Halalar geldi...Aunties came...

My father-in-law is the oldest of five sisters. They all grew up in Adıyaman in the East of Turkey. My father-in-law left for the "big city", İstanbul when he was 18 never to return to live but his sisters stayed raising their families there. Four of the five sisters just took an 24 hour bus ride across Turkey to visit their ailing "Abi"(term for an older brother). In Turkish paternal aunt is hala where maternal aunt is teyze. As my husband says, "They are 100% east Turkey" meaning the East is much more conservative dress, most woman cover their heads regardless of how devote they practice. They have a little different accent too. I hope to see this other side of Turkey in the future!

They have been making delicious dishes from the Adıyaman region such as içli köfte(translates something like inside meatballs) in the photos. The aunties often times sit spread out on the floor on a blanket used for cooking and prepare it there in big circular tins. Lots of Bulgar wheat is used just as in another one of my favorite Adıyaman dishes çiğ köfte!


















Prior to these photos they had prepared a mixture of beef, onions and yummy spices to be the filling in these "pockets". The outer shell mixture felt a little like working with clay. The sisters worked as a team taking turns kneading together fine ground Bulgar wheat, ground beef, red pepper flakes, oil and other spices adding water here and there for the right consistency. Then when they felt satisfied two started the "pockets" then the other two filled them with the pre-made beef and onion mixture and sealed them closed to be the shape on the left of the upper photo...what shape would you call that? Anyone?













They got me in there trying to form these little things. I guess it is tradition that a kaynana(mother-in-law) would start the pocket then the gelin(bride or son's wife) would fill and close it. Close the köfte, close the mouth...hehe kinda funny.

When the içli köfte are assembled they are fried in vegetable oil. How can they not be delicious!!! They definitely were! We ate them while drinking ayran a very popular drink, basically watered down yogurt. It took me a while to like it but now I think it's great.

Hot! Hot! and did I mention...

...it is Hot and i am 7 months pregnant! I have been a bad little blogger with so much time between my last posts but I am ready to begin again. Back in Turkey after a wonderful trip to Minnesota, soaked up lots of family time and managed a quick trip to the old stomping ground, San Diego to see my Girls. Back in Turkey we moved into our new house! Yeah our own house, our own space, my own kitchen, our own closet to hang up my clothes and kissed my suitcases goodbye for a while. It's been a few years since I can honestly say "my house" or should I say "our house" with my hubby and our baby girl on the way! As my friend pointed out I am happily nesting.

We got our internet hooked up after weeks of "tomorrow" something like how it was always "ten days later" before our house was going to be ready but are now happily in it 2 months later. I think the equation is
A(amount of time said) x 6 + persistence + patience = you will receive your desired z

And of course "Burası Türkiye"

The internet was supposed to come "tomorrow" for about two weeks with my husband trying very hard, calling daily because he knew his very large, very pregnant and easily irritated hot wife(yes that's me) really wanted the internet connection to connect to her peeps across the ocean. Also for blogging and writing of course.

My third column, A Journey Within came out through Voices Newspaper. This one is about my attempts to make Turkey feel like "home."

One thing about living abroad, anywhere except the USA(and randomly Liberia and Burma) is that countries use the metric system of measurements and Celsius temperature measurement. It is almost easier that it doesn't immediately register for me that 37 degrees Celsius means 99 degrees Fahrenheit. It doesn't sting quite as hard or should I say sweat quite as much? But now I know...everyday for about 2 months it is almost 100 + degrees Fahrenheit. Great.

My husband and I have a debate...is it worse to be really hot? or really cold? Me coming from the really cold, Minnesota can get to below zero F Temperatures thinks it is worse to be really hot but imagine my Turk who has lived every summer in this constant heat and never experienced a Minnesota winter thinks it is worse to be really cold...Funny just what you are used to...

In Turkey also there is this fear of the cold as I have briefly written before. The all around mentality is the dreaded cold is what makes you sick. So you can only drink cold water and eat ice cream when the temperature have reached ridiculously hot. Where I am coming from a culture where there is ice in every drink year round. My husband got me a fan and installed A/C (Klima) in our room for me but he doesn't like it. So I sleep on the side of the bed with the fan blasting and no blanket and he sleeps on the fanless side with a blanket on. Also we had the A/C on last night and he would turn it off in the night then I would turn it back on. I know that A/C isn't the best for you all the time but sometimes is so necessary. Also my very dear mother-in-law is calling us telling us to not sleep with the fan on because we will get sick. I have slept with the fan on every summer of my whole life and not been sick from it.

I am a little worried when my baby comes in-laws are going to make me bundle her up to the point of me being hot just looking at her and sometimes I wonder how these little babushka babies can even breath they are under so many layers. On the Turkish airlines flight back from USA to Turkey the plane was soooo hot and my Turkish seat neighbor and I asked if we could turn down the heat but I was informed, NO because there were three babies in the front row. OMG! I can understand not going outside with a wet head and keeping babies warm of course but it is just a whole other level here. Also sweating is seen as bad because as you cool off you are wet and then get sick from the cold again. My nephew is not allowed to sweat...he is changed immediately! I think sweating is good. It cleans your body and means your heart rate went up. Keeps your insides heated up.

Anyone relate?

Anyways all this talk of hot and cold reminds me how blessed we are to be in walking distance to the Aegean Sea. It really is gorgeous. The deep varied hues of blue, so clear and refreshing. We usually don't go swimming until after 3 or later because the sun rays are so powerful. The beach is the busiest from this time until sunset.

Swimming has been so amazing on my pregnant body. My feet get swollen and pulse from the heat and my weight and then I go swimming for an hour and feel weightless. I can float on my back which is nice because I can't lay on my back anymore for pressure on the baby. I think I am going to go swimming now...

In Minnesota...

This beautiful bouquet was made by my darling mother who used lots of good things that have sprung up after the long Minnesota winters. She used rhubarb flowers(I will explain rhubarb and it's deliciousness in a post soon), honeysuckle and some grape vines all inside a cool old glass jar. It was perfect on the picnic table for our BBQ we had! I love the green lawn in the background too! Lots of love for my home town!

I have been in USA for about three weeks now between Minnesota and San Diego, California. Busy times and have been neglecting my blog even though I have lots to write about! I really want to make more time soon!

In the mean time my second column, A Journey Within came out last week through Didim/Altinkum's local English newspaper, Voices. It is a continuation of my first column, the initial experiences/reactions to my first days inside Turkey. Hope you enjoy!

My column...

I recently received an opportunity to write a column for Didim/Altinkum's local English newspaper, Voices. I am excited to share my experiences with a wider audience and hope you enjoy...

A JOURNEY WITHIN, "THIS is the enduring story of an American woman’s temporary infatuation with Turkey that led to an enduring connection to this foreign land. Emily begins her trek from her Minnesota roots to the cusp of the Aegean Sea to Fevzı Paşa, near Akbük."

momma...

This Mother's day I was in route back to the States to start my month long stint with family and friends. Simply because I miss them terribly but also so they could see my growing belly.

My mother informed me she was going to be mushroom hunting for morels that day(the above wild mushroom) and apologized for not picking me up at the airport. (I was greeted by a smiling father, beautiful sister and darling brother-in-law).

There was no need for apologizes momma! I was so happy to know that my mother was doing something she truly loves and excites her. She was doing something for herself which thank goodness she still knows how to do after having four kids who she so selflessly raised and nurtured! (She got quite the stash of morels as you can see!)

The next day my other sister called...my youngest one who is graduating from college and getting ready for some big changes in her life. She was crying, which is completely normal, as she is leaving her city, school, job and friends of four years. She was happy her big sis made it home safe but really just wanted to know where mom was...mom was at work and I told her to call her there. I could have been upset with my sister here. Her wanting to cut it short with her big sis who lives so far away but no...I totally understood, she just needed to talk to her momma!

Living abroad is not always easy. I love my husband and my in-laws but some days are so hard and guess who I call(skype)? That's right my mom. She never tells me to come home even if she misses me too. She just listens, reassures me, and reminds me of how blessed I truly am. There is a calm in her voice even her breath(I am a dork and always cry when she hugs me goodbye back to Turkey but not from her hug from the sound of her breathing:)

Mom, thank you for everything, thank you for reading to us as children, packing our lunches everyday of school, being our biggest fans, teaching us the importance of family but also having giving us a sense of independence, helping us learn to appreciate life and all we have and can give! Oh there is so much more and I hope I can be as good a mom to our girl as you have been to me. But I know I can always call my momma!

Here is a hilarious sound bite from National public radio's Scott Simon who "muses on the typical day for his wife--a full time mother who "doesn't work""

Wow...I am about to embark on that adventure!

"No but of course yes"

This is a photo of the always impressive Sultanahmet Camii or The Blue Mosque in Istanbul. The inside is completely tiled with Blue Iznik tiles hence the English name. Must see. We were in Istanbul a few weeks ago...


















We were sitting in Traffic as you often do in Istanbul when I noticed all over the taxis were the no smoking signs, you know, the cigarette with the big red circle around it and a slash through it, pretty universal. Then I also noticed the taxi driver was smoking? Hmmm? So I asked my husband if you can smoke in Taxis? He replied, "No but of course yes." This along with "Burası Türkiye" is another one of my new favorite slogans for my Turkish experience that can probably be applied to other situations too.

It seems that a HUGE majority of the population smoke here. It is a very social culture, people always seem to have time to sit together, drink tea or coffee and smoke cigarettes while chatting. I enjoy it all very much except the everyone smoking part. I think most Turks are quite oblivious to the idea of second hand smoke and the awareness of whose air space they are invading with their smoke. When I first came to Turkey a few years ago you could smoke everywhere; schools, public buildings etc. Now those spaces have been banned and you have to pay a fine if someone catches you(that's the trick... if someone catches you or cares enough or has the authority to even fine you) but still every bar, cafe, restaurant and outdoor space is open to smoking.

Since I lived in San Diego, California it was always been a completely smoke free(indoors) state. When I would go back to Minnesota and go to the bars where smoking wasn't banned at the time I realized how it permeates your skin, hair, lungs etc. and now really appreciate that they passed the law to ban smoking inside. They are supposed to impose a similar law here in Turkey in July so you can't smoke in bars anymore. This law keeps being pushed back to a later time and I wonder how it will go over this July? A ban or the "No, but of course yes"? Slow changes I wonder? Please just be aware of your second hand smoke!


















We went to Bursa a year or two ago for my husband's work. It was a fair at one of the universities with bands, cotton candy and other fair food, pop the balloon games, a few rides, for the most part usual fair activities until I noticed the above game, "Ring-a-round a ciggy pack". If you can throw a ring around the cigarette pack it is yours. It made me laugh and I had to take a pic. I think my husband probably played a few rounds actually. The love/addiction to cigarettes is no joke especially when it is so culturally accepted. We'll see... "No but of course yes????"

The story of the three idiots and the sweet talkers...

We went to Izmir, the "big city" for the day to go to IKEA and a few other shops. We sipped our Starbucks on the boardwalk, I admit i miss Starbucks sometimes. This lady came by selling red roses. She had a few good lines about this and that...for your lady...blah blah...she was a sweet talker though. She got a few lira from us in exchange for the red rose that was going to die in the car on our two hour drive back down to Didim, oh well. She kept sweet talking, got a cigarette out of my husband...some more sweet talking(again in Turkish so I only understood some but knew it was sweet)...then she has my husband's friend's hand and plops a few beans in it and starts reading his palm. Talking about life and love, counting and giving good blessings. Then she moves on to my husband. He was hesitant at first but hey it's fun even though I wish I understood it all. More sweet talking about life, love and then she takes away Nazars...














The above photo is a Turkısh eye that helps protect from evil eyes. Evil eyes and jealous thoughts people may have towards you are reflected if you have these blue Turkish eyes about, the protection. People are always pinning little blue eye beads on ones they love, especially babies. But the fortune teller said she would take away Ç's nazar for a mere and measly 20 Lira. Ha-ha so Ç and his friend both handed this sweet talking gypsy 20 TL each...40 total and we brushed it off for good luck, of course purification from nazars and this lady deserved it for here sweet talking skills. She proceeded to talk to us more how she is a Roman...I think this really is the gypsies all over Europe. Always transient and not in their original country of Romania. Normally with poor jobs living in shanties. Does anyone have extra info on these people? She continued to tell us about her father in jail, her two kids and her husband whose job is "treasure hunter" looking or should I say looting the ancient historical sites in search of gold. All throughout she had kind eyes, a bluish green. I had my big sunglasses on so she wanted to see my eyes to make sure I was OK, this American I am. She was a character for sure! Took another cigarette and went on her way to sweet talk the next...














Then grandma sweet talker came over...the mother that probably taught all these ladies "working the boardwalk" to sweet talk. She had seen the para(money) we had handed out. Instead she went to me...grabbed my hand and before I knew it my palm was being read even though I didn't know what she was saying my husband tried to translate best he could. Something about a key is coming soon(it's about time we get our house key I hope:)) and more blah blah and oh no...seems I have a huge nazar against me. Could be the pregnancy, could be her using my husband's love she knows she can get some money from him...20 lira nope not enough...she needs more to banish this huge nazar from me...but sorry sweet talking grandma...para yok...bitti...We had just given away far too much money in a short amount of time. Oh good for a story, "The three idiots and the sweet talkers". haha!


















We proceeded to IKEA, to note a Swedish company, when Ç slams on the brakes because he sees a man selling Native American headdresses and bow and arrows on the side of the road. I snapped this pick of my hubby and his peace pipe but really just want to mention what an interesting global world we live in. I am an American married to a Turk in Turkey and we just bought Native American replica paraphernalia for our cafe that was made in Indonesia, that's why it was so cheap the man said...crazy...