Ramadan

hey so i posted a big post about ramazan and ebru art on my other blog Turkish delight if you want to take a look. here is the link http://turkishdelight-ana.blogspot.com/2011/08/ramazan.html

and here are a few pics to entice you to go see more!

check it out and i will post on Chios the greek island soon so until then take care!

The Birthdays

Hey so this week was my 21st birthday as well as my little sister Elinas birthday! She turned 19 today! Crazy they grow up so fast!
i love that girl to pieces. my sister elina has one of the biggest hearts of anyone i know. her really does care so much about other people. She is always there when i need her and if i need anything at all she offers it without hesitation. she is my sister, my friend. i love you elina!! happy birthday!


now to tell you about my big day....
well i woke up spent the rest of the morning on facebook answering the numerous birthday posts. It always interests me who will write on my wall or not. Then i read and relaxed until we went to the beach. This was one we have not gone to but it was way cool. the sea was beautiful and it was a much more "hip" (i cannot believe i just used that word) beach with chill music, big pillows to sit on, umbrellas, and lots of different activities. one such was a sand football (soccer) field which made me realize once more that i am in Turkey. if i was back in California it would be volleyball, which i would have loved to do on my birthday. but we later did find a volleyball court, it was just in the back corner of the place, hard ground, and plenty of spiky weeds. in face my game with the kids was cut short after Derin stepped on some goatheads and i had to carry her to safety. My host dad kept kind of teasing me since it was the big 21 (in the states, Turkey the drinking age is 18) and i dont even drink. he asked if i wanted something to drink and i said water but he said you can go all out, its your 21st! he ended up ordering me a strawberry smoothie which was delicious! Later the kids were getting ice cream and he said i was welcome to get one too, it was ok to got all out and crazy on my 21st. it was fun. The place sold cool t-shirts since it was a music centered place (they have concerts there and stuff) so they got me a few shirts which was way nice. They also got me a cake! it was tasty! i will put up pics of it all later. They had been invited to dinner but Berfin said that us girls could go out to dinner, so she took me to this great place she used to work out in the village. It was so much fun and it was great to get to know her better. she is a great girl and i want to become friends with her. we had fun and Derin was so funny, this girl is incredibly talkative with this amazing imagination! she was the entertainment of the night. they also basically forced me to pick out something they could get me. so they bought me two bracelets that are adorable! i will post pics later. it was really sweet. my host family made it alot easier to be away from my family and friends on my birthday. all in all it was a good birthday. The celebration does not end there either, when i get back Engin and i will celebrate our birthday together and some of my amazing friends back home want to celebrate with me when i get back to the states as well. I really cannot complain about much i mean i spent my birthday on a beach in Turkey! way cool! even though it was hard at times i can look back at this and only smile :) so goodnight folks, i have to wake up early tomorrow since we are going to a Greek island for a few days!!! eeeekkkk!!!! i am super excited! :)
take care!
Ana

cool new stuff!

so my friend monique got me hooked on this site that is the ultimate time killer/ procrastinator called stumble upon
through is i have found some amazing stuff, one of these sites i have found if called How About Orange http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/
On this site i found the coolest thing ever that i have to get! so if anyone is wanting to get me a birthday gift this would be an excellent one! ;)
It is called Inkodye it is light sensitive so you can make patterns on fabric, even leather with it.

here is a picture of Oranges use of the product. Its it so cute!!!

here is the product website! http://inkodye.com/

Year 20 is going, going, gone

Only a few more hours left as a 20 year old! It is amazing to think of all that has happened this year, especially as i listen to the call to prayer outside.
I was really sad to think that i would miss my birthday with my friends and family back home. Last year my mom made the most amazing Japanese dinner complete with tons of sushi, fried rice, noodles, egg rolls, goza, miso soup, and asian pumpkin! it was incredible delicious! My dad also got me a HUGE tres leche cake!! It was the best birthday dinner ever! This year i am not only in a foreign country but i am not even going to be in Istanbul where my few friends who are still in Turkey are at! I am in Cesme which is beautiful and great but i dont have any friends here. i made one friend but she flew today to Istanbul, ironic right. Its terrible because my boyfriend has the same birthday and i am missing it for him too! what luck!
Anyways instead of celebrating my last few hours with people  i love and friends i am sitting on the couch in the guest house alone because the family went to dinner with their Turkish friends. So far i have ate leftover kabab and dolma, watched tv, browsed the internet, had a personal mini photoshoot, and now i am writing about it on my blog. What a great way to spend my last time as a 20 year old... (if you didnt get it i am being highly sarcastic). But hey, its ok, not too bad. At least i get to relax in a beautiful little village by the sea in Turkey right....right.
So what happened in my 20th year of life??
i got a new computer!
I was dating Spencer, a dream come true until I became one of the least important things in his life
i met Alyssa, one of my most favorite people in the world
went to New York for Christmas break with my sisters
roomed with jill and chelsea and they graduated
parents divorce scare
grandma got her breast removed, knee replaced, and dementia
chopped 12in of my hair off to Donate to locks of love
Elina got a football sized tumor removed, that we were afraid it might be cancer but it turned out to have hair and a bone in it, her unborn twin
moved to Istanbul Turkey
met Kelly (i freakin love this girl! i would not have survived here without her), Aley and some other amazing people
traveled to Bulgaria, Greek Islands, and soon to be many more places

Its been a good year, i have learned so much and done some amazing things. I hope that i can expand on that even more this next year.
here are a few pics from all my fun tonight lol kind of lame but hey i have been in this house for the last 5 days!

Lets see what 21 brings!!! :)
love you
take care

Ana

Cesme

Cesme is beautiful, i walked through the village tonight on my own at which point i almost got eaten by a bear, or a rabbit, not sure i am still debating which one since it was dark. I also managed to trip over a cobblestone just as i rounded a corner and found myself in front of 10 or so very confused and amused looking Turkish people sitting outside. When i reached modern civilization there were all these little antique shops i was just gawking at! they were amazing and i wanted to go through but i had so much more to see. I have two weeks here, i have time to later go through them, after i get paid. :)
On the main street there was this man with a big bunny and a baby bunny and so of course i had to stare and squeal with delight until the man shoved the baby bunny at me. He then got the momma bunny to pick out a fortune out for me and wanted to be my "friend". I just smiled acting confused until he asked me to go out for drinks and i said no, gave him the bunny, and walked away.
Interesting, but good news! i found my way back exactly! :) i was proud of myself i am not going to lie. I was proud i found the main street in the first place!
Well it was a fun night. oh and i love my family! they all slept in till 9!
I cannot wait to take photos of the village and i will post them as soon as i can! its amazing here! I just wish i had some friends here. we will see :)
I finally got to talk to Emi the other day but not only her also my dad, grandma, and aunt!!! it was one of the best skype dates ever! skype is one of the best inventions ever let me tell you! it has made living halfway across the world that much easier. My grandma is making a special birthday dinner for me which everyone else will get to eat and i got to choose it! I also got to choose my cake! Lemon with raspberry and white chocolate frosting/filling! yumm! :p i will make one for myself when i get back!
ok thats all for now...
take care!

Blue Cruise Photos

Blast to the Past Catch Up

This post I wrote weeks ago but I don’t feel like writing again so I will just copy and paste!

The boat trip was so amazing and I have a lot to say about it but first I must tell you about Ege’s circus, it will also help give background for the kotton family.

The Kotton family is not named Kotton but Yuldez. This family is really close to my own; Yudum’s best friend from what  I can tell. They are called the Kotton family since they are the owners of the store kotton which here is a big thing. I love this store and other than H&M, Kotton is my favorite. I cannot go into this store without buying something, a dangerous place when I am trying to save. Its easy to call them the Kotton family since we all know who they are with the people I talk to. They have two kids. Dinise  who is 13 and we get along great; and Ege who is 10 and a little troublemaker. The night before we went on the cruise with them Ege had his circumcision party which is a big thing. Lets just say it was nicer than me and my sisters weddings combined. The thing was amazing! First off the invitation was a hard cover photo book of an old circus style. I didn’t know how dressed up I should get so I wore a new skirt and looked very old classic circus and then Yudum walked in wearing a fancy evening gown. Apparently the party was black tie, thanks for letting me know Yudum.  The party was incredible and they had a literal circus there too. Clowns, performers, and a huge snack booth with candy, ice cream, candy apples, popcorn, hot dogs, cotton candy, and drinks ( smoothes, sodas, etc) . There were all these cool things such as face painting, drawn headshots, photo and dress up booth, and a few other things that I don’t remember. The kids had their area to eat but the parents had a super nice area complete with a stage and live jazz singer, huge vases of orchids, and a 5 star 5 course meal. When it got cold everyone got a shall that had the Ege’s circus logo on it (which was on everything).  It was ridiculous how much and how extravagant this whole thing was, and it was for a circumcision! Oh and he got gifts, his main one being at brand new ATV four wheeler! For a 10 year old!  Apparently at the party there was a bunch of famous people, of course, like a big basketball player for one of the main club teams.

I did have a crush of the night, the candy boy. He was so stinkin cute I couldn’t take my eyes off him! I wanted to talk to him but I was too shy so I just took a creeper picture of him when he was not looking. Zeynep still talks about him and me lol  There was a great clown act and then another magic/fun act for the kids after they ate. All in all the thing was amazing but completely ridiculous at how nice it was for a circumcision party.

The next day we all flew out together with the Kotton family for our boat trip which they invited us for. Once again I underestimated the dress since I brought mostly things I could be comfortable in and wear around the boat. Who knew that you had to dress up to go to dinner on a boat?? I got by and their daughter Denise offered me to raid her closet which was full of nice brand name and designer things. She even brought a pair of her Louis Vuittons. Well the trip was pleasant and I got to talk to Denise and April ( the English teacher from Canada who lives with them) . First thing when I got on the boat was i was surrounded by several good looking boat boys who were busy getting our luggage onto the boat. It was amazing! The yacht was one of the classic wooden ones with at least 9 rooms in it. Each room had its own bathroom and even though it was small…heck we were on a yacht! April and I shared a room together which was so much fun. I really do love that girl. She is a little older, 32, but we got along great! She has done a lot of traveling herself, she worked as an aupair in Spain for 3 years and has been in London for 6. I watched her a lot since she was more proper and the company on the boat was more elegant than I am used to. I even started to talk like her. It was lots of fun still. On the boat we went from cove to port and so on every day. The water was so clear it was amazing! I could stand on the side of the boat, look straight down and see the sea bottom! I dont think I have ever swam in more beautiful waters. The water was also so salty that we were very buoyant and I barely had to move my arms or legs to keep my head above water. I would have fun with the kids diving to the more shallow bottom and collecting shells and dead sea urchins. The ports that we stopped at were usually small little areas where people had their small businesses. I felt bad because their entire year depended on these cruises that come through in the summer with tourists. Some of the places were very run down with dust collecting on the postcards. Sometimes we would have someone in a small speedboat come to the boat selling ice cream, or there were some ladies that came by selling different things. I bought a swim cover up from them. One of the girls was still really young and had even gone to college but now she was spending her time fighting to sell her merchandise to tourists on cruises for the summer to last her through the rest of the year. There was one area we went to where there was the remains of a fort wall on the top of the hill on this island. We got to hike up to it which I was super stoked about. I got my backpack on and everything ready for a good hike even though it was quite small. I was still super excited for my first hike in Turkey and maybe my only. After the hike most everyone just swam back to the boat from the dock. Zeynep is a super good swimmer which makes me very happy that I don’t have to watch her every micro second.

The boat boys were a nice, well needed change. I left America with the relief of getting away from boys and relationship dramas which has been great but after a couple months i am just itching for even a boy who is in my life enough to have a crush on! so being on a small boat for a week with several young, good looking guys who are interested and flirting has been about the best thing ever. This is now new writings so it is old news so i will just fill you in on the main details. They would so obviously stare at me, especially when i was wearing my swim suit. I didnt mind i am just a little self conscious. When it was getting closer to the end of my week they would (Emra) would just give me things to eat and drink. Dinners are always amazing with more food than i could ever consume available. One night i was finished eating and done but the main course had not even come yet, the fish. It was really nice fish and everyone was still waiting, i had been taking care of Zeynep since her stomach had been bothering her but i came down to finish eating and chat with April a bit when Emra comes over with a huge fish, scales, fins, face and everything and even though i said no thank you he didnt care and put the fish onto my plate! this was a sweet thing since it was before anyone else had gotten it and it was such a nice fish but i really did not want it! how could i refuse! it was on my plate looking at me! So i started eating and only ate about half of it. Another time Emra had made a special dessert for everyone and he brought it out but he served me first out of everyone telling me i need to try it before anyone else got their pieces. He was so cute! i was really attracted to him! there was a sail boat in the distance in one bay they we were watching and it blew over and immanently he called Faith over and they jumped in the speedboat to go help them. So HOT! 

April was not having much luck with phones and hers was not working so she bought a new one. The next day when getting back onto the boat she dropped it into the ocean! Faith was elected to jump in and get it but when he couldnt see it Emra swiftly pulled off his shirt and dived in to get it. So HOT!!!! haha it was good times. i had a great time just chatting with them. Faith was the young one so he was more teesy flirty which was cute but i had a great time and it was some well needed flirting! Now that its over i dont remember as much but it was great. Great boat trip! :) 

Down to it

ok here is the truth...
i have been neglecting my blog duties
why??...
not because i didnt have time since i did have two weeks off recently
not because i wanted to create some dramatic effect
and not because i have so much to keep to myself
the truth...
pure laziness and lack of motivation to type out my life
I have so much to say that I have been putting it off longer and longer to avoid the finger typing cramps only creating a more massive problem for myself.
so here is the deal...
I will type out the rest of a post i was writing earlier and get as much done as i can while i wait for my sister (Emi) and my dad to get from my one grandmothers house where i was just talking to them over skype to my other grandmas to that i may too try and talk to them on skype. This has been greatly needed since i have been a little depressed lately since i am missing out on my favorite things about summer, i am spending my birthday away from any of my friends or family or even away from Istanbul, and when i get back to the states i still will not be able to see/live with anyone because all of my friends will be gone! thats right gone! either graduated, mission, or married. This sucks. I have no one to room with and i have to start all over again! I am getting really tired of living my life one moment at a time with each moment being different and no one to go through time with me. Venting done.
but yes i will now go to the bathroom and then work on more posts. I will try to be better but no guarantees
Tomorrow i leave with my family to Cesme for two weeks. I hope this goes well and i get close in a good way to my family. This is also where i will spend my birthday. it is apparently the hot spot in Turkey to go for the summer, and know for windsurfing. Maybe i will get a chance to learn :) That would be nice. Hopefully i can get some posts in while i am there, and finding a fun guy there would also be nice.

Take Care

Day One With Derin

This last week I had off and it was great. I will get into the details later but in all it was amazing.
Today i moved into my new home! :) it is beautiful with a great view of the city center! There is a pool next to us and I have AC in my room! Drein is my new child and she is super sweet and more like a real 8 year old should act, maybe even more pleasant. I have barely gotten any sleep so i have been just tired the whole day but we had fun getting to know each other. They have this theater in the complex just around the corner from the apartment which is sweet! we watched open season 3 which i expectantly enjoyed. The new house keeper is really nice so far and she is a freakin amazing cook! best dolma ever for lunch and its like everything she touches is all of the sudden so good even if i usually dont like it. The parents are so great so far and i am really feeling like this is the best change, but i am still holding my breath. i dont want to get too comfortable but its just such a relief to not be constantly stressed and anxious. They gave me an iphone to use but it was not really working so i am going to get a blackberry instead! i am a bit sad but it is still the coolest phone i have had! i guess thats what you get when your host dad works in a big mobile phone company. Apparently they own part of verizon too. It is weird cuz Drein is going to her cousins tomorrow so i get the day off basically and then I get all next week off too since they are going to the states. I need to find something to do all next week. And then when they get back we will be going to their summer home in cheshme for two weeks. Is this really work? The only really downer is that i dropped my stuff off to the security people and i am missing $200, my deodorant, one of my swimsuits, and a pair of shorts. I am hoping the clothes are just hiding somewhere but i am sad the rest is gone. dang it.
Oh and i found out that i will be at the summer home during my birthday so that is a bummer but i didnt really know what i was going to do for it anyways. Hostel guy engin who i will write about later has the same birthday so i was hoping to go out with him but maybe we will just have to celebrate later or before.
Well i am super tired and i will try to put up some pics tomorrow of the new place.
Take Care!