New Blog at Wordpress

I hate being wishy washy, but I've changed over to Wordpress. I like the features and functions better, so if you want to check it out...

www.daniademirci.wordpress.com

:)

Turkey Loves Football!

This is something I pulled out of the archives. Some friends and I got stuck in a traffic jam on our way home from an opera and then later realize that Turkish national team had won a football game against Germany...and then we run out of gas.

It made me laugh out loud so I hope you enjoy watching and listening to this as much as I did!

Hospital Visit in Turkey: From a Foreigner's Perspective

I knew I was going to have an ankle scope done but I wasn’t sure how to go about it here in Turkey. I haven’t had much experience with hospitals in the States, much less in Turkey. I got a referral from a friend to go see Dr. Yetkin, an orthopedic doctor, at Akdeniz University Hospital, which I’ve heard is a great hospital from many foreigners and Turks.

Dr. Yetkin was great, but the pre-surgery appointments with other departments in the hospital where quite time consuming and inefficient, with one hand not know what the other was doing. After a week and half, I finally got everything approved to move forward with the procedure.

The day of the procedure, we show up promptly at 7:30am. After an hour wait, an assistant comes to meet us and gives a phone number we need to call to get some kind of medicine for the surgery. We make a phone call and the guy on the phone says he will come meet us in a few minutes.

He shows up about 10 minutes later, gives us the goods and we head down to the operating rooms.

The nurse is telling me in Turkish what I need to do and where I need to change, but I don’t understand anything because he is talking so fast. So I turn to my husband and ask him what the nurse said and he says that he has no idea because he can’t understand him either. I say, “You’re Turkish! How can you not understand someone else speaking your language?!” We both laugh and do what we think I’m supposed to do, and have several reprimands from the nurse of not doing one thing or another as instructed, but I finally was ready and he wheeled me off.

Now something I thought was odd is in all of my appointments, no one ever weighed me, measured how tall I was or asked or requested my blood type. 

As they are prepping me in the operating room, the nurses started asking me these questions. “How tall are you? How much do you weigh?” And me being a westerner and still not having figured out how tall I am in meters or exactly how many kilos I weighed, just shrugged and said I don’t know. I tried to tell them in feet…then I wondered why in the world does the U.S. have to do things different from everybody else in the world…They didn’t like my answer and eventually gave up. Then they asked me my blood type, and honestly I have no idea. I’ve had an I.D. card before that has the information on it, but now I don’t. FYI - That would be a useful bit of information on driver’s licenses in the states.

They gave me an epidural so I was completely numb from the waist down. They begin the ankle scope and even let me watch on a television what they were looking at. That may not be for everyone, but I am so fascinated by the body and how it all works. I felt like I was watching something on the Discovery Channel, when it was actually my foot they were looking at.

The surgery lasted about 2 ½ hours and towards the end, the leg I wasn’t having surgery on started to wake up and I started getting a little freaked out by the whole thing because they were working on me. I started to feel the bottom of the foot they were working on tingle as it started waking up and tried to tell the nurse. But how do you tell a nurse in Turkish that your foot is tingling? I have no idea, but I tried, with hand motions too. It didn’t work out so well.

The doctors promptly finished at that point, stitched me up and had my husband rolled me back to my room.  In the hospitals here, there are nurses, but they provide basic care and usually there is one person that you bring with you that will sit in with you while you are in the hospital and make sure you have anything else you need as well as help the nurses that are taking care of you. My hubby rolled me to my room, helped clean and change my bandages, helped me get to the bathroom (which I think he was relieved I could do that on my own, otherwise making sure I could go to the bathroom would have been his responsibility too), brought me food and drink and made sure I got my pain medications when I needed them.

All in all, I had a great experience with Turkish healthcare. Some things were a little inconvenient or didn’t make since to my western mind, but everything that needed to get done was accomplished. Akdeniz University was great, the rooms were clean, the staff was friendly and helpful and now I have a brand new foot that I am looking forward to using. We’ll see how things progress over the next few weeks…

Life in Turkey: Ankle Surgery & Recovery

I’m finally home from the hospital after ankle surgery and a 3 day stay. I’ve got a lot to say about the experience of being in a hospital in Turkey, but I’ll save that for a different post. If you are wondering how I hurt my ankle to begin with, let's just say an adventurous spirit, a parachute and rocky terrain, and a nasty fall from the back of a jeep got the best of me.

This is a few hours after surgery. 

This is the first time I’ve ever had any kind of operation or hospital stay. I think its funny that my first time was in Turkey. I have to say that as I was doing all my pre-surgery prep and doctors visits, I was very thankful that I’ve never had any major health problems and that as a whole I am a healthy person. It motivates me to continue taking care of myself and look for ways that I can do an even better job as I move forward.

My orthopedic doctor, Dr. Yetkin, at Akdeniz University Hospital in Antalya was amazing. I had a million fears of miscommunications and what I might experience in Turkey, but he proved me wrong. He is an intelligent and gentle man that made me feel very comfortable with the procedure and his expertise.

For those not so faint of heart, here are a few pics of my ankle about 24 hours after surgery.

I'm home now and for the next 2 weeks, I'm bound to crutches, ice and pain/anti-inflammatory medication so that I can move on to physical therapy.  I'm not one to sit still so these next couple of weeks will be a little rough, but looking forward to the long term results.

RAWRR!!

This is a story of my 3 year old niece.  The other day she and her daddy were having down time together and my niece lied to him when he asked her a question. He knew she was not telling him the truth and she continued to lie to him when he asked her the same question several times.

Finally, frustrated that she continued to bold face lie, he asked her "Are you lyin' to me?"  My niece sat there a second and her daddy could tell she was processing something in her mind as she looked out of the corner of her eye. After a few seconds, she turned to him and said "RAAAWWWRRR!!" and roared at him, just like a lion.

My niece is creative! But, I guess she did answer the question...

Whirlwind Turkey Trip

While my sister and brother-in-law were here, we took them to some of our favorite places and well as a few places we hadn't been before. Here are just a FEW of the photos around Antalya and Istanbul on their whirlwind 7 day trip to Turkey. We are SO glad they came to visit.  Next time, we will make it to Cappadocia!

Aspendos

 Inside the Hagia Sophia

 Outside the Blue Mosque with the Hagia Sophia behind us. It was coooold...

 Jumping at Mt. Tahtali

Dancing at Termessos

 The Animal cooking fish for everyone.

My Sister & Her Hubby :)

Walking into the Blue Mosque

The Changing of the Guard at Dolma Bahce Palace

PomPom Wreath

Since my sister and her husband were coming for Christmas this year, I figured I better do a few extra things to decorate around the house.  I wanted to find a wreath I could make with materials I could find in Turkey and I ended up making this pompom wreath.

I made what felt like a million pompoms and tied the pompoms to a styrofoam circle. I also made a few extra smaller pompoms and made some pompom garland that turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself.

I found the wreath directions at Urban Outfitters DIY blog site. The only thing I had to do different was cut my own styrofoam circle to start the wreath because they don't have straw wreaths here.

I had a lot of fun making this and it was easy to do.

Termessos

People wonder what is so wonderful about Termessos, an ancient city set up in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey. I am a little partial because this is the place Enes proposed to me, but this view is Amazing!

The Screaming Man

My sister and her husband came to visit for the holidays this year. Their first morning here, my brother-in-law comes into the living room, with a cup of coffee in hand. He is still pretty beat from the long flight over, but the first thing that comes out of his mouth is “Why was that man screaming this morning?! It was so loud!”.  We all busted out laughing because the first call to prayer is very early in the morning. I would guess about 5:30am or 6:00am. It struck me even funnier that he didn’t know what it was. I guess I hear it so often now, that I’m used to it. It doesn’t wake me up and in fact, unless I’m standing right next to a mosque, it hardly even phases me anymore.

A few days later, my brother-in-law was out on the balcony because he hears the screaming man again. But this time, it wasn’t the mosque. It was the man who sells simits, or Simitci, making his morning rounds, yelling at the top of his lungs that he has bread for sale. I do have to admit, the Simitci has some lungs on him. A lot of volume comes out of men that walk around with trays of stacks of bread on their head every morning. 

It was fun to see Turkey through new eyes and to hear the observations of first timers in Turkey. You forget the things that once bewildered and surprised you at the beginning of life overseas after a few years.

Storms

Last night there were crazy storms here in Antalya. The wind sounded like a freight train, the rain was coming from all different directions and the sky was a yellow-greenish color. It was all a vaguely familiar feeling like I was in the middle of tornado season in the Texas Panhandle. I was pretty sure we don't normally have tornadoes in Antalya, but I had to ask Enes to make sure. He thought I was a little a ridiculous, but I assured him  that tornadoes can sneak up on you and the way the weather has been lately around here, you just never know. 

There were no tornadoes as far as I know, but this morning we awoke to huge trees uprooted from the ground, branches, window shutters and dirt everywhere.  When I got to the office this morning, I saw pictures  in the online newpaper, The Hurriyet,  of a huge boat that sunk by the harbor last night. 

All of the crewman except for 1 were rescued. I can only imagine what the sea must have been like last night throwing this huge boat around. It must have been terribly frightening for all of those men.

This morning the sea is still quite stormy looking, but everything else is peaceful and sunny as we recover from last night's storm. 

Sugar Cookies

These are some of my favorite Turkish cookies to pick up when I occassionally drop into the Pastane. They are like floury sugar cookies and have powdered sugar sprinkled on top. They are plain and simple and go great with a cup of coffee or tea.

Ara Güler

I ran across this famous Turkish photographer, Ara Güler,  and he has some beautiful photographs of Istanbul and Anatolia. His nickname is The Eye of Istanbul. You can see more of his photographs here.

                                  

The Song of Sparrows

The film The Song of Sparrows is wonderful. We watched it the other night and I got so much insight into what life is like in Eastern Turkey. This film is set in Iran, but Enes says the village where he lived as a child was just like this. It was quite a nostalgic film for him and a learning experience for me. 

Persimmons - Havanin Meyvesi

There are so many lovely fruits in Turkey that I have never eaten. Sometimes I'll walk through the street pazar and notice fruits or vegetables that I've never even seen before. Maybe I'm just not savvy on my fruits and vegetables, but I'm always seeing new things and it makes me so excited.

I tried a persimmons for the first time last year and I fell in love. Its really sweet and we always eat it for dessert when its in season. In Turkish they are called Havanin Meyvesi (Eve's Fruit, as in from the Garden of Eden). Persimmons are in season right now and I noticed this one the other day and it was huge and I had to try it.  So good!

Bread

I don't fully understand the obsession with bread in this country. If you don't have bread, you can't have breakfast, lunch or dinner. Its like trying to eat an Oreo cookie without the cream in the middle. You just can't.

Tonight Enes cooked dinner. It was a kind of chicken and rice soup. We didn't have any bread and Enes complained a little about it, but we were both starving so he let it go...or so I thought.

About 2 minutes into the meal, Enes stops eating and looks at me. "I can't do it. I can't do it." he says. "You can't do what?" I say totally confused. He gets up in a hurry and I hear him mumbling something about bread. I tell him we have Lavas (like tortillas) and he snuffs at me and shakes his head. He wants REAL bread...

He takes off to the kitchen. He comes back and you know what he has?

Cornflakes! Yes, he puts them in his chicken soup, because he can't find any bread. I'm disgusted at the thought. He asks me why it is so weird, because I eat cereal with milk. He then tells me I should try it because maybe in fact I have been taught wrong and this is the perfect combination for the perfect meal. I shake my head and continue eating as he crunches away eating all his cornflake chicken soup.

Just a normal evening in the Demirci household...

A Perfect Day

It's November and it is still abnormally warm in Antalya. I'm not complaining, if the weather was like this all year round, I would be in heaven.

With the sun shining bright and the sky clear this morning, we wanted to make sure and get outside and enjoy it.  Sometime soon the rainy season will arrive and we won't have these pleasant Saturday afternoons. We decided to find a beach so we could sit and relax. We drove about 20 minutes outside of Antalya on the Konyaalti Road, found this little spot, and set up our chairs and our fishing poles.

We didn't realize how warm it actually was. We could have swam today! We were both burning up in our pants and t-shirts and Enes was wishing he could have jumped in to do some spear fishing.

To be in such a quiet place, reading a wonderful book with a few fishing lines thrown out and listening to the water of the Mediterranean washing up to the shore was a perfect day.

Happy Birthday!!

Today was Enes' birthday! We celebrated by having dinner and cake with friends. A friend of ours made a  birthday cake that looked like a fish and I really think it was the best cake I have ever tasted.

The next day, Enes and I celebrated at home. I wanted to cook him dinner, but instead he cooked me dinner! I'm a lucky girl!

1 Year

Enes and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary in October. Our civil ceremony was October 16th and our wedding ceremony was October 17th, so I guess we get to celebrate both days?!

A friend of ours who is a photographer took some photos for our anniversary as our wedding gift because she wasn't able to be here when were married. We had a fun morning with her exploring the streets of Old Town Antalya and the harbor and needless to say after viewing the photos, we laughed alot!

Here are a few of our favorites:

I Be Chineeesseee if You Please....

Here’s a first. I’ve never been yelled at for being Chinese, but today, it happened. I should’ve know after all those years of getting letters and scholarship offers from the Chinese Student Association of America and having the MOST common last name in the whole entire world(because of the Chinese) that one day, it WOULD happen.

Here is how it went down. After making a whirl wind trip to Ankara to get permission from the American Embassy to get permission to get married Enes and I returned to Antalya to do the list of things we had to do here to get approval from the govt. here in the city. One thing on my list of things to do was have my birth certificate and passport translated and notarized. Enes and I headed out to get everything taken care of. We went to the translation and notarization office, Enes explained everything and they said to come back at 2:00pm to pick up the translation and they would notarize it. So at about 1:36pm in the afternoon, I had a little fender bender due to being cornered by about 3 cars and trying to protect the car I was in (no huge damage, just a little scratch), but in the process, I did lose Enes because he had to go with the people whose car I scratched to have it looked at so I had to go back to get my birth certificate and passport translations alone. No problem, or so I thought.

I figured, we were there earlier in the day, they all know who I am, if I have problems talking, they’ll figure it out because I’ve already been here once today. I get to the office and go pick up the translated documents. They tell me to go in this other room to get it notarized. I talk to a girl that I saw early that morning and she tells me who to talk to, but I realized it’s a man that wasn’t there that morning. But the label on his desk says “NOTAR” (notary), so I figure it’s a no brainer. I’ll just hand him the documents and he knows what to do. :)

So I walk up and hand him the pieces of paper. He looks straight down at my birth certificate and then for all I understood, all “H-E-double hockey sticks” broke loose. He starts yelling at me. I have NO idea what he is saying, he’s talking super fast and I’m catching maybe 3 words in the 2 minute tirade. After he’s done, I ask him in Turkish if there is a problem and if he needed something else? (what else was I supposed to do) :) He threw my papers to the side and then stared straight through me like I wasn’t there. Hmm… what to do? I stood there for like 2 minutes waiting for something to happen, staring at my translated documents that he just threw down. Everybody in the office including the girl that had just directed me to him, acted like he didn’t just yell at me and nothing happened. Everyone just went about their business as usual.

So, eventually I went and sat down. I’ll just wait. I was trying to think of someone to call that could help me because Enes had left his phone at home that day and I couldn’t get ahold of him since he was with the people who’s car I scratched. Ahh…don’t cry Dania. Don’t cry. I sat there for a second with my head in my hands and then the same guy that just yelled at me comes into the waiting area where I was sitting.. “Dania Lee” “Dania Lee” Dania Lee”he says… But this time, he is super happy and all smiley. I’m thinking “great, I have the manic depressive Notar”…. So I raise my hand, “that’s me”.. he says, Gel! Gel! (Come! Come!) and takes me back to his desk… then he points at my last name and asks if I’m Chinese..(side note, I’m thinking do I look Chinese?) I tell him no, I’m an American and he says..oh, I looked at your last name and thought you were Chinese….then he starts laughing really loud, stamps all my papers and sends me on my way…

To celebrate the completion of our list of things to do.... I made Chinese food too. :)

(another side note)
The car that I scratched, Enes went to the car dealership and they said it would be 600 TL to fix it and by the time Enes was done, it was 28 TL because the repairman found out that Enes was from his city… all goes to show..its WHO you know here or rather MEET along the way….:)

Randomness....

So just some of the latest happenings....

I went to the store the other day and everytime I see these fish, I grimace..but this time I had to take a picture. Enes thought I was a little ridiculous taking pictures of dead fish in the g-store..but whatever.. ;)

Take your pick, which eel do you want for dinner??

ahhh....crazy tongue and poky things everywhere...

but this one....this is the one that I have to stare at everytime i see it..its is incredibly ugly and wierd looking....apparently its something you can only catch in the Black Sea...don't think I want any of it!

Next, went exploring to some other waterfalls...they're the Duden Waterfalls and they're actually in Antalya..I had never been there before, but its quite beautiful!

Enes tried Dr. Pepper for the first time....

....and he hated it, so guess who gets to drink all the Dr. Pepper that comes through my front door!? :)

and lastly...me and enes. i love this picture so just thought i would share... :)