My American feast

A normal part of extended periods away are unnatural cravings for bits of the homeland. Let it be known that for three months I have been deprived of these foods, and they make up my ideal first meal back at home. 

PB&J

Bacon

Corn on the cob (butter and salt)

Anything BBQ from Billy Boys on 95th st.

Scones and jam + cream

Strawberries and cream

Coffee with heavy cream & iced coffee

A good beer

Mint julip/ mojito

Mint chocolate chip shake

All of this outside in the yard under the trees, by the way. 

So there ya go. Psycho-analyze away!

My Turkish travels as lived by my stomach

So a big part of my Turkish experience revolved around food and travel.  So I'm going to tie the places I went to with what I ate while I was there. Sund good? Good. 

Best balık ekmek - İstanbul. A trip to Kadıköy will land you the best grilled fish one a baguette you have ever had. Best experienced seated in a chair designed for toddlers. 

Best lahmacun - Antep. My friends know that my favorite Turkish food is the Syrian pizza, and no one does it better than Antep. I'll be honest and admit that I took two trips of several hundred miles each way just for the food. Too bad I got hideously ill on one of them. 

Çiği böreği - Eski Şehir. Ok so it was only a shop, but I had the greatest Caucasian meat pastries there. Plus peppers that come disguised as tomato sauce and will KILL you. 

Honey - one of the few nice things I can say about Kars is that they have great honey. And a restaurant call Döneristan.  

Biber dolması - my other favorite Turkish food is stuffed pepper. My host mother made the best in the world, and I've looked all over Turkey and still haven't found better. 

So there ya are. All my trips described in food (Trabzon doesn't count because I only ate there twice). 

Oh! And if anyone knows of a recipe for BİBER DOLMASI, let me know

Afiyet olsun!

Last day in Turkey (my extended layover in İstanbul)

So it is my last day in Turkey, and I'm feeling a weird mixture of things. It's been wonderful having this sort of unexpected return to Turkey - I wasn't preparing last year to come back for a second year in a row - but I'm definitely ready to go back home. 

I treated today like a very extended layover in İstanbul. Basically, I had 24 hours in he city to do whatever I wanted. A friend of a friend put me up in her apartment right off Taksim.

So today I sat in a cafe in the bazaar beneath the Blue Mosque (the rental fees pay for part of the upkeep of the mosque), and drank çay and Türkçe kahvesi and wrote. It was a very relaxing way to spend my last day in Turkey for a while. Tough that's what I said last year too, hahaha! I think my friends and family would be peeved if I went to turkey for a third year in a row though hahaha!

İstanbul is the kind of city that is too large to even wrap your head around it, let alone experience. 2 continents, 16 million people in the city proper. It's insane. No one can see everything in the city. 

I went to Topkapı palace public gardens today which was pleasant, and something I've never done before, and then I went to get ottoman beef stew for dinner. Omnomnomnomnom! Now I'm at the apartment drinking my last Efes, and writing again. It's 1:45 in the morning and I need to be align out the door at 3:30. This could be a long night. Oh well. I'm coming home!!

Bt in all seriousness, my time in Turkey has been wonderful. It was a surprise to be able to come back so soon, and I'm looking forward to coming back. For all of its cultural insularity and weirdness, it's nice and the people are genuinely friendly. There is a lot left for me to learn, and I can't wait. 

See you state side!

Hugh

7 days out

Well, one week out. Today is my last day of substantive work, and it feels nice.I think that I've done substantive and valuable work, I've learned a lot, and I've had a good summer break.  However, I am definitely ready to be home, even if it is only for a few days.

Tomorrow I'll be taking off, going east on an overnight train.  It should be an experience.  I'll be in Kars for those of you interested.  I'm going to see the ancient city of Ani on the Turkey-Armenia border.  Check out the links below:

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1152&bih=773&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=ani%2C+turkey&btnG=

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ani

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Kars,+Ocakl%C4%B1+K%C3%B6y%C3%BC,+Ocakl%C4%B1,+Turkey&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=wl&authuser=0

Goodbye 87/7 Bardacık Sokağı, Küçük Esat, Ankara, Türkiye!

Well a momentous life milestone has passed. I have moved out of my first apartment! It's bitter sweet. I had fun living on my own, even if the water heater went out a few times while I was trying to shower. 

Bt this points to another set of events coming up. I'm leaving Ankara on Wednesday! Yikes! Summer has flown, and I feel like I haven't been here three months. But I guess I have. 

I'm going to be taking an over night trip to the Far East of Turkey to the city of Kars. I'll be touring the ancient Armenian Capitol of Ani which is fit on the border before I fly to İstanbul. The train is something I've been really looking forward to. I have a ticket for a one person sleeper compartment. The train goes along the Euphrates river for 10 hours, and it's supposed to be beautiful. I'll try and be a bit productive on the train, but mainly this is just my last big trip in turkey, and I'm looking forward to it. 

Count down: 8 days

Fourth of July abroad

I think that anyone who has spent a significant amount of time abroad will be able to relate to this post. I find that when I'm abroad, several of my belief structures are strengthened, including senses of patriotism. 

This last week has seen the anniversary of US independence, and I have to say that this year's was particularly memorable for me. Being in a foreign country during your national day is surreal. It's a completely normal day, and you can forget what the day is if you're not intentional about it. 

In Turkey this year, I'm living in a relatively small expat community; and we celebrated as a community together. On the third, we had the official celebration at the ambassador's residence where we had maybe 3000 guests! Then on the fourth, maybe 75 employees and families as well as the embassy's marine guards celebrated together with a family style barbeque. Can I just say that BBQ pulled pork topped with bacon is wonderful? Hahah! We played flag football, ultimate frisbee, ate, had some beers, and enjoyed celebrating the fourth as a group. 

I've been trying to remember, but I can't remember what I did to celebrated last year's fourth. This year, though, was a good experience, celebrating with the American community here in Ankara. 

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

Hattuşa and other updates

Wow, I've really not kept up with my end of the deal, promising to blog more regularly! But that aside, it's good to be writing again. I've finished my third week at the embassy, and it's been really interesting. I'm doing what feels like substantive work which is nice. 

Today, I went to the Ankara solid waste management and repurpose facility which was downright fascinating! Don't call it a dump. Hell, they're digging up old dumps and repurposing the garbage. Frankly really really cool!

Then I went to the Ministry of Environment talking with the EPA about turkey joining the Climate And Clean-air Commission. Followed by a meeting with Turkey's public housing ministry, then off to the Ministry of Development. It was a whirlwind of armored cars, çay, and  Turk khavesi. It felt good to be home. 

In short, I'm glad I'm at the embassy. I feel like I'm doing good work, and it's a good experience. 

Finally, check out my photos from Hattuşa on my Facebook page