It has been almost 6 months since I left Central Asia, so I've had a lot of time to process my thoughts and put on some rose-coloured glasses. If being nostalgic was a resume-worthy skill, I would have employers tripping over each other to hire me, but unfortunately it's not. Life in Central Asia was not always easy and at the end of May I was ready to get the heck out of there, but I had some amazing experiences too.
Things I miss:
Frequent weekend trips away to small villages with beautiful scenery and traditional ways of life
Lagman and plov, staple foods of Central Asia, when done well (the greasy/fatty/bony versions don't make this list)
Old men in hats, be it a kalpak or an Uzbek skull cap
The gritty sound of Kyrgyz coming from round babushkas with a full set of gold teeth
Being able to cheaply buy everything under the sun at Osh Bazar
Having students with conversational English to chat with
The starry night sky over Lake Issyk-Kul
Soviet cars
Eating on a tapchan
Yurts
Buying tea by the pot for less than a dollar
Flat-rate taxis
Speaking Russian
Being connected to local culture
4-day work weeks and 14:30 starts
A 30-second commute to work
Soviet blocks
Outdoor activities/festivals like Ulak-tartysh (dead sheep/goat polo) and eagle hunting
Crisp fall weather with the smell of wood/charcoal stove smoke in the air
Donkeys, donkeys, and more donkeys
Knowing that everything I saw, did, or ate was interesting and exotic to people back home who had no knowledge Kyrgyzstan
Now, this doesn't mean I'm going to pack up and head back to Bishkek on the next plane, but I have been able to look beyond the negative memories that stuck firmly in my mind last spring as reasons for wanting to leave. I think I can finally keep the good times close to my heart without forgetting the bad memories and creating a perfect nostalgic Kyrgyzstan. I hope to return to Central Asia one day, but I'll make sure it's not to Bishkek in winter.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Football Madness
Mike and I went to another Besiktas football (soccer) game over the weekend. They played one of their major rivals Fenerbahce, another Istanbul team who are currently ranked at the top of the league.
It was even more exciting than the Besiktas-Manchester United game a few months ago. Besiktas won 3-0 which was unexpected and wonderful. Check out these videos to see how pleased the fans were by the result of the game. Apparently, some fans were so high on the win that they beat a local street dog to death. You live in a city of 15+ million and you can't find a better way to let out your joy??
Here are some videos showing the world's loudest fans. The first video is the kick-off and the cheering build-up, and the other videos are the fans celebrating after the first and second goals were scored.
It was even more exciting than the Besiktas-Manchester United game a few months ago. Besiktas won 3-0 which was unexpected and wonderful. Check out these videos to see how pleased the fans were by the result of the game. Apparently, some fans were so high on the win that they beat a local street dog to death. You live in a city of 15+ million and you can't find a better way to let out your joy??
Here are some videos showing the world's loudest fans. The first video is the kick-off and the cheering build-up, and the other videos are the fans celebrating after the first and second goals were scored.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Olives, Nothing But Olives, Mountains of Olives...
This post title is from the song "Jerusalem" by Dan Bern. It's a very catchy song with silly lyrics, but these lyrics specifically sum up a weekend that Mike and I had a few weeks ago with our Turkish friends.
We went to Bursa, a city of 2 million on the coast of the Marmara Sea, 4 hours south of Istanbul. Our friends Baris and Baki, both originally from Bursa, recently bought a few pieces of land together around Bursa, and invited us along to check out their purchases.
We left Friday night with Baki, Baris, his wife Pinar, his 1-year-old son Bora, their friend Cayan, and Pinar's parents. We stayed with Baris's parents in a picturesque village inland from Bursa. They live in a big, beautiful house with a great garden. They grow a little bit of everything- they have apples, oranges, olives, grapes, figs, peaches, plums tomatoes, onions, peppers, carrots, and so on. Baris's mother is an amazing woman: she speaks Bulgarian, Russian, Turkish, and German, and almost all the food in her house is homemade, from her own fruits and vegetables. Speaking languages and being a good jar-er apparently rank highly on my list of what makes someone amazing. She made us Turkish breakfasts to die for and amazing home-cooked dinners. A few weeks in her house would lead to a gastric bypass surgery being necessary (but well-worth it!)
Mid-October is olive season, and Baris and Baki recently bought some land in an olive grove. Bursa province is known for its olives and its olive oil, and both are sold all over Turkey and exported around the world. We went to their land to "pick" olives, although we actually were just picking up fallen olives off the ground. The weather was hot and manual labor is not something that I do well, so a lot of the day was spent trying to look busy, while actually doing as little as possible. Cayan rescued us from picking more and took us down to the waterfront in the town of Zeytinbağı, where we drank tea and walked along the waterfront.
We then went to check out another piece of land Baris and Baki bought together, this time coastal property where they plan on building retirement homes. We got there just in time to see the sun set over the Marmara Sea. It's an amazing place for a retirement home- peaceful, beautiful, and green.
We visited a friend of Baris's, who has a huge apartment on the outskirts of Bursa. Since Mike and I live frugally, it's exciting and mind-blowing for us to be around with people with money. This family had everything and more- a big box of Cuban cigars, a $25,000 sound system, a 5-star-hotel-style bathroom, and their 8-year-old son had his own TV, video games, and complete music-making system. Mike and I took pictures of the Cuban cigars like teenage girls meeting the Jonas Brothers, and the friend offered Mike a cigar to take home, as if it were no big deal. Maybe someday we'll have millions of dollars too.
On Sunday, we drove to the top of Bursa's mountain to buy chestnuts. Baris said that the chestnuts that grow in the forest on that mountain are the best chestnuts in all of Turkey, so he had to buy some. We also stopped at a cafe situated under a 600-year-old giant tree, which is a great location for a tea house. The branches spread out so far from the tree that they had to be supported by metal poles.
We drove back to Istanbul Sunday night, after a relaxing and filling weekend. It was my first time to another place in Turkey, so it was great to see more of the country and also get out of the big city. I hope we get invited back!
We went to Bursa, a city of 2 million on the coast of the Marmara Sea, 4 hours south of Istanbul. Our friends Baris and Baki, both originally from Bursa, recently bought a few pieces of land together around Bursa, and invited us along to check out their purchases.
We left Friday night with Baki, Baris, his wife Pinar, his 1-year-old son Bora, their friend Cayan, and Pinar's parents. We stayed with Baris's parents in a picturesque village inland from Bursa. They live in a big, beautiful house with a great garden. They grow a little bit of everything- they have apples, oranges, olives, grapes, figs, peaches, plums tomatoes, onions, peppers, carrots, and so on. Baris's mother is an amazing woman: she speaks Bulgarian, Russian, Turkish, and German, and almost all the food in her house is homemade, from her own fruits and vegetables. Speaking languages and being a good jar-er apparently rank highly on my list of what makes someone amazing. She made us Turkish breakfasts to die for and amazing home-cooked dinners. A few weeks in her house would lead to a gastric bypass surgery being necessary (but well-worth it!)
Mid-October is olive season, and Baris and Baki recently bought some land in an olive grove. Bursa province is known for its olives and its olive oil, and both are sold all over Turkey and exported around the world. We went to their land to "pick" olives, although we actually were just picking up fallen olives off the ground. The weather was hot and manual labor is not something that I do well, so a lot of the day was spent trying to look busy, while actually doing as little as possible. Cayan rescued us from picking more and took us down to the waterfront in the town of Zeytinbağı, where we drank tea and walked along the waterfront.
We then went to check out another piece of land Baris and Baki bought together, this time coastal property where they plan on building retirement homes. We got there just in time to see the sun set over the Marmara Sea. It's an amazing place for a retirement home- peaceful, beautiful, and green.
We visited a friend of Baris's, who has a huge apartment on the outskirts of Bursa. Since Mike and I live frugally, it's exciting and mind-blowing for us to be around with people with money. This family had everything and more- a big box of Cuban cigars, a $25,000 sound system, a 5-star-hotel-style bathroom, and their 8-year-old son had his own TV, video games, and complete music-making system. Mike and I took pictures of the Cuban cigars like teenage girls meeting the Jonas Brothers, and the friend offered Mike a cigar to take home, as if it were no big deal. Maybe someday we'll have millions of dollars too.
On Sunday, we drove to the top of Bursa's mountain to buy chestnuts. Baris said that the chestnuts that grow in the forest on that mountain are the best chestnuts in all of Turkey, so he had to buy some. We also stopped at a cafe situated under a 600-year-old giant tree, which is a great location for a tea house. The branches spread out so far from the tree that they had to be supported by metal poles.
We drove back to Istanbul Sunday night, after a relaxing and filling weekend. It was my first time to another place in Turkey, so it was great to see more of the country and also get out of the big city. I hope we get invited back!
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