I have been AWOL the last week or so. There is no particular reason, I have just been busy with life and better to be busy than bored I think.
There has been a lot going on both in Mersin itself and with my life.
In Mersin local elections took place on 30 March and they were hotly contested. CHP won in the Village but Mersin itself was won by MHP. It seems, however, that there was one box of votes that were not counted and the shit royally hit the fan yesterday with CHP believing that they in fact should have won. There were protests and some localised rioting (The Turk wouldn’t let me out of the house) and a recount of the votes was to take place today. My sister in law is in the Council and a member of CHP so she is hopeful that the count will reinstate her and her and her party CHP to power. Incidentally Erdogan’s AK Party pretty much cleaned up in most other areas and in fact increased its share throughout the country. I am surprised at the increase in popularity taking into consideration the corruption scandals that were dogging him over the past few months along with the recent passing of Berkin Elvan in Istanbul. No official results have yet been announced, but the tally published by Turkish media put the AK Party on around 44% of the nationwide vote to 26-28% for CHP.
Personally The Turk’s aunt passed away last Saturday. She was my mother-in-law’s older sister and another example of just how wonderful and kind Turkish women can be. I have also been to a wedding (which had a yikes factor of 7), took Daughter to the dentist (which had a yikes factor of 10 and a never again) and took myself off to the hairdresser which took 4 hours and two attempts before I finally walked out of the salon. No I am not satisfied – I am blonde. Well blonde-ish anyway. The trip to the hairdresser had a yikes factor of 6 but I’m upping it to an 8 because I am still not happy. Funnily enough, my sisters in law all love it and asked me why I didnt go blonder!!??
All in all a very busy week and leaving me little time to sit down and reflect on my thoughts.
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janeyinmersin 
Thought you’d been deported 😀
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No surprise at the polls. The general populace know very little of what goes on, and frankly, most don’t care. Corruption is a national sport here, but a strong Turkey is all that they care about. Recounts all over the show, but what can ya do? I did my bit 🙂
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First and foremost, sorry for your loss.
Will you be posting a pic of the new you? 🙂
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Ha! I am yet to take a photo – probably should have done it when I was freshly coiffed lol.
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I’m sorry to hear about your aunt, good luck with elections and I am now trying to imagine you blonde?? Photo please!!! Dentist sounds horrid in any country. I now have black hair, you are a blonde…I’ll meet you at the salon in North Sydney lol.
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I will give you a rundown of the dentist when I get a chance. It was frightful! God awful!
Yes we will definitely have to get together in July. Can’t wait to get back to Sydney – if only for a trip to the hairdresser.
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Ha! Me too…I love my Sydney hairdresser.
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Başınız sağol olsun! I am glad that you had the chance to make good memories with her and your mother-in-law before they passed. The polls did surprise me. What is the general political/emotional climate like now? I will not be eligible for my regular dental check up before leaving, and just this week I was wondering about dental care there. I’m afraid your story will not be a pleasant one!
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I was just about to update my post from earlier today. The recount has come in and the same party won which I understand was a good thing. There is a lot of unrest here right now. For the Turk and his family there is no parsley as all the workers (generally Kurdish workers) are in the city have a victory walk and they all refused to work today. The Turk is off to Hatay right now to arrange for parsley to deliver to the restaurants tomorrow.
The Turk has said that it was a good thing that they won as there would have been chaos here had they not won – his concern is that the Kurdish population is increasing to the extent that they won the election – they beat CHP. On the bright side AK Party didnt win.
I am finding the whole political process very interesting and have been devouring all the information I can find. I wont voice my opinion though – copped too much slack for it last time.
In Karaduvar the sun still shines, Daughter still goes to school and life goes on (well except for the lack of parsley).
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