Happy Halloween

Cadilar bayram, Witch holiday is how it translates. There is minimal celebrating here of one of my favorite holidays. You can maybe find a party if you looked hard in touristy areas but that just isn't the same, no tricking or treating from house to house. I did tell my Turkish family lots of stories from this costumed holiday. My sister-in-law, Pinar pulled through and surprised me with a Pumpkin. It is a funky green pumpkin with orange inside and a great woody stem. It is quite lovely.


















We gutted it as usual. My kind husband thought I was quite smart opening the top and scooping the seeds out. I told him that I can't take credit and every American child has done this since they were old enough to hold a knife so to speak.


















Baron, our nephew was eager to help. Reaching in and pulling out the gooey seeds. I think he kinda liked seperating the seeds from the smushy flesh. He had a system down, squeezed the goo so the seeds would shoot out through his fingers.


















Baron was eager to check out my work and give enthusiastic bravos as he watched me cut the crooked teeth. My knives were a bit dull so I was sawing away a bit nervous that my knife could fly up and hit his little head that was so eager to see my every cut. Thank goodness I had it under control. The final product was ohed and awed at for the sheer fact of being a different fun something to do. It is sitting at the cafe and we have decided to light it every night Halloween or not.

The next big holiday here is the kurbani bayram at the end of November. Caglar's aunties, their husbands and cousins will be coming to Didim for this one. To spend some time with Ali. This is the holiday where everyone buys a lamb or cow, depending on how rich you are. You keep the animal for a few days, loving it and feeding it as a pet until this holiday comes. The animals are then killed and bled out on the streets mind you then the meat is given to the poor. Oh goodness this next holiday will be an interesting experience.

Unbanned

That is what I was seeing when I tried to access my blog for the past 3 days, Access to this website has been suspended in accordance with decision no:2008/2761 of T.R> Diyarbikar 1st criminal court of peace, but now they unbanned it. I hope this is not a temporary decision like it was with Youtube.com (banning it, unbanning it then banning it again). It is interesting that I have never seen anything officially released about it by the court that banned it or even by blogger, no love for us little guys. Was it really because of football/soccer or what? Anyways I can relax a little and be happy it is up again. Deep breaths for many reasons...

Blogger ban...

I am very upset that blogger.com was banned in Turkey. First they banned youtube.com a few months before and now this. I find it a bit scary and quite violating that they choose to censor the whole country and has gone into parts of Georgia. And they don't even do that great of a job because there are tons of loophole sites to get you on to youtube and blogger eventually with a little work such as www.dtunnel.com. Although these are annoying because you get tons of pop up adds and I can't post pictures argggg! Initially the story was that it was a Muslim creationism fanatic named Adnan Oktur that caused the ban since he had temporarily gotten wordpress.com banned earlier. But now the story is that the ban was caused by digiturk, the largest cable provider in Turkey who was upset because some blogs hosted by blogger were showing football(soccer) games that they had the rights too. Are you freaking kidding me????? Tons of people loose their freedom of speech over a freaking football match and I guess some money of course, there's always the money. It just pisses me off and is doing nothing for Turkey's reputation- CENSORSHIP. So many Turkish people tell me that their hopes for Turkey is to be "modern". I always wonder what exactly they mean by that? This is not modern thinking...Who ever imposed this ban did not consider the many, many people it would effect. Also this happened in a country that has whole stores devoted to pirated dvds, literally! I almost wish it was for a better reason(what if it is???) Also the current ban on youtube.com is because some person published a video portraying Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Modern Turkey's father(who they have made in to somewhat of a deity) in a poor way so they decided to ban a whole huge file sharing site full of information. what the heck? In turkey it is a crime to insult Turkishness...what exactly that means is a bit vague. The world has a love/hate relationship with America but we have our freedom to talk about other counries, ourselves, our president, everything for now at least...Shoot I was just reminded of the PATRIOT ACT, our giant leap backwards. Americans and the world constantly make fun of president Bush and nothing is banned- no one is censored yet. America we need to hold on to this huge pedestal of our country. I never really realized how much I respect the bill of rights and the freedom of speech in America until living abroad. Criticism is a part of life and should be embraced instead of banned!

I love Turkey. My blog has never said anything against it therefore should not be punished. This is very, very
frustrating. Here are a few related links...

http://www.basbasbas.com

Also just use our friend google(who owns blogger) to search out the topic...
blogger.com ban in Turkey
and
youtube.com ban in Turkey

What will be next?

cafe and social club continued...

The chairs and tables are grouped. I picked some greenery from around our area, pepper berry trees, olive branches and some other flowers of which names I do not know. They look pretty but a little big on the table when lots of people are sitting. The vases are the bottoms of old hookahs, a little akward but ok.


















Pinar taking a little break to read the paper.














Our wall of books and magazines, a mix of English and Turkish. I want to start a book exchange later.


















Kitchen view with everything unpacked.


















Second kitchen view with the tea machine and little oven. Teas is the staple/ coffee of Turkish culture so that little machine is important. We have one lady working for us. Every morning she makes the tea, helps with cleaning, cooking whatever needs to be done. Then Caglar has it set up that students come and work 4 or so hours at a time also helping with cleaning and serving. (Ask me later what we pay them...)














This is the outside of our beautiful toilets. I know that toilets don't sound exciting but the previous toilet was disgusting. It was located where the bar is now, on the patio and it smelled disgusting. Our new toilets, first there are two of them, boys and girls. Secondly they are not Turkish style, which is a hole in the ground that you squat over, they are real toilets. We have plans for seat covers and will always have toilet paper which is reason enough for me to come to our cafe since I have unwillingly gotten used to carrying toilet paper in my pocket. Also there are 4 sinks and plenty of soap. They will always be clean. I love our toilets.














This view is as you walk in the door.














The first day we opened Caglar walked me outside past the cafe and then back to it. He says look at the cafe...we both thought it looked cool and like we would want to visit so that is good. This is the night view. The photo doesn't do it justice. Caglar is sitting in the front playing tavla(backgammon) which is the national board game of Turkey, I don't think officially but maybe. They play it so freaking fast!

So this is our cafe so far. We opened it in hopes that later Pinar can run it and Caglar and I can travel and then eventually live in U.S of A at least part of the year. As most people who read this blog know that I supported myself for years on the bar and restauraunt biz because American culture says tip, it can be really good money. In Turkey tips are rare especially from students(fancy restaurants yes but only like 10%). It is strange for me still not to tip, I over tipped for years and years- good karma for servers. Also my minimal Turkish language skills make it hard. I want to work. I like working and I don't mind serving but can't do it very well now because I try and then the people start talking fast and I need Caglar to come over. I am learning though slowly.

One funny thing...I got a new nickname since we've been working on the cafe, Irouk(spelling???). The carpenter gave it to me. How I understand it is there are this subculture of mountain people in Turkey. The women work really hard on the mountain and they are called Irouk. Anyways I couldn't speak to the workmen so I was trying to always clean and was sometimes heavy lifting whatever needed to be done. Funny nickname, mountain woman, Emily.

There are tons of English people that have bought property in Turkey, especially Didim. This is a plus for us since I can speak to them. We can advertise in the local English paper, etc.

Slowly we will add more little details to the inside but the next big project is our beautiful seaside garden. The days seem to be slow but last night was good. Lots of students came to drink beer or nescafe. Hopefully the word will spread!

Cafe...

So we are open! Today was our first day. But let me show you some more pics leading up to it...


















Here is a photo from when we went to Izmir, a different bigger city, I wish I had more. We went and stayed at his auntie Necla's house (sounds like Nejla). She is hilarious. Her and her husband, Mehmet helped us around Izmir on our search for the older style wooden chairs in the above photo. One things about Turkey is there are VERY few second hand shops because they hold on to everything until it wears out. None of this redecorating your house every few years just because. Also if we found a second hand store it was kind of expensive. Also no one has garage sales. First off there are so few garages and secondly again they don't get rid of stuff. Back to our Izmir adventure...we drove all around the city hitting the potential second hand shops and finally we were creeping around these factories and found a guy who had made/refurbished the chairs we wanted. So we found them but with out pillows.


















We worked on varnishing the floor. Initially we had gotten a clear varnish but then the second coat was a walnut and we are happy with the results.














Caglar checking out the kitchen. It has black counter tops with a little sparkle. The cabinets are a dark brown with cream trim. Caglar did a good job picking them out!














Although we have been working on the cafe for almost a month it really came together yesterday. We got the kitchen, toilets and sinks were installed, the bar came we finished varnishing the floor so here's a photo from last night seeing how everything will look. Starting to bring the furniture in. Oh yes and we got lights which was a huge part so we could work at night. Note the electrician kid on the side! Thanks!


















Pinar(Caglar's sister) and I worked hard yesterday cleaning and putting away all the little things that certainly add up but you need, plates, spoons, tea glasses, bar glasses, etc, etc, etc.














Here is Pinar working away. I'm glad we did an open cupboard to see our colorful plates and cups.


















Caglar's friend sent us some flags for a cafe. Still lots of bugs to work out but really we are proud of our new cafe. Gezgin means traveler in Turkish. I need to get back to work and will post more pics tomorrow!

wood floor

The wood man came today with his three boys in tow to install the floor. They are doing a good job, piece by piece, with hammer and nails. I don't think he is very nice to his sons though, yells a lot. I think that they must be learning the trade rather than going to school.

Should we do a dark stain or light?

Nar

There are pomegranates growing in our neighborhood. I ate this one while Tequila and I walked by the sea. The are just starting to sweeten, still a bit tart. Cok guzel.

kolay gelsin...

Direct translation: easy come you. Every single Turkish person says this to other people who are obviously working, no matter the job, stranger or not. Basically, 'may your work come easy' would be it's real meaning. So I have heard this a ton as we work outside on the cafe.

We started painting the patio three days before. We decided to paint the metal beams a dark brown. I felt like I was painting with milk chocolate, yum. Then the rest of the plywood ceiling we varnished, natural. We started out just Caglar, me and the peanut gallery. The peanut gallery being all the neighbors that would come, drink tea, smoke cigarettes and tell us where we missed a spot. I wanted to point out our extra brushes but alas did not. Oh family, how I missed you even more than usual because I think I could have talked you into helping!he-he. Not just physically but with design ideas and painting tips.

When we were at the painting store I asked for sand paper for pre-sanding- oh you don't need it. I asked for dust masks-oh you don't need it. Then we all had a laugh about my American idea of super safety construction and turkey's- oh you don't need it this is Turkey approach.(see previous post). I did finally get some gloves and had to talk my husband into wearing them. Thank goodness we got Hussein Abi to help us! He is a local handyman and hard worker. The above photo is after the first day. Me and our pile of brushes and tiner(thinner- th is really hard for Turks to say, not in their vocabulary. It's really funny when Caglar does it but of course I am funny when I try to pronounce most Turkish words.) The sunset over the sea so we had to stop for the day.














The next day Hussein Abi came back to help. YES! We still had lots to paint! One of the students who lives upstairs started helping and then a bunch of his friends came. I must have thanked them a million times!


















Caglar in action. mauh!














The tile brothers(three brothers- I love it!) did a great job tiling and grouting the kitchen area. It is fully tiled to protect against water damage and mold. There was lots of mold previously-ewww! We have gotten a few estimates to build kitchen cabinets. The money always goes so quickly!














The toilet tiles have been grouted. Also doors! The stickers need to be removed from the doors. We still need to install the toilets and sinks.














Thank you everyone! We took a beer and pide(Turkish pizza) break after a hard days work. I have decided to wear those clothes until we finish. This photo was day 2.

DAY 3: color!!


















This is the left view from the street into the patio. We chose a bright color. We mixed red, yellow and a little white. It is a bright orangy pink as you can see. We like it! And the ceiling looks nice. I like the coral color with the chocolate. We need to paint the lamp wires(well we need lamps too but still haven't made it to Izmir- YET).














Middle patio view, that is where the bar is going to be. Whoop whoop!


















This is the right view. The white wall will be covered and the white doors take you down into the cafe/ kitchen/ toilet area.

We are getting there! Tomorrow the wood floor, patio windows and doors should be installed.

Happy birthday aunt Polly (Sorry might not be the exact day but luv u)!

Mehmet amca

He is either 85 or 95 depending on who you ask. He speaks in a Turkish accent that my husband can barely understand. He always says "bana bak"(look at me) but it sounds like "merhaba"(hello). This little man has lived here all his life in a tiny house on the corner before there was even a corner(before this housing site was constructed). He smokes one cigarette after another-butt to butt, never married but knows everything about the land here. He is a wealth of knowledge. He brought Ali a huge jar of 'get well soon' pine nuts that he had personally plucked from the pine cones around his house. He then proceeded to tell us how the birds put the sap on their cuts to help the healing process and we should to. He remembers meeting my dad with his big smile and told my dad(although my father didn't know it because mehmet was speaking in Turkish) all about the virgin Mary's(yes Jesus's mother) last resting place which is located literally an hour away(This is not a secret, come visit me and we can go). Birsen, my mother in law brought him some dinner the other night. There were tons of clouds in the sky. She said how she thought it would rain. He looked up and said no we won't get it. Of course no rain the neighboring city got it. When Caglar and his friends were teenagers they saw this old man fishing with a string. They teased him about not catching anything with that little string. He reached into the sea and plucked out bait of some sort. Baited his hook and little while longer guess what...a huge fish. That shut the boys up.

I want to write his stories down, these secrets of Didim.

Caglar's really cute too!

cafe progress

The bathrooms are now tiled. They need grout, fixtures and of course doors. The outside walls have also been tiled as well. That is where the sinks will go. And the floor has been tiled with an off-white.














Most of the debris has been hauled away and the floor has been evened out. Before there was a huge step in the middle of the patio. The hardwood comes next...what stain? light or dark?


















The patio ceiling???? We are trying to decide how to tackle it. It is so freaking ugly now with plywood and poorly painted metal bars. We thought to cover the whole thing with more wood but then we loose a lot of head space. Also we can paint it but how will that turn out? Color? Or fabric covering? If anyone has any ides please comment????

This is getting exciting and I am starting to envision it as a whole not just a big mess. The walls are smoothing out, and my husband says the next part in mine, picking the paints, decorating etc. He keeps saying your the artist...oh yeah that's right? I feel slightly intimidated and at the same time enjoying it. I want to work and the work is for us. We plan to tackle the garden more this winter. We are going to izmir tomorrow to search for old wooden chairs, light fixtures, wall accesories, music system, plates, glasses etc. etc...We still have tons to do! Money is running thin so we need to be thrifty and creative.