Findings from a University of Mersin report show: Erectile dysfunction affects women too.

“What The Bubble Got Right,” an interesting article all about the changes the Internet bubble helped implement.

The past week was very busy. Every night I was doing something, somewhere with someone.

On Tuesday Ali and Hakan rocked up to the office. Ali was my first Mersin flatmate and I had not seen him since early 2002 when he left for an internship in Atlanta. The US has substantially improved his English. Now even his Turkish has a slight American accent!

It was great to see Ali again. Before he returns to Atlanta I will see him again at Hakan’s wedding and I hope to visit his family in Gaziantep.

UPDATE: Century 21: 1, Joe’s Ramblings: 0. The picture is real. See base of post for explanation.

In the “IK” (Insan Kaynaklari, Human Resources) section of today’s Hurriyet newspaper I saw an interesting advertisement. If I’m not mistaken, the Century 21 advert promotes a franchising seminar and draws upon the global presence of this real estate company. The sentence on the bottom of the picture roughly translates as:

From America to Japan; France to Turkey, Century 21 is the world’s largest name in real estate with more than 120,000 real estate consultants in 96 countries.

The picture shows a Japanese family and a Century 21 consultant in front of a Century 21 office. Is the picture real or is it a group of Turkish people made to look Japanese according to Turkish stereotypes?

I am not an expert on Japan and have never visited the country. However, I find it hard to believe the picture accurately represents a Japanese family because:

a1) The man is pulling a cart! (Japan is a very high tech country)

a2) A man pulling a cart can afford to use Century 21????

b) They have a large dog (Japan is one of the most crowded countries on earth and very few people have room for a large dog)

c) There are 3 children (Japan is very crowded and expensive smaller families are the norm)

d) How common are those forms of clothing and hairstyles?

Sure, no doubt some families in Japan do share some of the above characteristics, but I doubt many, if any, share all the characteristics.

In my opinion, it is likely the advert was shot in Turkey, because:

a) Some Turkish people do have Asian characteristics and it would take little work to make them look more ‘Asian’.

b) A large proportion, probably a large majority, of Turkish people are not intimate with the different East Asian cultures. I wonder if the cart pulling idea is from China?

c) The female faces seem strained, as if they have to hold a certain look to exaggerate their ‘Asian ness’.

d) The family situation in the photo suits Turkish culture perfectly (it may also suit Japanese culture).

I have yet to ask any Japanese friends whether the photo is from Japan or not and I don’t know what the Japanese writing refers to. I am willing to accept the photo is from Japan if a more knowledgeable person says so.

This is not the first time I have witnessed very questionable, stereotypical media in Turkey. I am certain this kind of stereotyping and fabrication occurs in all countries as well. However, in a country with more exposure to other races, the chances of blatant and obviously stereotyped examples are lower.

See for yourself:

UPDATE [2004/12/09]: As Yutaka, the cool Japanese trainee living in Denizli, has kindly pointed out in the comments section, the picture is for real!

Check the comments for his explanation.

Century 21: 1, Joe’s Ramblings: 0

27 November 2004

Last night Kadriye, AIESEC Adana’s Local Committee President, along with Manuel and Victor, two Columbian trainees, came to Mersin on the train from Adana. They were to stay at my place before going to Gozne for a picnic in the snow. With the cold weather Mersin has experienced recently, I expected snow at Gozne although I had not heard any confirmation of its arrival.

After a few hot liqueur coffees we headed to the “Moby Dick” bar to meet my neighbour, Taner, and see his brother-in-law, Bulent, sing. Bulent sings Turkish pop and folk songs backed by a drummer, guitarist and keyboardist. He duly sang my request of Cile Bulbulum. In seats first row, stage right, sat two prostitutes. As Taner is entering the military service soon, we made some jokes concerning his ‘needs’.

28 November 2004

On this beautiful, sunny morning, Kadriye, Manuel, Victor, Orhan and I left in my boss’s second car for the journey to Gozne. Although Gozne is only 25 km from Mersin, the road is steep and windy in various places and the packed Renault Toros running on LPG does not race over the hills.

Against expectations, Gozne did not have snow! The only snow visible was on distance mountain ranges. We have to go back later in the winter to see snow.

The sucuk (Turkish sausage), mushroom, tomato and onion cooked with a coal-powered small Turkish “mangal” (barbecue) along with fresh bread made for super sandwiches. Absolutely super!

Although there was no snow, we did find small ice crystals on the steep climb up the nearby pine tree covered hill. By the time we came to the summit, we were all exhausted.

On the way back to Mersin we stopped 3 times:

1) To enjoy the view from Gozne Castle (1 million lira entrance fee)

2) For a cup of tea and fried, sugar syrup soaked sweets at a roadside cade/restaurant. One of the sweets contained fresh cream inside and another walnuts. Both were very delicious.

3) To buy persimmons from a roadside seller. The peak of the current persimmon season has passed, but they still taste fabulous. The persimmons sold by the man were hard so I will have to wait for the 10 kilograms I bought to soften before I eat them. I also purchased 2 kilograms of apples. Manuel has never eaten a persimmon.

In summary, although we did not experience snow, making the trip to Gozne was still worth the effort. There are preliminary plans to make another trip later in winter once the snow has definitely arrived.

The rain last Sunday signalled the beginning of winter in southern Turkey. The temperature upon return to Turkey was 5-10 degrees lower than before I left. Today’s forecast maximum for Mersin was only 10 degrees centigrade!

My house now feels like a fridge. At least I have the gas heater to warm the place.

Tonight some trainees will visit from Adana. We plan to have a barbecue at Gozne, in the mountains above Mersin. Hopefully, Gozne will have a covering of snow. The weather is certainly cold enough to provide the white powder. The 2 Columbian trainees have never experienced a barbecue in the snow.

Another entity which shared my birthday today was the Back Pages Blog. 1 year ago Chris Sheil gave birth to his Ozplog (Australian political blog). For the past several months I have visited Back Pages, along with John Quiggin (and others), for my daily fix of Australian opinion and politics.

Today, Chris closed his blog with a useful blogging manifesto. I could follow some of his ideas, particularly the editing suggestion!

Tomorrow morning I’m off to Aleppo, Syria, for a short trip to see Bangali and Celine again. I’ll be back in the office Monday and sometime after this I will update this website all the Syrian gossip.

Today, to my surprise, a birthday cake was brought out in the office. One of the previous workers had written a list of the staff members’ birthday dates. Mine was written as 17 November…one day too early…oh, well, the 18th had already arrived in Australia and I can never complain about fresh Turkish chocolate cream cake.

Here are Ahmet, Sevil and the almost-birthday boy: