…I first came to Turkey.

From Tuesday to Thursday I was in Istanbul for a quick work trip consisting of a visit to an education fair and an agent workshop. Oh, and a Bosphorus cruise dinner/party as well 🙂

In less than an hour I will be at Peter, Cansin and Michael’s place watching Australia play Brazil in the soccer World Cup. As the only Aussies in town we hope Australia win. To be honest, I would be ecstatic if Australia even draw.

I didn’t watch Australia’s victory over Japan as I had a few urgent jobs at work. After work I walked from to Peter’s house with my large Aussie flag drapped around me. I got a few looks from the locals. A bakkal (shopkeeper) I shopped at thought I was American!

If miracles occur and Australia beat Brazil, Peter, Michael and I will hoon around Mersin in a car tooting the horn and flashing our lights with the Aussie flag flying out the window, just like the locals do. I’m only disappointed we didn’t have a chance to beat Turkey!

Here is a joke I found from the internet, reflecting Australia’s chances against Brazil:

It is just before Australia v Brazil at the next World Cup game.
Ronaldino goes into the Brazilian changing room to find all his team-mates
looking a bit glum. “What’s up?” he asks. “Well, we’re having trouble getting
motivated for this game. We know it’s important but it’s only Australia.
They’re shite and we can’t be bothered”. Ronaldino looks at them and says
“Well, I reckon I can beat these by myself, you lads go down the pub. “

So Ronaldino goes out to play Australia by himself and the rest of the
Brazilian team go off for a few jars. After a few pints they wonder
how the game is going,so they get the landlord to put the TV on.

A big cheer goes up as the screen reads “Brazil 1 – Australia 0 (Ronaldino 10 minutes)”.

He is beating Australia all by himself! Anyway, a few more pints later
and the game is forgotten until someone remembers “It must be full time now,
let’s see how he got on”. They put the TV on.
“Result from the Stadium “Brazil 1 (Ronaldino 10 minutes) – Australia 1 (Viduka 89 minutes)”.

They can’t believe it, he has single handedly got a draw against Australia!!
They rush back to the Stadium to congratulate Ronaldino. They find him in the
dressing room, still in his gear, sat with his head in his hands.
He refuses to look at them. “I’ve let you down, I’ve let you down.”
“Don’t be daft, you got a draw against Australia, all by yourself.
And they only scored at the very, very end!”
“No, No, I have, I’ve let you down… I got sent off after 12 minutes”

Believe it or not, i came back to Turkey from my Australian holiday 3&1/2 months ago. I’ve been very slack with the blog updating. Here is a brief on some of the events since returned:

Pipes in the house between kitchen and Turkish toilet were replaced.
My neighbour below, the house owner, experienced intermittent problems of a filthy brown liquid dripping from her bathroom ceiling. Initially this was thought to be caused by our drains blocking. At the same time my kitchen and Turkish toilet ceilings were flaking due to moisture. Eventually, the problem area was excavated and rusty pipes were found to be the cause of both problems. When excavating a truckload (in the owner’s polite Turkish words) of sewerage fell into her place. I’m glad I was at work when this occured.

Bomb in Mersin
On 3 June a small bomb exploded near Mersin’s port injuring several people. I first found out about it when I read the news ticker on CNN TV. The likely suspect has been caught down the highway in Tarsus.

Da Vinci Code

I saw Da Vinci Code the movie at Mersin’s Metro Sinemasi (Metro Cinema). I had not read the book and found the movie to be all over the place plot-wise. The movie did bring up 2 thoughts:
1) I hope the movie inspires people to question their faith more.
2) I can’t imagine the protests and reaction in the Muslim world if Da Vinci Code was based on a Muslim sect.

Levent’s brother and sister visited
Levent’s family comes from Nusaybin, Mardin province, in south eastern Turkey, only a few kilometres from the Syrian border. I would love to visit Nusaybin and adjacent Syrian area one day. I havent seen Nusaybin or eastern Syria before. Levent has said his Mother and a few siblings may come to Mersin during summer. I look forward to some Mardin food 🙂

Natraj Departed
Natraj, my flatmate and workmate left Mersin to return to home in Bangalore, India. On the way he had a week in Egypt. Natraj’s farewell party was at ‘Bad-Lik Bar’, the rock pub we had spent many nights at. Unfortunately, it seems as though ‘Bad-Lik Bar’ recently closed. I’m not surprised as few people went there. The pub may be closed but the memories remain.

Natraj playing the air guitar at Bad-Lik Bar

Yachts Hit Mersin
For 2 days Mersin yacht harbour was inundated with dozens of international cruising yachts, including 2 or 3 from Australia. The luxurious catamarans looked particularly nice. The yachts were cruising around the Mediterranean as part of the Eastern Mediterranean Yacht Rally.

VH1 Works
Unlike MTV (of which Levent’s TV can receive the German version), VH1 actually plays music videos, including those from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 00’s. I didn’t know we could receive VH1 until a month or so ago. I now watch it as much as I watch BBC World. Whilst writing this, a classic Jethro Tull clip is playing.

Mersin University Radio-102.8 FM
At work I now listen to Mersin University Radio when the reception is good. All employees were sick of the same repetitive music on Mix FM so the absolute variety on Mersin University Radio is a wonderful change. The station does not follow any format and I guess the music is chosen by whoever is programming it at that moment.

Prior to the 13th of February I had not seen my nephew Breandan for almost half of his life.

I was thrilled to see Breandan and niece Eilish again. They were equally thrilled to see me again and were always begging me to play, cricket, footy, swings and everything else with them.

My first main meal: roast PORK and vegetables with the family. From left to right: Eilish, Shannon, Mum, Anna, Dad, Liam and Breandan.

G’day from a Rundle Street Cafe where I am using wireless internet on my new laptop for the first time. I received my new baby Saturday when I returned from a trip visiting relatives in Thevenard, Port Lincoln and Clare.

Yesterday I gave a presentation on Turkey to the local Turkish Association.

I promise to write much more and upload pictures from Dubai, Muscat and Australia at some stage in the future. It probably won’t occur until I return to Turkey as I have a pretty full schedule until then.

It’s 3am here and I have another 6 hours until my flight to Adelaide departs.

Macca’s (the Scottish hamburger chain) is the only place open and I have enjoyed a coffee from there to keep me awake. I would have preferred a Turkish or Arabic coffee but I came to Australia to experience new things 🙂

I’m wide-eyed from a combination of extreme tiredness and awe at the fact I’m in Australia. It feels weird.

The Emirates Airlines flight from Dubai briefly stopped in Singapore. The flight from Singapore was somewhat turbulent although the food was excellent and the company, in Sharee the Egyptian-Australian and Chris the Welsh backpacker, was enjoyable.

I’m now looking forward to meeting my family in Adelaide, particularly Breandan my 5 year old nephew and Eilish my 7 year old niece. However, I still have a long wait and 5th flight to catch before this occurs.

Hi from a beautiful, sunny and smoggy istanbul. Very little ice remains from the earlier bad weather and the streets are bustling with people.

This morning I flew AtlasJet from Adana.

AtlasJet, along with Onur Air and Pegasus Airlines are the three private discount airlines competing with government-owned full-service carrier Turkish Airlines on the Adana-Istanbul route.

I chose to fly with AtlasJet as they have a very convenient free airport transfer service to and from Mersin.

When I first came to Turkey in 2001 Turkish Airlines was the only choice. Its only only competitor Istanbul Airways bankrupted when Turkey’s economy collapsed at the end of last century.

Most of the 200 or so other passengers were army conscripts on their way from serving in the army in Antakya to Istanbul for a week’s holiday. Adana Airport was chaotic and needs to be extended and renovated to cater for the increasing passenger numbers.

Adelaide and Adana not only are close together in the dictionary but they also have similar tinshed airports. I hope Adelaide Airport’s new terminal is ready before I depart the city in early March.

Although AtlasJet is a discounted airline, the hostesses still served a cheese roll and a drink, reminding me of Turkish intercity buses. The irony of this is when I first came to Turkey, the service provided by Turkish intercity bus service reminded me of flying!

Snow was visible on the ground most of the way, reflecting the past couple of months’ cold weather.

Cold weather will be just a memory as my next destination is the Persian Gulf country, the United Arab Emirates.