Travel writing from my study abroad program in Turkey; the Burch Field Research Seminar through UNC-CH. Five weeks in Istanbul, two weeks traveling Western Turkey. Awesomeness.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Turkish Mysteries and Memories

As written down by Amanda and remembered by all of us...in no particular order...

1. Drinking from the same water glass
2. Sheep following us into the cave in Cappadocia
3. Never getting menus at restaurants
4. David’s napkin fiasco (under galata bridge)
5. David getting kissed on both cheeks after spilling tea in his lap at doner stand
6. Cheetos having weird flavors (beef, yogurt, etc.)
7. Mehmet, pilav man
8. Smily, Scowly, and Dad (doner guys)
9. Fake ID (PVC stands)
10. Tiny washing machines and no dryers
11. Power going out night before two week travel, and lantern expedition
12. Robin fiasco (not saving beer and food; emailing Freidrike)
13. Climbing the walls, literally
14. Magnum ice cream
15. Calisthenics with the Turks
16. Rushing Taksim, and the place in Cannakale
17. David getting hit by the car during EuroCup celebration
18. Poisonous plant experience with Emily in Cappadocia
19. David scaring Amanda to death in the darkest cave in the world in Cappadocia
20. Underground city claustrophobia
21. 95 stairs to our flat
22. Lavender shirts, unbuttoned to the sternum
23. Just a minute, loading
24. Emily’s comfy pants
25. Turkish hairstyle
26. No cell phones on the bus
27. Where's William?
28. Ferry to Bursa? Wtf
29. BURSA in general
30. Miscellaneous Turks of all kinds
31. Sabanci University after like three hours on the road
32. Marco Polo map (aka Mini Tours of Turkey, copyright 1978)
33. “Your face looks like George Bush” – to Kelly
34. Black shirt creeper on gay cruise (aka the ferry) and the bus
35. Wine and Gazoz
36. Selman drinking it out of a bowl
37. Edward leaning out window to get fresh air
38. Amanda’s head lamp and dry heaving
39. Chain smoking Turks
40. The broken squatty toilet
41. Kelly’s toilet rating system
42. Hamam in Bursa: the boys and their jammers; girls needing to break out of the penitentiary
43. New variations on old classics
44. Being told not to waterfall at Darkness
45. Scouting out the transvestite club
46. Dartying in the sleeper car
47. Dartying in the cave
48. Not drinking during the call to prayer
49. Group pics everywhere
50. Senior pics : )
51. Breaking the bed
52. Dia % dogs
53. Cat gangs located across the street from said Dia dogs
54. “So I see you have some su in the yogurt tub…” – kitten
55. Mehmet picking his nose
56. Aygaz truck waking us up every day
57. Nobody knows.
58. Mulan “Be a Man” as our theme song
59. Singing in general, karaoke style
60. Swimming across a crater lake
61. Kristina’s camera stuck in customs
62. Every mode of transportation possible
63. Emily’s rhyme game
64. “Emily what do you hit with a hammer?” Answer: "Snail."
65. Akbils
66. Mustafa the bus driver
67. Fortune-telling bunnies
68. Cappy hour
69. Sultan Su
70. Scavenger hunt game
71. “umm I dunno…” - Clayton
72. Bon Qui Qui skit being sung by Clayton to get Amanda down an Aztec-ish ruin
73. Jumping off a ridiculously tall boulder in Egirdir
74. Edward naked jumping off, William getting ready to take a pic
75. “Ohh no” David
76. PowerTurk being ridiculous
77. Euro Cup
78. Emily’s videos in general
79. Trying to skinny dip in Pamukkale
80. Efes
81. Cheese with the fur
82. "Mm hm" - Emily
83. David's bathroom in the village being in the stables across the street on the second floor
84. Myes
85. Esenler - the village
86. “It's like a deer rubbing its antlers against a tree and scraping the bark off” – Yekta
87. Mystic Turks calling Kelly 25 times
88. Picking apricots off a tree from hot air balloon ride
89. Looking for shooting stars from top of caves in Cappadocia
90. Darty
91. Terrace in general
92. Joja jola light
93. C’s being sneaky ass j’s
94. Sitting on the side of the ferries
95. Frogger
96. B.O on the tram
97. Clayton and his kittens
98. “Hello!” - the woman in the Hamam taking off Kristina’s top
99. Having someone else give you a wedgie
100. “Are you ready for this?” - William, about his tattoo
101. Chicken-fighting in the Aegean
102. David and Amanda drowning each other in the Aegean
103. Humpback whales in the Aegean
104. Americans being the exclamation of choice to rally the group
105. Bunny-hopping Murat
106. Techno dance clubs
107. Hokeypokey with Turks
108. Finding all the blacks in Istanbul
109. Energy ball dancing catching on like wildfire
110. Plants growing on peoples roofs, especially in Konya
111. Mussels and lemons being sold on the side of road
112. Roasted chestnuts
113. Corn in cup (misc. toppings such as lemon, pomagrenate juice, honey, mayo, ketchup, etc.)
114. Kumpir
115. Waffles
116. "Hello, my darling."
117. "I saw you on facebook last night."
118. Goose in Kadikoy
119. Ortakoy
120. Greek village by Selcuk
121. Man cherries
122. Very sour erik
123. "That woman cherry tree just bitch slapped me!" - Edward
124. Getting on the train to Syria
125. Simit guy dropping said simit and putting it back on stand
126. Hande
127. "Sarap!" sounding like "Shutup!" when Kristina said it to Hande
128. Cave crumbling around us
129. Cave being freezing and damp
130. Turkish coffee, stuck in teeth
131. Rhombus room
132. Farmers' tan
133. Gross quicksand shite in crater lake
134. Turks carrying loads of shite
135. Three pebbles in Amanda's foot
136. 1 YTL doner
137. Food poisoning
138. Dinners at the profs
139. Breaking shite at the profs
140. Catch phrase at the profs
141. "Eww stink" - Edward
142. Yekta translating for the mufti
143. Orange shirt guy being annoying during meeting with the mufti
144. "Wait, where’s Zoe?"
145. David's kilim
146. Turkish showers, with toilets
147. Toilet paper shields
148. TMT
149. "Wooph!"
150. No central air
151. "Is this a joke?"
152. Turkish mystery
153. Turkish breakfasts
154. Goldella
155. "Japon?" - always directed at Edward
156. The twins - David and Edward
157. Edward = Erol in Turks' minds
158. Dawud
159. Leopard and gunshots in national park
160. "WC X!" (on the train, the X was the fork and knife for the dining car)
161. BBC interview in dining car
162. “And so I can say...” – tour guide
163. Tourguide and Turko being the names Fez tour guide Amanda called our bus driver
164. Uncomfortable Fez bus
165. Kristina’s misc. bruises
166. Amanda’s black eye via Clayton
167. All the sales pitches, especially from restaurants
168. "This is ridiculous!" - David
169. Cucumber stands on the side of the road
170. Changing clothes outside at the calcium deposits in Pamukkale
171. Speedo guy under waterfall the at calcium deposits
172. Swimming in the raki pool
173. Communal shower in Egirdir; hair washing circle
174. Getting as many people in a cab as possible to save money
175. Clayton’s mouth being agape when he learned who Leslie Pearce’s advisor was
176. Amanda: “I think Yekta knows something we don’t.” Clayton: “Yeah, the language.”
177. Clayton having his shoes shined unwillingly
178. Sweetie is that really what you want - song from Cappadocia
179. "What's this little gem?"
180. "Oh hey Cappy, tasting delish."
181. “Well, ya'll have fun redoing the back bedroom!” – Amanda
182. ANTI-SPASMODIC!!!!