Well, last night was the First Annual Melissa Maples Jack-o-Lantern Extravaganza, and… wow. Much alcohol was consumed, four pumpkins were butchered into the finest faces you’ve ever seen, and a great time was had by all.

My original idea was that we’d all carve at the same time and I’d talk the guys through it as we went, but I soon realised how impractical that idea was. There wasn’t enough kitchen space for all four of us, and Ali and Emrah don’t really understand me well enough when I’m explaining things in English. Also, none of them really had any clue what I was talking about when I said that we would carve faces into pumpkins (Halloween is unheard of here). So I came up with a Plan B that I would go first with Emirhan watching and me explaining, and then he could do his next with the guys watching and him explaining in Turkish, and then he could supervise the guys while I opened the wine.

When I unveiled mine on the balcony, the unanimous response was “Woooooooooooah.” Then they got what the big deal was, and suddenly there was tremendous enthusiasm to participate in a project which had previously elicited only shrugs and “whatever” responses.

Emirhan decided to counter my blatent evil with a mischievous smile.

While Alican was drawing his masterpiece…

…Emrah was already in the carving stages.

Emirhan supervises the guys.

After we were all done, Emirhan wanted to take photos on the balcony, but it’s difficult to get the hang of a camera when you’re drunk. I also reminded him that it’s just good manners to remove your foot from the frame before taking the shot, but did he listen?

Clearly he didn’t. Take two was no better than the first, and no less blurry or footy. We love him anyway.

Oh my god, I am so glad this mess wasn’t my problem. You should have seen what the floor looked like.

Nonetheless, the result was worth it. From left to right: Emrah, Emirhan, Alican, and me.

The biggest surprise of the night was at my expense— apparently in Turkey they have these strange pumpkins that are solid all the way through (you can kind of see it in the photo of Emrah above). There’s no mushy seed part in the middle; the seeds are just embedded in the (rock-hard) flesh, similar to an apple core. That was a bitch when it came to carving, because you had to cut out the middle of the pumpkin as best you could with a knife, and then spoon-scrape the rest out. My arms and shoulders are really aching today. Two of our pumpkins were solid, and the other two were normal hollow ones.

So tonight is going to be all about relaxing— sadly there will be no trick-or-treaters or costumed goblins roaming the neighbourhood, and you can’t find candy corn here (or at least I can’t), so I’ve been told we’re going to bake a chocolate cake and watch horror films all night. Sounds great. A couple of the local nightclubs are doing costume parties, but we’re not really clubbers (I know you’re shocked). I wish there was something as cool as a haunted house here. When I’m king of the world every city will be required to have at least one haunted house on Halloween.

What are you guys doing tonight, anything special? If you want to show off your costume, link to your flickr in comments— I want to see what everyone is wearing tonight.

Hope you guys have a great Halloween. We’re doing our best here.

I’m frightened by the lack of support for Greece as fires ravage their beautiful country and kill their citizens. We had a quickly spreading fire in our apartment building earlier this week, and even that small drama was frightening enough to remind us that fire doesn’t joke around, and without help from neighbouring nations, I worry how well the Greek firefighters will be able to cope on their own.

I wish all the best to the people of Greece— I’m not sure how helpful the Turkish government is being (there are conflicting reports as to why Turkish aid is not getting through), but as far as the Turkish people are concerned, our thoughts are with you. Now, if only thoughts could extinguish fires…

The Antalya Sand City sculpture competition has been well under way for a while now, but as the weather has been so unbearably hot I haven’t managed to make it down there yet. I promise I’ll bring back a full report once the summer calms down a little. This particular sculpture is actually an advertisement of sorts, constructed by one of the artists at a local shopping mall I happened to be at a few days ago.

If you’re impatient and want to see more of the sculptures right now, haha.nu has a gallery taken by another local blogger. He missed out any Turklish, though, and if last year’s exhibition is anything to go by I’ll bet there’s plenty to go at down there. Don’t worry, I’ll check it out soon and get back to you.

After months of being asked to find an easier way to distribute bazaar shirts, and weeks of hard work getting it all ready, the TurklishTees.com store is finally open for business! Now if you want to buy shirts and other items featured on the weekly bazaar, you no longer have to deal with the nightmare of the Turkish postal service or the inconvenience of international money transfers. You can get your Turklish fix direct from the online store and save all the hassle. Easy!

What you see in the store right now is only the beginning— as the weeks go by there will be new designs, weekly specials and limited edition designs, and even contests where you can win free stuff. There’s also the opportunity to have your favourite bazaar shirt made into a custom one-of-a-kind design— just contact me for details.

The store ships worldwide, so everyone should be able to get any item they want easily. As soon as possible I would like to open up additional regional branches, especially for those in Australasia and Europe, just to make shipping even more straightforward— if anyone in those areas is aware of a good local distributor please let me know.

Thanks for your patience while I got the store ready— I wanted it to be everything you asked for and I hope I’ve hit the mark. Happy shopping!

I was so pleased to read in the Turkish Daily News that once again there will be an exhibition of sand sculptures over the summer in Antalya. We went to the one last year (which I believe may have been the first one ever in Turkey— sources seem to vary on this point), and it was absolutely breathtaking. Some of the sculptures were several metres high and tremendously intricate, and obviously took weeks in the making.

One thing I remember distinctly from last year was that I was shocked at the lack of barriers around the sculptures, given that sand is not exactly the most robust medium and people (especially children) aren’t really good at keeping their hands to themselves. There was surprisingly little vandalism, though, probably due to the excellent security staff on site. But I remember holding my breath every time a breeze picked up, because the bottom line is that these things are delicate. If there had been a rainstorm I don’t know what they would have done, as trying to cover the sculptures would have been impractical to say the least. Luckily for the artists, we don’t often have rain in the middle of the summer, but as I said before, this year has been a little bit freaky in terms of climate. In fact, it drizzled here even this morning, and this evening resembles a night in March more than a typical night in June. So we’ll see how it goes. In any case, I’m armed with a camera now, so expect a full photo report of the sand sculpture exhibition when the time comes… weather permitting, of course.

Running and I have one of those love-hate relationships that makes you roll your eyes. We argue a lot. We break up. We get back together. It’s good for a while. Then I cheat. Then we break up again. Two weeks later, he calls me wanting to forgive and forget. We get back together. This is how it’s been for years.

It started back when I was a kid. I was quite an athletic child, always top of my class in gymnastics and accomplished in several styles of dance. When we had those standardised fitness tests in school, I always came out at the head of the chin-ups and sit-ups charts. I was also a very strong swimmer and played softball for a couple of seasons when I was nine or ten.

But running was a different story. We used to have to run the mile in phys ed, and for some reason I could never do it. I’d get about a quarter of the way and be in such agony that I had to lie down, on the track if necessary. My legs felt fine; it was my lungs that were screaming for me to stop. My P.E. teachers always said that it was because I was out of shape, but I didn’t see how that could be possible— I was an active child who was exercising everyday. To this day I wonder if I had some kind of asthma or other condition that kept me from completing the mile like everyone else. Even the little weaklings in my class could run the mile, but I just lay on the ground gasping for breath, my lungs on fire.

It annoyed me that I couldn’t do it, so running became this Thing with me. I looked for ways around the breathing issue. The obvious choice was to not run such a long way. I have strong legs, and I quickly discovered that I could sprint well over short distances. In high school I became quite good at the 50 and 100 yard races. I could even pull off a 400 if I had to, but that was my limit. Any more than that and I couldn’t handle the breathing.

As I phased into adulthood and left structured exercise classes behind, I started to wonder if I could train myself to run further. Over the years I’ve struggled with this— I’ve managed a couple of 5ks in my time, but nothing longer than that. My breathing problems settled down a bit as I got older, though I still struggle to some extent. When I was in my early 20s, I started to get this idea in my head that I wanted to run a marathon, to prove to Running that it was I who was the boss of him and not the other way around. I made plan after plan to run various marathons. In every case, I’d let my training get to the point where I could run about 5k, and then I’d plateau and eventually give up.

So now I’m 34, still running semi-regularly for fitness, still not breaking the 5k barrier. I had kind of decided that maybe I was just a 5k runner and there wasn’t any horizon past that.

Then, back in March of this year I discovered that we have a marathon right here in Antalya. Right here in my face where I can’t ignore it. Because I’m a location blogger, it made sense to cover the event. I got a press pass from the organisers, and Emirhan and I rode the press bus all the way around the course during the race. This was the first time I’d ever seen a marathon in real life, and I was both inspired and frightened by what I saw. Those who finished did so in great agony, and some of the unlucky ones were picked up on the course by ambulances. It made me wonder why people put themselves through it. It also made me wonder if I should take up marathon training again.

After the race Emirhan and I had a talk. He’s a bodybuilder and athlete himself, and seeing the marathon up close really made him want to do it. I shared with him the story of my lifelong battle to run. We sort of shrugged and said, “maybe next year,” but at that time we had some tentative plans to do some traveling abroad and we didn’t think we’d be here in March 2008. In any case, we made a vague promise that if those travel plans fell through, then we’d definitely do the Antalya marathon instead.

Well, this week we learned that we won’t be abroad after all. We’ll be right here in Antalya in March of next year. So I guess that means we’re officially training for the marathon now.

I’m terrified. I’m going to take some convincing. I’m not worried about Emirhan— he’s unbelievably fit and could probably run the marathon tomorrow. But I don’t want him to have to worry about me. I want to be prepared enough so that he can concentrate on his own race (which will be over much sooner than mine) and I can concentrate on what I’m doing.

This means I have to start training now. Summer is coming, and with it the 50-degree heat that Antalya is famous for (that’s 122, folks). Can I train in those conditions? Maybe, if I train at five in the morning. Am I going to encounter lung issues again? I won’t know until I start running longer distances. Maybe I’ll have to see a doctor about that. I’ll definitely have to get some new running shoes. Some good socks. Maybe a couple of cute outfits to motivate me. And I’m going to have to keep a serious eye on what I’m eating.

Having said that, I don’t want to get so obsessed with all those things that the fun gets sucked out of running. I actually enjoy running now, and if something stops being enjoyable then I just won’t do it, end of story. I already gave up my heart rate monitor because it was turning me into a numbers freak instead of a runner. So I have to strike a balance. I know that for me, my internet support network is important. I have lots of online friends who know lots of stuff about running, and I’ll be calling on them when times are tough. I’ll probably also join whatever social networks I run across. I’ll find ways to keep this fun.

I still don’t quite believe I’m up for this, but maybe that’s just because I’m tired today and even doing the laundry seems like a lot of effort. Everyone I’ve asked so far thinks I’m definitely capable of running the full distance, so that’s a good sign. I have very supportive friends. Now I just need to find it in me to live up to my half of the bargain. Watch this space. But until further notice, you should consider this an official declaration of my intention to run 26.2 miles here in Antalya on the 2nd of March next year. It makes me nervous just to say that. Yikes.

If anyone in Chicago is reading this and has some free time this week, I implore you to go down to the Chicago Turkish Festival and give us a report. I just learned about it this morning, but I’ve been digging through the web site and it looks marvelous. Here’s what’s on offer this year:

Turkish Cuisine, Turkish beer, and Turkish Coffee
Authentic Turkish Music
Folk Dances
Whirling Dervishes
Traditional Fashion Show
Ottoman Military Band
Fine Arts & Crafts
Books & Souvenirs
Travel Information
Kids’ Activities
Panoramic views of Istanbul and Chicago side by side
Istanbul Photo Exhibit
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk Exhibit
Film Screenings
and more…

Sounds great to me (the Turkish cuisine alone would be enough to get me to go). The festival starts tomorrow (30th May) and runs through until the 2nd June. It’s in its fifth year this year, so this is not just some fly-by-night operation. If you’re in the Chicago area and/or are planning on attending this, please leave a note in the comments and perhaps we can make a deal for you to share your experiences with everyone here. Link

We already had just about every sort of recreational sport type thing here anyway, but now it appears that hot air balloon rides are coming to Antalya. A company from Kapadokya is expanding their operation to the Serik district of Antalya, where a one-hour ride will cost 250 euros per person.

I have to say, I’m pleasantly surprised about the price. Okay, sure, it’s not cheap cheap, but most tourist recreation stuff here is so outrageously expensive that this looks reasonable by comparison. Operators get away with marking up so much because although the prices are expensive for Turkey, they’re not so out of line for visitors from most European countries, and in any case people are willing to spend the kind of money when they’re on vacation that perhaps they wouldn’t dish out at other times.

I’m not sure I’m willing to pay 250 euros for an hour’s ride over Serik, and I don’t know what the actual costs of running a hot air balloon are, but that price certainly sounds more reasonable than others I’ve heard. We have some friends who are heavily involved with a company who run helicopter rides over the coastline, and for a similar one-hour tour we were quoted a per-person friend price well into four digits (euros), which nearly made my jaw hit the floor. If that’s the friend price, I’d hate to hear what the tourist price is. Maybe I will pay 250 euros for the balloon ride after all. It sounds relaxing, at least. Link

[photo of hot air balloon over Kapadokya courtesy of Bora's Grand Tours]

The Turkish Daily News warns its female readership to “get ready… a charming chevalier will sweep you off your feet.” Tonight in Istanbul, world-renowned baritone Suat Arıkan is celebrating 25 years in the opera business with a concert at the Hagia Irene Museum.

I’m an opera singer myself, and I’m glad to finally start discovering the existence of a European classical music tradition in Turkey. I do also love Eastern classical music, musique orientale if you will, but there’s something about a Verdi aria coming from a big booming baritone that just does it for me like nothing else, and Arıkan fits the bill. I wish I could be there tonight. Anyone got an extra ticket and a private jet?

After reading the TDN article on the event, I’m surprised at the mention and implication of so many other Turkish classical musicians. I mean, there’s a conservatory here in Antalya, I know that, and I’ve seen the signs for an alleged local opera house and theatre, but I think classical music in general is still very much a fringe thing here, at least in the south of Turkey (perhaps those in Istanbul are luckier). In my classical career I can certainly say I never encountered a Turkish singer, but of course that doesn’t mean they weren’t around. So now it’s my job to make an effort to learn more about this and perhaps see if I can work my way back into a classical music scene that I thought I left behind forever when I left Europe. I’ll see what I can dig up. Does anyone have any recordings of Turkish opera singers they’d care to share with the class? I’m curious to hear what sort of standard we’re talking about. If it’s anything like the other traditional Turkish musicians I’ve heard, then I’m sure we’re in for a treat.

How many of you knew that today is International Museum day? Yeah, that’s what I thought. I’m always shocked when my own lack of culture awareness comes back to slap me in the face.

Here in Turkey museums across the country are celebrating not just today, but throughout the next week with special exhibitions, displays, activities, and events aimed at increasing public interest in Turkish museums. As is the norm in Turkey, children are especially included, and there are a large amount of concerts, shows, and practical workshops catering to younger visitors.

International Museum Day is organised by the International Council of Museums, and has been celebrated since 1977 (embarrassing that I only learned about it now). This year the theme is “universal heritage,” and Antalya Museum (pictured, wiki), one of Turkey’s largest museums, is bound to have lots of things going on, so my plan this week is to stop being so lazy and head down to the museum and check it out.

[thanks to rhombitruncated for the photo; also check out the Antalya Museum flickr stream— the museum looks fantastic, doesn't it?]