more on the weather...

Well, I know it’s very British to go on about the weather but really at the moment it is putting on a display of all it’s got. One day it’s 15 degrees and the next it’s 5 and it’s impossible to know what to wear until you open the door: for a week I didn’t wear a coat (and I am usually pretty weedy and have been known to feel cold in August!), then yesterday I had 4 layers, plus a coat, 2 pairs of socks, a hat and gloves!

We’ve also had quite a lot of rain since the weekend and the mountains, which had very little snow compared to normal, now have a very pretty covering – including Babadag (where the paragliders jump from) and Mendos (the one next to it).

Babadag from the sea front

On Sunday and Monday there was a Lodos wind which is notoriously dangerous for sailors and also caused all flights to Istanbul to be cancelled–over 100 flights over 3 days.

There is snow forecast over most of central Anatolia for Wednesday when we are supposed to be driving up to Ankara.  The road to Ankara goes through Afyon where it once took Cem 11 hours to do 5km as a result of a heavy snowfall.  There were other causes: it was Ramazan and everyone stopped to break fast at sundown, then set off again at the same time and as most of the busy routes in Turkey seem to go through Afyon that was a lot of traffic!  There were 5 or 6 of them in the car–he was bringing his cousins down to Fethiye for Christmas/New Year/end of Ramazan, but Cem was the only driver.  All the small shops ran out of snacks and drinks and Cem knocked on the door of one of the long-distance buses and lied that his pregnant wife in the car was dying for a coffee – to get himself a cup (the intercity buses give drinks and snacks to passengers).  Eventually, after being stationary for a while they all dozed off and woke to find that the traffic jam had cleared and they were parked in the middle of a dual carriageway! 

check out the snow in the distance!

I do NOT want to end up stuck in a jam like that.  These days the police can actually refuse to allow you to proceed when the road is bad if you don’t have either chains or snow tyres.  We have chains but they are a pain as someone has to get out of the car and fiddle around to get them on.

Another thing that the police are hotter on is driving licences.  When you arrive from the UK you are allowed to drive on your UK licence for 6 months, after which you are supposed to apply for a Turkish licence.  This makes me about 22 years out of date!  I have been asked a couple of times when I have been stopped for other things and I always say that I come and go a lot but now they are actually checking and fining people.  I have been meaning to get it done for a few years, what actually put me off was that I thought it would make sense to change my UK licence to the ‘new’ style (old new – the small one as opposed to the folded-up sheet I still have), then apply for a Turkish one.  However I kept being put off from doing that by the bit at the bottom of the form that says “It is illegal to apply for a UK driving licence if you are resident abroad – and punishable by prison sentence, fine blahblah”!

Also, being honest, I hate anything official in Turkey as it always involves running round to numerous offices, getting 10 different stamps and signatures and providing 8 photographs, so imagine my delight that Cem’s partner Mustafa – retired police chief – is sorting out licences as well as visa applications (and any other official business – and who better to do it than a man who used to be involved! Check him, and his good reviews, out on Calis Beach Forum as the Inspector)

I have handed him a copy of my licence, 3 photos and my ID card and though I will probably have to turn up at the doctors so he can sign the medical paper, I am hopeful that I might soon, FINALLY, have a Turkish licence!

Teaching Turkish

I’ve had a fairly easy couple of weeks as some of my students have been away for Christmas.  This week almost all are back, plus I have a couple of extra lessons so I am ‘full’ again!

The material I use in lessons is mostly things I have prepared myself.  I have many books for learning and teaching Turkish but I rarely use any of them.  Some are much too grammar-based – one has sections with headings like ‘verbal voice, compound tenses, substantive verb verbalia and auxiliary verb’–yes really! Some are too repetitive, drilling a piece like ‘I have got…’ with twenty different things in the gap, including nonsense like ‘I have got two bridges’–again, yes really!  One set of books and CDs uses dialogues and paragraphs about UFOs, an extra-terrestrial and an invisible men‒hard for anyone to take seriously.

So I started writing my own worksheets and now I have a collection that do everything from explaining structures, to giving practice of reading and translating. I also have a preferred order I teach them in, though I am flexible and quite often go back to revise things again. Several years ago, I even got as far as putting some of these together to form a book, with lots of practice exercises, vocabulary and reading sections.  I planned it as 6 books, each with 12 units or lessons, so that students could easily take a break between books and practise what they had learned.

I prepared the first two books but have never done any more.  I always meant to see if I could get it published, or sell it on the internet, but I have never quite got that far. Recently, though, one of my students told me about Smashwords which is a system to simplify self-publishing and distributing an e-book.  It means I could publish my set of books and have them listed on all the major e-book retailers (except Amazon which currently doesn’t have a deal with Smashwords) so people can buy and download them. As the Smashwords publishing system costs nothing (though they do recommend paying for things like a well-designed cover), I have nothing to lose.  I just need to find the time….!

Kaan at about 2 months - and 2 kilos!

It was Kaan's birthday on Saturday.  16 years old - hardly seems possible.  He is a bit snappy sometimes but isn't committed enough for the full teenager attitude!  He had THREE cakes - one I made, one his girlfriend made and one that our friends got for him - all chocolate!  We went to dinner at Karnaval Restaurant - on the sea-front in Fethiye.  It was, surprisingly, very quiet, but the food was still good and the bill very reasonable. What more can you ask for?!

Kaan at 16

Christmas and New Year at Poppy

Serves me right for shouting about the gorgeous weather… it’s now so cold that there was ice on the dogs’ water bowl this morning and half the plants in the garden are wilting.  There was snow in Istanbul on New Year’s Eve and Sarikamis–where we are going skiing at the end of this month– is currently minus 30°C with the wind chill factor IN THE DAYTIME! I hope it warms up before we go or all the thermals in the world are not going to get me out on the slopes.

The boys got new ski clothes for Christmas, those being one of the things that made my suitcase overweight coming back from Canada.  I had thought they were bulky but not heavy, but actually they are quite heavy too.  They were still a bargain compared to what I would have paid over here and should last them a long time.  Kaan is so excited about skiing that he keeps walking round the house with all his gear on.

After opening our presents on Christmas Day, we went to the hotel and were joined by almost 20 family and friends (and a small dog– see picture).  Most of these were Turkish and some were very excited to be celebrating Christmas for the first time!  Even the crackers–which last year we forgot to pull–were a source of amazement.

The food was, as usual, an eclectic mix of British Christmas dinner and Turkish side dishes–Russian salad and haydari (minty yogurt) among the turkey and roast potatoes. The turkey was a little too free-range for my liking, as in it was actually free-ranging round a neighbour’s garden until a few days before Christmas.  Still, it was plucked and prepared by the time it came to me (though I did have to get Kaan to take the neck off) and it cooked alright though maybe a little tougher than usual.

Everyone ate plenty and later I cut and dished out Christmas cake which also has a mixed reception, being so unlike any cake or dessert here.  And after that, the music was cranked up and the assembled company started dancing, as Turkish people love to do at any excuse!

Emre went back to Ankara on Monday (28^th) and I didn’t think he would be down for New Year but Cem called his friend Fikret who lives in Ankara and persuaded him to drive down and bring Emre with him.  They arrived on Thursday morning, having driven through the night (a bit over 600km–a distance people think nothing of driving at the drop of a hat over here) and it was a nice surprise to see them.  We were back in the hotel for New Year’s Eve, but with less running up and down stairs to check on food for me as Cem’s mum and one of our friends had prepared most of the food.

So here is January–Ocak in Turkish which means stove or hearth and boy do we need one now!  I miss my wood-burning stove which I have refused to put up this year because it smokes a lot and makes the walls sooty.  I think the weather is warming up a bit tomorrow and rain is also due.  Emre and Fikret left at midday today to drive back to Ankara; Emre has 3 days more of exams and then starts the mid-term holiday and Kaan has 3 weeks of school beofe.

I hope you are all flood-free and have not been suffering too much from Storm Frank – and all the other inclement weather over there.  HAPPY NEW YEAR and let’s all hope that the news this year contains fewer horrors and more joy!

Breakfast on New Year's Day