Saturday night on a Tarsus street Serkan’s cousin’s “kina” (‘henna’). Similar to a wedding with music and dancing, the centrepoint of ‘kina’ is the bride-to-be and groom-to-be, along with the closest friends and family (particularly the bride’s female friends, I believe) staining their hands with henna. On Sunday afternoon, the wedding was held in a Mersin wedding salon.

This was my first “kina” and I have plenty of photos from both events. When I get the time I will upload some pictures and write more.

Want to see blog trends, the most popular phrases used, most mentioned people, hottest links on blogs each day?
BlogPulse is definitely worth a look and a play.

Did you know for 31 March Terry Shiavo and Terri Schaivo were in the top 25 most mentioned people?

Who was #1? Terri Schiavo

Although I had heard the term ‘podcasting’ many times previously, the concept did not sink in until I read a story on the BBC website: ‘Podcasters’ look to net money. The article is fairly comprehensive, very interesting and raises a number of points to ponder, such as:

It [Podcasting] is totally going to kill the business model of radio

Podcasting is something I may look to do in the future to complement this blog.

Petrol is almost 2.50 YTL (US$1.85) and diesel, almost 2.00 YTL (US$1.48) per litre. This is extremely expensive but I doubt the price will be going down at any stage soon.

One good thing, though, is the petrol stations don’t have to keep adding zeros to keep up with the old lira.

Today I walked to Mersin’s public hospital (Devlet Hastanesi) to see Huseyin abi and give him a bunch of flowers. Huseyin abi hurt his back in a fall in Adana. He has been in hospital for 2 weeks and does not know when he will be out.

Huseyin abi is staying in one of 6 beds in his room in the brain surgery section of the hospital. Apparently, the back patients stay in this section. When I received his SMS, I thought he was having brain surgery! His hospital room is okay but the toilets are disgusting for a place that should be hygienic and clean.

I hope Huseying abi gets better soon for his and his family’s sake.

Where can you find large pictures of skimpy ladies next to a mosque entrance?

Camlibel (my suburb), Mersin, Turkey.

The “Park Camii” sign points to the entrance of the “Park Mosque” where the man is standing. The skimpy ladies are actually advertising shoes from the Turkish “Shoe & Me” shoe store.

From Saturday evening:

Ingredients:
2 bananas
1 kiwi
1 carrot
1 orange
strawberries
250 gm pistachio icecream
fresh mint
juice of half a lemon
2 desert spoons of sweetened, condensed milk
soda water

Directions:
1) Slice fruit and add all ingredients into a jug.

2) Blend

Note: the drink was delicious although normal water would probably be better than soda water.

Daylight savings (summer) time began today and the Australian wattle is in blooming around Mersin.