…you check your cards in your wallet in early October to discover your debit card expired in April!
You know you don’t use ATM’s when…
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The Weekend: a Concert, a Movie, Friends and more Ostrich Meat
Friday, 6:45 pm, just before work finished, Cigdem and Fatma visited the office. Cigdem is one of a few students I have kept in touch with since I visited some high schools for work in early 2001. This academic year Cigdem and Fatma will just focus on studying for the university entrance exam (OSS), a series of multiple choice questions. The Turkish educational systems requires great reform to make it develop and skill young people better instead of developing people who only know how to take a certain test. Iyi sanlar (good luck) Cigdem and Fatma!
Pre-concert
Whilst sitting, chatting on a park bench next to the river, a police car with several police officers arrived. During the day music had floated from the stadium area into work. Mustafa Sandal was to perform at a free public concert that night. I had previously seen ads promoting the concert for the Republic but after the bombing near the previous concert at the square the authorities and concert promoters must have decided to move the concert to the more secure dirt soccer pitch next to the stadium. This was the same place as the Tarkan concert earlier in summer.
Fish 1
After walking west along the bridge passed the concert and the row of police I return eastwards for some fish and salgam (3,500,000 TRL) on the ‘Tarsuslu Amores’ yacht at the local harbour. Also on the yacht were a retired Turkish couple who had lived for 22 years in Stuttgart and Munich, Germany, before returning to Mersin a few years ago. When I told the waiter I was from Australia they must have misheard ‘Austria’. After eating I went to their table and chatted (in Turkish with the odd German word). Their children live in Germany and they were interesting to talk to.
In Concert: Mustafa Sandal
Walking back from the harbour I entered the concert area (frisked of course by the police at entry) and joined several thousand other witnesses to Mustafa’s concert. Like Tarkan, Mustafa Sandal is a Turkish pop singer loved by many Turkish women but with a question mark over whether he likes women.
The concert was presented by Dogus Holding, the distributors of Volkswagen in Turkey. Throughout the concert, along with live concert footage and video clips, there were many VW adverts on the giant videoscreen located behind the stage.
Mustafa has made formula Turkish pop hits for 10 years in Turkey. The songs are catchy and the video clips always feature sexy women. For this concert Mustafa’s band featured no less than 10 musicians and backing singers. Mustafa must have experienced some voice or other problems as the very sexy violinist in a short orange(?) dress and above knee boots performed a few solo instrumentals and a backing singer sang a popular folk song. Mustafa did return. I lasted a few songs longer before departing. Many people in the crowd were dancing and it was a pleasure to see people enjoying themselves.
Outside Huseyin abi’s shop a car accident involving one of his friends had occured. Another car had crashed into the left rear of Huseyin abi’s friend’s car. Huseyin reckoned it was about 500,000 lira damage for each vehicle. Huseyin also though I shouldn’t have gone to the concert because of the bomb at the previous concert. The next event is normally safer because of the greater awareness and security.
Toygun (Fish 2)
On Saturday night Toygun arrived from his work in Tarsus on the train. After a beer at one of the several pubs in the ‘Antikhan’ complex we walked to the harbour and ‘Tarsus Amores’ for a fish sandwich and some fried mussels.
Toygun is still commuting from Adana to Tarsus each day for work. Soon he will stay in Ankara for a 3 month marketing course and whilst he is there he hopes to find another job.
After muesli with fresh pomegranite (delicious!) Sunday morning, we caught the dolmus to Pozcu for my first trip to the movies in ages. The most conveniently timed movie at Metro Sinemasi was Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. This Gwyneth Paltrow/Jude Law movie was enjoyable for the fact it was science fiction and it didn’t need to be realistic. The fun movie also exhibited an unexpected final scene which I thought was very good. See the movie to find out yourself!
Ostrich Meat Iskender
Afterwards, we were going to eat tantuni like any sane person visiting Mersin 😉 but then I suggested ‘Devekusu’ or ostrich. The Iskender (ostrich doner meat with yoghurt, bread, rice and tomato sauce) was delicious. Toygun even ordered a second portion!
Devrim and Efkan live on the same street as the ostrich restaurant so we visited their place. Only Devrim was home and she was drinking coffee with Metap. Metap’s 12 year old son later came and I asked him some questions to help him with his very basic English. Asli had sent Devrim some funny, olive-sized fruit fruit from their family’s garden in Canakkale. I had never seen such a fruit before and it tasted delicious.
That was my weekend, how was yours?
Tehran 3 (at last)
Finally, the next update from my Iran trip, the trip that now seems a piece of ancient history.
Sunday 5 September 2004
For breakfast we ate fresh mangoes and ugly, flat peaches (the kind we had previously eaten in Tabriz. The 2 mangoes were the first mangoes I had eaten since the 1st half of 2003 in Australia. They were not the best mangoes but they were far better than the zero mangoes I had eaten in Turkey!
Tehran University was our next destination and a taxi-ride later we were there. Across the road from the university were many bookshops, a few of which we entered and looked around. Although the summer holidays had not finished, there were still many students in the vicinity.
Karin and I tried to enter the university but we were not allowed in without a permit so the security guard asked the closest student to take us around the corner where we could obtain our permits. This kind student, who spoke no English, went with us until we eventually found the correct office located across from the main campus. He was rewarded with some cezerye I carried in my bag specifically to give to a kind person. At the office Karin gave her ID for the university official to photocopy and the woman asked us if we were journalists. A ‘no’ was a good enough answer to satisfy her and we received a piece of paper with Farsi writing – the permit. Officials in another office were satisfied with this permit and were free to enter the university.
At Tehran University’s side entrance we gave the paper to the security guard and then proceeded on to the campus. Architecturally, the campus was not striking. However, it was not the architecture that drew me there. Tehran University was the seen of many of Iran’s political and social struggles. With very few people on campus I could only imagine the riots and protests that have taken place in the past. We walked past the large covered square. Every Friday thousand of men pray their midday prayers on the rolled-out carpet. This prayer gathering would be a sight not to miss on my next visit to Tehran.
We relaxed on a bench and read a few of the local English language newspapers purchased earlier in the day. Another brief walk and our Tehran University experience was almost complete. I write almost, because we exited via the main entrance. Painted on the ground at the main entrance were Israeli and US flags with most of the colour gone from years of Iranian soles treading on them. I recall seeing footage of the flags on Australian TV several years ago. As the security guard was at the and gate and the flags were faded, we did not bother taking photos.
For the taxi to Imam Khomeini Square the driver wanted 20,000 rials but I gave 15,000 as it was really a 10,000 rial trip. The taxi vehicle was a modern car – our only taxi ride in a new car for the whole trip – all the rest were . On the way we passed a church, also modern-looking.
Our intention at Imam Khomeini Square was to visit the National Museum. We walked around and around but could not see a sign for the museum anywhere. We were about to enter a park the vicinity of the museum but were still unsure when a man wanted to have a chat. He claimed he had obtained an Australian visa in Damascus. The man also pointed us in another direction to the museum. Around we walked again.
On the way, I chatted to a diplomat’s chauffeur. Several almost identical Mercedes Benz sedans and the odd equally luxurious 4 wheel drive, each with flags indicating different countries were parked. Italy, Slovenia and Finland were amongst the countries represnted but, unsurprisingly, I didn’t see any US or Israeli flags. The chauffeur’s car had the flag of Cyprus, including the whole island, although only the bottom 2/3 is controlled by that country. Of course he spoke English and he explained the way to the museum. Near the museum is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry is located in a beautiful building but it is not a place to take photos.
The second time at the small park we ignored the weirdo who had provided the previous, incorrect advice and made our way to the National Museum. I really believe the museum should be signposted better.
The museum cost 6,000 rials. Previously, foreigners paid 60,000. The museum was small when compared with the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations in Ankara and particularly, the massive Egyptian Museum in Cairo. However, every piece on exhibit was of great quality. Lots of items on display were from the historic sights of Persepolis and Susa. I recommend people see the museum after Persepolis to improve the museum experience.
The National Museum ticket gave free entry to the Islamic Museum. The decorative arts in this museum were very interesting but Karin and I were too tired and hungry to look over all the exhibits set on levels 1 and 2 seriously.
We managed to hold our hunger until we reached ‘Tomato’ restaurant, located close to the British Embassy. I chose ‘Bacon and Mushroom’ pizza. Iranian substitute bacon does not quite taste the same as real bacon! For Iran, the price was pricey: 2 medium pizzas, 1 pineapple drink, 1 coke, 1 cappucino and 1 delicious French coffee came to 72,000 rials (about USD 8.50).
The music in the background was either German or 70’s/80’s metal music. A curtain could be moved in front of the window to protect couples from the pry of the street. One man and woman did utilise this when we were there. The customers were young and liberal.
We walked back around the British Embassy to the Pars Internet Cafe. The patronage consisted of locals, Nigerians and other foreigners. Nigerians were also staying at the hostel. I don’t know what they were doing in Tehran but from their vibe and the way they looked and spoke to Karin I don’t think they were here for positive reasons. Having said that, I bet they also suffered from racism here. We didn’t see Nigerians anywhere else in Iran. The computers had malware on them and it was not a good Internet cafe.
On the way to the hostel I changed another USD 100 (for 87,000 rials), our 3rd $100 changed in 3 days – fast compared to the rest of the trip. Back at the hostel we packed our bags and paid 100,000 for 2 night. We didn’t actually stay 2 nights but we arrived 7 am the first day and left 8 pm the next. We presented the workers with some Turkish delight and one of them, the one who sleeps at reception, went with us outside to hail a tax that would take us to Azadi bus station, western Tehran, for 20,000 rial, the normal rate. We were to catch a bus back to Tabriz.
The taxi ride(s) to Azadi was a classic experience. Traffic was at its horrible best – slow, but the cars, motor bikes and other vehicles still jostled for position and tried to gain every single millimetre they could. I mentioned the “(s)” after “ride” because the first taxi ran out of “benzine”. The way the driver tried to restart the car several times made me think he had ran out of diesel.
We had waited long enough and the bus departure time of 9.30 pm was fast approaching so I stepped out, gave the drive 15,000 and hailed another taxi (actually, any car that stopped – both taxis didn’t have “taxi” written on them). We made the terminal on time and walked to the bus company’s desk to be directed to the correct bus. Azadi bus station is a large and chaotic station even by Turkish standards. I enjoyed the chaotic (the word just fits perfectly so I have to use it twice) journey to the terminal even though we didn’t know where we were when the first taxi conked out and there was a chance we could have missed the bus. The journey personified the essence of Tehran.
Monday 6 September 2004
After midnight the bus stopped for longer than 30 minutes for a toilet and prayer stop. I guess we had to wait until the last person finished praying, no matter what the scheduled departure time was. I slept very well on the bus the Tabriz despite the lack of leg room and seat reclination (we were in the back row). Conversely, Karin did not sleep much at all.
Tabriz
At about 6 am Karin woke me up as the bus had stopped outside the Tabriz bus terminal. We got off and then Karin remembered the bag of posters left on the overhead shelf above our seats. She ran off after the bus at the speed of light to successfully retrieve the bag.
The local taxi driver insisted on 20,000 for the trip into the city. This was the same journey only in reverse that a taxi driver had previously asked for only 5,000. On a park bench near the bazaar we sat, wondering which hotel to go to. We wanted a more comfortable place than the previous Tabriz hotel. We ended up at the Park Hotel, a hotel that looked good in its day, assuming one was referring to the 1970’s or 1980’s.
For 80,000 rial our large room contained ensuite shower and toilet, fridge, TV and the only double bed (or pair of single beds together) we saw in Iran. There were even inbuilt lamps for each side of the bed and a heart-shaped mirror! The toilet was broken, there was no hot water, the TV reception cable was broken, half the lights didn’t work, we didn’t bother plugging in the fridge, the drinking glass stuck to the plate and the hotel was under renovation but we didn’t care as the bed and pillows were comfortable.
‘Tabriz: the 2nd time’ will be my next Iran update
32 Today: Congratulations Mum and Dad!
Mum and Dad shared a joint 32nd celebration today, Turkish time (yesterday, Australian time). If you looked at or listened to them you would think they were both 32 years old 😉
No, it is their 32nd wedding anniversary!
This occasion gives me an excuse to upload a photo from my recent trip to Iran (for their eyes only – others, don’t click on the link ;-). The photo is of a famous bridge in the city of Isfahan. I will upload other photos of Iran once I eventually finish writing about the trip.
Hindmarsh: An Aussie Election Post
Hindmarsh, South Australia, is the federal electorate I lived in prior to Mersin and where my electoral address is. It is for the candidates from Hindmarsh (and the Australian Senate) that I will be voting this weekend. What? Isn’t the Australian election is on the following weekend (the 9th)? Ah, but I’m sending a postal vote.
Yesterday I received my postal voting form from the Australian Embassy in Ankara. This weekend I will send the completed postal vote form back to Ankara to ensure my vote is counted in the most important Federal election for many years. The current Australian government has lied and misled the Australian public and downgraded the institution of government for long enough. A few examples:
*Lying to the Australian public by providing a false reason to send Australian off to an unnecessary war on the other side of the world.
*Politicising the Australian Public Service far more than any government previously.
*Kowtowing to the current US government at the expense of Australian autonomy, Iraq and the free trade agreement being two examples.
*Not holding their parliamentary members accountable for their actions.
*Throwing money everywhere during this election campaign instead of providing good policy.
I don’t know yet who I will be putting first on the ballot but I do know that it won’t be the candidate representing the current conservative Liberal/National coalition government. The incumbent Liberal member, Christine Gallus, is retiring so instead, Simon BIRMINGHAM, the Liberal candidate hoping to replace Gallus, will be fighting the loonies from One Nation and Family First for last place on my slip.
In the 1996 federal election, my first election after gaining the right to vote (by turning 18 in 1995), I actually voted for the Liberal candidate as I was sick of the then long-term Labor government. How times have changed. Since 1996 I don’t recall voting for either of the major parties and I don’t think I will this time although I want Labor to win by default, as they are the only conceivable alternative for government and they have focused on policies and not abusing their opposition.
I am probably more interested in this election than any other election previously. It is difficult to follow the action properly from Turkey but I am still reasonably informed, at least on the national level. A few websites I have been following the election are Crikey, Back Pages and John Quiggin. The latter two links are left-leaning blogs. This is the first Australian election where blogs (weblogs – web diaries like mine) are an issue, albeit not a major one. For future elections the blogging influence can only get larger.
This is also the first federal election for Family First, a God-bothering party closely associated with the Assembly of God church. This party was established in South Australia and ran in the previous state election. Read this and this for some thought-provoking commentary on Family First.
As there is little information on the Internet regarding the Hindmarsh candidates could anyone provide a summary for me? I would like to be informed at least a little about the candidates before I exercise my right to vote.
UPDATE [30/09/2004]: Some more links:
*A long, detailed and interesting opinion piece on why the media has presented the current government with a free ride: The shape of the argument
*2 fun links: Fishty Cuffs and Throw Howard Overboard. Go on, click on them for a laugh!
Odds and Ends
Today an earthquake hit the Mersin province. I didn’t consciously feel anything but the other staff members did and they, as people are told to do when an earthquake hits, walked to the front door whilst I kept working. Thankfully, no injuries or damage have been reported.
The biggest news in Turkey of the past month has been the new penal code brought in to help satisfy the requirements to start EU accession talks. The original bill tabled in parliament included criminalising adultery. Thankfully, the EU and many different people and groups in Turkey saw this as ridiculous and the bill was withdrawn. In an emergency sitting of parliament on Sunday, a new bill, free of the adultery clause, was passed.
An interesting related story is on the BBC website.
Another article on Turkey’s potential EU accession was in The Australian. This article includes the thoughts of a person from Silifke and one from Mersin.
A few good Google search rankings for this website recently:
a) 1st out 1,410,000 results for ‘how’ ‘many’ ‘people’ ‘live’ ‘in’ ‘Turkey’
b) 2nd out of 2,600,000 results for ‘brother’ ‘joe’
Sunday Night
I had previously visited newly-weds, Efkan and Devrim’s place several times for dinner but they had not visited mine once. I’m not sure of the exact logic but it is a cultural thing in Turkey to for couples and families not to visit/have dinner at single people’s places. Can any Turks elaborate?
Last night, to break the drought, I invited Efkan and Devrim over for stir-fry with chicken, broccoli, peanuts, carrots, zucchini, cauliflower, capsicums, soy sauce, oil, chilli flakes, Iranian spice mix, fresh ginger, garlic, spring onion and onion. The meal worked out well but I was a bit late preparing it and I received some valuable cutting assistance from Devrim. If this were a Turkish meal, bread and yoghurt would definitely accompany it!
Afterwards was baklava (thank you D+E) and Iranian Turkish coffee. The Iranian version is lighter roasted and has slightly ‘chocolaty’ flavour compared to ‘Turkish’ Turkish coffee but every Turk so far has enjoyed the flavour.
Devrim’s Mother comes from Iran and Devrim would like to go with her family back there for a holiday one day, particularly after hearing me rave on about the country. It would also be funny seeing Devrim and Asli (her sister) wearing headscarves!
Saturday Night
After work Saturday night I met Orhan in the centre and caught a dolmus to Karaduvar, the village the opposite side of the Mersin Free Trade Zone. There, near the main road we ate a great dinner of icli kofte, lahmacun and sarma with fellow Aussie Jane, her husband Kemal, their daughter Alisa and Kemal’s relatives. I still wore my Port scarf and jumper but Jane, as a non-sport follower from Sydney, did not even know that the AFL grand final had already been played.
To accompany the dinner and conversation I brought a few beers and a wine. The wine was a Turkish 2001 cabernet sauvignon I had bought at Huseyin abi’s shop for 13 million. Unlike many (most?) Turkish wines, this one was quite drinkable. I can’t remember the brand but Huseyin abi has a merlot of the same mark that I may have to sample next time.
I wish Turkish wines were of better quality and value!
Like almost all mixed couples, Jane and Kemal had some very interesting stories about their time in Sydney and waiting for Kemal’s visa in Turkey. Kemal’s family have a herb (mainly parsley) production and distribution business and it was in one of the delivery trucks that Orhan and I were returned to our homes by Dogan, Kemal’s brother.
I enjoyed rambling on to another Aussie and I hope to see Jane and Kemal upon their return to Mersin after a jaunt down the coast.
