Top of the Mountain

This weekend Me,Imran and Hani went to Bursa for a tour organized by Bursa LC.The journey took us 13 hours. After we reached Bursa we left for Uludag which is a ski resort town(one hour from Bursa).There were about 40 trainees from all over the world who joined this tour and the tour was called'Top Of the Mountain'.

The drive form Bursa to Uludag was very slow as it was snowing heavily.I had never seen so much snow before.After we reached the hotel we checked in and left for a barbecue party.As it was snowing we had to move in to a nearby pub and have our lunch.Then we went out in the snow and had a coaster raid.It snowed heavily the whole day and we were all wet but the coaster raid was fun.Then we went back to the hotel to change as there was a party after dinner.The party was fun but as I was tired I went to bed early.

The next day all the other guys went out skiing but me and my friends went around the town taking snaps,snow fighting and making a snowman.The landscape of this place was amazing.As I had to be in mersin the next morning we left Uludag at 2 in the afternoon and took a overnight bus from bursa and reached mersin this morning at 7 AM.The tour was fun had the weather been better it would have been excellent.The best part about the trip was I got to meet a lot of people and was a much needed brake from Mersin.

First Love

My first love.What can i say about her.I don't have the words to express the feelings I have for her.when she laughs I am happy when she cries I cry with her.

The moments we spent together will always stay with me forever.Its hard to imagine or even compare her to anyone else.Its even harder to think of life without her but then I have to move on and so does she.

I keep asking myself will I ever fall in love again.

Salsa

Finally I have registered for salsa classes with the help of my friend Eda.Today is my first salsa class.Its once a week on Monday's.I hope to learn as much as possible for the 4 weeks I have registered.This was actually suggested by my friend and I thought it was a great idea as I do nothing after work.
I will write more about it later this week.

Six Months

I complete 6 months in Turkey today.Looking back I think I have had a great experience but it was not always easy.I have gone through some tough times and personal lows.I have less then two months to go after which I will be in Europe for five weeks and back to Istanbul on my way to India.
The highlights Would be....

Meeting so many interesting people
The party with bob and Ronnie
My traveling around Turkey
Trying to learn Turkish
Experiencing snow for the first time.
Washing dishes in office.
Saturday Night's at Bad leak.
salsa classes
Getting caught by the cops
Starting this blog

Bad Weather

In the last few days the weather in Mersin has been very bad.Its been raining all day.The weather in mersin is actually much better compared to other parts of Turkey where its been snowing heavily and in Istanbul the situation is so bad the people are not stepping out of their homes.

Even though its raining here, surprisingly the temperature has not come down.I hope this is the sign that its going to be spring soon.

Jethro Tull in Bangalore

The legendary Jethro Tull performed in Bangalore yesterday.The band now is mainly Ian Anderson( the guy who plays the flute) and they will be performing in Mumbai as well.Even though i am not a huge fan of Jethro tull I would have loved to see them play live but unfortunately i missed the concert as I am in Turkey.

On this Sunday Bryan Adams will be performing in Bangalore. Seems like Bangalore is rocking !!

Is Sachin's career nearing its end?

India have lost the series to Pakistan after playing so well in the first two tests.I was very disappointed with the result.I read this article'Endulkar of Sachin' today talking about how sachin is not playing well and he is scared of Shoaib Akhtar.I totally disagree with this.

Everyone knows how great a player he is and not one to be scared of any bowler.The one day Internationals between india and pakistan are soon coming up so its hope sachin is back in form and proves everyone wrong and shows the world what a class batsmen he is !

The sNOw picnic

This Sunday all the staff members of my company including myself went for a picnic to Gozne(25 km from Mersin).This was meant to be a snow picnic but unfortunately there was only patches of snow so i thought to myself(when the hell will i get to play with snow)As i have never experienced snow before except for some little patches of snow in cappadokai.After we reached Gozne we walked around the place.Its a nice place, green and surrounded by hills.Then we had a round of good barbecued sausage and meat.

Then my boss got a call that the office security alarm had gone off and nobody knew as to why it had gone off so we had to leave early.The security alarms were recently installed in our office as there was a break-in and fortunately there was not much damage.The picnic even though short was nice, more snow would have made the day much better.

New Flatmate

Finally we have a flatmate.Its been over 2 months since we started searching for a new flatmate but even after great effort we dint find anyone(preparing an advert,distributing the advert among friends and students,informing everyone)I actually met him in a pub the night we were caught by the cops .He is a cool guy who knows very little English but is keen to learn English so lets hope I will be able to help him with it.

He moved in last week and he brought with him a TV and receiver which has a 1000 channels.The best part of him moving in is we now have a good TV and 1000 channels to select from.All these days I would come back home and had to read a book as I had nothing else to do but now TV gives me a 1000 options other then reading.

Life

Some interesting quotations i came across today.

Hope smiles on the threshold of the year to come, whispering that it will be happier.

Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.

The greater man the greater courtesy.

The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.

Ah, what shall I be at fifty,should nature keep me alive,if I find the world so bitterwhen I am but twenty-five?

I hold it true, whate'er befall;I feel it, when I sorrow most;'Tis better to have loved and lostThan never to have loved at all.

Alfred Lord Tennyson The English Poet (1809 - 1892)

Rendezvous with Turkish Police

Last Saturday me and a friend got drunk in a pub in mersin and were walking back home.A police car stopped by and asked us for our identification but both us had left our passports at home so we were escorted to the police station.By the time we reached the police station i was a little sober.I explained to the police officer that i had left my passport at home but nobody seemed to bother and for 2 hours both us were sitting in the police station and just looking at each other.

After 2 hours a officer took us home in his car but i had a difficult time giving him directions as i was drunk and dint know how to give directions in Turkish.We reached home around 3 in the morning then he checked our papers and left after telling us to carry our documents at all times.After this we had a few more beers and went to bed.The moral of the story carry your documents at all times and drink lots of beer !

Holiday in Cappadokia

Since it was Ramazan i had a week off from work so me and imran decided to travel.We decided to travel to Ankara and Cappadokia .We reached Ankara early in the morning and it was freezing, easily below zero.The main reason for visiting ankara was for my European visa but unfortunately all the embassies were closed and some had closed minutes before arrived.Ankara is the modern capital city of Turkey.Its a very nice city but not much to do has a tourist so we took a overnight bus to cappadokia/Goreme and reached around 11 pm.The place we stayed was a cave carved out of the fairy chimney(large stone structures).

We stayed in cappadokia for 3 days and we had a great time.we met a lot of people and surprisingly met a few Aiesec trainees who were staying in a hotel next to ours.All of us partied at night and on the second day took the daily bus tour.The tour was great .They took us to the most popular places in cappadokia.The places we went to were impressive especially the underground city at kaymakli and the Valley really beautiful .I must say cappadokia is really a special place in Turkey.The landscape is amazing.Even though it was very tiring i enjoyed every moment of it.Cappadokia is a land, which seems to be a fantasy. Words are inadequate to describe the beauty and charm of this place you must experience it for yourself. It will certainly take a particular place in your memories and in your photograph album.

Ephesus

2 weeks ago I went to the conference in kusadasi(western Turkey) with adana aiesecers but unfortunately it was cancelled because the anakra LC people were involved in a bus accident and 2 people lost their lives. It was really sad to see everyone disappointed and hurt. I hope the families of the people who lost their lives cope with this great tragic loss.

Since the conference was cancelled I decided to go to Izmir to visit Fari(Turkish friend) and i stayed with him for 3 days.I should say it is an impressive city.The next day did a day trip to Ephesus.Efes the famous turkish beer is actually named after Ephesus.It is an ancient roman city with lots of impressive structures.The most impressive was the Great Ephesus Theater with a capacity of 25000 people(Picture of the Theater).The town near efes is selcuk.which i thought was very pretty.In selcuk i meet a local guy.Who showed me around Efes and even took me home for a cup of tea.

The next day went around Izmir and explored the main parts of the city with fari.By the end of it all i was really tired and dint want to do anything the next day so i relaxed the whole day went for a movie and bought the most expensive bus ticket to mersin as i dint want to tire myself as i had to be in office the next morning.The bus was very impressive with two decks,comfortable seats and excellent service.On the whole the trip to Izmir was not great but I was happy that i atleast saw and travelled to a diffrent part of turkey.

New Year or christmas

Last night we had a party at Mete's summer house.The party was fun. All of us had the punch made by joe.The punch was really spicy and not many liked it but me,joe and imran thought it was good.Some even went on to say it was like cough syrup.

After the punch we danced for sometime and when the clock hit 12 everyone started wishing each other.Some people cameup to me and acually said marry christmas which i thought was funny.Sadly not many people in Turkey know the difference between newyear and christmas.They think both are the same.

Istanbul is Great

I happened to visit Istanbul last month.Its a great city.Istanbul ,one of the great historical cities of the world, is the only city in the world located upon two continents with one arm reaching out to Asia and the other arm to Europe. Through the city's heart runs the sea channel called the Bosphorus(the sea that divides istanbul) which reaches north to The Black Sea and south to the Marmara Sea.

The old city, where the majority of historical monuments are found, lies along the Golden Horn. The most famous of these monuments are St.Sophia, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, The Wall of Theodosius, Topkapi Palace, Suleymaniye Mosque, Underground Cistern, St.Eirene, St.Saviour in Chora, Archeological Museum, Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market. (The picture is from the famous Istiklal Cad in Taksim)

It's as modern as any other city in the world. It has great location and great night life.The streets of Istanbul are full of life even after midnight(taksim) .There are lots of places to hang out and i still cant get over the city even though its been over a month since i have been there.I had a great time and hope to stay there for some time on my way back to india.

My turkish

This a very interesting topic because considering the length of time i have spent in Turkey.My Turkish is not getting any better.I know the language enough to survive but nothing much.I think i need to put a little more effort to learn the language.It would be very interesting to see how much of turkish i actually know before i get back home.

To learn any language you need a lot of motivation and a very good memory power to remember all the complex words the language has to offer.So I have come up with a strategy .I have a few local friends who own shops or cafes near my appartment.So i have decided to practice my turkish with them in the evenings or when ever i get the time.Lets see if this works.The reason for this is they actually enjoy talking to me and find it really fun when i make hand signs accompanied by some great expression.

It's getting cold

Its early december and nearly 4 months since i have come to Turkey.I have picked up a little bit of Turkish and gotten used to the food.The weather is Turkey is strange.Its very hot in summer and cold winters.In the last weeks the weather has changed from being cool to cold.So the warm clothes are every where,unfortunately i did not know turkey would get this cold and brought only a few warm clothes from india.

My trip to Antalya

The first place i visted in Turkey is Antalya .Its 500 kms from Mersin.After 10 Hours of travelling in a bus thorugh winding roads i finally reached Antalya.This tour was organised by Aiesec. The organisation iam associated with in Turkey.There were two people from Aiesec, who picked me up from the bus station (autogar).We then caught a service bus( which is provided free by the bus company) to Akdeniz University. where all of us were supposed to assemble and leave for olumpos.

The road from Antalya to Olumpos was beautiful with the coast on one side , Mountians and forest on the other.It was a two hour drive and i thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.olumpos is a very interesting place with tree houses suitated in the middle of no where and the beach just a few minutes away from the tree house.They had arranged for us to stay at the tree house called Kabir's,With 5 of us sharing a small cottage and very cold showers in the moring( which i will never forget).I thought it was pretty good start.

We started off the day exploring the ancient city of olumpos.It is supposed to be an old roman city.The city is really ancient and there is not much of it left today,but ruiens.What fasinated me the most was the location of this place.It had everything you wanted as a tourist the sea,history,nature.As we tracked through the old city there was a narrow passage between two small hills,as i passed the passage appeared the great olumpos beach(considered one of the best beaches in Turkey).Its was a breathe taking view,with the sea as blue as ever and crystal clear waters.That afternoon we did some water sports and went back to the tree house to get some rest as it was a very exhasting day.That evening they took us to a place which amazed me even more .Its called the eternal fire,Due to the natural mixture of gases the fire that burns on these rock never goes off.I had never heard or seen something like this.

Then we came back to the tree house and had a great party with games,dancing.singing.The next day unfortunely it rained the whole day and we had to go back to Antalya.Since i had time i thought i will go around the city for some time.Its a nice city Espescially the old part of town and the sea behind it was really beautiful.After all that fun, the time had come for me to get back on the bus to Mersin and be in office on monday morning to start another boring week of work.

Chappathi in Turkey...Had to use a bottle no chappathi making equipment:)) 

Me and Dragos my friend from romaina.(My first week in Turkey)