Conrad's Blog - An American Life in IstanbulConrad's Blog - An American Life in IstanbulI have picked up my roots and moved to Istanbul, Turkey. I started this blog as a way of keeping family informed, but it has become a window into Turkish culture with many unique insights. This blog is a record of my observations, learnings and way o Articles
Breaking News: Earthquake!
2008-03-15 08:40:00 On Wednesday, Istanbul was shaken up by a minor Earthquake . I am not sure where I was but my flat mate felt it, so did most of my friends. Maybe because it was my first earthquake I didn’t notice it? That doesn’t make any sense does it? Regardless, people were pretty shaken up by it because of reports of a big earthquake on its way. In 1999 a massive earthquake rocked western Turkey. It hit in a city east of Turkey called Izmit (200,000 people, Turkey’s 35th largest city), causing massive damage. Some estimate put the death toll as high as 40,000 people and the damage to Turkey’s infrastructure was enormous. The quake registered 7.6. Since then Turkey redefined it’s building code to prevent the widespread damage in the next earthquake. The US Geological survey has predicted that another massive earthquake will strike Istanbul in the next 30 years. Thus, while I was excited to have lived through my first earthquake (despite not noticing) some of my frien... More About: News , Breaking News , Breaking
I Need Turkish Lessons
2008-03-10 10:15:00 Sorry I haven’t written much but my wrist has been bothering me a lot because I spend too much time in front of my laptop, which has a keyboard that is too small for me. Both of my wrists are killing me right now. I have been dreading typing anything lately. * * * In December07, I got up and went through my morning routine. Everything was pretty normal; Bathroom, shower, brush the teeth, get dressed, breakfast. On this particular gray and dreary morning, I poured the last drop of milk out of the container I had been using into my cereal, filling it far short of the desired level. So I took to the fridge rummaging around. I found one bottle and checked it over for the percentage. The bottle had already been opened and had not been bought by me so I assume Murat had bought it. It was in Turkish so I figured if I looked for a number I could figure out what kind of milk it was (I hate skim milk). After about a minute, I thoug... More About: Lessons
Update: The last two months
2008-02-28 22:20:00 Current Mood: HappyWell a lot has happened since I last wrote a real post way back on… December 12th! It was a real pain in the butt trying to get my domains transfered and set up my new host for my website, but it’s all finally done thanks to the help of Ant and Ali Emre. So what has happened. I guess most of you know about the primaries in the US, which has been the news item winning most of my attention. I guess that’s not interesting for my American readers (everyone else go to cnn.com, they have good coverage). Izzy and I went to Morocco for one week. It was an organized all expense paid tour. This was the first time I have done something like that and probably the last. I prefer to travel on my own schedule and to just wander around. Although it was a fun trip, I don’t think I will do it again. I covered four cities in seven days. On the way over I hadn’t quite gotten over a nasal infection. I couldn’t equalize the pressure when we went up ... More About: Update , Months
Back!
2008-02-24 15:57:00 I am back! Thanks to Ant and Ali Emre for helping me with everything. There are still some kinks to be worked out but the transfer is finished. I need to fix the pictures, and Ant has some tweaking left to do but other than that, everything is on track. I promise an entry by the end of the week. More About: Back
Update: Possible Downtime
2008-01-30 10:08:00 I am transferring my website to my new host this week - MSFNHosting.com It’s some hosting service that Ali Emre recommended and since he knows way more about this than I do, I am taking his recommendation. I am not sure how the transfer process works, but I do know that it takes a few days. ... More About: Update
Update: Domain Trouble
2008-01-20 11:31:00 Current Mood: AngryHey everyone! Sorry I have not returned to blogging, but Ant and I have been trying to move my blog to my main domain (www.conradwoodring.com) from the current subdomain that it is at (www.blog.conradwoodring.com). However my website host, 1and1.com is terrible. There is some sort of problem on their end that prevents me ... More About: Domain , Update
I am back!
2008-01-15 14:29:00 Well next exactly. I am working on moving the location of my blog to my main domain (www.conradwoodring.com) instead of my blog sub-domain. So far it’s not as easy as I thought it would be. Hopefully I will get that done this week and post my backed up entries from the past month. Sorry for ... More About: Back
New Year’s Topics?
2007-12-25 13:57:00 Since a new year is about to begin, I thought I would ask you the reader if there are any specific topics or questions you would like me to address. In the coming months, or if anyone would like to see specific things in and around Turkey. More About: New Year , Topics , Year
New Year?s Topics?
2007-12-25 13:57:00 Since a new year is about to begin, I thought I would ask you the reader if there are any specific topics or questions you would like me to address. In the coming months, or if anyone would like to see specific things in and around Turkey. More About: New Year , Topics , Year
Vacation From Blogging
2007-12-12 09:44:00 Hello everyone, My life has been getting busier and busier, and I have been getting more and more tired. With a week vacation in Morocco, followed by a visit from my brother and a friend from university, coming up, there is no break in sight. I therefore regret to inform you all that I am taking a break from keeping this blog. I need more time for other parts of my life. I want to exercise more, and I need to put more time in at work as things are growing here. Although I love keeping this blog, it is somewhat time consuming (coming up with fresh content all the time is not easy nor is resizing all those pictures). I will therefore take a one month break from writing (maybe you will see a few entries, but nothing near the frequency I have had). I will probably put one entry a week between now and January 12th. On an unrelated note, today marks my ninth month of keeping this blog (and 145 entries - that’s more than an entry every two days). More About: Blogging , Vacation
Vacation From Blogging
2007-12-12 09:44:00 Hello everyone, My life has been getting busier and busier, and I have been getting more and more tired. With a week vacation in Morocco, followed by a visit from my brother and a friend from university, coming up, there is no break in sight. I therefore regret to inform you all that I am taking ... More About: Blogging , Vacation
Doing Laundry
2007-12-12 06:08:00 I am no stranger to doing my own laundry. Throughout university (in the US and in Switzerland) I had to do my own laundry. When I came to Turkey however, my house keeper was doing my laundry once a week. She kept doing things wrong like washing things I didn’t washed, or washing dry clean only thing. So I got annoyed and took washing into my own hands. Until two days ago, I was reasonably successful. The first few weeks of doing laundry I would set the machine to some setting where the machine stays full of water and doesn’t unlock (it’s a side loading machine). I could understand if there was a soak setting where the machine would fill with water and sit, but this setting seemed to wash the clothes and then just never finish the cycle. The only way I could figure out how to get them out was change the setting and try again. Through trial and error, I found the one setting out of 8 or 10, that I can use on all clothes and doesn’t take too long. Two nights ago... More About: Laundry
Doing Laundry
2007-12-12 06:08:00 I am no stranger to doing my own laundry. Throughout university (in the US and in Switzerland) I had to do my own laundry. When I came to Turkey however, my house keeper was doing my laundry once a week. She kept doing things wrong like washing things I didn’t washed, or washing dry clean ... More About: Laundry
Happy Birthday and Goodbye
2007-12-06 19:47:00 This past weekend we had a double party that we had been planning for over a week in advance! We celebrated Adnan’s birthday (his girl friend Amber organized it) and Selim being sent off to the military (I made sure this celebration happened). This entry is more or less a few pictures. The whole evening was great. My flight from the Ukraine was delayed so much that I went straight to the restaurant from the airport, which was a pain in the ass, but it was worth it. A note about the Turkish military: military service is mandatory. This seems to be the one thing in Turkey that money cannot get you out of. Everyone goes. The service is one year. If you have a college education you can only serve six months as a soldier or one year as an officer. In general the military is described as boring, depressing and incredibly inefficient (I explained the oxymoron ‘military intelligence’ to my friends here and they all thought this was very funny and very true). The worst part about the m... More About: Happy , Birthday , Goodbye , Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday and Goodbye
2007-12-06 19:47:00 This past weekend we had a double party that we had been planning for over a week in advance! We celebrated Adnan?s birthday (his girl friend Amber organized it) and Selim being sent off to the military (I made sure this celebration happened). This entry is more or less a few pictures. The whole evening ... More About: Pictures , Happy , Birthday , Goodbye , Happy Birthday
Kiev Trip: November 25th - December 1st
2007-12-06 19:36:00 Last week I attended an exhibition on industrial technologies with my company. Alper and I went, and we were joined by Ahmet Aral, the owner of one our distributors and the manufacturer of our high-pressure products. This is the first of many fairs we are planning to attend over the next year, and the first we have participated in since the Hannover Messe back in April. Overall it was fun and productive. I really enjoy going to fairs because you meet so many people and they are asking so many questions. Often I feel like I am playing a game and you have to think on your toes to answer the questions well, give a good impression of the company, and to learn as much as you can about them and their company, all while being likable at the same time. I always get very excited and energized before fair time. Since this entry is going up a little late, I will just outline some things for you. First of all a comment on the Ukrainian women: It was difficult to tell the regular women from the ... More About: Kiev , Trip , November , December
Kiev Trip: November 25th - December 1st
2007-12-06 19:36:00 Last week I attended an exhibition on industrial technologies with my company. Alper and I went, and we were joined by Ahmet Aral, the owner of one our distributors and the manufacturer of our high-pressure products. This is the first of many fairs we are planning to attend over the next year, and the first ... More About: Pictures , Kiev , Trip , November , December
Our New Employee: Part II
2007-12-03 08:08:00 In case you missed it, here is part one of this entry: Our New Employee Pasha is gone. They tied him up for a bit two weeks ago. As soon as he got off the chain, he dissappeared. Ahmet is very bored at work. More About: Part
Our New Employee: Part II
2007-12-03 08:08:00 In case you missed it, here is part one of this entry: Our New Employee Pasha is gone. They tied him up for a bit two weeks ago. As soon as he got off the chain, he dissappeared. Ahmet is very bored at work. More About: Part
Istanbul Games and Diplomacy
2007-11-28 18:43:00 When I first came to Istanbul , I brought only clothes. My first trip home for my brother’s graduation last May, I left Turkey with empty bags, and returned with mostly board games. You see, one of the many things that Izzy and I have in common is a passion for board gaming. We talked about it and decided we would put our collections together and form a weekly gaming group. It has been three months since we put this idea into practice. So far it’s been quite successful. We have been able to meet nearly every week with between four and eight people. We typically meet at 8pm and eat together while playing games and catching up with what one another have been up to. Selim and Izel, whom I have met through gaming, are as devoted as Izzy, Erman and I. Selim travels nearly as far as I do (90 minutes) to get to where we play and is so in love with the games that he borrows them to play with his own group on the Asian side of the city on weekends, and takes notes during the week... More About: Games , Diplomacy
Istanbul Games and Diplomacy
2007-11-28 18:43:00 When I first came to Istanbul , I brought only clothes. My first trip home for my brother’s graduation last May, I left Turkey with empty bags, and returned with mostly board games. You see, one of the many things that Izzy and I have in common is a passion for board gaming. We talked about ... More About: Games , Diplomacy , Social Life
Girls, girls, girls?: Part II
2007-11-25 14:17:00 For those of you that didn’t read the first part of this entry here is the link to it. The first part of this entry got more feedback than any other entry by far (not necessarily in the form of comments on the page) and I have several people ask me when Part II will be ... More About: Culture , Turkey , Girls
Girls, girls, girls…: Part II
2007-11-25 14:17:00 For those of you that didn’t read the first part of this entry here is the link to it. The first part of this entry got more feedback than any other entry by far (not necessarily in the form of comments on the page) and I have several people ask me when Part II will be posted. Girls , girls, girls…: Part I So yes, it’s finally here. I think many of you will be disappointed. The impression I got from family and friends was that you all wanted to read about specific interactions with Turkish girls and the juicy details. In other words my love life. Well sorry to disappoint you. This entry specifically addresses the comment Dancing Queen left on the first girls entry. His comment was as follows: My question of course is “how are the boys?” Do they treat their ladies well? I hear tell that Turkey is “progressive” — and remembering your culturally (in)sensitive entry, I wonder what you think about the gender conflict where you are? So I suppose this entry sh...
Blog Update: Clarification of Purpose
2007-11-24 14:36:00 I have recently received some criticisms related to my sweeping generalizations about Turks and their culture. I know, that’s intentional. As my reader, keep in mind that I get most of my information from observations, stories, and from my interactions with the two distinct groups of people I interact with. The first group being my ... More About: Blog , Update , Purpose , Clar
Worst Thanksgiving
2007-11-23 07:45:00 Current Mood: AngryI remember it all very clearly. I went climbing Wednesday night, had dinner and then went out in Taksim for Leyla’s birthday. Drove home, no problem. Was very tired though. Thursday night, Thanksgiving , Murat took the car I had had the previous night. He called me and asked if I had left any bags ... More About: Hank
Blog Update: Statistics and comments
2007-11-22 17:41:00 Current Mood: EsctaticI would like to take this opportunity to go over two things. 1. Bragging: I started using Google Analytics to track my blogs visitors and my company website visitors (I made the website, so it’s my duty to maintain it). I figure it is never a bad idea to take a few simple steps ... More About: Blog , Comments , Statistics , Update
A Turkish Boss
2007-11-21 14:19:00 Alper ? who is now working in foreign sales and marketing with me ? and I, often talk about the many things we don?t like about Turk ey, Turkish culture, and Turkish people. I vent a lot of my frustration to him, and I return the favor by listening to his venting. We spend our lunch ... More About: Culture , Boss
Surprise Visit!
More articles from this author:2007-11-19 23:33:00 Leyla showed up by surprise last week and we all went out and had a great time this past weekend. I’ll just give you some pictures because as usual the weekend was pretty intense, and I am still tired from it. Sisters: Leyla and Berna From the Right: Erman, Kocas (AKA Patrick, Leyla’s boy friend), Leyla, Kutsal ... More About: Pictures , Visit , Social Life 1, 2, 3, 4 |
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