I Like Competition!

For those of you who are used to more regular posts, I can blame my irregularity on 1) the terrible internet service and 2) the fact that there's just a lot more to see and do here...

Regarding #1 above, I think I've solved that problem. I've used the good old principal of free market capitalism and found a new service. Everyone had heard about my complaining but finally I complained to the right person. Our apartment manager mentioned that a new company had installed fiber optic cables to our building and did I have a contract with the other company, blah, blah, or would I like to change? I immediately jumped on that option..problem solved!

Regarding # 2 - There is a lot more to see and do here. This is a very active town that rarely sleeps. So, in making up for lost time, I'm socializing a lot more. Socializing can mean tea, coffee, beer, snacks, dinner, a walk, tennis, a bike ride, shopping, a movie, a ferry ride, etc. I suspect that things will slow down once school starts, but as this is the last weekend before opening day, there is still plenty of time to cram in some more fun. Eric and I are heading off on a weekend bike ride to Cesme and an overnight at a beach resort. It will be 200 km round trip, so yes, we still like individual challenges/competitions as well.

It's a Man's Place

The first stop on Sunday's blistering hot bike ride was for pastries at a local bakery and hot chai at the tea shop next door. Both stores were located on the frontage road of the local freeway on the way to the airport. Cars were wizzing by, horns were honking, and the ambiance of the breakfast place matched the scenery and serenity of the ride. It was hot, loud, and dirty. However, there was one good part to the bakery...the right-out-of-the-hot-brick-oven warm pocha, bread-like thing (I know I'm spelling this phonetically and not even close to Turkish) that was melting in my mouth.

There really was not best part to the tea house except that it matched most tea houses I've sat at. It is dominated by men reading newspapers or playing cards and drinking...you guessed it....tea. I washed down the bread with a steaming hot cup of bitter, brewed-to-long tea, the first of 3 cups for the day. I'm really getting a taste for piping hot drinks on scorching hot 95 degree days..yum...

The stop was brief and the group was getting ready to pack up but I needed to find a bathroom. Those 2 cups of early morning coffee plus the litter and a half of water (I told you it was hot!) and the recent addition of the tea were forcing me to speak Turkish. (Usually I just follow the women to the WC but I had'nt seen them make a move.) So, I approached the man at the copper tea machine.

Me: Tuvalet, (toilet) Lutfen.(please)

Man: (giving me the blank stare)

Me: (speaking slower and thinking my accent can't be that bad) Tu-va-let....Lut-fen.

Man: (pointing to the back of the building) Burada. (back there)

I walked in the direction he pointed but I didn't see any WC signs. I did, however, see the typical white door of a bathroom. I gently pushed open the door expecting the worst, a Turkish toilet perhaps. Unfortunately, not only was I not greeted with a toilet, I was greeted with a new "worst", a urinal, not even a Turkish toilet on the floor.

I stepped back and quickly closed the door thinking I'd missed the door for the Bayan. (women) but no. There was only one door.

This confirmed two things:

1) Tea houses are for men. Our male bike riding leaders don't notice how awkward they are for us women to enter.

2) My accent had nothing to do with the man's response to my question.

I'll bet I was the topic of the rest of the day's card tables.....you should have seen that foreign female bike rider....asking for a toilet at a tea house....ha, ha, ha.....that'll teach her from entering our space....

Olives and cheese

On Friday, three buses full of teachers (about 120 of us) took a field trip to Ayvalik, a village on the Aegean Sea about 2 1/2 hours north of Izmir. I enjoyed talking non-stop to my high school English teacher colleagues so the drive passed quickly. In typical Turkish tour fashion, we stopped for a tea break both going and coming (I think it gives time to smoke as well..) and we arrived in Ayvalik at about noon.

I was anxious to explore the village known for it olives and olive oil. Turkey has lots of good olive oil, but the north Aegean is the best, according to my colleagues, and Ayvalik is the place to pay tourist prices for a good bottle. But my eagerness to put a dent in my first paycheck would have to wait. The first thing we did was find a place for tea and a smoke. That took 45 minutes so we had the last 15 minutes to shop. Shopping involved running in the opposite direction from the bus and locating THE shop that one teacher knew from a previous trip. About 10 minutes later, we stormed the store. I bought a liter of olive oil, a pint (or whatever measurement jars come in...probably more likely a 1/2 kilo) of olives and a tube of olive oil lotion. According to my Turkish friends, we paid "tourist prices" but I got all of the above for 35 tl or about $18 I didn't feel ripped off at all.

We raced back to the bus and climbed on just as he was closing the door. Our next stop was the island of Canda (pronounced Janda), an old Greek Island that is connected to Ayvalik by the first Turkish bridge across the Aegean. My Turkish isn't good enough to tell you when the bridge was built but it was a very short, flat bridge, so I'm thinking it was built a long time ago..

On Canda we ate a delicious fish lunch complete with a wide assortment of mezza plates (appetizers both hot and cold), salad, hamzi fish (they look like little fried sardines) beer, raki (Turkish liquor) and a dessert of a very soft cheese with cherry jam and nuts on top. I'm still trying to wrap my finger around the differences between last year and this, but this meal is kind of symbolic of the differences. Last year for example, it was difficult to even buy beer at the store. This year, we were drinking on a teachers' in-service day.

After lunch we were free to walk around the town. There were many old Greek houses, an old church that is being restored, and some beautiful old windmills at the top of the hill. I was introduced to some really good cheese at a peynir store and cookies made with mastik (not my favorite).

All in all, the teacher field trip idea beats most in-service meetings I've ever attended. I could really enjoy a monthly excursion to help us be "lifelong learners".