earthquakes again

Just had another earthquake here. I had the awesome luck of being on the toilet when it happened. Yeh....so not cool. I am that much closer to knowing how it feels to die in an earthquake while on the toilet though! yah! This one was apparently a 5.5 and epicenter was in the same place as last weeks. Too early to tell if there was any damage.

In other news, they caught a guy in Istanbul this week trying to bomb the metro station. News said he was from PKK. Apparently they didnt catch someone though because an explosion went off elsewhere. Only two people were injured luckily. There have also been a bunch of car torchings in Istanbul recently. Hey! Guess where I am going this Saturday? Istanbul!

And apparently Ankara is like Richmond in that everywhere around it gets snow. A couple people have frozen to death from the cold in Central Anatolia. But no sign of snow here even though its def. cold enough.

Halfway across the world in Indonesia, lots of rain has caused flooding and landslides. My sisters place got flooded, but not as bad as some of her friends houses. Everyone she knows is okay though. All the water is polluted now. Lots of roads are closed due to landslides.

Gonna go try and sleep now. Check out the news for updates on the earthquake, car torchings, and turkish air raids in iraq!

hodge podge of old photos and some new

Sometimes when you are in a foreign place, you do things you would not normally do at home, like eat McDonalds. I have weened myself off of McDonalds over the past couple of years in America, but for some reason, here in Turkey, McDonalds is delicious. I guess its a comfort thing. I also am not too big a fan of Pepperidge Farm cookies, but when I found these, it wasnt even a question as to whether I was buying them or not. So I spent YTL 18 on two packs of cookies....

Also sometimes when you are in a foreign place, things happen to you that would not normally happen to you at home. This happens on a daily basis for me, or pretty much whenever I go outside. Thanks to my blonde hair and blue eyes, I am easily recognized as foreign, and so get a lot of stares. Sometimes it works to my advantage, however, because I get free stuff. Such as fruity smoothie like drinks...

I cant take full credit for those drinks, however, because the first free stuff went to my friend Margot. She was waiting for me and another girl to meet her at this restaurant and apparently she looked sad. The waiter brought her free profiterols, and then when we got there, he gave her a free hot chocolate. Then the waiter brought us free drinks, and then Margot got another drink as well. It looked like toxic waste....

And then sometimes when you are in a foreign place, you try to bring a little bit of home in and it just does not work. My mom sent me the ingredients for green bean casserole, macncheese and stuffing, so I decided to make thanksgiving for my host family. So Margot came over and we set to work on cooking. I was pretty proud of myself for making the casserole, even though it was not as good as at home. And since turkey is not a usual meat choice over here, we opted for KFC chicken and biscuits.

I was actually happy with the way the food turned out, but then my host family kind of dropped the ball. My sister came home and said she forgot and that she had already eaten. She did try stuff though which was nice of her. My host mom came home later and enjoyed the food but spoke in Turkish the whole meal. My host brother doesnt speak often so I am not sure as to what he thought of the whole experience. So Margot and I sat in silence at the end of the table while my host mom talked to Bahadır, and we thought of thanksgiving at home. I realized I was hoping for something that could never be and got a little sad.

The next week, my group took a day trip to Konya. It turned out to be the most poorly planned trip. We left at 930am and got back at 330am, when only two cabs are on the ODTÜ campus (there were about 20+ kids who needed cabs). Konya itself was cool I guess. Things like that get ruined when you are frustrated with programs... And when you are ill.


We went to Konya mainly for the whirling dervish ceremony. There were two ceremonies that day, one around 130pm and the other around 8pm. We went to the later one........So that we could check out the museums and stuff in Konya.

I did get to see the box that apparently holds Muhammad or Rumi or some important Muslim figure's beard. Guess that is pretty cool.

The ceremony was actually neat, but I was really tired at that point so I probabaly could have gotten a lot more out of it had I not been so exhausted. I also think that if we had gotten better seats that were not right next to these blinding lights (they were on for the first hour of the show).

But it really was a neat show and you should look into the dervishes. Everything is a symbol, including their hats.

Oh and in case you were wondering, they have pet stores in Turkey, too. This bird here is only 5000 dollars. And he has a special talent: he can bark like a dog. I have video.


The cool part about pet stores in Turkey, however, is they have more exotic animals. Like this bird. I didnt ask how much he was.
And in case you were wondering, they have elevators in Turkey as well. Normally, they are small and crappy and you have to open the door when the elevator gets to your floor or forever ride. But, this elevator is a special one. You can fit 66 people in it! I am going to test that one day. I promise.


Oh and one last "in case you were wondering," they do not celebrate Christmas here, but there are Christmas trees and santa clauses everywhere. Dont be fooled. Its for New Years.

Santa is called Noel Baba here. Baba is Turkish for father. I dont know how he is associated with New Years, but this is Turkey.

earthquakes all over the world today

So today I went to lunch with my friend Abby because she is going home tomorrow. We went to this restaurant called Melbo. Its on the top floor of a building in Kızılay and its got lots of windows so you can people watch. So we sit down and not even two minutes later, the building starts shaking and the windows move as if a huge wind gust just blew against them. Our waitress looked very scared and almost started running out of the restaurant. My first thought was that the building was going to collapse, something which is not uncommon in Turkey. But, we decided to brave the chance and stayed there. The food was not that great, but it was good to hang out with Abby.

After lunch, I tried to take her to Hacıbaba (the best baklava place in Ankara), but it was closed thanks to the Bayram (it means holiday, but is reserved for religious holidays). So we went to another baklava place and got way too much dessert. We sat and talked for a while, then I met up with my host family for some ice skating. The girl who stayed in my house last year is also here visiting. I mentioned the shaking to her and she told me it was a 5.7 earthquake! And...it was the third of the day. The epicenter was only 50 miles or so away from Ankara. They apparently saw this on the news, but when I checked tonight there was barely a mention of it. So far there has been no damage or casualties reported. There was another earthquake in New Zealand though, and it was pretty big.

After ice skating, my family was hungry, so we tried to go to some restaurant which was also closed due to Bayram. So then my host sister made the great suggestion of going to Ankamall for dinner. So we trekked there and I ate a giant portion of some kind of kofte that looks like iskendır. Then.....Abby's family was throwing a goodbye/bayram party for her so I met up with two of our friends and we headed to Abby's house where I ate even more food and even more desserts.

The party was really neat. A lot of Abby's host family's relatives showed up just to say goodbye to her (they have never met her). But they gave her presents and one person brought a cake. Her host mom started crying. It was really cute and sad. The family started singing Turkish songs, and then my friend Margot played the guitar and sang with them. Then we tried to sing Christmas songs...but the only one we all knew the words to was Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. So then we switched to Mr. Jones and assorted Beatles songs.

Anyways, I am now home after a very long and tiring day. My stomach is stuffed to capacity. I have nothing to do this weekend however and so i will be resting a lot :)

Oh and a little side note for those who dont know, the holiday that started today is called the sacrifice holiday. You are supposed to sacrifice an animal, then give some of the meat to the poor, some to your friends, and then give some to yourself. Then you eat a lot of food and desserts, as with most bayrams. And during bayrams, the buses are free :)

sacrifice holiday!

merhaba. sorry for the lack of postings. I have been really really busy the last few weeks as my semester finished up. but now I am finished and I have the next eight weeks to hang out and do nothing :) I am going to try and get my computer fixed tomorrow, but it may be difficult because its a holiday here right now.

speaking of holidays, I got a couple packages the other day full of christmas goodies. thanks :)

in other news, Turkey is back in the headlines. you guys probably know more than I do currently because there is a ban on turkish journalists to report on whats happening. but it hasnt effected me yet, so no worries.

most of my group is leaving this week. a few have already gone. its sad to say good bye but i will see them again eventually. I am fortunate because I have been able to make some Turkish friends, so I will not be alone over the break.

hope all is well at home. I will be there in 31 days! let me know if there is something specific that you would like from over here.

and if you are trying to call me, my cell number is in the post below. I believe the country code for turkey is 90, but if that doesnt work, just look it up online.