101 Things I Will Miss About Turkey

I have been in Turkey for nearly one and a half years. Here is a shortened list of the things I will be missing!! I linked some of these with a few of my past posts, if you want to read/browse and learn some more! :D

1. Izmir
2. Turkish Coffee
3. Hadise
4. Turkish Airlines
5. Nargile (Hookah)
6. Skiing In Uludag
7. Bayram
8. Yaprak Sarmasi
9. Manti
10. Turkish Language
11. Taxi Dolmus
12. Recis
13. Alsancak Night life
14. Cheap Travel
15. Bios Rock Bar
16. Movie Nights
17. O Ses Turkiye
18. Bazaar
19. Sahika / / "Avrupa Yakisi"
20. Gulsen
21. School Friends
22. Bufe & Pastavilla (School Lunch Time)
23. Turkish Hand Gestures
24. Turkish Superstitions
25. Bar Street
26. Cesme (The sea has 4 tones of blue)
27. Foca
28. Raki Balik (Fish and Traditional Turkish Liquor)
29. Brick Roads
30. Crazy Turkish Drivers
31. Istanbul
32. Tavla (Backgammon)
33. Taksim
34. Ferry Boat
35. Simit (Turkish Bread)
36. Fresh Tomatoes
37. Delivery Service for every and any food vendor
38. Cheap Cell phone bill (15$/Month, unlimited everything)
39. Mesir Macunu Paste
40. Sushi Sundays
41. Late Night Cafes
42. Trivial Pursuit
43. Scrabble
44. Smoking Area at School (Everyone's hang out spot)
45. Last minute decisions
46. Trip to Istanbul for one night
47. Turkish Coffee Fortune
48. Throwing your arms up like you are flying and snapping during an oriental song
49. Team Hadise
50. Birthday Celebrations
51. Hidirellez
52. Soda Water
53. Karisik Ayvalik Tost
54. The Belief in the Turkish Eye
55. Twitter Parties! :P
56. The Eyzan (The call to prayer)
57. The Sunset from my home
58. The Turkish Barber Shop
59. Turkish Shave
60. Hospitality
61. The Sea
62. Water Sports in Marmaris
63. Sun Bathing
64. Turkish Tea
65. The Markets
66. Driving in Craziness
67. Showing Chest Hair! ;)
68. The Exchange Rate (More for your money)
69. English in a Turkish accent
70. Walking on the sea side on a bad day
71. Mavisehir (The district I live in)
72. Karsiyaka, Always better than Goztepe! ;)
73. Yasar University's International Office Staff (Love Them!)
74. Marmaris
75. Deciding to go out at 2AM
76. Efes (Turkey's Fresh Beer)
77. Taking off your shoes as entering the house
78. Kissing each other on the cheek
79. No Homework
80. The way a Turkish will tell you if you look tired, bad, or fat.
81. Karaoke Sessions in the Kitchen with Burak
82. Drinking Tomato Soup at Kircicegi after every clubbing night! (Tradition for Turks)
83. The Belief in Energies
84. Baklava
85. Open-Mindedness of my friends
86. The Love of Ataturk
87. The Confusing Mapping of the City Streets
88. Turkish Proverbs
89. Hanging your clothes to dry
90. Hamams (Turkish Baths)
91. Turkish Concerts
92. Learning something new every single day
93. Sunshine at least 300 days out of the year
94. The weekly cleaning lady
95. Turkish Rice
96. Our pet rabbit, Noel
97. Virgin Mary's home / Ephesus / Syrince "Wine Tasting Village" (All one tour)
98. My AMAZING host family
99. Iskender Kebab
100. Not drinking from the faucet but water dispensers
101. Turkish Flag and its Colors

New Years in Turkey!

New Years is a time for celebration, preparing for resolutions that will last no more than one week, and a time you spend with family and friends. How do you spend your time on New Years? In America, until you are a certain age you are asked to stay and spend it with family at home with some special foods and games. When you get a certain age to drive you are given a 2 hour talk about why you are not allowed to be out late, and that you will expect 50 calls until you get in the driveway, and the dangers of drinking and driving. (Which I believe this is a very important talk for kids that age.) Then you get to the age where you realize the dangers of drinking and driving, and decide to spend the whole night with friends, while calling home sending your New Years wishes.

As you know, in America, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, AND New Years all less than 1.5 months. Not that we don't love our families, but when you come to a certain age you want to spend the last holiday with friends; in a way its to much family in that certain time. (Again, not to say that we don't love our families, because I know I sure do!)

In Turkey, there are some similarities; people are split between staying at home with families or going out with friends. Since there are no other close holidays, it is not uncommon to hear that many individuals spend the time with family. Since there is a great public transportation system and a very cheap rate for taxi cabs, there is no worries about drinking and driving. For this reason, teenagers and young adults, if not spending their time with family, they typically go out rather than staying in for a house party.

Some typical things young adult's do for New Years Eve:

• Take a trip to Cesme - An hour drive beach city where you can go to clubs and sit on the beach.
• Go to normal clubs in Alsancak.
• Go to one of the many concerts (Famous singers give concerts around the country)
• Take a trip to Istanbul for a night on the town, possibly seeing a special concert.
• Travel to Uludag, Bursa - A ski resort town.

For me, last year I went to Istanbul for one night (flying in the evening and flying back in the early morning) to watch a Hadise concert. This year I decided to go with my host family to Uludag in Bursa, Turkey.

2010 - 2011 New Years Concert with #TeamHadise:

Hadise Acikgoz

Team Hadise

Team Hadise having a sip of Starbucks before the concert!

While the time was filled with skiing and playing in the snow, New Years Eve was filled with something else. Of course there was Santa Claus (Read my Christmas post to see why there was Santa Claus on New Years: Christmas in Turkey). After spending quite some time to get ready (With everyone wanting to look there best), we went to the dining hall to enjoy a fancy 3 course dinner that was served timely. We then went to the top of the hotel and watched a concert by Fedon, a Greek-Turkish singer. It was a classy concert of course, so there was special tables you stood at. We ordered red wine and was served fruits. After this we went to a dance club to end the night at about 5AM.

All in all, I can say it was my first high-class New Years celebration. I really enjoyed it, but I did miss the American tradition of spending it with family or friends at a house party.

You can see information about my ski trip last year to Uludag here: Livin' it up in a Turkish Snow Globe!

2011 - 2012 New Years Pictures:

Uludag, Bursa, Turkey