Last Days of Turkey

Hi peoples!

Sooooo good news and bad news.
Bad news: my days in Turkey are coming to a close :(
Good news: I'm going to Belgium!

Ya, ya Im skippıng the majorıty of europe, but at thıs poınt ı'm so ready to be ın a country where I speak the language. And yes all the 'i's are goıng to be mıssıng dots ın thıs post because ıts a turkısh keyboard.
So, on monday ı'm goıng to be flyıng to Bruxelles and couchsurfıng there for a few days and then headıng to Bruges for a few days. Im pretty much only goıng to Bruges becaue of the movıe In Bruges ıts a very amusıng movıe, Warning: it is a very dark movie and there is a LOT of cussing. Then from Bruges to Parıs the Parıs to the Alpes.
Thats my tentatıve plan...my plan of whıch has a tendancy to change frequently.

Im not sure how often I'll have tıme to blog or whether I'll be able to put up pıctures. I'll do my best to keep ıt up though.

Left Jade farm on the 27th....for the second tıme :P The past week/days at Jade Farm passed quıte quıckly and they were very calm and relaxıng. One nıght I was happıly able to get some close up shots of a hedgehog

Oh, and Julie, we had a visiter at the farm right before I left

I've spent thıs weekend wıth my frıend Marıe, of fılıpıno decent but grew up ın germany, we met ın san francısco through my french buddy, Robın, and 7 months later ended up ın turkey completely unaware that the other was goıng to be here. Small world huh? and talk about globalızatıon.

Sunday we went out to one of the Prınce's Islands, ıslands sıtuated just an hour boat-rıde away from Istanbul. We went to the second ısland whıch presented a spectacular vıew of Istanbul from afar and was far enough away from the cıty to provıde wonderful tranquıl sılence. We ımmedıatly got dıstracted by a bunch of kıttens and ended up cuddlıng wıth them for quıte a long tıme. The ısland has a healthy populatıon of stray cats and dogs, but don't feel sorry for these pampered anımals, they seem well taken care of by eıther the ınhabıtants or the tourısts tossıng them food. So much so that some of the dogs were obese.

One of the kittens got stuck in a tree and so Marie tried to get him down

We walked around and found a spectacular beach where Alessıa, Marıe's ıtalıan frıend, and I went swımmıng.

It was a wonderful day of lazyıng about, eatıng, drınkıng çaı, and hangıng out wıth wonderful people

Thanks Turkey! Its been a blast, and I'll defınıtely be returnıng someday, hopefully soon.

Well...that was quick

 Leaving Jade Farm was a very sad event. On saturday we had an end of the harvest/going away barbeque, and then monday morning I said my teary goodbyes to everyone. They gave me small gifts. Zubeta gave me some beautiful, traditional socks, as a joke because I was constantly barefoot even during the cold mornings. I love them immensely though and they'll be great to have during the cold winter.

 I wrote them a letter, with the help of Berin, saying that I wanted to come back to see everyone soon. Then Berin and I set off to Adapazari where I took a bus to Istanbul and then another bus to the second farm.


I would look out the window and describe the new farm to you....except the view outside looks suspiciously like Jade Farm....because it is. I was at the dairy farm for less than three days. The owners and the german milkmaid were all very nice people, and were very kind and accommodating to me. It was the atmosphere of the working crew, the complete absence of warmth and happiness, that I found rather unpleasant. Their lack of compassion for the animals they worked with was also rather disturbing. The farm is also industrialized.

When you work with cows it's necessary to be a little rambunctious, raise your voice, clap your hands, give some rump slaps. They're slow creatures and not in the hurry, nor have the real desire, to do anything. They meander, then stop, you give a loud "Allez Filles!", they continue, then stop, a thigh or rump tap "Allez!", they meander forward, then stop. This is how it is working with cows. Yet, the workers take their aggression with the cows too far. Last morning, I reached my breaking point.
I wasn't very happy at the farm to begin with, but i though that maybe I could just tough it out for the 11 days I would be there. Yet, one morning when I went out to feed milk to the calves with one of the other workers, two of the little guys had escaped from their pen. They came up to us though, hungry for milk, and with the excitement one of them knocked over the bucket with the milk bottles in it. A mere two drops of milk were spilled but the worker turned in anger and hit the calf, who was probably barely two months old, on the face and then kicked it. I was furious at the guy and voiced my anger but he didn't understand my english cussing. He pointed to the overturned bucket as if to justify his brutality. The calf didn't know what she did, and beating her wouldn't help her understand, it would just lead to a traumatized animal.
 Yet that was it, I refuse to work in a place where animal abuse is taking place. I told the female owner of the occurrence and she seemed shocked and unaware of such things were going on. She is in charge of finance so she is never on the milking floor, and she loves the cows dearly, so I very much hope that she will see the abuse stopped.
Even so, I could not be persuaded to stay any longer. Within a couple of hours I was on a bus back to Istanbul.
I make no mention of names or places to leave them with their privacy.

I realize that was a rather heavy and photo-free segment. So, here's a picture of Mr. Mallo:

  I was so mad this picture was out of focus.

I'm now blissfully back on Jade Farm. Berin is on vacation by the sea but will be back soon, so I ate at Caramille's (aka caramel's) place with the family.

I would also like to thank the shuttle drivers for coming to my aid in figuring out what shuttle to take. I asked one for help and all seven of them circled around to read the address to Berin's farm to try and help me. Thank you four random strangers who let the odd american person borrow their phone to call Berin for directions. Also a huge thank you to the bus driver who, during his break, hopped into his bus to drive me directly to my bus stop, and then drove back. Never have I met people so willing to step up to try and help someone. Thank you absurdly nice turkish people!

Anyways, that's the thing about traveling, you put yourself out there to have new experiences, and those experiences might not always be good ones. That shouldn't stop you from traveling though, for every one bad experience there is a world of great and amazing experiences.

GDO'ya hayır!

So, I left off with my last post saying that Berin and I would be attending a GMOs meeting in Bursa, and I must say it was quite spectacular to see. The first day I went to the center of Bursa to explore while Berin went to the large meeting. Bursa in general isn't all that notable. It had a large bazaar but it's filled with generic household items, clothing, food, and even pets. Highlight of that excursion was definitely the börek that I ate. I have no idea what was in it but it was amazing.
The second day was much more fun. It was in a smaller house-community center-esk, wooden building and it involved only a core group of about 30 people working to create a list of requests/demands about limiting and restricting GMO's in Turkey. I understood about 5 or 6 words total of the entire meeting, but during the breaks I got to talk to some of the people about their backgrounds. Some of the people had absolutely flawless english and used words that I never do...
not many pics but here's some from the first day:

 when everyone was on on a lunch break

here's Berin introducing one of the speakers

Another note on GMO's, if you guys haven't heard, a recent study was released showing results that GMO's cause tumors/cancer and shorten lifespans in rats.
"In September, French scientists from the University of Caen released a study claiming that rats fed on a diet containing NK603 – a corn seed variety made tolerant to amounts of Monsanto's Roundup weed-killer – or given water mixed with the product at levels permitted in the United States died earlier than those on a standard diet." article

What's even more horrifying is that the The European Food Safety Authority claims that the science wasn't 'sound', that they didn't have enough test subjects....the test was conducted with over 200 rats. Not to mention the minimum adequate sample size (the minimum test subjects you need to get a significant result) would have be calculated before the test was even started. The European Food Safety Authority was paid off by Monsanto.
If there was a company that defined an evil corporation it would be Monsanto.

GDO'ya Hayır!!! No to GMOs!!!


Off the subject off GMOs, I reached a milestone while on the bus to Bursa; I wrote my first sentence! and soon after that a whole conversation ^_^  a small feat but a feat none the less
Bursaya gidiyorum. Translation: I am going to Bursa. Direct translation: Bursato goingI'm
...ya, turkish kind of has different sentence structure.

I've also set the date for when I'm going to the other farm, in three days to be precise, the 15th. I'm really hoping it ends up being as awesome as Jade Farm has been. I'm really sad to leave, but at the same time I'm ready to get back on the road. Pictures!!!

 Here is the tomato harvest. My Papap would be proud ^_^
 the yellow tomatoes are divine

I really liked this picture. Berin giving directions from the kitchen window, Caramille walking by, and the girls working in the back

Here's the shop full of organic goodness

 

Me hard at work, as usual, as Yetkin and Berin look at the quinces

 Yetkin, to the upper left, is doing his doctorate on corn production in Turkey at a university in Pennsylvania, and came to the farm to get interviews of corn producers. We've since adopted him, and only reluctantly allowed him to return to his parents house in Istanbul today. He's been wonderful to have around, extremely jovial and happy, and even Caramille has given his stamp of approval by biting him on the shoulder...don't ask.

 Do you remember me kneading the dough in my last post? well it was rolled into these little patties today and left out to dry. It'll dry and then be crumbled into powder then used for the tarhana soup which is delicious!!! We're having it tonight, yum :)

I'm going to miss so much from this farm: the warm people, the absurdly delicious food, the agreeable work, the peaceful nature, the comradery, the fuzzy animals. It's been great fun. 

I'm also greatly saddened that I won't be able to see my Mr. Cheese again...I really wish I could take him on the road with me, but I'm sure he's quite happy where he is.

 Mr. Cheese

me and my buds, helping me shell beans

my next post will be from the other farm. Working with cows and milk again. Berin says the place is pretty high tech though. The cows have microchips in their legs which tell how much milk they give a day...it'll be interesting to see

I also came upon a sad realization the other day...I'm turning 23 in a little over a month, which is beyond bizarre because I was 20 yesterday. My elders always said that time flew by when you got older, but in my youth I never really believed them. Yet, its happening, life is passing far too quickly, and I'm not sure how to slow time down. Maybe I should stop having so much fun...

Anyhoo, I leave you all with this song which was blasting in the bus on the way to the GMO conference. HUGS!

Dancing, Traditionally Clad, Turkish Man Candy

Ya, ya I know it has been a while, but I don't have a lot of time at the moment so I'll try to get something out. Berin and I will be leaving soon for a conference in Bursa on GMO's. Really wishing my turkish was more advanced so I could actually understand what will be said, but sadly it is not. 

So, the big event of last weekend was a festival in one of the villages celebrating the Ayaarya culture. It was an amazing experience. There were horse races earlier in the day, great food, and traditional dances and singing at night. We went with Berin's photography group. I'll tell the story through pictures, it'll be quicker and everyone likes pictures.

 Hoş Geldiniz means welcome in Turkish. The native Ayaaryan language can't be spelled with latin letters so instead they use cyrillic but even then it doesn't quite capture the language.

 Flags!

 These were some dancers. The dancing particular culture is unique to the region because it has men and women dancing together. The surrounding cultures have the genders dancing separately. The partners also change often, when one person is tired another person hops in to replace them. It's like tag team dancing. Sometimes girls will use this tag team to teasingly force a guy to continue dancing until he's exhausted.

 This is a form of Manta, they're like dumplings with meat inside. SO GOOD. and the drink is a type of salty yogurt that's very common here.

 Bean pure, spinach thing, and chicken eaten with a corn based bread-thingy (its ok if you guys don't understand my technical terminology, it takes time). Like all turkish food, it was disgustingly delicious.

 Horse races...not much to say about it, there were horses and riders and they went around a track a couple of times and the person who crossed the finish line first won.

 I tried to get some photos of the traditional costumes. The women's costumes were lovely, but the guy's were by far the coolest, like Assassin's Creed badass. I really wanted one but they order them specially :/

 I really wish that they would implement this as normal male attire.

I tried my damnedest to upload a video of the dancing but blogger was having trouble with my file and youtube was going to take 311minutes to upload it...I didn't feel like waiting that long so sadly no videos. 

The dancing was amazing though, the guys jump and spin while the women do small movements and walk softly on their toes as if floating. The singer, Gülcan Altan, was also astoundingly captivating, her voice was so melodic and she had a great presence on stage. This recording doesn't do her any justice 

 Out of everything though, the best part was the dancing, traditionally clad, turkish man candy...or are they called turkish delights? Anyways, man candy is always appreciated ^_^

We're also in the process of making a traditional turkish soup called tarhana. It's typically eaten during winter and it is in powder form. You made a dough, kind of like sour dough, knead and add flour every day for 7 days, not sure what comes after that because we're not there yet, but it eventually becomes a powder.

Kneading

Watching it grow!

Berin and I have also been hard at work building a cat army. Word apparently got out that we feed furry creatures. It all started with Mr. Cheese, then came Mr. Mallow, Little Mama came next. She's a miniscule little cat, probably not even one, and has a litter of kittens (another sad case of teen pregnancy) hence the name 'Little Mama'. Golden eyes is another new comer but he's still very shy. There's another tabby but we haven't named him yet. Our army's greatest skill: synchronized cleaning. I'm not sure yet how this will be useful in my goal of world domination, suggestions are welcomed.
We also get dogs occasionally but they aren't very frequent visitors. They'll be the calvary. I'm also looking into recruiting the hedgehogs. They'll be 'the diggers'.

I was also thinking of something my friend Cathe told me, be weary of what you name things because they often take that name to heart. She once named a horse Tempest and it tried its damnedest to live up to that name. Mr. Cheese has become another example of this. Now that he's gained some weight, with us feeding him, he's turned into the Tom cat of the neighborhood, the Big Cheese if you will. I need to be cautious of this naming thing in the future. 

Other interesting things: One morning we woke up to find muddy hedgehog footprints all over the deck and even on the table. We have yet to figure out how the little guy got onto the table since they can't jump. My theory is that he hopped onto a crate, then the chair, then the table. One of the hedgehogs here is also the size of a small cat, hedgehogzilla, so I'm thinking it was him.

There are also Jakals here (Çakal) running around at night. You know when they are around because they howl their respond to the prayers when they are announced over the land from the mosques. It's bone chilling and exciting when you hear it.

anyways have to go

more stories when i have time

Excuse me ma'am, your american is showing

Excuse me ma'am, your american is showing...and failing epically. Showing in the form of a pumpkin pie from scratch and failing in that it was awful. Stupid pies, I hate baking you. Never again. If anyone reading this, sometime in the future, hears me talk about baking a pie please, kindly remind me of the time I tried to bake a pie in Turkey and remind me that I hate baking pies. Luckily enough no one here had ever tried a pumpkin pie before and thus didn't know what it was suppose to taste like. They thought it was fine. I tried to inform them that it was a sheer abomination.

 

picture of the stupid pie

Other than the stupid pie thing, I finally got about to romping on the hill behind the garden, ya, it took me a month to get around to it. It was magnificent. The arid conditions, steep accent, and oaks (not sure what genus) reminded me very much of california. The hill was also covered in life. Lots of lizards ranging from lime and emerald green to a deep brown and small rodents scurried everywhere. As I was merrily hiking I heard loud rustling coming from behind a slope to my right. The creature made so much noise it was evidently an animal of substantial size, deer, wild pig maybe? I didn't make a move, hoping that it hadn't heard me earlier, and would make its way into my view of sight. A minute passed and the noise got louder and louder and finally, at the edge of the slope, a little tortoise head popped up and he slowly drug his hefty shell onto the flatter ground. "What immense luck!" I thought, and then proceeded to examine the little guy. Don't worry, I didn't touch him, animals deserve as much respect as humans. I wouldn't go running up to a german tourist, start petting him, and loudly declaring how cute he was in a baby voice. 

I was so happy to have been able to see a tortoise, and after I took a bajillion photos of him I continued down the trail. It couldn't have been more than a few seconds before I ran into another tortoise using the trail to expedite his travels. So of course, I followed him. For about 10 minutes, and about 50 feet, I watched him trudge along, occasionally stopping to chomp down on a leaf he thought looked delectable. His shell also showed signs that a larger creature had unsuccessfully tried to gnaw on him. After another bajillion photos and mental observations on his mannerisms, my patience finally wore out and I passed up the little dullard....and then 10 minutes later I ran into another. The hill was apparently crawling with tortoises and by the end of my hike it was, "oh, another tortoise." I even got to see a territorial dispute!

 Tosbağa (Testudo graeca) The spur-thighed tortoise or Greek tortoise 

(he's a little bit bigger than an American football)

Other than that the week went on like normal. The workers came, we worked, we ate, and we were merry. During the potato harvesting though, I kept running into these disgusting, bulbous larvae in the soil. They are about as long as your finger and apparently metamorphose into a beetle. 

They are apparently ravenous eaters,  and horrible for a crop. So, they had to go. Where did I take my prisoners? you might ask. There is only one place to take prisoners, and that is to 

The Colosseum!!!!!!!

I've come to the conclusion that it is a very good thing I was never a Roman empress...

Anyhoo, another interesting tidbit, I apparently have rather generic european features, because people seem to mistake me for being from whichever country I find myself. In France, everyone thought I was french, and in Turkey everyone thinks I'm turkish. This is, of course, before I speak. Yes, I know, your first reaction was,"...but you look nothing like the turkish." and that is when your pre-created image of the turkish comes into play (if you had one). While I was in Istanbul I was astounded by how diverse the features (facial, skin color, body shape, etc.) were among the inhabitants. Turkey is where the East meets the West, and this is very evident with the people. When they first see me everyone mistakes me as someone from Karadeniz (meaning Black Sea) characterized primarily by blue eyes, lighter skin, and slender figures. Hell, I can't wait until I go to the UK/Ireland, with my last name, features, and skill with an irish accent I can go completely incognito!!! MUAHAHAHA feeeel the power.

Oh, I've also started to use a miswak along with my normal toothbrush/toothpaste, it's a natural toothbrush made from the root of the Salvadora persica or toothbrush tree

"[They] have been used for over 1000 years, especially by Islamic populations in India, Arabia and Africa. Several agents occurring in the bark and wood have been suggested as aids in prevention of dental caries, such as antimicrobial agents that suppress bacterial growth and the formation of plaque. The tooth stick is also said to relieve toothache and gum disease." World Agroforestry Center <== this site is amazing, check it out

"A 2003 scientific study comparing the use of miswak with ordinary toothbrushes concluded that the results clearly were in favor of the users who had been using the miswak, provided they had been given proper instruction in how to brush using it." Wikipedia

Ever wonder how africans get their pearly whites so pearly white? They use the toothbrush tree!

Nature FTW ^_^

Berin and I are off to the city, Adapazari, today to go shopping for necessary supplies so I should get dressed and eat. I guess I should also inform you all that I have decided to extend my stay at Jade Farm another half a month. I'm quite happy here, and though my vagabond feet are twitching, I think it will be good for me to stay a while longer. 

I hope you all are doing well

Much love ^_^ 

Oh, I've also opened up the comments thing so anyone can post without creating an account. I didn't realize it was blocked. 

Toodles!

Çay

Sitting in the cool night air with a mug of çay (turkish tea), reading Rousseau's Les Confessions, and the sound of bamya (okra) frying in the kitchen...life could be a lot worse :)
The hardships of the farm life continued the next day as I gleefully jarred pekmez (pronounced peck-mass), a delicious sugar cane molasses, as Pavarotti filled the house. I could really get use to this torture.

Most days aren't as relaxing though, this past week we took on the process of making pekmez which is extremely time consuming and laborious. It consists of cutting sugar cane, removing all the leaves, passing it through a machine which squeezes out the sugary liquid, then boiling that liquid for hours watching it turn from a light lime green to a beautiful golden and then finally to the dark brown of molasses. So, all the workers were there in force, including three daughters (one too young to work) and one son. They started working at 8am and went on until 6 or later. Three fires were continuously burning to keep the liquid boiling in the cauldrons, the machine loudly screeching, voices yelling directions over the noise, and people busily tending everything to keep the operation going.
It was exciting to see and participate in  the process and be involved with everyone, but I've never been particularly good with crowds...too much noise, too many people, too much going on. So, when the lull in work permitted, I did what I normal do when I'm in a noisy, crowded situation, I hid. Thankfully though, the pekmez is all done and all we need to do is finish the jarring.

Cutting and removing the leaves of the sugar cane

Extracting the sugary liquid

Taste test to see if it was close to being done

Before I continue though, I would like to acknowledge the women of whom I work with. They are the epitomes of tough, strong pillars. They work twenty times harder than I do but then turn around and tell Berin that it's wonderful working with me because I work so hard. What I do in comparison to them is pathetic. They have callouses an inch thick (2.54cm for my foreign friends) and their strength is astounding.  I have so much respect for them and I'm truly honored that they enjoy working with me as much as I enjoy working with them.

Time for some stories:
As I mentioned before there were two daughters brought along to work. I would guess they were 15 and 13 ish. The younger one, Ishay (once again no clue how to spell anyone's names), was wonderfully eager to learn english/practice the words she did know. Cadash, the elder sister, was a little more shy about it. Yet Ishay and I would, throughout the day, point at objects, I would say the name in english and she would say the name in turkish and we would quiz each other. I learned so many words in the few days we worked together.

So, when we were cutting and preparing the sugar cane the two girls often sang turkish songs. One day, they asked me to sing a song in english. First, I would like to state that my mind does not do very well on the spot...at all. So, what was the first song that popped into my head? Alouette a french childrens' song about plucking the feathers of a bird...did I mention my mind doesn't do well on the spot? The only other song that came to me was Stop in the Name of Love...but I couldn't remember enough lyrics so I just went with Aloutte.
Both girls made serious effort to learn the song but they oddly chewed on the french words which their mouths had difficulty mimicking. 
I did better the next day and started teaching them Walking in the Air (The Snowman is an amazing movie, watch it).

The pekmez process also brought out another particularity about me that the other women find oddly amusing. Shoes and I have never been very close, my feet and shoes just don't get along, and don't even get me started on socks. My feet wear shoes begrudgingly and complain the entire time they're on. To avoid conflict I leave my feet in complete liberation during almost all hours of the day here on the farm. By the end of the day they are so dirty they resemble hobbit feet (excluding the hair). My lack of shoes included when we were doing the cooking process for the pekmez, and this brought out the mothers in all the women.They were horrified as I bounced around the fires barefoot and lectured me on how I was going to burn my feet. Each one of them took me aside and tried to explain to me, in turkish, that I should be wearing shoes. They fussed the entire day about I how I was going to get burnt and guess what? I did get burnt. where? my hand. I found that to be quite amusing aside from the pain.

My turkish is coming along, slowly, but I learn a few words every day. Yet, any amount of happiness that I gain from my increased level in turkish is quickly dampened by the sad deterioration of my french. I left France 14 months and 2 days ago and my level has dropped rapidly ever since. Every time I write a message to someone I look back at it and realize that I conjugated something incorrectly or forgot to conjugate it at all. I leave out articles, the structure of the sentence is wrong, errors riddle the message and my discouragement deepens. Everything I built and worked on is slipping away from me with lack of practice.
Stupid Schengen Zone, because of you I only have 90 days to reconstruct, refurbish, and expand my grasp on french. I think France should make me an honorary citizen just for being so goddamn awesome...I should shoot Hollande an email on this matter. I'll keep you guys updated on that status.
This is also a sad foreshadowing of what will happen to my turkish the moment I leave these borders. But, I shall not let this slow my fervor for learning languages. Turkish is now my third, and I'm determined to take it on as challenging as it may be...and it, with its completely different structure, is definitely a challenge.

Oh! We have a new addition to our family, Mr. Mallow. His name is short for marshmallow because he is the color of a perfectly roasted marshamallow. He's a cat, and from his coloring it's obvious he's either a brother or a close cousin of Mr. Cheese. We also had a dog for a day, but it never came back :/
Anyways, Mr. Mallow is a spastic cat who is always wanting petses, and his tongue is too long for his mouth so it is continuously sticking out, which creates an amusing sight.

 Mr. Cheese and Mr. Mallow

Mr. Cheese is still my favorite though. He has a wonderfully gentle disposition, unlike Mallow who has both bit and scratched me but, don't feel bad for Mallow, he's Berin's favorite.

Also, a week or two ago Berin and I went to a meeting of five of the neighboring villages to discuss the proposed construction of a thermal plant on a hill overlooking the villages. I wanted to go just to see what it would be like even though I knew I wouldn't understand a word of what was being said. I found myself in a large group, 30 or so, all in business suits or dress shirts. Town mayors and other officials were all there showing up, shaking hands. The female presence was sadly lacking in the group of 30 something people, it consisted of Berin and I. I, of course, didn't really count. Yet, even so, Berin seemed very respected within the group, and happily everyone was opposed to the idea of the thermal plant. Hopefully this unity will be enough to stop the company from building.

I really wish I could recount all the stories and be able to accurately depict all the details of this magnificent country; the old men sitting talking at the mosque late at night, the melodic prayers echoing over the countryside five times a day, the open friendly nature of the turkish people, but sadly the written language is far too limited to do so, and nothing compares to truly being there to experience it. If you have the opportunity, travel, you will never regret it.

I have more stories, but after a long day (and two bottles of wine between Berin and I), I'm a bit on the sleepy side. I'll try to recount them later.

Hugs to everyone ^_^

Jade Farm

Hi peoples,

So, I'm just going to skim the rest of Istanbul, not because it wasn't as exciting/delightful, but because it's been almost two weeks since I left and I find the farm far more fascinating and more revealing about the turkish culture. So, here we go:

Last days: Went to the Grand Bizarre (massive market selling everything from leather jackets to spices). I was interested in getting a pocket watch and wandered into an antique section. Yet, when i asked the lady the price of a quarter sized pocket watch instead of telling me the price she went into the depths of its history...which meant she was explaining its exorbitant price. A cheap 600Liras (~$340).

Of course, Lauren wouldn't truly be abroad if she didn't have some kind of problems with her bank, namely forgetting her pin. Yes, some of you shall recall that this occurred while I was in Paris as well...I think its becoming a tradition. Half-a-day's freak-out there and calling the parents at 1am, only to find out that I could easily use my other card which I had luckily activated abroad as well. Yay! I don't have to go back!

Ekin and I went to Otantik again for my last night: Nozik Kebabi (cubed meat with yogurt sauce), Melemen (tomato base, eggs, and herbs), and the authentic mixed specialty plate again (cause it was so epic the first time).

That was Istanbul, it was awesome, visit it.

Jade Farm!
I arrived here on the 30th of August, the bus driver (who got me a penini when we were waiting for the bus to leave, I guess he was friends with the penini guy...did I mention turkish hospitality?), he dropped me off right in front of the farm. As I circled the small house I came upon two women, one blond one redhead, sitting on a large, blue cloth removing beans from their pods and another tall, older woman with short died brown hair. Inya and Duneya (I have no idea how to correctly write their names) were on the blue blanket, two german woman 22 and 25 in turkey for their vacation, and Berin, the older woman, was the owner.

After greetings I tossed my backpack into my room and plopped down with the two germans to work with the beans...and sit in complete silence. They didn't take out their earbuds, they didn't speak to me, they didn't even look at me, but on occasion they did speak to each other in german. After the task was complete they got up and went to their room without a word to me. I sought out Berin to see if she needed help picking the okra (bamya in turkish), and her first words were "They don't speak much do they?" Apparently they had been there for a month and Berin barely knew them or talked with them.

My level of interaction with, and like for, "the germans", as we have started referring to them now that they're gone, did not increase. They are by no means bad people, they sorely lacked anything I would identify as manners. They ate gluttonously, grumbled at the work they had to do, and never interacted with any of us. They were there a month and didn't learn a word of turkish. By my third day I had a vocabulary of over 25 words. Thankfully they left on the 7th which every person on the farm was quite content about.

Oh! before I continue, I must mention the overall highlight of my stay here, there are hedgehogs, everywhere! My first night was my first sighting, and a few nights after that another, and last night there was one in the compost pile. Little waddling balls of prickly adorableness. 

this is the best shot i could get of the little guy stealing a tomato ^_^

There are also wild dogs and cats here. Sadly they're not as friendly as the Istanbul ones, but we've semi-adopted one of the cats. I named him Mr. Cheese because we feed him the cheese we don't like. His eye got infected when he was a kitten and is all funked out now, hence why it's blue. the normal one is golden.

Along with the wwoof volunteers there are also paid workers, a dynamic group of women from the village. I greatly enjoy working with them. They don't speak english and my turkish consists of only a handful of words so the overall conversation is limited between us, but somehow with gestures, nodding, and anything else that would get the meaning across we are able to work together quite happily. Berin translating is also a great help. They are a primary reason why I want to learn turkish. The more I learn the easier our relationship gets and the more I can be a part of their group.

 Top left to right: Berin, Asseai, Zubeta
 Bottom left to right: Sevinch and Zekeai (I'm not sure how to correctly spell anyone's name)

 

There is also Caramille, Berin's right hand man. He's extremely jovial, always smiling and joking around. He is also very fond of calling me Obama and loudly proclaiming "Very Good!" which is the very little english he knows. 

I baked zucchinni bread for them, no one here has ever heard of it, and I'm quite happy to say that they all greatly enjoyed it. Berin has also asked me to make pumpkin pie. She had some american workers last year and they made it while she was away for a few days in Istanbul and when she got back they were all talking about how delicious it had been. So she really wants to partake in the american tradition.
Oh, and I have a new addiction: çay (aka tea, but turkish tea). They prepare it in a samovar (our's isn't that fancy) and let the tea steep for at least 20 minutes. Then the small turkish tea glass is poured half full of the tea and the rest with water and then add sugar if desired. We drink this after we eat lunch and I usually have three or four of them.
Helva, is another addiction. It's a dessert thing that tastes like awesome in your mouth. I prefer the summer helva over the winter. The pictures online don't do it any justice.
OH! and if anyone looked at the pictures of the snake (Natrix natrix) and frog (Rana ridibunda) i had put up on fb, well a few days later the snake started eating the frog. Nature in action!!! Yes, the frog is missing an arm. The snake, in the end, was unable to swallow a prey so large, but the frog later died from, what I assume, his wounds.

I have more stories and what not but I'll recount them later. After a 9 hour day cutting sugar cane I'm a bit on the tired side and I'm in desperate need of a shower.
I might add pics to the previous posts if I feel up to it later, we'll see. 
Toodles!

Oh, I also didn't really proofread for errors very thoroughly and I'm too tired to do so. So, if you find an error just correct it in your head. and here's a picture of me...kind of

Istanbul, Turkey

Yes, yes I know I'm rather slow at getting these posts out but things have been busy on the farm...and I also procrastinate
 My entry for Istanbul is rather extensive so I'll probably have multiple posts about it, plus I'm too lazy to write everything right now...and I should be outside removing beans from their pods.

note: I was in Istanbul from the 26th to the 30th of August. It was a very short stay, but it was jam packed with awesomeness. If you are able to, I HIGHLY recommend visiting Turkey. I have met many truly nice people everywhere I go, but seriously, the Turkish people take it to a new level. Screw southern hospitality, its all about Turkish hospitality.

Getting to Istanbul
Soooo, after the week in Bulgaria was over I took a bus from Burgas to Istanbul. My mom and I arrived in Burgas at 7:40am because her bus was at 10:15, mine wasn't until 12:30...well, it was suppose to be at 12:30. Welcome to Bulgaria! the bus didn't arrive until almost 4:00pm which meant that we got into the bus station in Istanbul around 11:30pm.
  When the bus got into the city well past dark I was shocked to see that everyone was still up and active. We crossed one of the bridges and it was filled with fishermen, the fish apparently sleep as much as the inhabitants do. The streets were filled and everyone seemed completely unaware that it was almost midnight. The bus terminal was the greatest shock. It was packed, like imagine India crowed, at midnight and people were clustering in groups shouting and chanting, one guy was holding a torch. All of this activity happening while 50+ charter buses tried to maneuver in the tiny terminal and us tourists were thoroughly confused. Once we got our bags they packed us into a shuttle which whisked us to Teksin (one of the city districts) and after two failed taxi attempts, the third taxi finally got me to my destination.

Couchsurfing
Ekin was my couchsurfing host, and I couldn't have asked for anyone better for my first couchsurfing experience. She is truly a fantastic and lovely person. She is turkish (of romanina and bulgarian decent) in her late 20's working as an engineer in the city where she has lived for the past 11 years. Her apartment was also beautifully decorated and I got a room to myself.
Though of course to any good city apartment there are oddities. The first, though not particularly odd but still notable, was the fact that her water heating got turned off a couple months before and she never bothered turning it back on. You never take a quicker shower in your life than in ice cold water.
A second oddity was that an apartment across the courtyard housed four cats...and only the cats, no one else lived there. It had apparently been like this for two years. Someone came and took care of the cats but the fur balls had the pad to themselves.
Overall Ekin was amazing. She had to work during the week so she handed me a pair of keys to her place and a metro pass and said to come and go as I pleased.

Istanbul
Istanbul, besides being in competition with New York as the city that never sleeps, is also the city of animals (which, I, of course, was quite happy about). They have packs of dogs chilling on the streets and a literal hoard of cats everywhere. I, during my four days in the city, came under the belief that Istanbul enacted a law that at least one cat must occupy every street at all times, and this decree is strictly enforced. If at any moment a street is lacking a feline presence a white government van with tinted windows will screech around the corner, come to a sudden halt, and a man in a black suit with shades will step out of the side of the van. Within his hands he will be holding a regal looking cat of which he will place delicately upon a window ledge or apartment stoop. The cat in position, the man in the black suit will, with haste, rush back into the van where a sticky-roller thing to remove animal hair will be waiting for him, and the van will quickly vanish with a loud screech around the corner. The cat, once placed, will serenely start cleaning its front paw as if nothing ever happened. Petting is then expected to occur shortly after. 
I never got to witness this event but I'm convinced of its validity

Day 1 (Sunday the 26th)
I had inquired to Ekin on what was appropriate to wear in Turkey. Due to the fact that it was stupidly hot and humid I was quite keen on wearing my shorts. I had been anticipating a country where all women had to cover up and dress modestly, but Ekin corrected me that Turkey is a very modern country where anyone can wear anything they want, plus, me being an evident tourist I also had a little more leeway.
It still being the weekend, Ekin had the day off and took me on a tour of the city. Her place is in Şişli (pronounced Shishli) on the north side of the city and we walked down through the Taksim square, down Istiklal Cd (a road filled with shops, restaurants, and life), past a huge old watch tower made of stone, and into the old city, Fatih. We wandered around as she told me the history of the city. We finally succumbed to fatigue and sat in a park, where a little tabby kitten decided that my tot bad was a wonderful place for a nap as the parrots screeched in the trees above.  
Istanbul is on a hill, a rather large hill where Şişli and Taksim are the upper side. Because of this hill, ın 1875, they created the beyoğlu tünel. It's the second oldest 'metro' in the world behind London (1863). I put metro in quotation marks because the tunnel could also be one of the shortest metro lines in the world as well. It has two stations (one at the bottom of the hill and one at the top), and it takes approximately 1 minute and 40 seconds to get from one end to the other. I walked the hill in about 5 minutes...
Anyways, that night Ekin took me to a traditional Turkish restaurant called Otantik, and seriously the food was orgasmic and the prices extremely reasonable. We had a mixed place of turkish specialties, manti (a traditional turkish ravioli), and lahana sarma (chopped meat and rice wrapped in cabbage leaves). Keşkek was by far my favorite. I think it was rice with chicken broth and other heavenly spices, but whatever was in it tasted like pure bliss.
Once we got back to her place we crashed. The next day I would be exploring the city alone and with no turkish translator.

I'll write about the other three days later.

I was also wondering if I could get some feedback from people, what you like, what you don't like, how i could improve my posts (I would love to add pictures but that would take up considerable time and I don't want to upload pictures onto Berin (the owner of Jade Farm, where I currently find myself)'s computer.)  Just shoot me an emaıl or fb me.

Bulgaria

Before I truly commence the tale of my journey, I would like to provide a small warning to those of whom are not quite accustom to my humor. It has considerable tendency to be rather dry and sarcastic. If something I write seems distinctly arrogant or crude, it's intended as a joke so please take it as such. Continuing on.... 

Rather dull flight details
My flight from SF was the 17th of August, and I landed in Sophia, Bulgaria on the 18th where my mom and I stayed one night. The next day we had a 6 hour bus ride to Burgas and another bus to Gredina, a small beach town along the Black Sea, were we were set to stay at my mom's friend's appartment.

Appartment
David's appartment was far from what I was anticipating. I was picturing a shanty, datcha-looking wooden house in the middle of the Bulgarian wilderness. The electricity would work only if the celestial patterns were correct, you would have to beat back the spiders and other wild, rodent-like mammalia for some room on the bed, and daily scavaging for food would be necessary for the nearest town was a three day donkey-ride away. I was admittedly rather dissapointed to discover that it was a fully equiped, newly constructed nest of civilization. The appartment was complete with a washing machine and a balcony overlooking the extensive beach and crystal blue waters of the Black Sea. My initial dissapointement came from my particular taste in locations being more nature-oriented and hermit-like than most people's, though I am by no means compaining, the place was spectacular.

Stuff we did
The first few days involved a lot of jet-lag sleeping in the middle of the day and waking up before sunrise. This did though, allow for me to watch Gredina wake up; sitting out on the balcony, staring at the empty beach, and watching the northern house martins flying and cling to the stucko buildings. One morning I was gleefully entertained to see an old man drive his mule-drawn cart accross the beach infront of the Snatch-esk caravans parked upon the sand. Once Natasha, David's daughter, arrived though, we did more exploring

Sozopol, south of Gredina, was the first town we pillaged. It was an extremly deliteful town, full of traditional architecture. The buildings were made with a stone base and wooden second story all of which was wonderfully preserved (picture).  They also had ancient roman ruins...but pretty much every town, city, and village in Europe can claim that. The Romans got around...litteraly.
We lunched at a restaurant called панорама (panorama) which lived up to its name for it was overlooking the expansive turquoise waters. The food was decent enough, though not astounding: grilled fish, some salads, and soup. 
The next day we explored Burgas which is considerably bigger than Sozopol, but I found it to have much less charm. Not all that much to say about it, we walked a lot, ate too much, typical tourist stuff.  
 The rest of our time was filled up lazying about reading and sleeping in the appartment and swimming in the sea. 

Interactive activity!!!
I would like you, the reader, to take a moment to conduct an activity in order to increase your overall experience in reading this blog:
1) fill a bathtub halfway full of reasonably warm water 
2) proceed to pour two jars/cans/whatever you want to call them of Morton salt (you know, the kind with the little girl and the umbrella) into the water and stir until dissolved
3) add sand to the bath    optional 
4) Then with a swim suit (or without, we are in Europe here), place yourself in the salt bath and completely immerse yourself
5) swim around long enough to feel the osmosis occuring as the water diffuse accross your membrane, out of your body, and into the water with a higher salt concentration (the bath water and simulated black sea). Feeel the pruney-ness

This experiment, besides wasting a lot of water and salt, was to illistrate the absurd salt concentration the Black Sea possesses.  

Overall the week in Bulgaria was exceptionally enjoyable. The sun bright and hot enough for me to curse my irish heritage frequently, the beach was made of foot-cutting shell fragments, the water a tid bit salty, the people a leathery I've-been-in-the-sun-too-long tan, and I reveled in every minute of all of this....except for the leathery people....and the old men in speedos.....the speedos were rather scarring 

My Istanbul post will come after I've already left the city (I leave Aug 30th...if everything works out that is). After less than two weeks I've already had some trying experiences, more on that later though. 

Hope all is well with you guys. If you have any questions or comments feel free to write it below or email/fb me. If you suscribe I believe you get an email everytime I post something new, either way, hope you all have a wonderful day.  

The Beginning is a very good place to start

Ya so I'm starting this a little on the late side, but I wanted to be able to share what I was up to during my travels, and it's a bit easier than sending out emails. Since I will probably have reasonably regular internet access (at least for the next two months) I'll try to post something once a week...we'll see if I succeed.

First, an explanation is in order, why the traveling turtle? Well, I had made a beaded turtle over the summer and was planning on having it as my mascot, sewn to my backpack, but I feared that he would get ripped off during the flight if my backpack had to be checked. So, I though it best to leave him at home. But he's still representing me back in California.....his name is pushan, he's pretty epic.

Anyhoo!

My current/past itinerary:

18th-25th August - in Gradina, Bulgaria with Mom
25th - 30th Aug - in Istanbul couchsurfing
30th Aug - 30th Sept - WWOOFing in Maksudiye, Turkey
30th Sept - 1 Nov - WWOOFing in Cerkezkou, Turkey
Early Nov - enter the Schengen Zone! and possibly pop by Budapest
Nov - Dec - wwoofing, traveling, we'll see. Hoping to spend some time with the awesome Brunet family
                   in the Alps, and stopping by Copenhagen if possible
Christmas/New Years - in the Paris region
Jan - wwoofing in france (I'm trying to get in as much France time as possible)
End Jan/Early Feb - wwoofing in Ireland!!! (if ticket prices are reasonable)...yes mom, I know it will be cold
9th Feb - flight back to SF from Charles de Gaulle airport

Some months don't have a solid plan, so my itinerary will be prone to change...probably often

One rather large change already occured. I was suppose to be wwoofing in Ukraine for sept and oct (farm description) sounds fricken awesome right!?! Endangered, indemic horse, pig, and buffalo, milking the buffalo, making cheese from that milk, would have been sick. Yet, they emailed me the day before my flight to say that they could no longer take me.....yes, i'm still bitter. But one must adapt, hence wwoofing in Turkey for those months.

more posts to come 

P.S.
If anyone finds themselves in the Old World during my travels and wish to grab coffee or join me traveling, hit me up!