on the 20 hour bus ride to Dogubeyazit, the far eastern Turkey town near the Iranian border. Keep reading this space for further trip updates.
In a few hours I’m off
Reply
Perceptions of Iran
The reactions of people when I tell them I am going to Iran are very interesting. Many of the reactions can be summed up in the following comment I received via email from a ‘westerner’:
Isn’t there a lot of political dispute over there right now making it unsafe for visitors? What is there in Iran that makes you want to visit? I guess my image of most of those countries is a lot of desert and fighting…sorry if this sounds naive.
It is not surprising to hear these comments from people who live a long way from Iran and whose views have largely been shaped by sensationalist snippets every few weeks on the news. The funny thing is, almost all Turkish people I have spoken to share similar views. This is despite the fact that Turkey and Iran are in the same part of the world and actually share borders!
All the locals want to why I am going to Iran and not Europe, Australia or another country. They have absolutely no intention to visit Iran and effectively see Iran as a backwards country. I believe this reflects Turkey’s movement of the last 80 years towards Europe. Most people in Turkey look towards and learn more about the west at the expense of the east. I would say even many of the Islamists do not want Turkey to share the same laws and practices as Iran. Then again, I am sure a reasonable proportion do.
Congratulations Jeff!
In week 5 of the American game show, “Studio 7”, Jeff won USD 77,000!
He is now in the running to win $777,000 on the series-ending show.
I met Jeff when he was an AIESEC Adana trainee a few years ago.
Jeff studied Arabic language during his political science undergraduate programme. He started before the planes crashed into the World Train Centre. After this event, there were many bandwagoners who started studying Arabic and Jeff’s classes increased significantly in size.
After completing his political science degree Jeff worked for the Washington Institute before going to grad school where he is now.
Pizza ‘Joe Style’
Last night I was going to prepare my pizza at home. I brought the dough from the ‘firin’ (oven – baker) and went back home to roll it and add the toppings before taking the readied pizza back to the firin to cook. Instead, Orhan, his Mother, Father and sister rocked up and we went to their place in their friend’s Mazda. On the way we bought a few more pizza ingredients.
At their place I showed them how to make the pizza. Orhan’s Mum oiled a pan and rolled the dough out flat. I then spread the tomato paste on the base, followed by grated cheese (was close to mozzarella). Sliced mushrooms, pineapple (canned), red and green capsicum, onion, tomato, sucuk (spicy Turkish sausage) and finally, more cheese on the top. Previously I had added chilli flakes, dried basil and thyme to some of the toppings and these spices added a good touch.
After some time in the oven, the first pizza was ready. 3 large pizzas were made all up and this was more than enough to feed the 5 of us. They were delicious, although some finetuning could be done next time to make them even better. Perhaps the base was too thin and the topping too thick. The house did not have resting tray to allow the base to air and harden. The pizzas were somewhat sloppy.
All but Zumrut, the young (about 11 years old) daughter, loved the pizzas. Zumrut picked apart the pizza and seemed to reject every second ingredient, even though a special pizza half without pineapple or mushroom was made for her.
The amazing thing is the family had not eaten pineapple before!
Last night was also the first time I have eaten my style of pizza in Turkey. The pizzas in Turkey are generally bland. Some Turks actually add mayonnaise and Ketchup to the cooked pizza!
A copy of the email I sent to my address list
Dear friends and family,
I am still living and working in Mersin. The summer is hot and humid with no rain for 2 months. It’s hard to believe Istanbul flooded earlier this week.
In a few days I will visit Iran for a 2 week holiday. Iran borders eastern Turkey and it is one of the most historic and interesting countries in the world. As the centre of the former Persian Empire, Iran has a large amount of fantastic architecture. Besides Turkey, the other countries Iran borders are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Iran also lies on the Persian Gulf across from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Exciting, hey?
Despite what many uninformed people think, Iran is not an Arab country. The two most important events in modern Iranian history are the overthrow of the Shah in 1979 and the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. Iran is now controlled by a religious theocracy and the rules are very strict. Sex outside of marriage is forbidden; alcohol is not easy to find; the mixing of the genders is limited; and women must wear a head-scarf in public. 70% of Iranians are under the age of 30 and there is a large generation gap between the older and younger generations.
In the right-hand column of my blog at www.taheny.com I have several links for Iran, including other travellers’ photos and accounts of their time there. On my blog you can also comment after each posting I make and place your figure on my guestmap of the world (also in the right-hand column. I expect many more tiny humans on the guestmap!
I am very much looking forward to my trip. I will be travelling with a Swiss friend. Whilst I’m in Iran I plan to update the blog every couple of days. The cities we plan to visit are Tabriz, Tehran (home of the world’s craziest traffic!), Shiraz (where the grape got its name), Esfahan and Yazd. The internet access will be limited on my trip and the blog will be first priority so I may take some time replying to emails- be patient!
This will be my first visit to an ‘axis of evil’ country 🙂
Cheers,
Joe
A word invented in Mersin!
Well, not actually Mersin but the ancient town of Soli, of whom the word “Solecism” is named after.
The Chicage Tribune newspaper has a whole article dedicated to “Solecism“. A solecism is a breach of grammar or etiquette.
I had never heard of the word before but a Google search brings up more than 11,000 hits.
Soli is on the outskirts of Mersin. Currently all that remains of this ancient city is a row of columns and a few other ruins. The first photo of this posting is of Soli.
As one needs to register to visit the Chicage Tribune website I have uploaded a copy of the article: Solecism.doc
Another Train Accident
Asli took longer than usual to come on the train from Adana to Mersin. On the way the train collected a female pedestrian. I believe the pedestrian died on the spot. I haven’t seen any online reports of this accident.
Today I read two interesting articles. One concerning Turkey’s improving economy and the other regarding Turkey’s food culture.
BREAKING NEWS: Earthquake west of Mersin
In the last 30 minutes there was a small earthquake stretching from Erdemli to Mezitli, just west of Mersin. I used to live in Mezitli. I’m sure there will be further reports soon and I will update if I hear anything more. In Mersin I didn’t feel anything.
UPDATE: [7:15 pm] I cannot find any news articles concerning the earthquake in English. The earthquake registered 4.6 and was centred at Erdemli west of Mezitli. Articles in Turkish: Zaman and Mersin Haber.
The earthquake obviously didn’t cause much damage because there aren’t any pictures. Turkish media just loves showing controversial and exciting images and footage.
Coincidentally, almost 5 years to the day was the major earthquake in Izmit.
UPDATE [18/08/04]: NTVMSNBC has an article on the earthquake in English.
