Ok - so yesterday morning, after waiting for Paul to come home from his 4th sim session, I went to the Wednesday market at the top end of Yesilkoy. I've been every week since we moved here. I love the place. There's 14 long long rows of stalls and it takes me an hour to walk them all - so I figure that's 2-3km covered each time. Some of the stall holders are starting to recognise me now too. Especially the guy who sells plastic boxes of all shapes and sizes - they are so useful. I've kitted the flat out in cheap crap!! Towels, plates, the everything glasses (water, wine, beer, gin, bacardi - we drink everything out of them), sheets, cushions (for the lovely cushion covers I brought back from Wales), cutlery, etc - so much stuff. And they don't bleed me dry like the people on the notary office either. And I even found broccoli yesterday.
Before I went though, I did my Turkish homework. One of the exercises was to write a dialogue between me and a stall holder. So I learned a lot of new greetings, weights, numbers, etc and went off to practice them. I didn't do too well with the new words - and fell back on words I already know, or miming. I did great mimes for toothbrush holder and potato masher!!
Oh next topic - after the market I came back to greet the man who was in to measure the shower - we're having a new base and doors installed next week, and - wait for this - the landlord is paying!!! Then I trotted off to the local butcher - who also runs the best steakhouse in town. The lady who owns it greeted me like a friend - remembering me from 2 weeks ago - and I sat and had a Turkish Khave with her while my lamb chops, steaks and kofte were prepared. On the house too - the coffee not the meat.
So it was a lovely lamb chop, broccoli and mashed potato late lunch for us. So good. I love the salads here,but it was so good to have a cooked dinner British style.
Then it was off for a bike ride recce. How far could we go? What would the park surfaces be like? How would the walkers behave? How would the drivers behave? Well, as expected - another setback!! We managed 19.4 km in total - took just under an hour. In Singapore we would have cleared that in 40 mins. The surfaces were rutted, potholed, with glass in places. The people did exactly what they pleased, where they pleased. And the drivers were discourteous to say the least. Or blind perhaps - as the bus driver who pushed me into the kerb obviously didn't see me. And we only did 19 k as that's all there was to do - unless we wanted to commit suicide on the faster roads. We are both a bit disgruntled with it all as our bikes are like our inanimate children ( not that the girls are inanimate - far from it!). Seems they are going to have to come on some holidays with us from now on. Never mind, there will be a solution somewhere - or it could be that the bikes will be going to market!!
On to today. Just cleaned the floors (again), done a load of washing, about to do some Turkish homework and then its off to the gym to my second Zumba class of the week. For those who haven't read my FB Post from Tuesday, I had a wonderful class, led by a very fit, toned and enthusiastic male instructor. I really have to go back today !!
Oh - and a footnote - for those of you who remember little Misty - our very feisty female cat who didn't give a toss about anything or anyone but herself, was the softest most cuddly cat around (when it suited her to be), and visited the homes of everyone in our street most days. Well, she's very much alive and well, and still living with our lovely friends Ange and John Park, who were forced to adopt her after Misty left her proposed new home and simply moved into their house instead - regardless of the fact that they had their own cat already. We were sent this photo the other day. Its been 4 years since we left her behind, but she's looking better than ever. Can't believe she's 18 years old now. I can smell her distinct smell, and hear her feisty meows, just by looking at this photo. She's on the visit list when I go back to Aberdeen.
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