stupidity stu*pid*i*ty
Pronunciation: stu-'pid-d&-tE, styu-
Function: noun
1: the quality or state of being stupid
2: a stupid idea or act
3: an attempt to hand someone something as trivial as a ridiculous postcard in hopes of a sale while the potential sale is walking down the street looking unapproachable (i.e. eyes focused ahead, zero eye contact, headphones on and LOUD) and both hands are being utilized for a plethora of bags and somehow even a box tied with string.

so maybe this happened to me, but I'll never tell.

Still working on getting the photos of Eskişehir up on the net, but in the meantime you can check out Tuesday's festivities.

Eskişehir

Bright and early Saturday morning, Gosia (Polish), Lee (Aussie), two Turks (Ersin and Osman), and I hopped in Ersin's car for the two hour ride East to Eskişehir, a small city with two universities. It had an atmosphere that I had yet to experience in Turkey. Yes small, but a very social atmosphere as the entire city is littered with cafes, pubs, bars, and areas that encourage one to get out and about, which is easy to do as everything is within walking distance from the cafes along the river to the typically beautiful mosques to the university campus. We arrived at about 10am, and were met by a Polish Eskişehir trainee, Peter, with whom we would be staying (and his roommates Apo, Kutan, and another guy I can't remember). Brief introductions were made and then it was agreed upon that breakfast was the next task at hand. A quick run to the grocery store, mind you we're in a college apt now, for the essentials-bread, spread, bread, and this gourd-fruit thing that is in season this time of year.. oh yeah, and bread.

After breakfast, cleanup, lounging, and getting ready, we are out the door for a walk around the city. Let's go see Eskişehir!! We walk along the main streets, and the cafes on the river, and stop at this indoor place with several cafes and shops. I'm told by Apo it used to be a farmer's market type place, where each present-day cafe or shop was a different vendor selling fruits and vegetables. It's very nice and cozy inside with the Christmas lights hanging all about. You might also notice the ginormous, metal chandeliers. They are commonly seen hanging from the ceilings in mosques, such as the famous Sultan Ahmet mosque with its six minarets located in Istanbul.

After our respective teas and coffees, we walked a bit more and stopped at the Aiesec office. We met some more trainees (Romanian girls) and chatted for a bit before heading out for a tour of the university campus. The campus was quite nice, and had various strange sculptures all around the grassy areas. After our campus tour and a brief lounging period back at Peter and Apo's apt, we, as well as several Aiesecers and trainees, all met up at a place called The Doors. This place is fantastic! You walk in to a courtyard area which, by the way, has a bonfire encircled by cushions, surrounded by various types of places-a nice, fancy restaurant, a typical bar, a disco/club, and a wine-drinking place. This is where we spent our night-traversing from bar, to fire, to disco (where I got to go up behind the turntables and pretend to be a dj!)-until god only knows what time in the morning.

Sunday, surprisingly we were all awake and ready to go by 10am. Quite a feat if you take into account the previous night's festivities. Again we ventured out into the city. We stopped at an incredibly beautiful mosque, among the various streets and shops. And all along the tour, we'd stop at this cafe here and that cafe there. The last stop and one of my favorites was a three-floor cafe-upstairs were chairs and tables like any regular cafe, on the middle floor were low tables surrounded by bean bag chairs, and the bottom floor had pool tables. The cafe also had a shelf of games like Taboo and backgammon. A great place to be lazing about, no?

After we had seen all there was to be seen, made quick exchanges of contact info and plans to meet up in a few weeks and come back to visit after Ramazan, there was nothing to do but say goodbyes, and head back home to Bursa.

Weekend Getaway?

Click to enlarge



Details are very unclear at the moment as the plan is still developing, but hopefully I will have a story to post for you about my weekend travel from Bursa (green) to Eskişehir (red). It is only about two hours from Bursa, and has a reputation of a small, "student" type city. The plan is to go there and:

1. Get out of Bursa for a weekend


2. See a place I haven't yet


3. Visit fellow trainees

Originally I wanted to try and go hiking and overnight camping on Uludağ this weekend, but seeing as how I have no camping gear, this poses a problem. I figure opportunity is knocking, so I'll take this one and have more time to plan a hiking/camping adventure for next weekend or perhaps during Bayram, when everyone will have a long weekend. Ehhhxcellent.

It seems that, yes, the bird flu has been found in a village in Turkey. It seems everything is under control. Here's the latest on it.

ramazan feasting

After tomorrow, I'll have been sticking with the Ramazan fasting for one week solid. It still isn't as difficult as I imagined, but I think the general consensus is that it's a bit "harder" this year than last. I say it strictly meaning the fasting associated with the holiday. My friend told me that because of the earlier beginning this year (the holiday changes dates every year because it operates on a different calender, thus, it falls at an earlier time each year), the first half of Ramazan falls before the clocks change, so the fasting hours feel longer.

Aside from the no eating, and focusing on virtues such as compassion, forgiveness and avoiding other things like selfishness, it is a time for self reflection and examination of one's life. I find, especially in the recent month or two, that I tend to this quite a lot anyway. I'd say I'm just keeping on in the same manner, though it does take a bit more concentration when your stomach is trying to persuade your brain to think about delectible snacks and foods versus, say, the future.

I was also fortunate to hear the morning drums on two occasions. Oh yea, I might've forgotten to mention that one. Well, in addition to the new prayer, which I prefer over the normal one, in the morning-and I'm not talking bright-sunshiney day, it's so early it's still dark out when they're pounding-there is drumming. I remember looking at the time on the second occasion, but in my half-delirious state, can only recall it being somewhere between 3-5 a.m., I think. Oddly, the morning drumming doesn't bother me, really, because often when I'm having an insomnia bout, the drumming will start right as I am persuading myself to lie down with a blanket and close my eyes and just try. So it breaks up the monotony, I suppose.

Friday, I went over to Lee (Aussie) and Murat's (his host) place after a short pit stop for some cookies and such. We watched Guns N' Roses' Tour DVD from their Tokyo show. Oh man, that was some good times all around. I'm not sure if Murat was very into it, but ol' Lee and I certainly were.

Saturday evening after work, I went over to one of my co-worker's places for Iftar, the evening meal after fasting the whole day. It was everyone from my office, two fiancés, and the parents of my co-worker, 11 people total.

Yum Yum!! is all I have to say. It's one of the best meals I've had since I've been here. It's in fierce competition with only one other occasion. A table full of börek (flakey pastry filled with cheese, meat, etc.), potatoes (with parsley and yogurt), dolma (grape leaf filled with rice), beef and egg concoction, beans, two kinds of soup, peppers mixed with yogurt, cheese, dried fruit, and of course, BREAD! Pide is very popular during this time, and I saw seriously one of the biggest Pide I've ever seen in my entire life being held by an elderly man, who was standing behind me on the metro platform. He was trying to keep it covered by a newspaper, and having quite a time of it because the thing was so friggin' huge!

Anyway, I was very conscious of how much I ate because Turks are like the Italians in making you think the meal is over before they appear at the table with more food and/or a new dish. After a few of their surprise dish tactics, I realized after the last one that would be it, and decided I could put away a little more.

I was a bit uneasy as we sat there around the living room talking after dinner, one because I was incredibly full, and two, I was expecting a surprise dessert, which I didn't think my poor stomach could handle. Phew, it's only a tray of Turkish coffee, thank goodness. Not an avid coffee drinker, I've had it only a handful of times, but prefer it to the taste of the coffee I'm used to associating with the term, and it's a nice treat once in a while. Not to mention after going to bed late the previous night from the Guns N' Roses blowout, and feasting after fasting all day, the coffee was crucial to my survival at this point. I finish my coffee, and just as I do, my eyes widen in horror as dinner plates start emerging from the kitchen each with four or five pieces of baklava, and a dish of vanilla pudding topped with ice cream! Dessert after coffee?! Ooh, that's a clever move. Of course I can't let all that scrumptious sweetness go to waste, so I proceed with dessert.

Then what time is it? Well, Turkish tea time, of course! A few glasses of tea later I think I'm in the clear, and the night is definitely winding down. We turn on the tv to watch the football matches of the evening (Turkey vs. Germany and Denmark vs. Greece) and out come plates of fruit! What the ?! I manage to gracefully negotiate to eat only one banana.

long time, no post

Hey there, remember me? Probably not. So you know what they say about excuses being like buttholes.. well, mine is not above this cliché, and is probably the stinkiest one of all, like after a whole can of refried beans, topped with broccoli cabbage salad. Eww.

But I feel like I owe you all some sort of explanation for my deliquency. What started this hiatus is that I went on a trip in mid-September. It was one of the most incredible times of my life, and I wanted to put together a knock-out post to really do the trip justice. Well, I just never seemed to have the right block of time to focus on writing, so it kept being postponed, and the longer I waited, the more I told myself the better the entry would have to be to make up for the lapse of time. Well, that's a vicious cycle if I've ever witnessed one. So, I'm breaking it right now!

For the moment I'm going to skip over my trip, and will eventually post on it. Other news, however, is aplenty. First, I've made plans to go back to the states for the holidays!! Christmas with the family, of course, and New Years Eve, who knows? At the moment plans are limited to North America, but crazier things than an abroad celebration have been known to occur.

Second, Ramazan, Ramadan in English, started this past Tuesday. You can read lots about it from the link, whose perspective I especially like because it's targeted at traveling in Turkey during this religious holiday, and therefore is written for foreigners. I'll spare you the regurgitation, but basically it's a time of fasting, including food and beverages among other things, from sunrise to sunset every day for about one month. However, women who are pregnant or menstruating are allowed to eat and drink.

The article I link to is right that it's a time of reflection of one's life, but also very much a celebration. The vibe is almost like that of Christmas. Lights are strewn up all around the city, there is an "Ottoman village" near Ulucami (the oldest and most famous mosque located in the city center) with wooden booths that sell sweets, food, books, religious items and trinkets, much like a Kristkindlmarkt or Christmas market in Germany in December. People begin to gather there as the sun begins to set in preparation for the evening feast.

I think it's important to note, that depending on where you are and who you're with, will effect how much it feels like a fast or holiday. For example, aside from some restaurants and bars being closed, businesses having shorter hours, the different daily prayer over the loudspeaker, and the city decorations, Ramazan here in Bursa is not much different than non-Ramazan times. Also, a lot of folks here, as I'm sure in many of the other western Turkey cities, uphold Ramazan fasting like we often treat New Years resolutions. For example, after two weeks, some people will give up and break the fasting. Also, as always, the Turks are very accommodating and hosptitable to foreigners and don't expect them to participate in this religious holiday.

I, however, for the time-being have decided to try it out. It's surprisingly not as hard as I thought it'd be. I still get hungry during the day, but not any more so than I would if I hadn't been fasting. I suppose the hardest thing for me is forbidden fluids during the day. Maybe it's out of habit, but I really take notice and miss drinking water throughout the day.