Fissy's Spiralling vacation (aka Turkey log)

[Feather Spiral 1,892]

Hello fillies and sexycolts, this is Faggot Sodacan the 69th reporting.

 

As you may remember, I left for Istanbul on Friday two weeks ago. I've noted the most important events that happened since, not to mention writing down ideas (mostly found in newspapers )and doodling. Now that my father took my sister to visit his mom, and my mother is doing some cleaning up, I have about an hour of freedom, which I shall dedicate to struggling with a different keyboard and type this post properly.

 

 

It was past midnight when we arrived at our place, so this log starts on Saturday.

First thing we did next morning is come to my grandmother's (father's side) place, which is sometimes used as our secondary base of operations.

We didn't really do much that day though, at least that I remember, besides getting a haircut. I got mine just shortened a little, so I spend less shampoo but still look as handsome. Oh, and I met a rather cuddly cat there, yellow with stripes (called 'sarman' in Turkish, forgot the English equivalent), whose claw left a (now vanishing) souvenir on my hand.

 

On Sunday, we visited my grandpa (mother's side), who offered me a ring of his for getting my License degree.

Towards noon, we went to my uncle's (father's bro) house in the country, where he once grew grapes to make wine but stopped (if I recall correctly). We had lunch, or rather feasted because there was a LOT of food (mostly fish), and played with their Beagle girl - our family has always had a weakness for female pets.

Meanwhile came a rainstorm; the wind was strong enough to push a wooden bench all the way across their large balcony. My uncle took the opportunity to make us visit the 'tower', a bedroom with bunkbeds, only room of the third floor. From there we watched the rain, as well as a neighbor's swimming pool and his two... ostriches. XD

Oh, I almost forgot. My father and I switched places towards the end, so I did the last few kilometers. I feel accomplished for driving in the Turkish traffic without trouble, because... well, it's the East-European kind of taffic, if you see what I mean. Both my mom and I have an international permit, but neither of us usually dares to drive more than a few kilometers at a time.

 

I got an upset stomach that night, and a little next morning. Meanwhile my parents were out on a marathon: transferring money from one bank to another, searching for accounts with the best interest rates. They also got my grandmother to a medical appointment for her toenail - trust me, you don't wanna know the detail.

 

From Tuesday noon to Saturday noon, we and my grandmother spent our time in Kuşadası, which I think is rather well-known in the Western world. Roughly, our stay was a collection of swimming, sunbathing, animal-petting, sunburn-soothing-cream-putting, and eating things I hadn't tasted in ages (like künefe or pide - look them up!). Oh, and I had a pony dream, which I will post in the appropriate thread when I find the chance.

Thusday and Friday in particular were sweet. I found a kennel with a husky and German shepherd in it, as well as another dog (kangal?) chained to a tree right next to it. The two dogs in the kennel were peaceful, just sticking out their heads to be stroked then going back in, and the third... well, he waas extremely playful. I got poked, nuzzled, licked, pawed, even munched on; I ended the day covered in slobber, dirt, dust, hair and mud. There wasn't a patch of exposed skin or clothing left clean, and I couldn't be happier - it's also the first time I remember giving a dog a tight, full hug and staying still for a minute.

 

On Sunday, we visited both my grandfathers. The one on my father's side passed and was buried in a small graveyard next to my uncle's house - the one where we had lunch. We prayed for him, my parents holding out their hands in the true Muslim tradition... and I just standing there, a hand on the warm sunlit , trying to feel the souls and Nature there.

We then went to my mom's father's place for lunch - not as big as the aforementioned feast, but delicious. I don't remember a lot from that afternoon - his voice tends to soothe me, maybe too much.

 

And yesterday started the same way at my grandmother's summer house. It's right next to a beach, but I had enough sun and sea in Kuşadası, and the water smelt foul anyway. I took a couple of bunnies on photo though, they were jumping and grazing in the garden below the balcony.

I saw the swinging couch on the balcony, which reminded me of how much I loved sleeping in there - lots of childhood memories. I finally had a real nap, a resting one, where the swinging sensation chased stray thoughts (music and such) away.

 

 

Today we're going to my aunt's mother's place. And tomorrow, we're leaving for a passage and do some window-shopping there.

 

The rest of the plan isn't determined yet, so this is where I'll interrupt the log for now.

See y'all laterz, alligatorz. :3

Edited August 25, 2012 by Feather Spiral

[Viscra Maelstrom 3,718]

holy shit how did i miss that you posted this here. i swear this thread LITERALLY popped up when i was searching for a hardcore electronic music thread.

 

anywaaaaay, glad to finally hear from you again, sweets. looks like you're having a nice time over there. :3

speaking of, i've left a substantial amount of messages to you on Skype, as a form of documentation on key things that has happened in my life the past few weeks you were gone... i hope you don't mind them.

 

have a continued nice vacation in Turkey, fissy. <3 *leaves kiss here for later usage*

[Feather Spiral 1,892]

*trips on a kiss* Oh whoops, didn't see that one, heh heh. X3 *picks up and rubs all over meh*

I'll try to tend to those messages when I get back.

 

Anyway, fillies and sexycolts, I shall resume my log from here.

First, let me apologize for giving you false information. I made a mistake in my calculation and thought we were leaving for İzmir the day following my OP. I've just realized this now when I read it, because I completely forgot I even said that the last time. owo

 

 

After I posted my previous reply, my parents went to the place I mentioned, leaving me and my sister home. I initially thought of coming back to this internet café, but I couldn't leave my sis alone. Besides, I had things I had been intending to draw for a while, so I decided to do that. They brought back food though, some cake and simit (you should buy the latter from street sellers, NOT a market or big shop where they're of lesser quality).

Also they bought a satellite receiver for our TV, because the appartment's electric installation keeps getting changed so we can't access as many channels. The receiver didn't work though, so I went with my dad to get a refund, and took the opportunity to buy a thing or two.

 

On Wednesday, my mother took me and my sister to a passage where we wandered around. I wanna mention three things in detail: pestil, music, fresh juice. We also bought a few comic books though.

The former is a delicacy that consists of dried pulp strips (apricot, white mulberry, and another fruit I forgot), and come in different shapes (rectangular sheets, or wraps with walnuts/hazelnuts between the layers); I bought two packs in sheet form, one apricot-flavored and the other white-mulberry. Then we entered a media store where I looked for traditional Turkish music - I got me some Türkü (folk song) CDs, not just for pleasure but also inspiration, because my birth country has a special place in Mythospective. And at the end of our tour, we stopped by a juice salesman, who was pushing fruits and/or legumes down a food processor to serve fresh juice in real-time - mine was a grape+peach mix.

In the afternoon, my father took me out to buy a small, cheap antenna for the TV, which works wonders now. We also paid for our car's (legally mine acually) insurance, which was otherwise renewed a few days ago.

 

I spent Thursday running an errand with my father and uncle. At first, dad drove with me to his old workplace, a factory (he's an auto engineer), where I met a couple ex-colleagues and shared their memories. We had lunch there, then left the car to them for some minor repairs when my uncle came.

He took us to visit a couple of lands in the country they had just acquired, and I was charged with the task of taking photos. My shins (but mostly socks, because I was wearing a pair of old sports shoes for this purpose) had their first contact with dry grass and thorny seeds, and I also spotted two crickets.

After driving back to the factory where he dropped us off, he joined us at our home to continue the job. Unfortunately his laptop's battery died on him so we couldn't load the photos, so we spent the evening discussing family matters instead.

Oh, and on the way to the factory and back home, we stopped by my grandmother's place to leave our laundry and then take the clean clothes back.

 

Next day, my father drove us to my grandfather's place while he was wandering the banks again. We ordered İskender (Alexander) kebab, which is one of my favorite dishes and MUST be eaten at least once by anyone visiting Turkey.

I wanna mention this now, I love listening to my grandpa's memories, both for their content and because of his soothing voice. I just gotta make sure not to fall asleep in front of him, which is hard but it's sometimes worth it. He's the one who inspired me to draw, and I'm sure that's why my mother took painting lessons herself. His late wife also wrote a romance novel, my mom showed me the scribbles she'd exchange with her best friend in class, and my other uncle's (her bro) witty letters from the military: Yep, my mother's side of the family is heavily on the artistic side.

My parents had dinner at my father's college and didn't return until midnight. My sis and I stayed home where I fried us some lamb ribs - I almost caused a disaster, I might talk about it later.

 

I woke up to two strange dreams this morning, one of which involved ponies (me, Viscra, and Fluttershy) and the other was family (with a lucid, NSFW ending). The latter had my father's father who passed a few years ago - for memo, my father's father and mother's mother are both dead.

The day was... remarkably empty, to tell you the truth, for anyone but my father. I spent the morning sketching things and the afternoon napping, since there wasn't much else I could do in that stunning heat.

 

 

Tomorrow we're flying to İzmir, same city as for our Kuşadası trip, but this time the hotel will be more luxurious (ew) and there'll be less seaside (though there's a pool I think). I just hope there'll be big dogs for me to snuggle and huggle some more. <3

 

That ends my second log.

Bi

- Faggot Sodacan the 69th Homo erotis

 

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Hello fillies and sexycolts.

 

 

The morning following that post (Sunday), the four of us took our flight to Izmir. We had booked a normal room connected to a huge suite with a door in the middle, so it felt like a large house - bigger, in fact, than our home in France.

Our hotel was in the district called "Alsancak", meaning "red sky, red starboard", referring to the red background of the Turkish flag, which itself derives from the blood of soldiers who fought after WWI to free the country. There was a plaza visible from our rooms, called "Cumhuriyet Meydanı", which means "Republic Plaza", and the Aegean sea could be seen beyond it. You will soon see why I'm giving these details.

 

In the continuation of that plaza was a long, grassy strip where people walked down paths, and sometimes sat down on the grass to watch the setting sun. In that park, we came across the most adorable bunch - yep, stray dogs. Big dogs, very playful (save from one or two very quiet dogs), who had a common obsession with my ponytail. They played with each other, did a brief tug-of-war with a plastic box once, chased motorbikes, rolled over for tummy rubs... I exchanged a long gaze with one of them, another even sat on my lap, and a third one just lied down on it, while I sat on the grass.

The hotel was pretty cool, there were a couple lounges (where I tried some vodka and whiskey) and two pricey restaurants in it. Also the pool had a feature I hadn't seen before: next to the toilets and showers, there was a centrifuge where you could dry a swimsuit in seconds.

 

Now, on Monday, while we were next to the pool, we heard fighter jets flying pretty low above our heads, followed by helicopters. I first thought they maybe had problems, but two pairs of jets in a row and three heloes in tight formation?

Then I made the connection: we were three days from the Republic Day, anniversary of the Turkish Republic's official birth. Remember the name of the district and the plaza? That's why they were important - celebrations were being prepared, rehearsed, and done there.

And yesterday morning, three groups representing each branch of the army (land, sea, air) gathered there to sing songs, one of which was the 10th Anniversary Anthem (which I once posted here, then asked Viscra to remix).

 

There were also horse-drawn carriages that took people (groups of 4 for most) on tours, often going across the Plaza. We paid for a tour on one of them on Wednesday evening before dinner, and rode along the road that ran parallel to the coast. Motorboats of various sizes on our left, restaurants chained like pearls on a necklace on the right, I closed my eyes and gave in to the moment. I felt the gentle rocking and occasional jolting of the carriage, smelt the two horses pulling us; heard the sound of hooves tapping the ground, the wheels rolling across the rocky floor, the carriage's frame vibrating and headlights (loosely attached) jingling, and even the shaft's smooth sound while it spun. It all gave me a sense of peace and quiet I have rarely experienced since.

 

There was some sickness as well, on Monday for my mom and Wednesday for me. But it didn't last long.

In other notable news, we bought some second-hand books from an open-air library on Wednesday afternoon. It actually looked more like a convention, with stands along a small side street on both sides, so it was pretty huge.

 

 

We left for the airport yesterday afternoon. I bought a magazine and a traditional music CD, both of which will be greatly needed for artistic inspiration.

 

And today, we visited my mother's father again, the one who motivated me to be an artist. I sometimes see similarities between our current feelings. When he said roughly that "the world of the dead is more crowded to him than that of the living" (talking about family and friends), I realized the same thing was true for my fantasy worlds, peopled by my own races and characters - my children.

We had our laundry done at his place, ate lunch, then my father left to take his mother to the doctor. We stayed there, had a nap, chatted with him, had tea. Then, shortly before my father returned, we gathered the laundry that had dried for the most part, and bid my grandfather farewell.

On the way back, I decided to take the train instead of the car because my grandmother was in the car. Not that I dislike her, but my father always makes her sit in the front seat, meaning I have to squeeze into the back with my mother and (fat) sister; only I have the added disadvantage of being taller than everyone else, so I usually sit at the front since the car roof is too low for me at the back.

I was delayed by a cat in front of my grandpa's flat (who didn't want me to leave after being pet), then a big dog at a bus stop when I got off the train. But I had no problem finding the train station and the right train by following my mother's simple instructions.

 

 

This ends my third update.

Bi.

- Faggot Sodacan the 69th Homo erotis

 

P.S: Anyone else ever feel guilty for improving their anatomy skills by drawing sketches whose purposes were purely erotic? I sometimes wonder if I'm the only artist who only practices human bodies that way... OwO'

 

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Fillies and sexycolts, this is Fissy Sodacan reporting from the airport.

 

 

When I posted the previous update, I had forgotten that my parents were going to dine with my father's classmates from university. No big deal though, we didn't have much trouble preparing our own dinner (mostly leftovers) and getting to sleep.

 

The next morning, we went shopping for things to take back home (to France that is). First half of the afternoon was spent starting to pack up and some napping.

Then we drove to my uncle's other house, the one where I said he had a vineyard (I checked this time, it's still there). We chatted and played with their Beagle, then had tea - though there was enough food for that to be part of our dinner. My uncle showed me some of his smartphone's functions, like measuring acceleration and light intensity (we even did a test with the pressure tracker, where he brutally opened or closed a small bathroom's door, and we obtained dents on the graph).

After we got back, we just ate peaches and the last few pieces of patty.

 

Yesterday was pretty much dedicated to packing up. That, and trying to finish some of the food we couldn't bring back (lol).

I also noted down ideas and quotes from a couple of books, because I'm planning to use them in my writings. There's a particularly witty character named Nasreddin Hoca, who has a very special place in Turkish culture, and I'm hoping to find a few opportunities to paraphrase him in some way.

 

We woke up at a rather normal time today, not too early but not quite as late as I did the previous days. After taking a few minutes with a young, yellow-furred and extremely talkative cat, we took a man my uncle employs, reached the airport with him onboard, and parted ways. The man was going to put the car back in its parking spot, and my father called him a few minutes ago to check.

 

 

We're about to board, so I'll be leaving until I get back home. Until then, see y'all.

Bi

- Faggot Sodacan the 69th Homo erotis

 

PS: I realized I misplaced one of the papers where I was noting down ideas and quotes, as well as a piece on which I had practiced anatomy. I just hope they're somewhere in one of the bags, and not forgotten back at our place in Istanbul, because then I'll be very frustrated. T_T

 

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Update: finally home! Just wanted to mention that our taxi had a transparent roof, so we could watch the sky get darker as the sun set. In Turkey, our car had gone along the walls surrounding a fortress, an Ottoman prison, in Yeditepe (Seven Hills).

 

 

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This ends my August travel log. Congrats to anypony who managed to read it all, and catch y'all later!

Edited August 31, 2012 by Feather Spiral

[Viscra Maelstrom 3,718]

fissy home? omgyesplease :3

[Feather Spiral 1,892]

Holybloodyfuckingshit you're alive! <333

Um, I wanted to say, I wasn't able to find the Skype notes you said you sent. Did you use something other than the chat, or...? I'll try logging in from my iPad.

 

We spent the night, as well as part of yesterday and this morning, unpacking. Took me a while to remember what went where, but everything found its place now.

My ear was congested after our Kusadasi trip, but I forgot to do something until our second Izmir flight. Fortunately, when I finally did, the pharmacist gave me something. I now can hear normally, but must still have the wax cleaned up, for which I'll call a doctor soon.

[Viscra Maelstrom 3,718]

oh, the messages probably won't show up til i log in on Skype at home, which is where i sent all the messages from. they are still there, just that both parts need to be online in order for the messages to deliver successfully. if you can just be a bit patient til i get home (which is gonna take a few hours) i'll make sure you'll receive them. :3

[Feather Spiral 1,892]

Ah okay.

 

Also holy shit, there's been a lot of change in layout.

Did we have blogs and stuff before? I remember the Minecraft and Steam servers, but this... O.O