Saturday, 29 May 2004
Tonight I'm off to Ankara again.
Last time it was to apply for my Iranian visa, this time to pick the visa up.
"Mersin VIF", the bus company I took last time raised their price from 20 to 25 million. The second company I visited also charged 25 million. At "Luks Mersin", the 3rd company I visited, their tickets to Ankara were only 20 million, the same I paid last time. The bus companies normally raise their prices each summer as there is greater demand, particularly from students and workers on holiday.
This afternoon my neighbour telephoned and asked me to come from work to his place. I believe he was trying to match-make me with a female friend of his. I am already hooked so I will kindly pass this offer up. In Turkey it is common for friends and relatives to introduce men and women to each other.
Last Sunday Orhan and I guided Bakr, the Moroccan trainee, around Silifke and Kizkalesi. In Silifke we could not find a lahmacun restaurant Orhan, Liam (brother) and I ate at last year. We settled instead for kebab.
On the way back I bought scrumptious strawberries from the side of the road. Silifke is known for producing the best strawberries around Mersin.
For your viewing pleasure,following are 3 photos from the weekend (thank you Bakr).
On the way down in the work car.
With the offshore castle in the background, Kizkalesi.
The beach in front of the onshore castle, Korykos. In ancient times there was a causeway connecting Korykos and Kizkalesi.
Thursday, 27 May 2004
Yesterday I visited the weekly outdoor bazaar (pazar in Turkish) a couple of streets from home. The bazaar (like weekly bazaars all over Turkey) largely consists of fruit and vegetable sellers with the odd clothing, spice or accessory vendor.
Over the past month, with the changing of the seasons from spring to summer (the weather is still spring weather :-) the bazaar offerings have changed substantially, largely for the better.
*Cherries have arrived. Yesterday I bought my first for the season. They are delicious but not yet perfect.
*The first apricots, peaches, ripe plums (not the unripe green ones so popular here), melons and mulberries have also entered the market. I haven't bought any of these fruits yet as I am waiting for the quality to improve.
*The new season's onion and potatoes are in. The onions are very sweet.
*1 week ago I witnessed and bought my first ever 'capsicums' as grown in Australia!!!
The usual capsicums (red peppers) in Turkey are not as sweet or juicy as the Australian ones. There weren't any 'Australian' capsicums there yesterday.
*The other capsicums as well as the chillies and tomatoes have come into season and their taste is better than those bought into the winter.
*Fresh chickpeas sold on the bush were for sale. I had never seen or tasted them before. Their flavour is kind of nutty but nice. I guess they will soon leave the bazaar as the chickpea crop matures.
*The strawberries have peaked. I went to Silifke on the weekend and bought some from the side of the road - fantastic!
This is only my second Turkish month of May. I have little previous experience of the joy of the Turkish spring fruit and vegetables. In contrast, the upcoming summer is my fourth in Turkey!
Wednesday, 26 May 2004
MixFM, 91.6 fm, is the local dj-free automated foreign music radio station. My company sometimes advertises on Mix so this is the station we listen to at work whenever the radio is on. A few days ago they played "
Treaty" by
Yothu Yindi. Today, the Aussie music went into overdrive:
-
Tina Arena "
Show Me Heaven"
-
Kylie Minogue and
Jason Donovan "
Especially for You"
-
Men At Work "
Down Under"
By the way, Australia
lost 1:0 to Turkey in second and last soccer game of the series in Melbourne. I still couldn't find the flag so it was lucky Australia didn't win. I would have regretted them winning and me not having the flag to taunt the locals :-)
UPDATE [26/05/2004]: Today on Mix was another Aussie tune: "
I Touch Myself" by The Divinyls.
Saturday, 22 May 2004
An email account at work received the following scam letter. It is typical of many scam letters claiming to come from Africa and asking help in moving a substantial sum of money. I only posted this letter here because of the writer's names. Follow the directions in the above post title ('Add a H to the first and an N and E to the last') and what do you get?
----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2004 12:52 PM
Subject: Very Urgent
> FROM: SITHOLE BALOY.
> TEL: 27-835-184-080.
>
> ATTN: DIRECTOR/C E O,
>
>
>
> I know you will be surprised to read from me, but please consider this as a request from a family in
> dire need of assistance.First, I must introduce myself. I am MR. SITHOLE BALOY from Angola. I am
> the first and only son of BRIGADIER BALOY JONES. I am presently resident in South Africa.
> I got your contact address from a business directory in Johannesburg Chamber of commerce and Industry. On behalf of my widowed mother MRS. ELIZABETH BALOY, I desided to solicit for your assistance to transfer the sum of US$21.5 MILLION( TWENTY ONE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS)inherited from my late father, into your personal company's
> account.Before my fathers' death, he was a Brigadier in charge of Arms and Ammunation procurement for the Angola Army. In his WILL, he specifically drew my attention to the said sum of money which he deposited in a safe box of a private Security Company in Johannesburg- South Africa in a treasure box, fully documented in my name.
> IN FACT MY FATHER SAID AND I QUOTE MY BELOVED SON, I WISH TO DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO
> US$21.5 MILLION . I DEPOSITED THE BOX CONTAINING THIS MONEY IN A SECURITY COMPANY IN JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA. DURING THE WAR, I WAS VERY DEDICATED AND OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONARIES WERE BUSSY HELPING THEMSELVES WITH GOVERNMENT FUNDS AND
> PROPERTIES AND SENDING THEM TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES. DUE TO THIS, WHEN I AND MY FORMER SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT WERE ASSIGNED BY THE PRESIDENT (EDUARDO SANTOS) TO PURCHASE ARMS IN SOUTH AFRICA, WE SAW THIS AS A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY AND DIVERTED THE MONEY AND DIVIDED IT. i GOT A TOTAL SUM OF US$21.5 MILLION. IN CASE OF MY ABSENCE ON EARTH, AS A RESULT OF DEATH ONLY, YOU SHOULD SOLICIT FOR THE FUND FOR INVESTMENT
> PURPOSES.
> From the above, you will understand that the lives and future of my family depens on this money, as such I will be grateful if you can assist us. We are now living in South Africa as political Asylum seekers > and financial laws and regulation of the Republic of South Africa do not permit us financial rights to such
> huge sum of money. In view of this, I cannot invest this fund in South africa, hence i am prepared to offer you 20% of the total fund, while 10% will be set aside for local and international expenses and 70% will be for my family and me. Finally, modalities on howthe transfer will be bone will be conveyed to you once we have established trus and confidence between ourselves. Please treat this matter as very urgent.
> Best regards,
>
> SITHOLE BALOY.
>
Iran threatens Australia with sanctions
According to the ABC, Iran may place diplomatic and trade sanctions on Australia.
That would really be fantastic if Australians receive the same restrictive visa regulations as Americans for visiting Iran (sarcasm intended). US citizens are required to book tours before they receive tourist visas.
My neighbour Hanifi amca was kind enough to let me scan and publish some photos of himself from many years ago. Although retired now, Hanifi previously worked for the Turkish Railway, the
TCDD. Several of the photos are of him with his fellow TCDD workers. I hope you enjoy a small glimpse of Turkey from long ago (well, before I was born).
NOTE: 'amca' in Turkish means 'Father's brother' and is a term of respect for older men. In English the equivalent is 'Uncle' although 'amca' is used between unrelated people in Turkish far more than 'uncle' is in English. The female equivalent is 'teyze' which means 'Mother's sister' or Auntie.
Family
Hanifi as a young boy (front-right of photo) with his family more than 55 years ago.
Military Service
Hanifi (to the right) during his military service.
Mother Mary's House
With another TCDD employee at
Mother Mary's House, Selcuk.
Ephesus Group of 4
Ephesus Large Group
Two photos at
Ephesus
Selcuk Single
Selcuk Group
Two photos in the town of
Selcuk.
Pamukkale Single
Pamukkale Group of 6
Pamukkale Group of 3
Pamukkale Group of 12
Four photos in
Pamukkale. I'm sure Pamukkale was whiter and more pristine in those days than today.
Bay
Hanifi in front of a bay in south western Turkey. I believe it may be one of the Greek Islands in the background. And, yeah, Hanifi does not have as much hair now as in the photo!
Friday, 21 May 2004
At 7:30 pm AEST Friday night (12:30 pm Turkish time) in
Sydney,
Turkey will play Australia in a soccer international for the first time in many years (did the soldiers play in Gallipoli?). The second and final game will be played in Melbourne on Monday. Although I am not passionate about the contests I am interested for 2 main reasons:
a) The series will probably be the first thing the locals talk to me about for the next 3 months.
b) If Australia wins I can stir the locals :-)
I hope to display proudly the Australian flag I gave to my boss (if I can find it). I may even gather enough courage to drive a car around the city tooting the horn with the flag fluttering as the locals do whenever their team wins. I wonder how the Turkish would react?
UPDATE:
Turkey won 3:1 and were by far the better team. The result was not that important to me anyway as I couldn't find the Australian flag to show off. If Australia had won and I couldn't find the flag I would probably be more disappointed :-)
The decider is at the same time on Monday in Melbourne.
Many thanks to
Madzik, Cath Gizem, Kaan, M. Brummet, Tami, Bakr Ben Ayad, Noriko and
Shazza for making the latest posts on my GuestMap!
The map of the world is starting to look better, however, there are still many, many blank spaces. If anyone else would like place their icon on the world, please click the button to the right of page displaying, at various times, '
View My Guestmap', '
Place Your Pin' and '
CLICK HERE'. Note, you can zoom in on the map to make your placement more accurate.
Thursday, 20 May 2004
10 minutes ago there was a brief firework display commemorating the day. One of the fireworks was loud enough to start a car alarm opposite work.
The university in Samsun is actually named '
Ondokuz Mayis Universitesi'. In English this is 'Nineteen May University'. The university is named after the same event today's holiday celebrates. Here is a description of the
city of Samsun and its university. Click on the arrow for the next page.
Wednesday, 19 May 2004
Today is a public holiday in Turkey. Well at least for schools, government businesses, banks and the odd commercial business. This holiday commemorates Ataturk's arrival at Samsun on 19 May 1919 at the beginning of Turkey's War of Independence.
Like all public holidays (except for the two main religious holidays) many Turkish houses and businesses display the Turkish flag out the front. In the past 3 years I am sure I've seen more Turkish flags than any other flags in my whole life.
Monday, 17 May 2004
I am on the way home from a beautiful, relaxing walk along the coast, around the yacht harbour, to the port and back. The twilight evening light created sureal images across the bay. There were shades of red, purple and blue. The yacht and fishing boat reflections were similar to those on the current photo of the moment (top right of screen). The view across the bay to the port was breathtaking.
A brief afternoon rain had cooled the temperature from late 20s to early 20s (centigrade). Many families, lovers, groups of friends and individuals were enjoying the coastal tranquility only a short distance from main roads and city centre. For a while the tranquility was disturbed by the honking of car horns celebrating the local soccer team,
Mersin Idmanyurdu's win.
On the return I boarded a boat restaurant for 'balik servis' grilled fish accompanied by lettuce-based salad, bread, a wedge of raw onion and wedge of lemon. As with almost all simple restaurants in Turkey the meal was accompanied by a side dish of pickled chillies.
For most of the afternoon I felt the pain of a headache and moped around at home. The evening was so much better!
Saturday, 15 May 2004
As referenced in a
previous post, here is what the new 3 star Fenerbahce looks like:
In case you don't understand, the above image states: "Champion Fenerbahce"
Tonight is the night of nights for inter-European pop-culture. Yes, the contest that launched
Abba 30 years ago,
Eurovision, will launch a new act to superstardom or, more likely, 15 minutes of fame. For the first time Eurovision is to be held in Turkey. The venue is
Abdi Ipekci Stadium on the European (doh!) side of Istanbul. Eurovision 2003 was huge in Turkey as
Sertab Erener became the country's
first ever winner for the song "Everyway that I can". This year's Turkish participant is the country's most popular 'punk' group,
Athena.
According to
BBC World Service radio this morning,
TRT, the official broadcaster and Turkey's national television company, was having some technical difficulties with the production. Let's hope, for the sake of tackiness and bad pop songs, the broadcast will be clear and crisp. Actually, I'm not really concerned how it turns out. I'm not even sure if I'll watch it.
Who do I think will win?
The singer/group with the highest number of votes. :-)
Friday, 14 May 2004
...visit Alicia's blog at
NonsensicAlicia and click on the links on the right hand side. Hurry up as the links may not be there for long.
If anyone else wants to give me password access to their blog I am happy to modify theirs as well :-)
Wednesday, 12 May 2004
Today a
ro-ro ship sank whilst sailing from Mersin to Northern Cyprus. Unfortunately, at the time of the report, 3 crew are still missing.
Turkey is the only country that recognises Northern Cyprus and all the trade goes vis Turkey. Due to its proximity, Mersin is one of, if not, the main port for trade to and from Cyprus. With the lack of development in Northen Cyprus, there is a large trading deficit between it and the mainland. Many of the ships returning to Turkey are almost empty. With that trade differential, the freight cost from the island to the mainland is far cheaper than to the island. All of this may change in the future with the
EU-Cyprus machinations.
FOOTNOTE: The search was
called off. Unfortunately 2 crew members are still missing, presumed drowned.
Recently I have remembered the old days of computing. In the 1980's and early 1990's during my primary and early secondary school years I recall using the early IBM,
Amiga, and
Atari computers, playing snake (I still play snake on the phone) and writing simple programs using BASIC. Well, today I searched google for BASIC and it turns out on 1 May the BASIC computing language celebrated its
40th anniversary!
Does anyone else remember BASIC?
Tuesday, 11 May 2004
The biggest news story in Turkey on the weekend was
Fenerbahce winning the Turkish soccer league when they
defeated Denizlispor 4-0 in Denizli on Sunday. Afterwards, in towns and cities across Turkey (including Mersin), the Fenerbahce supporters drove around in their cars waving flags and tooting their horns. The largest crowd was on Bagdat Caddesi (Baghdad Avenue), Istanbul, in Fenerbahce's heartland.
This championship is more special than the average one because it is Fenerbahce's 15th meaning they have a 3rd star. Every 5th championship allows a team to display a 5-pointed star above their logo. Now Fenerbahce join Galatasaray with 3 stars. Besiktas have 2 and Trabzonspor 1 star.
Last weekend in Ankara Emre particularly did not want Fenerbahce to win this year as Fener would then joining his team (Galatasaray) with the same number of championship stars.
Saturday, 8 May 2004
2 random links and a blog concerning habits of the adult kind
Whilst searching the Internet with Google for Mersin links I came across a website detailing Mersin's legal brothel.
I knew prostitution was legal at government-controlled brothels in Turkey and I knew Mersin had a brothel. However, I didn't have a clue (nor care) about its location or details or why the women work there. Apparently the women who work there are there because they defaulted on paying debts and chose prostitution instead of prison. The first sentence in the article goes:
"Mersin:
Place is deader that most graveyards in the world."
The article is interesting reading but not recommended for workplaces or other serious locations as the words are sharp and the website address is not appropriate to have in the 'history' directory of your browser. The article is
at this location.
Next is another prostitution in Turkey article. This one is about the number of Russian prostitutes in Turkey and the economic contribution they make to the Russian economy.
"Three billion US dollars - this is the summary profit of Russian prostitutes in Turkey per year."
Read about it here:
Will Prostitutes Save Russia?
On the left column of my
blog provider's homepage they have a list of notable blogs the employees at Blogger find. In April one of the blogs chosen was
Life at TJ's Place. This is a very well-written blog about running a strip club. The introduction states:
"TJ's is a gentlemen's club in the Midwestern United States. I'm Kevin, the assistant manager. This is for all of you who think managing a strip joint would be the world's greatest job."
Happy reading!
This week brother Liam is celebrating his 23rd birthday. I am sorry I cannot make it. The train line does not extend from Mersin to Adelaide (yet). Hey, if they can build a railway from
Darwin to Adelaide surely the Mersin-Adelaide line is just around the corner (figuratively speaking).
And may all the Mothers, particularly the best Mother in the world (mine) have a wonderful Mother's Day on Sunday. May their wishes come true and may they be treated with the care and love they deserve all year round not just for Mother’s Day.
Wednesday, 5 May 2004
Last night I returned from Ankara and here are some random tidbits of the trip:
- Was wonderful to see Emre and Betul again. Also brilliant to meet Beyza, Ozgur, Deniz and Reyhimi (spelling?) for the first time.
-
Middle East Technical University has an expansive and wonderful campus.
- I made a new personal record for the '
Snake II' game on my
Nokia phone: 1597.
- Drinking fresh, pasteurised milk from a carton again was a pleasure. In Mersin the only milk sold in the supermarkets is long life, although fresh, un-pasteurised milk is available in some specialist shops and by people selling it from the street.
- The Iranian visa is applied for! The same double-sided form completed twice, 2 photos and a photocopy of my passport is all it took. I was told to call the embassy 10-12 days after applying. If the government official in Tehran is happy the day he receives my application he should approve it. Then I will have to fork out USD$50 to the embassy and pick the visa up. One of the officials was kind enough to lend me a book on Iran.
- I asked the
Australian Embassy officials many questions when having a signature witnessed by a diplomat. It was good to have the close access to them although they didn't give me many brilliantly enlightening answers.
- The Turkish military owns a huge amount of prime real estate in Ankara.
- Some 'exotic' foods like coconut juice, rice noodles and sweet chilli sauce were in the local supermarket near where I was staying. They were at exotic prices, too. The Thai sweet chilli sauce was on sale for over 8,000,000 TL. The exact same bottle used to cost less than AUD$1 (1,000,000 TL) in Australia.
- On Sunday the central city streets were teaming with life in the spring sunshine.
Saturday, 1 May 2004
a)
10 new countries will join the EU
b) I'm off on the bus to
Ankara tonight to see some friends
Have a great weekend whatever you do!
