My video

I made a video, if you don't have a YouTube account just comment on this post, I'd be interested in what you guys think. I had to edit this video on my iPod because the computers we have don't like the file type. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brMcGdDLjGU

Language Lessons

Sam was asked the other day what his name was by a waiter.  He didn't respond.  Why didn't you tell him your name Sam?  Because he didn't say "Adiniz ne?" Sam said.  The Turk actually asked him what his name was in English. Sam was concentrating on remembering his Turkish, so he missed the question!


The kids and I went to the candy store to buy yirmi lira (20 tl) worth of candy. Cam gave the cash to Johanna so she handled the transaction.  Unfortunately, the shopkeeper didn't understand what she wanted.  Anxious to make the sale, he went out of the store and returned moments later with another shopkeeper. Unfortunately the other man spoke German not English. But it worked out ok because I remembered the Turkish word for "and"; so we could buy two different kinds of candy. And the German speaking fellow and I had a laugh because I could say "no German", in Turkish but couldn't buy candy!

Melen Winery in Hoskoy

On May 22, we crossed from the Saros side of the peninsula to the Marmara side.  We lunched in Sarkoy and then travelled up a narrow winding sea side road to the village of Hoskoy to visit the Melen Winery.  In Hoskoy they have a small store where they sell their wines. They also "manufacture" and bottle the wine on this site.

Winery building on the waterfront in Hoskoy.

This small machine is loaded and unloaded by hand.  It will fill and cork about 1000 bottles of wine each hour.

Taking wine out of the filling machine and loading the bottles into crates.
Bottles are stored upright for 24 hours to give corks time to expand, then
the bottles are labelled.

Us in front of the 1001W!

Our host and tour guide, A. Cem Centintas, the owner of Melen Winery.
This winery has been in his family for three generations.
His 91 year old father is retired. 

Wine in chrome tanks, fermenting or awaiting bottling.

500 year old amphora.  Amphora were used to transport olive oil and wine by sea.

They were usually sealed with wood (pine) and bees' wax.

According to one website I visited the winery was acquired from departing Greeks in 1923 by Great Grandfather Cetintas.  I like the story here about the Cetintas family and the debt they owe to the St. Ioannis Monastry.
http://www.melenwinery.com/english/hoskoy/st-ioannis-theologos-monastery/the-st-ioannis-theologos-monastry/

Time Lapse

This is a time lapse of what we did on Mom's birthday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo43YQo6dYk

Power and Water

A few times, so few I can remember them as events, we've been without electricity unexpectedly at home in Canada. Here, quite literally it's an unusual day when we don't have an outage.  Usually it's for less than fifteen minutes. Some days it's for less than fifteen minutes half a dozen times in a day. And once in a while, the outage lasts most of  the day or night.

No power here means no heat in the winter and no ac in the summer.  It means that the oven doesn't work, or the washing machine, or the tv or the computer. We have a gas stove top, so once in a while we finish cooking on the stove instead of in the oven.  

Water comes and goes too, but more rarely.  We choose not to drink the tap water, but we do use it for some cooking and bathing and washing clothes and dishes (not at the same time!). 

While on the topic of water, a few words about laundry. We have a small front loading washing machine which we all dislike.  It has a bunch of settings.  The shortest "30" actually takes about an hour and then you have to manually change settings to spin the clothes dry which takes another thirty minutes or so. Some settings take as long as three hours.  For a family of five this turns laundry into frustration. 

Once the machine is finished spinning and thumping, we hang the clothes on the line.  In the winter, because it was so cold and wet, we hung the clothes on a rack in the livingroom for all to see.  Most days there is enough wind for the line at the back of the house to do it's job, but lately the rain has meant we've had to put up the rack on the deck. Humidity and no wind means that it takes two days to dry a pair of socks and jeans can take three. As one of the girls said just this morning, don't leave your laundry until you're out of things to wear. Good advice.

What I do when I'm bored

Yay! This is the 100th post to this blog! I guess we had a lot to talk about  :P

I have been told that these photos would make a good addition to our blog. I'm not exactly sure why I am posting this but I am, so here it goes!

Today I got bored. Kinda, really, inexplicably bored. So I did this...

This last one I did with an app I got today, called Pic

Stitch

\

A Turkish Day In The Life Of Johanna

My day starts when my Touchpad alarm goes off at 7 although I'm usually already awake :\

Then it's hanging in my room and downstairs for breakfast, which usually consists of toast and jam or Chokella or cereal

Then at 9ish Sam comes downstairs and turns on Tom and Jerry

Then at about 9:13 it's Bakugan. Nicole and I sometimes wander off during this one since it's got a predictable boring plot (to us anyway, although I find it interesting to watch sometimes.) 

Then, Hip hip Hooray! It's Star Wars the Clone Wars!

Yes my new favourite show.

Then it's time for school. In random order(since that's how I do it) I do;

Biology

Rosetta Stone Turkish Level 1

Math. Except I am now done.......

Handwriting,

and Canadian Government

Next up. Lunch. which is usually pretty casual, sandwiches, cheese, soup, simple stuff

In the afternoon I pretty  much do as I please;

Drawing,

Going for walks through the community with Nicole.

Taking pictures (yes that is a turtle crossing the road. we will not get into that discussion)

Swimming (sorry no picture)

Chores (Likewise)

Computer play

Reading

and other such thrilling and not so thrilling 'stuff'.

Then it's supper time.





 After supper we chat our friends on Skype and Gmail, draw, play on the Internet, play board or card games, watch movies, or watch TV.

 Then off to bed for another day.

        

Musical fingers

Well I have now painted my nails (Sort of, I did one hand Nicole did the other);

I likes them.

I am considering doing storm troopers next :) 

Yes it has nothing to do with anything... But I got the polish in Gelibolu, so at least the paint is Turkish.

Troy/Food/New Hat

For some reason this didn't get posted...

We went to Troy.

This is a photo of the Trojan horse through the trees: Walls

I seemed to have left all my hats at home. So I bought this one at the gift shop in Troy

Because I had nothing else to do, one evening I made cinnamon buns.

The Flower Lady

Yesterday morning I was hanging out in Johanna's room, when I saw an elderly-ish lady carrying some roses. She was heading away from our house. Later we found out that she had left us branches with white flowers on them, on our deck.
I was told to put them in some water, but there were so many I had to put them into two different containers.

Once I was done I decided to go for a walk to see if I could find any flowers that weren't in anybody's yard. I took the scissors and I was on my way. Instead of going by road I took a detour through a little bit of tall grass. I went through it and saw that the lady I had seen with the roses earlier was working in her garden. She started to talk to me, using everything but my 7 words of Turkish. Finally she shook her head and through hand gestures I found out that she was going to give me flowers. I followed her around while she used the scissors and cut roses for me.

Once I got home I put them in some water.

She also gave me a pocket full of these. They grow on pretty much every tree in our village. I have no idea what they are. They are extremely sour! But they are good with sugar :)

My turn

Yesterday I went to work with Dad

we didn't leave until 1 PM

 When we got to the camp Melih and Serkan (two of the few guys at Dad's work I know) were trying to repair the pump in the picture above. Some one broke the starter rope.

The wind was blowing hard enough that the four hooks on the crane started to clank together. Dad called them our own personal wind chimes.

 Not much happened for quite awhile after that... we were waiting for some trucks to show up with the camp buildings. So dad told stories and discussed work stuff with Melih and Serkan and I did my best to keep up with the conversation.

 Once a couple of trucks arrived things started to happen in quicker succession. The unit being placed in the picture above is the washroom.

The yellow crane in this photo was a newer crane that was loading the camp units at the old camp.

This is one of the sleeper cars. There are three separate rooms which are supposed to hold two people each. Not the most spacious of quarters.

These pictures are from the last time I went to work. they were loading the container with supplies that they will be taking to the rig site. (this time around there was another container directly in front of the doors so they couldn't be opened) Notice that all except one of the guys are wearing the same hat :)

Safety Sandals

Don't recall who was wearing these they amused Dad no end.

Gopher wood

These are trees that line part of the road on the way to the rig sites, they are acacias, also known as gopher wood. They have a lot of branches and are pretty small, I can't imagine building an ark out of them but the Turks don't have many large trees so maybe these are immature.

Swimming in the ocean

"I discovered I scream the same way whether I'm about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot." Axel Rose

Waking up in Turkey

Mosque view in Ankara

At 5:05 am yesterday, I woke to daylight and the first of  five calls to prayer. Although we have no mosque or camii in our community we can clearly hear the call which may come from the mosque at Korukoy. The call is broadcast from a recording through a loudspeaker at the top of the turret of the mosque. After the call concludes, the roosters begin to crow. A couple of people in the village keep chickens. The roosters might belong to the lady, who also keeps milking goats. It's not a bad way to wake up, but a little early for my liking!

This link has a transcript (in English) of the call to prayer: http://www.islamicfinder.org/prayer/index.html. I've looked at a couple of sites and there is some variation from site to site but you'll get the general idea.

This link: The Right Way to Pray http://www.islamicfinder.org/prayer/index.html describes the washing required before prayer and with pictures shows how the prayers are performed and what is said.

Two men are walking down the street . . .

Two men are walking down the street. 

It's market day. 

They are dressed in business suits.  They've bought something to eat from one of the vendors. They snapped it in half so each of them got a piece. They are sharing it as they walk along. 

What are they eating?

I'll give you a hint.  It's a fruit or vegetable.

Give up?

It's a cucumber!  

I don't know anyone who loves cucumbers enough to eat one for a snack.  But then Turks typically eat cucumbers, tomatoes, yogurt, cheese and olives at most meals ... including breakfast.

Turkey in Bloom

The garden centres are doing a brisk business right now.  Small annuals can be had very inexpensively.  What is amazing though is the rich variety of flowering plants in the fields, ditches and along the roadsides right where we live. Some have been cultivated, but many, like the poppies are wild.


These are one of the first plants to bloom. I love the way the flowers hang from the vine.

Roses!

We can see these from the kitchen window.  The blossoms are as big as my hand and smell divine.

Lots of trees in bloom.

These little blossoms are growing in a yard that hasn't had much up keep.

By the side of the road, these little flowers are light pink.

By the side of the road, the petals are nearly transparent.

Poppies



Lots of poppies along the highway.

More clumps of wild flowers.



Irises.