Oil Wrestling...manly or strange?

Last week an oil wrestling competition almost 650 years old continued in the city of Edirne, Turkey. Men from all over the country (and this year even a few Sumo wrestlers from Japan) come to this city west of Istanbul, cover themselves with olive oil and wrestle in a pavilion in front of thousands of people (of which I was 1 of about 5 women that I counted in the crowd). There's also a big fair with food, music, rugs, and tractors for sale. It's almost like a small state fair but no fried Snickers bars.

During the match we watched, about 50 men who were probably in the heavy weight division came out to the field and were introduced. Then they all walked and jumped around the field and chose their match ups on their own while the band beat drums and played horns.

Each match up had a judge standing by them. The match began and for most, it was very difficult to see who might be "winning." Most of the matches lasted about 20-30 minutes and then at some point the judge would raise one of the two men's arms as the winner. I had to come home and read the rules afterwards. Some of the ways a wrestler can win are: "Submission" where a fight is so long and difficult in the hot weather that one of the wrestlers simply signals his submission; also, one of the most decisive ways to win is if one of the wrestlers is able to gain the upper hand by reaching down the other wrestler's leather pants to gain leverage. It sounds very strange, I know. There are other ways to win, but none of them are necessarily ways we would think of winning in wrestling. No one gets knocked out or anything like that.

There are 13 categories each with a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place winner. the ultimate goal is to win 3 years in a row and win a gold champion belt.

I can say that I've been...

My Turkish Bath

I've been avoiding the Turkish bath experience because of some of the horror stories I've heard about them as well as some of the youtube videos I've seen where a big burly Turk is manhandling some poor tourist.  But I finally gave in and went to a Turkish bath, and I must say...........it was great.

The first thing you do after you enter is see a list of services provided.  Everything from just sitting in the bath, to the traditional soaping, to a massage, etc.  I wanted the traditional Turkish bath experience, so I signed up for the soaping.

After you pay, they take you to a locker room of sorts, where you undress and put a towel around your waist.  Then they take you to the main bath, which is a large room almost as hot as a sauna.  In the middle of the room is a giant stone circular slab that is heated.  On the outside walls of the bath are basins with hot and cold water taps running to them.  They leave you in this room, laying on the heated stone slab, for about 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes or so, the guy comes in the room who is going to soap you. (Most of the guys in the bath don't speak English, but I knew enough Turkish and sign language to get by.  The only English word my guy knew was:  Obama!) The first thing he does is put a semi-rough mit on his hand and rubs it over your body.  The mit takes off all your dead skin, which is surprisingly a lot.  After that begins the soaping process.  He brings over a big bowl filled with soap suds and a rag.  Laying on your back, he starts to lather you up with soap, then he rubs in the soap/massages you.  After that he makes you turn over on your stomach and does the same thing to your back.  After he's done soaping, he has you go sit by the outer walls by one of the water basins, where he proceeds to dump buckets of water over your head.  Then he gets out the shampoo and starts to vigorously (and I do mean vigorously) rub the shampoo in.  After he thinks its sufficiently rubbed in, he again dumps buckets of water on your head.  Then he slaps me on the back, says Obama!, and leaves.  The entire process from start to finish takes about 15 minutes.

I really enjoyed the Turkish bath experience and will be going  back.  If you're ever in Turkey, a Turkish bath should be on your on list of things to do. 

Children's' Day

The founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk once said, "Children are the new beginning of tomorrow." He dedicated April 23rd to the children of the country to emphasize that they are the future of the new nation. It is celebrated every year with children's parades, marching bands, school performances, and other events.

UNICEF recognizes this day as International Children's Day now.

The monument in the picture behind the children is the Republic Monument in Taksim Square in Istanbul. During the Ottoman Empire, public monuments were not allowed and forbidden as idolatry. Under Ataturk, and the new Turkish Republic however, he wanted to show that Turkey was now a secular republic with division of state and religion. Italian sculptor Pietro Canonica was commissioned to make a work honoring the leaders of the struggle for independence and the formation of the republic in 1923. It was just restored and unveiled for the start of Friday's events.

Meşhur Sur Tatlısı ("Famous Walls of Dessert")

We were in a part of the city called Fatih today and ate at a restaurant that specializes in a dessert we had never seen or heard of before. We chose the restaurant because it was crowded and that's usually a good sign and now we know why. They have a dessert that if translated into English I think would mean the "famous walls of dessert." The outside is made of semolina halva - a kind of course wheat flour - with honey and cinnamon. The texture is almost like sweet chewy grits. Then inside is vanilla ice cream and strawberries. All I can say is I will be going back to have this again. Super delicious.

Happy April Fools' Day

An article from the ISTANBUL Hürriyet Daily News

Istanbul's Istiklal Avenue witnessed an unusual event today as many people popped 100,000 balloons thrown from rooftops. The April Fools' Day event, was planned by a tourism firm to make people smile for a day and play like children, and seen by many as a way to relax as well.

Cat Showdown

There are constant street sounds in Istanbul that are very audible from inside our apartment. Everything from car horns, to street salesmen, to calls of prayer, etc. This evening was no exception, as we were trying to watch tv and were interrupted by arguing cats. The video shows the last 20 seconds of a 3 minutes long very loud cat conversation.

Spring is here!

This week, the weather has been gorgeous, so yesterday we went to Gulhane Park right next to Topkapi Palace. It's the oldest and one of the largest public parks in Istanbul. It is a lovely place. There are so many flowers that have bloomed recently and we're still waiting for a lot of the tulips to show their faces. Here's a few pictures we took.

Amarillo and Apple Tea

It's taken me six months to finally go in a Turkish carpet store. I have walked by them many many times over the past few months and been encouraged by salesmen to just come in and take a look at what they had to offer, but I've always been nervous about what the experience would be like once I was inside. I would like to bring home a rug that I can say was handmade here in Turkey, but I still don't really know what I'm looking for.

So, we went in a store today. We walk in and the salesman says hello in perfect English. He asks what we are looking for and I look to my right and see a runner so I point and say that's what I'm interested in (I figured it was not to small to offend him and not too large to be astronomically priced). He motions for us to take a seat on the sofa and the madness begins. Another salesman brings us apple tea freshly brewed and together three of them spend the next 15 minutes bringing out rug after rug after rug. Each one has a different story that he loves to tell. All handmade (maybe). All different colors. By the end it is quite overwhelming. Then he takes a break and talks with us a while. He asked us where we were from and then said he also has a friend from Texas who just came to visit him (might or might not be true) then said he drove through Amarillo, Texas once and had a great hamburger (again might or might not be true, but I'm impressed if it is true).

Then we got back to the topic of rugs and he asked me to choose the ones that I liked. I chose only four from the thirty or so he had put before me. Two wool and two silk. He says what nice choices I made (would he tell a customer he/she made a bad choice?) then describes the motifs in the two silk rugs and then the regions that the two wool rugs come from. Then I said, "So this is the part where we talk about price..." He laughed and said, "If that's how you do it in Texas." Surprisingly, all four prices he gave we found reasonable. Since we just started looking I wasn't ready to pull the trigger yet, so we began the exit process. As we're trying to leave he comes down on the price on all four rugs and asks us to reconsider. We said thanks and that we'd come again. One rug shop experience is enough for one day, but now I am intrigued to meet other salesmen who perhaps have driven through Amarillo as well.

We can all be refugees

The United Nations' definition of refugee:  A refugee is a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.

We can all be refugees.  It doesn't matter how much money you have, or how educated you are, or if you've ever committed a crime, or if you're a good person, etc.  It's tough to imagine from a US mindset, because we believe in our judicial system, the government's power to protect us, and our freedom.  But, a group could come to power and seek to eradicate all opposition.  Those who oppose are forced to agree, die or flee.

Or someone could pick a spouse that their family doesn't agree with.  The family threatens, and takes, violent action against the couple.

Someone could change religions, and their previous religion could persecute them.

Someone could live a lifestyle that their family, community, state and government don't agree with, and the individual's rights are no longer protected.

Someone could have harsh opinions about the government, or those in power, and be persecuted for them.

In each of the situations the person is forced to flee and go to a different country.  But what if you have to go to Mexico, but you don't speak Spanish?  You might go to Canada and be able to speak English, but you don't have a work permit and local law doesn't allow you to work without a permit.  Not to mention you would be competing will all the other people who fled for what small jobs you could find.  On top of all of this, if you had kids, how would you provide for them?  How would you feed them?  Local schools in the country you fled probably will not allow non-citizen children to attend their schools.  Where do you sleep?  What do you eat?  How do you earn money?  Where do you hope to move after?  How do you start your life again?

This the situation of most refugees.

We can all be refugees.  It's tough to comprehend for those of us fortunate enough to be born in a country that protects our rights and freedoms, but it's true.

Yavaş (slow) improvement

Yesterday we experienced just how much our Turkish is improving..........or not.

A woman started speaking in Turkish to us.
LC:  I think she needs food.
BC:  No, I think she has a problem with her tonsils.

Turns out she had high blood pressure and needed her medicine refilled.

Fish Bread. Yum or Yuck? You choose.

Along the water front of the Golden Horn, there are brightly colored and elaborately decorated floating boats that can be seen easily from the bridge. We had not seen them up close before and I assumed they were tour boats of some kind where the rates were probably inflated and the tour guides wore Ottoman themed outfits and tried to tell tourists that their boats were thousands of years old. I couldn't have been more wrong...they are not tour boats, they are floating kitchens that only serve grilled fish sandwiches!

Here are the "cooks" sanding around the huge grill in the center of their boat. What you can't tell by looking at this picture is how badly this boat is rocking back and forth because ferries are constantly coming in to the port behind them.

Close up fish grilling

Once they have a sandwich made, they wait until the boat is rocking towards land and they hand the sandwich over to be sold.

Most popular lunch spot we've seen!

Termessos in Southern Turkey

This weekend, we decided to go to see a part of the southern coast of Turkey at Antalya. It is a beautiful place. We rented a car and drove to several nearby sites of ancient ruins. The most impressive city was Termessos. In 333 BC, Alexander the Great couldn't capture it despite his attempt because of it's location protected by a valley hidden between the mountains. We were so impressed with the structures that still remain. This site is unrestored but you can still tell how grand it must have been. The theatre was enormous, and there's also a temple, homes, marketplace, the cistern, and rock quarry.

Still Snowing!

S N O W

Our first snow in Istanbul!

Anyone thirsty?

Who wants a drink of our tap water? This marks day 3.

Istanbul 2010 Kick Off

Last night kicked off the opening celebrations for Istanbul as one of three cities chosen to be 2010's European Capital of Culture. The cities chosen are designated by the European Union for a period of one calendar year during which it is given a chance to showcase its cultural life and cultural development. There were seven different venues for opening event concerts last night around the city. BC and I attended part of the event in Taksim Square where there were fireworks, a fire show, and a performance by pop super star, Tarkan (Never heard of him? Neither had we). Istanbul hopes to attract over 10 million visitors to the city throughout 2010.

Turkish Fast Food

Unfortunately Turkey has its share of McDonald's and Burger King, but overall the quickest, cheapest and most popular fast food is a Doner.  The Doner is a sandwich made with either chicken or meat (usually lamb) that is cooked on a giant kebab, pictured below.  When an Doner is ordered, the man will take out a knife and thinly shave the outside of the kebab.  The meat is put in bread, along with pickles, tomatoes and sometimes french fries and lettuce.

In the non-tourist part of town, Doner's will usually cost 2 or 3 lira ($1.50 to $2 US).  It is a quick and cheap meal or snack that you can find no matter what part of town you are in.

Below are some pictures of a Doner, along with a couple of other pictures of what the shops look like that sell them.

Happy New Year!

In Turkey, you'll find decorated trees and store windows, lighted streets and buildings, retail sales, skinny Santas on street corners, and lottery ticket sellers all in the name of celebrating the New Year. A few weeks before Christmas, stores began hauling out decorations for people to ready their homes for the coming of the new year and Noel Baba (Santa) on New Year's Eve. Noel Baba brought gifts into homes last night as well as families prepared elaborate dinners and firework were shot off from all around. We feel like we had two Christmases! Here are a few pictures to share of what it was like.

Symphony playing at an outdoor mall

Suspended lights on a street

Buy a blow up Santa from an enthusiastic Santa?

Special New Year's Eve cakes at a bakery

Quartet of Santas playing in the street

There is also the tradition of buying a lottery ticket for New Year's. The top prize for the new year challenges everyone to get at least one ticket. Many people ask their friends in other cities to buy and send tickets to them. This year's top price was worth 20 million YTL, or about $15 million US dollars.

Bye Bye 2009

Hello and Welcome 2010!