A day at home

First Day in Antalya:

We ate, chatted, drank kahve (coffee), snacked, drank cay (tea), ate, took a nap, ate, cay, snacked and ate.  Anne never left the kitchen.  She kept saying it was too hot to go out , we will later (at 8pm) would you like some of this? Try this. It was all SO amazing!!  Most of the vegetables were from a Konya farm, the cheeses from Corum, the jellies, cranberry and apricot, she had made herself, the breads...Oh the bread!! Fresh from the local wood fired oven across the street.  She made this bean dish that was to die for, and there was salad that was so light and vegetables I have never seen before that tasted heavenly.  We ate like royalty and she wouldn't let me help.  She said, "today your are our guest, tomorrow, tsk."  I asked suha what the click meant, he said, that my guest pass expires, I asked if that means I become family, he said yes.

They say if you share a cup of kahve you are friends for the next 40 years.  I've had enough coffee to make them my friends for life!


That evening at dusk, we drove the short distance to a light rail where we parked, risked our life crossing the street and had an education on what we lovingly now call MAX.  After riding into town and watching a bit more traffic, I was SO glad they had decided to try and figure out transit.  I cannot watch while anyone is driving.  I make too many gasping noises and they laugh.  We went through an antique bazar, where a bunch of knock off adidas, disney and coach products were on display.  It lead us out to a Madeneh (square) where there was a huge wall, watch tower and fun water feature like the one in the park by lloyd center.  Everything is lit by neon LED's, even the horse and carriages are glowing.  Children running around playing in the water, street cats everywhere!  We made our way across another busy street to the watch tower and slowly, slowly walked down a steep hill, covered in marble!!, slippery, shiny, beautiful marble!!  Here was the real old town, the parts that sell you all the turkish spices and treasures!  The buildings that told stories 500 years old.


The shop keepers kept speaking German to me! Ha!


At the bottom of the hill we found a harbor full of pirate ships.  (very touristy in the dady but almost surreal at night)  The wall kept the town safe from pirates historically so now it's just a game to make a buck.  There was a kid selling pilaf (rice) stuffed mussels in the shell.  A man in a cart that sold icecream, though he took a while getting it to you with is funny icecream act.  We will see if I can upload a video...


We walked up these steep, huge stone steps that were uneven and scary in the dark to the top of the hill and made our way back to the square for my first kofte!!  It was amazing, it is nothing like we have anywhere in Portland or San Francisco.  It was midnight and we were eating with throngs of young families and children.  It truely was the cooler side of the day.  We went home and everyone crashed while I cursed my nap.  No sleep that night.  Against my better judgement, I hit a wall at 6 and couldn't keep my eyes open.  Tomorrow, I will keep my eyes open ALL DAY.


I posted more pics on Facebook :)

Merhaba!!

Gunaydin! From lovely Antalya, Turkey!!

I am writing this while listening to my first call to prayer. Anne is in the kitchen, cleaning up from a beautiful kahvalti full of beautiful food from a konya farm to her new kitchen table in Antalya. Baba and Suha are having animated conversations in Turkish and I am sitting in the middle of it all just glowing!!

It is hot! 40 C with a breeze and Anne is about to serve Kahv…I cannot believe that 36 hours ago, I was having breakfast in my own garden with Aunt Coleen!! She dropped us off at the airport and first thing we heard was, “Suha!!” It was our friends, Asil and Sibel, on their way to Istanbul. Come to find out they were taking the same plane, layovers and everything!!

The first flight we just watched movies and slept, then a quick Starbucks stop in Amsterdam we were back on the plane. Flying into Amsterdam we saw windmills in the ocean!! Then fields as far as you could see with small canals between…I was beautiful. Amsterdam also had security at EVERY gate!! And they threw away my water so I wasn’t very happy.

One more movie later we were in Istanbul. I got my visa and met a gentleman from Texas who was going to swim the 3 miles at Bogazici (Bosphorus) between the Eastern and Western points of Europe for Zafer Bayrami. He said the race was just an excuse to travel and see Turkey. I had my first baklava and we were back on the short flight to Antalya. By now, we are both done, can’t hardly stay awake.

At the airport the tears and hugs were overwhelming, everyone was SOOO happy!! I experienced my first ride in Turkish traffic, the part where people don’t believe in lines applies to the roads too!! I’m glad I was too tired to really care cause it was a bit scary. We arrived at Suha’s parents home to a HUGE Turkish meal, It was so beautiful and so good and I felt right at home, I ate way too much which is never enough. We had fun passing out gifts, telling stories, eating watermelon and listening to the thrum of crickets on the balcony. It had cooled off to 96 degrees!! I hardly remember laying down and it was morning…

I can’t wait to see what today holds

Serendipity

Serendipitous is an adjective that describes accidentally being in the right place at the right time. To come upon or found by accident; fortuitous: either way, I am dubbing this my serendipitous trip to Turkey!!

He had me at baklava. Did you know that not all baklavas were created equal? Not only that but that it IS Turkish, NOT Greek!!

As a matter of fact, I was like 85% of Americans, blissfully ignorant that this marvelously magical country even existed, sans a great song by They Might Be Giants...

Now I know the importance and reverance behind the name of Atatuk AND that yogurt IS Turkish NOT Greek. (Just ask Suha!)

Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!

In 48 hours I will be on a plane half way across the pond to meet his parents IN PERSON!! I am so excited that he finally gets to go visit them, as it has been 3 longs years, and inşallah, I will meet his grandma too!!

Now what to pack....HELP!!



Suha, "its very conservative, but you can wear whatever you want, but if you wear THAT people will stare and judge you, BUT we have topless beaches so you can do that too if you want, oh and it's going to be 110+ degrees..."

Looking at everything I've set aside, I know I'm going to over pack. It's been a very busy, full but fun week leading up to our departure date.

One more day of work, pack my passport, get on a plane...GO!!

Is It Summer Aready AGAIN??

“Please turn off all cell phones and electronic devices as we prepare for take off…” as I hurriedly send off three more texts, one email and an update to facebook, “…and for your safety it is Alaska’s policy that you keep your seat belt fastened at all times while seated during the flight…” Really? I thought, well, at least I somehow scored the exit row window seat. Double bonus after mom told me she could only get me a middle seat. What a whirlwind of a last week, not that I worked much, or packed much, or really did anything of any consequence…where did the time go? I guess the real important chores and errands were accomplished, many dear friends were hugged and fare welled, my house was rented and the animals taken care of so really it boils down to one fact. I’m ready and sitting here at some number of feet up above the clouds counting my blessings.

 One: I get to hold Addy Kay tonight. She is now 2 weeks old :D

 Two: I get to be at the bottom of a niece and nephew dog pile tomorrow morning, one of my favorite parts of the homecoming ritual. 

Three: The second best part of the homecoming is my sister’s amazing cooking…oh yes, leaving one amazing chef for another, sorry Suha.

 Four: The sun is burning hot in my portal and reminding me that I will be transported to Hawaii in three days…

 Five: KARA IS GOING WITH ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Six: I’m going to miss my boyfriend (yes, that is a blessing, cause he is some kind of AMAZING!)

 Seven: I am going to get yet another amazing fun filled, “butt” tiring, work filled summer with my folks.

 Eight: Buddy gets to be by my side 24/7

 Nine: I found a roommate that will pay half the rent, keep my cat loved and settled at home and transform my back yard into a more AMAZING garden!!

 Ten: I’m Jen, a crazy Alaskan woman, and if feels good to be me.


 So I can’t remember the last time my knees weren’t scrunched up so tight my hips hurt on a commercial airline. I think I was 16, flying home from Africa…so many flights, so many stories, so many faces. I feel really lucky to have seen the places I’ve seen and met the people I’ve met. Last flight to Alaska I sat next to a very nervous, very talkative, Portlander who barely took a breath between sentences the entire flight. We are now facebook friends. I remember the business woman I met on my way to Africa on Continental airlines back when they served really yummy food. They Areoflot flight where there were water stains on the seat cushions and the seat back and belt were broken…. I remember tying Yolanda’s hair into tiny braids on the 12 hour flight from Moscow to New York. She was taller than me and her hair was a good 12 inches past her waist! I remember the red-faced, sweaty fat man who asked to be moved away from me as I cried for the amazing friends I had just said goodbye to in the New York terminal, promising to write and never dreaming someday facebook would reconnect us all in such an amazing way. I remember the audible sigh and applause that erupted two summers ago on this very flight to Alaska as a plane full of Portlanders broke through the clouds to see the full on bright sun for the first time in 7 seasons!! I was green with envy for the pilot and crew and for a split second I started plotting my need for a career change so I could see the sun more often too. The poor woman last summer who was on her way to Juneau to catch the middle of a cruise. She had sent her kids with a friend on the cruise because she had left her and her husband’s passports on the night stand back home and couldn’t board the ship. There was the drunk man who just got off the slope. The little baby who played hide and go seek with me over the seats. The grandpa that had a heart attack so we made a unplanned stop-over in Las Vegas on our way to Houston, TX. The thunder and lightning storm that kept our plane circling Chicago for 2 hours before landing safely on the ground. I am a pro at running the terminal relay: red faced and sweating, 30 minute lay-over, two trains and three terminals later, carrying 100 lbs of “necessities”, navigating across airports I’ve never been to only to find I dropped my boarding pass at the last jet way and can’t leave my stuff (security hazard, in case I miss the flight) to run back and forth, and no we won’t keep the plane waiting for you…

 As I walked though security this time I noticed a sign that stated, “If you were born before 1937 you don’t have to remove your coat or shoes.” NANA!! GRANDMA!! THAT’S YOU!!! Seriously?? Think about how much has changed in the transportation world since those two were born!! The technology that goes into that jacket and shoes let along planes, trains, and automobiles. I mean, sure, cars were already in mass production but horses were still commonly used. The Navy was what made the nation state a super power and the Airborne Division was a part of the Army! The concepts we are facing now are between oil based fuels verses alternative fuels, armies made of drones instead of people…can you imagine that one could become obsolete someday, maybe even in our lifetime? Or be available for a pretty price, only to the true, die hard hobbyist?

 I was looking down as we took off. I had the PERFECT view of down town!! Navy ships making their way up the wide river ready to rally for the Rose Festival…Talk about some history!! Mrs. Pittock!! Look what you started!! All the graceful bridges, Pill Hill, Fox Tower. I could pick out my neighborhood and almost found Cindy’s house when I realized I was looking down on Saint Johns. A thought struck me in the middle of all this contemplation mentioned above, somewhere down there my Great Granddad’s Parents had a grocery store…and somewhere down there he met my Great Grand Nana at Oaks park…and they depended on the use of horses...and their sturdy pair of legs to get them here and there…I strained to try and see how far Oaks Park was from Saint Johns as the plane dipped North and took them both out of my line of sight. Ahhh, History, Sunshine, Memories, A promising summer…so much to ponder, when I’m actually supposed to be invoicing my last two weeks of work.

 …lets procrastinate a little more. My battery is still over half full and I am just full of feelings and thoughts…

 I LOVE AIRPLANES. As often as I got sick in dad’s growing up I still LOVE THEM. I love how shiny clean they are. I love how you can eat off the floor of most airplane hangars. I love the sound of them overhead. I love the feel of them bobbing between air gusts. I love the Portland Airport, taxiing by the hangars filled with the F-16’s and the little carts pulling luggage to and fro and the box van that lift up to restock food I refuse to buy. The sprawling terminal that some Architect had way too much fun and funds to design. The planes of all sizes that share the vast impervious gray space, full of excited people with places to go, things to do, people to see. As we lift off, little cars full of people doing the same thing disappear into grids of town that follow the lay of the land, intersecting each other at odd angles, up up until the river is just a shiny line cutting its way through the green valley only to be cut off by the spitting static of vapors, aaannnddd its all gone white…oh! No…still white….now we are in heaven  Puffy clouds, eternal sunshine, I really should have been a pilot.

…I hope Buddy is doing alright in his cozy little kennel down below…I didn’t get his “I’m on board and everything is alright, Mom!” note…wow, I’ve NEVER hit the stewardess button before! (flight attendant??) 

Whew! He’s on Board! I was kind of late getting on so things were rushed for them and me…yeah…I was 2.5 hours early too, just took my time, eating, talking to Emma, getting in line at security when my flight started boarding and like any responsible seat mate who has a window or middle seat and knows she is going to drink coffee and water AND already knows she is late, STILL used the restroom before boarding…in my defense there were THREE people who got on after me…seriously!! I wasn’t last…yes I have been before…yes they re-opened the jet way for me once…and, yes, I have missed two flights in my life time…which by the way is nearing 35! (in one week)

 Funny airport moments:

 “Miss, is that a frozen salmon in your carry-on?” Why yes it is. “Just checking.”

 “We’ve lost your luggage, when we find it we will deliver it to your dorm room.” (sure the ONE time I haul frozen moose, caribou and salmon in newspaper and NOT in plastic bags! It showed up a week later, all of my clothes ruined.

 Upon being woken up by a flight attendant, “is this your flight?” Oh right! Gotta love red eye flights from Anchorage, once the plane boards the terminal is EMPTY, why are you still here??

 On the topic of red eye flights, showing up to the counter and being told, “um, Miss, your flight was yesterday.” Huh? Not again…

 I love watching luggage carousels as much as I love watching people. What is that weird hollow, spherical shaped…I can’t describe it better, but it’s a set of caribou antlers. Snowboard bags that burst open and underwear litter the floor around it. Dogs!! Lots of dogs, big beautiful husky mutts galore. Coolers, duct taped shut and bound one on top of the other…”dude its ONE BAG, don’t charge me for TWO!” Or the time my friend flew carrying a three tiered wedding cake…it rode co-pilot the whole way from Freemont, CA to Eugene, OR! At least I didn’t get caught carrying spare bullets in my luggage…HA!

 Alaska truly is a special place with special people and special circumstances…we get away with stuff no other Airline terminal would EVER dream of letting slide. I love my home state, I’m very excited to be going back. To satisfy that quirky rugged nature inside me that starves a little while I feed the green city slicker in me during the winter months. So enough rambling for one post…it is the beginning of the summer and as usual I am bound and determined to keep up this year!! Here’s looking toward another great summer!

Alaska, here I come!!!

Snow on the Beach

Well, I got home from Christmas and still had little work scheduled. No worries, Luanna flew down 5 days later to go to the Ecola Reunion and shop for maternity and baby stuff. Who wants to work when there is shopping to do and sister time to be had?? We had a blast. She had a layover in Portland before continuing to Eugene to pick up the 'rents truck. I took max over to pick her up and we road back to IKEA!! Had dinner at Famous Daves and took her back to the airport. She showed up later the next day and we went to Dan Kelly's gig at some Irish pub in SE. SOOOOO fun!!! I have vidoe of Lu dancing away at 5 months pregnant! Suha came too and thanks to Tawni's persistance we did a little swing dancing, much fun was to be had by all. Radio Giants are actually really good too, so that makes it even more fun!

The next morning Luanna and I drove to the coast. The news had been squawking about a big snow storm for a week. We had Mom and Dad's gigantoid Dodge Ram so we figured it didn't matter either way. It had been snowing in the pass and the 45 minute drive took 3 hours...luckily we made it in time to catch some of Lu's friends before they left to go home. We stayed in Seaside but had a lot of fun hanging out with her dear friends Megan and Joe and their 4 boys and Donnie in Cannon Beach. We were reluctant to head back home as the snow had not let up the entire time we were there. It took only 2 hours to get back but we were met by the family at Andina's my favorite Peruvian Restaurant. Best food, Yummy drinks, Great conversation. I love my family.

Tiffany and Luanna decided to crash at my place for the week instead of driving back and forth to Amity every night. We had a blast, tasting local eateries, shopping for baby clothes and Maternity clothes. Suha cooked us a big turkish meal one night and they went to Multnomah Falls while I worked. (yes I did have a couple of hours I had already dedicated to work.) All in all, I did not really feel BACK in OREGON till Luanna flew off on Friday. Now I'm in the throws of home sickness and the relief of being home. (Not that I'm really sure you can have both at the same time but I do, so there is scientific proof in me!)

maybe it has a little bit to do with these two...

Jen