(emphasis added)

Hello Joe, just wondering what you will be doing for Christmas. we are getting organised for the onslaught on Saturday, really looking forward to it. I have many lists made and day by day instructions so I shall be organised on the day. I am sure I have already said that Dads family will be here, 29 in total and for a traditional hot meal. It will be 38 degrees tomorrow but thankfully a cool change later in the day and 27 degrees forcast for Saturday. We will organise tables for outside, start with a prawn coctail, so that everyone gets a taste, then the hot roast meal of turkey, chicken, pork and lamb plus all the vegies. Then onto pudding with real sixpences in it, or trifle.

Well I am really tired. Dad and I get up most days at 5.30am, only because we are awake, and the mornings are beautiful. But it makes for a long day.

Take care and enjoy your Christmas. Love Mum.

Sounds brilliant…

Reuters has some good analysis on Turkey’s chances of succeeding with the currency changeover.

In the meantime, I have added my own predictions on what will happen at NewLira.com.

I’ve just come back from the coiffeur after a haircut, shave, shampoo and massage all for 6 million Turkish lira (just over USD $4) plus 1 million lira tips to the barber and his helper. A few times I was close to falling asleep. Aren’t haircuts great therapy?

If Google sees http://www.googleturkiye.com/ I believe a few lawyers will be busy.

EDIT: In case the website is pulled, I have added homepage and top & bottom screenshots for “Mersin” search results below. Click on the pictures for larger screenshots.

Homepage:

Results page for “Mersin”

Top:

Bottom

Do you think Google has a good case?

UPDATE [2004/12/22]: GoogleTurkiye.com is still in existence.

If you are not squirmish or at work, for a laugh, check out the archived best matching results for ‘joe’.

WARNING: the file is 345 kb and contains adult content!

Saturday night I suited up for friend Hakan’s wedding to Merve. I met Hakan through my first flatmate in Mersin, Ali. Hakan’s family run a flour sales business.

The wedding was held in the south-facing (shown in the above photo) ballroom on the 46th level of the Taksim International Hotel. The views of Mersin’s city centre at night along with the harbour, Republic Square (Cumhuriyet Meydani) and the ship lights in the bay provided a great backdrop.

The night was fun with good food (several courses), friends (Hakan’s and Ali’s classmates), Turkish dancing, a five piece band playing Turkish folk songs and a wonderful newly wed husband and wife.

Towards the end of the night, people lined up to congratulate the newly wedded husband and wife, with gifts of gold and money. I placed a 20,000,000-lira note in Hakan’s shirt pocket.

After the wedding, 3 or 4 cars followed the married couple back to their new flat. As is the tradition, each car’s hazard lights were flashing but Hakan discouraged horn beeping as the time was past midnight. Outside the flat we waited for Hakan and Merve to finish changing their clothes and whatever else they were doing. We then went to Cici Kunefe for kunefe!

All the best to Hakan and Merve in their wedded life!

The weekend before last I visited Gaziantep for the first time in 3 years. Like my two visits in 2001, this trip’s purpose was also to see Ali and his family. I also came to see Rifeh, the Tunisian AIESEC trainee I previously met in Adana.

Some notable events from the time in Gaziantep:

*Seeing a light snowfall, my first snow this winter. Gaziantep is colder than Mersin.

*Visiting some ancient tombs outside of the town with Ali and Rifeh

*Entertaining Ali’s nieces and nephews aged 6 to 10 with different hand movements, clapping and juggling. They are so delightful.

*Meeting the rest of Ali’s generous and kind family

*Eating kebabs, baklava and more kebabs

*Eating breakfast, including homemade sucuk (spicy sausage), homemade jams, home-pickled olives, almost homemade everything…

*Eating more kebabs…

*Visiting and observing Ali’s family’s butcher shop, “Kasap Ali”. I will write a special feature on this shop sometime soon.

Overall, the trip was very successful despite my suffering from a cold. I hope to visit Ali’s family again, particularly during a warmer time of the year.

It is less than two weeks until the New Turkish Lira, Turkey’s new currency, will be introduced. I have added a new article on NewLira.com and made a few modifications, including the addition of commenting. See it for yourself at NewLira.com and get ready for a new era in Turkish financial history.