Have a dose of what life is really like living here – from my single-handed destruction of the Turkish language, random arguments with random relatives about everything from apples to vaginas to learning the secrets to making the perfect içli köfte! Highs or lows this is my observations from the melting pot of crazy that is my life in Mersin.
School holidays are upon us here in Turkiye which means it’s been incredibly busy in our neck of the woods, so busy that I haven’t had have time to blog! OMG!!
Rather than bore you with our usual drama today I have posted some clues as to our recent whereabouts. Can you guess where we’ve been?
Clue No. 1
This city was once renowned as the most crowded city in the world – in 1502.
Clue No. 2 – Tulips, the symbol of Holland, originated in this city and were sent to Netherlands.
Clue No. 3 – This city has been a noted inspiration for authors from Agatha Christie and Ernest Hemingway to Orhan Pamuk and Abdülhak Sinasi Hisar.
Clue No. 4 – this city was once renowned for having more than 1,400 public toilets!
Final Clue – this city is the only city in the world that straddles two continents: Asia and Europe.
I know, I know. Too easy!
Of course we have been in Istanbul.
As well as visiting our usual haunts we made some new friends (including some fellow bloggers) and, of course, we did a lot of shopping! The most successful part of this trip was what I found in a Carrefour near Taksim Square. BACON!! Yes, bacon! It may have cost 59TL for 4 pieces but damn we had a great breakfast this morning! And I will let you in on a little shame secret – I even licked up the oil from the pan. The look on The Turk’s face said it all – gross!
Loving this blog? Please help me build my audience and share with like minded people who, like you, love Istanbul – oh and you love Turkey. You can also subscribe or like me on Facebook for all updates.
Did you know that humor is a great stress reliever and research has shown that being funny is actually a sign of intelligence. I’m pretty sure I’m a fecking genius.
I also think I’m a pretty nice person. I like to think that the whinging that I do on my little blog is taken with a grain of salt. I like to think that you, my loyal readers, are mature enough to discern between my take on living in this crazy little world and understand humor for what it is. Well maybe not!
Last night I received this email and when you read it try reading it with the voice of Yoda in your head (my request will make sense in a moment) –
“Janeyinmersin,
I think you are the bitch. if you are unhappy so living in Turkey why do you not just leave. I am sure that it don’t want you here. Go back to home in England. England deserve you. You are the bitch. Divorce you I am.”
To this person who provided an email address that bounced back (let’s call him “Yoda”), to Yoda I reply –
Dear Yoda,
I have never denied being a bitch (although I wonder are you trying to say “You are the bomb”? If you are trying to say “you are the bomb” then thank you and big kisses to you). I appreciate your sentiment but just in case you are in fact calling me a bitch I will say that you are in fact 100% correct. I am a bitch and I have been called a bitch many times over the years. I do appreciate your ability to immediately recognise a bitch. Kudos.
I also appreciate that you obviously spent the time to use Google Translate to write your kind comment to me. I should use Google Translate to reply to you as well however then my readers won’t get to enjoy my sarcasm and wit which is so obviously lost on you.
It is truly endearing to find a reader who has spent as much time as you obviously have Yoda reading my blog as you obviously know many intimate details about my life. Firstly I must tell you obviously I use the word “obviously” way too much. Obviously! Secondly, I must say that I do love England and I bet England would love me too. It has so much to offer. Harry Potter, William and Kate live there, even the Beatles originated from there! But one thing that did not originate from England was, in fact, me! I am not English. Perhaps we can play a game of Guess my Nationality?
Should I make it a visual game? Alrighty then. Below are 3 pictures. See if you can guess where I am from?
Did you guess it Yoda? I bet you did because you are obviously smarter than the average Jedi Knight. I mean look at Luke Skywalker. He was a bit dumb, he didn’t even realise that Leia was his sister! Ewwww. But just in case you did fail your Jedi Knight training the answer is – “I come from the land Down Under, where women glow and men plunder” also known as “Stralya”.
Finally (and just in case this message was from The Turk) – no you cannot divorce me. You love me WAY too much!
Again thank you for reading my little blog. Click like below if you enjoyed this reply or even like me on Facebook so you get all my updates.
Loving this blog? Please help me build my audience and share with like minded people who, like you, love receiving comments from their precious, kind, wonderful, amazing readers and love Turkey. You can also subscribe or like me on Facebook for all updates.
Seriously. I was sitting at my desk this morning writing an email and I swear I could smell bacon. Thinking about bacon right now is making me drool. Literally drool. God I miss bacon.
Bacon is without doubt the best food on earth. There are not many foods that can evoke this type of enthusiasm from me this early in the morning but bacon definitely takes this prize. So versatile that it can be used for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It can be eaten on its own or adding it to anything else will only enhance the original dishes flavour. Salad? Yep throw in some bacon. Roasts? Spread bacon across that bad boy sizzling away. Sandwiches? Burgers? Omelettes? What can’t bacon improve? God I miss bacon.
I don’t miss pork. Never a big fan. I do love crackling though. God I miss bacon.
Ham. I miss ham. I miss The Turk’s pizza. His pizza was seriously the best pizza in Sydney. I miss ham and God I miss bacon.
I thought I had tracked down some ham at Migros a couple of days back. They were selling Jambon which means ham in English. Nearly wet myself. After examining the packet I still thought it was ham. I got it home. I was wrong. It was beef ham? WTF?? God I miss ham and God I miss bacon.
There is a piggery in Antalya I could go to. Antalya is, I think, a 6 hour drive from here (but 30 minutes on a plane). Would that seem excessive? To jump on a plane to purchase bacon? Would I bring it back as hand luggage? Would they even let me bring it on the plane? God I miss bacon.
I hate bacon jokes. I hate bacon meme’s. They are cruel. They are everywhere. Every time I open any social media a joke or a photo of bacon appears. It is akin to torture for a person in my peril. God I miss bacon.
The Turk tells me I am being overly dramatic. Yes, yes I am. God I miss bacon.
Loving this blog? Please share with like minded people who love bacon, love ham and, like you, love Turkey. You can also subscribe or like me on Facebook for all updates.
Breakfast is apparently the most important meal of the day. I used to skip breakfast a LOT when I lived in Sydney. Or it was a healthy breakfast of coke and cigarettes – yes really! Then I found out I was Type 2 Diabetic and I pulled my head in and actually learnt about eating healthy. I still have a lot to learn but a good breakfast and my early morning jog to the deniz is a good start.
Now living in the Village breakfast is the first of many delicious (and healthy) meals I eat every day. I love that everything is organic. I love that the bread is delicious and costs the equivalent of AUD$0.25 for a loaf. The eggs are huge and when cracked the yolk is so yellow, scrambling them is a sin! Cucumber, tomatoes,olives and my mother in law’s cheese (https://janeyinmersin.com/2013/10/) all washed down with a glass of cay to complete our Turkish banquet. Yesterday we made borek (lightly fried pastry with cheese) and if we make it to the market we also buy Turkish sausage (although I recently read an article in a Turkish newspaper where someone suggested that the sausage could possibly be made from horse meat. Eeek!).
Daughter and her cousins have already left for school by 7am so generally it is just us girls (and now, of course, The Turk) sitting in the sunshine enjoying this delicious banquet. Actually now that The Turk has arrived we also must have corba (soup) for breakfast. He loves his Spicy Red Lentil Soup (which I made last night) and he believes that a good breakfast is not complete without corba on the table. The Turk also suggested this morning that I learn to make Tripe Soup but THAT is never going to happen!
janeyinmersin 