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I will be posting as often as possible, though coverage may be sporadic.  I am at my parents home in New Hampshire, hanging out, visiting family, and prepping for the upcoming wedding…Mine!

So in between the bachelorette party, (this weekend),Bülent flying in (next week) my bridal shower, (next weekend) and the wedding (the weekend after) I may be fairly busy.   I will try my best though.  I have some awesome food photos coming so be on the watch.  Happy Fourth!

What The HELL Was I Thinking?

I must have been out of my mind. Our apartment was painted by the school (we did not choose the colors.)  So,  the painters had to finish painting about 20 four-bedroom apartments in two weeks.  T o facilitatie this arbitraty time period we had 13 painters in our place.  Craziness.  So when I came home from work, the white molding was green, the paint was all over the floorboards and the floor length curtains were in piles on the floor.  I argued (in Turksish) with the painters that since they took them down, they should put them back up.  My strongest argument--I don’t own a ladder (Their response, we will lend you ours.)  So after losing the battle I decided, what the hell, since they are all down why not wash them.  WTF! Apparenty they have not been washed, EVER!

Exhibit A:

Ignore the multiple shampoo bottles and focus on the color of the water.  Black!  And this was the second soaking in hot water and oxi-clean.  After this, I washed them twice with bleach.  They are still a little grey.  I hung them up when they were wet, thinking it would help with the wrinkles.  Sort of.  The chiffon front curtains (I don’t know what they are called) straightened out but the thick back curtains are all wrinkled. 

I will never do that again.  The washing, the bleaching, the arms burning from the weight of the wet curtains.  And then they still had to be taken down again and ironed to get the wrinkles out.  What the hell was I thinking?!?!? I have a lovely cleaning lady.  I will have her do it next time.  I will be putting money back into the Turkish economy, someone who needs work will get it, and I will not have to f*cking deal with 15 washer loads of extremely dirty curtains. 

* This post is for you Laurie.

Visit to Eskişehir

A few weeks ago, before my life was consumed with correcting exams, processing grades and nailing down details for my upcoming wedding, we took a trip to Eskişehir.   It is about an hour an a half on the fast train.  The train was great.  It ran frequently all day, was clean and convenient.

  The city itself is fun, but certainly a day trip—no need to stay overnight.  We walked around all day and were able to see most of the city.  Eskişehir has a university and was considered to be a supporter of Ataturk as the city sacrificed itself during the Independence war, holding off the invasion of the British.  The city was razed then later rebuilt.  I was very surprised considering it liberal past, that there was such a conservative religious community.  While religious people aren’t against Ataturk, and those who support Ataturk don’t deign religion, there tends to be a correlation between liberalism and Ataturk supporters.  Most of the women I saw in Eskişehir wore headscarves, a few did not, but they were the minority.  Though the closer we walked to the university the fewer “covered” women we saw. 

The first stop was the creek that runs through town.  Now it is touristic and cute however, twenty years ago the creek apparently was rancid and stank and the cafes by the waterfront were ramshackle.  The current mayor has done an enormous amount of renovations in town and it has made a huge difference. 

The next stop was boza, a fermented (nonalcoholic) wheat drink.

  It was slightly sweet, and very thick.  You could eat it with a spoon.  The shop sold only boza, and you could sprinkle cinnamon on top if you wished.  It apparently has a lot of protein and vitamins and is healthy—though caloric. 

I was not nesaccarily a fan, though I could see the appeal. 

Later we went to visit the city’s real attraction.  The restored Ottoman Style houses. 

The Ottoman style houses have been preserved and restored.  The neighborhood has turned into a tourist area with cafes and chai houses, though many locals still live in the houses, above the businesses. 

From Ankara it was a fun, inexpensive, quick day trip.  The fast train takes only an hour an a half to reach the city.  Everything in within walking distance from the train station so there is no need to tax about.  The round trip train tickets are 32 liras for one person.  It was a very lovely trip and a fun weekend activity.

Epic Cuteness

Bulent picked me up from the Servis bus the other day and told me he had a surprise for me.  He could not keep from smiling.  I kept trying to guess but was no where near close.  We drove around the neighborhood and finally ended up a nearby park.  I thought maybe he had set up a romantic picnic.  

Until I saw the fuzzy wriggling bodies. 

To be precise, seven of them. 

A neighborhood street dog had puppies and the den is in the park nearby.  The mother is part German Sheppard and from her behavior she may have been an (abused) pet.  She is very shy and non confrontational.  If you speak to her she wags her tail but if you get get close she runs away.

The puppies are absolutely adorable.  They loved to be petted and cuddled. Unlike the last puppies we found.

They hate to be ignored.  If they want attention they will clearly state their needs.

They are NOT shy.

If we owned a house with a yard I know Bulent would have wanted to adopt at least two of them.

However, since that is not an option we have been bringing them, and their mother, food and water, as is a teenage boy who lives in the neighborhood.  The mother is quite thin – she has been nursing seven pups and has been scavenging for food.  Bulent posted photos on a Craigslist-ish type site advertising the puppies.  There are many people with large homes who want guard dogs.  This would be better than if the dogs were left to scavenge.  They would eventually be picked up by the city and vaccinated and be spayed/neutered, but then released back on to the street.   The problem is that in Turkey dog-ownership outside of villages is new and dogs are a status symbol. People want purebreds not mutts. 

So… if you are in the Ankara area and want a FREE PUPPY who is sweet and trainable, leave a comment.  We would love to hook you up with one of these darlings.  They need a home. 

Look!  He likes you already!

Waxing and Homonyms

On Wednesday I did something I have been wanting to do for a while, yet at the same time dreading it. 

For weeks I have not been shaving so I could participate in the Turkish practice of waxing. 

Turkish women wax their body hair as culturally body hair on women is considered unclean.   They wax *everything*.  I asked my friend about the practice, she said that she waxed everything in the past, even her arms.  She gave me a recommendation for a waxer.  Then she demonstrated the depth of her friendship.  She called, made my appointment (I did not have the necessary Turkish vocabulary,) and then told me she would meet me there to translate what I wanted to the esthetician.  She did say I was on my own for the waxing--which is best for our friendship considering the positions I had to assume.

While it was not butterflies and kittens the waxing was not nearly as painful as I thought it would be.  Actually, it was not really painful at all, though that may be due to the skill of the esthetician.  It was an interesting process, and also interesting to think that a majority of Turkish women do this on a regular basis.  While I was assimilating culturally I also found my first Turkish homonyms

Aci—means spicy.  Aci—also means hurt.  So at first  was confused when she said, “This will be a little bit spicy.” (in Turkish.)  However the word confusion was quickly cleared up when a large chunk of hair was removed. 

Bir az aci= This will hurt a little 

The second homonym is “paket.”  In Turkish “Alo Paket,” means take out.  In a restaurant if you ask for “paket,” it means take home package otherwise known as a “Doggie Bag.”  As it turns out “paket” also means the nether regions.   So when an esthetician asks you if you want a “paket” wax that means both front and back and everything in between.

Both words are good to know.  Beware yabancis, if you ask for paket in the wrong context you may end up getting something you were not expecting. 

I have survived.

I have had a ridiculous amount of exams to grade and a scary timeline in which to do so. 

I am finished with grading and recording. 

Life will resume.

Which means blogging will as well. 

Tomorrow. 

Kapadokya

We went to Kapadokya a few weekends ago, taking advantage of the long weekend. It was children’s day, a day to emphasize that children are the future of the nation. I had Friday off, so we hit the road Thursday after work. Bulent, his mom and dad and I all went down to Kapadokya, and it was amazing.

The view from out hotel’s restaurant terrace.

Kapadokya is a region where rock formations formed by volcanic activity have been carved and shaped by erosion and people for millennium. All throughout the area are amazing rock formations into which churches and monasteries and villages have been carved into the soft rock. There are even underground cities 9 stories deep where villages would go underground with their animals to resist invaders who who trying to conquer the fertile land.

We stayed at a lovely and inexpensive hotel called the Arch Palace, it was wonderful. Mustafa Bey and his wife run the place. They are wonderfully warm and welcoming, and their children are adorable. Mustafa Bey was wonderfully knowledgeable about the sights to see, not only in Göreme, but the entire region. We were able to visit the best parts of the Kapadokya region, thanks to his guidance, and I can honestly say—We lucked out. We stayed in the most adorable, friendly and geologically jaw-dropping village, with an awesome host. The other towns and villages were lovely but they were overrun with buses of tourists who crowd up all the sights and clog the roads. We refer to them as…“The Buffalo.”

We also tasted some superb local wine and tried some of the local foods, which varied from the food in Ankara. It was a lovely trip. There will be some more posts coming up from my recent travels, including food from Göreme and this weekends visit to Eskisehir.