Turkey is a Great Vacation Place

I am back from my Turkey vacation... It was a spontaneous trip... I was there for four weeks... After over three years it was quite interesting to be in Turkey... I sometimes felt so happy to be there, to be part of it, however there were times that I felt so alienated... It was certainly very good and joyful to see all my close friends and spend time with them... I understood that I missed them and the nature of Turkey... Having drinks in a coffee shop, eating all those delicious food with old, real friends, being served sincerely and respectfully by the waitresses in those restaurants and cafes, beauty of the nature surrounds us were priceless...

However, the traffic and almost everybody is smoking was a very shocking incident for me to witness... Istanbul is a big city as New York and probably has the same number of cars in traffic everyday... Obviously Istanbul has a big public transportation problem and higher exhaust limits... It takes hours to go somewhere it would take normally half an hour... I couldn't breathe because of all that exhaust gases... Another thing is that surprised me was seen that many and that much various luxurious cars in Istanbul... Even in New York I haven't seen some of them...

And the children... I have never realized before that children are this much spoiled in Istanbul... They are crying to get whatever they want and unfortunately families are helpless... It made me so mad at parents that they could not even talk to their children to tell a child what she/he is doing is wrong and annoying... Children are the kings now...

I travelled in the country a bit, went to Sinop and Unye (small cities at Black Sea region)... Last week of my vacation was spent in Assos (Behramkale), Canakkale with my friend, Esra... Even though I had to change plans and go somewhere else than I had planned before, thanks to Esra, my vacation ended perfectly...


Assos which is one of the hidden paradises of Turkey was the holiday place instead of Antalya... The weather was great and that blue sea, oh, that Aegean blue (Ege mavisi) sea... It was worth it every single minute... Assos is an antique little town in Canakkale, across Lesbos (Midilli) Island of Greece, with narrow streets, stone, authentic houses which are used as hotels nowadays, and with the history of being home for Aristotle for several years... Hand woven kilims, bags, and scarves are sold by natives who are still wearing folkloric clothes and talking with local accent... Feels like you live in a fairy tale... However, my pleasure was to be in that amazingly beautiful sea; to be able to swim in it... First, it feels cold but after a few minutes you don't want to get out... Although it is deep, you can see the bottom of the sea and the fish swimming around you...

Evenings were especially nice... Wind which is around often during the day stopped in the evening and we sit on the pier with a glass of wine while it got darker and the moon rose... It is a very romantic place... Esra, and I didn't want to leave the sea... We wanted to swim all day and at least close to the sea in the evenings... We only slept for a few hours and go back to the sea in the morning... Feeling it, was so precious...

"I Left My Heart In The Aegean.
And she will be loved!"

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P.S.: The place we stayed was sooooo cheap and clean, breakfast included, Tekin Pansiyon (+90 286 7217099), I can recommend it to anyone who is going to stay in Assos with no doubt... Owners are kind and sincere... The only con about this guest house is that since it is in the village, you will need a car or you'll have to wait for shuttles to get down to the bay, to the harbor... Other places to stay click here.

Planet Earth

Planet Earth series is an extraordinary natural history documentary that I found out while I was searching some information for work on IMDB... I sent its link to my friend Baris and said "wow, I've never seen something with this much high rating." He said "oh yes, it is a great work, in fact I was planning to have it on DVD so I am going to order it immediately"... And he did... And I got it from him; I am the one who watched the whole series in several days before the DVD's owner, Baris...

Oh, yes!... And wow!!! Everyone on this planet should watch it... This documentary series has a great photography, yet better content and intentions... It shows you -once again- that the nature is just so perfect... Mother earth has its magics, and its own fine ways to deliver it to any species that lives on this very small yet very rich planet...

Series gets you into the animal and nature world... And see earth and even life from their eyes... The sympathy you feel is unbelievably real and powerful that that shakes you strongly to see how we, human beings, are the most dangerous species on this planet; how we are playing with our future recklessly; how everything losing its balance with an acceleration and almost about to reach to the point that will be no turning back... Even though we are supposed to be the smartest ones, we are destroying the earth!... Soon there won't be a ground to live on for us as it happened to polar bears...

Planet Earth has shown me the animals I have never seen or heard before... Or the things some animals do... For example, Have you ever seen a great white shark, with a seal in its big mouth above 30 meter of the sea surface? It is an amazing scene to witness how that big fish manages to get out of an ocean. Have you known that there is one kind of camels, wild camels, that can smell human beings from 3-4 miles away and never lets them to get closer, so maybe the planet earth cameraman's and their local guide is the couple of people who had a chance to see them alive and this close... Have you ever known that there is a cat, snow leopard, lives in one of the harshest environments and about to extinct? There are tons of realities, awe-inspiring animals and nature conditions to learn about...

Howie Mandell is a Sweetheart

My hubby and I have learned about Howie Mandel when we were living in Turkey... We are cartoon freaks... So we were watching Fox Kids broadcast all the time... From the second we watched this cartoon we just loved Bobby Generic, his family and adventures... "Bobby’s World" is so cute, relaxing, and fun... We didn't know anything about Howie Mandel and that Bobby’s World was an Emmy nominated series... You can see Bobby's videos on his site... Howie was the funny, cute, sweet father of Bobby with curly hairs who gets out of the cartoon at the end and talk us a little bit as himself...

When I saw him on TV as the host of a show called "Deal or No Deal", which is a very popular one, with a shaved head, I couldn't recognize him at all... I watched this show because the host was very sweet and cute... It turned out it was Howie again... :)) He is so natural, so sincere...

I Love Riding Roller Coasters, But It Started to Get Boring

I've tried all extreme roller coasters, except Dare Devil Dive and erUPtion, at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ... My favorite, in terms of overall experience, is Nitro. I also particularly enjoy the climbing part of KingDa Ka. I think El Toro's surroundings are too crowded - with all those wooden parts - and the ride sort of makes you feel like you are getting a good beating...

Great American Scream Machine - It hurted my ears a lot, becuase I bumped my ears against the protecting bars around my head during the ride over and over, I can't touch my left ear right now... All my friends (5 of them) enjoyed it, though...
Superman: Ultimate Flight - It is fun, feeling your body positioned as flying Superman...
Nitro - The best in the park... It lasts longer than any other roller coaster in the park, riding to the forest is one of the most amazing feelings that you can experience...
Batman the Ride - Booooorrriiiinnnngggg!!!
El Toro - Be ready to get beaten.
Rolling Thunder - Worse than El Toro... All my bones has changed its places... My neck and shoulders are still aching...
Batman & Robin: The Chiller - It was fun to go backward... Hehehe... Ride is too short to really enjoy it, though...
Kingda Ka - It has a 'wow' factor: its acceleration... It was so much fun to climb into the sky and drop down to the ground that fast... It's one of a kind...
Medusa - Your stomach will not like it... It made sick almost everyone in the group...

Worth to mention Orlando Roller Coasters

Kraken at Sea World, Florida was fun, too... It was my first serious roller coaster experience and I liked it very much -but I don't how I would feel if I rode it now.

Another roller coaster I enjoyed a lot at the time, was Rock 'n' Roller Coaster® Starring Aerosmith at Disneyworld, Florida.

Nitro - A Roller Coaster that Rocks

A review about Nitro roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure Theme Park. I was planning to write about all roller coasters in the park and saw that my husband already wrote one about Nitro -my of all time favorite- and obviously his, too, now... :))

http://soksa.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?_c02_owner=1

Montaigne, Essays and My Dear Teacher

I think my middle school literature teacher did the most harm to me... She was a gentle, agile person who really devoted herself to her students... She took us to plays, movies; she gave us assignments to read classics and helped us to understand what the actual meaning is of every sentence in those books, through criticizing them...

Once I've read a sentence or a quote that basically says, "Every parent leaves a scar on his/her child. That's is how he/she shapes his/her child. Depending on those scars -means marks, influences- the child can be a bad person or a good person." My dear teacher was the one of those people in my life who left on me a big scar... She didn't have to be my parent to shape me; she was just a great person who cares...

I believe she left that scar on me personality when she recommended us to read Essays by Montaigne. According to Wikipedia, "Essays is the title of a book written by Michel de Montaigne that was first published in 1580. Montaigne essentially invented the literary form of essay, a short subjective treatment of a given topic, of which the book contains a large number. Essai is French for "trial" or "attempt"."

This book taught me to see from the otherside of the events, topics... Life proved that he was right... I learned that every person has his/her own story, I saw that everything we believe, understand or see may be a delusion... Every medallion has another side... There is not an only and one right or wrong... It depends who you are, where you are, what is the main trail of your life and every little detail in your and only in your life...

And I am suffering since then... Since I've read Montaigne's Essays, I am cursed... I am sometimes thinking that it may be easier to enjoy life without recognizing every angle of every incident... If I would see the same picture everyone sees, that would be wonderful... I guess... Would that be?.. It should be... Well, I don't know... You tell me... There is no turning back for me...

Here is the complete, free version of this bad book. Please read, I need more people to see what I see...

Downgrading Life for Love?

My very small contrubution to a dear friend's blog. I'd definitely recommend you to read Ali's poetries and other great works...