Wednesday, 31 March 2004
Since I arrived back to my 6th (top) storey flat in June 2003 the lift has not worked. For 9 months I climbed and descended the 100 or so stairs 2 or 3 times a day. My health is very thankful for this!
After work yesterday I entered the building and saw the lift was operational. Workers had spent the previous week installing a new motor. To finance this, all 18 apartment owners paid 50 million per month for the previous 4 months. Once the last payment was completed, the lift was fixed.
Tuesday, 30 March 2004
I will wrap up the election tomorrow. In the meantime Joe '
Letterman' Taheny will detail the top 9 signs spring has started in the Mersin region:
9) Sunday's maximum temperature was in the high 20's.
8) The wattle (an Australian tree) is beginning to bloom.
7) The Kurds celebrated 'Newroz' (their new year) on 21 March.
6) For the past week the sparrows opposite my apartment have chirped loudly.
5) At 2 am Sunday morning clocks in Turkey were wound forward 1 hour for daylight saving.
4) Unripe (green) almonds, strawberries and semiz otu (a green salad vegetable) are appearing in the weekly fruit and vegetable bazaars.
3) I have stopped wearing my winter pyjamas.
2) 'Hello Spring' is written in English on the window of the Collezione fashion store.
Cue: Drum-roll
And the number 1 reason spring has started:
1) On Sunday in Adana I saw a Turkish man wearing shorts!
Cue: canned applause
Saturday, 27 March 2004
Last (Friday) night at midnight all election campaigning was supposed to stop. However, today several cars and buses from different parties were driving around with their loudspeakers blairing. I wonder if the police have turned a blind eye?
By the way, tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 2 am, clocks in Turkey will be wound forward 1 hour for the start of daylight saving. This move, combined with the end of daylight saving in South Australia (and some other parts of Australia) will reduce the time difference between Mersin and Adelaide from 8.5 to 6.5 hours.
Visit my other blog at the
Australians Abroad website for all the details.
Following is a photo not in the election special. It was taken from my balcony looking down the street. What are the banners?
To find out you will have to visit
here.
Friday, 26 March 2004
...
1 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 Turkish lira
There are 14 zeros in one hundred trillion!
In smaller numbers, this amount is almost 102,000,000 Australian dollars or just over 22,000,000 Kuwaiti Dinars.
I am sure the printers of the all the banners and flags are having a boom in sales. I wonder how many trees are left...
Thursday, 25 March 2004
This photo was shot Tuesday morning before work whilst wandering the streets of Mersin. I was shooting election photos (I borrowed my boss's digital camera) for my upcoming special on the
Australians Abroad blog when I came across the following scene on a side street.
The stray cats are probably waiting for breakfast to be tossed down from one of the upper level apartments. There are many stray cats in Turkey. Just this morning, two cats were about to enter through the work office front door before they were scared away.
...no, I don't know this
human trafficker or any of his customers. Although flights from Turkey to Australia are expensive and uncomfortable, I am certain they are much cheaper and easier than via the back of trucks and leaky boats. That some people are willing to try anything to get from Turkey to Australia reflects the poverty apparent in most areas of Turkey, particularly the east.
Wednesday, 24 March 2004
This morning, most likely before I came to work earlier than usual at 7:50 am, a green Mitsubishi car was stolen from in front of work. Investigations are continuing...
Early yesterday morning, well before I arrived at work (from walking around the city taking photos for an upcoming election special on my other blog) a tragic incident occurred. A 65-year-old lady from the apartment block neighbouring work committed suicide by falling from her balcony. She was suffering from depression. Apparently she has a son studying in Canada. I can't imagine what pain the son is going through now.
On the weekend I tried the best non-Turkish food I have eaten for months.
On Saturday afternoon Betül visited from Adana. With her she brought a packet of Thai green curry, dehydrated coconut milk and two pairs of chopsticks! She had obtained these items when she was in Thailand a few months ago. To the green curry and coconut we added chicken breast and vegetables, complemented by egg noodles. The curry was very hot and delicious although I took a minute or two to remember how to use the chopsticks!
For lunch Sunday I added grated cheese to leftover tomato-based pasta sauce and took it to "Salih Usta", the local oven. Salih put the mixture on flat lahmacun style bread dough and placed them in the oven. The resulting 35 mini pizzas were 'Greek' - in between Italian and Turkish :-)
I took the pizzas with me to Adana where Ali ate them all (slightly assisted by Magda and myself). Ali ate about 20 of them I believe!
That evening I visited Murat's family's flat, where Fabs and Isa were staying. Fabs and Isa cooked a European delight! First of all there was a leek quiche. Next came the lettuce-based salad with tomato, white cheese, walnuts and a lovely dressing. Following the salad was lasagne and finally, a strawberry custard torte. A fine French red wine complemented the dinner. Fabs and Isa are more than welcome to cook at my place anytime!
Returning to Mersin in the unlit cabin on the very last train of the night I reflected on what a gourmet's delight of a weekend I experienced!
PS: after walking half way home from the train station a car stopped and the driver asked me "Çamlıbel?" Now Çamlıbel is the inner city suburb that I live in and I found it hard to believe the man did not know where it was. He said he came from Ankara. He was kind enough to offer me a ride home. On the way, the electric windows went up and, to cut the story shorter, he asked about purchasing 'eroin'. You can translate into English! After saying I didn't know anything about it, he kindly dropped me off next to home.
The moral of the story:
For a less interesting life, don't accept rides from strangers :-)
Thursday, 18 March 2004
From the front page of (Australian newpaper) The Age's
website at 17:31 (02:31 AEST) Turkish time yesterday:
"Astrologers (sic) claim to have found the most distant planet-like object in the solar system."
This was the front page introduction to the article titled
"Sedna, a cold red world" about the discovery of a 10th planet
The
actual article credits astronomers as the planet discoverers:
"Astronomers announced yesterday they had found the most distant planet-like object in the solar system ever, and the biggest since Pluto was discovered in 1930."
I submitted this critical oversight to
Media Watch but The Age had rectified the mistake before Media Watch's Executive Producer Peter McEvoy read my email and witnessed the hilarity himself.
I realise many people give astrologers and other supernatural snake oil salesmen credibility (I don't) but crediting them with the discovery of a planet goes way beyond the usual.
Tuesday, 16 March 2004
Yesterday afternoon I met a friend, Betül, for the first time in Adana. She was an
AIESEC trainee in Malaysia and we originally got in contact last year through the
Lonely Planet Thorn Tree. Betül comes from Adana but studied university in Ankara. It was fantastic to finally meet her.
As usual, I caught the train to Adana. The walk from my house to the Mersin Train station took 30 minutes of power walking across town. The election posters and banners were everywhere. I wonder how many trees have died because of the 2004 Turkish local government elections?
The gidiş-dönüş (return) ticket to Adana cost 3,000,000 TL. I think the seller gave me a student ticket even though I did not ask for one. Before the crowded train left (I was standing from Mersin to Tarsus) a security guard walked through the carriages with what looked like a metal or explosives detector. He did not pass it by anybody but just walked past. I guess he was looking for large bags that may have contained bomb equipment. Another security guard stood outside. These were the first security guards I had witnessed in the many times I have caught the Mersin-Adana train.
I wonder if the security guards were a reaction to the train attacks in Madrid?
On the train journey back to Mersin there were no such security guards in evidence.
I am very happy to say that Adriana, my friend in Madrid, and her husband and friends are all safe and well. Condolences to all people who did lose relatives or friends.
Saturday, 13 March 2004
My last last camera film took 3 months to complete. Now I have a few photos to show.
Magda the Polish trainee with Zubrowka the Polish vodka, New Years Eve, Cazara
Dog at Roman theatre, Hierapolis (above Pamukkale)
Ali in the Pamukkale springs
The white of Pamukkale reflected in a winter puddle
Moon and ferry in Izmir
Karaoke Maria at her 'last night in Adana', Cazara nightclub: see the passion in her face
Maria's supporting cast
With Ebru and Kubilay at their wedding, Adana
Roadworks on Silifke Caddesi (a main road) as viewed from the corner of my apartment
My balcony.
On the pants to the right of the photo there is a grey patch. That is in fact a grasshopper! This grasshopper hibernated for two or three months in the suit pants. A day or so after the photo was taken the weather warmed up and the grasshopper left. The pants are my brother, Liam's, pants. They are part of a 25,000,000 TL suit he bought in Kadıköy, Istanbul specifically to attend Ela's wedding back in September 2003.
Friday, 12 March 2004
Subtitle: This muesli is ridiculous..........ly good!
Last night I made up a new batch of muesli. This was my 5th or so batch and the concoctions are becoming more and more complex and correspondingly more and more delicious!
The ingredients for my last batch (quantities are approximate):
500 gm rolled oats
A couple of shakes of the cornflakes packet
A handful or two of both sesame seeds and coconut flakes
200 gm sultanas
150 gm currants
125 gm dried apple
125 gm dried pear
200 gm dried fig
200 gm dried apricots
100 gm whole hazelnuts
100 gm pistachios
100 gm peanuts
50 gm whole almonds
100 gm walnuts
To serve: add milk or yoghurt and top with chopped fresh banana.
Unlike KFC, I don't keep my recipes secret!
Monday, 8 March 2004
Yesterday, lemmings from both the
CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, Republican People's Party, incumbent mayor's party) and
MHP (Milliyet Halk Partisi, National People's Party, the nationalists) were busy placing banners and flags on my side street. I don't know why they were only putting them only on my street. Each partys' flags are similar, both being red and white in colour. MHP's
flag consists of 3 crescents whilst the CHP's
flag looks like a sun ray pattern.
Sunday, 7 March 2004
The electricity is back on and I have not moved home. The matter still has not being resolved though: I have an appearance at a preliminary court before everything is settled :-)
Apparently the neutral wire of my power meter at the apartment block ground level was not connected. Or something like that. This allowed my meter to not record the total amount of energy used. I found this extremely hard to believe as I, a bachelor in a small (tiny for Mersin) apartment, have electricity bills as large or larger than many of the other tenants. After speaking with my apartment owner he explained that my hot water heater consumes a lot of energy. Many other apartments have solar water heaters (or don't have showers :-). I reluctantly agreed to pay most of the money with the owner and Ahmet paying the rest. The amount to be paid (372,750,000 TL) was not calculated scientifically and was based on complete guesses. On Thursday Serkan went to TESDAŞ's headquarters with the millions and when I returned to my infamous apartment Thursday night the electricity was back on.
On Friday Ahmet accompanied me to the Soğuksu police station just down the road where we signed a statutory declaration saying I did not know anything about the faulty meter. Ahmet signed as the tercüman (translator). There were several other people with the same issue. In the afternoon we drove to the court building near the train station and waited outside a preliminary court. After a while doing nothing we were told to go and come back when called, probably in a month. ı will write about it when it happens.
I must thank Ahmet and Serkan for their help during this drama. Except for the wasted time and money I have enjoyed the adventure. I am also happy the government is cracking down on the massive electricity fraud committed in Turkey. I believe Turkey's expensive electricity prices are due to the amount of fraud that goes on.
I am only unhappy that I drew the short straw.
Thursday, 4 March 2004
In a few days I may be moving house - I found out about this today. The explanation follows.
Last night, after dinner (a wonderful chicken salad at Mavi Sanat) and billiards with Kerem I came home to an electric-free house. Nothing unusual about power failures in Turkey, except this time, the stairway lights worked!
This morning my apartment still did not have power. When I went home for lunch, the freezer was almost defrosted (bonus!).
To shortern the story, TEDAŞ, the Turkish Government electricity provider had cut my flat's electricity because a debt of 372,750,000 TL was owed. This was the first time I had heard of this debt. I had no warning.
From my understanding, there are two possible explanations for this debt:
a) The debt was incurred during a previous renter's time and TEDAŞ is only chasing it now; or
b) Other people have siphoned electricity from my line before it reached my meter
Either way, it should be TEDAŞ's responsibility and not mine or the owner's. I am not paying for the debt and my boss is not paying for it. My boss has contacted the apartment owner. If he does not pay for it I will move out. Kerem is kind enough to let me stay at his place for the short term should the owner not pay the amount owed.
Electric siphoning or meter-rigging is common in Turkey and I'm sure this is a major reason why electricity is so expensive. As TEDAŞ is a monopoly there is fat chance they will get their act together and regulate electricity properly.
The electricity will be reconnected once the 372,750,000 TL is paid.
In the meantime, I will enjoy some romantic candle-lit nights...
Tuesday, 2 March 2004
Arab Big Brother show suspended
Read the article about the suspension of the Arab version of 'Big Brother'. Even with modifications including prayer rooms, a separate women's room and barring men and women from each other's sleeping quarters (first time ever for Big Brother) it was still too controversial.
"Our religion has strong values which say boys and girls should not mix together," said Ms Rabi'i.
"This programme is a threat to Islam. This is entertainment for animals."
Almost overnight I have removed my thermal underwear, stopped wearing socks in bed and not worn my jacket and scarf to work.
Why?
The past two days have contained exceedingly good weather - sunny and in the low 20's C. I hope winter is finished but Sevil, one of my superiors at work, assures me there will be another wave of cold weather before the spring truly starts.
Prime Minister
Yesterday afternoon Zeynep was kind enough pick up Fabs and Isa from Cetinkaya (after some confusion) and myself from Magda's place. As eluded to previously, we were going to the movies at
CinemaxX, M1. On the way we were delayed at traffic lights for 10 minutes waiting for the
Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan's police flanked procession. On Sunday Erdogan was in Mersin and Adana at rallies promoting his
Ak Parti's local election campaign.
I have never before seen cars in Turkey stay still when the traffic lights were green!
People were not waiting out of respect for the Prime Minister either - several drivers tooted their horns impatiently.
Mona Lisa Smile
The movie we saw was
Mona Lisa Smile, starring
Julia Roberts as a teacher at a stuffy woman's college, Wellesley during the early 1950's. She came to the college with many ideas too radical for the traditional college that raised its students to be fine wives and mothers.
I enjoyed the movie and can recommend it. The huge screen (much larger than the cinema in Mersin) was an added bonus.
Issues Raised by the Movie
The film raised many issues with me, including:
-The role of women, men and marriage in society.
-The hypocrisy of the film setting (and earlier times in general) when everybody was publicly perfect with their lives and relationships, although privately misbehaving and cheating like people always have done and will do. The honour of the family was more important than acknowledging problems and doing something to solve them.
-The complexity of modern life with its lifestyle choices.
Local Parallels
Although, rich, upper class, 1950's America and poor, current day Turkey seem as far apart as possible, I found interesting parallels, particularly with more conservative Turkey. In both these settings, tradition is very important and new thinking and ideas are not encouraged. Women face great pressure to marry the correct man and have his children.
Osca...
Coincidentally, this morning I found out an allegedly important awards ceremony sharing the same name as
Oscar the Grouch had just occured. Next subject...
After the movies, Zeynep, Fabs and Isa left while I waited for my work mates to exit their movie
Neredesin Firuze?, a Turkish movie. I sat at a table opposite the entrance to cinema 4 (Mona Lisa Smile was in 3). Out came Ahmet, Sevil, Nil, Nur, Asli, Sebi, Buket, Serkan and Iklim. For dinner we ate Iskender Kebap at
'Kukla Kebap', part of the M1 shopping centre food court.
Lost Telephone
After dinner I realised I had lost my telephone. After searching various places and asking different staff I had given up hope of finding it. Whoever had the phone turned it off and that was one of my main concerns. I thought the only motive for turning a found phone off was theft. However, as a last gasp idea, Serkan and I walked back to the very end of the cinema near screen 3 (where I had been sitting) and asked the woman at the food and drink counter.
BINGO! :-)
Someone had passed the phone in! To assure her it was mine, she asked for the pincode when she turned the phone on. The pincode worked and I had my phone back!!!!
Noodles
Whilst I was looking for my phone, Sevil and Nur were shopping in the massive Tepe hypermarket. Included in their purchases was a 350 gm packet of Chinese egg noodles - this was good news for Ahmet and I, exotic food lovers. We went back and he bought 8 packets and I, 4. At 1,495,000 TL they were quite cheap, too. Imported foods in Turkey tend to be either unavailable or very expensive. Import duties and low volumes caused by unadventuress local eating habits are to blame. Now for the stir frys and other Asian noodle dishes!
Overall, it was a memorable day!
