The last two days have been overcast and cooler than the previous gorgeous autumn weather. People are now wearing jackets and jumpers for the first time in 6 months.

At the tennis club on Sunday, a beautiful and amazing natural event occured. 2 large (100+) formations of birds flew overhead in an easterly direction. I believe the birds were geese, but they were flying too high to be positively identified with the naked eye. The formations were not perfect V’s – that would be miraculous. Listening carefully, one could hear their squawks.

The geese were likely to be escaping the cold of the northern winter for somewhere warmer in the south. I don’t know if this was to be Turkey or another country. It is moments like this I wish to have a digital camera. By the end of next month I will have one…

From Al Jazeera:

The administration of a Turkish province has declared that a centuries-old tradition of pre-dawn drum-beating to wake Muslims up during the holy month of Ramadan is a breach of human rights and should be abandoned…

Read the rest of the article.

I would be delighted if the drumming was banned. If a ban occurs, it is likely to be implemented next year as there is only one week left of Ramazan this year. A ban for next year is still better than no ban.

This morning I wasn’t woken up by the drummers – I went to bed after the drummers had finished. Last night, Necat (Ahmet’s friend) and I went to my boss, Ahmet’s place, for ‘Chinese’ noodles. Afterwards we had a great discussion until almost 3 am about Turkey, official languages, deepness of relationships, running a cafe/restaurant in Mersin, the PKK, economy and employment trends, religion, Hawaii (where Necat studied), the US, finding a job in Fort Worth (where Necat will move to) life, the universe and everything.

This morning I checked my emails and there was an email from Rebecca ‘Beck’ Paterson. Beck is a former classmate at St. Joseph’s School, Port Lincoln. The 10-year reunion for the class of ’94 is on tomorrow in Port Lincoln.

Since 1994 I have hardly kept in touch with any of my former classmates. Many times I have wondered what they are doing and whereabouts are they on the road of life. I would love to attend tomorrow, but as one could guess, it is not possible on many fronts. Instead, I sent an email detailing my life since 1994, along with a few photos.

Beck did have difficulty locating me and eventually got in contact after seeing my name on the Aussie Schoolmates website. With this blog I would have thought I was one the easiest to locate.

I wish Beck the best of luck with the reunion tomorrow and I look forward to hearing all the news and gossip on the other long-lost former classmates and teachers.

Some people have suggested I should post both more and different photos on the blog. These are good suggestions and I hope to implement a random photo generator once I have changed the hosting and have the time to do it.

Something else that will drastically increase the number of photos on the blog is owning a digital camera. Ever since I won some lotto money ı have been planning to get a digital camera. My boss recommended he get it in Dubai, as cameras are much cheaper there. In December he is planning to pass through Dubai and buy one for me.

Once I have the camera I plan to take it almost everywhere I go. I will shoot as many photos as I want and delete them later if I don’t like them. A photo I would like to take is a radio station billboard advert currently on display in Mersin. The fictional person at the centre of the ad is listening to an iPod, the antithesis of FM radio! If everyone owned an iPod, the FM radio stations would be struggling to survive with everyone listening to their own personal ‘radio station’.

Archives

The archives are fixed! A simple 1 line template modification suggestion from Eric at Blogger support and wham, bam, thank you mam, the archives work properly again. Thank you Eric!

NewLira.com

I have posted a FAQ on the New Turkish Lira at NewLira.com. Please tell me if you have any unanswered questions about the New Turkish Lira or any article requests. I will upload pictures of the new currency, hopefully, by the weekend.

Time Change

On early Sunday morning Turkey’s clocks were wound back 1 hour to signify the end of daylight saving. The implications of this include:

*Employees now stay at work instead of going home for ‘Iftar’, the fast-breaking meal. The soup so far has been delicious.

*The local tailor 6 floors directly below my apartment, on the street level, is now arriving at work as early as 6.30 am. It seems some people don’t change their routine even with the time change.

*The sun rises and sets early. Today the sun rose at 6.07 am and will set at 4.42 pm. I’m sure Turkey’s time zone is Istanbul-centric. The time zone certainly does not suit central and eastern Turkey.

Tennis Pain

On Sunday I was the ‘ball-boy’ for 3 other employees who were having their first ever tennis lesson. Tennis is an elite pastime in Turkey and most people have never held a tennis racquet. As a child I always had a tennis ball in my hands and on Sunday I was happy to help relay all the tennis balls back to the basket. Chasing the tennis balls must have used muscles not used in a long time. For the past 3 days my upper leg muscles have been in pain and it is only starting to recede now.

Thank you Marga and Poppop

For another letter and photos. My card to is sitting in my lounge room and I will send it soon.

Today is the 82nd anniversary of the Turkish Republic. It is a public holiday for government employees and bankers. As usual, on days like this, it seems every second apartment balcony has a Turkish flag hanging from it. I don’t have a flag at home, Turkish or otherwise. If I did have, say, a Port Adelaide flag, and hung it on my balcony, ı wonder what the locals would think.

I didn’t bother to fast today. If Turkey had a Ramazan culture like Cairo I would have fasted from the start. However, it doesn’t and I don’t believe the faith or want to lose weight enough to continue. The Turkish coffee at work today was great. So were the lahmacun and salad. 😉

Yesterday, besides fasting, I also met Huseyin abi for the first time since he finished running his shop, Can Can Tekel ve Bufe. After selling the lease to the shop, Huseyin went to Ankara and only returned to Mersin recently. He will spend two more years in Mersin before returning to Ankara with his family. At the moment he is looking for work.

A few days beforehand I visited his old shop to buy a bottle of Sevilen Merlot (13,000,000 TL). A month or so previously I opened the Sevilen Cabernet Sauvignon and it was quite a nice drop. I hope the Merlot will be of similar quality. I digress…

The new shop was transformed! Everything was clean, tidy and refreshed. It was though the stock on sale screamed ‘buy me’. Obviously, the new managers had put some effort into reinvigorating the shop, making it more customer-friendly. I guess that happens most times with new and enthusiastic management.

PS: Does anyone have any opinions on the new Joe’s Ramblings’s colours?

The ugly green of before has had it’s day. I hope the website looks refreshed and is screaming ‘read me’. 😉

This morning I woke up and decided, ‘stuff it – I’m fasting today!’ I don’t know if it was because of:

*The midnight snacks I ate last night

*The discipline gained by fasting

*The moral support I would give to and gain from the other fasting workers (on Saturday and Monday I was the only worker not fasting)

*The challenge of not eating or drinking anything during fasting hours; or

*All or none of the above

Whatever the reason, today I’m fasting. It is quarter to eight in the morning and my throat is already burning from the lack of water. The first day is always the hardest. After today fasting should be a piece of cake 😉

There are almost 3 weeks of Ramazan (Ramadan) left. The last day of fasting is 13 November. Can I last the remainder of today, let alone the remainder of Ramazan? Let’s see…

UPDATE [6.35 pm]: The sun set more than 20 minutes ago and I have just drunk my first glass of water – I made it!

Making it through the daylight hours without eating or drinking was actually quite easy. I did feel some small pains in my throat, head and eyes, but nothing too bad. During the afternoon the smell of food cooking entered the office a number of times – I wasn’t tempted. On the odd occasion I did reach for where I usually have my glass of water, only this time there was no glass or water.

It was good to have finally followed the fasting tradition for the first time in my fourth Ramazan in Turkey but I do not see much point of it as a non-believer. The discipline was good, however the overwhelming feeling was of inconvenience – fasting getting in the way of food and drink!

I don’t think I will do it tomorrow or the following days, although one never knows.