Wednesday, 31 December 2003
More than two months ago, my neighbour, Hanifi Amca gave my friend Alicia 3 basil cuttings from the pot plant on the apartment block roof. The cuttings were placed in a jar of water and left it in the kitchen. After a while the basil began growing. I replaced the water every few days. The basil continued growing, creating roots and new shoots. The cuttings became rootbound and I changed the basil to a larger jar. Near the beginning of winter I started using the basil leaves in my cooking. As winter started I placed the jar on the floor near the balcony door where the basil would receive the most exposure. The plants continued to thrive - just from the water and the sun. That was until a few weeks ago - the roots became darker, the leaf tips lightened and the growth seemed to stop. The basil is in a sad state now and I will put it out of its misery very soon.
I am amazed the basil lasted so long!
Tuesday, 30 December 2003
On Saturday night I was a guest of the owner's at Ali Baba restaurant. Ali Baba is one of the most popular and famous restaurants in Mersin. This, however, was my first visit. It was an enjoyable night, compliments of Nihat. Dinner was eaten in the upstairs section overlooking the entrance. Later that night, a band was to play, however, the other guests, Mehmet, Ebru and Handan, and I, did not make it that far. Next time.
No, I am not talking about the legendary
Queen album or classic
Marx Brothers movie.
On Friday night, at the local Mersin culture hall, I attended my first ever night of opera!
4 young (in their 20's to early 30's I guess) opera singers took it in turns to belt out their pieces, accompanied by an Azerbaijani (but Mersin-based) pianist. The pianist is my boss's daughter, Nur's private piano teacher. There were 2 sets, the second one with a violinist and double-bassist. The final, famous piece was the only instrumental. So famous, I can't remember it's name. My main impression was the projection in the singer's voices - able to compete with the might of the grand piano.
Unless you have been living on Mars (will
Beagle II ever be heard of again?) you should have heard of the tragic earthquake centred on Bam, southeastern Iran. As well as killing 20,000 people and displacing many thousands more, the earthquake destroyed the
historic city centre. Bam was going to be one of my stops on my 2004 Iran trip.
Bam is also famous for its delicious dates. I have a 800 gram carton of them in my fridge at the moment. I bought it after Ramazan and it cost 750,000 TL (about AUD 0.70). A previous carton, bought during Ramazan cost 2,000,000. The date is one of the foods (the sweet, kerebic is another) more commonly eaten during Ramazan, hence the higher price. In Adelaide, my family also bought Bam dates from a Middle Eastern shop near the wonderful
Central Market. They paid AUD 4.00.
Friday, 26 December 2003
I have returned from a wonderful Christmas lunch at Janette and Marino's. More about lunch later. Here is a rundown of my 'Christmas experience 2003':
Christmas Eve
For dinner I cooked stir-fry vegetables and chicken with rice.
The ingredients included: garlic, ginger, carrot, spring onion, cabbage, red cabbage, leek, broccoli, chilli flakes, light green capsicum, spinach, whole peppercorns, 3 eggs in an omelette, chicken breast, roasted peanuts, soy sauce and rice.
I overcooked the meal, per usual, but it still tasted great, although not as great as the 8
Tim Tams!
After a wonderful bath, I opened my present from Annie and David - I received a packet of Tim Tams, some silver tinsel and a Christmas tree wall hanging. The wall hanging and tree are now decorating the entrance 'hall' and the Tim Tams are finished - mainly by slurping coffee through the centre in the traditional way - the
Tim Tam Slam. Thank you very much Annie and David!
My former flatmate, Umut, rang from Istanbul late last night and we chatted for almost half an hour. Earlier in the month he became engaged to long-term girlfriend, Beysun, in her hometown Usak. Congratulations Umut!
Christmas Day
I woke up around 8 (a sleep-in!). The sun was shining and it looked a beautiful day. As an infidel I was given the day off work. For breakfast something healthy was required to recover from the Tim Tams and prepare for lunch. I ate my final persimmon, 2 mandarins and an apple accompanied by a cup of tea.
I then remembered I had 4 Tim Tams remaining. Boom! In a moment, none were left and the health wish was delayed for a day. Hey, it is Christmas, and one day of overeating in Turkey is far healthier than one month in Australia!
After breakfast I wrote several postcards before getting dressed and heading to work at 11 or so on this great morning. In my boss's office I called the family via an Internet phone system work was testing. The telephone call was incredibly cheap at about 100,000 TL per minute but the quality was poor. I chatted to Mum, Dad, Liam, Anna, Shannon, Marga and Poppop in the house I grew up in, Price Street,
Thevenard. They were finishing the prawns and pudding for dinner after earlier eating roast pork and other goodies. I don't remember the other foods as thoughts about roast pork took priority.... I was on the phone for 40 minutes - about $4 Aussie worth! Unfortunately, the quality of the phone call is not enough to justify work keeping the Internet phone service.
Lunch
After 12:30 it was time to catch the bus to the Marina apartment complex and grab some wine and cola for Christmas lunch at Marino and Janette's. At this lunch were another Aussie, Katarina - the Hilton Manager, Central Americans, Ukrainians - Natalie and her son, Italians - including Bruno, the local Catholic priest, and others. It truly was expatriate central. The menu was potato salad with prawns, sliced meats, two types of lamb, roast pumpkin, potato fritters, zucchini, wines, some fantastic sweets from the Hilton and topped off with expresso coffee. Some great discussions about living in Mersin versus Istanbul, philosophy and other topics were aired. Afterwards, Natalie kindly dropped me off back in Camlibel.
Thank you Marino, Janette and all others who prepared the special Christmas meal of 2003.
So, that was Christmas 2003.
Bring on 2004!!!!
Tuesday, 23 December 2003
Yesterday afternoon work received a surprise when one of our former clients walked into the office. In 2002 we sent Hamdi to the US on an internship in the hospitality field. His program in Georgia lasted 18 months and he arrived back in Turkey last week. Hamdi, from Gaziantep, now has a couple of subjects left to complete his degree at Mersin University. I chatted with him about his experience in the US and, like most such occasions, returning back to Turkey is just as much a challenge as moving to the US.
After work Hamdi and I played pool and billiards at my local place, 10 minutes walk from work. He used to play billiards a lot during high school. Although the pool games went either way, billiards was one-sided and I became student, learning tricks and techniques from Hamdi the teacher.
Monday, 22 December 2003
Certain songs, artists or albums bring back memories of past times, locations and situations. I don't know why, but Friday night, in bed early with my new hot water bottle for company, I started writing down the music that reminded me of past times. Perhaps I was feeling particularly reminiscent that night.
Seminal Music and Memories.htm
As predicted on 17 December, the black-out that day was not the last this winter.
Work was rudely interrupted two or three times on both Thursday and Friday afternoons. Almost all of my work involves some use of electricity - normally via computer so when the power stops - most of my work options also end. Depending upon the excitement factor and urgency of the work at hand, some breaks are appreciated whilst others are not.
Thursday, 18 December 2003
Mersin and Al Qaeda
"Bin Laden, during his meeting with Aktas and Kus, first suggested an attack against Incirlik Air Base, a sprawling facility used by U.S. troops or U.S. or Israeli ships using the Mediterranean port of Mersin, according to the police description of Yitiz' interrogation.
But security at the air base and the Mersin harbor made the attack too difficult. Coast guard cutters protect the harbor and Turkish forces patrol the base's perimeters. A high wall also was erected around the base before the Iraq war."
If the security around Mersin's port or Incirlik Airbase (70 km away) was not strong enough, Osama Bin Laden's Turkish followers would have bombed these places instead of the synagogues, bank and British Consulate-General in Istanbul. Apparently, according to the article, Osama did not authorise the strikes in Istanbul and was angry that Turks/Muslims died. As if Osama cares about people dying.
Life in Mersin would have been far more interesting if an Israeli or American ship or two was blown up.
I think I prefer the currently unexciting Mersin than the alternative. Sometimes boring is better...
After the rain came the wind. The iron sheeting on the 'balcony', where the smokers smoke, was making a fierce noise. Even the front door had to be locked to stop the wind from opening it.
After the wind came the rain with the wind. The electricity went in the early afternoon and did not return until the evening, well after work closed. Most of the afternoon I sat completing the little non-electric-based work I could whilst the office grew darker and darker as the sun went down. By 5:30 pm the candles took full effect.
This was the first black-out for the winter. Most likely it is not the last.
Wednesday, 17 December 2003
At the moment the sun is shining. However, the last 3 days have been cold and wet. This morning the rain was very heavy. The last few days remind me a little of the late 2001 floods, except then it was 3 weeks on non-stop rain. Thankfully, that is unlikely to happen again soon.
On Saturday, with Helin and Kerem, I went to the Metro Cinema to watch S.W.A.T., starring Australian boy Colin Farrell and Pulp Fiction maestro Samuel L Jackson. S.W.A.T. is an acronym for 'Special Weapons and Tactics' and this movie was centred upon the Los Angeles Police Force S.W.A.T. Team. In a summary, the movie was a good fun action movie of a higher complexity and standard than the average Stallone, Scwarzenegger stuff.
Movies often reflect some aspects of society.
Without giving the plot away, S.W.A.T. is about the good guys, the S.W.A.T. team, winning against the bad guys, a Mafia guy and his associates. What was most interesting for me was that the mafia guy was French and not the traditional Italian, Russian or Chinese. In my opinion, this is a reflection of American society's recent disliking of the French over the war in Iraq. No coincidence, I say.
On the topic of Iraq, I am gladdened to hear of Sadamn's capture. I hope it means the end of a terrible era in Iraq. I also hope it does not mean the re-elections of government in the US, UK and Australia.
Sadamn, show us where the weapons of mass destruction are! They must be somewhere; after all, the Australian Government put Australian soldiers' lives in danger on the other side of the world because of the threat of WMDs.
Court rejects application for under-age marriage
In the 21st century, how can a 16 or 17 year old person make the decision to choose their partner for the rest of their life? It sure beats me.
Saturday, 13 December 2003
Turkish Economy Grows 4.9 Percent In Third Quarter Of 2003
"Gross National Product figure for the third quarter of 2003 is
108 quadrillion 383 trillion 823 billion Turkish liras (TL) in current prices and it is
39 trillion 329 billion TL in real terms."
Great to see the economy is moving.
My neighbourhood is a mix of people, both poor and okay financially. In one section is a bunch of children around 10 years old. During weekends and school holidays they hang around the block between home and work not doing much. Sometimes they are fun and entertaining. Other times they are rude and downright offensive. Almost always when they see me they yell out my name and enthusiastically run towards me. I encounter them most often on the way to or from work. The kids often find my name hard to pronounce and on many occasions I am called 'George'. Virtually the only English phrases I hear them say are the universal "What is your name?" "Where are you from?" and "How old are you?" The novelty for them of me as a foreigner will take a long way to wear off.
After Liam (my brother) visited Mersin the children kept asking "Aliam nerede?" (Where is Aliam?). They also ask for the photos he took of them. Even now, more than 3 months (wow, is it that long?) since Liam left, I still get the occasional question concerning his whereabouts. The kids would have little to no concept of Australia, a country so far away.
The children are undisciplined and behave erratically. One of the boys has a habit of repeatedly saying "I f**k you" towards me. On the outside I pretend to ignore or not understand. Inside, it irritates but I just have to stay calm. The other day a few alternate boys were mimicking him even though they couldn't even pronounce the words properly, let alone understand their meaning. One time a kid threw a soccer ball at my back. I picked up the ball and threatened to throw it into the river. In a flash one of the girls had a stone in her hand ready to let it go in my direction. Several times the kids come outside work and create a racket, attempting to get my attention until they are shooed away. They are normally just bored.
Once the feelings of annoyance or happiness go away, my strongest feeling towards the children is of pity. If only they could be brought up in a disciplined matter. I doubt that has/is/will happen as their parents are likely to be either uneducated and/or working long hours and lack the knowledge or time to look after their children properly. Maybe I am judging too much into the situation and the children are only displaying the naiveté and freedom of childhood and will develop into well-mannered adults. Perhaps. After all, I was much older than 10 when my childish habits wore off.
Thursday, 11 December 2003
Some more goodies received in the mail this week. Thank you Mum and Dad for the 2004 Australian Bird calender. Thank you also Annie and David for the Christmas present. It will not be opened until Christmas!
Sunday, 7 December 2003
Today I ate roast chicken and vegetables for Sunday lunch.
Salih Usta roasted my meal of chicken portions surrounded and covered by whole onions, garlic cloves, chunks of potato, capsicum, tomato, broccoli stork and carrot, spiced with blck peppercorns and salt with fresh coconut shavings for flair. This was the first time I have made my own roast since I came back to Turkey and it was delicious!
My flat, like many, if not, most, Turkish homes, does not have an oven.
If I require anything cooked in an oven, I have to go
Salih Usta ("Salih Master") across the street. Cooking my meal today cost 500,000 TL, less than 50 cents Australian. Salih operates a wood-fired oven. On Sunday afternoons During Ramadan his business was obscenely busy. All the Turkish families were preparing their Iftar (fast-breaking meal) and many required Salih's services.
Military Service
On Friday night friends Toygun and Kerem visited.
This week Toygun will be entering the military service, something compulsory for all Turkish males. There is no choice for community service or any other alternative. As Toygun (a university graduate) will be an Officer, his service is for a year. University graduates normally have military service for 6 or 7 months. Non-graduates, longer. He does not know where he will be posted and will find out in his first few days.
I had not seen Kerem for at least a year and it was a great surprise to see him. In 2002-2003 he had undertaken his military service as a translator and editor (his English is excellent). For about 3 months Kerem served in Afghanistan. He told some stories bout how he hated his first month there and that Kabul airport had loads of wrecked aircraft and other stuff. I look forward to viewing his photos.
Friday, 5 December 2003
This morning Serkan checked the mail at post office (PTT) and brought it to work.
Amongst the usual education brochures and posters were:
a) A birthday card from Annie and David - thank you very much. The card with 2 earthworms looking at a can of spaghetti with the quote "Ooh Look Steve - An Orgy" received many laughs!
b) A Christmas card and
Haighs chocolates from Mum and Dad - Cok Tesekur Ederim! I have not touched the chocolates yet and don't plan to until Christmas....you know what they do with plans...
c) Pearl Jam's new rarities double CD "Lost Dogs" and double DVD "Live at the Garden" a live concert from Madison Square Garden earlier this year.
I was going to buy them from my local newsagent/bookstore/music retailer, Kitapsan. When I went there the products weren't there and would come a week later. That is not why I did not buy them from Kitapsan. Foreign music double CDs at Kitapsan normally cost 40 million! From
pearljamstore.com, a band-affiliated website based in the US I could buy CD and DVD, including $7 postage and handling, for USD 31.98. This amount is about 46 million TL, only 6 million more than just the CD and about 30% less than both the CD and DVD at my local shop!
Wednesday, 3 December 2003
On Monday I received a birthday card from Nanna and Grandpop - thank you very much!
As with custom, in the card were 2x$1 Australian scratch and win tickets.
Guess what? On one of the tickets I won $2!
It is extremely unlikely (to put it mildly) that my winning ticket will be valid in Turkey so I will send it back to Australia.
For a thank you, I will send Nanna and Grandpop a Turkish scratchie. Let's hope they win many millions, if not billions of Turkish lira!
Tuesday, 2 December 2003
This morning at work the big story is the 'fare' (mouse in English) that entered the front door at work chased by a cat. The ladies were not very calm and collected. Serkan and I chased it out of the office using broomsticks. I then did what any good country-grown Aussie would have done and ensured the mouse did not see any more of its current life. The other workers were not impressed but I was happy to see the end of the 'fare'. The air freshener has already had a spray.
I hardly see any mice in Turkey. I can't recall observing a mouse previously. There are many stray cats so the mice don't usually have a chance. Here, Rats outnumber the mice.
I have started a second blog on the Australians Abroad website at:
http://coolabah.com/ausblog/turkey
As the name suggests, this website is aimed at Australians who live away from Australia. My 2nd blog will have different content to this one.
In the 3rd episode of the Grasshopper I thought he had left my apartment environs for good.
One day last week I rediscovered the grasshopper!
He was hiding on a work shirt of mine in the wardrobe!
The shirt is now hanging back on the clothes line and the grasshopper has hardly moved since. I believe the only possible reason for this situation is the grasshopper is hibernating. This thought had crossed my mind previously however I did not take it seriously as hibernating in sunny, mild weather did not make sense.
