Huseyin abi, yes, the person I shared the lotto prize with, has been a bit down recently. The income from his small ‘bakkal’ (corner shop – named “Can Can Tekel ve Bufesi”) is not covering his expenses. After the shop and house rents, tax, electricity, water and living expenses are taken out, there is not enough money left. The fact that both Huseyin abi and his wife both smoke about 1 packet of cigarettes each per day does not help. 150,000,000 TL per month goes up in smoke, literally. His share of the lotto prize went straight to the bank to cover part of his credit card debt.

Several times over the past year he has spoken about wanting to go to Australia like just about all Turkish people want to do. After winning the 2nd division lottery prize he wanted to spend more on the lotto each week. I didn’t want to and suggested it was not a good idea as it is a waste of money. The chance to have all 6 correct numbers chosen out of 49 in the Saturday lotto draw is 1/13,942,000 or so. The odds are not on the contestant’s side.

Last night after the lotto did not go our way he was not very happy and asked me what he could do. I thought of a few things and then the most obvious idea popped into my head: improve the shop and make it more customer friendly and attractive to increase sales.

Can Can Tekel ve Bufesi sells alcohol, cigarettes, basic food supplies, lollies, chips, snack nuts and seeds, soft drinks, yoghurt, bread, freshly-ground coffee (ground in the shop), headache tablets, bandaids, razors and other everyday needs and wants. There are many thousands of similar shops all over Turkey. I guess there are 4 or 5 within 100 metres of my apartment! I could write a whole blog article on the ‘bakkal’ and may do so in the future.

Huseyin abi used to work in a factory and does not come from a customer service, retailing or marketing background. This showed in his shop. The shop and its products didn’t look nice, there was little to differentiate his private area with the shop area and the products for sale were placed in random areas with goods they didn’t fit with.

After both working for 6(!) years at the Foodland Fulham Gardens Supermarket and studying several marketing subjects (sorry, ‘courses’) at the University of South Australia I had a few suggestions for Huseyin abi and his shop.

That evening I came out with the ideas:

*Place similar products (cooking ingredients, for example) together

*Remove as much cardboard as possible from the displays

*Bring the products from the back to the front of the shelves

*Turn around the products so the labels show properly

*Add extra lighting

Remove all the products on display in the private back area and bring them to the shop proper

*Disguise the back area so as to differentiate it properly from the actual public shop

*Dust the products!

*Remove the crap from the top of the freezers

*Add reasonable-size price tickets

*Remove all out of date or damaged stock from the shelves

*Make the outside view of the shop more attractive

In summary: make the shop as inviting as possible and for Huseyin abi to ‘think as a customer’ and ‘be a friendly salesman not a shopkeeper’.

Several (most) of the ideas were difficult to communicate in Turkish but Huseyin abi got the point and by the end of the night I am sure he was sick of me and my ideas.

Earlier today, after completing a load of washing at home, I returned to Can Can Tekel ve Bufesi. Huseyin abi had already made several changes and the shop was looking better. We installed shelving between the private and public spaces, moved goods around, dusted and implemented most of the ideas I suggested last night. After a few hours of work, the shop is far more appealing now.

I sincerely hope this work is worth it and the sales turnover increases. I’m sure it will, particularly with more shop improvements in the future and a continued customer and sales-focus. Huseyin abi and his shop are on the way up!

By the way, in this Internet cafe a few doors down from Can Can Tekel ve Bufesi, Huseyin abi’s son, Yigit, has been bugging me to write his name on my blog. There you go Yigit!

In summer it is difficult to sleep in the mornings. The heat, traffic noise (I live close to a busy road) and light are not conducive to good sleep.

In winter I shut the doors and windows and put the blinds down. These actions cut out the light and reduce the noise substantially. The heat is not a problem in winter (obviously) and although the apartment is cold, a hot water bottle and thick blanket perform admirably.

If I kept the doors, windows and blinds shut in summer I’d have an involuntary sauna. My bedroom does have air conditioning but it is noisy, not split-system and installed as an after-thought. It was placed in the window separating the bedroom from the balcony. The hot air is spewed out onto the balcony the other side of the thin windows. With the air conditioning I also have to open the curtains to allow the cool air to flow. Once in a previous summer I left the air conditioning running all night. Well, I planned to. In the middle of the night I woke sweating like no man before. The electricity was out and my involuntary sauna had come into effect.

Basically, it is more convenient to ignore the air conditioning. If I owned my flat I would seriously consider removing or upgrading the air conditioning system. The current ‘box’ is massive and effectively reduces my usable balcony space by %25+.

What has this got to do with simitci?

A ‘simitci’ is a person who sells ‘simit‘, donut-shaped bread rings. Every city has their own style of simit. Ankara is famous for its simit but my favourite is the simit from Adana. Simitcis often walk the streets carrying simit on a tray above their head. Simitci’s are almost always males – I have yet to see a female simitci.

To create awareness and attract attention as they walk along, simitcis call out in their deep voices “simitci”, “taze (fresh) simit”, “sicak (hot) simit” and other such war cries. Even the young boy simitcis have deep voices.

One of the simitci’s who pass by work everyday has a mild intellectual disability. It is fantastic that he is making himself useful. To support him Sevil buys simit even if nobody in the office wants it. Daily he passes, opens the office door and bellows “simit”, asking us several time if we want simit. If nobody is hungry for simit we have to say no two or three until he receives the message. Often his bellowing is not appreciated, when staff are either speaking on the phone or dealing with customers, for example. Sometimes he breaks out and starts singing a folk song. It is very funny and he is a good singer.

Simitcis walk the streets for long hours and work very hard. Some begin early in the morning at first light or before. The combination of deep voice and early morning create a penetrating sound. With the open doors, windows and blinds, in my sleep I can hear the simitci approach from a long distance away.

Today a simitci woke me up just after 7 am. I won’t lodge a complaint or protest too much, just accept the fact that simitcis are a great part of Turkish life. They are certainly much better than the Ramazan drummers!

Iran

In a few weeks time I will travel around Iran for 2 weeks. I am very much looking forward to the trip, particularly since it will be 11 months since I last left Turkey. 11 months! That is crazy and I would go crazy if I had to spend the next 11 months in the same country. To compliment this upcoming trip I have added a few Iran weblinks to the right-hand column below the archive section.

Move On!

Yes, it is time for both John Howard and George W Bush to move on. My favourite band, Pearl Jam, have joined a heap of other bands for a series of concerts in American swing states with the end aim of getting Bush out of office. Should be a great tour for those who can go. I hope it their goal is met.

Bomb Update

Previously, I was doubtful that a bomb had gone off. After looking at a few local Mersin news websites (all in Turkish) I can say that the bombing did occur.

–Here is a story with a small picture.

-On this page there a couple of stories on the bombing as well as the Atas fire and a UFO. There is also a large photo of the bomb sight.

-In this bombing article KONGRA-GEL (former PKK) are mentioned. I don’t know the circumstances as my Turkish is not enough.

In other local news

*As mentioned above, a UFO has appeared on the Mersin scene.

*An update on the Turkish truck driver hostages released in Iraq. In response to the kidnappings, Turkish truck companies will now only operate to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Unfortunately another Turkish truck driver died.

*The weather has remained hot, humid and free of rain for the past 2 months. It has threatened to rain a couple of times but nothing eventuated. Some rain would be good!

The article Incirlik wing named an outstanding unit illustrates the importance of the Incirlik Air Base to the Americans over the past 2&1/2 years of Middle Eastern military endeavours.

As a point of reference, Incirlik is less than 100 km east of Mersin.

Travel warnings: DFAT under fire at industry forum

Many foreign workers have been kidnapped in Iraq recently. Amongst them are several Turkish people. Two truckdrivers were recently released after their company Kahramanli withdrew from Iraq. Kahramanli are headquartered in Mersin.

Today Huseyin abi and his friend Ali abi picked me in Ali’s Volkswagen Passat. We were off the the nearby coastal village of Karaduvar. Today I met Ali abi for the first time.

Karaduvar is just east of Mersin, the other side of the Free Trade Zone. Karaduvar is also the location of the Atas petroleum refinery, the sight of the fire last weekend. Today I couldn’t see any evidence of the fire as we drove past.

The restaurant, Habid’in Yeri (Habid’s place) was a 2-storey place next to the coastal road. On the other side of the road chidren were swimming in the sea. To the west the port and city of Mersin were visible. A short distance to the east was Karaduvar’s marina.

Ostensibly, the reason for today’s lunch was to celebrate Huseyin’s and my lotto win last weekend. Entreé was fried calamari with tartar sauce. Tomato/cucumber and rocket salads, toasted bread, lemon quarters, green chillis and grilled garlic and onion were also brought out. Ali abi drowned the salads in Nar Eksisi (Pomegranite sauce).

The grilled fish came later. I don’t know the name of the fish but it had a mild, white flesh and was delicious. We chose the fish from fresh the fridge upon entry. After the fish some prawns were brought out. They were okay but nothing like fresh South Aussie prawns.

The traditional drink for such a meal and the drink consumed today was raki. As I didn’t want to be in a car with a drunk driver I only drank one raki and let Huseyin and Ali go on their merry way.

The meal finished with fresh grapes, apricots, watermelon and honeydew melon accompanied by Turkish coffee and then lemon juice with soda (for digestion so I was told).

It was a great, relaxing afternoon with good food in a pleasant location and good company. Well, good, until it came to paying for the bill. It turned out to be Joe’s shout. I didn’t mind paying the 70,000,000 TL as I had a windfall last weekend. I would have appreciated if I had known this before. But, anyway, we all enjoyed ourselves.

As the sober one, I drove back to Mersin. On the outskirts of Mersin the road is under construction with large concrete pipes to be laid. I don’t know why it is happening now, I thought all construction occured just before the election period 😉

Ali abi’s Passat is quite a nice car. The braking and the acceleration from the turbo diesel injected motor made a great change from the Renault Toros I usually drive when I have vehicle access.

I went home after work on the 29th and I didn’t see anything on television concerning a bomb in Mersin. In fact, the only mentions of the bomb I have heard, seen or read anywhere were those two news articles linked to in the previous post. It is either a conspiracy of silence, the bomb did not actually happen or it was so small that it wasn’t worth reporting. Bomb blasts are generally widely reported even if no damage is done so I doubt it is the last reason.

On TV Thursday night I did see a few other things, though:

* Mersin’s weather forecast for Friday was 42 degrees C. The day felt like 42C, too!

The humidity adds to the fun of Mersin in summer (if you could call continuously sweating fun).

* The big story of Thursday night was Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s visit to Iran and meeting with Mohammad Reza Aref, the Iranian First Vice President. 3 channels, TRT 2, NTV and CNNTurk showed dedicated footage of a joint press conference. An interpreter translated between the questions and comments from Turkish to Farsi and vice versa. At first I was not sure if the meeting was in Iran or Turkey. What tipped me it was Iran were the fact that none of the 30 or so people standing behind the two politicians were women. There were several female journalists but no ‘henchwomen’.

Later, Erdogan met other Iranian political leaders. An interesting take of the meeting with the Iranian President is here. You don’t need to tell me about the bias!

Other topics:

An insight into ‘black marketing’ at the nearby Incirlik airforce base.

Flic in China has a blog! Visit it for the stories of an Australian AIESECer in China. Flic is from Adelaide and came to Turkey in late 2002 for a short traineeship in Eskisehir.