Procrastination Getting Out of Hand

So here's some of my nostalgia photos that I've taken recently to remember funny little things about Ankara.

Serra, Martin, Caro, and Diruba on the terrace for Jake's birthday.

Coffee breaks at the math kantin

So tired, so hot.

Delicious Turkish breakfast with Tugba.

My sneaky photo of the inside of a dolmus. This is a nice dolmus by the way, my favorite is the really old 1960's style one.

Caro at Cati in the sunshine.

Tiny balcony party at Martina's

Beautiful  Yüzüncü Yıl

More of the apartment blocks of Yüzüncü Yıl.

The no mans land between Yüzüncü Yıl and the campus gate. This is where I was almost attacked by a street dog once but managed to yell loud enough to scare him. Proudest moment in Turkey so far.

All the pickled goodies at the grocery store.

Cuddley couples in the girls kantin

Devrim and watermelon party.

Breakfast at Caro's.

Wonderful smelling clothes on Caro's neighbor's baloney.

Dancing Germans.

Walking Germans (still in Yüzüncü Yıl).

More apartment blocks in Yüzüncü Yıl.

Typical delicious food from Cati.

The wonderful library and Martin with his short shorts.

Maybe I'll write a read post sometime, but for now I hope you enjoyed the photos. 

Things to Remember

My time in Ankara is coming to an end! Neiiiiiin. Even worse is that I have serious finals. I'll have written something like sixty pages before finals are over. Yeah I've moved into the library and I feel like Tugba doesn't believe me that I've been researching and writing for the past two weeks.


Anyways I started to get sad about leaving and took some pre-nostalgia photos to remember important things like people leaving their trash under trees to be picked up at night, dried mint that's put on all food items, and the wild dogs who seem to have died in the sunshine. So in leu of my sadness I'm going to do something boring and just for myself on this blog: I'm going to make a list odd things to remember about Turkey.


--Martin's saying "the yabanci obstical" refering to our gigantic presence in small places like the dolmus.
--The fact that there's no safety rules in Turkey. There's constant pot holes on the sidewalk, no railings on high stairs, no screens on windows in the library on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floor, rusty nails and sharp pieces of metal to hold things together. And somehow this has become slightly normal for me.
--Nescafe, EVERY DAY ALL THE TIME
--"Kimlik?!" AKA showing my ID to get into METU, the fortress
--Cati, the best place to take a three hour library break.
--The fact that METU is a zoo full of the best kept wild dogs and cats, not to mention the random pigeon that can fly into the classroom.
--"Hocam," which literally means "my teacher" but is used for literally everyone at METU, everyone from the kantin man to the administration people to professors. It was adopted at METU in the 70's as an attempt to break down the class and status barrier between everyone working at the school. Now its used for literally everyone.
--The cuddling couples at the girls kantin who can't go into each other's rooms because all the dorms are gender segregated.
--Dolmus and city buses going like 60 mph on the freeway, not taking turns slowly, and pretty much just throwing people around in all directions.
--Speaking of buses, how men always let me sit down even if they're closer to the seat or have been on the bus longer than me.
--The math kantin and the women there who thinks I'm nuts for getting like 5 Nescafes in one day. It was finals, okay!
--People drinking in devrim, the stadium on campus.
--The shitty/amazing apartments of Yüzüncü Yıl. 
--The 14 year old boy who runs the bakal in Yüzüncü Yıl from whom we buy beer.
--Trash collectors with these HUGE rolling bags.
--The pazar on Wednesday and Sunday in Yüzüncü Yıl. The people are really friendly and the fruit is so cheap and amazing.
--Getting the stare down every time I go to Ulus.
--The tezye, AKA Turkish aunties that are everywhere. They're these hilarious old ladies usually walking around with at least two grocery bags. I need a photo of this, but think old wrinkly lady in a flowered headscarf wearing a bag dress and walking arm in arm with her 18 year old nephew. Okay not hilarious, but so Turkey to me.
--Music like this. This is sort of the traditional plus pop category. Also possibly the best video to watch if you've been to Istanbul. Seriously, this video has so many things it in that represent Turkey to me. 

 

--And like this. Maybe my favorite Turkish song, and definitely my favorite singer. Look at her dancing at 0:48 and try and tell me she isn't the best. Also check out her other song Bu Mudur, I literally know at least 70% of the words to that song. I actually sang Bu Mudur at a karaoke bar with Jake and Dan...

--And this: the Britney Spears of Turkey. I might actually know all the words to this one haha. Also maybe a video for people who think Turkey is somehow uniformly conservative and full of headscarved women:

--Here's a little "alternative" Turkish music. Weird video, but great chorus, aka try skipping to 1:03.

--Also this, something a little more traditional. A song I think I've heard at least 20 times since coming to Turkey.

Haha well that turned into a lot of music videos, but there it is. I'm sure I'll think of more things to remember soon! Somehow this whole last semester just flew by!