Cevahir be the Death of Me
Today was another big crowded one. I met up with Jess, Elsa, Sam, and Kat for brunch and we seemed to be engaged to have an easy, laid back day but someone suggested, and everyone agreed, to go to the mall. Cevahir mall is huge as I have said before, but this was the first time I really roamed around. With an hour until regrouping and only one thing on my shopping list I plenty of time to see the place. The view from the bottom, while terrifying and enormous is nothing compared to the shear horror and majesty of viewing the mall from the sixth floor. I hope these pictures give you an idea.
We regrouped and headed into Koch Tash, the Turkish equivalent of Home Depot (right down to the same color scheme) and rounded up some gardening supplies and a new set of shelves for the ladies. With the warmer weather they have become determined to turn their now mundane back patio and patches of dirt into a paradise, and they're off to a great start! After a while in Turkey slang has developed where Turkish words are used (and horribly mispronounced) simply because they are everywhere on signs and become easier to use than translating them into English. For instance, as we searched for parking in the car park, we chose a spot because "that one's near the sikis." The word is actually pronounced Chikish but the letter for ch is a c with a cedilla under it, so it seems natural for and English (or French) speaker to interpret it as an s sound. Today I heard Sam referring to the money "New Turkish Lira" as yetles (rhymes with turtles) the abbreviation for the money is YTL, standing for "Yeni Türk Lirasi." I call them Lira, but in a way it makes just as much sense to say Yetle. Here's Sam in line, about to part with some yetles.
The entire mall was very packed today and the car park, while interesting and full of bright LEDs that showed you where there is free space, was also horribly crowded and congested. Finally we freed ourselves from the mall and returned to the ladies' apartment for a fine dinner.
We regrouped and headed into Koch Tash, the Turkish equivalent of Home Depot (right down to the same color scheme) and rounded up some gardening supplies and a new set of shelves for the ladies. With the warmer weather they have become determined to turn their now mundane back patio and patches of dirt into a paradise, and they're off to a great start! After a while in Turkey slang has developed where Turkish words are used (and horribly mispronounced) simply because they are everywhere on signs and become easier to use than translating them into English. For instance, as we searched for parking in the car park, we chose a spot because "that one's near the sikis." The word is actually pronounced Chikish but the letter for ch is a c with a cedilla under it, so it seems natural for and English (or French) speaker to interpret it as an s sound. Today I heard Sam referring to the money "New Turkish Lira" as yetles (rhymes with turtles) the abbreviation for the money is YTL, standing for "Yeni Türk Lirasi." I call them Lira, but in a way it makes just as much sense to say Yetle. Here's Sam in line, about to part with some yetles.
The entire mall was very packed today and the car park, while interesting and full of bright LEDs that showed you where there is free space, was also horribly crowded and congested. Finally we freed ourselves from the mall and returned to the ladies' apartment for a fine dinner.
posted by Alex Gray at 21:12
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