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

Turkish Language

Turkish is on of the major languages of the world, being the official language of Turkey. there is also a high usage (Population of Turks) in Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Germany, France, The Netherlands, The United States, and Australia. Turkish is not related to any other major language of the Middle East like Arabic, Persian, or Hebrew, nor European. For this reason Turkish has almost no similarities in vocabulary or grammar with other languages, such as, English, French, and German. This makes learning Turkish difficult for speakers of other languages; however, it does have a regular structure with few exceptions, unlike English. Turkish is made up of mostly native words, while using a few loanwords from Arabic and Persian.

"one who says "I'm from the turkish nation", before everything must definitely speak Turkish.

• Turkish is an agglutinating language, with exclusive suffixation: Anne (Mother), Annem (My mother), Anneme (To my mother).
• Gender and definite and indefinite articles do not exist.
• Instead of prepositions, Postpositions are used. Benim icin (for me).
• Turkish is a subject-object-verb language. Example: Ben eve gittim - I home-to went (I went home).
• All forms that effect a verb are added by suffixes to the end of the verb. For example: Git (go), gitme (Don't go). 
• There is vowel harmony.
• Contains 29 letters; 21 consonants & 8 vowels. [Turkish words are read exactly as they are spelled. There are rare exceptions, unlike the English language ( See: read the 'o' in one & bone)]

Turkish is a fun language but sometimes tricky if you directly translate. You can come to a general conclusion, but in songs and TV shows, it is hard to understand what they actually mean. Turkish is very poetic and deep, there are also many proverbs; in fact I hear a proverb at least once a day while living here. Below are some simple examples of how the meaning is different from the direct translation:

• Cep telefon kapat. - Close the pocket telephone (Turn off the cell phone)
• Isik ac. - Open the light (Turn on the light)
• Nerde oturuyorsun? - Where do you sit? (Where do you live?)
• Ask Kac Beden Giyer? - What size does the love wear? (How many lovers can you have?)
• Ne haber 'Naber'? - What news? (What's up?)
• Ne var, ne yok? - What is there, what is there not? (What's up?)
• Memnun oldum. - I am satisfied. (I am pleased to meet you)
• Tuylerim kalkti - My hairs got up (I got cold chills / I got goosebumps)

I recommend you living in Turkey to learn Turkish, because every Language book I have come across explains wrong, or is too basic, not accounting for present day Turkish. If a textbook is your only method to learn I recommend "http://elementaryturkish.com/". It is the best textbook I have found.

Some basic Turkish to use while touring:

• Merhaba - Hello
• Benim adim _____ - My name is _____
• Nasilsin - How are you?
• Iyiyim - I am good.
• _____ Nerede - Where is the _____?
• Hosgeldin. - Welcome.
• Hosbulduk - I feel welcome
• Gule gule - Go with a smile (good bye).
• Neden - Why?
• _____ ne demek? - What does ____ mean? (for example, a particular word)
• Turkce bilmiyorum - I dont know Turkish
• Tesekkurler - Thank you
• Bir sey degil - Not at all (No problem)

Turkish In Use ;)

*Some of this info comes from "http://elementaryturkish.com/"*