What you wear...

This is piece I did entitle Thin Line. It is paint on fabrics with embroidery. We all have our own ideas about what is right and what is wrong. What dictates those ideas? Family? Freedom of Thought? culture? religon? internal and external factors? If anyone has been paying attention to Turkey women wearing head scarves into the university is a HUGE issue right now. I didn't really know how to tackle writing about it....still not so sure. It is multi-layerd issue I am only beginning to understand. Who can tell you what to wear? Should someone else dicatate what you choose? The headscarf seems to be a symbol of Islam and that is the debate...division of religion and government...but this other article pissed me off! These men sprayed an acid on these little girls legs because they thought their skirts were to short and they even had stockings on...here is the article from Turkish Daily News...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

T

First day????

This is the backyard of my host university. Deniz cok guzel! The cement retaining wall that runs parallel to the sea. The sun is shining melting the snow storm away! I can go out to the boardwalk on my breaks, drink tea and watch the boats pass. I love the view of old and new, 2,000 yr. old minarets surrounded by brightly colored apartment buldings. This city is packed! Today is my first day out and around by myself with out my helpful knight in shining armor. So much easier the second time around.















An interesting thing about Turkish schools from grade school up until university is this cafeteria lunch served on the metal trays. For some reason I really like the metal trays, the sound, the cold and reusable? The meal is between 1 and 1.50 liras per day. Yes it's not gourmet but when you are a broke student it is hot and quite balanced. It usually consists of some starch, (rice or noodles), some sort of stew with a flavoring of meat, maybe a soup, and a dessert item(fruit or Turkish honey soaked sweets), a water and of course bread! The accompanied silverware is a fork and a big spoon. I also like the big spoon...no knife normally.














This is one of the many friends that visit our campus. They come and go from the canteen, as you can imagine more visit during lunch hour. There are tons of stray cats and dogs in Turkey. Bob Barker needs to visit and promote, "don't forget to spay and neuter your cats and dogs." No really i need to research this more...

Riding the train...

The train is the way to go. A=it’s cheaper B=it’s shorter and C=You can move around…really take the train as opposed to the bus if you can. Although I must note that they do have a really good system of big travel busses also. They run frequently and go to more locations than the train. But if your start and destination cities have a train...ride the train. The station in Istanbul is on the Asia side, Haydarpasa. It is an amazing, beautiful old building. You then have to take the ferry across to the Europe side and then bus, taxi, etc. to your next destination. Istanbul just received tons and tons of snow the last few days so everything was shut down and I am getting a late start on my week. Now sitting on the train there is a man snoring in front of me, ha-ha. A train garson(server) selling cay(tea) and Eti treats(Eti is the Little Debbie snack giant of Turkey) . Thank goodness I got a spot in the non-smoking car! Outside snow and lots of it cover the trees, the satellite dishes, ceramic tiles, sheep dogs, piles of plastic bags, cammiis(mosques), and these beautiful mountains…take the train.

P.S. America we suck for public transportation!

Keep your feet warm...

...with slippers
Every house I go to you take your shoes off just outside the door(good habit I think). Then I swear no matter how many guests a person has over they seem to find enough slippers for everyone!? Pulling out this size and that color depending. Maybe a little small or big for you but there will be something on your feet! Sometimes I walk in the house just trying to say my hosbulduks correctly(The response after welcome(hosgeldiniz)I think it means thank you for welcoming me) and to get my Turkish kisses correct. Then the host is always running after me with slippers to share. I have socks on! It is a warm welcoming thing but different for me. Turks seem to be scared of the cold(plan to publish later posts about this topic) but always extremely hospitable, almost overly nurturing. The floors are usually tile or beautiful rugs -no plush carpets part of it? At home, I am always running around the house barefoot and my boyfriend runs after me with slippers saying, “baby please!”(meaning put your slippers on before you catch cold!) Endearing really...

Ode to Ekmek...

Ekmek…This is the Turkish word for bread and a huge staple in their diet. I have never experienced a culture adamant about bread. They can’t eat a meal with out it and a lot of it! Last time I was in Turkey my Cali friend and I made chili for international day at our old university. The idea was to share something from your culture, diversity right? Well this Turkish girl came up to our booth and looked in our pot and said “where’s the bread?” “We don’t have any”…”well then we can’t eat it…in our culture we always need bread.” I thought ok whatever…don’t eat it then. Of course after I wanted to yell at her that it was INTERNATIONAL DAY the point was to try something different but I always have those great thoughts-after the fact. The bread though is normally white but I have started noticing more wheat. It is always fresh and bought daily. It is also really cheap like 40 kurus a loaf(.30 cents) maybe that is why it started as such a big part of the culture and progressed to sort of a habit? It comes in various textures but the most widely consumed is a light airy loaf. Don’t get me wrong it is good and fresh! It is for tearing, dipping, smearing, soaking, and just plain eating. A compliment to whatever else you are eating, breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. How is everyone not huge? I guess Americans have become so obsessed with low-carb no-carb is that why it isn’t a part of every meal? Or as Americans became more affluent meat and proteins have been made more affordable? Sister- give me some of that thick, hearty wheat from your bakery. It's not cheap though! What ever the differences above is a wall of Ekmek.

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone feels loved today!
lovers. families. friends. strangers.
Stop and smell the flowers...mmm...freesia

Yeni Koy Kofte(two dots over both o's)

As C and I drove from Eskisehir to Istanbul we stopped in Yeni Koy(new village). This city is supposedly where kofte started, famous for it. There were many restaurants advertising as the best. We stopped at one of the Orhans. Above is an appetizer of big white creamy beans named Piyaz. I love how so many dishes are simply accented with salt, olive oil and fresh lemon.














Before you begin salt everything! Above are a few other starters; again Piyaz, Salat(a mix of cucumbers and tomatoes with olive oil and lemon), and amazing yogurt. Really the yogurt in Turkey is so freaking good. This is tara yogurt, it is thick, creamy and rich. It has this top layer, kinda like a pudding skin, called kaymak and it is also tasty. Oh yes and you must have bread! Turks eat bread with every meal and are always dipping it in the sauces. Soak up the juices.














Then the kofte comes. They are like mini hamburgers. I think they can be made with lamb or beef? When C makes then for me he mixes the meat with bread crumbs, cumin, garlic, onion, parsley and other spices. They are then grilled or fried depending. When meats are grilled they seem to always be accompanied by long thin green peppers and halved tomatoes(both grilled).














I made a mini burger with mine, little ketchup and mustard. Some of the kofte were spicy. Throw some red pepper in the mix. A side note- while we were eating a Muslim bride sat near. I wanted to take a photo of her but thought it might be rude. I always have to stop myself from staring. She had the most elaborate dress and head wrap. They must have been wealthy because she was done up. Again with the delightfully, elaborately, tackiness. All white materials, netting, beads, glitter, fake white flowers etc. No skin showing-long sleeves and turtle neck but really beautiful. It would be so different to always be conscious of showing your hair? Or any skin for that matter. To always have to think twice about what you are doing. It was really hard for me the first time I came to Turkey coming straight from southern California where skin is in! I like skin.














Back to eating...Of course the meal ends with Turkish tea, a cigarette, and some kolonya(this time in hand wipe form which I very much prefer).

Istanbul (Not Constantinople)...

Sing the song...It's Istanbul not Constantinople...that one is for my brother. Tomorrow I am going to Istanbul and start my new school. I am excited to start working again. Istanbul is such a big, dirty, beautiful, crowded, vibrant, intoxicating city where east meets west...Europe meets Asia here I come.

Kolonya

Afiyet Olsen this is the Turkish way to say bon appetit. Enjoy your meal. After every meal you go up to the cashier to pay. Someone is there ready and willing to pour you Kolonya. It is lemon flavored rubbing alcohol that they slather over the hands. I guess it is supposed to clean your hands? Kill the germs? Leave you with a fresh after dinner feeling? Blah...I think it smells like a cleaning products not the sweet perfum that Turks take it for. They even do it when you travel on the bus. The pre-snack ritual I guess because you can't wash your hands. It makes me chuckle. They always look to me strangly when I refuse this after dinner ritual. One more thing...the interesting after dinner breath freshener is a clove. Quite nice.

Delighfully Tacky...

Satins, ribbons, fake flowers, plastic figurines, Gaudy colors...It's great there is even candy inside.


















Glitter, gauze, shiny wrapping papers, mothballs for the sink,


















doilies, kitschy, fake matching flowers, plastic lace borders, gaudy, ornate, beaded, mirrored, polyester, garish, chintzy but delightful.

Reduce? Reuse? Recycle?

Growing up in Minnesota there were four garbages at my house, one normal garbage, one for paper product recycling, another for cans and glass, and another one(implemented recently) for organics-composting. The city comes by once a week or every other week and picks up the trash on certain days. Oh yeah there's also a bag O' plastic bags to take to the grocery store for recycling. This has made me very aware of what products are made of, think. I have carried this with me through life. I was always the psycho roommate yelling to recycle and digging things out of the trash. "Read the bottom it is a number 5 plastic not a number 1 or 2." It seems so simple when you have a few bins in front of you to take 1 extra second to think where to place it. Where it goes after that is another question? My point is that it becomes habit. If the system is there and there is education about it's importance people should conform.














Back to Turkey...The garbage system is this. You fill up a plastic bag from the market(little reusing?) with all your trash. There is no separating. You throw it on the side of the street but only at night. It is rare that there are dumpsters as in the above photo. The city truck comes around every night of the week collecting. The recycling program consists of poor people from the village with their horse and buggies(literally above) sorting through the trash taking what glass and metal they can. Then selling it? Where? Maybe with past generations the Turks consumptions levels were low. Now with all these new malls and packaged foods/products modern Turkey needs to make a change. How? I don't think the environment is high on the list right now. Different battles waging.

A dear friend came to visit me in Istanbul last March. We picked her up from the airport, 5 of us crammed into the car plus her three large luggages. A different friend in the front seat had a big box of crap on his lap. We pull over on the side of the highway and they threw the big box out the window and off we went, our load slightly lighter. My dear friend, who knows me so well, just looks at me and says, "Aren't you going to freak out?" I normally would freak out about littering but didn't(I have also been known to go with the flow). She shocked me by calling me out...yeah why didn't I freak out? This is why I am back for round two of "The Turkey" with a less idyllic viewpoint. When I asked my boyfriend later about littering he would say, "We are Turks." I love them but there is a beautiful country here that is getting dirty!

Pazar-open air market

Once a week the vendors come and line certain streets with their fresh produce. They constantly say "Buyrun, Buyrun". Which basically means can I help you? Many of them offer similar products so it comes down to who has the best price, most beautiful display and loudest voice.














The produce is mainly grown in Turkey with a few exceptions these days(I've seen chiquita stickers).


















The pazar persists even in the winter. You can get a kilo of leeks for 1 lira...most things are priced around 1 lira up to about about 3 lira per kilo. Really inexpensive and fresh. You do have to watch out because you don't pick each item of produce yourself. You say how much you want and the vendor quickly scoops from his well placed pile and tosses it into the scale. The vendors meticulously place their veggies beautiful side up with all blemishes out of site especially for the yobangi(foreigner). But hey I just need to practice my Turkish while watching and learning from the older women on a mission loading their carts














Look at these big beautiful leeks. Turks will throw some salt on the end and eat them raw like a carrot. Actually they seem to throw salt on everything.


















Huge load of celery root. At the end of the day the vendors pack up to head back to their nearby village or maybe they will go to a different city for a next day pazar. After they go the street is littered with trash and vegetable peelings. The city comes by at night to clean up after them.














I love the pazar. Walking up and down the tight street looking at the goods and the people. I am proud that I feel comfortable going by myself...I have learned a few Turkish sayings "jarem kilo lutfen(half kilo please) or iki tane (two pieces). Here in Eskisehir some big news since I had been gone is the new mall. Don't get me wrong I like the selection at the Carrefour but with big shopping centers on the rise I appreciate the pazar even more.

sosis and hellim peynir

Hot dog and cheese sandwich. Why is it so good? Since being in Turkey I have eaten alot of processed meats and liked it? I never used to buy hot dogs or salami and now every week with my boyfriend. I made him this sandwich just now. Sosis and hellim peynir, what is it about someone making something for you that makes it that much better? Is it that you didn't have to go through the work? Is it that you know it was made from love? Is it that the person makes it just a little differently than you would? By the way this cheese is amazing too! You fry it in the pan so it is warm and so salty with this hard, rubbery texture. Made with love...that's the way I was taught.