else was ignoring him, too, rushing away, trying to avoid the blast of sound emanating from his fit, soon-to-be-man lungs. He should still have been in school. Maybe he's practicing to be an imam, I wryly considered. He could do the call to prayer without the frigging megaphone broadcasting to the neighborhood.

I kept my pace up. After awhile, he stopped hollering about the gevreks being hot and simply kept repeating that the gevrek was coming.

Eventually The Hollerer must stop and set up his tray somewhere like all the other gevrek vendors. God only knows where he stops, but he uses my neighborhood as part of his route to the eventual resting point. It's a trade-off: Would I want him anchored to my corner, hollering all day, or would I be happier with his current morning route? I don't know but I'm just glad it's not me doing the hollering.

Domates--Bir Kilo, Bir Lira

I am living the life: sitting on my balcony in a light breeze, drinking my morning Nescafe and eating my muffin, watching the waves a few hundred meters away.

A truck rolls slowly down the street. The driver is on a loudspeaker blasting: "Fresh tomatoes--one kilo for one lira." The message ricochets off the tall walls created in the corridor of apartment buildings lining Mithat Paşa Street. His son stands in the bed of the truck, yelling a similar message at a lower volume.

The truck--laden with tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers--stops midway between the two small grocery stores in front of my flat. The driver gets out, stands in the street and hollers about his tomatoes again.

Women in the flat directly above the truck start to notice. A couple poke their heads out of windows and lean off of balconies, craning their necks to see the produce. One on the sixth floor confirms the price with the driver and disappears into her flat, only to emerge a few moments later on the street to buy.

A head appears in a second floor window; her friend from the sixth floor buys her tomatoes for her.

The driver, as he looks around at the tall flats and balconies, notices me peering down at him. He hollers about tomatoes at me, but I sink back in my chair, out of his line of sight. Thankfully I didn't have my camera out right then when he looked at me. What a yobancı...

No one else comes to buy and he climbs back into the cab, his son braces himself against the truck walls and they continue their crawl down Mithat Paşa.

This kind of thing happens regularly in İzmir. Farmers with local, fresh produce park their truck--often in the street--and set up temporary shop. I can't imagine that local manavs (green grocers) are happy about this, but what can they do?!

Maybe I never lived in a big-enough city in the States, but this approach to food is entirely new to me. I think that there would be all sorts of red tape stopping my farmer and his son from selling their veggies on the street: no business permit; health and cleanliness standards that someone in a white coat would be willing to quibble about; disturbing the peace with all that hollering.

Then there's the moving traffic violation of his son enjoying the morning sun in the back of the truck... Not to mention the crime of selling tomatoes for so absurdly cheap: At today's exchange with the American dollar, that's 32 cents a pound for fresh, farm-picked tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes. Beat that Monsanto.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I hope you all are having/had a great day! Chris and I really enjoyed ours!

My first Christmas abroad was remarkably like being home! I made cookies last night, woke up this morning and went over to our friend Nesta's house. She had cooked a feast for us! We had pork (a beautiful, beautiful thing, forbidden pork...) that she had gotten when she was in Greece, potatoes, candied carrots, fried mushrooms, apricot dumplings, with gravy all over it. Absolutely divine! For dessert (it's not Christmas without dessert!), she made us a New Zealand special dessert, which is basically a homemade marshmellow cake, baked until it's crispy on the outside, but still marshmellow-y and soft on the inside. Smother it in whipped cream and put some kiwi on top, and you're set! The rest of the afternoon was spent in a food coma. Absolutely wonderful.

Tomorrow we're meeting one of our new friends. I was in Starbucks the other day, heard English being spoken, and almost got whiplash when I tried to see who it was. I introduced myself, and found out that he is from South Carolina, is here doing logistics for the military, and his wife is visiting him for the holidays. Since she likes shopping as much as I do from the sounds of it, I suggested we meet up sometime soon. :) Later we will go to our friends' Roxana and Ata's house for a Christmas party. It's strange that it is beginning to feel like Christmas only now. I have another week to enjoy it though, since in Turkey, Christmas is celebrated as New Year, complete with the "New Year tree," "New Year Santa," and gifts. So I kind of get Christmas twice. I love this tradition. (And Chris loves Turkey because he doesn't have to deal with any Christmas!)

I have managed to get Chris' cold. I'm not going to complain too much though, since, as he pointed out, I've avoided being sick for many months when he has been nothing but sick. It's just a cold, and I'm sure with all the great American medicine that he brought back I'll be fine soon. We're going to have to invest in gallons of Nyquil though...

So tomorrow it's back to work for us, although a short day. It's been a wonderful day for us, and we do hope you all have enjoyed it as well. Miss you and we are thinking of all of you, especially today.

A Balmy December Day

It is 8pm on December 20. It is also a pleasant 66 degrees (19 Celsius). There are certainly SOME advantages to living in Izmir.

It's My Birthday!....

and I'm sick. This sucks.

On the up side, there's a T-storm going on, and I love storms. And I never get them on my birthday in MI.

Thanks, everyone, who emailed and Facebooked me birthday wishes! I smiled at each one!

Quick Note- I PROMISE

For those of you that I promised videos, they're all ready to go, Chris just needs to compress them because I talked way too much on them and they're too long.

For those of you that I promised a video of our apartment (mostly the same people), I've been lazy and haven't done it yet. I'll do it when the house is clean (i.e. sometime in the next 3 months).

Be patient.

Pictures from Munich, Germany

Ok, this is Barb, posting as Chris. He's a slacker and I want the pictures up. (Actually, he's being productive and I'm avoiding doing housework. :D Our usual MO )

Munich

Dachau

Castles

Dachau

It's hard for me to post a blog entry about Dachau, which is why it's last. Most of our blog is light-hearted and upbeat (intentionally, trust me) and yet I can't make light of this experience. I'll try not to make it too depressing, but it's not going to be a Hallmark card. And I really mean it when I say not to look at the pictures if you're in any kind of sad or depressed mood.

Most of you know that all through university, I was fascinated by genocide and the circumstances in which they occur, as well as the mindset of both the perpetrators and the victims, as well as the response of the international community. Almost all aspects of it fascinate me, and I took all of the classes that GVSU offered on the subject. One of my greatest regrets of my university years was not being able to take a trip with a professor of the subject to Poland and Germany and see the sights myself. This trip to Dachau helped lessen that regret, since it was one of the places on the itinerary for that trip.

One of the first things that struck me about Dachau was its proximity to Munich. It is actually able to be reached by city train, and not at the last stop either. Of the four zones radiating from the center of the city, it is in the second-nearest one. A five minute bus ride from the train station and we were there! In my imagination these camps were always far away from civilization, tending to be in the middle of nowhere and easily hidden from the public. This cannot be said about Dachau.

Another aspect is the size. I didn't know it before, but Dachau actually had several dozen sub-camps of various size near to the main camp. Although we toured only a part of the main camp (the remainder, which is huge, by the way), there would have been many other smaller versions scattered nearby as sub-camps.

We chose to do a tour, and we agreed later that it was a great idea. Our tour guide's area of study and expertise was in Munich and the surrounding area from the years 1918-1950, which fit perfectly into the time of the Dachau Concentration Camp. He taught me more in the first ten minutes that I had ever dreamed possible. For example, the idea of concentration camps was to consolidate the power of the Nazi party. After Hitler became Chancellor and began to feel solidly in power, high Nazi officials were actually shutting camps down, seeing them as unnecessary since they had done their jobs and power was solidly in the Nazi's hands. However, Himmler, who lived in Munich, saw the economic potential of these prisoners. Appealing to Hitler's obsession with architecture, he suggested that the camp at Dachau be used to supply Hitler with materials for building (while at the same time Himmler became rich on the profits). Hitler was convinced, and put Himmler in charge of the operation, which quickly spread to other areas. Our guide explained to us that the sites of work camps were all chosen for their proximity to quarries, mines, and other areas of natural resources or manufacturing. Because Dachau was the first of this kind of camp, later camps, such as Auschwitz, are based on the Dachau model that Theodor Eicke developed.

Also of interest was the early history of the camp. It opened March 22, 1933 near abandoned manufacturing plants under the rule of the Bavarian police, who actually had a pretty amicable relationship with the prisoners. By April 10, the SS had taken over and within two days began terrorizing the prisoners. The SS actually had a training school adjacent to the camp. Although some of the recruits were already hard-core Nazis, most of the new recruits were there because of other incentives. For example, many poor local boys joined because they went from not having enough money for shoes to having a Hugo Boss uniform issued to them, three meals a day, and a warm place to sleep. For others, it was the realization that they could become an officer much more quickly if they were an SS official. Promotion to officer positions through the army was difficult, but much easier for SS officials. It was details like this that made our guide stand out from what we had expected of a tour (the same boring information that any well-read person probably already knows).

Probably the most difficult area for me was the "new" crematorium. (Picking a most difficult area is not easy in Dachau.) There was an older crematorium that wasn't big enough, so the SS had priests build another, larger building. What was surprising to me is that it was not used too much, since most of the workers either died from being worked to death or were shot or hanged, not gassed and then cremated. All prisoners who died, no matter the manner in which they did, were supposed to be cremated. As death numbers rose, the need for a larger crematorium became greater. What made this difficult was that this is the original building. Not long after the war ended, there was a movement to tear down the building and get rid of it. Former prisoners put forth a great effort to save it for future generations and as a memorial. Fortunately, they were successful. However, it is very difficult and extremely wrenching to walk through the path that countless prisoners did in their final moments. It's impossible not to think about what they may have been thinking and what their executioners were thinking at each stage. The rooms seem to close in on you, and I really was relieved to get outside and feel that I could breathe again. I've never experienced anything like that before, and while it was disturbing, I also firmly believe that if everyone visited a camp like this, genocide would no longer be allowed to happen in this world.

I don't have much else to say. It was a deeply moving and important trip that we took. I do need to thank Chris, however, for being interested enough to inform me that Dachau was so close to Munich and to suggest that we go. What a great husband. And for anyone who is interested in more information, I have a book of text and photo documentation of the camp from 1933-1945, the twelve years that it was in use (the longest of any camp).

Castles, Castles, and More Castles!

Sunday we woke up with plans to go to Neuschwanstein Castle, which many of you will remember the poster we had in our apartment of it. Chris was there many (many many :D ) years ago, and I was pretty excited to see it. We woke up reasonably early for being on vacation (8:30 is early!) and after eating a leisurely breakfast and dessert we headed out. To get to Füssen, the nearest city, you have to go the central station in Munich and get a train there. When we got to the central station, there wasn't any information about trains going to Füssen, so we went to a ticket machine to see if we could find it. Thankfully, it had an English option, and we got our tickets for there and back. We found the train, and when we asked to make sure it was the correct one, the guy told us that we took this train to the end of the line, then switched trains to get to Füssen. OK....

The first leg of the trip was about an hour. When we got to the end of the line and switched, we found out that we would have to switch AGAIN at the next station! Are we ever going to get here? The castle closes at 4, it's now well after 1, and we still have another hour to go, not including time spent waiting for trains to leave after we switch. We did really enjoy the journey though. Bavaria is absolutely stunning, so peaceful. It actually reminded me a lot of Michigan in many places, with the patchwork of fields, woods, and countryside. (The weather was about the same too, only sunnier.)

We got to Füssen at 2:45 and had to wait until 3:05 for the bus to take us to the actual village of Hohenschwangau, which is nearest to the castle. Although we knew it was getting late, it was 3:15 and we figured we could get in. Not so much. We were informed that the last tour had been scheduled for 3PM (what a rip-off, it doesn't close until 4, and the tours are only 30 minutes! You need to do a tour at 3:30, people) and we had missed it by 15 minutes. You can't go into the castle without being part of the tour. We were told that we could visit the other castle, Hohenschwangau Castle, which is where Ludwig II, who built Neuschwanstein, grew up. Of course, even though it closes at 4 as well, there was a tour starting at 3:55. Bastards. Anyways, we picked that, and figured at least we'd get to see one castle today!
That castle turned out to be really cool. The outside was the coolest, since inside we had the weirdest tour ever, which was an audio tour with a live guide. Strange. We also had some really really obnoxious Americans in our group, which made me wish I knew German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, ANYTHING besides English so I could have not been in the same group as them. They were an embarrassment to all Americans everywhere. (Yes, I'm still a bit hostile about them.) Our tour guide was lovely, and really knew a lot about the castle, although we didn't get to talk much to her since it was an audio tour.
We left and were going to take the bus back. We saw that we had missed the last one and the next one wasn't coming for another forty minutes. Uh, we'll get something to eat, and catch the one coming in an hour and a half. It's FREEZING. We ate our very good meal and went back to wait some more (the 80-minute-later bus never appeared, the first and only time that happened in Germany). It was much later than we had planned on, after 7, but we figured we still had time to get back to Munich and eat more sausage at Marienplatz. We probably would have too, if we had caught the train that left the station before we could see where it went. (Oh yeah, it went to Munich, without as many changeovers. Geez louise!) The next train wasn't coming for another hour. Chris quickly got bored and decided we needed to go exploring.
It was actually a really good thing we missed our train, because we got to see a third castle! Not really publicized, we had noticed it on the bus to and from Hohenschwangau. We were able to walk up to it and explore around the courtyards at our leisure, which was nice, since we had an hour to kill. Can we say awesome!? Chris took a bunch of pictures, which actually turned out incredibly well since it was pitch black. They'll be on the blog soon.

After walking around for a bit, we were able to catch the trains (yup, a total of 4 trains between there and our hotel) and got back at 11. The latest night to be followed by the earliest morning wasn't ideal, but it was worth it. And maybe next time we'll get to see Neuschwanstein. :)

Trip to Munich, Part I

So our trip to Munich (as you can probably tell from the title) was quite successful and absolutely wonderful!! Because it was such a long trip, and because I'm long-winded, I'm going to break it into sections. So I'll have this post about Munich in general and food (always food!), then our trip to Dachau, then our castle excursion, each in its own posts. Maybe Chris can even coordinate the pictures with the posts, how cool would THAT be!

So, Munich. My new favorite city. I want to live there. I want to be German. It really is a fantastic place. First, let me wax on about our hotel, then I'll move on to their food.

The hotel couldn't have been more different from Pamukkale if it had tried! We arrived to a quiet, discreetly decorated lobby 5 hours before check-in. I asked the kind, ENGLISH-SPEAKING front desk clerk if there was a place to store our bags, since I knew it was before check in. He winked and said he was pretty sure they could accomodate us right away. Sure enough, 5 minutes later we had our room key and were headed to get some much-needed sleep! (Our plane had flown at 7AM, so we'd been up since 3:45AM.) Later, when Alis called, she said the front desk had been hesitant to put her through because they knew we were sleeping! How kind and wonderful is that?! The room was absolutely beautiful, complete with HEAT and...wait for it... HOT WATER! whoo hoo! (They even had a radiant heater in the bathroom, with towels draped over it for heated towels!) And not a mosquito in sight! Beer and wine glasses were provided, in addition to feather pillows, comfortable beds, and a balcony. We were in heaven.

Now, for food. Ahh, the food. I think I ate more sausage than in the past 5 years, no kidding. I was craving something new, and Germany had it! So, first, on Friday, the Christmas markets in Munich opened, which means really yummy food stalls with reasonably cheap food. (I say reasonably because nothing was cheap in Munich, sadly enough.) So right away, Chris and I bought fresh bratwursts while we waited to meet up with our friends. I really was in heaven then! They were hot, greasy, and absolutely not Turkish! We met our friends and they showed us the glüwein stalls, which is mulled wine (hot wine spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and other deliciousness). Alis, the friend we had flown with over there, introduced us to her boyfriend, who is a history major in Munich. He took us all over the city center explaining the various buildings and their history, as well as the sections of the markets and all that we could get there. It was such a festive and fun evening! After they left for dinner, Chris and I ate at Hofbräuhaus, one of the most famous beer places in Germany. I had the best saurkraut ever! Slightly sweet, very sour, with cloves. Accompanied with sausage, of course. And fresh pretzels. OMG. Chris had pork with cracklings, potato dumplings (those were a bit weird, spongy and not all at like we thought they'd be), and we split au gratin potatoes. An absolutely wonderful meal!
The next morning we were headed to Dachau, and needed breakfast before going, so we went back to Marienplatz (pronounced mar'eenplots), the city center, to hunt down a restaurant. We found one serving the traditional Bavarian breakfast of, you guessed it, sausage and beer! WHOO HOO! The sausages were veal with herbs, the beer was amazing (you know that's good coming from me!), and the prezels were good as well. I also had a really spectacular cappuchino. Afterwards we went out and grabbed a mulled wine and some candied peanuts before getting on the train to Dachau. (Seriously, this was an eating trip!)
When we got back from Dachau, we stopped at the city center again and grabbed another bratwurst and some more mulled wine for supper. (Are you sensing a pattern here? :D ) Then we went shopping for Chris for some shirts so he could have more than 2. Luckily, Bavarian men are tall too, so we found some, and bought 4. So yay for new clothes! I also bought a Christmas ornament (you know me, I love Christmas time!) that is handmade and gorgeous. We were going to get crepes but someone (i.e. me) was cranky and tired, and just wanted to get back to the hotel. So we went, laid down and relaxed for a bit, and then went downstairs to the Italian place where we got pizza and (guess what) beer. The restaurant was run by Italians, and was really quite good!
Sunday morning- breakfast is the same as the previous morning, because it was so delicious and we hadn't had enough. It's just so weird to be drinking at 10:30AM (and on a Sunday!), looking around, and realizing that everyone else is drinking beer too! The Bavarians know how to do mornings right! I could probably learn not to hate getting up if I got to get up to that every morning... We snagged some deep-fried apple slices and mulled wine for dessert too, before beginning our journey to the castles.
While we were in Füssen we had supper, which was a plate of various thinly-sliced hams for Chris, and another breakfast for me. We also had lots of beer and mulled wine. Although we still planned at that point to get back to Marienplatz in time to try crepes and more sausages, we didn't end up having time. (See the castle post for more on that.)

Monday morning we didn't have time for breakfast, so I was sad. :( However, we COULD have had one last beer in the airport, they were selling it to go with breakfast. I love Germany. :D
Before I wrap this up, I also just need to add that the train system was awesome! Complete with *gasp* timetables, schedules, and MAPS! It blew our minds! Also, so many Germans speak perfect English that we had no trouble getting around. I loved it. When we got directions from the DHL driver to our hotel (apparently it's only in the US that DHL doesn't exist anymore), it was in perfect English with landmarks and specific instructions.
Germany was so clean, so well organized, and so relaxing, Chris and I both agreed that it was nice to back in a country so close to what we're used to in the US. If I'm honest, I am having a hard time being back in Turkey right now. One can't help but make comparisons, and other than Germany being colder and more expensive, Turkey doesn't come out looking well. I wonder if Germany is hiring...

Pamukkale Trip Pictures

Here are some pictures from two weekends ago, our trip to Aphrodisias, Pamukkale and Laodicea. Captions are (mostly) by Barb.

Aphrodisias

Pamukkale and Hierapolis

Laodicea

Turkish Driving

I just got hit by a car tonight.

No, I'm not kidding. I was walking along, next to a parked car. He suddenly decided he needed to move, steered right into me, and as I fell onto his hood, continued driving, not looking or stopping to see if I was ok. That's Turkey for you.

I have strong feelings of hatred right now.

I Need a Prescription for Xanax

I'm not kidding. Yes, this is the ranting post.

So our hotel that we stayed in in Pammukale was CRAP. Like, the worst hotel experience I've ever had. Let's go through it step by painful step, shall we?

First, we got there and although the owner was very nice, the price was pretty high (60TL/night instead of the 25TL we'd planned to spend). We were extremely tired and hungry at this point however. Also, it was dark and we knew we could drive around for a long time looking for pansions that were cheaper and open in the off-season. He showed us the rooms and they seemed very nice, with a view from the balcony of Pammukale. Although the heat wasn't on because there were no other guests, he showed us that each of the rooms had its own heater. (The fact there were no other guests SHOULD have tipped us off, but sadly, we remained ignorant until later.) Nesta talked him into 50TL/night, we paid, turned on the heater, and went to hunt for dinner.

Like I said in the previous post, dinner was amazing. We returned to the hotel and found to our surprise that although the heaters were running, the rooms were still well below 50 degrees! We put our hands up in front of the heaters, and they were blowing out mostly lukewarm air with spurts of hot air. Great. We're freezing. We drank a little wine to help us warm up and then got ready for bed. I went to wash my face, and lo and behold, there is no hot water! Chris went and asked them to turn it on, and they were still banging around when we went to bed an hour later.

A few hours later we both woke up, wide awake, and freezing. We were awake for hours, finally going back to sleep at 4:30, after checking that there was indeed hot water. We woke back up 3.5 hours later, took hot showers, which unbeknownst to us would be the last time we felt hot water at that hotel. We went downstairs and met Nesta for breakfast, which was made and served by the hotel owner/manager. It was very good, which was the only part of this hotel that was...

It was during the day that I first noticed my face itching, and looked at Chris. The right side of his face had approximately a dozen mosquito bites on it! I had much fewer, but whoa. We saw later in our room there was an infestation of mosquitoes! Gross. And just what we need.

We planned to go to bed earlier that night, thanks to our bathrobes that would keep us warm. After Nesta left, we stayed up a bit talking, and were about ready to turn in when there was a knock at the door.

Nesta called to Chris that he needed to open the door and have is ikamet (his residency permit) card with him, because THE JANDARMA IS THERE!!!! The Jandarma is a cross between the police and the military, usually armed with automatic weapons, and looking scary. I about peed my pants. We opened the door, and sure enough, there they are, all 4 of them, the hotel owner, and Nesta in her PJs. It's 10:45PM.

Chris hands them his paperwork, and since I don't have one, and I didn't bring my passport since we're traveling inside Turkey, I give them my driver's license. (Lame, I know, but how was I to know that the police would be knocking at my door?!) After looking at both carefully, they gave them back and proceeded to search every room in the hotel, looking on the balconies and inside the closets. It was probably 20 minutes later, just as I was calming down, that they knocked again, and asked to see our paperwork again. This time they took it with them downstairs. After 30-45 minutes, they brought it back up again, and left for the night. And how am I supposed to sleep then?! And a hot shower couldn't help because once again, there was no hot water.

Nesta knocked on our door the next morning asking if they had dropped her ikamet off at our room, because they hadn't returned it to her. Lovely. The hotel owner knew nothing either. They were just getting ready to drive around to all the Jandarma outposts (there are several) to ask for it when Chris, being the brilliant man that he is, decides to look at the reception desk. Whew, there it was! As we were checking out that morning, the Jandarma was back again, this time with a whole vanfull and the police. We still don't know what was going on. I am just happy to be out of there!

Moral of the story: If you go to Pammukale, skip the Yildizhan Otel.

Ah, the Life of a Tourist

So last weekend we took our trip to Pammukale. Because it was a long trip (3 days) and because I have so much to say, I'm splitting the blog into 2 parts: the good stuff and the usual omg-how-has-this-happened-to-us stuff (yup, one trip without it was all we got!). This one will focus on what an awesome time we had. I'll save the ranting for the next post :)

Have I mentioned that our landlady, Nesta, is one of the coolest people I know? If so, let me state it again. She agreed to drive Chris and I to Pammukale, which is about 3-3.5 hours away, but also suggested that we stop at a few places along the way. The first one was Aphrodisias, and all I can say is O.M.G. We had over 3 hours to spend there, and it STILL wasn't enough! And personally, I liked it even better than Ephesus. Less tourists, prettier surroundings, and just a lot more on-site to see. It was also more spread out, whereas Ephesus is one main road. And yes, I am comparing it to Ephesus, even though it's not nearly as well-known (half the Turks I talk to said, "Where?"). As usual, Chris will post pictures when he's good and ready, and there's even video with yours truly narrating! The coolest part was by far the stadium though, which seats 30,000 people and is amazing condition. Whereas many stadiums there will be missing seats, or parts that are ruined, this was basically intact except for the entrances at the top. Originally used for Greek sporting events, one end was converted for Roman blood sports later on. There were even several small openings that I like to think were where the wild animals were released from. Carved into the seats were various graffiti symbols, which denoted whose seat it was, whether belonging to a guild or a family, or people from nearby cities. One thing we're still unsure of is the holes bored through some of the seats. Maybe flagposts or something? Your guess is as good as ours.

A close second to being coolest was a whole wall of faces we happened to see on our way out. After years of excavations, they had all these carvings of marble faces in relief, and they put them all together to form a long wall. I took pictures and video, that will show you what I mean. They were incredible though, all very different, different expressions, features, and in such good condition that some of them really appeared like they were alive and looking at you! (A little creepy, that.)

The theatre was also really cool, in similar condition as the stadium. The stage was even still there! That is rare, usually it's just the seats. There were several other awesome sites as well, including the massive gate that was the entrance to the temple of Aphrodite. The gates are gorgeous, and perched on a grassy knoll with a stunning background. Perfect picture place! The temple was cool but not in particularly good condition. Lots of stones and carvings still laying around. When Christianity came to the city it was turned from a temple into a basilica, and a lot of what we saw there was from that time; crosses and other Christian symbols.

Anyways, enough about Aphrodisias, otherwise this will be a hugely long blog. So next we drove into Pammukale and planned to see that the next day. (We had a FANTASTIC meal that night, a mixed grill that included lamb, steak, chicken, and köfte, along with rice pilaf. We also had mezes of sarma (stuffed grape leaves), the best we've ever had, and eggplant salsa, ALSO some of the best I've ever had. It was one of those really great meals at the end of the day when you're starving!)

Pammukale translates to "cotton castle" and as is obvious from the name, cotton is a big deal here. Before we tackled the hills of Pammukale, we went shopping! We bought bathrobes ($15!!), towels ($6.50 for those huge bath sheets, $3.50 for hand towels), and looked at sheets but couldn't remember how big our bed was in centimeters. After that, we snogged down some gözleme and got ready to climb!

As you'll see from the pictures, Pammukale is famous for it's white hills. In ancient times it was called the frozen city, not because of the weather but because the hills look snow-covered. Interestingly, it's quite the opposite of frozen: it's the site of thermal springs that were thought to be healing in antiquity, and the community developed around the hot springs, similar to Bath in England. So once you climb to the top of the hill, over the white stuff (I think it's something like calcium being leached from the limestone by the thermal waters, but this is where it gets science-y, and I suck at science) there are ruins at the top. So we started climbing and very soon were told to take off our shoes, since for the rest of the way up they could hurt the environment. Now was the time I REALLY wished I had gone for that pedicure before we left... But a very cool climb, and even now I still can't believe how much like snow it looked, but yet how warm I was. (Think sunny day, white reflects heat, oh yeah, it didn't feel like November!)

At the top, we were amazed by the size of the ruins. We had thought there would just be a few here and there. No, this was a very large and well-developed community! Well, we didn't really have time to look at everything if we were going to be back down before dark (it gets darker earlier because the sun goes behind the mountains sooner) so we basically picked 2 things we wanted to see: the ancient pools and the necropolis.

The ancient pools were actually in a temple (of whom I can't remember right now) and the thermal waters are actually open to the public to swim in. There are parts of the ruins at the bottom of the pool, which you can see because of the crystal clear water. So basically you get to swim where ancient people swam, and with pillars and such at your feet. Cool, huh? Yes, except that it was completely surrounded by a food court, lounge chairs, and people. It ended up looking more like a unique hotel swimming pool than anything else. Major disappointment there.

The necropolis was better. Pammukale is also known for it's necropolis, which is where people were buried in the hillside, and there are these cool little entrances to their tombs. We saw some as we were walking, but they were far off the path, and we weren't sure if we were allowed to stray from said path. Then as we got closer via the path, Chris made the executive decision that we were going to go for it. Good call, Christopher! Because we saw some awesome stuff! And there were no other tourists around to bug us! Amazing concept. We also saw the Northern necropolis later, which is along the pathway, and it wasn't nearly as cool. I mean, it was cool in that we got to see a lot more variety of tombs, and a lot more in number of each variety, but they were all crammed together and again, the tourist issue. (Why is it that while we all are tourists when visiting other places, we hate other tourists getting in our way? Same for cruise ships, we love to be passengers, but hate all the other ones...)

At this point, it was getting time to leave. I was exhausted (you'll read more about why in the ranting post) and my feet were hurting, and the thought of taking the 20-30 minute walk back and THEN going down the hill was more than I could bear. We called Nesta, who came to our rescue in the car. Bless her. We bought her dinner that night. (Dinner that night was similar to the previous night, but added in another eggplant dish, this one with grilled, smokey-flavored eggplant mashed with garlic, onion, and lemon juice. again, omg. Chris had the same mixed grill, Nesta had steak and freshly-made fries (YUM! I think I snitched as many as she got to eat), and I had köfte and rice again.)

Sunday we woke up, exhausted again (again, see ranting post for details) and headed for a quick view of Laodicea (one of the 7 churches mentioned in Revelations, for those of you who are interested). Although Nesta had been there 2 years ago, and said there wasn't much to see, which is actually part of its appeal, the fact that it's not all reconstructed, a lot had been done in those two years. A lot. Other than the fact that it was gorgeous, I really don't have much of a sense of it, mostly because I was dead on my feet. Maybe Chris can fill in some gaps, since he looked around more carefully than I did.

We drove back that day, and I slept for half the trip. A very fun and full weekend! I'll have to do the rant post tonight or tomorrow, since I just got an SOS call from my friend, who needs some lunch and sympathy. Hope you all are having a great time preparing for Thanksgiving! Mom, I miss the pumpkin cheesecake already!

Şirince

Some actual recent pictures! These are from this past weekend's trip to Şirince, which Barb has already described using the 1000 words approach. But here are my 15000 words worth of pictures. Actually, Barb took most of the pictures (using her camera phone, since we forgot the actual camera, brilliantly). But I'm still taking credit for them, so she needs to write another 14000 words to catch up.

Şirince

Sibel and Yağmur

Here are some pictures of Sibel and her daughter Yağmur, who are our Turkish neighbors who speak almost no English. That hasn't stopped us from having some fun times with them, though. Sibel's son and husband weren't around when we took these pictures, or we'd have some of them, too. These pictures are kind of old (late September).

And although many Türks are fanatically devoted to Atatürk, footage of him isn't permanently on the television, Big Brother-style. It's just a coincidence that there was a commercial showing him when I snapped the fourth picture. Really.

Sibel and Yağmur

Ephesus

Here are some ancient (pun intended) pictures of Ephesus (Turkish: Efes). Yes, that is the Ephesus that we visited back in roasting-hot August. Somehow our pictures from that trip never made it up here.

Efes

Pictures from US Trip

Taking advantage of our NEW HOME INTERNET ACCESS, I am going to post a backlog of pictures.

Here are some pictures from the day I spent wandering around downtown Chicago while I was waiting for my work visa from the Turkish consulate:

Chicago

And here are some pictures of my family and Barb's family from when I was in GR:

Family

The Greatest Day in the History of the Internet

So, guess where I am right now.

I am sitting on the couch in our apartment. Why is this worthy of a blog post, you ask? Because, as you may have noticed, I am also using the internet. Yes, the long-awaited day has arrived: we now have internet access in our apartment!

So, now I will have to find a different excuse for why I post to the blog so infrequently.

Yay for şarap!!

So this weekend something amazing happened. Chris and I actually left AND returned to Izmir WITHOUT ANYTHING GOING WRONG. whoa. Let me say that again. Nothing went wrong! So those of you who thought you'd read about our latest disastrous trip, sorry, you're SOL. Not only did everything go right, I got wine out of the deal too!

So we kept seeing the name Şirince on wine bottles and hearing the name from Turks who said it was an amazing little wine village. Well, you had me at the word "wine" so we've been trying to arrange to go there for, oh, two months or so. We always wanted to go with people, but it never seemed to work out. So I finally had enough waiting, and laid down the law, which stated we were going this weekend, come hell or high water. (Plus we were down on our wine stockpile.) After quizzing 3 different people about the possible ways to get there (we've learned our lesson- NEVER trust anyone's directions, ALWAYS double-check, and ALWAYS ask multiple people), we decided to take a dolmuş (a mini-bus basically, and super cheap!) from Uçyol (near our apartment) to Gaziemir, and from there another dolmuş to Selçuk, and then a third one to Şirince. Since Chris walked up to Uçyol the night before and checked, we knew we could at least get the first dolmuş. So we did, and wow, it went flawlessly! Lots of waiting (the total trip was 2.5 hours) but we didn't mind, since we didn't have much else planned for the day.

Can I just say that Şirince is beautiful?! Of course, I forgot our camera in my anxiety and misgivings about just what would go wrong this trip ( I don't think I believed that we'd actually get there). So sorry, I only have pictures on my phone, and Chris will have to figure out how to get them onto the computer and then onto the blog, and I'm really not even sure if they're big enough to do that with. Anyways, yes, it's gorgeous. Up in the mountains, with white houses and wooden shutters, stone streets zigzagging throughout the village, and a very intimate feel. Of course, there were a billion tourists, which (going on a tangent for a second), I really felt annoyed by and disgruntled towards. But then again, how can I be disgruntled since (a) I am a tourist as well, (b) I couldn't have gotten there if there weren't tourists and a demand for dolmuş routes there, and (c) it has made it so many villagers speak English, which was nice to hear. But I'm sure you all know how yicky and disappointing it is when you expect to have some space to breathe and end up jostling with tourists and looking at hideous trinkets for sale everywhere. But I digress, sorry

So yes, it was gorgeous, and we tasted and bought bunches of fruit wines, as well as some merlot. We even got some homemade merlot, so this should be interesting :) We were only in the village for a few hours, but we enjoyed our time there, especially the church that has been excavated and restored. Then, later, we found another one, although this one was earlier in the process of restoration, so it was pretty rough. Who knew there'd be room in this tiny village for not just one but TWO churches in antiquity? Cool stuff.

Well, enough for now. This weekend is Pammukale, which I'm sure I'll have more to write about (3 day trip vs 1 afternoon) and some pictures.

Archaeology Museum Pictures

As promised, I am posting the pictures from the Archaeology Museum. I must give credit to Barb for helping out this time. I took most of the pictures and set up the album in Picasa, but she added the captions and did the actual uploading, since she had our laptop at the office, where they have internet, unlike at our apartment, where we still don't. (We're making progress on that front though! Going to get residence permits tomorrow so that we have proof of address, which we can use to get internet service. Woo hoo!)

Archeology Museum

YAY! We DID something over the weekend!

FINALLY, I have something to write about! So, since Chris and I no longer work weekends (have I mentioned how truly wonderful and free I feel since getting back to a 5-day workweek?) we decided to do something this past weekend. There is an archeology museum in Konak, just a short bus ride from our place, and since I pass it every day on the bus, we decided to go there. As is the usual MO, Chris will post pictures at some point in the future. (I'm not promising it will be the near future, but he will post them!) Let me describe some of what we saw. Since there are no pictures, I will use the thousand words instead :D

Part of the museum's collection is actually outside, which I thought unusual but pretty neat. They have a whole garden area with stuff placed in them like a Roman sarcophagus from the 2nd century AD, a HUGE amphora, and (my favorite) a statue of a barbarian!!!! (You all know I LOVED the barbarians in my history classes!) They also had another section that was less garden and more just stuff displayed. These included a row of statues, pillars, relief carvings, and more sarcophagi (wow, I had to look that up, what a weird-sounding word!), which were really neat. We also met a cat who decided she loved us. I've never had a cat who almost knocked me over because she pushed so hard against my legs as she was weaving in and out of them. Eventually, however, the cold got to us (ok, me) and we headed for the entrance.

We didn't make it inside before we made more feline friends. And a dog. Seriously, this place was FULL of really sweet animals, all of who looked well-taken care of, which is unusual here. Chris managed to drag my increasingly-freezing body away, and we explored inside. It was pretty sweet inside, smaller and more delicate items than outside. There were 2 floors, one of which was ceramics (zzzzzzzzzzz: I can only look at so many pots, then I stop caring), the other which was more statues, smaller accessories, and more delicate carvings. There was also a mosaic that they're working on, although we couldn't get close to it and it was covered.

What was probably the coolest thing though was that all of this stuff was SO OLD, when we saw stuff from the 19th century, which would have been amazing in the U.S., we didn't even bother to look; it wasn't old enough. Some of the ceramics were even 2nd millenium BC, which kind of blows my mind. So much of this stuff was worn, but still perfectly recognizable as to what it was. At the risk of sounding hallmarky, it was quite moving. To think that someone who lived thousands of years ago actually touched this, carved this, and although they're long ago dead, I can see their work, appreciate the beauty. Makes one think about the big picture, and how we fit so small into it. So what do we have to show for ourselves that people will look at later on? OK, enough of that. Sorry, I go off on these little random wonderings.

We were thinking about leaving when a crowd of school kids poured in, which quickly made our decision for us. Back out into the cold we went. The two cats we'd met when we came in returned, and one of them almost came home with us. She was pregnant though, and although Chris is more seriously considering giving in to my pleas for a kitty, he also knew getting a pregnant one wouldn't be the best idea. So we're waiting 2 months, and then going back, and this time she WILL come home with us!

So that was our excursion this weekend. It was a good thing we picked Saturday to do it, since Sunday it rained. November is their rainiest month, and it's been proving it so far. Cold and rainy, although it's been a bit warmer today. We're hoping it'll hold off for this weekend long enough to go to Şirince for wine tasting and exploring.

Anyways, sorry to cut this short, but I have a student coming in 15 minutes, and I should probably consider getting ready for them. Start bugging Chris to post pictures, they're much cooler than my talking about them. :)

YAY for Christmas!

Yeah, yeah, I know that for the rest of you it doesn't come until December, but haha, I got it early! Wednesday, actually. For those of you who don't know, Chris was back in the U.S. for a week to get his work permit. He got that, and then went to visit our families and do a wee bit of shopping for his wife. ;) Two of our biggest suitcases later, he flew back into Turkey! Now, of course, seeing him was the best present, but let me tell you, it was Christmas for Barbie in the Hatay apartment on Wednesday! I got new clothes, health and beauty items, and even some pancake mix! YES! So for everyone who helped Chris out (you know who you are) and especially Becky, thanks. You totally made another 9 months here livable.

Things have been going a little too well here, I'm warily waiting for something to happen. I actually managed to convince my boss that we really did need another teacher, and we actually got 2! Or, more accurately, I got two, since I got to do the interviewing. THAT was a new experience, especially since both candidates were in their 50s, and I'm less than half their age. Can we say weird? So apparently I'm the de facto office manager now too. Traci, I need to know how much office managers make so I can ask for a raise :) So the end result is, neither Chris nor I have to work on Saturdays, freeing up our weekends to travel. Now we just need Chris back on Izmir time, and we'll be set to venture out!

It was a national holiday yesterday, with fireworks and everything. Although the view wasn't quite as good in GR, we got another straight-shot view of the fireworks from our apartment. They were really awesome, we enjoyed seeing them, although it was weird to be celebrating Independence Day on the 29th of October! Definitely made us think of the July 4th that we missed this year. :(

Well, believe it or not, this is about all I have to write about right now. You can tell we've been having an easy time of it when I don't have a huge blog post about something that has gone terribly wrong and can entertain you all. I'll try harder next time :)

Pictures from our apartment

OK, I know I haven't posted any pictures for a very long time. I won't bore you with my list of excuses. But here are a few pictures I've taken from our apartment that give you an idea of what our view looks like.

View from Hatay

Settling In- Kind of

Well, I don't have any exciting stories (read: miserable experience that turns into a jolly fun tale) this time. For which I am not particularly heartbroken. We needed a break from those stories. Normally I would think it would make this a shorter post, but I know from previous experience (and you do too) that just because I have nothing to say doesn't stop me from talking.

So we have settled into a schedule of sorts. Chris has started at IEU, and works from 8:30-4:30. Because the bus takes a while from our place to Balçova, he has to leave pretty early. I was scheduled to work evenings 5 days a week and then Sat AM, so Chris is also working Sat AM with me. 10-2, so not bad. However, we had some schedule changes, and now I'm working afternoons instead of evenings (awesome, I'll actually SEE my husband!) and no weekends. So now poor Chris is stuck working weekends, which he only agreed to because I had to. Ooops. We'll get him out of it somehow. So my schedule is basically 1-6:30, except for 1 late night. Not bad at all, I get to sleep in, which makes me much happier than getting up early. Less money being spent on an IV drip from Starbucks as well. So while we're settling into our new schedules, things do continually change and present new challenges.

One thing that teaching academic vocabulary to students is that my own vocabulary is becoming inundated with words I haven't used since writing papers in college! The same thing had started to happen to Chris (and when you consider what his vocabulary already was, it's a frightening prospect indeed!) but now he's teaching beginners (they know NO English coming in), which means that soon he will start pointing to his ears when he wants me to listen to him, and enunciating his words carefully, using very simple language. We're going to be quite the pair.

The weather continues to cool off, although not nearly like the kind of weather in Michigan. By cooling off, I mean it's finally comfortable to go for a walk in the afternoon, and breezy enough in the evenings to warrant a light sweater. (Darn, something else I HAVE to go shopping for. Breaks my heart, I tell you.)

I do have some very fun news though. Because he needs to have a work permit, Chris will be flying home sometime within the next month to get his paperwork. YAY! I won't be coming with him though, because as I told him, if I fly to Michigan, I'm not flying back here. Ever. So he will be coming alone, but with an empty suitcase that will be filled with goodies before he comes back. Things makeup, my two dozen pairs of winter shoes i left behind, the soft bedsheets, you know, the necessities of life. :D I'll give you all more details when I know them, but although he won't have many days in GR, some of you may get to see him. Take him out to eat good food, ok? And if anyone has a request for something from Turkey, get them in soon, and maybe his suitcase won't be so empty :)

Anyways, my next student will be here in 10 minutes and I suppose I should at least give the impression that I'm prepared. Miss you all!

For Richer or Poorer, 'til Customs Officials Do Us Separate

Uh huh, I think you all can guess by that title how things went for our trip to Chios, Greece, to renew our visas to Turkey. It has taken almost a week for the bitterness to dissipate enough for me to blog about this little "adventure." Let me tell you the whole saga.

Chris and I planned to go to Chios, which is just off the coast of Turkey, on Saturday. We had planned to go with friends, but because of weather (it was supposed to rain), the friends decided they were going to postpone their trip. We, of course, HAD to go. So we woke up early to rain, and got ready. We went down, took a city bus to the bus station where we were planning to get a bus to Çeşme, then take the ferry to Chios. We weren't sure if the ferry left at 10 or 10:30, so we planned to get there by 9:30 to make the ferry if it left at 10:00. We got off the city bus at the bus station, and went to the bus headed to Çeşme and got on. An employee got on after us and asked us for our tickets. Well, we'd never needed any tickets for the 10 other times we went to Çeşme, so we didn't have any. He pointed out the ticket booth and told us we needed them. As we were talking with the guy in the ticket booth, the bus, full now, drove off. The man told us the next bus would leave in 20 min. Oh, and we DIDN'T need tickets for that one. At this point, we had left early enough that we still had enough time that we could wait.

The next bus pulled up and we got on. It was a smaller bus than usual (usually it's the nice motor coaches, this was a short bus and I will personally slap anyone who makes comments! :D ) but we figured if it went to Çeşme, it was fine. We got on, and it left on time for the hour trip to Çeşme. Except that part of the way there, it took the scenic detour. We went through a little village, randomly picked up some people, and continued to take the country roads (although calling them roads is being rather kind) until we got to Çeşme. And did I mention our driver was like the slowest driver EVER?! So, and HOUR AND FORTY MINUTES later, we finally get to Çeşme. Now it is well after 10, so we're hoping the ferry leaves at 10:30, and even then we'll have to hurry. We walk/run the quarter mile to the port, where we are told that the ferry left at 10 and there is not enough one until 6, which doesn't come back until the next morning. Well, we have no clothes, nothing for staying overnight, so we decide to take the Tuesday ferry. So now we just need to turn around and go back to Izmir.

We realized about then that we had no idea where the bus depot was. Our bus had just dropped us off at an intersection, not a bus stop. So bless Chris for knowing a bit of Turkish, we stopped a man on the sidewalk and asked. He was a sweetheart, he walked us the whole mile and a half to the nearest bus station, THEN bought us tea and talked with us while we waited. That was the good part of the day. We caught the bus back to Izmir, and decided to just take a taxi home and forego the city buses. We grabbed a cab, went home, and decided to go to sleep and pretend this day hadn't happened. Ah, if only it was that easy.

The next day (Sunday) we needed some food for breakfast, so Chris offered to go and get some. Five minutes later he came into the bedroom and said, "Barb, have you seen my wallet?" Oh yes, you guessed it, the wallet was lost, along with 400TL (about $300), his bank card, and drivers' license. And because it was Sunday, we could only call the 1-800 number, where we were told they had no record of his card, so we would have to call LMCU on Monday. Fabulous.

Monday we called and canceled the card, and no charges had been made so far. Whew!

Tuesday we got up an hour earlier than Saturday-we were NOT missing this ferry! Once again, we got on the city bus, then the Çeşme bus, and then to the port. Ah HAH, the ferry was still there! Now we just have to get through customs! We waited in line for about 20 min before it was our turn. The boat will leave in 10 min. The official takes one look at our passports, and starts fiddling with his computer, after which he tells us that we are one day over and will have to pay a fine. 163TL per person per day. So 326 TL total, due NOW, in CASH, and of course there's not an ATM. Well, we don't have that much money. So they get annoyed, and find a ferry employee, who will take us to an ATM back in town where we can get the cash out. Chris has to stay with the customs people while I go get the cash. This man, bless him, drives like mad, honking his horn to get us through, until we screech up to an ATM, I get out money, and then we FLY back. We now have about, oh, 2 minutes until 10:00. The customs official insists on writing out 2 separate receipts, and you'd think it was a penmanship quiz with as carefully (read here: SLOWLY) he wrote out these receipts. We RAN to the ferry, hopped on, and then spent the first 15 min trying to calm down. This trip, between the cost of the ferry (INSANE!!!), the lost wallet, the trips back and forth from Çeşme to Izmir, the taxi, and now the fine, we had lost a whole month's rent for our apartment. Ouch. At least we weren't deported.

Our time in Chios actually wasn't that bad. We had a pizza with bacon and ham on it, did some wandering around, and, after checking with the tourism center, we purchased 4.5 lbs of bacon and 3 lbs of cheese to bring back. We had no trouble getting on the return ferry, and were actually in pretty good moods. This quickly changed when we began a conversation with some other people who had gone to renew their visas, who told us that bacon was forbidden in Turkey and we couldn't bring it in with us. We would have it confiscated and possibly even have to pay a fine. You've got to be kidding me. Well, I WASN'T giving up my bacon, so we decided we were going to smuggle it. In my purse. All 4.5 lbs of it. With umbrellas on top to hide it. And people wonder why I carry such a big purse? Here's why :D

Well, we got past the customs without any untoward looks, and had bacon and eggs when we got home.




And GOOD NEWS! Wednesday, as Chris and I were leaving our apartment to have tea with our friends down the street, we were stopped outside our apartment building by a man who started talking about a taxi. We were like, "No, thank you, we don't need a taxi." Then he pulled out Chris' wallet!!!!! Turns out he had been sick the previous weekend and someone else drove his taxi. When he came back to work he found Chris' wallet, tracked down the driver to get our address, and was coming to return it, money intact!!! Amazing even more because 400TL is a LOT for a taxi driver, and all he had to do was pocket it and pitch the wallet and no one would have been the wiser. So yes, we have Chris' wallet, our money, and our faith in people's goodness restored. Turkey IS the land of extremes.

Crap, Why Did I Get Myself Into This

No, no, not moving to Turkey (although there are many days when that IS my thought...). This time I have invited some new friends over for dinner on Thursday night. Sounds like fun, right? Sure, except that now I have to cook. Those poor, poor people. I think we will be crossed off their friend list after Thursday.

Even if you don't know me well, you know I don't cook. At least not well. This is due mainly to 2 reasons: 1) It takes too long. I have many other things I'd rather do than come home and then spend an hour in the kitchen preparing, cooking, and then cleaning up with Christopher. All for 15 min of eating? I think not. and 2) and I get distracted part-way through, go and check my email, oh, I should put in a load of laundry, and is that the phone and then oops, I smell something burning... This is not my only problem here in Turkey, however.

I can cook a decent American meal when I have to. I don't know how to cook Turkish food yet. And I can't find the ingredients for an American meal. So I'm left with the dilemma of what on earth am I going to cook for our guests?! I have to work late that night, b/c AFTER I invited them, a student re-scheduled. I guess I have 3 days to get it figured out. And I welcome suggestions, but keep in mind, it has to be a big meal, b/c I'm serving them their first meal in over 12 hours (remember, it's Ramazan here, they haven't eaten all day). AND, Chris and I were invited over to their house on Saturday night, and it was a 4 course affair. Delicious and all homemade, of course. (We started out with soup and salad, then had a delicious eggplant and meat dish with yogurt, which is ALWAYS present, then pasta, then fruit for dessert, THEN tea and cake later. whew!)

So these friends are a blast, btw. We met them when I saw the woman and her little girl on my way down the hill to catch the bus. (In a side note, have I told you all that to catch our bus, we have to walk down the hill, and by the hill I mean about 3 city blocks of steep, sloping steps? Insanity... And coming back UP the hill? We're going to be in EXCELLENT shape if we keep this up!) Anyways, so being me, I stop to admire the baby and although the mother speaks no English, and I speak no Turkish, we manage to communicate a bit just fine. Well, then we began seeing them everyday that we come down to catch the bus, and began talking, using a LOT of miming and hand gestured, and that lovely Turkish-English dictionary! The mother's name is Sibel, the baby's name is Yamur, and there is also an 18 yr old son named Doan. We met the father on Sat night a little after 10PM, his name is Mesut. He works 12 hours 7 days a week at a tea (chai) restaurant. (Remind me of that whenever I whine about 5 days a week for 8 hours...) You would be amazed at how much we can talk about and find out about each other with the limited language that we know. And surprisingly, although it is frustrating every once in a while, Sibel is such a good sport about it that we actually have fun. Yamur is in LOVE with Chris. I get ignored, she just goes right over to him, grabs his pinky, and hauls him wherever she wants him to go with her. She's 15 months old, and has quite a mind of her own. We both pretty much adore her.

So I got the bright idea to invite them to our place on Thursday night to return the favor of the meal and also just to spend an evening with them. Really wish there was takeout food I could pretend was mine :) Ah well, I'll just wing it somehow.

Anyways, it's almost lunch time, and Chris should be here any minute. He is attending orientations every couple days at Izmir University of Economics, and getting ready to start there in a few weeks. Hope you all are well, and sorry this post was a little random and discombobulated, but you'll live. Love you and miss you all!

Our Best Weekend Yet!

Well, close anyways :) The other weekends are kind of in a blur, everything has been happening so fast for so long! I was writing an email to my parents, and realized that what I was telling them would actually made a decent blog post, and unlike my usual self, it'd be SHORT!

Things are going well here, I got a call this morning and I have another student, so that will be a little more money for 2 weeks anyways. Apparently he has taken the TOEFL (English as a Foreign Language, they need to take it to go to school abroad to prove they know English) and will get his score in a few weeks, but just in case he didn't pass, his mother wants him to take some lessons with me. Uh, ok. Seems like a bit of a waste of money when he may already have passed, but hey, it's their money. So this makes it so I have a total of 6 students now. Lesson planning is getting a little hectic :) Socially we're settling in though and things are getting hectic in a good way!

Friday night we got together with some of our CELTA friends, just to hang out near the sea and relax, have drinks and chat. They all brought some of their friends as well, so we met some awesome new people as well.A very late night, but it was so good to see these people again! and to feel social :)

Saturday we hung out with Pinar, who was in our CELTA course. She took us to Metro, which is similar to Sam's Club. I bought some artwork for the apt, some school supplies that we needed, and a couple other things. A way fun store but no way of getting there by bus, so we'll have to go whenever she goes. It was nice to be able to get some things that we otherwise can't find in the traditional Turkish supermarkets, and also just to hang out with her. we have plans to meet up again on Friday, although that may need to be bumped back a little now that I have that new student.

Yesterday Chris and I went out to the village our landlady lives in. Not a pretty village, but it was very much a picture of an authentic village. We absolutely loved it. She took us to another village along the water, where we had gözleme ('guz-luh-may), which is similar to a quesadilla only WAY WAY better. The lady who had the stall was so funny, she was an older lady, VERY spunky, and so funny! She even made us fresh sarma, which are the stuffed grape leaves. I tried Ayran again, which is that salty yogurt drink that I found totally disgusting last time. Apparently it's an acquired taste, and Nesta (our landlady) told me that it went great with gözleme, so I tried it again. Yup, still gross. But I am quite determined that I will learn to like it, pretty much every Turk does. One of my students was actually really upset that I didn't like it, so yes, I will learn. Anyways, after that we drove to find Teos, which is an ancient Greek town, in ruins of course, but you're free to wander around w/o paying a fee or anything. It's just kind of sitting there, waiting to be excavated. We found it and we'll explore at a later time when it's cooler. Then we went to the beach, which was a blast! Very relaxing and the water felt just like Lake Michigan, chilly but awesome on a hot day! That evening Nesta took us back to her house and made us baked chicken legs, potato salad, corn-on-the-cob, bread and butter, and bean salad. Quite an American-type meal. It was very interesting, their corn here isn't sweet corn. It's actually much more similar to the field corn that my parents grow. So yeah, a little chewier and different tasting that I have been used to in the past. But it was all good. So yeah, all in all, a great weekend! I expect our next few weekends will be good too, we are actually booked up for the next 3 weekends!

Ok, despite my temptation to write more on here, I promised a shorter post this time. Hope to hear from you all soon!

Oh yeah, before I forget: I've only heard the drummer once b/c I was awake for a bit. Apparently I sleep through it, since Chris ASSURES me that the man comes down our street every morning at 3:15 AM. I can't say that it breaks my heart that I don't hear him...

Learning to Let Go

Sometimes I feel like I'm letting go of sanity. But mostly, Turkey is teaching me to let go of my ideas of schedules, etiquette, orderliness, and logic. Which may be a good thing, since I am entirely too neurotic by half. By the way, I have a feeling this is going to be a rather rambling post. For those of you who are bothered by my habit of jumping from topic to topic without warning, this post will either drive you batty or teach YOU to let go. :)

For anyone who knows me even slightly, you know that for me, rude people absolutely grate on my nerves, and will make me angrier faster than about anything else. It is unsettling to be in a country where I don't know the rules of etiquette, and may very well be a rude person myself! And trust me, I can't just do as I would in the US and hope that these things are universal. Um, no. Not unless I want to be completely obvious in my foreigner status. (Actually, funny thing, I've been told many times that I look Turkish and whenever someone needs directions or has a question, guess who they ask? Oh yeah, that would be me, the one who knows basically NO Turkish. Awkward.) So anyways, it's little things like you don't talk to some strangers, but you can to others. Like, NO ONE talks at a bus stop for example. (It's a good thing that's not a rule in the US, Chris and I never would have met!) People either listen to music, talk on their cell phones, or stare into space, but the stops are pretty silent places. Staring is not considered rude, or at least I don't think so, because I get stared at a lot, and so does Chris. And people are completely unfazed when you meet their eyes and catch them staring. They just keep right on! Pretty much no one says anything to bus drivers, taxi drivers, delivery people, or other shoppers in stores. However, it's perfectly normal to exchange pleasantries with shop keepers. I'm not sure I've heard a "please" (lutfen) since I've gotten here. People can come across as abrupt, but when EVERYONE is that way, it's me who has to do the adjusting. Which I am, I can play snob (by US standards) very well. :D

Mostly what I'm finding difficult about manners are the little things. For example, if someone invites me in for tea, are they doing it just to be polite, or would it be considered rude to turn them down? How long do you stay? Turks aren't quick people when it comes to eating and drinking, but really, other than "Thank you" and "Very nice", what am I going to say to a Turk who doesn't speak English? I HAVE learned to always take off my shoes before entering someone's house, but that apply to offices as well? If not, is it rude to take off your shoes in an office? Should I apologize (in my pitiful Turkish) for not speaking Turkish? Is it something to be sorry about? What is ok and what isn't? Honestly, I could go on and on, but I can see this is getting a bit redundant.

I know I've complained about things not working, or not working well, before. I am gradually learning to never take things working for granted, and always have a plan B. Because this is just how things are in Turkey. If something doesn't work, people are completely unfazed, shrug it off, and continue on. Whereas in the US, there would be irate customers, managers falling all over themselves to give away free things to make up for the non-working this, here it's so expected that no one throws tantrums, no one gets bent out of shape, and no one even tries very hard to fix the problem. Again, not only my desire for orderliness but also working in customer service jobs way too long interferes with my ability to walk away as easily as the Turks do. Although I can manage to not throw a tantrum right then and there, poor Chris DOES get to hear all about it when we get home! I think that one is going to take awhile. I think I'm making progress though, simply because there have been a couple times when I could just shrug things off. That needs to happen a little more frequently.

As far as things being illogical here, it can be summed up quite neatly (and short too!): a friend (a Turk who has lived in America) told me, "If it's logical, then you won't find it in Turkey." Yup, makes sense to me now.

The sense of competition between businesses is something that still fascinates me. Mostly because there really isn't any. Hard to believe, but picture this example: Chris and I need to find a stationary store to get things like binder clips, 2-ring binders (ah, ANOTHER tirade I could go into but will refrain), notebooks, day planners, etc. Our landlady told us we will need to go to Konak, to a certain section of town, because that is the section with all of the stationary stores. Each type of business has a certain section of town, and all of them are next door to each other. If one doesn't have it, they'll simply send you next door for it. No competition about better locations, LOGICAL locations (um, by universities, anyone?) carrying different products, etc. Nope, they even help each other out with breaking big bills. Amazing. And it's all of the types of businesses, not just stationary. I walked through the electronics section the other day, and there are furniture sections as well. Very interesting. But in a way, very nice too. Not so blood-thirsty, dog-eat-dog type of business dealings. (I'm sure there are exceptions, this is just generally what I've observed)

Noise ordinances? Non-existent here. Contruction next door + no noise ordinance = no sleep until after midnight for me = cranky and whiny the next day. Again, I'm going to have to get used to this and see it as a positive thing: we can have wild loud parties and no one can do anything about it. :)

LOL, actually, speaking of noise ordinances and lack of sleep, you all will love this. Ramadan started last night. For those of you who don't know Islam very well (which included me until I got here), Ramadan is a month during which Muslims eat before sunrise, and then fast until sundown, when they then have huge and wonderful meals. Fasting includes food, drinks, and cigarettes. So, it started last night. Apparently there is a drummer who walks up and down the streets at about 4AM to wake people up so they can eat their breakfast before the sunrise. This will be every morning for a full month. I don't know HOW Chris and I slept through it this morning, but I have little hope of that being the case every morning. I just hope people aren't as cranky as I would be if it were 90 degrees and I couldn't have water or food. I'll keep you updated on that front.

I see that is is turning into a really long rambling post. Sorry for all of you who didn't have much time and got stuck reading it. Anyways, Chris and I both miss you all, and hope to hear from you soon.

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Easier said than done, especially when it's 95+ degrees every day. :) sorry, poor joke, but i couldn't resist. as you can probably tell, i'm in a much happier mood than last time i blogged. mostly because we got our water back! showers and flushing toilets are a beautiful thing, that's all i'm going to say. i'm just crossing my fingers that the power isn't next, i can't live without AC right now! (Although that WOULD be a perfect excuse of why we just have to spend every day at the mall....)

Chris and I went out to Cesme last week on Thursday, and taught our first students! Poor kids. One of my students must have known what she was in for, she canceled! Chris is doing SAT prep (thank goodness, that's the more difficult one!) and TOEFL, I am doing TOEFL and one General English course. TOEFL is mostly for students here who want to get into good universities here in Turkey, if they do well on that exam, they can skip the prep school year in which they take English courses before they can enter university. the SAT prep is pretty self-explanatory. we got paid cash at the end of the day, so that was brilliant! we're headed out there again tomorrow and thurs, and hopefully after that the students will be back in izmir with their families. (we've been out in Cesme because everyone except us is on vacation.)

still no internet in the apt, this is turning into quite a fiasco. lucky for us, we have WONDERFUL turkish friends who have been helping, but it's just a complicated process. we wanted to get the 3G offered by turkcell. however, after phone calls (made by our turkish friends, of course) we found out that even though it's being offered all over the tv and billboards, they had problems with it and right now it's not available. So we looked into turk telecom. In order to get internet, you need a phone line. in order to get a phone line, we're pretty sure you need a utility bill to prove your address. and all of this requires going to several places, making several phone calls, etc. again, all in turkish. we owe our turkish friends a drink, i think. (i won't subject them to a home-cooked meal, they've been punished enough with this fiasco.)

other than those things, it's going well. we still love our apt (i did laundry, yay!), we're finding our way around, and chris' turkish is getting better. mine is still non-existent. i may need to actually start trying...

anyways, this may be my shortest post yet! but i've been sitting in this chair for over an hour, and my rear is numb. i'll type more later. as usual, we love and miss you all!

Home Sweet Home

Good news everyone! Chris and I found a place to live, and it’s not a box in an alley like we feared! Rob, one of our tutors from the CELTA course, put us in touch with one of the teachers @ IEU who had a FURNISHED apartment to rent in Izmir. Umm, can we say PERFECT? A landlady who speaks English, an apartment that is furnished and air conditioned (believe it or not, this is not the case in all apartments in Izmir, even though I think it should be a crime not to with as hot as it is!), and in the city we need it to be! We were also about to be kicked out of the dormitories, so we needed to find a place quick, although many Turkish friends offered us a place at their apartments. (Thank you, all of you, we really did appreciate your generosity.) Anyways, we looked at the apartment Friday, moved in Saturday morning, and we’re here now. I will describe it, although I’m sure Chris will put up pictures as soon as we get internet connection (I’m doing this in the internet café down the street.) Oh, and I should preface this whole blog post by saying I’m sick, doped up on cold medicine, and really really groggy, so if something doesn’t make sense or I don’t finish sentences, you know why.
What sold us right away (well, besides the English-speaking landlady, the furnished state, and the location) was the view. OMG. If we thought our view at IEU from the dorms was amazing, this blew us away. Believe it or not, even better than the view in GR (sorry, Gina!). Mostly because we not only see the city, but we look over the bay. There are huge windows everywhere, so it’s even better.The apartment is quite high up, so it’s quite a panoramic view. AND we see a beautiful sunset every night over the water and behind the mountains. I couldn’t ask for a better view!
The apartment has 2 bedrooms, one bathroom with a washing machine (finally!), a kitchen, a living room, a balcony complete with a clothes line (YAY!) and ( my favorite room), a sunroom with windows on all sides, facing the bay, perfect for breakfast and plants. Mom, you will LOVE this room! Nesta, our landlady, redecorated a couple years ago, and basically it’s exactly like how I would have done it! So yes, we feel VERY lucky to have gotten this place, and at a very reasonable rent rate as well. Oh, and did I mention that, unlike some parts of Izmir, it’s not stinky? This was a huge requirement for me; as we’ve walked around a bit in the past, there are certain areas that smell like sewage pretty strongly. I did NOT want to live in such an area! Gross. I think we’re high enough up that the breeze of f the bay takes care of that for us. It’s pretty much perfect.
Or at least it was until we woke up this morning to no running water. We hoped it was just a quick thing, but after about 10 hours, we walked next door to the building manager, who said that it is a huge area without water, and is supposed to remain that way for 4 days. Four days without running water, so no laundry, no showers, no washing dishes, no washing hands, flushing the toilet, etc etc. omg, I don’t know if I can handle this. UGH.So those of you taking hot, long showers, think of me and try not to laugh. And I will think about it and try not to pout. I’m just glad we had the job interview yesterday! We called Nesta and she said that this happens about 3-4 times a year. I was afraid it was going to be every other week or something! But I guess since the water pipes are quite old, I can understand them needing to fix leaks and such. Understand, yes. Stop whining and feeling sorry for myself, no.
Despite this cold that I managed to get right after CELTA ended, we have some leads on promising jobs. One possibility is at IEU, where we took the CELTA course. We’re waiting to hear from them, which should be within the next couple days. That would be a plum job, health insurance included and being paid on time a given. Ahhh, the luxuries! It’s just a really nice place to work, and many people have to work at crummy language schools before universities will hire them, if then. We got lucky because our tutors loved us J The other job was the one we interviewed for yesterday in Çeşme. It’s for a language school, but different that other language schools in that it’s more one-to-one tutoring, and getting students prepared to take SAT exams to study abroad. The pay is quite good, the hours flexible (possibly a little too flexible? We’ll see), and the couple who own it seem like good and honest people. The husband was actually born and raised in Chicago, so he knew where GR was! And BethAnne, he regularly sends Turkish students to MSU, so he’s quite familiar with that area too. Chris and I got along with them quite well. At least I thought so, I was so doped up on cold medicine we could have completely flubbed it and I wouldn’t have known. I guess we didn’t though, since they offered us both a job, starting this week. We kind of wanted to wait to hear from IEU, but if they don’t hurry, we’re taking this one and we’ll figure out what to do with IEU later.
Well, I can see that as usual, this is way longer than I intend for it to be. One last thing though: Sherri from CH, I think if I’m going to stay in Turkey any length of time, I may need a WTF stamp like you have. Seriously. Miss you all, and hope to get internet access soon as I can start actually sending individual emails to you all again.