The Real Story from Ankara, Turkey

Better late than never, some more of my friends' AMAZINGLY detailed updates from Ankara, they are very long, but worth the read. Better than any newspaper article you will read, the older ones (further down) are pretty harsh. I urge you to read them, or at least to skim them ALL through, it is important to spread the actual happenings of what is happening - or happened.

Today

Quick sitrep for Ankara. It was a bit crazy this morning. We got tear gassed along with a group pretty early. I went home and took a nap. I woke up and went to the park around 6ish. The park wasn't too crowded but if filled up pretty fast. Then the protest moved down to Tunus street where the cops paddled our bottoms the day before. There was no police. They had completely abandoned trying to attack us. It was surreal. People were talking, chilling, and eating with the police. No violence except for a small scuffle with provocateurs was experienced. People have begun to prevent them from building barricades, they take their rocks away, and will physically restrain them.
It is important, however, to realise that while the protests have won a great victory with their message of peaceful resistance finally spreading to security forces their struggle isn't over. This attempt at fostering sympathy for the security forces is falling on deaf ears, however, as everyone remembers the merciless brutality they had been subjected to in the days before.
If the protesters lose this momentum, accept that they've won and stop coming out, then this has all been for naught. Nothing, apart from showing people that protesting can be a mainstream activity, has been achieved yet. Lets hope protesters can understand this and continue to protest until they get their answer. Time is on their side.

Yesterday - with latest report first:

Going to observe the protests has reached a new level of monotony only broken by my absent-minded face-offs with riot cops. The protesters get to Kizilay in small groups. When ever there is a concentration of people they shoot tear gas canisters directly at them. They flee in all directions. Come back. Repeat until people can't see anymore.
Its not the fear of being gassed, most of the protesters have sort of gotten used to that, its the fear of a burning metal canister the size of a Samsung Galaxy (those ridiculously large phones) hitting you in the leg or the arm with enough force to break bones that tends to put people off and get them running. Its the same fear one has when facing men armed with bullets, its just that you can see the bullets coming and they're huge. Which really doesn't help with morale.
I somehow ended up holding up a giant Turkish flag and facing down a line of slowly advancing riot cops who thought it would be funny to shoot at our legs. I blame my friend for running out there to the flag guy. I couldn't leave the idiot out there alone. They then, as per usual, gassed the hell out of us. There was a regrouping at Kuglu Park. Then the customary gassing and charging of riot police in Bestekar. This time they also had a group up in Tunali, making sure the protesters could not regroup. I had to hide at home after that. Riot police patrolling and firing firing tear gas into my street.
There is no dialogue going on between the police and the protesters. Hurriyet and other supposedly pro-secular publications keep on saying that the police try to disperse the crowds with words before they gas them. Many of my sources in Istanbul and Izmir say the police just started firing upon them without any warning. I witnessed this myself in Ankara, the police show up, their siren wails, and they start firing. If the sirens are what Hurriyet considers dialogue then their reporting has take an even worse turn than I thought.
They've also claimed in a recent article that only stun grenades were used on a mostly high school crowd today. I was there, there was gas, stun grenades we used as well. The worst though is the way they're presenting the vice-prime minister, Bulent Arinc's speech; he apologised for the violence the first day of the Gezi Park protests; as in the violence that caused another protest against it which cause all the ruckus over here. Then he said he doesn't need to apologise for the way the police has been acting ever since. Which is why the protests are still going. This is much bigger than a group of environmentalists getting their ass handed to them amongst some trees. The Hurriyet, astonishingly, tried to sell it off as a full apology with a short, badly written article that an 8th grade misfit would be embarrassed about.
Yet I've been hearing many reports, only 2 of them confirmed, that police have been threatening camera men with bodily harm and/or the barring of them from filming at all if they release any professionally filmed police brutality. This is why all the footage you've been seeing abroad is from phones and hand held video cameras. Its a poor excuse. A story about how the police threatened you and prevented you from doing your job is going to be much more journalistic than a half-assed government censored story a 14 year-old with a camera phone can disprove.
The pro-government media has become a source of entertainment for me. Their articles, as least Yeni Safak, Zaman, and Today's Zaman, are clumsily written attack pieces aimed at the protesters. Abdulkadir Selvi's one is especially nasty, claiming that protesters are violent psychopaths that froth at the mouth at the sight of head-scarf toting women. He claims that a woman trying to get to the metro was verbally assaulted as she walked through the crowd in Kizilay on the way to her daughter. In some of the pictures I put up yesterday you can see women wearing head-scarves in the crowd. Protesting. With the rest of them. Disproving his made up stories. The insults in other articles are hilarious; the protesters are all drunks, trouble makers, anarchists, homosexuals (nothing wrong with that, probably just jealous about how fabulous some of the protesters look), and violent arsonists.
Then there is the claim, by the government and pro-government media, that all of those sitting at home are supporting their side. That they aren't coming out because they believe that the government is the good guy.
Let me disabuse them of that notion. People aren't coming out because they don't want to get hurt or die. Everyone is young at these protests because the youth are the only age group that can survive this level of violence. And even then; if you live with your parents, as do many Turkish students, they tend to be a bit protective and not let you join the protests. Then you have those with no stomach for getting pounded by the police. Or the majority. People are terrified of what the Turkish police could do to them. And there is nothing wrong with that. That is why they come to the windows, almost all of them, and bang pots and pans together in support. The government has no claim on these people.
That's not to say they don't have support. Yet the majority of their larger, richer cities are the ones up in arms. Its fine having the support of rural areas yet claiming you own the hearts of those in cities because your gerrymandering has made your rural support part of the cities' electorate is plain misinformation. The government has support amongst the Turkish populace, but a sizable amount of it including some of their erstwhile supporters, are the ones with the grievances.
Speaking of horrid journalism, Turkish news sources act like the protests aren't even that important. Around a quarter, on average, of each news site is about the protests. The rest is silly tabloid articles, sports news, and worst of all; “clicking traps”. These “clicking traps” are articles with vague names that look like they might be about the protest. “Father and son die in horrible event”, “the truth you must know”, “a must see video”, “this article will change your life”. These articles will not have pictures by the link like other articles; leading people to click on them and spend, at least in my case, a precious 5 minutes wishing flayings upon the newspaper.
Yet have never heard of, and neither has any of my more experienced friends, a protest this big that has gone through so much effort to be non-violent. The protesters carried signs asking people to be calm and eschew violence. I saw protesters intervene several times with people attempting to throw rocks or vandalise property.
And then we have the disagreements between the President and the Prime Minister of what exactly democracy is. The Prime Minister has insisted that democracy consists of only elections. Elections are the only way we can exercise our right to free speech it seems. The President said there are myriad ways of exercising democracy and that demonstrations are a way of doing that. I find myself closer to the President but not exactly. I think that a representative democracy, as we sort of have here in Turkey, is when the minority helps guide the majority in their rule of the country. As in the majority doesn't lord it over the majority and the minority doesn't attempt to completely oppose everything the majority wishes. Because democracy literally means rule of the people. Which the majority are just a part of. When this agreement is broken the gloves, as we can see from the last week, are off. I'm off to get gassed again. Wish me luck and thanks for reading this drivel!

Earlier

Quick sitrep. We went to Kizilay around 3ish. We got gassed before we reached the square but it wasn't aimed at us, they were attacking the high-school students with the flags. We attempted to calm down crowds; stop them from running. We got to the street by the park and a large crowd joined us. They were clearing the side streets until the police noticed there was quite a large number of us and we were blocking traffic. They cleared it up. Me and and a friend helped that crazy flag guy and stood with him for a bit after making sure everyone got back. People were passing out and getting hit by the canisters. I'm not going to lie, the adrenaline boost of facing down that police line was exhilarating. Yet most of the crowd was composed of younger people. There was no way they would stand up to a police line. We then started walking to Kuglu, I went for the pictures and to see what was going on, and my friends to support the protest. They attacked us by the Double-Tree right by Kolej, a Akrep (its an small armoured car made by the Turkish company otokar) showed up and started shooting into traffic to get to the protesters there. Helicopters fly over and try to pinpoint groups and they send in the Akreps to prevent them from getting to Kizilay. We got to the park. They began walking down to Kizilay. We stopped in Tunus. We got stomped on. Bad. In my attempts to calm down the crowd I found myself, once again, looking into the eyes of a bunch of riot cops. They started firing at us again. I thought it would be a good idea to slowly leg it, speeding up when their aim started getting better. I'm trying to be neutral here but the police didn't even try to engage the protesters in dialog before attacking. There is no attempt to peacefully solve this situation. Sorry about the crazy updates. My internet keeps on getting blocked on the phone. Jammers are in effect around Kizilay and the government is leaning on cell phone operators at the moment. I'll write something a bit less rushed in a few hours. I'm exhausted, I'll catch a quick nap while I wait for the police to leave the street and go pick up my friends.

Earlier

According to most of my sources the police crushed the protests in Izmir and some areas of Istanbul violently. I saw with my own eyes how they broke up the protests in Ankara late last night. Clouds of tear gas, clumsily driven water cannon trucks, and the riot police charge me and Joel narrowly avoided. I lost myself in the moment; yelling at one of the trucks as it, like a teenager asking his crush to prom, awkwardly tried to approach us.

The square was even worse. We were attacked 10 minutes after approaching the square. And this is on the outskirts of the group, just recording and watching the the main crowd get gassed. They fired upon us from a range of around 50 yards, aiming at our legs and failing to hit anyone initially. They then started to fire a constant barrage at the crowd.

The tactics the police seem to be employing in Ankara are simple. They know that crowds will gather to march on Kizilay. They wait until enough people have gathered as to make it hard to run away, then send in a truck to bunch them up after a light tear gas attack. Then they pour in the gas, have the truck attack, and have the riot police charge in to mop it up.

The makeshift aid stations were also attacked last night. Volunteer doctors and those with first aid training used several buildings by the squares to treat those that had been injured by canisters or overcome by the gas. The police forced their way into the buildings, gave everyone including the patients their customary beatings, and arrested the whole lot. Even in war zones one leaves medical areas alone. If Nazi's managed to do it I would think our police could manage that basic concept.

They attacked the opposition's buildings yesterday as well. At one point even the chickenshit Turkish media was reporting that around 60 parliamentarians were trapped in their building and the police were lobbing tear gas inside.

The justification for all of this; victory during the elections. The President of Turkey attempted to correct the Prime Minister in his hubris, however, reminding him that a democracy does not only run on the elections; it relies on the constant input of its citizens and a government that listens to them. I understand that the Prime Minister was elected by the people. I respect that even though I don't agree with his policies. It seems, from what we've heard, that his announcement are just fuelling the fires.

The Prime Minister has claimed that the crowds are fascists, extremists, and CHP provacatuers. He has said “if they like trees so much we'll hang them from them”. He has claimed foreign powers are causing the unrest; channelling his inner Assad. He has let his emotions work his tongue and that is a major failing in a legislative politician. His sectarian attitude, the constant insults, and the police's violent crackdown could be a result of him feeling not only politically threatened but also physically.

As much as the protesters are in the right; they have no right to physically threaten Erdogan or his family. They have the right to ask for change, demand his stepping down, and legally prosecute him for gross incompetence but he, let them not forget, is still a Turkish citizen with all the rights that we claim for ourselves. The attacks should be aimed at his party. At his policies.

And this could explain his, I repeat myself, uncharacteristic nervous body language during his press conferences and speeches. He looks terrified. The protesters must rememberr that it is not Erdogan himself that is powerful, it is Erdogan supported by his party and media apparatus. Cutting at the head of a hydra only makes it worse.

I've read reports that the much of the media that formerly supported him is now against him. Straight up lies that. Yeni Safak, recently lauded by Stratfor, the BBC, the HDN, and other English language publications, has already turned upon the protesters; calling them “members of illegal organisations” and claiming “drunk protesters are defiling mosques”. Zaman has claimed protesters are destroying everything they can get their hands on because “they're all anarchists”. The only channel that is trying to showcase what is really going on, Halk TV, has just received a warning from the state media controller warning them that “insulting the personage of Recep Tayyip Erdogan is against the law” and this was their last warning.

The most worrisome issue for the protesters is the police and their erstwhile allies of the AKP's Youth Arms' recent invasion of social media. The government has never been known for their intelligent usage of social media and as a result the it has always been the arena of the opposition. This has backfired spectacularly with the sending of misinformation by the security; particularly the planting of fake stories. After planting the fake stories and waiting for them to make the round they are then disproved, casting the protesters in a bad light.

They have also used the social media to lure protesters into traps as many of my sources have attested. I have eye-witness accounts in Izmir of how they told protesters to come to the Basmane district, waited until enough of them were there, and had the metal baton-armed youth arm and police attack them. They send messages saying “they're sending in the trucks!” or “they're attacking with the riot police”. People scatter.

The second biggest problem the protests are experiencing at the moment is the focus on Taksim. The live feeds, the enormous media presence, and the government's withdrawal from the area has boded well for those in Taksim but has hurt efforts elsewhere. The media should get out a bit, see Besiktas and Ortakoy's chaotic streets. They should take pictures of the massive beatings in Izmir. They should film attacks on aid stations in Kizilay. The protests need more coverage. And the media, foreign or local, is not providing it. I'm off for my daily dose of free water and gas. Good luck and good day.

Earlier

They're raiding the aid stations and arresting the lot. Istanbul's Besiktas area, most of Ankara, and Izmir is under siege. They've broken up the bestekar group. They've attacked opposition buildings and people's apartments. They've assaulted everyone they can get their hands on. Ankara is just getting worse.

Earlier

Just got tear gassed. They're using the special stuff with the normal stuff. Watch out.

The true story of what is happening in Turkey

This was written by my friend who is living in Ankara, he managed to post in on FB and I have decided to post it here to spread the word. It is important that the world finds out what is happening from the Turkish people themselves.

It all started with a small peaceful protest in Istanbul about the demolition of Taksim Square's last green space. The city had been losing parks at a record rate under the AKP, starting with the famous de-treeing of Istiklal street itself, and people believed that this was enough. The police used such brutality that people decided to organise protests supporting those at the park in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, and Antalya to name a few places. These protests soon became anti-government and anti-police protests.
The centre of Ankara was a war zone yesterday. The police attempted to break up the protests with gas but as people acclimatized to the gas the protests got larger and larger. The crowds grew rapidly and the police began to get more violent in response. In Ankara protesters would run as close to the Kizilay Square (the centre of Ankara and the site of the Prime Ministry) get attacked by the police, and flee to the Tunali area to regroup.
People drove around the Kecioren district, where the Prime Minister lives, and honked their horns late into the night.
A huge group formed on Bestekar on the outskirts of the centre and began to march on the Square. They were brutally crushed by a combination of water cannon armed armoured trucks and gas launchers. The police, as can be seen in a series of videos, aimed directly at civilians injuring many of them severely.
Running skirmishes with armoured water cannon trucks spilled unto the bar street in Ankara and the police started to attack the bars directly with tear gas and water cannons. People attacked the trucks with bottles, agitating an already violent truck operator. We had to drag some people into the building as they were overcome by the fumes. A few street vendors tried to protect their vehicles from the rampaging water tanks and were injured.
The police, through loudhailers on their trucks, demanded that people stop filming and attempted to take out several people with cameras or phones. They destroyed the street near the embassy district; running over some poor kid who couldn't get out of the way fast enough.
That was the first day. I barely got home. We got sprayed on the way back. People hanging white towels from their balconies provided first aid and water. The protests were still going on when I went to sleep around 0500
Istanbul was worse. They trapped enormous crowds of people with tear gas and hosed them down, then flew helicopters over them firing down tear canisters. The police, according to some unconfirmed reports, began using real bullets instead of rubber bullets. The badly injured were in the hundreds and included a number of parliamentarians.
The media has been hobbled in Turkey as the government indirectly owns or controls much of it so none of these reports could be validated or invalidated . The use of gas, Agent Orange, water cannon, kettling (a police technique), and rubber bullets (you never forget how they sound) was confirmed.
These protests both cities lasted until early into the morning when many of the protesters, exhausted, retired to rest and regroup. The planned time for the protest the next day was 1600 yet crowds in both cities showed up early.
The police had withdrawn initially in Istanbul and the prime minister claimed he would let them march. Yet it was, as melodramatic as this sounds, a trap. Crowds assembled at the park and a larger group planned to march from Besiktas. The police swooped down on the crowd with more brutality then before, using rubber bullets and a derivative of the Vietnam era deforestation chemical Agent Orange. It is incredibly toxic and forbidden by the UN after the horrific effects it had on both the Vietnamese and Americans exposed to it.
The police cleared Besiktas in a hurry, heavily injuring hundreds of protesters. I have reliable eye witnesses in Istanbul that claim there are no civilians on the ground and only police right now.
Ankara protesters' plan was to meet up at 1600 and march upon the Prime Ministry. Police were even more brutal than the day before, setting up barricades and sallying forth yet thankfully, as far as I've experienced today, they've only used civilian tear gas instead of the militarised version.. Finding their way blocked protesters attempted to go to Kizilay instead with predictable results. The police, faced with at least 20,000 protesters called in the gendarme and built barricades around the Prime Ministry. People showed up in their cars, driving through the city and honking the entire way. I decided to take a look and had trouble getting back; lots of running, dodging and thanking the gods that I left my phone at home, allowing me to climb things without worrying too much and escape the psychotic police force.
Unsubstantiated reports state that the police in front of the Prime Ministry and in Besiktas have “gun free” orders; or have permission to shoot anyone who passes their barricades.
My street has been tear gassed at least 4 times directly and indirectly today. The internet has been on and off and slowed down immensely. Just enough to inconvenience anyone who wished to upload photos or write on their blogs. The official response of the sole internet provider in the country, TurkTelekom, when I called them today to inquire was that Facebook use has skyrocketed and as a result it might go down once and a while. And the government then took down the internet for real. I'm getting 3 or 4 kbs every hour for around a minute and for the other 59 minutes I have nothing.
As for the results; The interior ministry has promised an internal inquiry, but it is clear to anyone familiar with Turkish domestic policy that this is a smokescreen for the government to hide behind, they'll throw some low level commissioners to the wolves and pretend they acted without orders. This, along with the goldfish-like memory of the Turkish electorate, will probably end up making this an interesting footnote in Turkish history. I'm a pessimist. The Prime Minister has called out the protesters as a result of the damage done and the attacks on police officers; yet the initial attackers in many of the protests have been identified as governmental provocateurs. They have been seen systematically setting cars on fire far behind protest lines; plain clothes policemen that, as this is Turkey, are rather easy to spot. The administrative courts have struck down the project, but the Prime Minister has said it doesn't matter. This will set up an interesting case of government vs judiciary for later.
Over a thousand police officials have resigned as a result. The military has been handing out gas masks to civilians and there is a video of then getting into verbal arguments with the police. Although the gendarme look as if they are in with the government the majority of the military look as if they're going to sit this one out while quietly supporting the protests.
The chanting still hasn't died down yet a miasma of tear gas and smoke from the burning vehicles remains. I'm getting gassed at home as I write this for the 5th time. I'm happy I'm rather resilient when it comes to getting gassed yet at the same time I don't understand why I should have to be. I can hear the malevolent whine of water cannons charging up, the threatening thumps of tear gas canisters being launched, the deep roar of TOMA trucks, and the screaming and chanting of protesters being attacked. A crash every once and a while as the trucks hit something large. Things are not looking up.

The year 2011

The year started with my mom and I having new years dinner and wine at her house - accompanied by the cats and Memo on skype.
It was nice, relaxing - a perfect way to start the most emotionally charged year ever.

January:

We all came back to Jönköping for our last semester at JIBS. 

We had no clue how exhausting the semester would be - mentally. But we all got through (although, that's for later).

February:

Baby Vincent got a new outfit from his favorite aunt (only actually) and we also celebrated Nastia's 21st birthday and Carlos' 23d. 

It went - well, I was out at 11 (maybe even 10), and then the rest followed by the hour. 

Lesson learnt - do not drink red wine if it tastes and smells funny!

March - April:

Baby Vincent continued with his swim classes in Västerås, while down in Jönköping we were working on the thesis, finishing classes and dreaming about graduation.

By the end of the month it was time for some vacation. Turkey time. Memo came on his Euro trip and joined me in Ankara (which actually is Asia).

The Euro trip continued - to Europe! Istanbul - Västerås - Stockholm - Jönköping - Copenhagen. 

We enjoyed and discovered good and not so good things about each other. Sophia was created and I spent my whole months student loan in about a week and a half. 

May:

Back to reality - we more or less finished the thesis and everything else that had to be done in order for us to graduate. 

May was not the most exciting month of the year - not only was I feeling super nauseous and tired but we also had to keep up working in order for the semester to be finished successfully.

We celebrated Valborg

June:

We finished.

My mom, AK and Vincent came to pick me up for the final and last time in Jönköping. The goodbye's were difficult and tearful. 

These were my friends - family - for 3 years, and although it was amazing going to an international school like JIBS, it kinda sucks when you realize that each of you (friends) will end up in different parts of the world.

Nastia :  Russia

Julie : Estonia

Carlos: Miami

Yulia : Sweden

Me: Mexico

Cassia : Sweden/Brasil

I miss them more than words can describe. I hope I will see them again some day!

Spring 2009

Another big event of June : Kahn got stuck in the engine of the car.

July/August:

Travel time again. I headed over the Atlantic to visit my dad and Bettina in Panama. A nice little vacation.

It was a well needed rest. We went to Chiriqui and I finally got to see the Caribbean side of Panama (not bad 10 years after I first went).

Fun Fact: A doctor said that Sophia could be a boy. 

Back in Sweden my mom, AK, Vincent and I decided to head over to Estonia on a cruise. 

It was amazing - a mini vacation for the three Björk women. We met up with Julie who showed us around, and Vincent charmed most people we met.

 

After Estonia it was time to head back over the Atlantic, this time Mexico. 

It was difficult leaving my family behind. Being pregnant you want to be close to family and friends - none of which I had in Mexico, so I have to admit I was scared. And spent most days crying (hormonal!?)

We also found out Sophia was a girl around this time.

September:

 Not only did Vincent turn one, but he also started walking and we bought the tickets for my family to come over and visit.

I also started giving French classes and we waited for the couch.

October:

 Nothing too exciting except for: GRADUATION!
I passed the last exam (*Business Statistics 1) on Oct 15th and the ceremony was the last weekend of October. Now, I could not attend, but I pretend a little bit I did.

Novemeber/December:

These last few months of the year passed by super fast. There were 2 babyshowers for Sophia. The Crib arrived. Classes ended because of the vacations. Problems with tickets. Problems with hairdressers. Change of doctors. Due date coming very close. Memo and I getting our acts together and finished preparations. The waiting game started.

Not only do I expect the chubby face to disappear in 2012, but also to become blond again!

That was my 2011.

I got the biggest news one can ever get - pregnant.

Making it through the pregnancy. Making the relationship with Memo work. 

Graduating. 

Those are probably the main events of my 2011.

In difference to other people, Memo and I can be sure that our 2012 will be NOTHING like previous years - but that's exciting, and scary. 

Happy New Year everyone.

Puss

The end of an era...

A short era, but the time doesn't really count!

My plan was to write some kinda recap post about the time I've spent in Turkey, my impression about this increadibly weird country and the people I've gotten to know.

I will do this, but in order for me not to become too emotional I will do this when I get back to Sweden on vacation... it's easier that way!

Now lets do the summary of what has happened since I wrote last.

D and I went to the beach. We went to Kizkalsi (I think it was). The reason we went there, and not to the "normal" tourist city was because the plants are in the end of comissioning and the minestry came down this week to certify it (maybe) so he had to be close.

Kizkalesi is about 7-8h from Ankara, until Karaman it was all good. Straight roads, nothing too crazy.

About 30 min after Karaman we had to go through some kinda mountain chain... that was a crazy and unsafe road, and on top of that a bird flew into the windshield.

I became very upset.

The town we went to was very cute and nice, nothing too touristic, mostly Turkish people, quite a few Americans from the military base in Adana.

The beach was clean, I saw no sharks, nor crocodiles, but a few fishes... they scared me.

Otherwise this week has been pretty calm. I finally had the communications presentation to Jeff, he said he liked it, I am not sure.

Other than that, I found out Cagla wants to die close to the ocean, Selcuk keeps boxes of oliveoil in his place even if the doctor told him NOT to eat oily food, I also learnt that Selcuk does not believe oilveoil is an oil.

Tomorrow is my last day in AES-IC; either Meral or Cagla will be there, it's sad!!

Esat promised me cake and soda, but he wont be there either.

Anywho... you get a more thorough update after the weekend when I get back to Västerås!

Puss

Vingt Jours

I'm back again!

Took some time off... I figured I deserve it.

Nothing too interesting has happened here, that's also why. The life in the office at AES-IC is not as exciting as one might think!

Ok, to do a quick recap of what has been going on:

* A saturday was spent in Eastern Turkey, Ezercan to be exact. A family day was organized for the operations people. There was dance, speaches, kareoke, food, beer, vinagear type wine and rope pulling. I also saw my first power plant over there. Not as impressive as one might think. Like a waterslide and a pool!! (It's one of those river ones, not the impressive huge constructions)

* Other free days have been spent with D and the family. Shopping, food, wine and even some walking.

* There was an incident with eggs, a hammer, a punch, some serious threatening, and some craigslist stuff. But no worries, it seems to have calmed down now.

* We went to Konya this weekend, the parents, D and I... we watched some monks spin around in, according to them a traditional dance, according to me; random spinning. It was pretty, I was a bit tipsy from the wine... it made the event a whole lot funnier!

* The marriage comments continues. It's quite hilarious, so far I've been called his wife, we've been told we will for sure get married by random person, and most of the few people that knows tend to agree with that.

It's quite funny, we pretty much gave up on fighting it and just laugh.

Anywho... that would be what has happened the past 20 days, not too much if you see it that way.

If you look the progression of a certain thing then A LOT has happened since then.

It's amazing, I am extremly happy... haven't been this happy with someone in a very long time. Which is weird to say, because I have been happy with people... this is just to a new, much higher level.
Plans are being made, realistically; who knows... but I know I want it to happen!!!
And yes, this kinda means I am in a relationship. If you're around Sweden in the middle of July you might get a glimps...

Anywho, enough about that, I'm sure you don't really care.

Tomorrow Los parents are off to London to visit Maria Esperanza... Maria Esperanza is all done with school now. Bettina Esperanza graduated from Engineering school last week, and got herself an awesome job a few days before.
I am incredibly proud of my sisters!
If I haven't said it before, I am very happy for Anna-Karin and Fredrik too, they're having a bby!!
And Helena too... and congratulations to Elin who had her bby and whoever else I forgot!

This weekend there might be a trip planned, but that depends... not on me... but on the other person. Hopefully I will be able to get away for a bit! It would be very nice.
Next weekend is Boras wedding... I already know what I will wear... I am gonna try to outshine the bride... haha... just joking!

Have fun!
Puss

I know, I know...

Lost again... Seems like my mind is on something else,

- or someone else to be accurate.

My amazingly eventful internship at the AES office have now started.

The first week consisted of helping out in the IT-support department; i.e. I read the news and gave feedback to Mustafa. He very much appreciated that.
To show his appreciation he made me organize the 4th floor storage room.

I was wearing a skirt and high heals.

It was warm.

So to show him how increadibly motivated and thankful I was I marked the boxes with "Stuff", "More Stuff" and "Things that could be found in a hardware store".

I am mature!

The rest of the week was enjoyed at the Divan hotel. AES organized a safety conference.

It was me and about 25 engineers, managers.

We made scorecards and learnt how to do a perfect safety walk on site, I've never been on a site, let alone will I ever do a safety walk.

But I learnt something.

So on monday when I came to the office, we applied everything we'd learnt the week before.

I managed to walk into a glass door.

In my defence it was transparent, extremley clean and did NOT exist when I left the office on friday.

Since this saftey hazard was found, actually it was a near miss; I never actually bumped into the door, my reflection scared me when I was about 2 cm away, Mustafa took imediate action and put up tape so that the door could be seen.

The safety hazard had been eliminated!

Dan tells me people do this so that birds don't fly into windows.

Does that mean he compares me with a bird?

If so, I would like to be a Swan; gracious yet a bit bitchy!

Other than that I managed to pass all my classes up at Bilkent. I am happy and surprised.

Last weekend was spent with someone really special. It was very nice.
Having wine when with a special person could never go wrong.

I'll try to give more regular update, like I used to!

PUSS

Taking time...

So I've decided to take some time to write again.

I've kept busy since a while back.

I went on an insane weekend to Istanbul.
AES had a board meeting, or was it AES-IC!?
The boys were in meetings all day (night) so Bettinets and I enjoyed our new found freedom as it should be, with some wine, and a bit of sightseen of course.
I finally managed to see the blue mosque, it was not blue.
Not on the outside at least.

So as a result of the dissapointment of not seeing a blue mosque, we sat down on a bench and started judging the people passing by, Americans were the target of the day.

The comment of the day was:

"The traffic is horrible, so I will take a shortcut, but just so you know, it will be more expensive"

- How can a shortcut be more expensive? Wouldn't the word in itself imply a shorter way, hence less expensive?

Anyways, the weekend started with wine on the bus from Ankara with Esat and I don't think my system even had time to miss the wine until I was back in Ankara.

The weekend after that I left for the south. Fethiye. It was interesting.

That is a story that will take a few days to tell, so maybe not tonight.

That trip started with a man selling chickens in Asti and ended with a restaurant hunt in the most conservative city of Turkey.

Now I started my internship at AES.

This week Mustafa will have the pleasure to spend time with me.

Mustafa takes care of everything that has some kinda technology.

I find it hilarious I will even spend a week there since technology and I are not friends!

Today I wrote down phone nrs and pin codes...

I don't think Mustafa trustes me with technology, this might be because he was the one who took care of the wine incident!?

Other than that!?

I had an amazing weekend. Very good company and... I'm not sure I can say much more than that.

I have to sleep now if I don't want to fall asleep in Esats office tomorrow.

So for you who are impatient, there are pictures of the trips up on facebook. For those who can't check those out, well you gotta wait for a bit, but also, there are some uploaded on Flickr (on the left) so... there!

Bisous les enfants!

Lost...

Sorry for having been missing from here for a while, since the 13th to be exact.

Had some bad anxiety, busy days at school and went on some trips.

I will hopefully write some more tomorrow, I have so much to tell you all about.

Bisous

Picnique

Now, a picnique (I don't know how to spell that) to me means;
Park, blanket, salad, fresh fruits and wine.
A Bilkent picnique is;
Waitors, warm and cold food, soda, strawberries, porcelaine plates, glasses made of actual glass, tables and HUGE pillows on the ground.

I have to say I prefer the Bilkent version. I'm not a huge fan of insects, as you might all know; they scare the shit out of me, and they have a tendency of magically appearing when out for a picnique.

Today's exam went fine, a new record, it took me about 20 min to complete it!
Now my two management courses are over and that feels very good, although I did really like them.

Today when I got back from Bilkent I could easily have been taken for one of those salt tabletts that one would put in a Bunny rabbit cage (or which ever animal it is).
I must have sweated half my body weight today.
It was warm, very warm, barely any wind and the sun decided not to hide a single time.
The latter I really got to experience the consequences of when wanting to sit down by the fountain.
There's some kinda mini amphi theater around it, of course made of stone.
I sat down.
I quickly stood back up.
My ass was burnt.
The stairs were INCREADIBLY hot, not even warm. HOT!!!

Anyways, this post was only written in order for me to be lazy. I am actually trying to finish the CCM portfolio. I have about 5-6 pages left to write.
I have done more than half!

Alrighty then...

PUSS

One week...

That is the time I have left at Bilkent.
One week, 7 days... that is nothing. This semester has passed so increadibly fast. Amazing.

So, so... on to my usual babbling about my day.
It started out quite chaotic.
I had decided to take a cab down to Tunus, dagen till ära, I mean, I was finally gonna get my wallet (CREDIT CARD) back.
I jumped into the cab, a nice man was driving. I think I might have recognized him...
Not important, so, anyways; off we went, Tunus bound so to say.
All of a sudden, turning right at Atakule, approaching the presidents house, a HUGE traffic jam.
I don't like traffic jams, especially not when I am a bit late (woke up at 8.25, had to be in Tunus at 8.45, it was now 8.35).
All of a sudden I notice that the road passing by the presidents house was closed. At about the same time the driver noticed this and said "Tunus yok"... yok, yok, yok... stupid word. Yok  means not or no btw.
I was a tad "taken on the bed" (as we would say up north), I mean, it can't be possible that we can't go to Tunus.
Lucky me Firat (this weeks hero) called at about exactly that time (I was supposed to meet up with him to get my wallet), he spoke to the driver, and in some way I was again heading towards Tunus (a different "chemin" thou).
Off we went on something that looked like a road on the country side, I didn't care, I needed to get to Tunus before 9 THE LATEST (when the last Bilkent bus leaves), it was now 8.59, yet I was still hoping, stressing for no reason (we were not even close).
When we came down to Tunali I told the driver, "enough", paid and started walking towards Firat's place; we had now decided I would go there to pick the wallet up.
I got there, was asked if I was in a hurry; "not at all" I said, since I now had about an 45 min to waste.
At some point beer was mentioned and off we went on a hunt to buy some beers; the perfect way to wake up!
We went back to his place, had a beer each, listened to music and talked.
I became a bit tipsy.
At 9.45 I was walked to the bus, and off I went to do my daily duties; which today consisted of participating in a presentation I knew nothing about.

Well, things went smooth.
We were the last group to present, there were two students left in the room (there were about 20ish when we got there) when it was our turn, one of which left in the middle and the other being Benoit who was playing with his computer.
At some point we had something in Tukish on the slides and Akin said;
"To translate for our exchange students..." (being me, a part of the group, and Benoit)
I noticed Benoit wasn't listening, and since Akin's translation was aimed at him I tried to get his attention.

I did manage to get his attention. Not the right one thou, Benoit, who hadn't been listening AT ALL, thought that I was telling him we were done presenting and started applauding.
A quite humorous moment I have to say. (we were not done).
The teacher laughed and on we went...

Now I'm home, studying for the last CCM exam tomorrow.

Was stuyding for a bit in the sun, now I'm taking a power break.

PUSS

Always the same...

I don't know why, but every spring I get a "winter/fall depression".
The reason I am using the expression "winter/fall depression" is for the simple fact, and anyone who has lived "up north" knows what I'm talking about, that as darkness becomes more and more unavoidable and intense, people tend to fall into a depression.
Lack of sunlight
The fact of being more indoors
Many reasons are given.
Usually, spring coming, people start feeling better; outdoors is now more invitable and there is no shortage of sunlight.

But of course, I am different to most people. I get "spring depressions".
For some years now I've started feeling down every time spring "hits".
I become very anxious and don't really know what to do with myself; I loose things, I get into the wrong kinda relationships (not only referring to boys), doing random stupidities.
It has become quite a habit, a bad habit.
Already this year I've lost a wallet (which has been found, a story to be told), used most of my savings on sending a phone here, gotten into relationships (definition above) with people not worthy of any attention of mine... does it sound like last year? The year before?
Yes, history repeats itself.
And that does not make things better. I beome so angry at myslef. I mean; GOD, when will I learn!?

Idiots and assholes can be spotted from far, I am amazingly good at recognizing them, do I listen to my own warnings, not so often!
I seem to have this kinda profound need to always have at least one bad acquaintance around.

Anywho, I got into a discussion with my current bad (this is me exaggerating, it is not that bad) acquaintance about choices that had been made.

And at first I got angry... but all of a sudden it hit me: Crazy me, why am I even bothering?

So I stopped. Poor person thought I was crazy. Switching from upset to "normal" in two seconds.

I had to get all that out, SORRY!

So, wallet found! YAY... someone called the "gardien" of our building and I will get it back tomorrow.

A huge thank you to Firat who, kind as he is, called the guy (turkish only, of course) and made sure I could get it back.

Firat should also get some recognition for making my day today.

I was being my bitter spring me in Uni, sitting by myself eating a cupcake (I don't like cupcakes, so why was I eating it? Who the hell knows!). Elturan came to speak with me, and then Firat joined.

We moved over to sit with the other exchange students (Firat wondered why I always sat by myself... I am being bullied that's why! Just joking, I never pay attention, sorry!).

At some point it was decided lunch should be eaten. The problem being I had no wallet. So Firat so kindly offered to pay for lunch today.

Off we went. And, we didn't go to random shit place like, for example McDonalds, NO... we went to Burger King!

Seriously, walking down Tunali to the bus stop after eating I felt so good. I was half happy!                                                                                

THANK YOU Firat! (Although, sorry about the picture!)                     

BTW, Firat writes the funniest blog. I love it, it is hilarious, here's the link:

Firat's awesome Blog

Check it out ASAP!

Now I should really head to bed, it's already 2.25 am and I need to wake up at 7... BLÄÄÄÄÄ

PUSS

27c in the shadow

Yesterday I drank some beers and ended up a bit tipsy. Now I cannot find my wallet, I paid the cab so I had it there.
I'm a bit concerned and have that anxiety that I get when I loose or break things.
God, I hate that I always do that.
Anyways, I had a good time and fell asleep like a baby as soon as I hit the bed, of course after having sent a few drunken messages.
But not to worry dear friends, it is all good.

Today's activities involved the botanical garden, my new Tolstoy book and coke zero. It was a good day.

I found this book store with an entire floor of english books.
I LOVE book stores. I was a huge fan of Fnac when I lived in Paris and used to go there a couple of times a week just to check out the books.
Yesterday I bought 2 books;
 and

I'm sure they're good. Now I have something to do while enjoying the sun. Oh well, now I'm gonna watch a show

Puss

Tiredness

Tonight we cooked some kinda lame imitation to tacos...
The parents whipped together some carne molida, I chopped up some vegetables; only to notice we only had 3 bread(s) and no sauce. Yay...
It was very tasty despite some of the main igrediences missing, plus now the whole house smells like tacos... Double yay (please sense the tone of irony)

I have a few quite important remarks to make about the Turkish beuraucracy, but those will be left for tomorrow. When my mood is up!

Tomorrow is a new day, and my life as the owner of a Blackberry starts, hopefully it will work. I haven't yet tried since I am already angry enough at the situation. I leave that for the morning as well.

God, my brain is empty right now. I kinda regrett even starting to write.
Oh well... If you scroll down a bit, in the menu to your left you can see I added some new pictures to Flickr. They're actually kinda old, I just never uploaded them.
But there you are.

Puss