Champions

After our last game

Award for 'best defense'... haha

Locker room post-game

The wedding-like post-season party

Tunay, me, Ilkim, Elif, Irem, and Mine at our party

More on this coming soon... But since my team won the championship, our team owner loooves to show off.  In my opinion, the money for our extravagant party could have been used in other ways.. like a bonus??

Simit man, et al.

Simit man.  This guy walks our street everyday, usually around 11am or noon, calling out "simiiiiit!"  They are a delicious Turkish kind of bagel, covered in sesame seeds, usually along with cheese, for breakfast or a snack anytime.  Most neighborhoods have these guys walking arond with simits on their heads, though the really busy parts have guys with simit carts, and sell them three for a Lira!   This is one of the things I'll miss about this place.. the simit man.

Along with the simit man, there are also guys walking around with old rickety carts full of junk, calling out looking for more junk.  I assume they go someplace that may give them a bit of money for this junk, but some of the things i see in their carts seems like it would be worth nothing.  I've seen old pipes, half of a window frame, old vacuum cleaners...  

The last street 'patrollers' come out in the late evening, toting HUGE plastic bags the size of  WV Beetles. They are on wheels, and they go from one garbage pile to the next picking up plastic and glass bottles.  One thing about Turkey is that it is very dirty.  There are no garbage cans, so people are in the habit of throwing all their trash where ever they may be at the time.  And the household garbage pick-up system also needs to be re-done.  People simply take their small bags full of trash out to the street, and so if you walk along the street in the evenings, you see hundreds of piles of trash bags.  Before the garbage truck comes at night (and the workers must pick up each bag separately to toss in the truck), first the stray cats and dogs come and partially destroy the bags while looking for food scraps, then the plastic bottle guys come and tear them apart even more, and so what we are left with by the wee hours of the night are big piles of trash flying around the streets.  Miracle though, that by the morning, it seems to be mostly cleaned up!   Outside of the city is a different story, as the place we went on picnic a few weeks ago was covered in trash, as are most of the hills outside the city!  ick.

Istanbul

Maksi came along as well, and really enjoyed the Blue Mosque

Inside the Grand Bazaar

Inside the Spice Bazaar.  Plenty of spices, Turkish Delights, as well as all the same things as the Grand Bazaar

On our way to the Princes' Islands.. Blue Mosque and Sophia in the background.  These birds followed us most of the way, catching pieces of bread tossed up by passengers.

View from the top of one of the islands (with Istanbul across the water), and one of my friendly followers.  TONS of stray cats and dogs here!

Being in Turkey for several months and never going to Istanbul would have been a crime, and so i hopped on a bus and headed NW this last week.  To save money, me and Angelique took the night bus, which leaves Ankara at 1:30am and arrived in Istanbul around 7 or 8am.  We arrived tired, mostly because we foolishly chose to sit in the one pair of seats that has the back door in front of them and thus no leg room!  

Her Turkish boyfriend met us at the station and we caught a little bus and taxi into the heart of the city.  After several circles around the quiet, tiny streets of the Sultanahmet neighborhood, we spotted out hotel, a small pink 3 story building.  We headed upstairs to the rooftop terrace, as most hotels have in that neighborhood, and ate breakfast with the sea of Marmara on one side and a half view of the giant Blue Mosque on the other.

Afterwards, first things first, the mosque.  It was gigantic and beautiful, and the grounds surrounding it were kept up perfectly.  It was also bizarre for me to see so many flowers everywhere, as i think its the first time I've seen flowers in February, and even though they could have flowers in Ankara, they just don't.  We followed the tourist line and entered the mosque, which was also beautiful inside and really makes you wonder why they could build such huge great building so long ago, with little 'technology', while now many buildings are ugly and fall apart even with our great technological advancements.  But in the end, a church is a church is a mosque and even though it was impressive, i was anxious to get to the streets.  We looked at the other giant, and I read that it's the largest enclosed space in the world, Haghia Sophia from the outside, as they charged 20 Lira for entrance.  

Next up, the grand bazaar, as one of the main reasons to come to Istanbul was to look for gifts for myself and others.  The boyfriend should have stayed home or gone out with friends, as really, what guy wants to follow around two girls as they shop.  But he insisted, and was annoying, and thus our shopping was more hurried and shorter than we had wanted.  But i still picked up a few things.  As you walk around the packed place, sellers call out to you, telling you to spend your money at their shop.  They are used to so many tourists that they all have their own way of making jokes and seeming charming, even though they say the same thing to every girl that walks by.  We did bargain though, and all of the things I bought I got for at least a few Lira less than first stated.

ON the second day, we took the pubic ferry to one of the Princes Islands.  It was a fun boat ride, as the water is a beautiful aqua color, and the sea gulls followed our boat most of the way, begging for bread tossed up by passengers.  The island we disembarked on was the second biggest, with a wide area near port full of restaurants and cafes.  I can imaging that in the warm summer months this place is packed.. with tourists of course.  I split from my group of friends and headed up the hill alone, to get away from the 'strip' and hopefully a nice view from the top.  When I reached the area near the top, life seemed to slow to a halt.  Everything was calm and quiet, with some local older people going about their daily business of fixing things around the house or lugging groceries up the hill.  The houses are a variety of well kept little summer cottages, some old small shacks where people are living, and some beautiful, but abandoned, big homes.  As i climbed the hill, a group of stray dogs took to me and followed me all the way up.  At the top, there were some beautiful pine woods, but also a different group of stray dogs which didn't like my new friends on their turf.  My guys went around in a large circle, but kept following me down the path through the woods.  When i decided to turn back, my followers hooked on to a German family and thus I lost them.  On my way down the hill, heading back to the port, i came across several puppies wandering about as well as tons of stray cats.  I guess with so many tourists around, feeling sorry for them, they are always well fed.

All in all, Istanbul is worth a visit.  It is a huge city with lots of energy and things to see and do.  I did not, however, like how much English i heard and how everything was catered to tourists.   After living in Ankara and hearing almost only Turkish, it was bizarre to hear English everywhere we went in Istanbul.  I do want to go back however, and shop a bit more at my own pace as well as see more neighborhoods, the Topkapi Palace, and definitely return to the Princes Islands to escape the hustle of the city.

BBQ in February.. definitely not in MN!

A few weeks ago, when the weather was relatively warm, me and a few friends decided we need to get out of the heart of this concrete jungle and have a picnic.  We decided on a Sunday when none of us had a hockey game, but woke up to cloudy skies and a light drizzle.  We were set on having the picnic anyways, and I think they wanted to do it mostly to show me how Turks do a BBQ.  We met up at the ice rink, and it was me, Emrah, his hockey friend Ozan, his girlfriend/my teammate Irem, Teksin, who plays on a different girls team, and two Slovakians, Pavol and Andre, who play on Emrah's team.  So a Latvian/American, four Turks, and two Slovakians set out around 1pm for a picnicking place on the edge of the city, all the while it was drizzling rain.  We arrived about half an hour later to find that the city had sprawled considerably, and the picnic place that they knew of was almost kaput.  There were apartments built all around, whereas a few years ago, they say it was just bare hills.  The picnic tables were still there as well as little party tents, so we could stay out of the drizzle, and so we dicided to stay here.  At the grocery store, Ozan and Emrah went to town buying lots and lots of meat.  Turks love their meat, and have many many different kinds of 'köfte', which are like meatballs or hamburger patties.  They all have a name, and each kind has either its own shape or spices.I think they bought 4 or 5 packs of köfte!  We also bought chicken wings and plenty of vegetables for a salad.  

Starting a fire in a drizzle wasn't easy, and so only after about an hour of trying did we get hot coals to start cooking our food.  First up, peppers and eggplant, put on the grill whole.  Meanwhile, we put the Slovaks to work cutting up veggies for the salad.  When the eggplant was ready, Irem skinned them and mushed the insides together with lemon and salt (and usually we'd add garlic, but we had none) to make a traditional Turkish eggplant mush, which is delicious.  Next up was the meat.  Ozan took charge of cooking the meat, and as the meat was ready, he'd put it in a piece of bread (we bought 5 loaves!) and handed it off to the first person in line.  This went on for about 3 rounds, so that everyone got one of each type of köfte on bread.  Delicious.  Lastly, the chicken wings went on the grill, and meanwhile a small family of dogs, a mother with two pups, came to our area to beg for food and got plenty of chicken wing bones.  

Even though it was a cold, wet day, the picnic was a huge success.  And we were one of about 6 groups of people picnicking there that day!  I guess Turkish people rarely get time to get out and picnic and thus, if it was decided to try for a picnic, they will no it no matter what the weather.  I never thought I'd be having an outdoor BBQ in February, but I also never expected to be living in Turkey in the first place!

Where is the pork?

View  from my apartment window this morning.  Nice day, as you can see the surrounding hills in the background.
Çig köfte is the one on the far left.  Mmmm

While I adore Turkish food, I do miss some things about other countries..such as the availability of pork.  While in Minnesota i do not eat that much of it to start with, it is nice to be able to get bacon or pork chops anytime I wish to.  Whether it is for breakfast, or for a big Latvian style dinner, I do miss pork.  

So far, we have found bacon in some of the huge supermarkets, but really, paying about $6 for 5 thin pieces of bacon just isn't worth it, though a Canadian friend did give each of us a packet for Christmas.  While I am learning how to make some Turkish food, like manti, I also want to make some Latvian food so that Emrah can taste it, but really, I would need a ground pork for 'kotletes', or a tenderized pork chop to really make it authentic.  I guess I will have to wait a few more months, when i head to Latvia, to get my fill of pork.

Lately we have been eating a lot of 'çig köfte', which is a type of raw meatball, though I'm told that now, the shops are not allowed to use raw meat and must substitute other ingredients.  A çig köfte is traditionally a mixture of raw fat-free double ground meat, bulgur, garlic, onion, peppers, and spices.  It is a lot of work to make it as it need a lot of kneading.  They say that all the kneading and spices cooks the meat.  It is formed into smaller pieces by hand and thus each has a fingers and palm imprint on it.  It is usually eaten by rolling a piece in a lettuce leaf and adding a bit of lemon juice, but you can also find çig köfte wraps as well, which are kind of like burritos.

Speaking of burritos, there are none here.  At least none that i have come across.  In general, i do miss the variety of food that can be found in the US.  Especially in my south Minnepolis neighborhood, I could eat Vietnamese food one day, Mexican the next, then Thai, and even German. Here, though it is all good, it is all Turkish.  I'm not sure if this is due to the proud to be Turkish culture, or because it seems like many Turks do not travel outside of Turkey, nor are there many immigrants here.  The diversity in America is really noticeable each time i come back from being gone for a while.

In other news, the weather here has been pretty pathetic, and hard to take for a Minnesota girl.  While we did get cold and snow for about a week (and thankfully that landed right around Christmas to make it a white one), since then it has been relatively warm and cloudy.  The past few days have been rainy and warm, maybe similar to early April in MN.  I know it's been a cold winter in MN, but i still prefer the cold and snow to any other kind of winter.  Due to the mediocre weather, the days here all seem the same, and i can't believe that it is almost February.

In a few months I will be heading off to Latvia, to train with the National Team in preparation for our Division II (yes, embarassing, as we need to get back into Division I) World Championships in Italy in mid-April.  After that, who knows, as my team here is already trying to find me a job, etc., to try to entice me to stay for next season.  As of now I plan to return to the states, but who knows.. as last October I had no idea that I would end up coming to Turkey of all places!  But in preparation for returning to the states, i need to keep experimenting with Turkish recipes so that when i do return,  everyone can sample how great Turkish food really is. 

New Year's in Kapadokya

Photos:

1.) Very common sight all over Turkey: Selling nuts and fruits.

2.) Crater Lake

3.) Me and Emrah exploring cave/rock houses

4.) New Year's Eve: Cengiz, Angelique, Leen, Me, Emrah. 

5.) Traditional meal in Avanos (break it open to find meat and veggies)

Last week, for a few days over New Year’s, me and five friends went to the region of Kapadokya (Cappadocia), which is about 3 hours drive southeast of Ankara.  It is known for its unique rock formations and thousands of cave houses carved in the soft limestone.  If I remember right, some of these carved houses were just a way of life in the region, while others, like the ones in a canyon we visited, were used by early Christians hiding from persecution.  Along with these bizarre rock formations, ‘fairy chimneys’, we also saw beautiful maountains, lots of snow, and an underground city. 

We were 6 people: Me and Emrah, Jim and Leen, Angelique and Cengiz.  It was good to have a few Turks along for some translations.  We were part of a tour, and so we met our bus, which was coming from Istanbul, at 4:30am on New Year’s Eve day.  I had only slept for about 20 minutes and so most of the bus ride was devoted to sleeping.  Around 10am, after an earlier breakfast, we made our first stop at some sort of church.  It was very cold outside and we shivered our way through the short tour, then escaped out to the streets to play with the stray dogs that were hanging around.

After another short ride, and short nap, we got to out first real stop which they called a castle, but to me just looked like a big rock with lots of carved caves and holes.  We climbed the stairs to the top and the view from there was beautiful.  We could see for miles all the snow-covered rocks and the village down below.  A few photos, and we headed back down and bought a few souvenirs in the shop below.  Im actually glad we came in January in the cold, as it was empty and free of hundreds of tourists, which I'm sure flood the area in warmer weather.  The shop owners do anything and everything to please, and i ended up buying a beautiful table cloth for $10.  I hope to stock up on more if i go back in March.

Back on the bus and more napping, then a stop at another rocky area (the first picture in the next post).  This one was bigger and more accessible, and pretty soon me and Emrah were running from one 'house' to the next, exploring every room, hole, and staircase.  We kept seeing more and more facades to attract us and ended up near the top of the whole 'hill' inside a very ornate 'house' or maybe a sort of church. From there, instead of going all the way back, we jumped down about 10 feet to a landing and kept slipping and sliding all the way back down to the bottom and to the bus.  And yes, we each took a spill on our way, but a few scratches here and there were well worth it.

Next stop was the hotel, which was a very cozy looking place.  BUt we only had a few hours to nap before our bus would leave for the New Year's Eve party which was about a 30 minute bus ride away.  We arrived to a huge 'restaurant' sort of place.  The room with all the festivities was laid out sort of stadium style.  We sat at narrow tables all facing the center stage area.  So me and Emrah actually sat behind our other friends, which was bizarre, as they had to turn around to talk to us.  The entertainment and food were great.  While waiters were serving unlimited drinks and appetizers, traditional song and dance were happening down below in the center stage area.  Those of you who may know the Ethnic Dance Theatre, it seemed like performances that they may do.  The continued with song and dance as more drinks were brought and finally the main course of lamb and turkey, cooked to perfection.  Near midnight, DJ music began and most people went down to dance, while we headed to another room with a fireplace to ring in the new year amongst our group of close friends.

After sleeping in till about noon, our hockey friend Ozan called, picked up me and Emrah, and we headed to his families hometown to explore more.  First things first, food.  He went into  shabby looking place and ordered our food, which he said would take half hour to be ready, so meanwhile we walked around town and visited a famous pottery place.  While most of these places are geared toward tourists, they also all have a very close family feel and everyone is very kind and helpful.  We then headed back to the restaurant and i was surprised with a very special, traditional meal.  We were each given a clay pot, which was closed at the top, but had a ring etched around the middle.  To open our lunch, we took a knife and gently hit the pot all around the ring, which cracked and then could be taken off to reveal a hot lunch of meat and vegetables, cooked perfectly.  I guess this is a traditional meal in the Kapadokya region, where clay is plentiful, and we all enjoyed it a lot.  

After some more sight seeing, we were back at the hotel for dinner and then spent a quiet evening having cocktails with our friends.

The next morning started early once again, with our tour bus leaving at 8am.   Im not quite sure of the order of events, but i think our first stop was at an underground city, which was absolutely amazing.  I dont remember the name of it right now, but it was at least a thousand years old, maybe for fleeing christians, and went 7 stories down below ground.  There were electric lights so that we could all see where we were going, but it would be easy to get lost down there.  Very where we went, more tunnels, staircases, hidden rooms, etc.  They even had a school and winery, along with Indiana Jones style 'doors' for safety.  In several places along the narrow staircases,  we saw big huge wheels made of rock, that could be rolled into place to block the stairwell from intruders.

Next stop was a canyon, i think it was called Ilhara Valley.  As most of the group followed the tour guide like robots, looking at the many rock cave churches, me and Emrah spotted some more cave houses across the river and made a break for it across the bridge.  It was well worth it, as we found a narrow staircase leading up to the second level.  I got up first, but when i got t the top, i found myself at a dead end, looking down the cliff at the ground below.  After a minute of standing, confused, i noticed above my head a hole, and somehow wedged myself up through it and finally found myself in the second floor of the house.  It was like being on huge open patio with a great view, with the rooms of the house behind me, dug into the rock.  It would be a great place for a BBQ.  After more exploring and climbing, we headed back up to meet our group.  While they had seen countless boring churches, which all looked he same to me, we saw several cave houses, many churches, and so many more things that were off the beaten path trodden by the robots of the tour group.

Two more stops were a crater lake and a salt lake... both beautiful as everywhere was covered in snow.  We reached Ankara that evening, exhausted from being out and about and traveling.  It was nice to be back 'home'.  But we are already planning on returning to Kapadokya in the spring, with our own car and our own timeframe, to explore more.

Kapadokya photos

Photos:

1. Cave houses.  Me and Emrah could have spent all day here, climbing and exploring.  We got almost to the highest windows you can see.  It was really amazing.

2. Cave houses, they called this a castle.

3. Me and Emrah on top of the 'castle'

4. A view from the bus...On our way from the rock caves to the salt lake.  We made a pit stop not far from here, and our bus got stuck in the snow for a while.. had to put on snow tires to get out.