As we Say goodbye

Tomorrow is my last day in Turkey. I will keep this blog for more travels. I will try to get more pictures tomorrow and then post them and i hope to post a lot more about turkey as well as lots more pics as well as from all the other places i have been. I am going to dearly miss Turkey and all that came with it. I had the most wonderful 8 months and i would not take them back for anything. I am so grateful to have this time a part of my life and to have met and done the things i have been able to do. What a blessing! I will forever love Istanbul and Turkey.

Nearing the End

Its down to the last three weeks of my time here in Turkey. It has been a crazy, exciting, hard, and great 7 months!
I am so excited to get home and be with my family and see my friends again. I am so grateful that I will be back for Christmas and as soon as i get back I get to go to Tanaes wedding with Jill and Chelsea!! I love these girls so much and I have missed them a lot. I have also missed many of my other close and good friends such as bro/Corey and Alyssa (i will be going to her mission farewell the day after Tanaes wedding! )
I am sad I dont get to see my Turkish best friends especially miss Kelly Donkersgood. I have missed having her here in Turkey with me.
I cannot wait to see my family and go back to school! I even miss snow!! not the cold but yes the snow! I am sure this will change after the first couple weeks.

Anyways I am going to miss Turkey dearly, especially my dear sweet Derin who I love spending my days with. I also miss my first sweetheart Zeynep and I hope that I  can see her before I leave.

The good news is that my parents are moving to Barcelona Spain in January if the visas go through in time so I can visit them and then it will be easier to make a trip over to Turkey.
Dad and I had a great two weeks together and it was so nice to spend that time with him and travel together to Italy and Spain and in Turkey. We have seen soooo many rocks!! at least they were cool rocks from ruins and ancient art and such but still in the end a rock is a rock and we saw tons and tons of them!
I will write more on that later.

This week is Thanksgiving and I am planning to cook a few (with Derins help) traditional dishes for my host family. I hope it all goes well and I am excited because I looked up a bunch of fun stuff for Derin and I to do to learn about thanksgiving.
We also started to read one of my  favorite books Ella Enchanted and I am super excited. It is a little advanced for her but its a good change for us to go over new words.

So three weeks and counting down. Derin is sad but I need to keep it in mind so we can make the most of our time. I am so excited to get back into my own country where i will understand the people around me! its going to be weird and i am sure my brain will fry but its so worth it.

I am going to miss Turkey
Adieu for now!!

Man of many talents

Other than Derin I teach a guy who works for Samen (my host mom) as head of the tech department. His name is Kaan Tezimel. He is a very tough student but i must say he is a man of many talents. His true passion is for history, specifically Turkish history but also every other history.
He has written a few historical novels and he is very much into traditional parts of the Turkish culture. He plays a very traditional instrument but i dont remember the name and he sings and dances.
Here is a video of him that he posted on facebook. It sounds very different to anything I am used to but in the Turkish view he is very talented and sings beautifully.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oey6cQ4Y-KQ

here is another video of him from youtube. This is very traditional and Turkish people love to still listen to this kind of music. Things are changing now with our music from the states and such but I think that this culture still runs strong in Turkey.

Also the president of Turkey is on the cover of Time this week for Europe Asia and the South Pacific! check it out!
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/europe/0,9263,901111128,00.html
i need to read it still... :)

Take Luck!

my merhaba

hey this is a great site for anyone living in Turkey for a while
you can meet people
find out about events
learn more about Turkey
and basically help with any questions or needs about Turkey
its really great.

http://www.mymerhaba.com/

kahvaltı better known as Breakfast

Turkish breakfast is different than anything i was ever used to. None of the pancakes, bacon, waffles or other things i usually cook up for my morning meal.
Traditional Turkish Breakfast consists of usually fresh breads such as simit, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, many different cheeses, jams, honey, borek, olives, eggs, sausage, fresh squeezed orange juice, and of course tea.
delicious and nutritious is the  kahvaltı  which literally means before coffee. Here take a look at some photos of breakfast in Cesme at the summer home.

Ramazan

Or better known to us as Ramadan is a big fast in the Muslim culture that i was so excited to experience while i was here! instead of trying to explain it all i am just going  to copy and paste and let Wikipedia do it :) the classic 21st century way of learning!
Ramazan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamicmonth of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexwith their partners^[2] during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and submissiveness to God. Muslims fast for the sake of God (Arabic: الله‎, trans: Allah) and to offer more prayer than usual. The dates of Ramadan vary, moving backwards by about eleven days each year depending on the moon; thus, a person will have fasted every day of the calendar year in 34 years' time. Muslims believe Ramadan to be an auspicious month for the revelations of God to humankind, being the month in which the first verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.


Now for what i have observed....
unfortunately i have not been as involved in it as i wish i could have. The family i live with does not practice the Ramazan fast except for the last day. Which Derin was excited about because they kiss their elders hands and get gold coins, money. Once we had someone over for dinner who was fasting and we had to wait until 8:30 when the sun went down to eat. When i was staying at a hostel near Takism Square i would stay up late talking to people and such and around 2 or 3am there would be a guy who would go around the streets banging a drum to wake everyone up so that they could eat before sunrise. My friend got a video of it but i didnt get one sadly, maybe she will send it to me. The restaurants all have things going on for the fast, specials or they are just open all night. In all the main places there are big areas with booth with shops (different arts and trades and things to sell) and places to eat. This is where i got to try the art of Ebru (also known as paper marbling) which is so cool!
What it is is a sort of bowl full of plain water or sometimes they add this stuff called size to it. You dip a rough paintbrush in the paint and then lightly tap it on the soft part of your hand between your thumb and index finger. The splashes of color spread in the water and once you have enough splatters of the colors you want you draw through it making a marble pattern. (its like baking where you draw a knife through the two mixtures of cake to make a pattern or with the icing). Then you dip the end of a tool in a different paint and when you dip it into the water it spreads out in a circle, the more times you dip the darker the color will be. you used different colors and techniques to make different designs. the easiest is the tulip which is made. if you want to learn the technical stuff about it here is the Wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_marbling.
here are a couple of cool videos about it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYGkGm6SaeU&feature=related
this one is long but it shows you alot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQSWmkt6-Hk&feature=related

What an amazing experience and time to be in Turkey! I love it!
Here are a few pics!

Manti

This is my favorite Turkish food, even though all of it is amazing!!! It is a kind of Turkish ravioli. It is usually hand made and takes a lot of time but it is delicious! It can either be fried or boiled although  I have only had it fried once and boiled is much better. You usually top it with Greek yogurt and then a blend of spices, tomato paste, and melted butter. Or you can eat it plain which is still amazing and i like it if the water has a bullion cube in it.

here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 1/2 teaspoon water, or as needed 2 onions, peeled 1/2 pound ground beef

salt and pepper to taste 3 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 (8 ounce) container plain yogurt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs and water, mixing well with your hands. Add more water, if needed, to form a soft dough. Cover and set aside for at least 30 minutes.
2.	Shred the onions and place them in a colander or sieve set over a bowl; drain the juice and discard. Combine the onion, ground beef, salt, and pepper; mix the meat well with a spoon until mashed.
3.	Divide the dough into two portions and lightly flour a work surface. Keep one piece of dough covered while you roll out the second portion into a rectangle, rolling the dough as thin as you can. Cut the rectangle into 2-inch squares with a knife or pastry wheel.
4.	Place about 2 teaspoons of the meat filling in the center of each square. Seal the dumplings by gathering the edges of the dough and pinching them together at the top to form a bundle. Transfer the finished manti to a floured plate, and sprinkle more flour over the manti to prevent sticking. Repeat with the second piece of dough.
5.	Heat the oil and red pepper flakes in a small skillet over low heat just until the pepper flakes have started to color the oil; don't let them burn. Remove from the heat and keep warm. Stir the minced garlic into the yogurt and set aside.
6.	Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat, and cook the manti until the filling is no longer pink, and the dough is tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain well. Divide the manti among four plates. Spoon the yogurt sauce over the manti and drizzle each serving with the hot pepper oil. I got this one from all recipes but there are a lot of different versions of it. Try it you wont be sorry! :)

Some sort of confusion

In Turkish they use some words and phrases that cause confusion for me. I just want to clear up a few for those who share my feelings.

pasta means cake
corn flakes is just cereal in general
toast is grilled cheese
sic means dick
macaroni is pasta in general

thats all i can think of for now... i always seem to have so much more i want to say until i finally sit down to write it. i guess thats life. :)

take care!

Here's the sitch.

i have not been able to get on since we still do not have internet at the house and so every precious moment i get to get on i use for the really important stuff like family, school, and emails. Sorry for the let down but i am catching up! i still have tons to post about the boat trip, eges simit, and my trip to Bulgaria but i will get to that eventually i promise! right now i will do a quick catch up of my life...so fun.....

This is my last week with Zeynep. Its really sad and hard but i think it is for the best. Havva does not want to see me go and i am not sure if Zeynep knows what is going on but if not she will soon. all her friends already know from their moms or aupairs. Yudum told me not to say anything to her and her last plan of telling her i am going to the states for my sisters wedding (which was called off) is crumbling fast. I have spent the majority of my time at Zeyneps tennis tournament which consists of me sitting for hours in the hot sun and humidity watching a bunch of kids. I think i might shoot myself but it is the last day and tonight i am planning a dinner and shopping with some of the other aupairs. Hopefully they can all come!
Since i have been back from Bulgaria I have not had much time for anything. Basically I am with Zeynep 12 hours everyday which sucks. Yudum have been much more pleasant since i gave her my two weeks notice which was not what i expected but defiantly good. Kelly my bast friend here and the aupair for zeyneps friend Erin is leaving earlyer than planned. She was planning to stay until september but things worked out that her mom came to visit and now she is traveling with her and then leaving with her next week. I am really sad. I basically spent every day with her and now i wont see her anymore. she arrived in Turkey the day before i did and from the moment we met we were besties! so many good times. We are planning to spend her last day together (on MOnday) which also happens to be the 25th, a month before my birthday. She will not be here for it like we were planning on so we will have a early celebration which will include an amazing cake, the whole day to enjoy together (her mom is letting us have this last day to ourselves), and i am sure much crying as well. Last week i spent a day with her and her mom. We went again to the cistern and sultanamet area where we had the worst lunch ever (it took over an hour to get our food and they didnt even have my manti which i have been craving for two weeks!) and then we went to the grand Bazaar and the Spice Market. I came home that night to find myself locked out so i called April and hung out at her house and spent the night which was really nice. Since then I have met some great new friends in Kemer. Sarah, Roxie, and Monique and Maggie came back from vacations. Zeyneps cousin is here Seven who is really cool. She is 16 and really chill. Its been fun having her here and i think she will come out with us tonight.

so interesting thing happened. Yudum is planning to go to Bodrum with everyone on Monday, the day i was planning to move to my new family but my new family changed plans and they are going on vacation all next week and want me to start on the 1st so now i have a whole week free, work for one week, and then they leave to the states for another week. My plan now is to spend monday with kelly, and hostel it with Monique who is also quitting early. we might take a trip to Ephesus or some other cool ruins or something. idk it will be an adventure :)
well thats all for now.
take care!

Fun Fact of the Day

Turkish People call all cereal corn flakes.
this caused a bit of a mix up one day when Zeynep asked for some corn flakes and i literally brought her a bowl of cornflakes. it took me a min to figure out why she was upset, i did bring her what she asked for but what she really wanted was the coco puff cereal. I am starting to now say corn flakes for cereal but i am also starting to convert zeynep into calling corn flakes by their rightful name, cereal. :)

Cultural Map of Turkey

This is cool map with some of the great sites in Turkey on it. take a look!

Turkish Proverbs

Here is a site with some Turkish Proverbs which are great! Enjoy!
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Turkish_proverbs

midnight snack

last night i made me a little midnight snack :)
no worries it was health friendly.
Tomatoes (domates)
Cucumbers (salatalık) 
Olives (green and black) (zeytin)
olive oil (zeytinyağı )
lemon juice (limon su)
and salt (tuz)  & Pepper (beber)

yumm!

Daily Talk in Turkey

Here is a post of some useful everyday language from the facebook group Turkish Language. This group is so great to help me learn more! I hope they dont mind if i share this post since it is so useful to me! :)

Daily Talk

• Günaydın: Good morning
• İyi akşamlar : Good evening
• İyi geceler : Good night
• In English the expressions - Good evening and Good night - are singular. In Turkish they are plural [as is the Spanish - Buenos Dias.]

Hello

• Merhaba - Hello!, Hi! Merhaba corresponds to Hello!, Hi! in English. Its usage is identical in either language.
• The reply for Merhaba is Merhaba
• Merhaba is not used for - Hello! - on the telephone. This type of Hello is Alo
• Selam - Hello!, Hi!
• Selam is more informal than Merhaba
• Selamünaleyküm: literally means - May God's peace be upon you - and is used by Muslims as a greeting.
• Aleykümselam - s said in reply to the greeting - Selamünaleyküm.
• Hoş geldin (familiar/singular) or Hoş geldiniz (polite/plural) corresponds Welcome! in English.
• The reply for Hoş geldin(iz) is Hoş bulduk. We found it well.

and Goodbye.

• Allahaısmarladık, Hoşca kalın - Goodbye
• Hoşça kal (familiar) or Hoşça kalın (polite) corresponds to Stay well. /Keep happy.. in English.
• Güle güle - Goodbye - [lit: Smiling, smiling.] - The person staying behind, says Güle güle
• The person is leaving leaves, says Allahaısmarladık or Hoşca kalın .
• Güle güle corresponds Go well. in English.
• Allahaısmarladık - Goodbye - [Lit: I leave you to God's care.].
• Either Allahaısmarladık or Hoşca kalın is correct in informal situations. But in formal situations Hoşca kalın is better.
• İyi günler - Good day, [or: Have a good day.] . Its usage is almost the same as in English. It is also the formal of Allahaısmarladık and Hoşca kalın . The reply for İyi günler is eitherİyi günler or Size de - To you also.
• Görüşürüz - See you later. [Lit: We will see each other.] The reply for Görüşürüz isGörüşürüz.
• Allah rahatlık versin - This is an informal expression for Good night. [Lit: May God give you peace and comfort.] This is generally used by the members of the family at home or friends before going to bed. The reply for Allah rahatlık versin is Sana da (sing.), Size de (pl.) -And to you also.

Thanks and be happy.

• Teşekkür ederim - Thank you - this is used in all normal situations. The reply for teşekkür ederim is Bir şey değil or Rica ederim - You are welcome.
• sağol (familiar) or sağolun (polite) [Lit: Health to you. equates to thank you but is more sincere than Teşekkür ederim. The reply for sağ olun is sen de sağ olun - And health to you also. - However we conjugate sağ ol for persons. So: sen de sağ ol is the response forsağ ol and siz de sağ olun is the reponse to sağ olun. See page about saying "Thank you"
• Gözün aydın (familiar/singular) or Gözünüz aydın (polite/plural) [Lit: "May your eyes shine."] - When something which the speaker longing for comes true, he tells the others about it.
• Their response is Gözün(üz) aydın - Your eyes shine - to the speaker. The expression indicates that the others share the speaker's happiness, and that they are also happy about it.
• The reply for Gözünüz aydın is Teşekkür ederim
• Hayırlı olsun - Let it be with goodness - Used when someone opens a shop or starts a new business, others say Hayırlı olsun to him. The expression indicates the speaker's wish that the new business will bring him prosperity, and it will be profitable.
• The reply for Hayırlı olsun is Teşekkür ederim
• Güle güle kullan / kullanın - Use it with a smile. - When someone buys a thing, such as a new clothes, shoes or a car his friends say Güle güle kullan / kullanın - This indicates the speaker's wish that use it with joy. Sometimes Hayırlı olsun is said in such condition.
• The reply for both expressions is Teşekkür ederim.

Have a good jouney.

• İyi yolculuklar / Hayırlı yolculuklar - Have a nice journey.
• İyi tatiller - Have a nice holiday
• İyi şanslar - Good Luck
• İyi eğlenceler - Have a nice time
• İyi seneler / yıllar, Mutlu seneler / yıllar - Happy new year
• Doğum / Yaş günün kutlu olsun! - Happy birthday!
• Afiyet olsun - Bon appetite, Enjoy your meal.

Well done and take it easy.

• Kolay gelsin - May it come easy. - Used when the speaker sees someone working, busy with something. It can be a physical, or mental work. It indicates the speaker's wish that whatever that person is doing at the moment, may be easy for him.
• The reply for Kolay gelsin is Teşekkür ederim
• Aferin - Bravo, Well done! - Very often used in competition and especially to congratulate young children.

Sorry about it.

• Afedersin (singular/familiar) or Afedersiniz (plural/polite): Excuse me./Pardon me.
• Affedersin(iz)! Merkeze nasıl gidebilirim? - Excuse me! How can I get to the city centre?
• Özür dilerim: I am sorry.
• Sometimes Affedersin(iz) is used instead of Özür dilerim.
• However Özür dilerim is more formal, it sounds better in formal situations.
• Bir şey değil, Rica ederim: You are welcome
• Used in reply to Teşekkür ederim

Ways of saying - "Yes" - in Turkish

• Evet : Yes - in the sense of answering yes / no questions in English.
• Tamam : Yes in the sense of - O.K
• Peki : Yes - in the sense of - All right, O.K, If that's so then.
• Oldu : Yes in the sense of - That's good, agreed.
• Evet, efendim : Yes, sir or madam.
• Var : Yes - there is. [Answers questions which contain - var mı.? - Is there.?]

Ways of saying No in Turkish

• Hayır : No - in the sense of answering yes / no questions in English.
• Olmaz : No - in the sense of That's not possible, I don't agree with you, That won't do
• Yok, Yo : informal and gentle saying of No. [Also answers questions containing Yok mu.? -Isn't there.?]
• Hayır efendim : No sir. / No madam. - "Efendim" must be used in this case else this answer could be construed as being curt.

Words of Condolence - What a pity.

• Geçmiş olsun - May it pass away - This expression is used when a friend is ill or has had an accident, like - Get well soon. - in English
• The reply for Geçmiş olsun is Teşekkür ederim.
• Başın sağ olsun (singular/familiar) or Başınız sağ olsun (plural/polite) : Health to your head. - This equates to - My condolences to you., So sorry about it. - in English.
• The reply for Başınız sağ olsun is Siz de sağ olun, Dostlar sağolsun
• Çok yazık! / Ne yazık! : What a pity!
• Çok üzüldüm : I'm sorry to hear that.

A bit more of Turkey

I originally started a blog as a kind of field journal since my interests include Anthropology and since then my purpose has drifted to more of my life. Yes this is great and I want to continue to have my blog that way and that is why i have decided to make a second blog the will focus on Turkey and its culture. This blog is now Turkish Delight. http://turkishdelight-ana.blogspot.com/
I hope everyone enjoys it! :)
-Words from Ana