iyi bayramlar

Delicious sweets for the Seker Bayram(sweet holiday). My mother in law made the beautiful sweet in pan in the photo above. She took these thin flour noodles(it reminds me a bit of shredded wheat cereal) then adds a sugar/water mixture, there is a layer of fresh walnuts in the middle and then it is baked. It is a sweet, wet, spongy dessert. Really good!

Right now is a holiday in Turkey. Many Muslims had been fasting for this last month of Ramadan(my Turkish family and I not included). For the last month followers wake up before the morning azan(call to prayer/sunrise) and quick eat because for the whole day until the last azan(sunset) they are not eating, smoking, drinking(even water) for the whole day. I have been told it is so they can empathize with the poor and show their piety to Allah. They exercise restraint.

Like many originally religious holidays(Christmas ring a bell) this celebration of breaking the fast has become a national holiday for even non-practicing muslims. Children are off from school, most are not working and it is a great time to be with loved ones.

In the morning I was woken up to come downstairs and to bring a little money??? OK why? I was greeted with the family lined up in a row and we all went through kissing Ali,our eldest's hand and then you place the hand on your forehead. Followed by Turkish cheek to cheek kisses. After we all kissed Ali then Baran, the youngest, our nephew and only child in the house went around and did the same to us, kiss the hand to forehead and after Turkish kisses. This is where the money part came in, we slip him a little cash after. I guess back in the day or maybe in more traditional households the bread winners/ elders would have given us all money. I also would have kissed my husband's hand and he would have given me money(we didn't do this one). But it has turned into more of a fun thing for kid's to get a little para(cash). The day for many is followed by traveling around visiting relatives, friends and loved ones. At each house you are offered(and it seems you can't turn down) some sweet, candy, chocolate, baklava etc. hence the name seker bayram(sugar festival). The children kiss more hands and are given more coins. The newspapers are warning against excessive sweet consumption after a month of excessive fasting. But either way it is a nice long holiday to visit loved ones.

moving the toilets...

The photo above is initially where the one toilet was located. It was on the patio in a really awkward spot. So we decided to move it down inside the cafe where the kitchen was (see previous post) and make two toilets, bay/bayan = men/women.














So they tore out the kitchen cabinets, cleared out the space and started constructing walls out of these extruded clay bricks. These and concrete seem to be the bread and butter of Turkish construction.


















So all the buildings are made from these materials. They pour a concrete frames then fill in the areas with these bricks. If they need a smaller brick they just chip it down the fit in the area. They are hallow so are easy to manipulate. When they started the plumbing work they chipped out areas to put in the pipes. They are using a PVC piping- no metal I am sure because it is way cheaper. Also they use these bricks because there is not much wood in Turkey for building. I wonder if there used to be alot of wood and has been depleted after so many civilizations???? The old ottoman houses were made from wood. Caglar really wants a wood floor but wood is really expensive here.


















The walls are almost complete in the back. I know they will be stable and this construction is used all the time but I have also seen them quickly knock down these walls with a sledge hammer and they seem a bit precarious.


















A sewage pipe in the floor. They had the jack hammer out for that one.


















Finished constructing the walls and now started tiling. Notice how a space for the wiring and piping is jack hammered into the concrete and then will be filled with cement.














The stone/cement floor has been torn up on the patio. It will be evened out to make way for the new wood floor. Still a lot of work ahead. The foreman/my husband is on it! We will be going to Izmir at the end of the week to do the fun stuff...search for chairs, tables, accessories etc.

Artist Chris Jordan...

The above is titled Toothpicks, 2008
60x96"

Depicts one hundred million toothpicks, equal to the number of trees cut in the U.S. yearly to make the paper for junk mail.

This guy is making really interesting work. He repeats an objects in beautiful ways, showing how this one object enters a bigger picture.

"I hope to raise some questions about the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming."
-Chris Jordan-

Check out more here...

I love water...

Tequila, Caglar and I have been taking lots of long walks along the coast. Tequila follows us tripping on our heels, sniffing, swimming, tasting things. It is beautiful here. It is pretty remote where his parents house is with lots of air and space. We walk amongst low lying shrubs, olives trees and look at the expanse of blue sea. When the sun is setting the whole environment seems to take on pastel hues, pink, blues, purples, yellows. As we walk along the water though there is always trash, plastic bottles, broken glass, fishing nets, etc. I have been picking some of it up as we walk(even got Caglar into it sometimes). It seems ironic that I want a pair of plastic gloves to pick up all the plastic.

A previous post I talked about the floating plastic garbage dump in the middle of the Pacific. My sister wrote me that she is happy that I am thinking about these issues but what am I going to do about it? I have been thinking about this as well for a while. Especially since I am currently residing in Turkey, and it's different here. I saw recycle bins at the government building the other day but then looked inside and it was treated as a trash can, food etc. in there. Here there is alot of re purposing. Using plastic bags from the grocery store for the garbage bag. Using all the glass jars to hold other home made treats but no city recycling that I have seen. Another of the many reasons I need to learn Turkish better.


















Anyways what I have personally decided to do in my current situations is to always fill my nalgene bottle with water instead of buying plastic containers. For our new cafe I want to buy water pitchers for customers instead of the norm here of putting a liter plastic bottle on the table. I will continue to pick up the beach little by little every time tequila and I take a walk. Also to further investigate the state of Turkish trash removal, recycling, and dumping. Also it is so dry here I wonder where the water comes from? In our little community they re purpose shower/toilet water to water some grassy areas. So his mom tells us to not play in the grass. Also here, everyone in every city I've lived in (3 Istanbul, Eskisehir and didim) People always buy the big culligan water jugs...is the tap water safe to drink?

People are doing things, talking! there is this guy named Dave who decided to save all his trash for one year. It causes him to be extremely aware of how he is living.He write about it on his blog 365 days of trash Here's the kernel for his project...

The idea for this project came about six months ago as I was throwing something away in the garbage. It occurred to me that I was doing nothing more than that. I was making it go away, not dealing with it, not accounting for it, simply removing it from my sight. When you think of it in simple terms like that, it’s really quite insane. I came to the realization that if we were all accountable for our waste, if we couldn’t simply make it disappear, we’d have to deal with some pretty ugly truths about the way we live. And in so doing, it would cause us to start making better decisions about what we buy, where we buy, and what’s left over when we are done with that purchase.

Here's more specifically about plastic water bottles

Cafe...

So we are opening a new cafe in sahte cennet. It is between aykbuk and didim, Turkey on the Aegean sea. The above is a photo of my entrenpurial husband, Caglar and the entrance to the garden. We have alot of work ahead of us but so exciting!Aren't the pillars impressive?(just kidding those are going!)


















This is a view of the canopied middle part of the garden.














It is right on the water! The cafe itself isn't very big or impressive(yet!) but the garden is huge and again there is that blue water, mavi deniz. Also I am in love with that huge pine tree.


















View down the coast...














View from the garden to the cafe. There is a little road that separates the garden and cafe. The cafe is the bottom floor of the apartment building. We will be able to close off the patio area for the winter months.














The current kitchen.


















The current precious garden gnomes/ornaments (sorry those are going too!)


















The ground breaking ceremony...if you will. Actually it wasn't ceremonial but notice how Caglar has a cigarette, flip flops on, no safety gear(eye glasses, long sleeves etc.) well that is exactly how the workmen are working. This is a difference I think between most Americans and Turks.

Anyways exciting! In the above photo they are moving the hatch where the pump truck comes two times per week to take the toilet water-yuck! We are also thinking about moving the toilet and making a second one. This initial part is workmen coming and going. I am excited for the painting/accessories part(as Caglar calls it). We need a name too! Any suggestions?????

The feel we want for the cafe is sea, colors, travel, fishing, sailing, books, plants with good but really simple food since we won't always be here to make it. Turkey doesn't really have thrift shops and no one has garages so those garage sales don't happen here. Also Caglar says Turks hold onto everything forever until it dies, none of the mass consumerism of America(although it is coming!) Anyways I'll update more later...

The art of negotiation

My husband, his mother, and two different cafe bosses are in the process of negotiations...

Initially Caglar went to Aykbuk(little city around here) to run some errands with his friend. He came back to the house ecstatic because he had found the perfect location for our cafe venture. It was big, available, had a garden and on the sea. Sounded perfect! So they negotiated with cafe boss #1 and thought everything was fine until they went to apply for the liquor license...trouble turns out that the previous tenants had skipped out??? or something happened? (please remember this is all going on around me in Turkish- I don't speak Turkish(YET!) and need translation, Except when people talk about food, ha-ha I know most of those words but this is another blog entry)

Anyways so Caglar went to the neighbors and wondered if they would be interested in giving up their lease, with compensation of course. So many cups of tea and several cigarettes later they decided on a price. OK so now we are going to go forward with the little cafe and cafe bosses/couple #2. Then cafe #1 comes back and drops his price 6,000 YTL, oh that got our attention again.

What I have noticed about Turkish business is you always sit down together, and then first discuss where you are from, where your family is from to get a grip on what you think of each other, all while drinking tea and smoking cigarettes.

Birsen, my mother-in-law has a great business sense and always throws out there how she is a former music teacher (she's adorable really). So cafe boss #1 came back with the lower price, promises that the liquor license problems had been worked out, and neighborhood gossip. He said that the cafe bosses/couple #2's brother sold tons of marijuana and is in jail now (not that it's too big a deal for us but OK). Then the cafe couple #2 comes back with the cafe boss #1 got in a bar fight. Someone had gone onto his property and boss #1 hit him with a sledge hammer and killed the guy and is awaiting trial...uh OK??? But neighborhood drama aside boss #1's promises of a liquor license were taking to long so we(actually caglar and his mother) went back to bosses/couple #2 with a final lower offer.

So many trips, talks, government office visits later I think we will be proud owners of a cafe...

Puppies...

Caglar: "my love?"
Me:"yes, my love?"
Caglar:"I am going to go get the dog."
Me:"what??? What dog?"
Caglar:"No problem, it's for my mother."
Me: "Really?"
Caglar:"Yes, a family dog"
Me: "A family dog, Huh?"


Biting, licking, biting, running, playing, falling, leaping, eating, smelling, did I mention biting puppy. We just got a German sheperd and named her Tequila. Her name stems from his mother's love for agave plant adult beverage, although lately has not been the time for indulgence. The first day we got Tequila she was so scared, only 3 months old. She rode 7 hours in the car down to Didim. We brought her to the family and they were surprised at how big she already was. Now it has been about three weeks. She has grown stronger and is a good dog. She gets us up every morning to walk and keeps us walking throughout the day. She follows us with out a leash but she is getting smart. She is going to need to start training soon! She is venturing of a little more on her own and man does she bite!!!! Her little mouth has all these new pearly whites coming in. It must hurt her but ouch it really hurts us too! She is the human equivalent of age 3 or 4 so she is young and we can't hold it against her. She will learn but we must teach her. Puppies are alot of work but training will help everyone not be afraid.

It is interesting how many people in Turkey are REALLY scared of dogs! I think it is because there are so many street dogs. A lot of the street dogs are decedents of the big sheep herding dogs that are meant to fight the wolves off of the sheep. Also dogs are also still kept for "protection" of property, so people want them to be isolated, mean and barkers. Many of these wild dogs have been abused by humans before and can be fierce. It is a cycle... dog abused, becomes mean to people, other people become scared of all other dogs etc. I was also was told dogs smell fear! But most of these dogs are just trying to live, eat, just survive. Here is an article addressing this stray dog issue There needs to be a better spay and nueter system for dogs, and the many, many kitties!


When my husband and I first met he was so impressed(I found out later) by my lack of fear towards animals. I was raised around animals and there aren't very many wild ones in Wayzata(uh-none?). Sometimes when we are walking at night around Didim Caglar will pick up a rock and carry it with him. I wonder what it is for? For protection from crazy street dogs. I thought it was silly until one day we went to a farm and this crazy huge sheep dog with a spiked collar started running after us...I'll admit...I was scared! I was happy Caglar had his rock!

As far as our little puppy out of respect for her, and for our own sanity we need to train her. Puppies are alot of work!

P.S. My husband finally admitted to me that the puppy was pretty much for him. He is funny and I knew it! He loves her and I admit it...so do I.

P.P.S. We are training her in Turkish

"If only simply for not what we have but what we don't"

Minnesota is a very special place! The above is a quote from a local Minnesota hip hop artist, Atmosphere. The song is called Shhh! I love the chorus to the song...

So if the people laugh and giggle when you tell em where you live
Say shhh, say shhh
And if you know this is where you wanna raise your kids
Say shhh, say shhh
If you're from the Midwest and it doesn't matter where
Say shhh, say shhh
If you can drink tap water and breathe the air
Say shhh, say shhh

But we do have alot!!! It's clean, green, and refreshing!
I love all the green everywhere even in the cities, I miss the season changes, the open spaces, air too breath, and how uncrowded it is, and yes the tap water...but of course mainly my family and friends!!! They are my roots and my strength so thank you and I miss you everyday!

So very many things have been happening in my life hence the hiatus from my blogging. Recently my branches have grown, to use tree metaphors I guess. I married my kind, thoughtful, wonderful Turkish partner in June. I went back to MN for two months without him though(he had work and a physics class to finish). I spent lots of time with my family! My beautiful sister married a kind man in July. My husband flew out to surprise me so I wouldn't be 'alone' for the wedding. Which helps me understand we can make this distance of Turkey and America work. I was bittersweet about coming back to Turkey. I missed my husband but I enjoyed speaking English, being able to speak to those around me, closeness of family and friends. I had been in California for many years before that and feel a drive to come back home but now is not the time...

I came back to Turkey and am now in the arms of my husband and his kind family. His father has cancer right now and this is where we need to be! Pray for Ali!

I love you Minnesota(my family really)!

I will always be connected now to Ohhh sweet Turkey...