Kartalkaya; Skiing in Turkey

I have a whole heap of renewed respect for my Ma and Pa (especially Dad since he is a snowboarder) skiing with two little kids back in the day. I’ve spent the past week playing mother duckling to the girls on the ski fields. T-bars, chairlifts, ski poles and snowploughs suddenly became a whole new challenge. (Three days of skiing on my own and no aches and pains, one hour of snowploughs with the girls and I’ve discovered leg muscles I didn’t know existed.) The girls had two weeks off for school holidays and for the second half we drove 3 hours East from Istanbul to Kartalkaya, Bolu. I couldn’t quite believe there would be a ski field, let alone snow to ski on as we were driving. 18 degrees, and not a mountain to be seen – even after parking the car at the bottom and jumping into a prebooked hotel car to drive us up. But suddenly, out of nowhere, appeared a whole heap of snow in a valley and a fairly impressive ski resort.

   

We stayed in the Grand Kartal Hotel, a large all-inclusive that provided ski passes, three meals a day and all the sahlep, hot chocolate and mulled wine one might want. There was a warm swimming pool to kick around in after a long day’s skiing, and a sauna, spa and hamam which we didn’t take advantage of.

The slopes themselves were similar to NZ skiing. Nothing too difficult, but great for the girls as beginners. The first few days were very windy and I spent my time on the slopes closest to the hotel while the girls had lessons. The third day the wind dropped and I headed over the top to the other side of the mountain where a grand total of six skiiers and boarders had carved into the piste. It was pretty weird standing on the side of a sunny mountain at 12pm with only a couple of tracks in front of me, and not a sound to be heard. I think all in all there would’ve been about 300 people on the entire mountain skiing, and not many of them left the t-bar on the blue slope or the main chair lift. The other side had potential for some awesome off-piste skiing but it was pretty icy (and whipped up into lovely meringue peaks) and since I didn’t have a helmet, and there was absolutely no one around I decided to take it easy.

   

The weather was pretty good, very windy for 4/5 days, but one day when the wind dropped and the sun was shining was absolutely fantastic. The Sunday was the busiest day of the week, I read somewhere that because of the proximity to Ankara and Istanbul many people come for the day, plus there are buses arranged by travel agencies the drop off early morning and return in the evening.

I have no idea of the costs involved, but I imagine its pricier than skiing in NZ. The hotels (Grand Kartal and Kartal) are all inclusive and supply the lift passes. I couldn’t work it out but there is actually a whole other side to the mountain with some good-looking pistes, which I think were all attached to an newer, fancier hotel directly opposite the Kartals. (Called Kayak World or something similar. Kayak means Ski in Turkish, how confusing.)

I think this was only my second time ever skiing without my family, I missed my folks a bit! There weren’t too many people my age staying at the resort – I think mainly because it’s pretty family orientated and there isn’t much of a apres-ski scene. I think there are a few other resorts around Turkey more well known but much busier.

İyi Bayramlar!

and it’s my 100th Post! Very late I know… but I guess that means I’m not doing as badly as I thought at this blogging lark. In honour of such a milestone post I should probs write something awesome but it’s unlikely to happen, so here is a quick update and a reminder of some of my favourite trips in the past two years.
Turkey is much the same as when I last told you – the weather is cooling (or I’m getting used to it) and it’s down to about 35 degrees during the day. I get goosebumps when i get out of the pool now! Generally everything is awesome here, and I’ve been offered a job for winter in Istanbul teaching English so I’m going to look at getting a residence visa and staying on in Turkey. Apparently not too difficult, but let’s see! I’ve been working pretty hard here, and playing hard too. Most days are spent waking up having a quick breakfast, coffee and cold shower before cycling to work. Evenings are spent working or drinking and I have started to put on weight again (oops) and am craving cardio exercise – time to find some running shoes I think!
The season is nearly over – Ramazan finished today and kicked off today and ends on Thursday so it’s going to be very busy. Yaayy… On top of that, my darling artist Annalisa is disappearing tomorrow for Kos having realised she’s massively overstayed her visa and might have a problem. Fingers crossed she doesn’t because if she does, I definitely will.
I haven’t actually seen much outside of the Torba/Bodrum area. I’m hoping I’ll get time at the end of the season. I’ve definitely had my eyes opened to how ridiculously wealthy people can be. CDA is very upmarket, and seems to host European rich and famous. The amount of money one can spend here is incredible, and the other night I watched a group of visiting Lebanese buy 30 bottles of Moet Chandon at 1000TLR a pop, and dance up a storm on the deck (they sure know how to party.) There was a birthday party for one of the Egyptian family members staying here the other day and a huge banquet lunch was prepared followed by acrobats, contortionists and jugglers and this thing:

My Turkish has improved minimally. Apparently I have a nice accent, but the sentence structure is hard because they just keep adding bits on to words and the subject is at the start, and the verb ‘to be’ goes on the end of other verbs or nouns or even adjectives aaaaaargh. I can speak to children enough to find out what they want to do at Kid’s Club, but as soon as they speak fast I go blank. I’d really like to be fluent though!
The people here are really nice. In general as a foreign girl I’m treated differently, and I can’t quiiite work out what the norm is. This is partly because Bodrum is a big tourist town, and partly because the coast is very European, partly because I don’t speak the language and partly because Turkish women seem to be much more reserved and I don’t actually get to talk to many. I have two female Turkish friends but there are really not so many working at the hotel. Noticeably different things include fashion, and the high level of maintenance and grooming both men and women expect. Bling and bright colours, high heels, manicured (male and female), pedicured, tanned, blowdried, men’s hair cut and chins carefully shaved every week.
My brain has switched off here. I can’t even think about what to blog about! I haven’t been reading too much, haven’t seen much of the news, completely ignored the Olymipcs and the only tv I’ve watched has been the Turkish football – they are totally mad about and one of their favourite players is called Alex D’Souza so I get a lot of comments, especially since I have a ‘man’s name’.
I guess a 100th post should mention the previous posts, using Sarah as a starting point since I’m here in Turkey because of her - I met Sarah in Madrid over a year ago – and it’s turned out awesomely much like the weekend itself. Nepal was life changing and I would really like to get back there some day soon. Trekking in the Annapurnas was spectacular, and I will always remember the week in Delhi (though far from my favourite trip.) Arriving in London to a ridiculously cold winter almost drove me home again, but I’m very, very glad I stayed! A wonderful trip around Croatia and Santorini with Nana.Oh, and Berlin was excellent, as was Amsterdam, and then the World Cup Final, and dress-ups for Halloween!
I noticed that I put a lot of exclamation marks into my posts. I should find some photos too I guess, but man am I being lazy!
I think I’ve managed to reply to most of the emails lately, love hearing from you.
SIZI SEVIYORUM

Halfway Back to London

I’m sitting in Kuala Lumpur airport feeling a little worse for wear, halfway back to Europe. I’ve got a three hour transit so now would be the perfect time to finish my NZ blogs but I’m feeling pretty jaded so will just post some photos of my awesome family, my birthday cake and the sky from the lounge window the other night. And my computer’s going to die so hope this uploads.

  

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year

Hope you all had wonderful hot Christmases and ate as much food, drank as much wine, and had lots of hugs like I did! I spent a traditional English Christmas at family friends in Swindon on the same road I grew up on. A bit surreal but very relaxing. We went for a walk in the wild weather up Barbury Castle (remember flying kites up there Sam?) a bike ride down the old railway path past a whole new housing development by the green belt, and played lots of boardgames. I had turkey for the first time that I can remember!

I can’t believe it’s 2012 already. Last year flew past! I noticed lots of people were talking on Facebook about how good or bad 2011 was - I think that it’s kind of odd to lump an entire year as ‘bad’, but maybe that’s because all my years are pretty good! 2011 was definitely a year of learning, exploring and growing as a person. It seems a long time ago that I arrived in the UK, and this year I’ve been to Sweden, Berlin, Greece, Venice, Madrid twice, Croatia, and Amsterdam. Not quite the country a month of my New Year’s Resolution, but not bad! Hopefully Paris next month, and Scotland this month.

This year’s resolution is probably more ambitious – something new every week. Maybe it’ll get me blogging a bit more. Haaa…

Anyway, on more Christmas news, I want to come home this year for Christmas. Christmas just isn’t the same when it’s cold and miserable and there’s no pavlova, barbeque or crayfish! The ice skating is good though. :D

I’ll try to reply to all the emails that I’ve let build up, and leave you with the BBC video of the fireworks for NYE in London. Amaaaaazing.

I’m a crappy blogger but happy Chinese New Year, Waitangi Day, and Valentine’s to you all!

It’s almost a month since I posted anything!

I’ve been working, busy hanging out with flat mates, couchsurfers and friends, drinking far too much beer (I actually like it now) and doing a little bit of siteseeing wandering around on the weekend. I’ve discovered how marvellous it is to have a GPS on one’s phone, and how much more fun you can have when the battery dies!

On Friday night I went to a BALL! It was a massive costume affair at Battersea Power Station and is all a bit of a blur now, but resulted in no sleep on the weekend, red glitter EVERYWHERE, and too many photos to count, mostly from girls with cameras small enough to take to a party.

     

There were fire poi dancers, and dressups everywhere, jacuzzis outside, little tents and areas everywhere, four poster beds to lie down on, (not a very conservative or traditional ball.)

AND, AND, AND! The sun is still out at 5 o’clock now!! IT’S SO EXCITING! :o

Happy New Year, Hello 2011!

It seems strange to think this is going to be my first year in a new country, new friends, new job, new home. I had a wonderful last year, finishing university, gaining work experience at the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Transport, finishing looking after Callum (who is so grown up, I can’t imagine how big he’ll be next time I see him!) ((Hi Callum, John and Mandy!)) Living in Wellington was amazing, as are my friends and family, and setting off travelling was the scariest thing I’ve done yet!

I had a great night New Year’s Eve in Shoreditch and ended up spending the whole weekend with her friends. (Beth was a bit poorly and didn’t make it out haha.) In the lunchtime we walked down Brick Lane which was still heaving, and completely surreal with clubbers still lining up, looking a little worse for wear, and the street and buildings shaking from the bass. Now I need to find someone to go clubbing with!

I start work on Tuesday, and realised that I’ve kinda mucked around a bit over the past month. Ah well! I’m looking forward to work, and have started flat hunting.

My New Year’s Resolution is to visit one country a month this year! Wooo! So many opportunities from London! Maybe my blog posts will get more interesting again.

A Very Merry English Christmas

  

I had a lovely Christmas at the Hillier’s in Swindon, my old stomping ground. I got a great big stocking from Santa at the foot of my bed in the morning too! Beth and Lucy tried to teach me to juggle but I failed miserably. They, on the other hand, are very good.

We had a Christmas breakfast with sparkling wine and bagels and croissants, salmon and ham, then went for a great big walk around Coate Water in the snow – which was absolutely stunning.

     

The lake was completely frozen over, and some mad person had made a snow angel on the ice.

I head back to London tomorrow which I’m looking forward to. Swindon hasn’t changed much, but it was nice to visit. I’ll come back again for a weekend and have a proper look round and hopefully catch up with people.

Peace y’all x

Merry Christmas Eve, World!

I’m heading over to Swindon, my childhood stomping ground, at lunchtime today to spend Christmas with Beth and her family. Hopefully there will be a few others I can catch up with too!

  

I also forgot to say, I’ve got a job! Working as an assistant to the director’s of a small design and technology company called Metabroadcast. They work in the media industry doing lots of lovely computer programming. (Ironic that I’m working for a computer programming company, Dad?) I start in January so will start looking for a flat then too.