Mom's Trip Highlights

Yes, there were some rocky moments in my travels around Turkey with my mom, but there were also some pleasant and even down-right fun moments. Here are the highlights:

• Sharing my love for street mussels in Istanbul with my mom. We ate so many each day because we both knew the opportunity to eat them again was running out with each passing day.
  

• Some silly Canadian woman asked if we were sisters. SISTERS! I was aghast with horror. My mom joyfully spent the rest of the day calling me "little sister."

• A Turkish boy kept asking me out but I kept saying no. When I told my mom what we had been talking about, she said, "Oh, it sounds like he wants to shake you." I guess that's what she's calling it these days.

• Mom and I hitched a ride to Efes from our hotel with a guy on a motorcycle. My mom held on so tight to him that he almost stopped breathing. Before taking off, he said, "Don't kill me!"

• In Göreme, we passed by a trio of old Turkish women, boiling something in a huge cauldron on the side of the road. I asked them what they were doing and they were making boiling honey to make a type of special honey. The mixture was ready and they asked us to help them drain the pot. Every day after that, the old women would say hi to us as we walked passed.

• Penis talk in Cappadocia. Come on, you knew that was going to make the list!
  

© Connie Hum 2009

Proud Mom!

I knew this would get your attention! To all my friends who keep wanting me to be pregnant (why, I'm not really so sure), THIS IS NOT A PREGNANCY ANNOUNCEMENT!!! I am NOT, nor will I be in the near future, pregnant! =)

I am simply very proud of my mother for deciding to fly out to Istanbul BY HERSELF and travel around Turkey with me.

This is a huge step for her and I really couldn't be any more proud of my mom! She is certainly full of surprises.

Now I have to plan. Which is very difficult for me because I usually do not like to plan my trips in the way that I will need to for my mother's visit. Here I go!

© Connie Hum 2009

Cold Turkey!

I was SUPER excited to go diving in the Gulf of Saros in Turkey this past weekend. My friend, Yusuf (left) and his cousin, Murat (right) drove me from Istanbul to Ibrice in Saros, a normal trip of 3-4 hours ended up taking over 7 hours because of the massive Istanbul traffic getting out of the city.

The dive trip was set up by a diving club in Istanbul so there were a lot of people on board. The water was a beautiful azure color and I couldn't wait to see the world below me.

Sadly, I was gravely disappointed in the dives. The water was FREEZING! I was literally shivering as I was underwater and when I got back to the surface, even the hot Turkish sun couldn't warm me up fast enough. My body shook as if I was back in Iceland, pre-Icelandic wool socks, and my extremities were a sickly shade of purple!

There wasn't a whole lot going on underwater either. Not much life or fish around. I was totally bummed as I had heard that Saros was a good area for diving. Perhaps it was just bad timing.

The highlight? On the second dive of the day, I got to go through a tunnel! I was a little apprehensive at first as I had never been through a tunnel before but THAT was pretty amazing!

© Connie Hum 2009

Swim, Eat, Repeat

I had the amazing experience of spending the last four days on a beautiful boat in the Mediterranean Sea with my host family. We left the port in Göcek Sunday afternoon and spent the following four days on the boat. My days consisted of waking up, swimming, eating, swimming, eating, swimming, eating, swimming, eating, swimming, sleeping. Repeat. It was brilliant!

The water was crystal blue and clear, the moon was mostly full during the nights, which didn't offer us great star-gazing opportunities but the nights were incredibly beautiful nonetheless.

I foolishly forgot to charge my camera battery so I wasn't able to take that many photos, but the family took some which I will post on my website shortly.

Even now, back on dry land and sitting at a table, I feel as though I'm still swaying! I'm looking forward to going back to the boat next month!

© Connie Hum 2009

Turk-isms

Living in Istanbul is like having an in-depth case-study of Turkish anthropology. I have noticed common "quirks" that people use here, discovered what the "quirks" mean, and I, ever keen to be as "local" as possible, have even adopted some of these quirks into my own mannerisms. Yeah, I can say that I can act like a local here (ha ha), though I'm pretty sure no one will ever mistake me for one!

Some Turk-isms:

• The hard blink - It's very common for people to greet you with a hard or exaggerated blink (think I Dream of Jeannie without the arms and head nod). It's usually accompanied with a smile. It can also be used as a sign of agreement or any other gesture of general pleasantness.
  

• The lip smirk - Instead of saying no, most people will just smirk their lips. Take note that this action must produce some sort of noise. It's like blowing someone a kiss but with a hint of disgust. Sometimes the lip motion is subtle, but you can still hear the smirk.
  

• The over-dressing - There seems to be a collective fear of cold in Turkey and people dress to ensure that they won't get cold in case a sudden chill occurs. As it's now warm here in Istanbul, I am usually wearing a tank top, shorts or a skirt and flip flops. I walk around in the sun and I'm sweating, wishing I had worn less. Everybody else? Long sleeve shirts, sometimes even sweaters and sports jackets, always socks/stockings and covered shoes. Even on the hot, crowded buses no one moves to take off their extra layers. I can't understand it.

• The no-lines policy - The people here do not line up for anything really, unless there are specifically designated lines (such as in a grocery store). In places like bus stops, ferries and such, people just crowd together until everyone is onboard said transportation. "Cutting" in front of people occurs frequently as well. It's not really rude, it's just not very efficient.

Are there any other Turk-isms that you know of that I haven't noticed? If I notice any more, I'll be sure to let you know!

© Connie Hum 2009

Izmir is Here

This past weekend, while my host family was vacationing in Dubai, I went back to Izmir, my previous home in Turkey for a visit to see a couple of old friends.

Upon arrival, I had a typical Connie (mis)adventure. I had turned off my Turkish cell phone for the flight from Istanbul. I was supposed to call my friend Gürhan when I was on the Havaş (shuttle) from the airport to Alsancak, expecting to meet up around 2:30-ish. I turn on my phone and realized that I needed a pin code to get back into the phone. I had no idea what it was. So, I decided to guess. My first attempt was incorrect and I was advised that I would have three more tries. I guessed again. Still no luck. Two wrong guesses later, I'm now not only required my pin code, but also a PUK code to get into the phone. I didn't even know what PUK was supposed to stand for!

Not sure what to do and obviously getting desperate, I asked the gentleman sitting next to me as if he, perchance, would figure out my PUK and pin code. He couldn't but offered to let me use his phone. Wonderful. Except Gürhan's phone number is stored in my phone. Mrff...

I finally arrive at the predetermined meeting spot but no Gürhan which I suspected since I hadn't called him. I decided to run into a Turkcell store and see if something could be done. No one spoke English. Arg... They pointed me to another Turkcell store and I was able to communicate that I had locked myself out of my phone and that I didn't know my pin or PUK code. They looked up the account and saw that I wasn't the name on the account (Serra, my host mom had gotten the phone for me). They said that she would have to come and get the phone unlocked. I told them that she was in Dubai. I guess just to get me out of their hair, they decided to unlock the phone for me anyway.

So now I'm back in my phone. I eventually get a hold of Gürhan and another friend, Ali (cue the Prince Ali song from Aladdin because that song always plays in my head when I say Ali's name). Ali meets me and then we head over to a church to meet Gürhan. He's acting in his friend Andrew's movie and was in the middle of shooting.

The weekend was really fun, just hanging out with Gürhan and Ali. It had been almost four years since the last time we saw each other while we were working at the Space Camp in Izmir. We hung out all weekend going out drinking, eating, karaoke-singing, and catching up. We also watched a Fenerbahçe fütbol game (we won), which I found pretty fun and interesting to watch. I suppose it would be when you hang out with people who are so into it.

Izmir was much the same as I remembered it. Nothing far too exciting, but still it was nice to go back to my old stomping grounds.

The weekend was much too short, but there are some tentative plans to hang out some more in the next five or six months so there will be some more good times ahead.

*Additional pictures from my Izmir weekend are posted on my Facebook.

© Connie Hum 2009