Ramadhan and New Arrivals

Ramadhan is upon us.  This is my first ‘full’ Ramadhan, as the years before in Indonesia, I arrived for the tail end, was home for the second one, and was teaching at the Japanese school for the third  so only a handful of students were participating.  Despite the finale when Emily and Jason were visiting and we got to listen to the mosque go off for a solid 24 hrs (including the horrendous decision to allow children to sing/pray over the loud speakers), I have never really taught during it.  That being said, I do not enjoy teaching during Ramadhan.  The students and teachers alike have a zombie-esque quality to them, as they are not eating, drinking or smoking for seventeen hours of the day in 30+ degree heat.  Although Turkey is technically a secular state (meaning most shops and restaurants are still open), Malatya is fairly conservative so the majority of people are fasting.  It has led to some very interesting discussions about the meaning of Ramadhan and they whys/why nots of why people participate.  The main reason that I can discern is that they are sympathizing with the poor (I have never seen so many beggars in Malatya until it began) and those who can’t fast due to health concerns, pay a daily fee to the poor as I learned from one of my students who is diabetic and thus can’t fast. 

Otherwise, not much has been happening.  A plethora of new classes has begun (although Joe and I are still teaching under 20hrs a week) and they are on a ‘summer course’ meaning they last only 8 weeks, and we zip through the book.  Naturally none of the staff felt the need to tell us, and I found out from one of my co-teachers a week in, and am now behind in 2 of my 3 classes which is a pain.  How no one felt it necessary to pass on this vital piece of information I have yet to decipher, but alas.   Language schools seem to seriously lack in communication which is irony in itself. 

Joe messaged me on Thursday to inform me a new teacher would be arriving on Monday night.  Naturally I was shocked, as Joe and I hardly have full schedules, and we know next to nothing about him.  Since we have gotten used to having the house to ourselves (taking up three of the four bedrooms) we spent our day off on Saturday cleaning and rearranging the house. (Joe finished up the cherries baking another pie).    I had a Skype interview that day so I had rearranged Buglem, and I sat around and waited for the new teacher.  He hadn’t arrived by the time Joe got home, so I looked up flights, but there had been no flights arriving at 6:30 (the time they had given me).  A bit confused, I messaged Onder and of course I got no reply, so I messaged Gungor.  He called around for me (not managing to get ahold of Onder either) and found out from Yasar that he was coming in at 6, and that Onder must have taken him for dinner.  We waited and waited- I went to bed at 11 and Joe at midnight. I got a message from Onder shortly thereafter saying that the new teacher wouldn’t be arriving that day- no explanation at all.

The next day, I found Onder after my classes to ask him what had happened.  He informed me that he had found out the previous afternoon that there had been a problem and the teacher would be late.  I looked at him, baffled, and asked him if he had gone to the airport.

“No.” He replied.

Trying not to call him a moron, I answered, “You didn’t even go the airport?  You didn’t think that this was information we needed?”

“I told Joe there was a problem,” he replied, trying to pass on the blame to Joe when he clearly hadn’t told him anything.

“No you didn’t.” I answered.  He didn’t say anything, and since I knew he was never going to apologize for being self-concerned and unaware of others, I simply said, “If you hear anything you need to let us know immediately,” and walked away.

He called that evening saying the teacher was at the bus station, and he was going to pick him up.  Hours passed, no sign.  I called him to ask what was happening.

“I am at home.”  He said. “I couldn’t find him. He will call me.”

Horrified at the thought of this guy (the only foreigner at the bus station) just hanging out, was appalling, so we offered to go help him locate him.  Fortunately he did manage to call before that, but we were shocked. 

He made it here in one piece, thoroughly exhausted, and we made small talk for a bit before he crashed.  Talk about adventures.

Election Day Antics

It was a lovely start to the week.  Sunday was Election Day in Turkey, which meant that Joe and I had our first Sunday off since we arrived.  My students invited us out for a late breakfast, so Joe and I meandered into town- stopping at the mall because Joe needed a new harddrive, and then to meet them at 1pm.  Only Habib was there, so we chatted a bit and he gave us some presents to remember him by (bracelets for Joe and anklets for me) and we waited almost a full hour before Merve, Onur and then Seda arrived.  We ate breakfast (a vast array that covered the table with 33 different options) and discussed the election (they had all voted for a different party).  

From left to right: Seda, Merve, Habib, me, Joe, Onur

By the time we finished eating, Murat showed up- we learned later that he had asked Merve to be his girlfriend, but she had needed time to think about it- and we all piled into his car and drove up to Gonduzbey where Merve’s father had a ‘garden’ although it turned out to be more of a farm/orchard than a garden.  He gave us a tour and then we had tea and more food (which we had to eat to be polite even though we were stuffed) and then we went cherry picking.  They were fresh and delicious, and we ate more than we put in the bags- but we all went home with crazy amounts.  If anyone knows any good cherry recipes, I would love to hear them because I don’t know what we will do with them otherwise- it is an insanely full bag. 

The gang cherry picking

Murat drove us home, sharing the good news that Merve had agreed to be his girlfriend (although her father doesn’t know because that is not the way that dating works in Turkey) and we arrived home later than anticipated after a fun filled day to watch an evening storm roll across the sky.

We awoke that night to very good electoral news- AK Party was still in power, but they would need to form a coalition government in order to rule.  Since it doesn’t look like any of the others want to work with them, they are now in the process of figuring out if it will be a minority government or a coalition.  Most people here seem very pleased with the results as well which is good- not a lot of tension- at least in Malatya there isn’t.  On Wednesday Joe and I had the day off as there was a teacher training at the Anemon hotel that evening.  Joe set to work making a cherry pie (curtosy of Martha Stewart) and I cleaned and helped him destone cherries (a tedious task).  Elif came over that evening before the event, and I have her some clothes and she beat Joe at backgammon before we walked over.

Elif, Joe and I am the seminar.

  As normal, it started about a half an hour late, and while we had expected  to be hopelessly bored, the woman they had doing it was very good: funny, informative and with some interesting classroom ideas.  It wrapped up with dinner, and all in all it was significantly more fun than the one we went to back in September when we had first arrived and didn’t know anyone.  It was a pleasant twist to a very hot week.

The Beauty of Amsterdam Pt. 2

Wednesday morning shone bright and sunny, it was gorgeous, although a little nippy with the wind still kicking up every now and again.  We walked in to the Anne Frank house (although the lineup was around the corner and none of us felt like paying 20 Euros to wait for an hour to see an attic) and then headed back to Vondelpark for a stroll.  

Anne Frank House

We left, deciding to come back later with some beers, and headed for lunch at an Irish Pub near the museum district.  From there it was back to the Red Light District so that Caitlin could get her nose pierced.  While we were there, we saw people up on top of a church, and decided to go up.  It turned out to be the oldest church in Amsterdam, and our tour guide gave us some splendid information topped with stunning views of the city.  

We headed back to the park and spent the better part of the afternoon relaxing until it got too cold to sit outside anymore. 

Vondelpark

We made our way back, but the weather was still beautiful, so Eric relaxed with a movie and Caitlin and I went out for a walk through Westerpark (right beside our Airbnb) and at twilight it felt like Narnia.  It was absolutely stunning with the sun setting and the vibrant colours of little houses tucked in behind trees.  We were both very sad we didn’t have our cameras with us.  By the time we got back, it was quite late as the sun didn’t set until about 10pm, and we relaxed with some music until bed.

My last full day in Amsterdam got off to a mellow start.  We decided to go see Haarlem (about 15km outside of Amsterdam) and we walked the 2km to the train station and took the short trip to Haarlem.  Since we really didn’t know anything about what to see there, we headed to the center, and enjoyed walking through the sleepy little town- a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam.  We again enjoyed lunch on the patio, and then wandered the canals, admiring the houseboats (or dock houses because they weren’t really boats) before heading back to Amsterdam.  

We walked back up to the house, relaxing with a film for a couple hours and then it was time for me to leave.  Caitlin and Eric walked into town with me and we found a patio to sit with a beer and watched people for a couple of hours, before off I headed to the airport.  Amsterdam topped all of my expectations- it was the perfect blend of relaxation and culture, and the perfect place to spend four days.

My trip home was equally as uneventful as my trip there.  The man at Passport Control decided to make me answer questions in Turkish (which at 4 in the morning is quite tricky) but apparently I passed because he let me back in.  I made it home by 8am to a lovely surprise breakfast of a fantastic omelette, fresh bread and a cup of coffee.  Joe outdid himself by washing the dishes so that I could go pass out when I finished eating.  It was a good set up for the summer, and an enjoyable way to arrive home.

The Beauty of Amsterdam Pt. 1

It is only the second time in three years of travelling that I have left the country I reside in and head for outside adventures, but this one made it all worthwhile.  I awoke bright and early to glorious sunshine on Monday morning, eagerly anticipating my journey to Amsterdam.  I walked down to the bus stop, and made my way to Malatya airport for my first flight.  I luckily had the emergency exit seat(e.e.s), so full leg room.  I easily killed four hours in Istanbul with a couple of beers and my book, and then landed another e.e.s. for the four hours to Amsterdam.  I made small talk with the older Turkish gentleman beside me (I am continually grateful for Michael Jordan as he makes explaining the pronunciation of my name infinitely easier), watched some T.V., dozed and arrived about 5pm.  I cleared customs with no problems, and then went to wait for Caitlin and her friend Eric to arrive.  I was quite pleased with their delay, as I was a titch shell shocked wandering the airport and looking at the tall, blonde people, the variety in the markets and the fact that everyone spoke English.  I managed to get my bearings by the time they arrived, and we headed to the train.  

We missed ours by a minute, and Eric saw a sign for Central that was leaving sooner than on the platform we were waiting for.  Thinking he knew what he saw, and not reading Dutch, we agreed and ended up on a train to the Hague- not the direction we were hoping for.  With the help of a nice Estonian traveller, we managed to get off and reoriented back in the correct direction.  We let our Airbnb hosts know we would be a little late, and enjoyed the scenery as the stress ebbed.  We found our bus from there and made it to our location in West Amsterdam by about 10pm.  We rang our host, and he came down to show us the ropes.

Rijks Museum

We headed back out to locate the grocery store (it was closed) and then relaxed by the canal before calling it a night.  The next morning was windy and cold with a drizzle pelting down in the wind.  Eric and I headed to the store to pick up some breakfast stuff, and then we had a lazy morning.  Since the weather was so miserable, we caught the tram to the Rijks Museum and spent a couple hours enjoying the art.  

Caitlin and I

Eric and Caitlin

We wandered out and as the rain had died down (although the wind was still wickedly cold) and walked into the center, meandering the canals, and stopped for lunch on a patio with a heat lamp.  From there we wandered into the Red Light District to see the Erotica museum and check out a couple tattoo shops (for Caitlin and Eric) but they were all quite pricey. 

  From there we headed to the Amsterdam Dungeons- an underground interactive history lesson on some of the darker times in Amsterdam’s history.  It was really interesting to have actors tell the story and enjoy the ‘live’ telling of history.

By this point we were a little tired, so we caught the bus home, stopping to pick up supplies for dinner, and then relaxing with a movie and an early bedtime.

Food and Phones

With the arrival of the heat, the arrival of some various oddities has arrived as well.  The ongoing election process and the music vans that accompany that, signify severe continued irritation.   The street beggars are out in fuller force as well, and perhaps the oddest ruse I have ever encountered, is that recently we have had young boys (between 8-12 I would say) who sit at various places on the sidewalks with a bathroom scale- presumably so that people will pay them to weigh themselves. In public.  In the middle of the sidewalk.  I don’t fully understand it, as surely people who want to weigh themselves would simply buy a scale and those who don’t want to weigh themselves most certainly don’t want to do it with dozens of people walking past to observe.  I have yet to see anyone actually weigh themselves, but occasionally a housewife will pat one of the boys on the head and leave them a small amount of change- so apparently this gimmick somewhat works.

It has also been a sad week at work, with the departure of a couple of my favourite classes.  I have seen them grow since they were Elementary students and now they are finishing their Intermediate level class, and stopping for the summer. On Thursday night they took me for a fabulous dinner at a restaurant I hadn't tried before- sending the leftovers home to Joe's delight.  It will be a little odd not having them around, and with the loss of these classes, and no addition of new ones, Joe and I are on nine/ten hour weeks.  Fortunately we don’t get paid by the hour, but I am an infinitely more productive person when I am busy, and it is hard to be motivated to find productive ways to fill all of my free time.  

My students

However, last week  Onder asked us if we wanted to go for breakfast on Monday morning.  I was surprised by the invitation, and not being a huge fan of the man (but seeing no way to politely decline) I graciously accepted.  Onder replied that he had promised and he is strict about keeping his promises.  I responded that that is a good way to be, to which he responded, “I suppose, sometimes.”  effectively taking away the graciousness of his invitation, and making us an obligation.  Nonetheless, Monday morning Joe and I readied and headed downstairs at 9am where Mehmet was waiting to take us.  We drove about twenty minutes to a village called Gokuzbey, a beautiful, green, peaceful spot for breakfast.  Onder and his friend weren’t there yet, so we explored a little and then made small talk with Mehmet (his English is so-so).  The food arrived twenty minutes after that, and we sat and stared at it for another half an hour when Onder graced us with his presence, a mere hour and fifteen minutes after the time he had arranged.  He opened with the line, “Why didn’t you start?”  to which I passive aggressively stated that it is rude to start until everyone has arrived.  He then proceeded to tell us that his wife’s car had broken down the day before and he had to deal with it that morning.  Fine.  

some of breakfast

Three different types of scrambled eggs, French fries and borek arrived along with tea to overload the already crowded table, and as Onder talked to his friends in Turkish for the whole time, (with an occasional comment in our direction) Joe and I quietly ate our food and then played 20 Questions.  The food was good though.  We headed home afterwards- Joe’s class was cancelled due to ‘school repairs’ (although we can’t see any visible changes) so we played backgammon until I went to see Buglem.  Having an intriguing conversation with Ali about Turkish politics as he drove me home.  Ali is a huge advocate of Erdogan (the current Turkish President) saying that he is bigger than Ataturk and his longevity in politics is equal only to the wonderous Putin.  I was glad I had my sunglasses on, and mostly answered with, “taman” (ok) to everything he said.

Mehmet, Resit, Onder, Joe and I

Joe patiently listened to me vent about the events of the day when I got home and then we went for a glorious walk in the evening sun.  Our last event occurred when my old phone (or rather Joe's old phone that I have been using crashed and burned.  It had been on the fritz for a while, but this meant that I either had to do without or buy a new phone.  With Joe's unyielding patience (I did buy him lunch for his troubles) we spent a good few hours at the mall over Wed and Thurs, until after careful deliberation, some cold feet, and a LOT of hemming and hawing, I purchased a phone.  Now to get through the weekend where Monday morning and a flight to Amsterdam await me.

My very first self-purchased cell phone

Inked

.  At work on Monday, we were handed stubs of how many vacation days we had used, and how many we still had left.  On it, it said that Joe had taken an extra four days (which he hadn’t- but after negotiation on how Joe had taken days he doesn't work as well, they conceded) and that I only had three days left- which also wasn’t true- I had four.  I went over it with them and told them that our contract had said we had from Dec 22 to Jan 3 off and we had come back Jan 2, leaving that extra day for me to take whenever.  Onder told us that was what the contract meant (that we needed to work the 3rd- to which I told him no, if you have the 28-29 off Oct off, it doesn’t mean you work the 29^th.  He then replied that “he (another boss) must have written it wrong” to which I held my tongue because honestly I didn’t care if he had written it wrong, that wasn’t my problem.  Finally he relented “Ok, since it's in the contract,” and again I held my tongue, because I got my extra day and didn’t feel the need to point out that he had tried to weasel his way around the wording in the contract more times  than I can count, but alas.  Small victories.

The weather stormed for a couple of days upon our return, but then mellowed out and we are into the start of a heatwave.  Currently the temperature is at 26 degrees (it's noon) with a high of 31, which makes the mornings and evenings quite comfortable and is daunting in the awareness that this summer will be infinitely hotter (matching Emily and Jason’s 40+ misery in Dubai).  but we havse been enjoying time with friends while it is comfortable and before Ramazan starts and then all hide for a month: I met Elif for coffee on Thursday and dragged her along to the tattoo parlor to translate for me (I had been wanting to add on to my bird for awhile) which was quite fun, and then we played a good few games of backgammon before she headed to class and I headed to Buglem.  Friday, only Eser showed up to class- and as he doesn’t come to any of the other classes, I cant help but think he comes to hang out with me, but nonetheless, we finished with a quick coffee (the pub was closed because it was Muhammed’s birthday) and agreed to meet with him on Monday at the pub when Joe could come. 

The weekend shone beautifully and on Sunday after classes, Elif, Joe and I headed back to the tattoo parlor.  We drank tea, and he gave us all bracelets that he had made, and then got to work.  Joe stayed until his class started and Elif was a champion.  She stood beside me and let me grasp her arm and mutter profanities when the pain was quite bad, her boyfriend (who showed up near the end) even ran back for my shoes when I forgot them- I told her he was a good find.  She wants one too, but needs to be able to place it in a location her parents would never see- Turkish parents aren’t as liberal as Canadian ones.

I limped home and relaxed, although I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the pain dissipated.  It was a little stiff the next morning, nothing terrible, easy to walk on and healing quite nicely!  I met Joe and Eser after I finished with Buglem and we had a lovely couple of hours at the pub, when Mustafa messaged, inviting us to breakfast the next morning (May 19 is a public holiday in Turkey to commerate the 1919 revolution that lead to modern Turkey as it is today.), we accepted and awoke the next morning.

We arrived at his house at 9am and chatted for a bit, before his wife brought out a gorgeous display of Turkish breakfast (including many delicious types of cheeses), Turkish coffee and a relaxing atmosphere.  We were supposed to go on a nature walk down the ravine behind our complex, but he was getting new balcony doors installed, so we left and he said he would call us when he finished.  About 3, he called and we hiked down the hill (it was quite steep) over the traintracks, down another hill, and arrived at the river to relax for a little while.  Mustafa is quite philosophical, which is normally not a problem, until he threw his plastic water bottle into the river and said, “that is a metaphor for my life,”  to which I replied that it simply looked like littering to me.  It was strange to have him go on and on about how nature is God’s greatest creation, and then leave garbage everywhere, but there is definitely a different mindset here than back home.  We eventually made it back up the hill, said our farewells and then Joe and I picked up some food for dinner and headed home to finish Breaking Bad.

Four Days in Fethiye

The sun was shining perfectly for a day in Fethiye. We happily explored our AirBnb (a few too many stairs, but otherwise perfect) with the beautiful view from the balcony, and then after a couple of showers, Joe and Terry went to pick up some things from the grocery store and Jan and I relaxed in the sun. They returned with some snacks and breakfast foods, and a few beers, and we unwound on the balcony with one before heading out to explore.  

The balcony

We wandered out to the promenade and strolled down the beach for awhile before stopping off for lunch.  The restaurants mostly catered to British tourists, but there were some good Turkish options as well.  We continued our walk, stopping in a few shops to pick up a few odds and ends and booking our boat trip for the next day (which was surprisingly cheap) and then taking the water taxi into Fethiye to peruse the city center.  We decided to save the proper tour for another day, and instead wandered through the old town and the shops before calling it a day and heading back into Calis Beach.  We wandered back to the house, put together some food and sat on the balcony to watch the sunset.  We played a game of Heads Up and then called it a night as we had an early-ish start the next day and we had had a long day. 

The next morning shone bright and beautiful as the day before.  The forecast had called for some storms, but fortunately they held off.  We had a quick breakfast and put our bags together before being picked up.  We gathered a few more people in our van (including a nice Chinese girl named Sarah, who stayed around us for the day) and then on to Oludeniz where the boat was leaving from.  Oludeniz is famous for its transparently clear water, and it did not disappoint.  

We boarded the boat- the first ones on, and found one of the very few places that were outside and in the shade.  It turns out the boat had a tab system (which I hate) and made sense for the cheap entry onto the boat in the first place.  It took about an hour for everyone to arrive- about 50 people, but apparently this can get up to 300 during the busy season- we were all very grateful there wasn’t that many people.  It was a beautiful day on the water- but I was truly baffled by the amount of tourists that arrived on the boat sunburnt and stayed out in the sun all day.  It looked painful, and one woman later on, when Jan told her she looked very red, said that it would just turn brown later.  It wouldn’t, it was going to be a painful peel, but apparently this is the mentality of many British tourists.  We made our first stop at the Blue Cave, and then turned the waterslide on, and in I went.  It was considerably colder than I had been expecting, but it managed to be a pleasant shock to the system even though I didn’t stay in long.

We continued on our way with the next stop at the Butterfly  Valley.  We paid the entrance fee and then meandered through the valley- where there was a serious lack of butterflies- up to the waterfall.  Even without the butterflies it was a beautiful hike.  Our next stop was at Aquarium Bay for lunch, where we joined by another stray- a Turkish-Spanish guy- and Sarah.  After a delicious lunch of trout or a disappointing lunch of chicken, we were off again to St. Nicholas Island where we had the option of water sports (which we didn’t take) and then to the Cold Water Spring where Joe took the waterslide chute in- I was deterred by the words ‘cold water’ so I didn’t join in, and then to our last stop at Camel Beach where Jan and Terry went for a swim and Joe and I stayed on the boat with a beer.  One of the staff went cliff jumping for our amusement (although it was a bit lame) but then we headed back.  We took a big bumpy van back to our hotel, showered and then went for a sunset dinner.  We wandered the promenade before heading home for tea on the balcony and then off to bed.

Our last full day in Fethiye got off to a lazy start.  We had breakfast in and then slowly headed to the water taxi to go into town.  We stopped for a Turkish coffee and baklava on the other side and then found our way up to the rock tombs- forgoing the castle, as it was only ruins- which had a fantastic view of the harbour after a steep climb up to the tombs.  

We went shopping in the old town where I found the most beautiful handbag I have ever seen- with a pricetag to match that didn’t fit my budget in any way shape or form- so I sadly left it alone.  Jan picked up a few odds and ends though before we headed to a fabulous lunch near a pond in the market.  I went to pick up one of the cushions to change chairs and was hit by a very unhappy mewing noise.  A handful of kittens were sleeping peacefully beside us, and when one stumbled out we were treated to his delightful kitten antics while we ate.  Dinner and a show.  We wandered a bit longer through the center and then took the water taxi back, stopping for ice cream on the way back.  Jan and Joe rested for a bit while Terry and I went to explore the promenade in the other direction and Terry went for one last swim.  We finished up the evening with some beer and chips, teaching Jan and Terry how to play Yahtzee- with Jan having some of the best luck I have ever seen.  The boys went to get a pizza and it was a lovely last evening.

We finished up the holiday with a full English breakfast on the beach, where we saw some turtles playing in the water- but they sadly didn’t come up onto the beach.  Then Joe and I said our farewells and headed to the bus station for the long 20hr bus journey back to Malatya.