In Istanbul

So, we are in Istanbul, doing a last tour and saying goodbye to Seyfi's sister.

If you've never been to Istanbul, you would never believe it. It's so big and crowded, yet there are little nooks, like the one in this picture, where it feels like time stands still.

This picture is my favourite place to visit in Istanbul, probably because I have wonderful memories of sitting and eating here with varies groups of friends and family talking history, literature, politics and life, but mote likely because it is never full of tourists.

There are lots of tourist places to see in Istanbul, and you can't visit the city without seeing them. However, after you've been in this country for as ling as I have, you get very tired of being treated as a tourist (it's not all that bad), and want to fit in with the locals.

Istanbul is a city of contrast, this morning we were driving and saw a man stop his car, get out and go the car behind him and punch the guy through the window, but then as our toll bridge pass card ran out, and we were blocked in, an man gave us his card, and showed us how to get where we were going. I love this about Istanbul.

I know that I would never want to live here, too big, too crowded, to noisy, but I love visiting.

Tomorrow we are doing a Bosphorus boat tour! I'm looking forward to doing that again!

Post From My iPhone

Back on the bus

So, last week Seyfi was out of town, and I had the car all to myself. I didn't have to share it, I could use it whenever I wanted, most importantly, I drove it to work and was able to leave early or go to Starbucks on my way to work and not have to worry about sharing the car.

But this week, this has not been the case. Seyfi is very busy with the last minute aspects of leaving the country, so he needs the car to get to all of the different places. Guess where this leaves me...

On the bus. Now, I am no longer going to the garage and getting into my car and off to work I go, nooooo, I'm leaving early racing to the highway to flag down the bus as it goes buzzing past me to get onto a hot bus to get to work. It is not fun.

(I will add at this point something that I love about Turkey is that most business offer a free service bus to their employees, my workplace included.)

The problem really is that tomorrow, being the last day of work, I need to clear out all of my things. Guess how I am bringing them home... the bus.

Well, that's not true, my great friend Alice has told me that I can put all my things in her car, and she will make sure they get to me.

I really can't wait until we get to Belgium and Seyfi gets his own car and I can have this car all to myself again.

How did I ever survive before I got my license?

The Village- Kayakent

When you are leaving somewhere, there are many things that need to be done, but I think that the worse thing is saying goodbye to people. This past weekend we said a lot of goodbyes to Seyfi's family.

We decided to drive to Seyfi's parent's village to say goodbye to Seyfi's aunts, uncles and cousins.

Seyfi's village, is a wonderful example of a traditional Anatolian village. There are covered women in their gardens looking after the gardens, men tending to their sheep as they lead them to and from the fields and children running around playing with each other regardless of their ages.

I love going to the village, it is so quiet there, you can hear the birds chirping, and the sheep bahhing. It never feels too hot there, and the food is always very delicious. I saw the biggest snail just crawling along.

This was the first time that Alara has been there, and she loved it, She could run around and play with the other children, and made friends, she picked cherries right off the tree and ate them, she ate watermelon and got all dirty. What more could a kid want?

Something I love about Turkey- Turkish Coffee

Hot, frothy and bitter, there is nothing like a Turkish coffee. Served in a little cup, with its grounds at the bottom, Turkish coffee is an after lunch tradition found all over this country.

Turkish coffee is not the easiest thing to make, there is a skill required to making it, because it needs to have the froth on the top. It can be very tedious, and often boils over and makes a big mess all over your stove top.

In our house, Turkish coffee had been something that we rarely drank, none of us could make it that well. However, this week we bought this wonderful (but expensive) machine that you put all the ingredients into (water, super finely ground coffee and sugar) into and it does the rest. No boiling over, perfect froth every time.

Today, when I got home from work, Seyfi's dad had already made himself two cups of coffee, and then he made me a cup (this is a very special occasion considering that he is a fairly traditional Turkish man). I think he loves the machine...

Something I love about Turkey- Kumpir

There is nothing better than a baked potato with the works! and in Turkey, when you ask for the works, you get the WORKS!

A kumpir is a big baked potato that has been mixed with cheese and butter and then topped with a variety of different things. The standard kumpir has got corn, olives, pickles, potato salad ketchup and mayonaise on it.

But who wants the standard? You can do mexican kumpir (with kidney beans, jalopeno peppers, corn, salsa), vegetarian (with assorted veggies), meat (with different salamis and meats) or any combination that you can think up.

I love kumpirs. They are cheap and so yummy. You can get them everywhere in Ankara, they are one kind of Turkish 'fast food.'

When my mom comes to Turkey, she always wants to go and have a kumpir at least once during her visit, she thinks that they are different then a normal baked potato. A kumpir is a meal, and baked potato is a side.

By they way, this isn't my picture, I got it here.

Something I love about Turkey- Cherries

I've written about the pazar in Turkey, and how I love the fresh, seasonal produce that is available here, but cherries need to have their own post. They are a very special part of living here, and there are a couple of reasons for that.

Firstly, you can definitely only get them in season, and that season is now. Cherries are not like strawberries here, in the winter you can get some big, bright red tasteless strawberries for about a month. Cherries on the other hand only come at the end of May and last for about a month.

There is a variety of cherries to pic from, big, dark cherries, bright red sour cherries, middle sized inexpensive cherries, yellow cherries, the list continues. They'll be sure to meet whatever your cherry need may be.

I had never seen a cherry tree before in my life (I'm from northern Ontario), but here, you can find cherry trees every where. The other day, we were walking home from the market, stopped to adjust our bags and looked up to a tree full of cherries. Have you ever eaten a cherry fresh of the tree, so juicy and warm? It is a wonderful experience.

My father in law has a few cherry trees up at his garden. The cherries in the picture are from his trees. I'll miss that tree, and its free cherries.

Something I love about Turkey- Linden Tea

I'm ill today. I have got a cold. I'm pretty sure I got it from Alara, who probably got it from some kid at the park. She's better now, but I'm suffering.

I woke up this morning with a nose running like it was it's job and a really sore throat. I drank a cup of tea and ate my breakfast, and the sore throat only got worse. When I got to work I ordered a Linden Tea from the tea guy, and as soon as I drank it, the sore throat was gone. What is this magically brew?

I had never heard of it before I got here, and now I swear by it, I've even got my dad hooked. (He had found a place in Canada that sold it, but they don't carry it anymore, so I bring it to hime whenever I visit.) In the winter I drink it every day, and rarely get sick. In the past, because I talk so much at work I use to have awful sore throats all winter, but for the past three years, since starting this daily routine, I just don't have a problem in the winter anymore. (Thank goodness!)

At my work, they make the best Linden tea- usually it has a rather bitter taste, but they add cinnamon sticks and quince tree leaves when they are brewing it (well, that's what they tell me) and serve it with a lemon. It really is the best.

I wonder if I will be able to find it in Belgium?

By the way, I study French for forty five minutes today. What do they say it takes three days to make something a routine? or is that only for babies?

Something I love about Turkey- the Pazar

Pazars in Turkey are not like a farmers market, there are men everywhere selling fruit, vegetables, household goods and clothes, rarely though are they from these men's farms. Everything is fresh and priced to sell. It is a place where you can see all the different types of people in Turkey, modern, conservative, old, young, rich and poor. It is a noisy, crowded event, and I love it.

In my neighbourhood, the pazar comes twice a week, Thursday and Sunday. I love the the Thursday pazar because not only has it got all your fruit and veg, but it also has lots of different clothes to sell. It is the best place to get inexpensive 'brand name' clothes for kids and wearing around the house. Unfortunately, I work on Thursdays and find it quite difficult to get down to the pazar, leaving me to go on Sunday, and not get any clothes.



Don't get me wrong the Sunday pazar is very good, there is more variety of produce, I have a cheese woman, a bread and egg guy and a nut guy. There is also a man there who I buy Alara's hair clips from too.



The great thing about going to the pazar every week is having my 'pazar guys.' I have a new fruit guy and a greens guy (thank you Julia) and a garlic guy now too. These men are more then helpful when it comes to getting the best produce at the best price.



I'm going to miss the pazar, I realize there will be markets in Belgium, but it won't be the same. I speak the language here, I can chat with not only the sellers, but the little old ladies to learn what things are and how to serve them; being foreign there won't be so strange, and maybe they won't think I'm cute; My mother in law won't be there to join me in picking out the smallest eggplants and peppers and laughing every time someone asks her how she found a foreign daughter in law. There are so many things I'm going to miss, and the pazar is just one of them.

My Dad is Proud of Me

My life has some great men in it, my husband, my dad, my brother, my grandfather. Here's a picture of my dad with Alara. He likes counting how many pictures of him are on the internet.

My dad is very proud of me. I got my drivers license this year. I know, everybody has a driver's license, but I didn't, and I am thirty one years old.

Now, I know for any of you living in Canada or the States, it still might not seem like a big deal, but I didn't get my driver's license in those countries. I did mine here, in Turkey, and I did the whole thing in Turkish.

I've been in Turkey for eight years, and this was the first time that I finally felt completely comfortable and confident in my Turkish abilities. I went through the whole process the pre-course eye exam, the course, the written exam (made up of three parts, road rules, motor, and first aid), and the drivers exam and past on my first try.

I know that my dad (and to be honest husband and family) are very proud of me for doing all of this, but the reason my dad is so proud of me is because of the motor part of the exam. I did really well here, and I was able to talk about something that he knows lots about. Apparently he tells people a funny story about me calling the battery an 'accumulator'. You see, this was a new vocabulary area for me in both English and Turkish, and having never learned the words in English, I only really know the Turkish words- and apparently accumulator is a Turkish word.

My dad told me today that he is still telling this story, in fact he told it to some guy yesterday. Random people are learning Turkish! They know what an accumulator is!

I'm so happy to have done this exam, and to have been successful, it wouldn't have happened though if it hadn't been for the support of my husband (he's the one who taught me what an accumulator was in the first place, and more importantly how it works), my dad (all those long phone calls talking about what I had learned at driving school), and the rest of my family. Thanks guys!