Irony or karma?

I have another column out in Voices Newspaper entitled "Whose Holding Their Hands?". In the column I muse about our first times in Eskişehir with the student exchange. The contradiction between extreme hospitality but feeling like we were going to get taken out by a car any minute.

I am not sure if it is irony or karma that the day I bought the newspapers to check on my printed article...I was waddling out of a store ın a pregancy ınduced haze where we had bought some new sheets, annoyed at how expensive our sheets were, blindly following my husband to the car when someone was parallel parking and hit me with the car...don't worry it was a slight tap...but ohhh I was angry. The man apologized and I started balling(reminder 38 weeks prego) and my husband told me that I am the one that needs to be careful and that I need to watch where I am going...well I was pissed at this comment and I am huge how could one not see me? The tears were flowing at this point. I got over it but what do you think...ironic I had just written about this or karma for musing about another culture? Or maybe just proves my point...read my column and open your third and fourth eyes! Pregnancy haze is no excuse...

The next part of my column talks about the ONE test university system of Turkey. Although the system is wonderful for the students that pass the test and is very inexpensive they don't leave options for the rest of the population. I think in the states we are very lucky to have the community and technical colleges as an option for preparing for university or just taking a few classes to improve a skill or just for the sake of learning, also for older students. Unfortunately it sounds like right now the university system is cutting classes left and right and so many teachers are out of work. My old teacher writes about these issues often at her blog, Kloe among the Turks.

Obama just passed a $12 billion initiative for community colleges...Hope it works out...don't forget how important the teachers are!!!!

Here is an interesting program from the U.S. Department of State community college initiative for foreign students...


The photo is of Hubby and I on our Kayak...it is so great!

"Have you seen my rose-tinted glasses?"

Hubby and I went on a little adventure yesterday to Kuşadasi to visit some friends. We toured in our new to us- used Suzuki Samurai(yes friends so similar to my old tracker just white instead of pink). We nicknamed it Kangaroo because it bounces so much...our unborn child was not happy about this! Don't ride in bouncy cars for an extended period of time when you are 8 plus months pregnant- not ok! But we made it safely back with the help of several breaks and no premature labor thank goodness!

In Turkey gas(petrol) is about 3TL per LITER. Which means there are 3.785411 liters per Gallon in USA and 4.54609 liters per gallon from UK. So 3TL x 3.785411= 11.36TL per gallon / dollar exchange rate of $1.4 = $8.11 per gallon. So my darling Americans when u get sad or frustrated by gas prices just remember the rest of the world has it much more expensive! So people explore other methods like Tüplu, natural gas to run the car. Our little samurai has a black cylinder in the trunk where you fill it with natural gas and it only costs 1.68TL per Liter. I was initially worried about the safety of this method but my father assured me it is a great developing technology, our Tüplu araba.

Also my most recent column is out from Voices newspaper. My search to find balance between my love and dislike of everything Turkish in "HAVE YOU SEEN MY ROSE-TINTED GLASSES?"

P.S. I have changed my site address from www.ohhhsweetturkey.blogspot.com to just www.ohhhsweeturkey.com. So for those of you who have this site bookmarked you might want to modify it- thanks for reading!

Column: Eskişehir and helping hands...

This is one of the painted domed ceilings of a mosque in the Odun Pazarı, old part of Eskişehir.

Another of my columns, A JOURNEY WITHIN came out through Voices Altinkum Newspaper here in Didim.

In this story I reminisce about first coming to Eskişehir and the people that helped us along the way.

ESKIŞEHIR means old city in Turkish but is actually known as a very modern, young person’s city or student city because of the two large universities located there, Anadolu Üniversitesi and Ozmangazi Üniversitesi. It is this Anatolian city located between İstanbul and Ankara where I spent my first months in Turkey through my student exchange in 2007.


















The keeper of the Korans(not the man I speak about in my article.)

Hot! Hot! and did I mention...

...it is Hot and i am 7 months pregnant! I have been a bad little blogger with so much time between my last posts but I am ready to begin again. Back in Turkey after a wonderful trip to Minnesota, soaked up lots of family time and managed a quick trip to the old stomping ground, San Diego to see my Girls. Back in Turkey we moved into our new house! Yeah our own house, our own space, my own kitchen, our own closet to hang up my clothes and kissed my suitcases goodbye for a while. It's been a few years since I can honestly say "my house" or should I say "our house" with my hubby and our baby girl on the way! As my friend pointed out I am happily nesting.

We got our internet hooked up after weeks of "tomorrow" something like how it was always "ten days later" before our house was going to be ready but are now happily in it 2 months later. I think the equation is
A(amount of time said) x 6 + persistence + patience = you will receive your desired z

And of course "Burası Türkiye"

The internet was supposed to come "tomorrow" for about two weeks with my husband trying very hard, calling daily because he knew his very large, very pregnant and easily irritated hot wife(yes that's me) really wanted the internet connection to connect to her peeps across the ocean. Also for blogging and writing of course.

My third column, A Journey Within came out through Voices Newspaper. This one is about my attempts to make Turkey feel like "home."

One thing about living abroad, anywhere except the USA(and randomly Liberia and Burma) is that countries use the metric system of measurements and Celsius temperature measurement. It is almost easier that it doesn't immediately register for me that 37 degrees Celsius means 99 degrees Fahrenheit. It doesn't sting quite as hard or should I say sweat quite as much? But now I know...everyday for about 2 months it is almost 100 + degrees Fahrenheit. Great.

My husband and I have a debate...is it worse to be really hot? or really cold? Me coming from the really cold, Minnesota can get to below zero F Temperatures thinks it is worse to be really hot but imagine my Turk who has lived every summer in this constant heat and never experienced a Minnesota winter thinks it is worse to be really cold...Funny just what you are used to...

In Turkey also there is this fear of the cold as I have briefly written before. The all around mentality is the dreaded cold is what makes you sick. So you can only drink cold water and eat ice cream when the temperature have reached ridiculously hot. Where I am coming from a culture where there is ice in every drink year round. My husband got me a fan and installed A/C (Klima) in our room for me but he doesn't like it. So I sleep on the side of the bed with the fan blasting and no blanket and he sleeps on the fanless side with a blanket on. Also we had the A/C on last night and he would turn it off in the night then I would turn it back on. I know that A/C isn't the best for you all the time but sometimes is so necessary. Also my very dear mother-in-law is calling us telling us to not sleep with the fan on because we will get sick. I have slept with the fan on every summer of my whole life and not been sick from it.

I am a little worried when my baby comes in-laws are going to make me bundle her up to the point of me being hot just looking at her and sometimes I wonder how these little babushka babies can even breath they are under so many layers. On the Turkish airlines flight back from USA to Turkey the plane was soooo hot and my Turkish seat neighbor and I asked if we could turn down the heat but I was informed, NO because there were three babies in the front row. OMG! I can understand not going outside with a wet head and keeping babies warm of course but it is just a whole other level here. Also sweating is seen as bad because as you cool off you are wet and then get sick from the cold again. My nephew is not allowed to sweat...he is changed immediately! I think sweating is good. It cleans your body and means your heart rate went up. Keeps your insides heated up.

Anyone relate?

Anyways all this talk of hot and cold reminds me how blessed we are to be in walking distance to the Aegean Sea. It really is gorgeous. The deep varied hues of blue, so clear and refreshing. We usually don't go swimming until after 3 or later because the sun rays are so powerful. The beach is the busiest from this time until sunset.

Swimming has been so amazing on my pregnant body. My feet get swollen and pulse from the heat and my weight and then I go swimming for an hour and feel weightless. I can float on my back which is nice because I can't lay on my back anymore for pressure on the baby. I think I am going to go swimming now...

In Minnesota...

This beautiful bouquet was made by my darling mother who used lots of good things that have sprung up after the long Minnesota winters. She used rhubarb flowers(I will explain rhubarb and it's deliciousness in a post soon), honeysuckle and some grape vines all inside a cool old glass jar. It was perfect on the picnic table for our BBQ we had! I love the green lawn in the background too! Lots of love for my home town!

I have been in USA for about three weeks now between Minnesota and San Diego, California. Busy times and have been neglecting my blog even though I have lots to write about! I really want to make more time soon!

In the mean time my second column, A Journey Within came out last week through Didim/Altinkum's local English newspaper, Voices. It is a continuation of my first column, the initial experiences/reactions to my first days inside Turkey. Hope you enjoy!

My column...

I recently received an opportunity to write a column for Didim/Altinkum's local English newspaper, Voices. I am excited to share my experiences with a wider audience and hope you enjoy...

A JOURNEY WITHIN, "THIS is the enduring story of an American woman’s temporary infatuation with Turkey that led to an enduring connection to this foreign land. Emily begins her trek from her Minnesota roots to the cusp of the Aegean Sea to Fevzı Paşa, near Akbük."