Knit Like A Turk

I was watching some home crafts show today and couldn't resist making a video (of horrible quality...) of this woman knitting. For you Western-World Yarn Fiends out there, you'll probably be interested in the way she wraps the yarn and carries it in her right hand. I've never seen a Rightie knit with such speed before... Good luck figuring out what she's doing...

Tales from Kapadokya: Random Dolmuş Rides and Kay Maklı

Alright, my videos are pretty crappy for the most part. So forgive me... This is certainly no Oscar-winning work, but it'll help you kill time if you're absolutely stuck for other procrastination tasks.

First, some dolmuş rides in the Nevşehir area. I know these are less than thrilling, but that's why I take them. Here's Turkey in its mundane beauty.

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Second, squeezing through Kay Maklı. I sound like such a tool in the middle video (especially while George and I argue over the correct pronunciation of "depot"). It's better when I keep my mouth shut and try not to talk about marauding Arab armies attacking the huddled underground masses... *sigh* Just mute your volume and try to see in the dark.

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Tales from Kapadokya: Avanos Call to Prayer

While George and I were on our way up the hills surrounding Avanos, the Call to Prayer started. It was super haunting and beautiful--there wasn't anyone else around and I was able to get a short bit of it recorded for you.

Out of Izmir and Back

If I had known that we were going to Tourist Land, I probably wouldn't have wanted to go to Kuşadası for 2 nights. You can check out the pictures in my album. Basically, I stopped taking pictures once we got there because it wasn't as amazing as I had hoped. It was an expensive two days and cruise-goers clogged sidewalks, identified like cattle with their neon plastic wrist bands. There was one total downer--on our way back to town after going out to Panucak Beach, we saw police hanging around what had been an accident sight. A body was on the ground, covered with newspaper. I guess they were waiting for the ambulance (or hearse or whatever?) to arrive? It was pretty sobering.

There were 9 of us altogether (7 women... yikes), plus a little toy-like dog named Nippy. Everyone was from work, except for a Turkish woman who is married to one of the men at work. I'm glad to be home. *sigh* I uploaded a some photos to my site, and explain a lot in there but here are the...

Highlights and Redeeming Experiences:

--- I finally found postcards. I've been in Izmir for WEEKS and hadn't found a single postcard. They were practically everywhere in Kuşadası.

--- Spending some quality time with the Aegean Sea:




--- Getting a snippet of the end of the Call to Prayer. Notice that everyone does not stop what they're doing (disassembling the massive tents/bazaar that had been going on all day long):




--- Finding something authentic. Much to our surprise, George and I managed to find actual Turks in Kuşadası. As we trailed through some endless shopping district last night, he heard music being played. He followed it and found a tiny little hole in the wall type restaurant venue where a traditional Turkish band was setting up. Though the others wanted to hang out and drink first in an Irish pub and then some bar called Golden Oldies where they met Turkish break dancers, George and I split off to watch a four-person band (a singer, a clarinet player, a violinist and a drummer--all male) and Turks dance to their hearts' content. Pretty awesome.

Moral of the Story
Though I was glad to get away for a couple of days and lay on the beach, I think next time I get a few days off work, I'm going to plan them more carefully...

Outing: Güzelbahçe
Yesterday I went to a small town with George. It wasn't terribly exciting (the highlights were: 1) an amazing breeze; 2) a perfect and ripe fig plucked off a family fruit tree) but photos are posted in a new album.

Ramadan Drummers
I told you that they were loud, but I REALLY wanted to get a video clip so you could experience the cacophony of noise bouncing around at 3am as the drummers go down Midhat Pasha Street and then back up it maybe 20 minutes later. This happens every night but I now sleep through it, thankfully.





Work
I went for drinks last night with a couple of female teachers from Posh English École. "I hope you appreciate how posh your job is here," one of them said to me. And I was able to get all kinds of info from them about how fab PEÉ is compared to other language schools they worked for in Malaysia, Taiwan, Poland and the like. "If you're thinking of doing this as a career," one said to me, "PEÉ is great for professional development--consider spending at least two years here." Uh... Ok. Don't know if I'm ready to make decisions like that, but good to know that I stumbled upon a gem.

I got my first class assigned--I start on Monday. Eee! Time to get to work and start planning!