I'M FREE! FREEEEEEE!!!!!

Finally it's all over and I am released of my shackles.... the wonderful blood spattered plastic and metal that had been attached to my hand for FOUR DAYS!



You know... when I went in the hospial on the first day and the nurse asked me which hand I wanted the IV in I told her it didn't matter so she stuck it in my right hand. However if I had known that the needle and the plastic IV connecter were going to be stationed IN MY HAND for four days I would have told her to put it in the left!

It sure is interesting trying to do stuff with your left hand when you are right handed -- like have you ever soaped and washed your left armpit using your left hand? Or fed yourself using your non-dominant hand? And forget about putting on makeup or doing your hair. I should not complain though... I can't imagine what it is like for all those young men who go off to fight wars and come back without an arm so in that respect I should be glad.

It snowed yesterday in Sivas -- it's been 3 years since I've seen snow. Thankfully I was snuggled up in bed watching it from the warmth of the Sivas Hastane (hospital). The hospital was not bad, I had my own private room and so on. But the language barrier can be a pain in the ass (or the bladder) when you desperately need to use the ladies room and you're hooked up and you have to call the nurse to unplug you to go to the bathroom.... or when a nurse comes into the room and asks you some huge sentence in Turkish and then we just sort of stare at each other blankly when I can't answer.... I MUST BECOME FLUENT IN TURKISH ASAP!!!

Anyways it is over. I have learnt my lesson -- NEVER drink the tap water in another country!

I am extremely happy today, not only to be free of the parasite but also I got PAID and I go to London on WEDNESDAY to see my boy! Wheeeeeee!!!!!!

London look out... here I come!



I bet I won't see any of THOSE in the trees in London.



Or those either!!!!!



Pretty Sivas on a sunny day.

Well I suppose it was bound to happen sometime... I have officially gotten sick... and it's really serious..... BIRD FLU!

No just kidding, but I do have a parasite! I had a very upset stomach for two days but did not really take it on.. I mean an upset tummy is no reason to call the doctor right? But then I woke up and started puking so I knew something was really wrong because I am not a puker unless I have drank too much Efes! Ha ha!

Thankfully our boss is a well known person in Sivas and has a lot of connections.. dentists... doctors... parliamentarians... that kind of thing... And even more thankfully one of his doctor friends recently enrolled at our school! So he hooked me up at the hospital and ran some tests on me and announced that I have acquired a parasite from drinking questionable water.

So the good news is that it is not serious and curable but the bad news is that I have been in and out of the hospital for the past two days hooked up to an IV! The hospıtal is not bad at all and I have been given a private room and the nurses are really nice to me... the food is terrible and the IV drip treatment takes FOREVER I'm talking four hours at a time...

The bad news is that because I have to be in and out of there twice a day until Sunday and they have to keep hooking up the IV, they've attached a detachable IV needle thingy to my hand and it has to stay there until it's done! That means I'm walking around with a fucking needle stuck in the top of my hand with a plastic tube that they keep attaching to the IV! I feel (and look) like Bride of Frankenstein! And people in this internet cafe keep looking at me funny!

Anyways so the excitement never stops in Sivas. Tomorrow is Republic Day so big celebrations and flags draped all over town, fireworks and gun salutes and all that. And I should be better by Tuesday when I leave for LONDON. So I guess other than being infected everything is just fine.

Today's lesson.......... don't drink the tap water!!!!!!!!!

So I was wrong about there being no bars in Sivas! There actually IS one bar... and it's located IN OUR LIVING ROOM.



We've now officially been in Turkey for ONE MONTH! Yes that's right folks we've passed the test of the first month and have survived and nobody has left and headed back to Canada (or Trinidad) or died of culture shock.



Above: Me drinking the bestest yogurt drink in the world, ayran, at the Urfa Restaurant.

To celebrate our one-month anniversary we had a few drinks. Well actually that is a little bit of a lie... because we never need an occasion to enjoy an Efes or perhaps even some vodka with delicious Turkish cherry juice.

Here are some glamour shots of Dr Dre and Zeynep and myself, and with a cameo by our buddy Fidel. As you can tell all are mildly intoxicated.









Fabulous dahling!!!

And here in a more sober moment the next morning, I happened to catch this out of the corner of my eye through the kitchen window...



Talk about old-school ghetto-style refridgeration!!

Ok folks that's all for now.

Europeans are very trendy -- even Eastern Europe like Turkey, and even in Sivas! However, I am assuming that when it comes to T-shirts, they get all of their shirts from China or elsewhere in Asia, because we keep saying what we have come to call 'Lost in Translation Shirts'.

For example, the other day we took all our dirty clothes to the laundromat up the road and there was a little girl sitting on the couch wearing a red little top that read 'POP MY CHERRY', accompanied by a lovely stiched on cherry. Obviously her mother has no idea what it means. After all cherries are a big part of Turkish cuisine, with lots of cherry jam and cherry juice.

Another time, we were browsing in a ladies department store, and came across a top that read 'I LOVE MY SHIRT'. How sweet!

And here was my favorite, which I saw in a restaurant the other day:
'ROOLS OF LIFE:
Be cool
Be health
Be brove
Be stong'

And these people so love their shirts! Good stuff.

We are in the midst of Ramadan here in Turkey. This means a different set of prayers and, of course, FASTING. Fast time lasts from 6 am to 6 pm, roughly. There is also these two dudes who walk through the dead of night through all the streets beating drums and playing this flute-like thing to wake people up around 2 am to go and eat before sunrise.

Then, around 6 pm, everyone rushes to the restaurants for IFTAR, which the evening meal that breaks the fast. It is amazing the self control these people have. The restaurants are full of hungry people sitting at the table, looking at juicy salads, salty black olives, and fresh baked bread, but they won't touch a THING until they hear the call to prayer that indicates it is time to break the fast.

So here is a short crash course on authentic Turkish cuisine. Eating out is really cheap and the food is VERY plentiful so we have tried a LOT of restaurants in town. Below I have compild a few items that are THE staples of Turkish cuisine:

1. BREAD - baked fresh every day and of course no preservatives or anything, often with sesame seeds sprinkled on top. EVERY meal includes bread.

2. MEAT - Grilled on an open flame, or ground and made into meatballs, or or stewed with carrots and eggplant and potatoes, it's all very tasty and never deep fried so quite healthy. Usually beef but they also eat lamb. No pork, being Muslims, so forget about bacon.



3. YOGURT - you'd be amazed what these people do with yogurt. They have this yogurt soup that I think is really gross and lumpy but they love it here. They also often serve as an appetizer this yogurt and soft channa dish topped with fresh dill which I know sounds weird but is so good! And I've acquired a taste for AYRAN which is a frothy yogurt drink that is lightly salted and served with either lunch or dinner. At first I thought it was rancid but I now drink it every day!



4. TEA - people are fuckin obsessed with tea!! They drink it in these little glasses from sun up to sun down. And the tea is not served with milk but you know what, it is the best tea I've ever had! And it's free in the restaurants so you can expect to drink at least three glasses, and if one person orders another tea you better be ready to drink one yourself. And ANYWHERE you go, even in the malls, people offer you tea. They want you to sit down and have a cup of tea with them! Haha, they are with tea how Trinis are with beers. Come on in, you want a drink? Here have a Carib!





5. CIGARETTES -- ha ha just kidding. Or am I?

6. PEPPERS -- they bring you these small light green peppers with your salad and bigger dark green peppers that have been roasted on the spit, but it's really fuckin hot so I can't eat them!

So those are the basics. Now into details.

A typical Turkish breakfast: Fresh baked bread bought that morning from the bakery downstairs, eggs, a bowl of black olives, feta cheese hand made from fresh goat milk, usually hand kneaded so it comes in all kinds of interesting shapes, cherry jam with these big juicy cherries in it, a plate of veggies -- cucumbers and tomatoes and such, Turkish sausage, quite spicy! And of course TEA. What is a meal without tea?

When you go out for lunch, they automatically bring you a fresh salad with tomatoes, lettuce, black olives and parsley, a plate of flat breads usually with some sesame seeds on them, and sometimes the yogurt and dill dish. That is pretty standard in most restaurants. And sliced lemons come with EVERYTHING, you squeeze it all over your food. They also make this dish with a paste of minced tomatoes, red peppers, hot peppers, parsley and garlic and onion which you eat with bread.

At our favorite restaurants, these are our favorites dishes:

Lahmacun -- (lah-mah-joon) these really thin sort of pita things with ground lamb and parsley and all sorts of yummy herbs and spices, baked open faced in an oven. You squeeze lemon over it and roll it up like a joint, very yummy.



Patlican kebap -- You know what, I always thought that kebab meant meat on a skewer, but it actually means "roasted". This is a delicious beef stew with roasted eggplant and carrots, served wtih bread for dipping.

Doner -- they stack thin slices or cuts of meat on this huge metal skewer, and slow roast it rotating on an open flame, and they carve off slim pieces of the meat and usually serve it either with rice or bread.

How could I forget DESSERT! Holy crap desserts are orgasmic. BAKLAVA from heaven! So juicy and melt in your mouth. A lot of filo pastry and ground pistachios and sugary sweet syrup. There is also a baked dessert dish which has this sort of circle of mozarella in the middle. Turkish Delight I am not too keen on... sort of like a glorified jub jub!



Ok, that is all about food for today. I am still full from the iftar meal - thinking about more food makes me feel to ralph!!!!!!

For such a small city -- Sivas has a population of a whopping 300,000 -- there is quite a strong police presence. What continues to baffle me is the cops who drive around and shout at people through their loud speaker, and obviously since I am not fluent in Turkish, I have no idea what they are saying. We never see anybody doing anything wrong or breaking any laws, so Andrea and I often joke that they are the Morality Police. 'Hey you! Whatever you're doing in there, stop it! Yeah you! Stop having fun! Put on your head scarf! And you! Better not be drinking! Stop eating! It's Ramadan! Fast! FAST FAST FAST!'



Zeynep strikes a pose with a member of the Moralily Police.

I have some Sivas pictures that I am gonna post very soon, but in the meantime I'd like to post some more pics from the Istanbul trip because there were so many and I only posted four.



These beautiful religious mosaics are from the inside of the Aya Sofya. It is pretty incredible to stand and look up at something that has been there for so many centuries. The Sofya used to be the biggest Christian church in Europe, but then it became a mosque, and now it is a tourist trap! Haha. Who would have thought.



This is me getting an authentic lesson in Turkish carpet making from an old lady on the side of the road. Apparently a big carpet can take up to a year to make by hand, so you can imagine how much these things cost.



Istanbul is just overflowing with ancient artifacts like this one. I wonder if the people who live and work in Istanbul even notice these chunks of history that they walk past every day as they go to and from their daily lives?

I am slowly but surely starting to pick up a bit of Turkish. For example I know that an eczane is a pharmacy, merhaba means hello, su is water, hesap lütfen means 'the bill please', postane nerede? means 'where is the post office?', çok güzel means something is very good, and so forth.

But here are some other phrases from my trusty Lonely Planet Turkish Phrase Book that I find highly amusing and that I hope I will get the chance to use in the near future:

Bahçede kamp yapabilir miyim? -- Can I camp in the garden?

Eşşoğlu eşek! -- Son of a donkey! This is apparently the top insult of what drivers call each other on the road when someone gives a bad-drive.

Çok küçuk -- It's too small. Better hope a woman never says that to you!

And of course, some good old fashioned CUSS WORDS:

Siktir git! -- Fuck off you!

Kahretsin! -- Shit!

And for when it comes time for the loving:

Seni seviyorum -- I love you

Tatlım -- My sweet

Sen benim herşeyimsin -- You're everything to me

So those are today's words. I hope in a few months to be pretty fluent and be able to have a normal conversation with a local!!

Tomorrow -- men holding hands and kissing!!

The saying goes that 'Necessity is the mother of all invention', or, in layman's terms, you gotta do what you gotta do. This, for example, is our makeshift 'fridge', full of delicious, semi cold Efes. We love Efes. But not Tuborg -- it is a really crappy Turkish beer. Efes all the way!!!

Today marks the two-week anniversary of our arrival in Sivas. Half a month! How quickly it all goes by! And what the heck have we done for two weeks? Limed, shopped, drank a lot of tea and Efes (my new favorite beer), a lot of walking around, quite a bit of time spent in the internet cafe, we've eaten loads of yummy Turkish food... amazing how you can find small things to occupy your time when you have a lot of time on your hands.



Above: My two stinky bitch flatmates! Har har!!!!!

One concern I had coming to Turkey was that I would be leaving somewhere as crazy as Trinidad, and then somewhere as liberal as Toronto, to go to a conservative Muslim country in the middle east. I knew little of the culture and was not sure what to expect. Would my clothes be considered too revealing? Would it be improper for a young woman to go and purchase a bunch of booze by herself in the middle of the night? Would our neighbors watch with disapproving eyes if we had some guys come over to our place to lime?

But I have learnt fast that no matter where you are, human nature is human nature. And Turks, no matter how conservative they may seem, also have a wild side! For example, on the surface, everyone seems very proper, nice young men, nice young women, some in head scarfs and long sleeves, quite covered up and MODEST. Men tend to lime with men, and women tend to lime with women. Premarital relations are frowned upon and there are many social customs to observe. But who knew what lurks beneath all that modesty!

After a week here I got a bit worried. Where the hell did the young people go to lime and talk shit and relax? Where the heck were the bars, the pubs, the clubs? I mean I know Muslim people not supposed to drink, but come ON! There had to be at least ONE PLACE in the whole of Sivas to go shake a tail feather! Where the heck was all the nightlife? WAS there ANY nightlife? The thought of spending a year sober and in bed by 10 pm made me want to stick a needle in my eye.

So one night we got all dressed up and went out looking for some action. We found it, thankfully, this dingy tiny little hole in the ground of a club called KAYF, pronounced like CAVE which is actually a very fitting description. All the girls were scantily clad, dancing in what looked like slow motion in the flashing strobe lights, no head scarfs, no long sleeves, no modest skirts, no inhibitions. Just young people being young people, moving and grooving their bodies to the beat of euro-rave and, surprisingly, SEAN PAUL. I was very relieved to know I would not spend an entire year being surrounded by modesty.

Then, the other day we were walking down Ataturk and saw the a building with the word SINEMA and thought, hey, let's go check out what movies they have showing. Only when we got inside and saw all these dirty posters did we realise it was an ADULT sinema! No wonder all these guys were watching us with curiosity as we stood up at the entrance looking around like a bunch of bobos!

So, one dingy nightclub, and one adult sinema... who knows what else debauchery we will find in Sivas during the year. I guess it is true what the song said -- You and me, baby, aint nothin but mammals.

THANK GOD!

HOME SWEET HOME




Below are some pictures of a beautiful day in Sivas with the view from our apartment balcony. Sivas is a very nice and pretty little city -- lots of restaurants, cafes serving delicious juicy baklava, endless stores selling trendy European styles, open air markets, parks, lots of places to sit and have a glass of tea and smoke the water pipe, hamams or Turkish bath houses (which I have yet to go to!) and of course, mosques. Since we do not have a car we walk everywhere which works out well since we live a stones throw from Ataturk Avenue, which is the Yonge Street of Sivas. Sivasonions (I made that word up) are always outside walking about... one friend claims everyone goes out walking around because there's nothing else to do! But as you can see the view is beautiful in this mountain town.

When it comes to assimilating into Turkish culture, my flatmate Andrea always says, 'It's not weird -- it's different'. And indeed, Turkish culture is very different from anywhere I've ever been, and a few things take some getting used to. Like the smoking! Or the fact that if a Turkish person offers you something, you BETTER take it or they will be VERY offended! If you are out shopping and the store owner offers you a seat and a glass of ÇAY (tea), you better be prepared to sit and talk with them for 10 minutes. Also you can expect your neighbours or acquaintances to show up at your door and expect to be invited in for tea and goodies! Even if you are in your bed sleeping you better get up and put on some clothes and go to the door. Another thing that is a bit hard to get used to is how early things close up in Sivas -- not like in Trinidad where at 2 am you NOW heading to the club already drunk! But it's all good. Different is good. And plus, I believe that with enough time, you can get used to ANYTHING.



Above is a picture of a minaret, which is a vital part of every mosque. It is sort of a tall tower, and apparently in the olden days, the imam of the mosque would go to the top of the tower to sing out the Call to Prayer. Today, the imam's vocal chords are spared thanks to the wonders of modern technology and the help of loudspeakers. Prayers take place five times a day, with the first at daybreak. The first night that we were in İstanbul, our place was RIGHT next to a mosque, and we all jumped out of our skins at 5 am when the Call to Prayer boomed through the morning silence. Now, I don't even hear it anymore!



Above you will see a typical Turkish toilet. I had never seen one before coming to Turkey but apparently they are the norm across Asia. All it takes is a little balance and a little know-how. Actually it is pretty good for the leg muscles! Next to the toilet is a little tap with a little bucket for flushing or a sort of hose contraption. The first time I saw this bathroom I was scared I would pee all over my pants legs. Now I am a pro!



And of course -- how could anyone live in Turkey and NOT try the water pipe? No it is NOT hashish (I WISH!) but rather deliciously flavoured tobacco, with varieties such as cherry, banana, strawberry, coffee, cappuchino and so forth. Very tasty and smooth on the throat. But damn... smoke too much too fast and you will certianly feel woozy. Good thing I've had some practice during university!

Turkish people smoke. A lot. Everywhere. I mean people in Trinidad smoke a lot too and wherever they want, and in Toronto smoking indoors is banned but you'll still see die hard smokers standing in -20'C weather sucking on a smoke, but Turkey is a smoker's paradise! They smoke in the restaurants, in the bars, in the malls, in the stores, heck in the stores the store owners offer you a cigarette and an ashtray! Even in restaurants everyone smokes, and this is the best part -- even the WAITER is taking a drag on his fag when he's not serving you! It is customary to open a pack of cigarettes and leave them open in case anyone wants, and if a Turk offers you a smoke and you refuse they think you are strange. It is like nothing I have ever seen before. Tonight we are going to a cinema and I'll bet you ANYTHING they smoke in the cinema too. Crazy Turks! I can feel the second hand smoke coarsing through my veins already!

Finally some pictures from our trip to İstanbul last week. We naturally hit all the touristic spots, such as The Aya Sofya, The Blue Palace (which was my favorite spot and an extremely beautiful and peaceful place), The Grand Bazaar which was simply overwhelming (see the Turkish Viagra!), and the Topkapi Palace, where the tour guide was taking a nap. İtanbul is only an hour's plane ride from Sivas so I will definitely return and do some more sightseeing. We saw so much in two short days and barely even scratched the surface of such an amazing and complex city.