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

 

Estonia: Fairytales, Soup, and Snow. OH MY!

While I was in Finland, my friend and I decided that we should make the best of my stay and visit some surrounding countries. I mean come on, travelling is my biggest enjoyment in life and I love a good tour/adventure any moment of any day! We decided that first we would take a look at Estonia, now mind you, it has a population of a whole 1.5 million people, about half of the population of Izmir, Turkey. I was quite skeptical and intrigued, that an entire country could be so small.

I took a ferry/cruise ship to Tallinn, Estonia which lasted about 3 hours. The ship was huge and filled with Russians, Finns, and some Estonians. Now you may wonder why people choose to go to Estonia for a weekend. I mean really what is there that is so awe inspiring? I may warmly say that the landscape is gorgeous, but it is not the scenery as stated by the people I had talked to. It is the money! Finland is a very expensive place to live, and the Estonians live quite cheaply. Let me put it into retrospective:

Note: 1 euro is about $1.40
A piece of cake from a cafe: Finland: 5-8 euros Estonia: 1euro!
Souvenirs(any): Finland: 5 euros Estonia: 0.5-1 euro.
Cider at the bar: Finland: 5-7 euros Estonia: 2-3 euros
Soup: Finland: 8 euros Estonia: 2 euros

Standing around in Old Towne, Tallinn, Estonia.

As you can see there is a HUGE difference in the prices, which leads people from finland to take a mini vacation; spas, fancy restaurants, sight seeing, stocking up on their monthly alcohol(for Finnish individuals, this is a must, as I have observed). Another thing that caused these low prices was that as of January 1st of this year they changed their currency to the euro from the Estonian kroon. With the change they are attempting to change country-wide. While the kroon was quite cheap the prices were cheap, so whilst using the euro, they will most likely need to adjust accordingly.

Worlds Best Soup!

The countries most popular foods are black bread, pork and soups. And I have to say, I have never had soup so delicious as in Estonia. My favorite would have to be the salmon and shrimp cream soup! It was like the greatest sensation that cant be described, as well as very fulfilling.


The customer service, everywhere, was quite lacking and cold. At the cafe it took 5 minutes just to get acknowledgement from the waiter, the waiters in restaurants were also cold, very direct with answers and had a lack of humor. The Estonians in general from my perspective were cold and uninviting, as with any place with the cold weather, I'm sure. A huge difference from the warm and inviting Turkish culture!

The hostel, the end of the hall was our room.

This was the first time experiencing a hostel, for some of my readers, they might ponder what a hostel is. The idea is set up for youth or frequent travelers, which provides them with a very cheap stay in a hotel setting. However the main difference is everything is community shared, the room, the bathroom, and the common areas. This can strike some skepticism in an Americans eyes I am sure. Immediately you say: "Strangers, WHAT?" "Will my things be stolen?" "Can I sleep in the same room as a stranger?" "How are the bathrooms, dirty?" I'm here to say that as my first experience, it was good. The room and bathroom were both very clean, the service was .... Ok I guess. I felt secure with my things being left with the public being able to get them. The thing that I/you have to remember is, everyone else in the hostel is going through the same scenario, travelling in a foreign country, taking the bare minimum; this is why everyone typically respects everyone else's privacy and possessions. There was however a very creepy guy that was sitting on the edge of his bed just staring at me while I was "sleeping" for about 10-15 minutes. Other than the creeper, I would recommend the adventure and opportunity to anyone who is looking for a cheap stay(15-20 euro). It leaves you with much more money to spend on other fun adventures!

I love the colors of the Estonian Flag!

Estonia in overview was a fairy tale land from the scenery that lacked enthusiasm from its people. 2 days is enough to see everything there is needed to see. I am very glad I had the opportunity to visit and experience it. While the temperature was negative 30 degrees and the people were cold, we stayed warm during the breaks in cafes and buildings and shrugged off the cold individuals. Visiting and travelling places are of top concern, and this is just another place to put in "Traveled/Accomplished" list.

This is Mcdonalds even! Yumminess for 4 euros TOTAL!

I was not happy about the cold, AT ALL!

Just the usual pose! ;)

Of course I had to try some Estonian hookah/nargile! :D

Livin' It Up in a Turkish Snow Globe!

Have you ever wondered if worrying and planning are in your nature? Have you ever thought that your life was too planned? Well before I came to turkey, I felt like life was clock work. Here I have learned to slow down, take in my surroundings, and with whatever comes to me, I learn to “roll with it.” One thing that is important in the Turkish culture is a coffee break; in the house, a café, at work, in school. With this, it is not uncommon to have long conversation that can even last up to 2-3 hours given the circumstance. Well the most recent coffee break landed me in another city, Uludag.

My friend, Burak, and his family, the one in which I’m living with during my study abroad, were sitting around having the typical Turkish coffee. We then noticed, all of us had at least a one week break, so we said, why not go somewhere. They discussed a few different places, and then came to the conclusion, Uludag, which is a ski resort town where they have gone every year for the past 10 years. Then, so it was, we were leaving that night at 1:00am. We found a huge deal at the hotel, Alkoclar, where the price was half the normal, and everything was included: food, sauna, liquor, tea and coffee, which cut a major cost of travelling.

We rushed around the house, cleaning, finding clothes to wear; I even went out to buy a new winter coat, which I waited so long to buy. We had fun trying on all their ski clothing, finding the ones that would fit the others and me. Our bags were packed and we sat down for another coffee for our long journey ahead. As sitting there, it struck me; I have a project to turn in on Friday, the night that we were going to be coming back. Then my family calmly reassured me not to worry and that everything would fall into place. After looking back, they were more than correct. Again I ask, why stress over things that are little and that wont effect you as much as you think?

We arrived in Bursa at about 8:00am and then took a taxi, bus and then a shuttle to arrive in Uludag by about 9:30am. Burak, Ceyda, and I were starving, so we had breakfast at the hotel. Then to kick off the day with 2-3 hours of sleep we decided to ski. Now keep in mind, I have never skied in my life, so I was a beginner. I was originally going to pay 100 Turkish lira for lessons, but after giving the money, I decided no I will learn on my own. Burak taught me how to climb a hill, as well start and stop. The rest was too hard to explain so I learned as I went. By the end of the day I fell only 2 times and managed to go fast and make good turns.

We went to bed early for an early morning the next day. After breakfast and a Turkish coffee we put on our ski clothes and went for the hills again. We got pictures from the many camera men and went down different hills. I was able to go pretty fast this day, and the family said I was a really quick learner. We ended our skiing at about 5:00pm and proceeded to our rooms to rest and then prepare for dinner. After dinner, I had the obligation of finishing my marketing project. I got half of the work done and saved the rest for the next day.

The next couple days I continued working on my project,

and on the last day of skiing I was

faced with a challenge. Burak took me to the steepest hill there called, Hell. We got to the top, and as I looked down, I started shaking. I said no, no, no, absolutely NOT! Burak encouraged me, I went down about 20 meters and with my nervousness, I fell. I stood up and Burak said “Dustin, ski normal like you do.” He went down the hill, then I closed my eyes, breathed in deep and went for it. Can I just say, RUSH. There was so much adrenaline going through my veins I’m sure my heart could barely handle it. However, I made it all the way down without falling, and it was so much fun! We then climbed the hill again and had a Nescafe to relax while taking some pictures, given the perfect view. We then went down again, a different way and ended the day with a nice dinner and relaxing.

Our last day in Uludag, we all slept in and had a late breakfast. We packed up and checked out of the rooms. We then sat in the lobby a couple hours, I got on the internet a little bit, also drank green tea and sipped on more Turkish coffee. We took a shuttle down the mountain and had the best doner kebab I have ever eaten in my life. We then took the bus back to Izmir at 7:00pm, leaving us there at about 1:00am.

Such a great experience all decided over a Turkish coffee. The Turkish culture for me is relaxed, they know how to not worry, they know how to take life slow, they know that being late somewhere is not a crime, and they know that work will get done one way or another. One thing that I plan on taking back to America is the coffee culture, the relaxing culture, the “let’s not worry about every little thing” culture. Because these aspects in life are what make you relaxed, live longer, and take you to different places in the world.