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This Is Where It Falls Apart
Posted 02.15.11 at 11:07 PM UTC
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I plopped down on the bed this evening to do some computer work and was startled as the second to last functional handmade slat (the original cheap-o ones failed long ago) cracked in half and sent me hurtling down at a 10-20 degree decline toward the floor. Building and setting them up was tricky, but trying to fish them out in pieces without disassembling the room was harder.

In addition to the rest of the emerging packing chaos, we now have a scrap lumber pile.

We just set the box spring directly on the floor inside the bed frame. This is a solution that will have to last at maximum three nights more, so no reason to take any further action. That's the basic attitude right now for most stuff.

The logistical timing dance is set now. I'm definitely finding that the trick is to make a careful inventory of the items to abandon. We had to go to the store tonight, for example, to buy two throwaway blankets to use on the inflatable beds, which are also now throwaway. We by no means will have suitcase room for bedding, so anything that stays past Friday has to be left behind. We will donate everything to the refugees, so that nullifies the waste element.

There are now blue Post-It notes marking the items that should not ship. We're doing a really good job this time around. Our handling of the embarkation was quite successful, but this one has the greased feeling of experience. I still don't know how we will structure the air shipment, but I assume it will be heavy on clothing and semi-essential tech items.

Apparently, technically, some contractor has not yet approved another contractor to start packing our stuff on Thursday. We'll see how all that goes. Nobody will authorize my purchase of our return tickets. Other than that, I think we're basically okay.

The move-out coordination guy comes tomorrow to plan the nail-hole patching. It's starting to come to a close.

On Sunday we receive our last house guest, who is now humorously invited to my farewell party at work. That should be a hoot.

Some Things Like This End Up Being True
Posted 09.24.10 at 09:11 AM UTC
Tagged turkey | # | Comment [2]

I always rolled my eyes when people said I would stop noticing the calls to prayer after a while. It took me a pretty long time, but I do think it's happening now.

In that kind of weird self-contradictory way, I just heard one and was surprised about hearing it, which I guess is backwards proof I'm not hearing them as much. It's also Friday, so I think they crank the amps up a bit for the sabbath.

As Promised, As Hoped
Posted 09.16.10 at 07:56 PM UTC
Tagged turkey, nonsense | # | Comment [1]

The only good part about staying at work super-late tonight was finally getting a shot of the hedgerow trashcan all filled up. You can see "more clean" at the top, but the garbage is partially obscuring the "environment for." Also, they're getting brave enough now to wedge the trash between the little shrub stalks. Poor shrubs don't have much longer to live, I'm afraid:

Clean Environment

Loving and Missing
Posted 09.14.10 at 12:01 PM UTC
Tagged turkey, me | # | Comment [0]

I have thought through this post a few times, and always I have settled on not writing it. But, I think it's about time to reflect on these things. There's still a lot of time to go, but psychological time barriers are being breached as we go.

Going back up to add this paragraph, I notice my "not miss" is going to be significantly longer than my "miss." It's important to note the "miss" things are huge while the "not miss" things are generally small. This is another paradox of living abroad, I think. Sometimes it feels like two mountains, but one mountain is made up of molehills.

Things I will miss about Turkey:

Things I will not miss about Turkey:

(1) "God willing." Every now and then, living in Asia Minor illuminates some memorable concepts from the Bible. The "do not worry" / "lilies of the field" discussion is one of them.

(2) The uninitiated might think the challenge is not tumping over, but it's actually getting over the lip at the top once the stairs go flat.

(3) Away is one thing. Away is between LA and Chicago. Separated is feeling your daily life's practical incompatibility with the lives of others.

(4) This is something I think a lot of people have trouble understanding about assignments abroad. If another country's jokes make no sense, how can their workplaces be any anything but inscrutable?

(5) Behavioral and physical, it never stops happening and it never stops irking.

(6) It's just not that big of a bill! Also, see "Cabbies" above.

(7) GMT+3 means any attractive time in the UK or mainland Europe runs over lunch time or quitting time.

(8) Not biscuits. You could make the same recipe in the same oven at the same altitude with the same ingredients, and still a cookie would be better than a biscuit.

More Crazy
Posted 09.03.10 at 07:07 AM UTC
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Yesterday as I was walking to work, a guy had set up an electric bench grinder in the middle of a narrow, busy sidewalk outside a restaurant. He was sharpening one of the large knives they use to slice döner roast lamb chunks to make sandwiches in pita bread. No goggles, gloves, safety clothes, or anything, and no barrier to prevent somebody from walking right into him.

People just walked right by.

Absurdity, Documented
Posted 09.01.10 at 08:07 PM UTC
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In a conversation with my big boss a while back, the subject of absurdity came up. Any place is crazy, but many would say Turkey is crazier than most. It's just such an interesting country.

Have you ever had the situation when people ask how something's going, and you say "really busy, doing lots of stuff right now," and then when you try to produce details you can't, you just know you were busy?

It struck me that I can say "things are crazy here," and I could know that to be true, but in a year could I really speak for what about it was crazy, specifically?

So I'm going to do what I can to remember crazy things and write them down before I lose them and they go into one big generic mental box.

Local elections are coming up here, which from my understanding pretty much bubbles upward until the more important posts are decided. Anyway, the ruling party AKP, not our favorite, is getting a little more pressure than normal this year.

Concurrently, the AKP-controlled municipality just constructed a kind of containment housing for one of those really big urban steel trash bin things, kind of like a small dumpster, down the street from our building.

They planted these sad little one-stalk shrubs in a planter that goes around the top of the bin on all but one side (the side used to dump the thing out) and hung signs on the bin that talk about protecting the environment.

Well, the poor little bushes are already looking a little beaten down just from the bustle of a busy trashcan, but the funny thing is that the locals are feeling bad about the little guys. These trashcans are normally brim-full just about all the time (nothing is ever over-sized in Turkey except restaurants), and it's quite normal to see trash bags and furniture and whatnot piled up high above the rim of the bin.

Taking pity on the poor plants, instead of piling the trash high they're just throwing the bags and loose garbage onto the street, spilling out everywhere and stinking to high heaven. It's not too uncommon now to see the Turkish "we care about the environment" sign with garbage piled up to the bottom of the sign.

A Gem
Posted 07.27.10 at 08:00 AM UTC
Tagged nonsense, turkey | # | Comment [0]

Trying to get into Russia, we hit some roadblocks. But, the best most helpful Russian-based travel agency ever writes:

"Unfortunately, being located in Moscow, we have less chances to contact the consulate in Istanbul that you have. Please make a local call and obtain answers to your questions. Indeed, it may happen that they have a 'friendly' local travel company and it is easier for people to obtain Russian visas if the support letters are provided by this company. Of course, this has nothing to do with the law but... the East is the East, you know, and one can hardly argue with the consulate."

We have since redirected our efforts and expect a prompt victory.

The East is the East!

Dust in the Wind
Posted 04.19.10 at 10:21 AM UTC
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Eurotravel is pretty screwed right now, obviously, and it's really crimping the weekend for us. We're supposed to be hosting a guest, but it's looking doubtful that a flight by way of Heathrow would really happen at this point.

This is a three day holiday weekend in Turkey, so in lieu of original plans it would be nice to plan a trip or something, but it's either too cold or too dusty or too packed with vacationing Turks to go anywhere interesting. Lisbon was a thought, and well outside the ash-stream at this point, but who wants to take a chance on something like this? Train travel here is limited but is a possibility.

Clearly, as a function of very meaty cultural travel choices last year, a lot of places on the list for 2010 have a utility pretty much proportional to sunlight and high temperatures. It's still remarkably cool up to the north, so Germany and the like would be Houston winter conditions. A weekend escape to somewhere colder (and ashier) is not too attractive.

Pleased as Punch
Posted 03.30.10 at 04:34 PM UTC
Tagged technical, turkey | # | Comment [0]

I have finally fixed my blasted foreign credit card usage issue. I set up a proxy server on joey that I can route my network connection through from here. The credit card authentication sees the purchase as being from Dallas (where the Linode server farm is located), so the charges are going through fine now.

I rigged the proxy server to only start up manually when I need it, so no security concerns.

Blood Money Gives Back
Posted 01.18.10 at 12:02 PM UTC
Tagged turkey, me | # | Comment [0]

I gave blood this morning for my boss's mother, who just recently got out of the operating room after a big bypass operation. It was an interesting experience, as this was a very posh private hospital. Being used to the M.A.S.H.-triage type situation befitting an American blood drive, it was interesting to go into a room with a single big chair backed up against a wall. Some kind of Green Mile-ish feeling for a second there.

As anyone who's ever shared a hot drink or warm room or A.C.-less car with me will know, I have fairly staggering circulation (which leads me to think just about any enclosed place is hot). I filled that bag (I think it was the mL equivalent of a pint) in 4 minutes, against a 15 minute expectation. Maybe Turks genetically have poor circulation? This might explain the 27-30 C heated rooms in which people are still wearing heavy coats.

Anyway, it was a good thing I could do it, because O-Neg is hard enough to find, without being in a country that clearly doesn't have as developed of a blood donation system (although there is one to some extent).

I might posit that one of the most culturally-uncomfortable situations in which you can find yourself might be when somebody in a different culture feels indebted to you. It's hard to know how to act and what to say, and you're kind of in the drivers' seat as far as situation management goes. But, I feel pretty comfortable here now, and I feel like I did the right stuff (meaning, to let them know it was no big deal for me, and to let them know I felt their appreciation). When somebody puts their hand/wrist to their forehead here it's a pretty serious display of respect or thanks. It's a cool Eastern kind of thing I've only seen a time or two.

One interesting hospitality quirk here is that you should really try not to finish whatever food or drink someone gives you. If you finish, it kind of implies you want more. I suppose American table etiquette mentions this in the most formal of situations, but here it even applies to a serving of tea.

Another unrelated social convention is that people often say "no, thanks" here just by saying "thanks." That's hard to adjust to.

People also blink really purposefully to say hi. I had just fairly recently in the US adapted fully to a head-bob and eyebrow raise, and here that's recognized but not really the right thing. And, while this isn't at all a bowing culture, it seems a dip of the head is a good idea for basic respect or appreciation. That's another fun thing.

Kristin caught me several times back in the States using Turkish traffic flow techniques, basically meaning I was subtly jostling people around to get through traffic jams. It seems like nearly all of Europe sees a lot more crowding than does America, but here it can get pretty serious trying to exit mass transit and such.

The folks at work are starting to teach me some slang, which can really build some confidence. I haven't used my eywallah thank-you yet, but it's locked and loaded.

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