Today

signed my contract...
;-)

Seyrülsefer

A great song from one of the best voices of Turkey: Seyrulsefer from Sertab... Videa shows a traditional wedding in a Turkish village.. In the beginning the mother says : "you'll all get married and go away, and i'll feel alone.."
Ne guzel bi' sarki ve bi' sestir yaa..

Best Photos of Turkey

Atlas, Turkish Traveler Magazine, selected its 10 best photos of the last 15 years. Top 3 are :

1. Hakan Oge (Keban Dam)

2. Hakan Oge (Lake Meke, Konya)

3. And my favorite, Bunyad Dinc (Istanbul)

See the other pictures here

i'd prefer to see this on my desktop..

A big Turkish family having picnic, with their mangal, blue water barrel, swing on the tree and of course their Murat 124 car.. This windows wallpaper is now much more cheering and meaningful to me. I already made it my new wallpaper, heheh
Gracias, Ahmet’cim!

Enlightened...

Having seen much, it feels like it’s never going to be enough. But should accept the fact that ‘Life ain’t perfect.’ Never will be.. Won't have the life i expected when I was 18.. can’t have it all.. So should choose.. should choose knowing it’s not going to be perfect… Like a “dost” says, every decision has its side effects as well…have to have.. And at the end, isn’t life all about how we perceive what we lived?… isn’t it about your answer to this “how?”.. should better understand it; especially at this very important point. Thanks to some of my ‘enlightened people’, I do not feel alone. But somehow, feels like we are all becoming alone in a big crowd - all feeling the same..Didn’t understand ? Me neither..And don’t think I’ll ever..which is completely fine..it'd better be..

Paris, Je T'aime..

Finally! 7 months after coming to Brussels, I could go to Paris last weekend -which is only 1.5 hr far from here. During these 2 days, i couldn't see all the 20 arrondissements which were also mentioned in the movie, but I was able to see the many important parts and i could get best out of it by :

Eating Crepes and drinking Vin Rouge in Marais cafes


Chilling out in Paris Streets


Watching Paris from Notre Dame


Tasting yammy Pana Cotta - Resting at Sorbonne cafes


Watching Seine by day and night


Sitting by the light of Louvre at night


Having fun in Paris Nightlife

Climbing to Montmartre

Restíng at Montmartre

Seeing Place St Michel- Another important place Moulin Rouge :)

Ending the trip on Champs Elysees

catching up my Bahar and my new 'kanka' Nico - Thanks Guys :)

Coming from a city with a scent of history, it was amazing to be in a city like Paris and feel the same spirit again. I also have a good excuse to visit this city again as visiting Eiffel or Louvre was not only the list. I know neither my weekend trip nor my short post is enough to tell about this city. For more photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/53965014@N00/tags/paris/

Iyi ki Dogdun Drake Bey..

I remember it like yesterday.. When Latif first told me about you coming to Istanbul in 2002, I thought ' wtf i am going to do with this guy if he becomes my trainee'.. and you became. And you became not only one of my trainees but also one of my closest friends since then..

Of course i will never forget : my disgusting trainee, 31, kebap ayrans, "ohaa"s, 'if you touch me, i touch you' , drinking raki in Balikpazari, eating Midye and Kokorec, smoking nargile in Tophane, walking from Taksim to Mecidiyekoy, meeting with Recep & Nihal & Umut, going to Fenerbahce match, visiting Marmara and all the memories in 5 years.

So canim, as you can see years passed and nothing happened to our friendship. I am sure nothing will happen for a long time, too. I will also celebrate your 57th birthday insallah!!

And so canim, Happy Birthday !! I hope your 27th age will bring you adventure, success, peace, joy, love, fun, friends, laughters and all the good times..

All the best,
Your Disgusting Reception Officer 2002- Istanbul,
Tugba
p: see you 17th March, at Schiphol canim! :-)

www.radioblogclub.com

Check out: Good stuff.. For online music..

Vivaaa Cologniaaa

I couldn't travel much in the first 6 months of my stay here because of money + residence permit problems and i promised to travel as much as i can in this second half. So in February, i booked my tickets to Cologne, Paris, Stockholm and Dublin.. :)

My first trip was to Cologne last weekend for the Cologne Carnival. Being one of the most famous carnivals in the world (following Rio and Venice) I was quite curious and excited to go there weeks before. I didnt know this carnival has been celebrated for around 200 years :
http://www.colognecarnival.com/

I was a bit worried what to wear,too.. However after seeing so many people with so strange, wild and random clothes in Cologne station, i thought whatever i could wear would be accepted.

Thanks to Levent, I decided to be an afro woman from the 70s.. However with the hair, i looked most like an oldie housewife.. :)

The first night, Friday, Levent, Tina and I were out with Levent's Turkish friends, tried to get into many packed pubs and bars, and luckily we could find 2 places with good music.
(ps : that night had a special importance for me as it was the first (in fact second) time i accidentally ate pork. )

On Saturday, it was even more fun as Geri, Onur, Kasia, Will, Carlo and dear Hatice joined us.. I dont remember how many places we went, how much beer i drank as i was a bit consciousless most of the night :P I remember, it was again around 5 in the morning when we got back home.

Unfortunately i missed the sunday and Rosenmontag (rose monday) which are basicly the most important parts of the carnival.. (although i was there, i dont remember most of Friday and Saturday neither) but somehow i feel that i had a really good time.. :) especially looking at the pics : http://www.flickr.com/photos/57085928@N00/

Next destination : Paris.. Tomorrow!