Video of Turkish Dance

Turkish Wedding

Hi everyone! I went to Dwayne and Shebnam's Turkish wedding last night. It was more of a reception. The only formal part of the ceremony was where the family tied a sash around the bride's waist indicating she is a virgin and the father of the bride tied a necklace around the bride's neck bestowing wealth on their marriage. The rest was just eating and dancing. There is a traditional Turkish dance where people dance in a circle holding pinkies. There seems to be no set steps, you just have to follow the person beside you and hope for the best. At one point, some of the wedding party threw little bags of money on the bride and groom while they danced, then the kids ran around and picked them up. I'm told by some of the Turks, this wedding was extremely lavish when it comes to Turkish weddings. Enjoy the pics.

The Kemeralti and the Wedding Coin

Michelle and I went down to the Kemeralti this weekend to scout out some Turkish treasures. Just as we were done shopping we happened to run into Mustafa. If you recall in a previous trip to the Kemeralti, we followed Mustafa into some strange alley ways and ended up on an awesome tour of a Mosque and then happened on a "great price" for a couple of Turkish rugs back at "his" rug store. It was a nice surprise to see him and he helped us find a merchant to sell us a gold coin for a wedding I'm attending in October. It's customary here to pin a gold coin on the wedding dress of a new bride as a gift. Later, when the bride and groom need money, they can return the gold coin to any gold merchant and sell it back for only a 2 YTL loss ($1.80). Of course the coins are expensive and super tiny. You can tell it's size compared to the penny but it is also super thin. BTW, in case you were wondering, attached to the ribbon on the coin is a Nazar Boncuk or "Evil Eye". After the gold merchant, Mustafa carried us back to the carpet store...luckily they didn't try to sell us any rugs. Anyway, just thought I would share.

Liberation Day Parade - Air Show - Fireworks

Here's some pictures of the Turkish Liberation Day Parade and the Air Show. The Fireworks are part of the Liberation Day events and the pictures are shot from our balcony.

Promotion Ceremony

Hey everyone. We just thought we would post some pictures of the promotion ceremony. It turned out great. The cake was a little different (banana chocolate) but everyone ate it. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for your kind emails/myspace posts and support. We miss you all.

Izmir

Michelle and I went to the market a couple of weeks ago. I think my Turkish needs a little work, I ended up with a half a kilo of Jalapeno peppers. Am I crazy, or is that a lot of peppers?

We took the bus to the NATO garrison today and I showed Michelle my office. We also went to the Izmir International Fair. Not much was open yet but we did sit and watch a Salsa Dancing Competition.

Sardis Trip

Michelle and I went on the Sardis Trip. Funny story because we always thought that the seven churches of Revelations were actual churches. Wrong. They were actually just congregations that met at the houses of one of the wealthy members. Anyway, Sardis was the sight of one of the churches mentioned in Revelations chapter 3. After the temple of Artemis, we did an hour hike up the side of the hill to see Acropolis. Michelle hurt her ankle about 3/4 of the way up and had to go back down. There's wasn't too much to see except a few remaining walls and a nice view. After Acropolis we went to lunch at a Turkish restaurant famous for it's köfte, or meatballs. Then we went to the Roman baths and gymnasium. You can see remains of the old roman shops and the jewish synagogue located at the same site. We were a little disappointed to find that some of the structures had been rebuilt in the 70s. They took some of the original materials and reconstructed the sight to give you an idea of what it would have looked like. The gymnasium is actually a large empty field where the guys would workout in the nude. I spared you the visual in the picture though. Michelle thought the sign for the toilets at the restaurant was pretty funny and I have to admit that I laughed too. The trip was great but we were exhausted by the time we got back to Izmir.

Our church!

Here's the base Church located in downtown Alsancak. We didn't get a picture of the gate but you can't tell it's a church from the road. There's a 7-8 foot cement wall around it with barbwire at the top. You have to ring a doorbell and wait for the guard to open the gate and check your military ID. The church is huge, the congregation is small, but at least everyone's nice!

Magic Carpets!

The coolest thing we did Friday was meet a guy on the street named Mustafa, who showed us around and even took us into a Mosque! Too cool, huh? Btw, I wasn't too scared until afterwards when Tracy looked at his phone - I asked if he was calling someone and he said no - he had the law enforcement desk on speed dial and ready to push the button when we started following Mustafa down these back alleys! That was smart and a reminder that I really have to be careful not to be too trusting.

We also bought some Turkish handmade rugs - probably paid too much, but we don't want to know. We really like them! They are beautiful and have stories in the designs. If you want to hear the stories, come visit!!

Michelle is here!

Yea! Michelle finally got to Izmir! Here's a couple of pics we took of the beater car too. Michelle really enjoyed the leisurely drive we took through Izmir to get the headlights adjusted. It looks like it's going to be for sale now after seeing how people drive here. haha.

Theater

Wanted

I went to see Wanted tonight. It was in English w/ Turkish subtitles. I ordered my tickets outside the theater using a touchscreen and it didn't surprise me when it prompted me to choose my seat. That's the way the ones in England work. I picked what I thought would be close to the spot that Michelle and I would normally sit but it turns out the seating chart was upside down so I sat way in the back near the last row. They take their seat assignments really serious. The usher made three people move up a row because they were in someone else's seats. I actually say about 10 seconds of the end of the movie because I walked in the theater 10 minutes before 1900 and the last one was still playing. Once the movie was over and everyone cleared out they had about 5 minutes to clean up and let the our group in. Turns out the receipt was my ticket and had a bar code on it. Before they let you in the theater, the ushers would scan your ticket with a bar code reader on the wall and then hold the curtains open for you to enter. That's right...curtains. When you're out in the waiting area, you can hear all the movies playing in the hallway because the only doors to each theater is curtains. When you go in the theater, ushers point you to the location of your seat. I figured maybe they just did it for me because I didn't speak the language but no, even for the ones that had probably been there hundreds of times, they treated you like it was your first. The popcorn tasted like air pop popcorn with no butter or seasoning and all the drinks were can or glass bottle. At prompty 1900, the commercials started. After about 15-20 minutes of commercials, the previews started. After the previews, a couple more commercials, then the movie.

The Turkish subtitles didn't bother me TOO much...who knows, maybe it even helped me learn a few Turkish words. They flashed the Turkish word for the "F" word several times. :) About halfway through the movie, they start playing commercials and a lot of people leave for intermission to get popcorn. I forgot that they did that in Europe. After about 10 minutes, they played a few more commercials and then started the movie again. I thought the love seats on the last row behind me were a nice touch. It was weird how the majority of people sat near the back rows (the seat I picked was the last one near the back) and the seats in the first 6 rows only had a few left in them. On the mile walk back to the apartment, I snapped a cool pic of a Turkish Navy ship in dock.

For Michelle and Sandy

Okay, I felt stupid doing this but here it is. Unfortunatlely the pics of the menu are a little blurry so if I walk by there again, I may swallow my pride and try again. You can tell that the sausage on the breakfast sandwiches are not real sausage. I think it tastes a little like lamb. You can't see in the pictures but the Kofte Burgers are definitely lamb. In the pics you can also see our apartment from the street. We're on the top floor (8th floor) so I guess you could say we're in the penthouse. Oh, and there's a picture of the TV we bought and I had to lug home in a taxi.

No more pictures...just an update.

Hi everyone. Sorry, no pictures to add just yet. I know Michelle and Sandy want a picture of the McDonald's menu board to see all the strange things on there so that will be my mission this weekend. I signed the lease on the apartment yesterday. I gave Michelle a tour of it...on Skype through webcam of course. If anyone else wants a virtual tour just Skype me, otherwise get in a plane and come see it. You have got to see the view from the balcony in person. Also, I finished all the customs paperwork on the car yesterday. Now its just a matter of waiting for my paperwork to come back from customs, take the car to get an inspection, and then order my license plates and then I will be legal to drive. I'll take pictures of the beater as soon as I get a chance and post them on here. Keep your expectations low and I think you'll like it. :) I did manage to drive it from the customs port to the base without killing anyone or myself. That was quite an experience. Well, that's enough for now. Email me anytime at trac.parrish@gmail.com or get on Skype and talk to me. Later!

Alcansak Apartment

Hi everyone. This is the apartment, well 90% sure, that we're going to take. It's about 2400 sq ft and is very nice. Pay no attention to the mess in the pics. Dwayne is in the process of moving out by 27 June. Once he's out, housing will arrange to have it cleaned and painted (hopefully) and then we will get to move in. With a balcony that size and a view like that, guess we should have shipped our patio furniture. Anyway, just wanted to let you know where you'll be staying when you come to visit us. :)

Karsiyaka

Today I took the ferry over to Karsiyaka across the bay. I went to check out one of the apartments I'm considering renting. Unfortunately I got off at the wrong ferry landing and had to walk from Karsiyaka to Bostanli. Probably only 2 miles but it felt like 5. Checked out the apartment but Michelle already turned it down. Turns out it's a 2d floor apartment above a luggage shop and a bikini shop. Also, the shower is big enough for a half a person. It's really weird. On the way back I got off at the wrong ferry again and ended up in Konak and had to walk another 2 miles or so to Alsancak. Check out the pics of the apartment we're NOT going to live in.

In Turkey

Hi everyone. Just thought I would post a quick update. I arrived in Izmir Turkey yesterday. Michelle tried to email some pictures that I sent her but unfortunately some people didn't receive them. See them in the slideshow above. The hotel room is really nice but of course I trashed it already. There's a window between the shower and bedroom. It has mini blinds in the window in case you want to take a shower or go to the bathroom without people watching you. Great view of the Agean Coast though. Thursday I'm going apartment hunting. The BX and Commissary are behind some serious barbed wire fencing. The building and entrance is completely unmarked. When you enter, theres an Entry Control Point with metal detectors and guards. You have to show two forms of ID to enter. The commissary is small but has a pretty good selection. Same for the BX. I like the corner police stations that you see in the picture. At least it helps to have those with the two accidents on the same block that occurred on my way back to the hotel. Parking is dicey here. I would hate to own the car parked on the sidewalk blocked by the two rows double-parked in the road.