Since approximately 8:30 am yesterday morning, my laptop has not seen its partner – the "helpler" unsecured wireless. Alas, this 5-month relationship seems over…

PS: This is my first article sent by Blogger’s post-via-email service.

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Canon’s Istanbul service centre unexpectedly repaired my Canon A710 IS camera (damaged 2 weeks ago) under warranty for no charge, even though I had bought it in the USA and they did not see a purchase receipt. I didn’t know it was fixed until I received a parcel sent by courier. Yippeeee! 🙂

The retractable lens cover piece was stuck and not broken as I had thought. If the camera required significant repairs I wonder if it would be fixed under warranty…

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Last week Yutaka emailed me, asking for assistance with questions about Turkey. Yutaka was an AIESEC trainee in Turkey in 2004-2005 and TBS, a Japanese TV station had contacted him via his website. They wanted to know specific answers about Turkey to help decide which country to base their end of year episode of Ichiteru on. Ichiteru is a talk-show featuring non-Japanese women living in Japan. I hope they choose Turkey!

As TBS required answers promptly, I have already sent my replies to Yutaka. I will disclose them on this blog later. In the meantime, what are you responses to the following questions?

In Turkey,

1: is there a job that is NOT likely to exist in Japan (or in any other countries)?

2: is there anything free that is NOT usually free in other countries?

3: how men satisfy their sexual needs by PAYING MONEY?
(since Turkey is a Muslim nation, the TV station simply wonders..)

4: what are criteria for good-looking men?

5: do you know anybody who personally runs her/his own zoo?

6: is there a TV show specially aimed for house-wives?
If yes, can you please name some (with details, preferably)

7: is there an interesting/funny/strange accomodation for students?

8: is there a special signal that you send when you want to have sex?
(like making eye contact, etc..)

9: is there a “taboo” present that you should never ever give?

UPDATE (2006/12/12): I have justed posted the answers I sent to Yutaka in the comments.
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Below are some stories I had bookmarked earlier but only now got around to posting:

– Turkey’s senior women’s soccer team defeated Northern Ireland in Mersin as part of their EURO 2009 qualifying

– An Ak Party member of the Turkish Parliament from Mersin redefines the definition of political cowboy

– An Islamic version of creationism is being heavily pushed by mysterious forces in Turkey

– 2 women journalists arrested in Mersin were finally released after being held for 9 months

– Mersin Sosyete (Mersin Society), a well designed local entertainment portal opened in the summer although I only noticed it recently

– For your viewing pleasure, a video showing some of Mersin Province’s highlights:

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On Sunday the 26th of November I borrowed Levent’s bike and rode down the coast with Peter and Michael Can to the new Marina complex for the Mersin Car, Commercial Vehicle and Motorcycle Fair (Mersin Otomobil, Ticari Araclar ve Motosiklet Fuari). The weather was brilliant – sunny and mild, like most of the past month.

2.50 YTL each later we were inside the exhibition. As the names suggests, the fair was divided into 3 sections: motorbikes, commercial vehicles and cars.

Overall, a great day, except…

Part of the way home, we stopped at the park next to Cep Sinemasi for a kick of soccer. Unfortunately, at some stage my Canon A710 sustained damage to the lens cover. The camera is now at the Canon service centre in Istanbul and I’m waiting to find out how much the repair will damage my wallet. In theory, the replacement lens cover part should only cost a few cents. An alternative option is to fly to the US and get the camera repaired under warranty. However, the return flight maybe more expensive than the repair in Istanbul.

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I saw Chinese cabbage (‘Cin Lanasi’) in Mersin for the first ever today, at the weekly fruit and vegetable bazaar (‘pazar’) outside the stadium. As my fridge is full, I didn’t buy a monster 3 kg cabbage but my boss did and I took a quarter of his. Bring on the stir fries and salads…yum!

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Recently I’ve been reading a few libertarian-slanted blogs. I’m by no means a libertarian and disagree with much that is written. However, there are several libertarian issues that interest me, such as:

* an end to corporate welfare
* a sunset clause for all government legislation
* a simplified taxation system
* a realistic view of the threat of international terrorism
* an unrestricted internet
* true free trade

Although I live a long way away, I still try to stay in touch with Australian current affairs. From my observations, Australian politics is staid with few new ideas promoted. The Liberal Democratic Party could make politics more interesting with their different views. To be noticed they will have to promote their party well.

My first and foremost wish for the next Australian Federal election is to see the back of the current dishonest and disgraceful government. Other than that, I’d like the Independent candidates, Democrats, Greens, LDP and other minor parties to each gain significant votes in order to shake up Australian politics. I doubt this will happen but I can only hope.

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Great news for budget travellers living in Turkey. Air Arabia, the Middle Eastern low-cost airline based out of Sharjah, UAE, has started flying twice a week to Istanbul.

From Sabiha Gokcen Airport on Istanbul’s Asian side people can now fly via Sharjah to great destinations like Kathmandu, Sana’a, Luxor and Colombo (but not Karachi).

Checking the website, the ridiculous prices in the advert above were nowhere to be seen. In fact, from the results I got, it seemed the prices were not that much cheaper than discount-economy class on a full-service airline.

I hope to fly Air Arabia one day.

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