Seeing through the smoke in Turkey

I can't get away from Efes

2011-08-29T04:24:00.001-07:00

Click below for a funny article on Efes beer @ my new blog,

www.teachinginternational.blogspot.com

-Tim

A few more posts before getting started on Korea

2011-08-16T06:18:00.001-07:00

Constantly behind on my blogging, that's what I am.

I've got a few posts left over from this spring in Turkey that I have to update here at nargileistan before I can switch over to a Korea blog.

I've got to keep this short, but the slideshow speaks for itself. I made the most of a shoulder injury by getting out and doing a bunch of activities I might not normally do because climbing would ordinarily trump them.

These photos include skiing around our school campus during a huge dump of snow we received in February (obviously, a week before my ski injury). Then they move on to an Easter spent celebrating the company of good friends, Christian, Muslim, and Atheist decorating eggs, hunting for chocolate, and eating some very rare bacon in Turkey. After Easter we went birding, yes, birding. On the hunt for migrating flamingos, all we found was a pink trash bag. From a distance though, you'd swear it was a solitary rebel. Actually, we saw quite a few birds, nothing as dramatic as flamingos, but the day was followed up by one of the most gorgeous spring days in Cappadocia, the land of giant phallus.

Wrapping up the photos, and the spring, was a giant Toga party hosted in the school's black box theater.

Looking back at these photos makes me miss my friends in Turkey, but also makes me excited for the new ones we will meet here in Korea. That's life, I suppose.

Next post? Italy Spring Break!!!

For those who can't see the slideshow: here is the link

https://picasaweb.google.com/henkelst/Spring2011TurkeyPP?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNuhiaGXq7f2Mw&feat=directlink

St. James Gate, Guiness!!!!!!!!!!

2011-06-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

As part of our quick trip to Dublin this March for my Irish cousin Katie's wedding, we of course had to make a stop at the Guiness Factory, St. James Gate Brewery. It's the only touristy thing we did on our 72 hours in Ireland, but it was the obvious choice. Guiness may be my favorite large-batch beer, and it was one of the first real beers I ever tasted--my cousin Steve shipped a 4 pack to me for my 21st Birthday. See this article for an explanation of why I hadn't tried a Guiness before I was 21.

You don't actually get to tour the factory, instead it's a museum in the shape of a pint glass. The museum circles up something like 9 floors, culminating in a rooftop bar that looks out over the factory. My mother likened it to Disney World for adults, and I would have to agree. My favorite part was the memorabilia museum, which traced the iconic advertising and marketing of the brand over the years. That, and the pouring instruction. Somewhere up near the top we stopped in and received instruction in pouring the perfect Guiness, which we of course had to master before we were allowed to consume the glass we poured. I left with my very own Guiness pourers certificate. Think I can add that to my list of certifications on my vita?

More to come soon from Ireland, including the majestic wedding of my cousin Katie and her husband, Ben.

The 9,000 year lease....yeah, you'd love to get locked into those terms.

Somehow I bet the real yeast gets locked into a safe more secure than this one.

The water comes from the Warwick Mountains, not the polluted River Liffey as is commonly assumed.

My cousin Lacy, husband Drew, and my Dad before we learn the art of the perfect pint.

Nice pour Dad!

I just had shoulder surgery from a ski accident, so I was glad to see that my splint allowed me to still pour a pint.

Homecoming

2011-06-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

Here we come! In just over two weeks we bid our farewell to Turkey, return to North America for a quick five weeks to visit friends and family, and then we are off to Korea. We'll be in Boone, Washington DC, Colorado, and Greenville. It's a quick trip to be trying to get to so many places, but since we haven't been home in 2 years (minus a long weekend for the spectacular wedding of Erin's brother Alan and his betrothed, Vanessa). And, from here on out, we get annual flights home with our school in Korea, so we won't have to go two years again without seeing everyone. Here's the itinerary, we hope we get to climb, run, drink beer, and listen to bluegrass with as many friends and family as possible. Get in touch on my Colorado #, 303-800-6476 and leave a message!

Arrive in Boone June 22
Stay in Boone (except for anniversary weekend of the 25th at Leatherwood) until July 1
Leave for DC July 1, driving with Rhett Baker
DC from July 1 to July 6
Leave for Denver (from DC) July 6
Colorado from July 6 to July 14 (for Erin) and July 19 (for Tim)
Erin arrives in Boone (from Denver) July 14
Tim arrives in Greenville (from Denver) July 19
Greenville/Asheville/Boone from July 19 to August 1
Leave for Korea August 1

Here's some photos from our last moments back home:

Glen "tons of fun" drops us off at Denver Airport

Here's all the baggage we took to Turkey, I hope we can get it all back!

One last, small Grand Marnier in the hot-tub before leaving for Turkey...

And one last Colorado Family portrait.

Israel, Day 2--Shabbat Elevators, Falafel, and Rubens

2011-05-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

Our second day in Israel was a Saturday, Shabbat, the Holy Day, Shomer Shabbos, and I sure as shit don't fucking roll.

We started the day off by first waiting for the elevator, and then riding it down, as it proceeded to visit and stop at every floor between ours and the lobby level. Strict Jews are forbidden from pressing buttons on the Holy Day. After a breakfast without coffee, because you can't operate a machine on the Holy Day, we loaded up into our heathen's Bus, and hit the empty roads...making the long haul over the mountains and down down down down, to the Dead Sea.

Of course, one has to eat...but as you can imagine, eats are hard to find in Israel. Strict observers will go so far as to leave their lights on at home all day and all night so that they won't need to turn off the switch. They SURE aren't getting up to make us some hoummous. Luckily, and here is why there should never be a 100% partition between the Arabs and the Jews, the Arabs can cook, drive, clean, and do just about everything else that needs done on Saturday. Hell, they just finished their Holy Day on Friday, so they're just getting started for the week! It's a perfect match. And, indeed, EVERYONE was at the Lebanese Falafel Sandwich shop and market grabbing their falafel, hoummous, and french-fry pitas for the day. The guy who owned the shop was from South Carolina, and spoke with a perfect Carolina accent. So, there you are. My start to our second day in Israel. Eating Arabic food along the formerly deadly Jerusalem to Tel Aviv highway, being served by a Palestinian South Carolinian.

The only thing more absurd, and this is where I take a serious turn, is the walls that divide the West Bank and Jerusalem along the drive between Tel Aviv and the Dead Sea. On one side, Jewish prosperity, exemplified in cute neighborhoods of pools and green grass lawns. On the other side, the dirty Arab towns of Ramallah and others. In-between are the poor Bedouin nomadic peoples, who must literally, feel stuck between a rock and a hard place.

We passed through quickly and quietly, as most do, taking care not to ask too many questions, and not to look too hard, for fear of having to confront the problem for what it is, a global one without any solutions on the horizon.

The land gets stark after Jerusalem, literally a desert, and so we did what countless others have done on the trek down the hill towards Bethlehem and the Dead Sea. We stopped at an Oasis. Literally. We spent the morning hiking around the palm fringed desert canyons of the water supply to Bethlehem, before continuing down-canyon to a Greek Monastery built into the canyon walls. The monastery was another example of just about every Abrahamic Religion claiming a piece of the Holy Land Pie.

After all that hiking, it was time for a soak in the world's lowest spot. The Dead Sea. At 420 meters, 1388 feet, below sea level...your ears actually pop as you drive down to it. We drove to a little resort, where we could lounge in beach chairs, cover ourselves in mud masks, and laugh as we floated with no effort--buoyed by the high salinity of the water. I'm a geek for nature shows, and this one was pretty cool. It's a wild feeling to float in water, with your feet stuck up and your hands crossed behind your head.

Having begun the day with Arabic food out of necessity, the sun had now gone down and the Shabbat was over. It was time to eat some Jewish food. And, is there anything more Jewish than a Reuben? Well, as it turns out, in Israel, yes, there is. In fact, it's pretty damn hard to find a Reuben--not to worry though, I did. At the creatively named Reuben Restaurant, several Jews served me up a steaming hot corned beef sandwich, and were delighted when I told them it was just like how you got them in New York. (It wasn't quite that good, but it wasn't half bad!).

The rest of our time in Israel was spent watching the students debate their Model United Nations resolutions, speaking with teachers from all over the world (Switzerland, Palestine, New York), and feasting on the food provided by our hosts at the Walworth Barbour American International School. They put on an excellent conference, and my students were able to broaden their horizons by engaging in respectful and intellectual debate with their mostly Israeli peers.

Considering that a Turkish charity may soon send another flotilla of aid to Gaza (8 Turks and 1 American were killed by Israelis the last time they tried to send aid supplied over International Waters), we may very well need the relationships these students built over our weekend in the Holy Land.

No Way, this is our housing?!?

2011-05-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

Erin and I have been holding out on this, because we weren't absolutely sure if this was really our housing. But, apparently it is.

In Korea, we are getting a brand new apartment. Complete with three bedrooms, two baths (including a bathtub!?!), office, walk-in closet, balcony, and a "panic room" which is I suppose a feature unique to Korean Housing.

FUN!!!!!!!

http://www.wellcounty.co.kr/songdo3/

http://www.wellcounty.co.kr/songdo3/evr/html/101a/entrance.html

Israel, Day One

2011-05-18T10:27:00.000-07:00

One of the great pleasures of teaching at international schools is field trips. Most teachers cringe when they hear those words--field trips. The words conjure up thoughts of 24 hour work-days spent keeping track of students, their various medications, itineraries, and the general liability of it all.

Ooof. Most schools have stopped doing them, it's just too much to manage.

Of course it's not that it's a walk in the park, managing a field trip overseas. However, when you are staying at the Marriott in Qatar, it somehow coalesces into something infinitely more palatable. Or so said my wife, as she spent some of her daily stipend dining at Dean & Deluca this past February as her students wandered around the mall during their five day trip to Doha.

As Social Studies department members, Erin and I have the responsibility, and the pleasure of organizing trips for our Model United Nations club. MUN, for those who don't know, is a club for future politicians, lawyers, debaters, and schmoozer lobbyists. Every school goes to a conference, wherein they take on the role of any number of countries, representing the viewpoints of said country in debates on various committees. The kids who are involved love it. They dress up, prepare resolutions, network, debate, and form alliances to further the position of whatever country they are representing.

In February, I took a delegation of 14 students from Turkey to the Israel MUN conference.

Our "delegation?"

Iran.

That's right. Iran. In Israel. Represented by Muslim Turks (who were the only Muslims at the conference, besides a small contingent of Palestinians.)

Awkward.

We do this on purpose though, it pushes our students to ramp up their debate skills. And, to be honest, our school is so liberal, it is quite a stretch for them to represent Iran.

Though the conference itself is great fun, and an excellent model of student-oriented leadership opportunities, arguably the best part is the two to three days of "culture" tours we always include before the conference starts. Because, really, you aren't going to go all the way to Israel without checking out the sights, are you!?!

We had two and a half days before the conference started, and along with a local tour guide, and a bus, we loaded up the itinerary for my delegation of debaters. After checking in at our sea-side hotel next to the Mediterranean Sea, and just North of Tel Aviv (private rooms for the Chaperones, of course), we headed out to Jerusalem.

We started our tour at Mt. Olives, the worlds' most expensive cemetery. It pays to be here, (and to be Jewish), because when the Messiah arrives, he will scoop up all the souls from their graves, and lead them through the gates across the valley, and on through the Eastern Gates up to the Western Wall and up to Heaven for their resurrection. At least, that's how I understand it. No wonder Israel wrestled it back from Jordan during the six day war. The messiah is probably going to skip anyone staying at the Intercontinental Hotel that was built their while Jordan held control of the land.

From the Mount of Olives we moved down, into Jerusalem, splitting into the required male and female groups to visit the Western (Wailing) Wall. Not much crying going on when we visited, but, then again, I think that mostly comes from the female section--and possibly most of the crying comes from the fact that their part of the wall is probably a tenth the size of the dude's portion. It seemed crowded, while over on the MAN'S wall, we had plenty of room to stretch out and touch as much wall as we wanted. Besides the gender inequality, there is this little bit of controversy over the wall between the Jews and the Muslims. Each claim it as sacred. And each side says the other only considers it sacred to piss off the other side. Like the Mount of Olives, Israel gained access to the wall in the six day war of 1967, and judging by how much they love these bricks, it seems unlikely that they will give it back. Apparently, Obama has suggested that we might at least fly the flag of the United Nations, not of Israel, over this hotly contested piece of real estate. But, the Israeli-special operations units touring around in the square seemed to send the signal that this is quite unlikely. Apart from the controversy, it was stunning to see the devotion of the Jewish people to this wall which they consider to be the last remaining vestige of the original temple of God himself. It is a nice wall.

After all the excitement of touring the wall, we rounded up the womenfolk, and went to grab some eats. Arabic style. The Arabic Quarter of Jerusalem has the best food, hands down. My guide said to me, "Do we go to the fancy, clean place, with the okay food? Or, do we go the gritty place which will cost 8 dollars each, and has the world's best houmous and falafel.?"

Duh.

My students are lovely, but they are prissy. They live a life of chauffeurs, maids, malls, and five star hotels. They DO NOT eat at greasy Arab houmous joints. But, what the hell--it's my field trip, and it's my job to open their eyes. We had the most amazing meal of fried, blended, and spiced chick peas I have ever head in my life; and I spent most of the meal asking my students..."are you not going to finish that? Here, give it to me." They did like the fresh pomegranate juice, but that's because that is a very Turkish drink. It's funny to me--America's flavor lies in its variety, and so goes our tongues. But everywhere else, be it Ecuador, Italy, or Turkey--regionalism dominates the palate. Taste is found in nuances, not the noise of a totally different flavor. And if you dare to vary too far from the accepted norm, don't look for your food to find any acceptance. This loyalty to flavor is strange to me, but at the same time, I can appreciate it. Maybe we're too concerned in America with creating the latest Mango-Salmon-Almond-Encrusted-Balsmic-Tofu-Mandarin-Gorgonzola salad, and a simple plate of well made falafel, sans sauce, crust, or remoulade would be better?

Regardless, with lunch finished, it was time for more controversial religious monuments. This time, Christian. We wove our way through the Arab Quarter, occasionally running into Stations of The Cross...the actual ones, along with alleys full of Abercrombie and Fitch shorts and sweats, Chinese-made plastic Tupperware, DVD shops, and head-scarf outlets. Finally, we arrived at The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is one complicated place. It's owned in part, by no less than four different denominations...but forget about it if you are Anglican or Protestant (though you can still go visit, you just don't get stock). Here no less than the rocks Jesus was crucified on, the spot where he was anointed and the shroud of Turin was placed over him, and then, (as if that wasn't enough) the cave where he was buried, and then rose. Maybe.

Religious scholars on all sides have debated the validity of all of this, to say nothing of the atheists. But, whatever your viewpoint, the passion and raw belief of the visitors for which this is a pilgrimage of life-changing dimensions, was in all respects perhaps more powerful to behold than the sites themselves. There was kissing of rocks, crossing of foreheads to shoulders, burning of candles, mumbling of prayers in a cacophony of languages, and tears tears tears. These pilgrims belief was raw, intense, and profound. It very much captivated me, and my students, who, are mostly Islam-a-atheists who won't admit as much.

Speaking of which, we must move on to our final stop, at least, for my kids who could call to mind an Islamic prayer or two. The Dome of the Rock, a Mosque, is one of the most holy sites in Islam, built on top of one of the Holiest Sites in Judaism, and on Friday (the Holy Day) you gotta be Muslim to get in and check out the place where Mohammad ascended to heaven. Israeli storm-troopers and an Arabic bounder prevented about half of my group of Turkish Muslim students from entering. They didn't have their ID cards on them, identifying them as Muslim, and they couldn't remember any prayers to prove it. On top of that, my girls had to cover their heads up--something antithetical to how they are raised in their homes. In all, it was a very awkward experience for our little secular group; but again, my students who went in were struck by the reverence that the Muslims had for this place.

If nothing else, visiting all of these places solidified, for all of us, the need--and the complications of, finding peace in this contested land. The purported goal of our MUN conference in Israel was to pave roads towards that peace in the future generations of this region's leaders; but our trip to Jerusalem may have done more for that than three days of debate within the politically correct walls and corridors of the American School. Perhaps some of our leaders should consider a walk through the streets of Jerusalem before pontificating in the halls of their governments?

Full slide show of my trip, here:

It's time to make it public

2011-05-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

As international teachers, Erin and I spend a good bit of time moving from school to school. Typically, these gigs run for a two year contract period before you have the option to renew, or move on.

Because of these nomadic tendencies, and because we want out current students to feel that we are 100% committed to them until our last day of school (because we are!), we try to keep our plans for next year under wraps. Which, would include not mentioning anything on this public blog.

However, the cat is out of the bag. Today, Erin found out that several students have discovered our plans, and so tomorrow we will be officially announcing that we will not be in Turkey next year.

We'll be in (drum roll.........) St. Martin!

Nope, just kidding.

It's actually a place and school that excites us even more than the French Caribbean. We are extremely pleased to have accepted positions in South Korea with the Chadwick International School.

Chadwick Int. is a brand new school located in Songdo City, about 45 minutes outside of Seoul. The school itself is a 2nd campus of a school that is located in California, in Palos Verdes. Chadwick in California is a school that I have known about for many years; many Outward Bound staff work in their well respected and accredited outdoor education program during the slow seasons at OB. They have an excellent reputation as being a leader in outdoor education, character education, and experiential education. Additionally, they have been around for a 75 years, and have an outstanding academic record.

Over the past few years, I've often said to myself, "Man, teaching overseas is great, but I really want to be at a school that embraces outdoor/experiential education. Like, a Chadwick Overseas school, would be great. But, alas, they only operate in California, and I'm just not ready to be back in the states." So, it was with the utmost care that I picked up my jaw as it had fallen to the floor last December when I read the postings for a brand new campus of Chadwick, that was opening in Korea.

Applications were quickly sent, interviews were conducted over Skype (where we did less interviewing and more finishing of each others' thoughts with the admin), jobs were offered, contracts negotiated, and today we sent off our requests for our flights from Atlanta to Seoul, August 1!!!!

Erin will be teaching 8th grade English, and I will be teaching 7th grade History. The school will be in it's second year next year, and will have just added the 8th grade, as it slowly adds one grade a year until reaching K-12 status. This fact is another very exciting one, we get to be a part of something new. We get to create a new school (but with the help of 75 years of experience from our campus in CA). Perfect. Not only that, but this is a a place where character education is of MORE importance that academic performance. The Assistant Head, in our interview, said something to the extent of...Yeah, it's great if our kids get into Ivy League schools, and they do...but it's even better when they graduate as good people.

Bingo. That's where we want to be.

So, that's it. It will be sad to say goodbye to Turkey, as it was to say goodbye to Ecuador. But, we know we have made the best decision for us as professionals. For now, if you are interested, here are a couple of links of interest that will preview our new lives in Korea.

Start booking your tickets, it's Asia time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An introduction to Chadwick on Vimeo:
http://vimeo.com/18453777

Chadwick International from Chadwick International on Vimeo.

A tour of Chadwick International on Vimeo:

http://vimeo.com/18072630

School Tour from Chadwick International on Vimeo.

Our city of the future, Songdo: (it will open in 2015...obviously, a school is one of the first things you want built, hence, well...US!)

Articles from all over the press about Songdo, the world's first and largest "Green" city, and our new home:

http://www.songdo.com/songdo-international-business-district/news/in-the-news.aspx

An animated fly-over of Songdo...watch for the school!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2uzo-xzta0

Finally, Erin would be very mad if I didn't mention her new favorite blog, Eat Your Kimchi. If you don't know what Kimchi is, then don't bother visiting us!

http://www.eatyourkimchi.com/

Turkish climbing, skiing, and celebrating.

2011-04-05T11:28:00.000-07:00

As the chronology of the past year spent NOT blogging continues, we move on to the early part of this year's winter and the latter end of fall. Winter seemed to drag its feet getting here, and my climbing partners and I were able to take advantage of the prolonged climbing season to milk a couple of last trips before the Anatolian winter made it's presence felt.

My friend from France, Alex, and I ventured one day out to Sirvashahir, a trad rock climbing area not too far out of Ankara. We found some cold temps, good cracks, and not a soul in sight for miles. Except for the hunters. But, they seemed friendly enough. It's always eerie climbing at these far-flung Turkish crags, when the call to prayer echoes through the air. I perhaps could blame my spooked nerves for the reasoning behind why I left my entire rack of climbing gear at the base of the crag, but when Alex and I returned the next day, it was luckily still there.

We also had a chance to further develop the Bilkent Boulders, a boulderfield behind our house here in Ankara. Several good sessions were had cleaning and sending on these, most convenient boulders.

Over Christmas, Erin and I took a trip to see my cousin in France and to ski the French Alps, but that will need its own post. We did do some skiing in Turkey, again, out near the Iranian border near Palandoken. The bummer of this trip was that the slopes essentially weren't open. The ski area was preparing to host the Collegiate Olympics, and so they weren't too keen on directing any of their snow making prowess to the slopes that we were on. They were having a hard enough time getting coverage on the slopes that would host the competition one week later. If only the hotel hadn't replied with the ambiguously worded "Yes, you may ski on our slopes," we might have known better, and perhaps would have canceled our trip. But, of course, once there, we DID have fun--even if we only had one slope to ski on.

If I may take a moment to get on a soapbox. This ski problem embodies what is often wrong in developing countries. They spent lots (millions) of money outfitting this ski area for the collegiate olympics. New Poma lifts all over the mountain. Snowmaking guns rigged every 10 meters down the slopes. A fleet of brand new snowcats specifically outfitted with equipment to make half pipes. Promotional materials. Advertising. You name it. However, and this is really classic---they forgot to dig a well to get water to make snow with. Only in Turkey do you spend millions of dollars on the surface, to make something look nice, without considering the foundational items, in this case, WATER. So, the lifts sat empty. The snowguns operated at 10%. The snow groomers perfected a half pipe made of dirt. And we wasted our money to travel across Turkey to ski on the one single run they had managed to cover with snow.

Finally, Winter bade goodbye to our good friend Aygun Dalby, who left us to attend graduate school in Ankara. Aygun had no less than four going away parties, and why not!?! Wouldn't you? On one of his trips I vaguely remember meeting a group of Turkish students who were also celebrating a going away party for their friend, but he was beginning the mandatory military service required of all Turkish men. Let's just say that the evening became fuzzy after meeting these hard partiers, but I do remember, at one point, being tossed up in the air by a group of men, while that nasal-sounding middle eastern pipe played in the background.

Luckily, nobody had a viper stored in a basket.

(If you are reading this on facebook, and want to see the pictures, including my run-in with the militarily-sequestered Turks, go to www.nargileistan.blogspot.com)

Shameful

2011-03-31T11:57:00.000-07:00

A good blogger is a regular blogger, and I have been anything but that. I can't say why I haven't posted here much while in Turkey, but the sad reality is that I just have failed in my blogging duties. On the plus side, though, I've spent lots of time taking and editing photos; many of which I am very proud. So, here's my first attempt to catch up, albeit, mostly photographically with the past fall in Ankara, Turkey.

We had a spectacular fall here. It was a long one, lasting right up into December. We started things off with a trip to Florida for Erin's brother's wedding--detailed in my last post. Having injured my finger during the summer, a ruptured finger pulley, climbing was pretty much out for most of the fall. We did take a few trips down to the Med., and out to our favorite local crag, Karakaya. Mostly, fall was about friends. Oktoberfest at the German Embassy. Cappadocia field trips with my students. Learning to brew beer and wine at home. Attending the glamorous Marine Ball at the American Embassy. Discovering a new world of bouldering potential behind the house, and...waiting for the ski season.

It was, I suppose, a mostly uneventful fall. We work hard here at BLIS, the days are long, and the work continues at home and on the weekends. Time flew by. Winter had a few more adventures, and I'm going to leave it here with a slideshow of some of my favorite photos from the fall so that I can move on to the more recent winter adventures.

A Florida Wedding

2010-10-28T08:39:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of October, Erin and I were lucky to be able to travel home for her brother's wedding. It was a stretch to do it, and we were happy that our school allowed us a few days off for this marathon trip back home.

When you live overseas, it's easy to make an excuse for these family affairs, and let them slide by the wayside. After all, Florida does seem like a long ways away when you are sitting on your porch in Turkey, watching the sunset and listening to the evening's call to prayer. However, that's just the point. Our home will never cease to be in America, and if we stop taking part in family affairs, then we risk losing it. It's our choice to live overseas, and we firmly believe that that choice does not equate with abandoning our home; so when weddings and other family celebrations occur, we feel it's our job to be there. And so we were.

The wedding was a grand American-Italian affair. We loved meeting Vanessa's NY Little Italy family, and with the added bonus of my parents coming down to take part in the festivities. I was even able to take a dip into the Gulf of Mexico and down some peel and eat shrimp at Sloppy Pelican's on St. Pete beach.

A personal highlight for me, was my new Canon 10-22mm lens that I bought on Craig's list and had my Dad bring down to me. Most of these pics were taken on this crazy lens, and I love it.

Three cheers to the newly weds. We can't wait to see you again this summer:)

-Tim

Olympos. Redux

2010-10-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

I love Olympos, Turkey. Turkey isn't much of a backpacker's haunt, and I miss that after living in South America for two years. In Quito, if I ever wanted a touch of home, I could go down to the Irish Backpackers bar, and check in with any of the dozen or so expats rolling though town. It was fun to hear their stories of travel, and I got to return the favor by passing on hints about Ecuador. Nothing like this exists in Ankara. But, Olympos, now that's a vagabond's heaven.

We spent four days there this past September with my sister who was visiting from Washington D.C. Between relaxing on the beach, swimming in warm blue water, and sailing around to swimming holes and sunken cities, we managed to fill our days. The highlight may have been the outrageous Orange Bar disco, an outdoor affair set back in a canyon that hosts rock climbing during the day. The music is still thumpin' in my head, and images of Turks with mullet haircuts drift in and out of my dreams....

Rewind to the Black Sea

2010-09-19T06:07:00.001-07:00

The week before Megan showed up, we all piled up into Buddha, and journeyed North to the Black Sea. I'd never been before, and Khadijah had worked out a camping spot right next to the beach. It was still hot in Ankara, and so we were looking for an excuse to get out of town. Four hours North, we pulled up to Amasra, the biggest town on the coast near us. And a little ways down the beach, we found our camping spot in the cute little town of Cakraz. The camping was little more than a parking lot, but, it was directly in front of the beach, so we couldn't argue too much with the location.

It was our friend Layla's first time camping, and so we had a good time teasing her about bears and making smores over the campstove. One highlight of the weekend was how much sea glass was in the water. Erin spent most of the weekend collecting it, and came away with a huge bagfull. I wonder what she'll do with it? Another highlight happened while Erin was getting something out of the car. She heard Uriah's voice coming out of the car, and realized it was his girlfriend's phone--which had an automatic alarm recording of Uriah's voice set to go off every morning. I can't remember the exact recording, but it was sufficiently embarrassing, and went something like "It's time to wake up and kiss your husband sweetie pie!"

Anyway, good stuff. Great weekend. I highly recommend the Black Sea, just watch out for the jellyfish.

A Marathon of a weekend in Istanbul

2010-09-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 3
8:00 to 4:00 Work
4:00 grab taxi to bus station
4:15 grab shuttle bus to airport
5:00 arrive at airport, consume beer
6:00 leave for Istanbul
7:00 arrive in Istanbul
7:30 take bus to city center
9:00 arrive in city center
9:30 drink cocktails with my sister, who arrived 3 hours earlier from Washington D.C.
11:00 Turkish appetizers on Istikal Street
1:00 Go to bed

Saturday, September 4
9:00 to 12:00 Tour Cistern, tour Haghia Sophia Church, drink beer, eat lunch in Turkish "diner" tour Grand Bazar, walk to Golden Horn Bridge, drink beer, visit Spice Bazar, eat Ramazan Bread, drink beer, talk to pilot about flying Jackie O. in the 60's, learn how to play Backgammon, get beat by Megan, walk back to hotel, take tram to Ortakoy, have dinner at fancy organic restaurant, take bus to Taksim Square, end up at Cuba Bar salsa dancing at midnight, back to hotel

Sunday, September 5
9:00 Wake up to rain, tour Topkapi Palace in the rain, have lunch, depart for airport, say goodbye to Megan, will see her again in 24 hours...
3:00 Save dumb tourists from going to the wrong airport for their flight to Bangkok
3:15 Private taxi to airport
6:00 Fly back to Ankara
7:00 Arrive in Ankara
8:00 Arrive home, eat take-out Chinese with wife

Monday, September 6
8:00 to 4:00 Work at school
4:00 grab taxi back to bus station
4:15 grab shuttle bus back to airport
5:00 arrive back at airport, consume more beer, this time with wife and friends: Uriah and Layla
6:45 leave again for Istanbul
7:00 arrive back in Istanbul, this time at Ataturk Airport
7:30 begin taxi ride from hell to U2 Concert
9:00 exit taxi in gridlock and walk the last 2km
9:45 find seats, missed opening act (Snow Patrol)
10:00 U2 takes the state
11:40 decide to leave before encore to avoid traffic, must make 1AM bus back to work...
11:55 hire Itallian Race-car driver to drive us to the bus station
11:56 arrive at bus station in record time
1:00AM board bus back to Ankara, this time, with Megan who me us at bus station
7:00 AM, Tuesday, arrive in Ankara take quick shower
8:15 AM, Begin work
4:00 PM, Begin vacation

Wed - Sun to follow in another, perhaps more descriptive, post.

Whew.

Photos should speak to the above madness :)

Working on some photos and stories for the blog....

2010-09-18T03:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a little idea of what's coming up. Two big items happened this month. Megan, my sister visited us in Turkey. And, she brought me a new 50mm 1.8 prime lens. Very cool on both accounts. More to come soon.

Carpet Bagger

2010-08-10T06:47:00.000-07:00

Middle Eastern carpets are works of art, I understand that. They take many months of tenacious weaving to create, I get it. They are historical representations of the cultures and time periods they have stood (or I guess laid) witness too, impressive, for sure!

But I don't like them.

It's not that I don't appreciate them, I'm just not enamored enough to spend thousands of dollars on one. Truth be told, I probably wouldn't even spend a hundred dollars on one.

But plenty people would, and plenty people do.

Turkish carpets are a huge industry. Their showrooms dominate every street corner in the Sultanhamet district of Istanbul. Their touts shout at you as you pass, inviting you for chai and to take a look at their wares. No thanks, I say, I just don't like them.

For the sake of information, I attended a carpet workshop a few months back. Hosted by our school, it was a low-key, informal affair with wine and appetizers. No pressure to buy, and no haggles for the sales price, the price they offered was their lowest price. I liked that attitude, and this plus the wine kept me around to hear more about carpets and their history.

They showed us lots of different types, traditional patterns favored by various Sultan's. New-age styles for the up and coming Istanbulites. Persian rugs, Afhghani Rugs, Kazahki Rugs, Pakistani Rugs; these guys had definitely traveled the region. Some of the most amazing carpets were those made of silk, which changed colors depending on the viewing angle. I learned that Turkish carpets are some of the most durable in the world, as they use a double knot to create the carpet, instead of single knot. And, interestingly, carpets get better with age--an older carpet costs more than a new one. They even showed us a few flying carpets, well, at flying in the sense that they tossed them into the air.

By the end of the show, I had gained an appreciation for this art form. I even sort-of, kind-of, liked one type of carpet they had that used all natural dyes. The earth tones in this style were more appealing than the deep burgundy colors that are more typical. I asked the man for a quote on the carpet, just to feel out the prices. $800. Yeah, just what I thought--too much for me to even think about it.

The house we've rented for the last three weeks has several Turkish carpets in it. I practiced some homework from my photography course on these, offering some abstract takes on the typical carpets. Let me know what you think.

A day on Turkey's premier alpine rock route, Parmakkaya

2010-08-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I spent a great day with my new friend Adnan on Turkey's unimaginatively named "Rock Finger," or, in Turkish, "Parmakkaya." Certainly my hideous climbing partners in Colorado could summon up better names, but, no matter, it was a great route. Parmakkaya was first climbed in 1971 by John Waterman, from Colorado, and Dennis Mehmet. In my guidebook from 1993, the author calls it "Undoubtedly the most committing and hardest route to date." Well, that's not really a good description since the Euros arrived. Now, the spire has 4 routes, with grades up to 7c(.12d), seven pitches, and "nerve wrecking bolt distances." The nerve wrecking part scared me off the new routes, but I was soon to find out that the classic route was not a walk in the park.

Adnan and I set off at 4AM from our village, with the idea that we would climb light and fast, and thereby avoid the intense mid-day Turkish sun. We took the jeep road up the beautiful Apple Valley, and parked Buddha as high up as we could take her. From there, it was a 2.5 hour hike up to the spire, perched at 2880m(9,448ft). It hadn't rained in the Ala Dag for three weeks, so of course, at about 7AM, it started to rain. Adnan and I took shelter under a boulder in the scree slopes below the spire, and prayed for it too stop. Allah was on our side, because with a half hour the rain had stopped, and by the time we reached the base of the route through some steep talus, the rock was dry.

Adnan took the first pitch, and he wound his way up past rusty pitons and sharp limestone to a hanging belay off of a single thread through. From here I took the crack pitch up the face to the shoulder of the spire. The climbing was good, and I even sunk a few jams in the sharp rock. There were lots of fixed pins, and I only had to place a few stoppers between them to feel good about not ripping all of them out in the case of a fall. Once on top of the shoulder, we decided to extend the belay upwards 5 meters to cut down on the rope drag for Adnan on the last, and crux pitch. So, again, we found ourselves at an airy belay, perched on top of a detached pillar. Adnan styled the crux, though he said he was cussing his whole way through it. I didn't hear him because the wind had started howling, and dark clouds were steadily building in the valley next to us. Following the pitch, I did a bit of swearing myself....10a moves above old pitons through a roof and around an EXTREMELY exposed and windy corner to me to the safety of a crack, which I quickly followed up to Adnan and a very black looking sky.

Tagging the summit, the first thunder rumbled ominously and echoed down the valley. Over one shoulder was blue skies, and over the other it was completely black. I freaked out a bit, and made Adnan hurry off the summit...we still had at least two full length rappels and limestone is notorious for catching ropes up during the descent. Adnan tried to assure me that the weather would not come over to us, but that's not how it works in the mountains I know. So, off we went in a hurry.

As we tossed the ropes off the summit, I instantly regretted not coiling them up into bowling balls, a common trick for windy days. The ropes blew back up towards us, tangling themselves in an impossible nest. Adnan took 20 minutes rappelling and sorting them out, while I sat on the summit, trying to focus on the slowly dissipating blue sky, not the growing black sky. Finally rappeling down from the summit, thunder roaring more and more consistently, I happened upon a midway station. With a few wits still about me, I realized that I should stop, pull the ropes from there, and break Adnan's long rappel into two smaller ones. It would, of course, extend my time exposed to the weather up high on the spire, but it would also insure that the ropes would pull cleanly. It was a good choice, as even pulling the ropes from my mid-station was a struggle. As we pulled the ropes, they whipped around the tower, commanded by the a higher source of power than us--the tempestuous winds, but slowly we were able to retrieve both ropes and I instantly calmed as we tossed them off our second rappel and I saw them both graze the ground. Our long ropes had broken two final rappels into one, and I didn't care if my rope got stuck once I was on the ground.

Five minutes later, there I was. Done with Parmakkaya, chased off by a thunderstorm, but not without tagging the summit.

Hiking down and back to the car, Adnan and I were struck by the sun, which had positioned itself behind the spire, and sent light streaming down either side of the rock. Clearly this rock had a better name in mind for itself than "rock finger."

Climbing in Turkey's Ala Dag Mountains

2010-08-04T02:41:00.000-07:00

A good week here in central Turkey, hot, but good.

You can see our house in the middle of the photo, just above the trees and to the left of the road.

Last weekend the climbing crew from "Team Ankara" showed up for a second weekend in a row. It's almost felt crowded with about 25 climbers here, but everyone is so friendly in Turkey, more people just means more folks encouraging you to climb hard. And we did. I reached a big climbing goal, finally pushing myself out of the 5.10 rut I've been in for many years. My reward? A Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA that we found and bought in Finland this past June. Erin has also been doing well, climbing several 5.10's without falling.

We also tried climbing an alpine peak, Eznevit 3560m; but obscene heat, no shade, and a serious lack of water left us retreating from the false summit at 3,000m. Still, it was a nice climb of 2nd and 3rd class slabs up to our high point.

A couple good photos of our friends climbing routes in the Kizikli Valley.

Mostly, we've been saving money by cooking meals here at home. But, with friends in town, we decided to splurge by going into town and getting a home-cooked meal of Turkish Pizza "Pide" and Chicken Kebap. The meal was 8 dollars, so, I guess it's an okay use of some extra money.

Here is Erin's lamb, egg, and cheese Pide

And of course, afterwards you must have your chai.

Finally, a couple more of my homework assignments from photography school. First, an open "bulb" exposure of the moonrise above the Ala Dag mountains.

Next, a black and white photo, with a red filter to intensify the colors in this sunset photo of Demirkazak, the tallest mountain in the Ala Dag at 3756m.

And, finally, a photo from the inside of our house, purposefully underexposed to let in the light of the shutters.

As it's a rest day before my friend Adnan and I try to climb the alpine spire of Parmakaya, I've also spent some time uploading more photos to facebook. You can see the gallery with this public link.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035337&id=1222655814&l=a9aef38d46

One more week before we are back to Ankara, I can't say I'm excited to leave the Ala Dag, but it will be time to start another school year.

Finally, some photos of what we have been doing in the Ala Dag

2010-07-26T02:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend our friends from Ankara showed up, and I was finally able to take my hand off the belay rope and get some pictures of some of the climbing here in the Ala Dag, and, specifically the Kazikli Valley. To non-climbers, these are probably pretty boring; but I tried to spice some of them up so that they aren't all just about people hanging onto rocks with their fingers. As is my goal this summer, I'm trying out all sorts of photographic techniques, both in my composition, and in the post processing of the images. Any feedback on this is more than welcome!

More photos from the Ala Dag can be found on my facebook page, for some reason FB loads quicker than blogger.

Ala Dag Part II

2010-07-22T00:46:00.000-07:00

It's hard to take action photos when I'm just climbing with Erin, but until a crew of climbers show up this weekend, here are a few more landscapes and such from the amazing Ala Dag mountains.

For more info. look up Ala Daglar Camping on google and facebook.

Erin hiking out from Kizikli Valley, the climbing area near our house. Followed by a random shot of a climber on the "Karnaval" Wall and another beautiful alpine landscape.

The Ala Dag Mountains

2010-07-19T01:34:00.000-07:00

Erin and I found a stroke of good luck when we discovered a beautiful vacation home was available at the foot of the Turkish Alps. The Ala Dag mountains are about 5 hours South of Ankara, and are the Western most reach of the Himalaya. We arrived two days ago, and plan to stay for three or four weeks. Bali, our cat, came with us and we're looking forward to some time climbing, running, reading, and writing in our little mountain retreat.

The house we've rented is amazing. It's set up for rentals, and has 7 fully furnished bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, an (empty) swimming pool, a cherry and apricot orchard, a huge kitchen, Satellite T.V., a grape-vine covered veranda, and huge Turkish Carpets that Bali adores rolling all over. Since it's just the two of us, they are renting it to us for $200 U.S. a week, which seems like a steal. Hopefully some friends will come and join us, but we aren't holding our breath--we are way off the grid. The closest town is an hour away, and there isn't any bus service to the village we live near. But, more importantly, the climbing area is a five minute drive, and the entrance to the National Park is 15 minutes.

The climbing here is obviously excellent, but we are also going to work on preparing for school next year. I've got 4 new curriculum to plan for, and Erin has a revamped Psychology curriculum to contend with.

I'd post more pictures, but I'm running the internet off my mobile phone, in the middle of nowhere, Turkey. So, it takes a bit of time to upload. I'll work something out and see if I can compress the images to upload quicker.

Okay, ciao, it's time to go climb!

The New Camera

2010-07-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

So, I've been bouncing around to some pretty incredible places in my life, and mostly that bouncing has been accompanied by a shitty little point and shoot camera.

I thought about replacing it, but as soon as I was about ready to get a nice film camera, in came digital.

And, nice digital has been pretty expensive until just recently.

I went with the Canon D550, also called the Rebel T2i in America. Amazingly, it was cheaper to buy it, after my tax-free refund, during my recent trip to Finland than getting it in the States. So, we went for it, and the results are astounding.

However, as my friend from Ecuador, Caroline, advised me, "don't skimp on the glass." So, I'm waiting for a trip home to purchase something decent for the light to go through on the way to this bad boy's processor. Until then, here are a few of the first results from around the Ankara, Turkey area. None of these have had any post processing, and they are all taken with the kit lens, so, give me a bit of slack. I'm a newbie at this.

A Week on the Turquoise Coast

2010-07-03T13:38:00.000-07:00

Last week Erin and I packed up Buddha, our 1998 Nissan Terrano, and headed down to the pine forest and blue bays of Turkey's famous Turquoise Coast.

We spent six days traveling West to East, settling in at campgrounds along the way. We started our trip with the amazing calcified cliffs of Pamukkale, a phenomenon of hot water pools and deposits that continue to stream down a mountainside. From there we moved on to the ruins of Aphrodisas, where more than a few of the placards in the ruins made reference to "the rituals of lovemaking" that went on in this aptly named Roman town. I think that's probably putting it mildly, the town sure sounds like an orgy-fest to me.

Taking a day and a half to make it to the coast, we finally coasted all the way out into the middle of the sea (two, actually) with the Mediterranean on one side of the Datca Peninsula, and the Aegean on the other. We found some great, beach side camping at the Ilica Campground; complete with hot water, beach chairs, umbrellas, a fridge, and a TV with which we were able to witness USA's devastating loss to Ghana.

After two nights in Datca, we hit the road to the lagoon of Oludeniz. Here we found Sugar Beach camping, full of topless pasty-white Brit's who apparently were unaware of a thing called sunscreen. I guess you don't really need it in the UK. At any rate, Sugar Beach had a nice collection of human lobsters, as well as more great camping, hot showers, bar, bacon burgers, pina coladas, etc. etc. Pretty nice, but also pretty touristy.

We only spent one night amongst the Lobster Brits, I was scared their screams of sunburned nightmares would wake me. Continuing to the East we found the amazing Ptara Beach, with 18KM of white sand dunes, and a complete reversal in beach culture from the private lagoon--here we saw the Burqa-inis that the new Sex and The City movie made famous. Mmmmm, sexy head-to-toe bathing suits. Yeah baby!!!!

Our last two nights were spent in Kas, a town that straddles the line between being too touristy, and truly local. The camping was splendid, just two tiers of sunchairs separated our tent from the water. In town the walking alleys were full of boutiques, bars, and restored Ottoman homes, where we finally gave in and had a meal that wasn't cooked over our campstove. Perhaps the most amazing site in Kas was in the harbor, where we found the Bristolian super yacht, discreetly docked at the end of the bay. Click the link to check out the boat, it is an engineering marvel.

Thanks for checking in, I posted the best of our pics from each leg of the trip below. If your going to the Turquoise Coast, drop me a line and I can point you in some good directions.

-Tim

Blue Bay

2010-07-03T13:36:00.000-07:00

Kas Camping

2010-07-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

Ptara Beach (Plaj)

2010-07-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

Salkikent Canyon

2010-07-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

Oludeniz Lagoon

2010-07-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

The Datca Peninsula

2010-07-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

Aphrodisas

2010-07-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

Pamukkale #2

2010-07-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

Pamukkale, Turkey

2010-07-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

Istanbul in the NYT

2010-06-03T03:46:00.000-07:00

The New York Times has a great city guide on Istanbul. I wish I had read it before making my first few ventures to the city, it's got some good advice and beautiful pictures.

You can find it here.

http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/europe/turkey/istanbul/overview.html

Bambuser Videos

2010-05-31T01:41:00.000-07:00

Bambuser is this sweet app I've got on my phone, which uploads live video from my phone to the blog. I usually keep the videos stuck down at the bottom of the threads, but, I've moved it up for a bit just to remind folks that it is there. The latest videos include another care package from Colorado, two videos from Olympos, Turkey where we spent the last vacation climbing for five days, and a concert at a Univeristy near us. Check 'em out, and if you go back far enough, you'll find some nice videos from a Cuban bar in Istanbul...

Cheers,
Tim

Skiing the Turkish Pow, Part 4. All the Rest.

2010-05-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

My buddy Nick, complains that all I write about here is skiing. So, Nick, this is the last one. I'm rolling all the remaining ski adventures from Turkey into one last post on the topic. That is, until next season.

And, yes, we're still skiing here. Much like Colorado, the warm weather comes, but the dedicated skiers just keep on waxing up the boards. Last weekend we traveled 5 hours Southeast to Ecyries, an ancient volcano that towers above the town of Kayseri. Carrie Simpson has some great photos from the trip, here. And, Erin also posted the best of our shots here.

The trek up to the basecamp was taxing, lots of taking off skis, and then putting them back on as we moved from patches of snow to patches of talus. The big backpacks full of ice and avy gear also didn't help. We didn't know what to expect, so we took the whole kitchen-sink up with us. Next time, light and fast. The best part of the trip was meeting up with some local climbing friends, Nurretin and Agi. They hosted us at their house on Friday night, fed us, and hiked up half the mountain with us Saturday morning. Many thanks to them, and their gorgeous German Shephard, Neo, for helping us find our way up to this fantastic campsite.

The couloirs above camp will have to wait until next season. Bad weather, big packs, and a long drive back home shut us down Sunday morning. Regardless, it was a good scouting session, and we did get a couple of turns in. Which, makes that ski day number 19 for me this season. Not too bad for living in Turkey.

What was a bit odd, was that the approach to camp was underneath the ski lifts at the closed resort of Ecyries. What was even more odd, was that the lifts started running at about 11:00, taking tourists to the top for sightseeing. Next time, I'm taking the lifts. That backpack was too much of a bear to muster any energy to summit and ski the next day.

At least we got to ski down from a little above camp, and, we ticked off another resort. Skiing Ecyries, from the top lift, makes it 5 Turkish Resorts I made it too this season. Even if we didn't get to ski what we wanted to, it's always good to get out and tour with friends: old ones, new ones, and furry ones.

Working backwards a bit in the ski calendar season here in Turkey, the last place we spent some time at was Dorukkaya. This resort is right next door to the first place we went this season, Kartalkaya. Even though you park in the same parking lot, the two resorts are separated by different hotels, lift systems/tickets, terrain, and clientele. Kartalkaya is more old school skier, Dorukkaya is definitely hipster snowboarder. Even the hotels matched this theme. Kartalkaya seems like an old ski lodge, with it's wooden rafters and grand fireplaces. Dorukkaya was cut from the pages of Dwell Magazine, boasting low ceilings, right angled modern architecture, and lounge music. We didn't stay at the hotel, instead, opting for day trips to the resort via a bus tour that departs just a few blocks from our house. It's not a bad deal, it includes your lift pass, transport, lunch, and wine on the way home. You board the bus at 5 AM, and get back home at 8 PM. Full day of skiing, no fuss, and with a wine buzz to boot. Conservative Muslim country my ass, I'd like to see you get served wine on a ski bus back home.

Our first day at Dorukkaya was sick. I knew it would be, it rained hard in Ankara the night before; and I just had a feeling that if it was raining here, then it was dumping powder on the resort. Sure enough. Sadly, the only camera we remembered was my phone, and so we only got a couple of grainy shots. I'm here to tell you though, it was off the hook good. With our skins, we were able to ski the side country that nobody else could get to, and we spent the entire day on the backside of the mountains, lapping up the 10 inches of fresh snow the mountain gods had dropped in our laps.

Nobody even touched those tracks in the last photo. Ridiculous.

Our next weekend, we went straight back to Dorukkaya. Of course, we didn't hit anymore powder, and, in fact, some places were getting down right bony. It was to be the last "official" ski day of the season. We made the most of it, pausing only to toss back beers with the locals who had some stashed in the snow (good to know that this practice is common everywhere, even Turkey), chomp a quick grilled sausage sandwich, and snap some photos of the amazing alpine mountains of central Anatolia.

How about some of these outfits?

First, you have the rich preppy guy, with his sweater thrown over his shoulder, who obviously thinks that drinking Miller is, uh, cool?? Zoom in on the left hand, yup, it's the "Champagne of Beers."

And then you have the zebra jacket...

And what about this joker, drinking hot wine, in her silly blue jack---oops, that's Erin. Oh, and wait, she's cute as hell! How did that photo get in here?

Finally, I love this lift. Ancient? Yes. Rigged with duck tape? Probably. Counterweights made of leftovers from a cement building, yeah, they'll probably work.

We'll definitely be back to Dorukkaya. I want to stay at the hotel, and ski two days in a row. I want to act like a swanky Turk, and drink Miller. Oh, and here's our friend we started the day with (who, in fairness, was an awesome guy, and a good skier). Yeah, he's still drinking. In fact, he hasn't put his drink down, up the lifts, and down the slopes, with beer in hand. Style points? Yeah, all fucking 10 of them.

Other places we skied in Turkey?

One was the forgettable on-piste, but massive off-piste potential of Ilgaz. I went while Erin was off in Dubai or Israel on one of her business trips. We headed up with some new staff at school, a kick-ass Australian couple who rave about the skiing in Japan. Once again, Carrie and I stormed the slopes, and showed off the tele-turn, turning heads, and opening minds!

Again, all I had was my phone, but, literally, this is the entire ski mountain. Yeah, not much too it. The countryside surrounding it was gorgeous though. And the skiing was cheap, 7 dollar lift passes. With 7 buck lift passes, you also get a massive cultural experience, as Carrie documented well in her blog here.

Finally, way back in February, we participated in the Anatolian X-C Ski Marathon. Well, they canceled the marathon, but it was a ski race, of sorts. Sponsored on the part of the Estonian Embassy, this too was more of a cultural experience, than a proper day of skiing, but it was fun as hell, and, FREE!

Kristen, a fellow teacher from Longmont joined us on this trip. We were carted off to the race site on a free bus, fed a free lunch, and drank the shit out of free beer and hot wine! It really felt like a proper winter festival, the grills were out, the music was pumping, and the X-C track was well groomed into a 5K loop.

If only they had been able to rent me boots that weren't three sizes too small.

All sorts of cultural festivities went on with the festival, but it all ended too soon, and we had to jump back on the busses for the two hour drive home. My favorite part of the day were these bad ass ambulances, Adam Davies, eat your heart out.

So, that's it Nick. My last post about wintertime on the Anatolian Plateau. Now it's time to get back to the climbing. I've been obsessing about the skiing this winter, but that's just because two years in Ecuador was as much time as I have been off my skis since college. What can I say, at least it's not biking! Wow, now THAT would be boring.

Ripping the Turkish Pow, Part 3. Palandoken

2010-04-16T23:29:00.000-07:00

Way off in the Eastern reaches of Turkey is a little visited corner of the ski world sandwiched between the Black Sea, Armenia, and Iran. This is skiing, WAY off the radar; but rumors of big mountains and big powder kept reaching our ears here in Ankara.

"It's the only proper skiing in Turkey" they would say.

"They've got modern lifts that don't run on Kebap grease," they would whisper.

"They're hosting some kind of College Olympics," they would speak, in awe.

"You might actually get tired," they would wonder.

I'd had enough. It was time to confirm the whispers. We booked our flights, yes, flights, it's a huge country, and Palandoken is an hour and a half flight from Ankara. Luckily, plane prices were about $100 USD round trip. We recruited our newly trained skiers, James "Simon" Bond, and the Pakistani Princess, Khadijah. And, always game to dial in her perfect turn a bit more, Carrie "Tele" Simpson. We made our reservations, again, a combined hotel+ski passes+meals+booze affair (75 USD per person), and we were off.

It's super conservative out East. Essentially, a different country from the "Western" cities of Ankara and Istanbul. Erzurum is the town we flew into, but, we bypassed the town of no-beer and black hijab-clad women, to head straight to the ski resort.

It's only about 15 minutes out of town before you dive into the ski hills. Sadly, they were pretty bare. Apparently, the rumors of meters upon meters of snow are lingering only in the memories of locals before climate change. But, there was still plenty of snow, and the rumors of modern lifts and modern grooming were quickly confirmed. A fleet of Pit-Bull snow cats sat outside the hotel, and two, brand new Poma-high speed Quads could be seen on the mountain. (Another was placed on the backside).

Saturday morning we woke up to a surreal sight. The mountains were devoid of any vegetation. It was like looking out upon a white desert. It's exactly what you might think of when you think of Middle Eastern Skiing in Afghanistan, Iran, or Iraq. But, who cares about trees? The mountains were huge, and draped in snow. The pistes were wide and groomed, the lift lines were nill, and our hotel was parked in front of it all. Sweet.

Let's talk numbers. 3,530. That's an impressive one, especially when it's attached to the vertical descent of a ski resort. Only 12 ski resorts in North America have more descent. Bigger than Crested Butte, Vail, or even Breckenridge. Yeah, no shit! To be fair, 500 of those feet are down a long flat green, but I measured 2,230 feet of descent down one blue-black run, with only a short cat-track interrupting the consistent descent.

The rumors were true, this was "real" skiing. And my new tele boots, skis, and bindings were leaving me gasping for air at the ends of the runs. Ripping down one run on the backside, with what seemed to be the whole mountain to myself, I skidded to a stop at the end of the run and fell over laughing with happiness and utter exhaustion.

I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story. Palandoken. Eastern Turkey. Who knew!?!??!

This shot is from the very bottom of the resort, you can't see the backside behind the obvious mountain in front, but you can make out the tallest point, with the tower crowning it on the left. A nice, steep run, goes from the tower all the way down to our slopeside chalet.

The view out our hotel room window wasn't inspiring, but the high speed lifts, and the Alp-like views off the backside of the mountain lifted ours spirits.

Our first day it was pretty cloudy, but on Sunday the sun came out a couple of times for some nice shots.

I can't say for sure, but I think Erin thinks she is in Egypt.

What kind of shots do they serve here?

That's okay, the beer's free.

And, how conservative could a country really be when the ski instructors are sponsored by Miller?!?!

Simon and Khadijah are both getting the hang of this skiing thang'

Khadijah made it down from the top of the gondola.

And Simon braved the 7KM long backside piste with me...

Though he was a bit nervous about the Gondola. (So was I, given it's age)

But the best part, like in any ski vacation. Is bellying up the bar for a cold beer at the end of a great day.

I LOVE this place!

Ripping the Turkish Pow, Part 2, "Friends don't let friends teach them to ski"

2010-04-12T01:21:00.000-07:00

Erin and I were lucky enough to squeeze in a ski vacation (our first) to Austria at the end of December. I want to do a post about it as well, but this story is devoted to Turkey. For now, you can read Erin's report from the Alps here.

Back in Turkey in January, we were glad to find the Anatolian plains slowly donning their winter coat. These hills, that seem so stark and unforgiving in the dry summer, take on a new face when painted with snow. We had about four solid days of snow on the ground here in Ankara, and it was a pleasure to cast a glance out at the snow filled mountains and plan our next escape to the Turkish Ski Resorts.

In mid-January, we convinced our friends Simon and Khadijah to join us for another weekend at Kartalkaya. We bribed them with stories of mulled wine, rack of lamb, and saunas. We didn't tell them about the fog, cold, and the general bitter nature of learning to ski where you tend to spend more time sitting in the snow, than skiing down it.

Being British, and with James Bond's genes surging through his veins, Simon quickly picked up skiing and was making parallel turns by the end of the day. His smile and enthusiasm were contagious, and made me miss my days of teaching in the outdoors with Outward Bound. Khadijah, being from Pakistan, is not someone who takes to the snow naturally:) However, she is an incredibly good sport, and as determined as a Pakistani-goat...so, she too, by the end of day one, skied from the top of the mountain. Granted, part of that was hanging on to the back of a mustached Turkish ski patrol, but, bloody hell, she did it!

As was promised to our friends after a hard day learning to ski, the food, free wine and beer, and indoor heated pools worked to relax sore muscles. Beers in a hot-tub are magical. Simon and I even stayed up late enough to catch a Turkish musical act in the late-nite bar. I caught plenty of looks for my newly acquired ski hat from Tyrol, Austria.

On Sunday, our fellow tele-skier, Carrie Simpson joined us via the "ski-bus" from Ankara. Carrie learned to ski on telemark skis, and has great form. If only I could have seen it more often. Sadly, like our first day, Kartalkaya was again covered in fog. This seems to be a theme here, the advantage being that the resort seems much bigger when you can't see it!

When time came to make our way home, I proudly presented tire chains for Buddha, our Nissan Terrano. This was a lesson learned on our previous visit to Kartlalkaya. You see, the roads don't get fully plowed in Turkey. It's not that they don't have the ability, they do, but the icy roads offer an ingenious commerical plan by the local farmers who have jack-shit to do in the winter. Positioned every quarter mile, on the narrow road up the resort, are farmers with their tractors, ready to pull tourists out of the ditch (for a fee, or course) when they inevitably slide in. Some people swear that the farmers actually pour water on the road at night, just to make it MORE treacherous. I don't believe that they are that malicious, in fact, I kind of admire their creative capitalism. There's a demand, they provide the supply; and let's face it, when your car is in a ditch, you'll gladly pay anything to get it out. However, as I was now in possession of a fully chained and four wheel drive diesel truck, I happily waved at the friendly farmers as I cruised pass their tractors, proud that I didn't need to hire thier services (though secretly glad to know they were there if I did).

Ripping the Turkish Pow, a ski season in Turkey

2010-04-02T07:01:00.000-07:00

When I moved to Ecuador, I had no idea how much I would miss skiing. I thought slugging up equatorial volcanoes like Cayambe (photos), the Illinizas, and Cotopaxi would satiate my snow demons. On one hand, it did satisfy my craving for cold weather, but on the other hand, skiing and climbing are VASTLY different activities. I have a need for speed, and climbing is many things, but high-octane, it is not.

So, it was with great excitement that Erin and I upgraded our skis in Boulder this summer, and headed off to our new lives in Turkey. We had no idea what to expect, but preliminary research told me that skiing did exist, and, what the hell, we knew the Alps were only a stone's throw away.

It took awhile for it to get cold here in Anatolia, most of the fall was spent rock climbing and periodically pulling the skis out and looking at them...imagining how they would handle the Turkish pistes. But, finally, in the last weeks of December, we made our first venture out to the resort of Kartalkaya. Two hours West of Ankara, Erin and I arrived on a white-out day, so, literally this was our first impression of skiing in Turkey.

This was clearly an awful day of skiing, but, when you've been living on the Equator for two years after spending 7 amazing seasons in Colorado; well, you're just happy to be sliding down a mountain, no matter if you can see it or not!

Upon finishing our first day on the slopes in two years, Erin and I retired to our hotel. The ski resorts in Turkey are an all inclusive affair, so, you really get a better deal by just going ahead and staying in hotel where your meals, booze, and lift tickets are included in the (in this case) $100 a night rate! Not being the fancy-shmancy ski hotel types (we always couch surfed, or stayed in the back of our truck in Colorado), we didn't really know what to expect, how to behave, or what to do with ourselves inside an actual slope-side hotel. Turns out, you eat, drink, hot-tub, drink, eat, sit by a fireplace, eat, and, yeah, DRINK. Yes, even in Muslim Turkey. Walking down to the lobby after stripping off our ski clothes, we were greeted with proper ski lodge fireplaces, pine-tree rafters, appetizers, and hot mulled wine. The skiing may have been a bit of a white-out disaster, but the hotel was good living! This is a part of the ski life I have never experienced...

After a great night of sleep facilitated by rack of lamb, shrimp cocktail, Turkish "Pide" pizza, grilled chicken, baklava, and plenty of free Efes beer (please click here for the Efes theme song!), we woke up to an actual view of what we had spent the day skiing blindly down the previous day. This is the view out our window: we were pretty impressed. It's not huge, but it's decent. The resort extends off to the left, and right, but is really just this front side of the mountain.

However, that means that this backside is completely open to backcountry skiers. So, who wants to join me for some first descents???

As this was only our second day out, and because the slopes were absolutely devoid of people, we just decided to get our powder turns in-bounds. Our second day of skiing in Turkey was characterized by spooning powder turns next to each other, across moderate American "Blue" runs, while the few Turks who were skiing never strayed off the pistes. Our tracks stayed un-varnished, pasted in the snow all day long:)

Sadly, eventually we had to stop lining up our turns, and steer ourselves back home. The slopes weren't ultra-steep, but there a few spots where the angle approached a "black" grade for a short amount of time. The descents were pretty modest; even if you skied to the lowest lift, below the hotel, you only got 675 feet of vertical drop. That's about the same as our old goofy resort, Wolf Laurel, in Asheville, North Carolina. BUT, it was powder. Nobody was there. Beer and wine were free. Rack of lamb is like a piece of meat butter. AND, for shit's sake, it's Turkey, it's not exactly known the world over for skiing. So, we were happy.

That is, until we tried to drive the iced-up roads home. And, that's where I'll leave it for now. I've got to go pack for my big fat Greek Sport Climbing vacation. I hope all of you are off enjoying spring snow, desert routes, and lots of whiskey.

-Bones

Oil supplies: Peak olive oil | The Economist

2010-04-02T01:02:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe, that this country of olive oil fanatics may soon see a decrease in production; but climate change seems to indicate this will be true....

Oil supplies: Peak olive oil | The Economist

FP Passport | FOREIGN POLICY

2010-03-22T00:30:00.000-07:00

FP Passport | FOREIGN POLICY

Time to get out the maple-leaf backpack patch

2010-03-05T06:14:00.000-08:00

Well, here we go. The U.S. is again pissing off its allies. A lot of people died in Armenia. Was it a genocide? Who should determine that? Is it THAT important, that we meddle in other countries affairs...especially when they are so close to coming to reparations?

Leave it to the historians to debate. Keep it out of politics.

One wonders, would we ever have the balls to say the same thing to China about Tibet? And, would we do it right at the exact time that the two of them were actually working together to open doors to each other? No, we wouldn't.

So, why Turkey? Are the American Armenian lobbyists really that powerful?

FP Passport | FOREIGN POLICY

Turkey in the Olympics

2010-02-17T23:30:00.000-08:00

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/10/olympic_outliers?page=0,2

Turkish Ski Resorts

2010-02-12T04:56:00.001-08:00

So, the goal this year is to ski all of the Turkish ski resorts. According to my research, that involves going to 10 different locations, but here's the hitch. In Turkey, and this is the first place I have ever been where this is the case, each hotel owns its own resort, and you can only ski the pistes of THAT hotel. So, in one ski area, there may be 3 different resorts to ski. Strange, I know. Anyway, after this weekend I'll have two resorts down, and we have booked our ticket out to near the Iranian border for the third. (Don't worry Mom and Dad, it's still a good 6 hours to Iran...no chance of us accidentally crossing the border, I'm fast on my skis, but not THAT fast).

I now present you, The List.

First, Kartalkaya. The closest resort to Ankara of worth, and a place we have already been to twice.

Next door, we have another hotel, and another mountain, which we have NOT skied yet. Dorukaya.

Kartalkaya/Dorukaya is only two hours away, and is a pretty good resort, but also 2 hours away is Ilgaz. Now, most people say it's not as nice, but the lift prices are WAY cheaper, and I'm interested in the backcountry potential. We go here this weekend.

Another map of Ilgaz:

Down the road a bit, outside of Istanbul is the very trendy and posh Uludag. I believe there are also several sets of pistes here, but I'm not sure. Here is the one map I have found.

Also near Istanbul is a new resort that gets good reviews, Kartepe.

Another map of Kartepe:

Over towards the Mediterranean, in fact, only an hour away from the ocean is Salkikent, a resort where you could ski in the morning, and swim in the Med. in the afternoon. Rad.

On the road North from Salkikent, back towards Ankara is Davras...a promising resort with lots of snow. I found two maps of Davras.

Southeast of the capital, looming over the wonderland of Cappadocia is the magnificent Ecyries...a huge volcano with a ski resort pasted to its side. Again, I found several maps of this area, including the duly impressive photo/map below:

All of the former resorts are within a weekend reach of Ankara, but far off on the Eastern border, near Iran are some resorts that (at least according to rumors) hold vast amounts of deep powder and long, European-style runs. We've booked our tickets for Paladoken in two weeks:

And, although the maps don't look that impressive, Sarikimis/Cibiltepe is supposedly VERY good for the pow-dah.

Of course, the ultimate option would be to go with one of the two Heli-Ski operations that work the mountains in the Northeastern corner of the country. You know the phrase, "lake-effect snow" yeah, it refers to the dumps places like Buffalo, New York get. Well, in the Kackar mountains, south of the Black Sea, they get "SEA EFFECT SNOW" Not bad. But, I'll need a lottery or a sponsor to go out with these guys, prices start at $9,000 for a week.

Sponsors? Please.....

My last two ski passes.

2010-01-22T11:04:00.001-08:00

Previous to our move to Turkey, the last two times I skied was a stupendous day two years ago in the spring at Silverton Mountain Resort in Colorado, and a quick morning a year ago while visiting Boone, NC at Appalachian Ski Mountain. I decided to keep the ski passes on my jacket while in Ecuador for two years, to remind me that I was a skier, and to remind me that skiing is skiing, no matter where it is. Because, really, these two resorts couldn't be more different.

Appalachian Mountain is where I learned to ski, and later became a ski instructor. Vertical drop? 365 Feet. Annual snowfall? 60 to 80 inches. Terrain? Blacks in name only, really, it's only blues and greens. But seriously, it's a nice place to learn, because with 10 snow machines, they are able to cover the entire mountain! Their logo is of a skier cruising a mellow slope that looks to be about a 5% grade. That's about right. Contrast that with the other ski resort I last skied...

Then there is Silverton, which we headed to for spring corn snow conditions right before we left for Ecuador. Silverton only has one lift, and only had one type of run, super steep. It's lift accessed backcountry heaven. You have to sign 6 pages of waivers before you ski there, including, my favorite line, "if you cannot see snow on the horizon line, you must make a mandatory jump quickly" Vertical Drop? 3,287 feet. Average snow? 400 inches. Terrain? You must be guided through the 100% double black diamond runs during the snow-heavy winter months. Avalanche beacons, shovels, and probes, are all mandatory for the super steep double black diamond runs. The mountain logo is the classic yellow warning symbol with a person falling down the mountain. Yup, nuff said.

Those were my last two ski days. But, these days, after two years of living on the Equator, I'm back to skiing. Turkey is a bit like Appalachian, and the Alps are more like Silverton, but, I'll take any day on the mountain with my wonderful wife and friends that I can get....wherever it is. This photo is of a ski resort 2 hours north of us in Turkey. We're going to go check it out this weekend.

Today, the old ski passes come off.

Music from the Fall of 2009

2010-01-22T03:29:00.000-08:00

I used to collect my favorite songs off of the radio and buy a CD of them every year, but this year there has been so much good music, that I'm going to have to break down and buy them now, otherwise I'll have a massive purchase to make in June.

Probably another reason the list has become so long is that KBCO recently started allowing listeners from overseas to listen to their podcast, and so now, I've got WNCW from Asheville and KBCO, from Boulder that I'm keeping up with.

God help me if Pandora ever lets those of us overseas start listening...

The LIST

WNCW and KBCO Music

Todd Snider, Vinyl Records
Sam Bush, Circles Around Me (release in Oct)
Del McCoury, Take Me to the Mountains (new box set) AND Sweet Appalachia
Adam Stephy, A Broken Heart Just Keeps Beating
Guy Clark, Someday the Songs Write You
Steep Canyon Rangers, Sorrow Ain't Far Behind AND Turn up the bottle and drink it down
Robert Earl Keen, The Rose Hotel
The Sweetback Sisters, My Uncle Used to Love Me But Then She Died
Feelgood Factor, The Whole Church Should Get Drunk
Black River Killers, Blitzen Trapper
Jack Johnson Good People En Concert
Tut Taylor, Norman Blake, Nancy Blake Shacktown Road Shacktown Road
Infamous Stringdusters, hand my head and cry
David Rawlings, To Be Young (Is to be sad, is to be high)
John Forte's new album, style free
New Found Road, My shoes sure know how to get around
Keb Mo, Victims of Comfort
The Hagar's Mountain Boys. He died a Rounder at 21
Winsborro Cotton Mill Blues ???????????????
Barefoot, Don't Let Me Down

Outdoor "Culture" in Europe

2010-01-10T11:16:00.000-08:00

Culture is one of those words that takes up two pages in the dictionary. It's got about eighty definitions, and it's misinterpretation can take you off guard. In the U.S., when we talk about "outdoor culture," we are speaking about the norms and ethics of the outdoor crowd. And those ethics are anything BUT cultured. Mainly, the outdoor culture in America involves not taking a bath for weeks, eating lots of food from a can, and living in a tent--or in some cases, simply in the dirt. In Europe, "outdoor culture" it literally cultured. From Italian men checking their hair in the bathroom before heading out to the cliff to go rock climbing, to white-table clothed restaurants at the tops of ski mountains in the alps, to heated lift seats on the ski lifts--when the Europeans go outside, they don't leave their class behind.

Here we have a standard meal at any ski area in the states. Free crackers with free butter, honey, and borrowed mustard from the buffet. I believe this is in Vail, Colorado.

Contrast that with what you would eat at a ski resort in Turkey:

And that's just the salad buffet. The food took up the entire length of this dining room, and was included (along with beer, wine, and ski passes) in the $90 price for the room at this all inclusive resort.

Of course, all that food is in the bubble of a ski area. Nobody eats like that when they are just out camping. Instead, everyone eats like this:

Right?

This would be a typical meal, I think it is safe to say, at most climbers' campgrounds. A big pot of spaghetti cooked out of Glen's disgusting (call it, "well seasoned") camping stove. The whole thing fed probably 20 people and cost under 10 dollars.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday we stayed at a climber's "resort" on the coast of Turkey where the cafe was packed every night with climbers from Europe shelling out 13 dollars (plus beer money) a meal every night. Thirteen dollars seems kind of expensive for climbers, but I'm telling you, there wasn't a free spot in the cafe from 6 to 9 at night. We opted to cook Thanksgiving dinner on the tailgate of our car...Colorado style.

We found turkey at the store (I know, turkey in Turkey...it's too funny), dried cranberries, corn, green beans, and mashed potatoes and gravy. Breadsticks crumbled up and crushed with raisins and spice made an acceptable stuffing, and Bailey's and Hot Mulled Cider rounded out the feast. Minus the booze, for far less than 26 dollars at the crowded cafe next to our camping spot.

And the next morning we woke up to this view of the crags above our car.

The expensive European dinners isn't something I need, or would pay for even if I had the money. But amazing limestone cragging a five minute walk from the car is worth whatever price they want to charge me. That's some climbing "class" I can get used to.

The climbing was pretty incredible here. The crag is called Geyikbari (Gay uk bai ruh) You can see the caves of limestone formed behind "Buddha" in the picture above (the car used to be owned by the Hungarian Ambassador...get it? Buda?) Anyway, we spent four days climbing here in the lap of Turkish-European luxury. The temps were perfect, the camping was 7 bucks a night with hot showers and a real flush toilet, and the climbing had everything you could ask for; from overhanging jug hauls, to stalactite stems, to technical faces...and every grade too. It was just Erin and I climbing, and so we don't have many photographs, but we sure enjoyed ourselves and can't wait to go back. You just can't beat sport climbing 40 minutes away from the Mediterranean Ocean.

Of course, not all of us were sleeping in tents and cooking on the backs of our cars. This resort had about 20 cabins with private bathrooms that were totally booked. I don't know about you, but the only time I've ever payed for a indoor room on a climbing trip was when it was so cold out that my whiskey was freezing. Clearly not the case this weekend.

Then, on the ultimate end of climbing luxury, is this guy, who clearly scored some sponsors after the Salt Lake crew came down and filmed a bouldering film at his local crag.

That's about all the outdoor "classy" culture I can take, but up next...heated lift seats in the Gondola in Austria. Nope, this ain't A-Basin.

Turkish Jingle Bells

2009-12-17T06:28:00.001-08:00

Hmmm, I don't know what to say about this....

http://www.itoglu.it/mahmutabi/mp3/turkish_jingle_bells.wma

Let it snow

2009-12-17T05:02:00.000-08:00

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St. Anton am Arlberg Snow Forecast | Snow Report | by E-mail

Well, I hope St. Anton starts getting some snow. We arrive on Christmas Eve, and I would hate to be in the Alps during a dry year. We'll see. The forecast and the webcams from today look promising! Either way, it's going to be better than the skiing we have been doing for the last few years in Ecuador!

I hope everyone is enjoying the live feeds off of Bambuser, what a cool app!

Cheers,
Tim

Should Turkey be allowed to join the EU?

2009-12-10T02:38:00.000-08:00

Inevitably, once in a new country, you start following their politics. It's a fascinating part of this world of overseas living. Turkey, who has been trying to gain membership in the EU for years, is getting increasingly frustrated. The Prime Minister is in the U.S. this week, and so, one of my favorite blogs, the Foreign Policy blog, had this interesting coverage on the latests on Turkey and the EU

The New ForeignPolicy.com
Global News : Passport : Ricks : Drezner : Walt : Rothkopf : Lynch
The Cable : The AfPak Blog : Net Effect : Shadow Govt. : Madam Secretary : The Call

The Turkish-European Rift Widens

Wed, 12/09/2009 - 6:48pm

While most of the media coverage regarding Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's trip to the United States has looked east, to Turkey's burgeoning relationship with Syria and Iran, the real breaking news may concern Turkey's faltering relationship with the European Union.

In a speech at SAIS on Monday, Erdogan argued that Turkey's accession is being followed closely by the Islamic world, as a sign of hope that old cultural divisions can finally be bridged. However, he attacked proposals to offer Turkey a "privileged position" with the EU instead of outright membership, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel had previously supported. Instead of making up new classifications of countries midway through the process, he said that those who did not support Turkey's accession to "just come out and say it."

In a meeting with Erdogan's senior foreign policy advisor Ibrahim Kalin and Suat Kiniklioglu, the spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish Parliament, it was clear that Turkish frustrations run even deeper than Erdogan had let on. Kiniklioglu let it be known that his patience with the Europeans had run out, and that he was "tired of being lectured by French senators." According to him, European foot-dragging on Turkey's accession had little to do with the lack of progress on the reforms called for in the accession process, but rather "the identity issue" - Europe is simply leery to let an overwhelmingly Muslim nation into its club.

While Erdogan and his advisors all maintained that Turkey's decision to push for EU accession is still a "major strategic choice" of the country, frustration is building - and Turkey is not keen to remain in limbo on this issue forever. The Turks are trying to sell their admission into the EU by emphasizing how their large population and steady economic growth, not to mention their strategic location, could revitalize Europe's role in international affairs. They are discouraged that this pitch seems to be greeted in Europe with a shrug. Kiniklioglu specifically pointed to the appointment of Herman Van Rompuy as president of the European Council. "What does this tell you about the EU?" he asked rhetorically, that Europe would select a politician not well-known throughout Europe - "or even, from what I've heard, among Belgians?"

Woven into all of this Europe-bashing was praise for the Obama administration's ability to adapt quickly to the changing dynamics of Turkish politics. This could be explained as a simple courtesy visiting diplomats bestow on the host country, but there is good reason to believe it is sincere: Obama gave a gracious speech in the Turkish Parliament soon after his inauguration, which unambiguously declared Turkey a part of Europe, and his openness to negotiating with dirty regimes is in line with the Turkish outlook. The trip was certainly not all happy talks and hugs (to wit: the startling resignation of Turkey's ambassador), but Obama should look closely at leveraging his good reputation with the Turks, and with the Europeans, into patching up this failing relationship.

David Kenner | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register

( filed under:

Europe | Middle East

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Phallus-stan

2009-11-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

There sure are a lot of "stans" in this country. No, not the South Park character (whose Christmas album I am currently listening to). I mean, stan, as in the Persian suffix for "Place of."

Everybody knows the place of Afghans, Afghanistan. The place of Uzbeks, Uzbekistan. And, the place of Absurdity, Absurdistan. But, did you know that (at least on Turkish maps) Turkey is surrounded by Bulgaristan, Yunanaistan, Gurcistan, and Ermenistan? (Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, and Armenia!?!) I had no idea they were stans!

And, of course, this blog is nargileistan...that is, the place of Turkish water pipes, called Nargile. (Nar-guh-le)

Recently I had the opportunity to visit one of the natural treasures of Turkey, Cappadocia (Capp-uh-dough-kia). It's a pretty, Christian name, but for me, the place immediately became Phallusstan.

We took our 7th grade students here for a three day field trip to the amazing land of giant penises. Awkward can't begin to describe it. That said, this region of Turkey is really a surreal volcanic landscape with an equally interesting history. Like any place here, Cappadocia had the usual rainbow of tenants: Persians, Hittites, Lydians, Christians, Greeks, and Romans. The Christians made their mark by carving out hiding places to protect themselves from invaders. When they had nice access to a penis, they went about chiseling a house out of it: (in this case, it looks like some lucky real estate mogul went to town on a multi family penis-house-development)

And, for those unlucky Christians who lived out in the plains, away from the eh-more prominent protrusions of Cappadocia...well, they just dug into the ground!

To say that these guys liked carving rock is to understate things just a bit. Some of these vast underground cities go as deep as 300 feet, and run for miles underground, accommodating estimates of 50,000 Christians and all the wine they would need to outlast the longest of Arab raids. (and still have some leftover for Communion, unless their last name was Kennedy)

And they didn't just make housing developments. These guys were addicts. They carved custom toilets, bar stools, churches decorated with frescos, and even linseed oil factories. I wonder if they lost many fingers doing all of this hammering and chiseling?

I know, Mesa Verde all of the sudden seems kind of lame.

But, it's not all penises, Christians, and frescoes in Cappadocia. There's also amazing mountain biking, great food, Greek villages, pottery workshops, deep river gorge nature hikes, and cave-hotels to stay in.

Phallustan! Fun for the whole family!

The Measure of a Country

2009-11-12T11:50:00.001-08:00

As I'm still getting lots of hits over at www.esteecuador.blogspot.com, I'm going to have a post that livens up that blog as well as this one. Additionally, when moving from one country to the other, it's inevitable that comparisons (justified, or not) will be made. Which brings me to this months dual post, and the conclusion, that, the measure of a country can really be found, in it's barbers.

Really.

It's something we all need. Whether it be a simple, try-to-make-it-look-like-I-have-hair cut like I get. Or, whether it's a full blown Paris Hilton coiffure; we all have to go in and get a trim every once in while, just to keep down the Chewbaca waiting to explode off the tops of our heads.

So, when you move to a foreign country, one thing you usually find yourself doing in the first month, is thinking, "Okay, self, that hair is looking a bit like the fur on that street dog outside. Now where can I go and get a decent cut, without it looking like the guy used a fucking chainsaw."

In Ecuador, the answer to that question, was Tijeras Locas, or Crazy Scissors. Great haircut, my friend, Brett, said. The only thing is, well, most of the stylists are, umm, Colombian transvestites. I was aghast when he told me that this was the place to go get a haircut. I thought, okay, this is some sort of weird teacher-hazing thing. He assured me it wasn't, and told me to go down and look how popular it was--with both sexes.

Indeed, I walked down to Amazonas Avenue and easily found the store, there are two within a block of each other they are so popular, and sure enough, it was full. I had to wait twenty minutes. Inside I went through the standard game of charades, showing how long I wanted my hair, and my stylist ran his/her hands through my hair nodding patiently. She/he seemed very concerned, and proceeded to carefully cut every single hair on my head. Now, I know I don't have much hair left, but because of the methodical nature of his/her style, I was at the barber for an hour! These girls new something about hair!

I subsequently returned to Tijeras Locas many times over my two years in Quito. Once I took the opportunity to get a shave, and not only did they shave my beard, but they trimmed my ear hair, nose hair, and eyebrows! The cost? Five dollars. I don't know anyone I can pay five dollars to, who will go anywhere near my nose. Now, I realize my introductory photo that I stole off the internet is pretty blatant, but I'm here to tell you, that there were times when both my wife and I had a hard time convincing ourselves that my barber was really a man from afar. But, the minute they throw that cape around you, and the scissors come within two inches of your nose, one look at the hands, and you realize--man hands, definitely, man hands.

Of course, the barbers here in Turkey also know their stuff (On the subject of stuff, in Turkey, you can also be fairly sure that, their stuff--is, well the type of stuff that you would assume it to be. That is to say, there are no Tijeras Locas here). But, that doesn't mean they don't do a bang-up job. Here in Turkey, the land of black mustaches and hair as thick as motor oil, hair management is a huge priority. According to squidoo.com, the job of hair-cutter is taken so seriously that foreigners are not allowed to do it, and men spend months apprenticing and training for the job.

First, you step in to the salon and drink some chai tea, waiting for a spot to become open. Once you are at the chair, the stylist spends 20 minutes or so shaping the edges of your hair with various combs and clippers. When it comes to the actual cut, you'll think Edward Scissorhands has sprung to life, as the man continuously moves his chopping scissors around your head with the flair of a crazed violinist. Next comes the shave, with plenty of hot shaving cream brushed on, and a straight razor perfect finish. After bending forwards to the sink, and getting a wash, the barber comes around for the final polish. Tweezing nose hairs and any other protruding strays, he slowly builds to the climax of the cut....the flaming cotton ball. Before you can say otherwise, the barber dips a cotton ball into denatured alcohol, lights it, and dabs it into your ears, singing the offending hairs from existence.

Cost? Ten dollars. Trip to the bathroom to clean your pants? Free.

Looking ahead

2009-10-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

We just booked our tickets for Christmas in Austria. Erin and I haven't skied properly in two years, that was something we won't let happen again.

I think we'll be able to make up for some lost time here:

Remember, you can click on pictures in my blog to see them in full resolution. Yeah, this place will do.

Rock Climbing in Ankara

2009-10-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

People have different requirements for the place where they choose to live. Some require a cosmopolitan city, others need a good school system. My friend Adam, recently chose his apartment on the basis of it's proximity to a liquor store (he took his laptop to it, with me video-chatting him, and we never dropped the wifi from his house). For me, it's the proximity of rock climbing....and the weather to allow me to do it most, if not all, of the year.

Most people don't think of Turkey as a climbing destination. And, to be fair, it isn't a destination for lovers of the sport....yet. Turkey is actually full of rocks waiting to be developed into climbing areas. One such area is about an hour and a half outside of Ankara.

Kara Kaya is the name of the town nestled at the base of the rocks. It's a one-mosque town, Turkey's equivalent to one-stoplight towns in North America. I'm sure the residents never thought the rocks would one day become a destination for recreation; they probably just saw them as a place to catch some shade in the otherwise barren landscape of the Anatolian Plateau. Hundreds of miles of wheat grass, reminiscent of central Wyoming, surround this jumble of rocks. The rocks are bullet-hard gneiss, and shoulder about 150 sport and trad routes. The downside is the length of the routes, probably averaging only 15 meters. But a nice grove of trees for camping, picnic table, freshwater spring, and bathrooms round out a perfectly acceptable weekend destination.

So far, this year, we've made three trips out to Kara Kaya. The sport routes are fun face climbs, mostly necessitating good balance and strong crimping skills. The crack routes are rarely done, and need a stiff wire brush. The climbing involves off-balance face moves, with the occasional intermittent crack. There are some unique features, like tombs of prehistoric peoples; and an obvious section I found that was perforated like the a sheet of stamps. The cleanly cleaved rock along the perforations told the story of someone in a toga who was once chipping away at the rock and using it as a quarry.

My one complaint (besides the length--which is hard to fix), is the anchor system. Can any climbers tell me why anyone would put in two beautiful solid-steel stainless anchors, and then connect them with a ratty sunbleached piece of old climbing rope and leave only one rapid-link on one of the bolts to lower off of? I suppose the theory is that the rope will back up the first anchor, if it fails, but the system leaves the anchor unequalized, trusting one single rapid link on one bolt, with it's only reduncancy in the form of a high factor load applied to an old piece of rope or webbing. I'm going to buy some chain. Enjoy the pictures.

Erin, the Turkey Trotter

2009-10-22T11:37:00.001-07:00

Erin is up and blogging more this year than she did in Ecuador. She's got an update on the 15K we ran this weekend on her blog, http://erintheturkeytrotter.blogspot.com/

Like she says, the race was okay. I felt pretty bad, the rain was hard for me. The lack of bathrooms, kilometer markers, aid stations, etc. was hard for me. As Erin observes, it's pretty silly that a country like Ecuador has races 10 times better than a "developed" country like Turkey.

Honestly, this is one of my first disappointing moments in Turkey, everything else has been stellar.

Swine Flu

2009-10-14T08:38:00.001-07:00

Today the ministry of health gave me a week off. Shit, I don't even feel bad. But, thanks!

This was the scene outside our school this morning: (Notice that the school is deserted, I have no idea what they are filming!)

Apparently we do have some children with confirmed cases of H1N1. They are also reportedly recovering, and we should be up and rolling again at school next Wednesday.

I did like this little dichotomy:

Here is what the CDC has to say about who should be vaccinated first against H1N1:

These target groups include pregnant women, people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age, healthcare and emergency medical services personnel, persons between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old, and people ages of 25 through 64 years of age who are at higher risk for 2009 H1N1 because of chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems.

Here is what the Turkish Paper I read this morning said about the same topic:

The government will buy 40 million units of the vaccine. Pilgrims to Mecca and students are advised to take the vaccine first.

Get to the back of the line you silly pregnant women!

First Impressions

2009-10-10T06:01:00.000-07:00

Turkey? Interesting choice, huh? When we moved to Ecuador, we knew what we were getting into, more or less. But Turkey? What did we know about Turkey?

Not much.

Probably the same as you. There's an annoying song about Istanbul not being Contantinople done by They Might Be Giants. It was the center of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. The Ottomans and Byznatonians (?) went away at some point, but you're probably not quite sure what happened after that. The coast is a cheap vacation spot for Europeans. It's a desert, like Iraq, it's neighbor in the South East. They make flying carpets, genie lamps, and hookah pipes. For some reason, Turkish coffee is known the world over, but you probably have never had it, and can't really say why it's stuck in your head. The food involves plenty of lamb shaved off a rotating spit. You've seen Midnight Express, but are pretty sure, at least, you hope, that this movie was highly exaggerated. You probably know someone who has been to Istanbul, and they probably loved it, but you can't remember why. Oh, and it's in the Middle East and it's Islamic.

Did I nail it? Yeah, I thought so. These were my thoughts too.

So, what were my first impressions when we landed in the capital, Ankara? First, it IS very dry. We didn't have any rain for the first two weeks. But, there is an obvious movement to reforest open space, and all over you can see little groves of evergreens and aspens. Aspens? Yup, Ankara is at an altitude of 3,000 feet and is at exactly the same latitude as Denver, 33.5 degrees N! Just think of us as the far end of East Colfax Av. in Denver. In fact, with it's location in the middle of the continent, the weather is remarkably similar to Denver's. Check out the trees!

Another thing that strikes you right away is the Turks patriotism. The "George Washington" of Turkey is a man named Ataturk, father of the Turks. And he is revered on an iconic level. He fought against the Allies and the Ottoman Empire to form the Turkish Republic. He was a admirer of the Enlightenment and following the independence movement he sought to modernize Turkey. Because of Ataturk, Turkey is a secular republic. Though the majority of Turks are Muslim, freedom of religion is a golden tenet of modern Turkey. He also did away with the Arabic alphabet, and formed a new Turkish language that uses Western Script. Finally, he granted full political rights to women in 1934. Turkey's certainly not perfect, and like all of our countries, it has some blips on it's record; but it's much more "westward looking" than I expected.

Yes, people smoke hookah pipes. The Turkish word for them is Nargile (hence the name of this blog).

No, there are not any magic carpets.

Yes, there are oil lamps, but, as of yet--no genies. Erin brought me back an "Aladdin" style lamp from Dubai. I'm keeping my eye on it, I'll let you know if the genie shows his face.

No, Turkey is not Arabic. It's Turkish. More on this later, but it's halfway in Europe and halfway in Asia. The country is vying for membership in the European Union, and has an amazing history of balancing talks and perspectives. They are one of the few countries that has diplomatic relations with Iran and the U.S. With Israel and Syria. Obama's first visit to a Muslim country was to Turkey, precisely because of their political clout and savvy.

Finally, the food. Oh, the food. I didn't realize, but Turkey is known the world over for having one of the great cuisines. Chinese, French, Italian, and...Turkish. Really?!? I'm coming to believe it. Shish-kebaps, baklava, fresh breads, roasted vegetables, olives, figs, pomegranates, cherries, you name it, you can find it here. Hell, just the school lunch is a six or seven course (and free!) affair:

In town we have every kind of food we could want. International foods, take-out-Chinese, Pizza-Hut, Schlotzkys, Subway, and Starbucks. Though we definitely occasionally crave something from home, the real treat here is the grilled meats, stuffed vegetables, and fresh fruits and vegetables that come from the local restaurants.

On our first week here we were treated to a restaurant of traditional Turkish food and dancing by the school. Later that week we visited the old part of town and hiked up to the top of a castle, where a man dawned a Sultan's cape and sword and cut us up some slices of traditional Turkish Pizza...called Pide. The only disappointment is Turkish coffee. As far as I can tell, it's usually just strong, dark, instant coffee; though apparently you can read into your future by interpreting the sludge marks at the bottom of the cup when you are done. Most Turks prefer tea. I can see why. (Remember you can click on the photos for more detail)

Turkish Pizza, "Pide"

A Turkish Tea-or "Chai" House..no shoes allowed!

Red Peppers at the farmer's market, that price is about $1.50 for a Kilogram!

The dried fruits and nut men. Figs, Hazlenuts, Cashews, Cranberries, Walnuts, Pistachios. I could go on and on...

Lettuce, nuff' said.

Dancing after a great meal and too much "Raki," turkish fire-water.

A Tower of Baklava and other honey-sweet pastries. See the spoon? That's used to drip more honey over the pastry-tower.

Roasted vegetables and meats are ready for the lunch-hour crowds in Istanbul...

Outdoor dining in a narrow street of Istanbul.

Of course, there is lots more to tell, but, we have a day off from school today, and we're going to go and check out some older parts of Ankara that we haven't seen yet. Thanks for checking in!

2009-10-06T08:05:00.000-07:00

I live here now. Ankara, Turkey, the capital. I like it. Today, I as I was walking home from school, I noticed the trees were changing as fall announces its return. I forgot about fall. In Quito we had one season, eternal spring. It sounds nice, but Groundhog day gets old. You stop noticing time moving with the seasons, the rhythm is stalled.
I work here now. At Bilkent University International School. I like it. Today I was called a "silly colonist" by a new friend from the U.K. Last week I played Poker with two Pakistani card sharks (I lost). The students are mostly Turkish, but the staff hails from Nigeria, Jamaica, Pakistan, India, the U.S., the U.K., Austrailia, and another place that I can't rembmer the name of...somewhere north of the U.S. Eskimoanada?
I play here now. We brought 10 bags and one cat with us. Plenty of skis, ice climbing equipment, backpacking equipment, and climbing gear. Turkey is a frontier. The Swiss are here doing heli-skiing trips. The Itallians are here putting up 14 pitch run-out "sport" routes on the limestone mountains. The Americans are here drinking a shit load of beer, and doing their best to look like they might climb something hard in the future.
I'm happy here, now. Our apartment is nice, our cat is happy, the climbing potential is good, I can run on the hills over my left shoulder in the picture, and the beer is surprisingly tasty when I am done with those runs. Sure, bacon is 80 bucks a pound. And, yes, the Turks do drive crazy, smoke more cigarette's than the Marlboro Man, and it's impossible to expect any sort of efficiency in any transaction. The Ecuadorians say, "Manana," which means, "tomorrow." The Turks say, "En Shalla," which means "God Willing." Either way, they're just excuses to delay doing something or taking responsibility. But I'm happy. They can take their time. Tomorrow, god willing, I'll get up, walk to school, enjoy my work, come home to my beautiful wife, take a run, climb in the gym, have a beer, and relax in my Ikea-down comforter with a good book and a better whiskey.

Soon, I promise!

2009-10-05T03:57:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks,
Welcome to Nargile-istan. Nargile is the Turkish word for the ever-present Hookah pipes that fill the air here with strawberry and cherry flavored tobacco smoke. But, Turkey is about much more than Nargile, flying carpets, and genie lamps. In this blog, I'll be posting my thoughts and experiences as we try to see through the smoke of stereotypes surrounding the middle east and Muslim culture.
Thanks for checking in, and as soon as my job settles down just a little bit, I'll post my first official smoke signal.

Cheers,
Tim Henkels
Formerly of www.esteecuador.blogspot.com

Seeing through the smoke in Turkey

I can't get away from Efes

A few more posts before getting started on Korea

St. James Gate, Guiness!!!!!!!!!!

Homecoming

Israel, Day 2--Shabbat Elevators, Falafel, and Rubens

No Way, this is our housing?!?

Israel, Day One

It's time to make it public

Turkish climbing, skiing, and celebrating.

Shameful

A Florida Wedding

Olympos. Redux

Rewind to the Black Sea

A Marathon of a weekend in Istanbul

Working on some photos and stories for the blog....

Carpet Bagger

A day on Turkey's premier alpine rock route, Parmakkaya

Climbing in Turkey's Ala Dag Mountains

Finally, some photos of what we have been doing in the Ala Dag

Ala Dag Part II

The Ala Dag Mountains

The New Camera

A Week on the Turquoise Coast

Blue Bay

Kas Camping

Ptara Beach (Plaj)

Salkikent Canyon

Oludeniz Lagoon

The Datca Peninsula

Aphrodisas

Pamukkale #2

Pamukkale, Turkey

Istanbul in the NYT

Bambuser Videos

Skiing the Turkish Pow, Part 4. All the Rest.

Ripping the Turkish Pow, Part 3. Palandoken

Ripping the Turkish Pow, Part 2, "Friends don't let friends teach them to ski"

Ripping the Turkish Pow, a ski season in Turkey

Oil supplies: Peak olive oil | The Economist

FP Passport | FOREIGN POLICY

Time to get out the maple-leaf backpack patch

Turkey in the Olympics

Turkish Ski Resorts

My last two ski passes.

Music from the Fall of 2009

Outdoor "Culture" in Europe

Turkish Jingle Bells

Let it snow

Let is snow

Let is snow

Should Turkey be allowed to join the EU?

The Turkish-European Rift Widens

Phallus-stan

The Measure of a Country

Looking ahead

Rock Climbing in Ankara

Erin, the Turkey Trotter

Swine Flu

First Impressions

Soon, I promise!