Friday, 30 January 2004
From 1 to 4 February is is 'Kurban Bayrami' or the 'Feast of Sacrifice', commemorating the biblical time when Abraham was going to sacrifice his son for God but then saw a ram with with his horns tangled in the bushes and sacrificed the ram instead. This is one of the two main religious feasts/holidays in Turkey. The other is the end of the holy month of Ramazan (Ramadan) which, for 2004, will occur in November.
For Kurban Bayrami, every adult male or head of household traditionally sacrifices a sheep, goat or cow, killing the animal in a specified fashion. In the period leading up to the holiday herds of animals are commonly seen on vacant suburban land waiting to be sold. Some meat is consumed by the family and the remainding meat and skin is donated to the poor or charity. Some families, particularly in cities in western Turkey, forgo the sacrifice and instead donate money directly to the charities.
Like the end of Ramazan, Kurban Bayrami is a time of travel, of visiting friends and family. If they live in different areas of Turkey, often, this is the only time in the year when people see their extended families. This holiday, most of my neighbour's family are reuniting together in Mersin from several parts of Turkey. I won't be there as tonight I am on the bus to Denizli, southwestern Turkey. Choosing the trip was a difficult decision as I love my neighbours. In the end,
For the next five days I will travel with 4 Adana-based international
AIESEC trainees. The plan is to visit the world heritage listed
Pamukkale followed by the ancient city of
Ephesus, Bodrum, Fethiye, Antalya....wherever else... The other participants are planning to travel until next weekend. I am coming back Thursday morning to hold up the fort at work. On Thursday and Friday there will be only 3 workers in the office instead of the usual 6 and only 1 English speaker (myself).
Personally, I am not overly concerned about the sights we see on the trip. My main attraction is travelling with some fun people and getting out of the office for a while.
This will be my first real travel since the trip to Syria in September!
Bayraminiz kutlu olsun!
Happy Holiday!
Taner, the university student son of my neighbours has arrived back in Mersin for the holidays.
On Monday night I ate dinner with Taner and his family. Along with the fantastic moussaka-style eggplant with mince and tomato sauce was a form of pickled broccoli. I had never eaten broccoli like this. Taner (who turned 22 yesterday - happy birthday!!!) also had not eaten broccoli in this style. In fact, this was his
first time EVER eating broccoli!
Broccoli was also new for his family and they asked me if I had eaten it before and how it could be cooked. They even wanted me to cook some for them. I plan to do so after the holiday coming up. Broccoli is not uncommon in Mersin and I was amazed Taner had not eaten it before.
As of yesterday morning, the muesli is finished. I am planning my next batch to be of double proportion. This second lot should last at least 1 week!
Tuesday, 27 January 2004
Well, no heist really. I only wanted to make an interesting headline about muesli.
Why muesli?
I am in 7th heaven as I have made my own muesli. I waited a week or two for my local market to receive in 'yulaf ezmesi' (rolled oats). Ismael abi ordered it especially for me. Yesterday, they finally had it!
Along with rolled oats, my muesli contains:
-sultanas
-almonds
-sesame seeds
-dried apricot
-walnuts
-dried fig; and, best of all,
-hazelnuts
It tastes so good, particularly when topped off with sliced fresh banana!
YUM, YUM, YUM!!!!!
Monday, 26 January 2004
Allegedly, today is Australia Day. I say allegedly because I did not realise this until I checked a favourite website of mine
http://www.themusic.com.au and it was not updated - even after refreshing the page!
I then checked the date and thought, of course, it is Australia Day!
I don't have anything planned for today. I am much more interested in Kurban Bayrami, beginning on the weekend. I will explain more about this later.
Happy Australia Day to anybody who cares!
Sunday, 25 January 2004
On Thursday it rained continuously until the early evening. In the afternoon I drove Serkan around the city to help him with his duties. Several times it seemed like we were almost aquaplaning. The car (Renault Toros) would not operate properly on LPG so I had to swap it over to petrol.
On Tuesday night I went with Sevil to the Hilton for a 'cocktail' reception with the Canadian Ambassador, Mr. Michael Leir. Accompanying the Ambassador was Mr. Francois Lasalle, the Second Secretary (Commercial). They had come from Ankara to promote Canada and Canadian business. The others in attendance were businessmen, the 3 main mayoral candidates in the upcoming election and 3 or 4 Canadian teachers and partners from the Tarsus American College, Tarsus. One of the partners, Barry, had followed his wife from Qatar where he was working in materials management for a liquid natural gas (LNG) company. I enjoyed chatting with other native English speakers for a change.
Some thoughts I brought from the night:
-How many people do Ambassadors have to sincerely meet and greet each year, even though he/she will never meet almost all of them ever again?
-When will the Australian Ambassador (or any Australian Diplomat) come? I guess I have to ask to find out.
Christmas is but a memory, but I could not resist posting this photo of Vici and Tristan, the children of Mirjam and Sascha, my German friends. Aren't they absolutely gorgeous?
The local authorities are currently installing a large (80 cm diameter?) concrete pipeline across from work. They started from an outlet at the river and have continued northwards. To facilitate installation, any cars in the way were unlocked with a hook and towed beyond harm's reach. I do not know the purpose of the pipeline and hope it is for a positive reason.
The previous Friday night (16th) I caught the train to Adana to meet the trainees at the same pub as NYE. As well as meet Ali, Magda and Maria again I saw Fabs and Isa (German trainees) for the first time. I was also lucky enough to see Ebru and Kubilay and receive their wedding invitation for the 21st of February! Of course I accepted. I am excited!
On Saturday morning after a few hours not enough sleep at Ali's I caught the train back to Mersin. Since NYE the single adult train ticket between Mersin and Adana has risen from 1,900,000 TL to 2,250,000 TL. Do they issue new tickets? No, just stamp or write the new prices on the old tickets! See below.
Friday, 16 January 2004
...I am busier at work. Yesterday I either made or received telephone calls from 6 countries and 4 continents. This is a most likely a personal record.
Wednesday, 14 January 2004
I recently got in touch again with my English cousin, Adrian. He is living in Atlanta, USA with his American wife, Therese, and their two young children, Olivia and Matthew. In 1999 I stayed with them (not Matthew - he wasn't in existence then) at their previous abode in Bishop Stortford, north of London. I find out now that he is a cutting-edge high school chemistry teacher with a multi award winning website:
http://www.westminster.net/faculty/dingle/. Go Adrian!
I have now added his website and also my muso Auntie Ronnie's page to the links on the side ->
Monday, 12 January 2004
For days, my computer at work was causing grief, continually freezing when using Internet Explorer, Outlook or Outlook Express. It got to the stage where I copied all my files and emails onto another computer (the scanner computer) that I am using now. For a couple of days I could not access my personal emails. On Saturday Serkan reformatted the problem computer and it is almost ready to use again. Generally in the office, Word is also very slow. In all of Mersin, maybe Turkey, the ADSL (yes, a month or so ago we obtained ADSL Internet access!) is also very slow. Turk Telekom say the ADSL access should be fixed in a week. Let's hope so. One advantage of the computer problems is the temporary computer has a much better monitor and when I return to my original computer, I will take the monitor with it.
Enough computer speak!
As well as the cold, Thursday was also notable for a visit with my boss, Ahmet, and his friend, Mehmet, to the hamam (Turkish bath). This was my 3rd visit to a hamam in Mersin, all different ones. The last visit was at the very start of this blog.
The most notable event this time was the massage.
The Massage!
The masseuse caused me
extreme pain in my leg muscles, arm muscles, side muscles, everywhere. On many occasions I was almost screaming. I loved it! My muscles were tense and needed the workout. I haven't felt this much pain for a long time, if ever. No pain, no gain!
The past week in Mersin was, and still is, very cold. On Thursday the maximum temperature was
7, yes,
seven, that's right,
seacht, you heard it,
saith, again,
siete, once more,
seofon, if you don't understand,
zeven, okay,
sieben, another language?,
sept, do I have to repeat?,
sette,
septum,
shtatë,
sedem,
hepta,
sju,
syv,
siedem,
sem,
sat,
haft,
septyni,
shtatë,
ewt'n,
spät,
yedi,
sib'a,
tujoh, the last one,
qi!!!!!!
For Moscow or Erzurum or many other places 7 degrees is not special. For Mersin it is freezing!!!! The minimum was only 3. No, I will not repeat three in other languages!
The only heating I have used in my apartment was a hot water bottle for my bed and an occasional use of the reverse-cycle air conditioner in the bedroom. That is, until today. After our billiard game, Orhan helped me drag a gas heater from work, order the gas bottle and then drag the heater up the 100 or so stairs and six levels to my apartment. I now have heat! Prior to this, my apartment was like a fridge! Some of the other people at work have colds whilst I don't. I wonder if it a coincidence that they have warm homes and mine is cold.....
The cold weather has inspired the procurement of the
Weather Underground sticker for Mersin in the links section on the right of the page.
I gave blood for the first time ever on Tuesday night.
Tuesday morning my next-door neighbour, Medine Teze, had a hip operation at the Mersin University Hospital. This operation required 4 units of blood. This hospital (and possibly, all Turkish Public Hospitals/Hospitals in general) requires the reciprocal giving of as many units of blood as used, So, I receive a phone call around 5 pm from Hanifi Amca (Medine's husband) asking me if I can blood. I was glad to be able to help my wonderful neighbours.
At the hospital the beautiful medical worker asked me some questions before she could proceed with the blood taking. I understood most of it. About diseases, fear of needles (the demonstration Hanifi Amca gave to explain this question was quite comical but effective), past sexual habits, general health matters and other expected questions. The woman first inserted the needle into my left forearm vein to take a sample. After the sample was taken and analysed, she injected the needle into the same position on my right arm. This second needle took just under 500 ml of blood, the size of one unit. I rediscovered that my blood was of the O+ variety. Following the donation I was made to relax on the bed for a while and drink peach nectar and eat biscuits (for the sugar). Medine's daughter, Handan Abli, provided these supplements. All in all, the procedure took about 30 minutes.
As blood giving is extremely important and beneficial to the community and takes little time, it is something I will strongly consider doing on a regular basis in the future. I hope I can help many other people needing blood transfusions,
Give blood!
Monday, 5 January 2004
http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=16418
From the Sabah newspaper:
Minimum Wage Fixing Commission increased minimum wage to be valid as of January 1, 2004 by 34.1 percent to net 303 million 79 thousand 500 Turkish liras (TL). Cost of minimum wage, which will be gross 423 million TL for workers above 16 years old, for employers is calculated as 560 million TL.
Basically, what the above is saying is the Turkish worker on the official minimum income can now enjoy just over USD $200 in take home money every month.
With 2004 brought a new 'uniform' at work. As well as different shirts and ties, Serkan and I now have cardigans to wear!!!!
I can't remember the last time I wore a cardigan. Go the cardie!
I now have a telephone at home!
A Christmas gift of a 'Panaphone' telephone from my bosses Ahmet and Sevil facilitated this. My number is
+90 324 ASK TO RECEIVE. Local and inter-city calls to landlines will now be much cheaper with this phone than with my mobile/cep/handy/cellphone.
The past few days were cold and almost continuously raining.
The annual rainfall of Mersin is 650 mm. 90% of this figure fall in 7 months, from October to April. Only 60 mm in total falls between May and September.
The average daily (24 hour) temperature in January is 11.7 compare to 28.8 in August.
Bring on April and May!
Lunch
Yesterday I went to lunch with Hakan and Mutlu, two friends I had not seen for a long time. We went to Goksel(?)
tantuni restaurant, northwest of the landmark
Taksim International Hotel. It was my first visit to this restaurant and the tantuni was great! As Hakan's family business supplies flour to this place, the meal was free.
Election
In the city there were honking vehicles, banner advertisements, buses with loudspeakers, the works - all part of a local government election not even happening until March!
Liberation Day
On the way back to work Republic Square contained many company, political party and community group signs standing in the rain. When I asked Hakan what they were for, he said the display was commemorating "Mersin's Independence" (actually, Mersin's Liberation). The French and British armies, who had invaded in 1918, left Mersin on 3 January, 1922.
Mersin
On the 31st, work finished at the early time of 4pm. I made my way home, cooked a great pasta dish with sucuk (a Turkish spicy sausage) and vegetables that Orhan came to share. I showered and finished and readied myself for the night. We caught the dolmus (minibus) to Orhan's house and said hello to his parents, sister and Indian neighbour Sait. I also had time, before my train to Adana, to eat some delicious chicken and lamb shish and sample Tequila. Before we got to his place, Orhan did not know Tequila and described the spirit as "Mexican Whisky". After Orhan's place, I caught the 20:44 train (1,900,000 TL, 70 km, 75 minutes) to Adana, arriving at 21:59.
Cazara in Adana
Waiting at the station were Polish AIESEC trainee Magda, Mexican AIESEC trainee Ali and Turkish legend Nebi. A few minutes previously, Nebi had narrowly survived being hit by a car - the open beer bottle he held was still intact though! We walked to 'Cazara', an alternative music nightclub in the centre of Adana. Cazara is Magda's haunt. Entry was 20,000,000 TL, including 3 drinks and unlimited snacks (popcorn, mixed nuts and carrot strips). Upstairs the DJ was playing, downstairs the band had yet to start. Downstairs we headed.
Music
The music on the downstairs PA was promising - they even played Def Leppard's 'Animal'. In fact, they played this song on the PA 3 times before of after the band. The relatively small room was very crowded. After a while, Maria, the Portuguese trainee arrived. The band started and played a good selection of western and Turkish rock. Apparently they are the house band. The singer is also the drummer, a rare combination. He is also an English teacher, so he actually sang the proper lyrics clearly. All night I was trying to remember who the singer reminded me of and yesterday I finally recalled - Bill Murray the actor (Groundhog Day). The other members consisted of bass, lead and rhythm guitarists and a female singer who came on during the second set. They did not accept my request to play 'Stairway to Heaven'.
Midnight
The midnight countdown was a few minutes late but that was fine. People were having too much fun to worry about exactitudes too much. At around midnight I brought out the 250 ml bottle of Zubrowka vodka. Zubrowka is a famous Polish vodka from eastern Poland. The bottle has a picture of a bison on it and every bottle contains a blade of grass. Alicia, my Canadian friend, had given me the vodka as a gift when she visited in October - thank you Alicia. I brought the vodka to Adana because it is Magda's favourite drink. She mentioned this fact in email on the 30th. I did not tell her I had a bottle. When the bottle was brought out she was surprised and delighted. It is coincidental that I have both tequila and Polish vodka on the night I meet Mexican and Polish trainees. Zubrowka and tequila are extremely rare in this part of Turkey.
After Cazara
At about 2:30 am downstairs was losing its vitality. The band had finished earlier and most people were leaving. Maria, Ali and I heading upstairs and outside. We entered a neighbouring nightclub for a while, however this place was almost dead. Virtually all places in the immediate area were dying. The time had come to start walking home. On the way to Maria's place, I shouted the other a meal at the Stadyum Kebab shop. I ate liver whilst Ali and Maria had Adana kebap (3,ooo,ooo TL each). Salad, turnip, pickled chillies and pide (flat) bread accompanied the meat. At 4 am the food was well appreciated. After dropping Maria off Ali and I walked all the way along Baraj Yolu (Dam Road) to his place on top storey of a 4 storey building. On the way, the first bus of the morning passed us. At 6:30 am it was time for both the sun to dawn and for me to sleep.
The Next Evening
5 pm brought my final rising. Ali was cooking some delicious rice in kitchen. After the meal came time for the inevitable, delayed, not-looked-forward-to re-wearing of the clothes worn the previous night. The stale smoke smell my jacket, jumper and trousers contained could have neutralised nuclear waste. I said goodbye to Ali and caught the orange bus back to the train station in time for the 19:15 fast train (57 minutes, 1,900,000 TL) to Mersin. After another bus I was home. Orhan was there and we drank a cup of tea whilst both the washing machine cleansed my clothes and the water heated for my much-awaited shower.
That was New Year 2003/2004!
Sunday, 4 January 2004
Survivor found after more than 8 days under the rubble!
ABC link
Saturday, 3 January 2004
I ventured to Adana for this NYE - my first NYE in Turkey. It was a great night and morning. You will have to wait until tomorrow to hear about it, as I am about to go home and cook some soup on this this very rainy and cool evening.
My Messenger-only address is "XtahenydotcomX@XhotmailX.Xcom" -remove the Xs.
Do not use this address for email. It is hard enough getting everybody to stop using my old yahoo addresses, let alone have to check another email address.
I guess this is maybe my 10th or 15th email address I have had in the short history of email.
The Xs
Some people may ask why added the Xs to the email address.
The answer: the spammers (mass emailers) use software programs to 'spider' the web for email addresses. These software programs automatically pick up email addresses based on the html links or the combination of digits, example@example.com for example. They may detect the @ and .com and record that address for their spam.
An example: A while back David Boon posted a comment from Boonland on Tom Gara's blog
An Irish Experience. He included an email address after the comment. Have a look for yourself, near the bottom of the front page. Now, unfortunately, that email address does not actually exist. However, this non-existance has not stopped several spammers from spamming the address.
