The cat

There we were yesterday at the garden of Beylerbeyi Palace.. when hatice n i noticed this one quite elderly orange cat...The cat was walking normally n slowly...and a beautiful yellowish butterfly flew just next to the cat...very near n very low to the ground..

Dengan selambanya..with great ease..the cat took out his claws..prisoned the butterfly to the grass n put the butterfly into his mouth.

Hatice n i were shocked.

This picture is not so clear but it was snapped while the cat was happily munching the butterfly.

I didnt know a cat consider a butterfly as a meal!!

did u know?

That's nature huh?

The strong overpower the weak...

In this case..

the cat vs the butterfly..

poor beautiful butterfly.

Wishing..

Far I may be..
But never once

I wish

i am other than a Malaysian..
31st August we celebrate our independence day..
And the year 2006..marks our 49th celebration...

Happy Independence Day!!

P.s -if u r living overseas n wish to watch or hear the malaysian tv or radio live.. go to..

http://www.rtm.net.my/
or
http://www.um.com.my

as kindly pointed to me by an anonymous.

Thank U sooo much...!!

MERDEKA!!!

My Cute Little Chef

Suddenly the idea came to her mind. She approached me while i was in the kitchen and asked...

*Anne, baba için sandviç yapabilir miyim?*
(Anne, can i make a sandwich for baba?)

That would be for his lunch. I agreed..only...ONLY...after she finished her lunch n the apple juice i squeezed for her. We made a pact. I diced the tomato, onion n green leave on her behalf since she is too young to handle knife properly....and...

The Chef all ready with an apron on..

One very important ingredient..

Tuna

Chef at work

mixing the ingredients

Turkish bread

The end product..

One Tuna Sandwich for her baba

U can bet there was one happy baba today at lunch time..a special treat from his daughter.The only thing is..the daughter forgot that she has a mom too..so the mom ended up having to prepare her own tuna sandwich coz the daughter only prepared one for her beloved dad...

*sobs* *sobs*

I know i am appreciated

*wink*

p.s-the full recipe of Hatice's tuna sandwich is in my recipe blog

The last of Sapanca 2006

I suppose u have to agree with me that this year we were in sapanca almost non stop this summer... I saw loads of development of my kids in the pool..all in all...the open space n the green r always good for the children's development.

Pictures? not many this time.. just those we snapped using halil's handphone. We dont own a digital camera..so i guess u all will have to make do with the handphone snaps.. Yeah..yeah..i know....any picture of me this time? Normally i wouldnt be in the pics.. but since a few of u keep asking for my picture ..i made halil snap this one especially for u....i make sure that i dont look too fat (though i am) ..in this one pic *chuckles*

The kids n i..
all ready for our big trekking

A break for ice tea

Tengah jalan hatice cakap..anne panas..boleh bukak tudung? I said ok..kesian pulak..memang panas gila..there was no one around anyway..

That roundish leaves r actually wild oregano (kekik)

The smell of fresh oregano is heavenly. They grow wild..Tak payah car freshness....The fresh oregano can act as one..

Another rest..my exhausted son..his face all red

This is what we collect while doing our jungle trekking...
Red colour: sour
Blackcurrent color n soft in texture: sweettttttttt

Wild berries... Yummy!!

And too much eating wild berries will make ur tongue color...hehehe

Today, i learn one lesson... kindness..

We were on our way to istanbul. Upon my insistence, we made a detour to izmit aka kocaeli (not izmir). I wanted to go to outlet center where usually at this time of the year,the shops there usually have pretty mean sale....n i was itching to buy bla bla bla bla...for halil n the kids..There we were on the road.. not really sure which road to go ...... My instincts told me that we had missed a turn. Therefore, while halil was driving, while waiting for the red light,we asked the driver of the car next to us for direction.....He didnt get the chance to explain much as the light was green again but we heard him said...*follow my car..i will show u*. We tried to follow his far but along the way, in the traffic we lost the car. Not knowing where we were, we moved on straight hoping for the best.. Luckily, a few minutes later we saw the same driver again, waiting for us at the side of the road, shouting n pointing to a turn, telling us to go to that turn.. Halil pressed the honk of the car to express our gratitude...We continued our quest to find outlet centre..We got lost..We were about to stop the car somewhere to ask for directions from someone else when we saw behind us, there was the car with the driver who helped us to show the way earlier on. He explained the last turn we should made n Alhamdulillah we finally found the place we were looking for. Allah Razı Olsun..

Today i was impressed..i am still impressed... I mean..how many people in ur life would do such a thing? I mean the guy practically made sure we were on the right track until the end....until he was sure we were in the right lane. Would U..or even Would I go all the way to help somebody that way?? The guy must have gone out of his own destination to lead us to the right road. He was concerned... Previously. if i was in the guy's place, i would just give directions verbally...Now.. after what had happened today... my actions may be different...when u r touched by such a simple kindness like this... it made u think, isnt it? The guy need not even help us..but he did...with a total sincerity. That was n is totally obvious.. He did not drive a fancy car..But his heart is definitely made of gold. Whoever u r.. We thank u. Because of him, we had a wonderful time at the outlet centre..I managed to spend quite a lot of halil's money (hehehe) n now..i love him most!!! hahahahhahahaha

Hey!! the spending was on them!!! :0)..

What halil made me buy for myself is not countable hahahah

p.s.. this last photo is snapped a few days before sapanca

A bit of a shock..

This is the continuation of the pazar talk in my previous entry last night...

I just got back from my beloved thursday pazar..n i have just discovered that the prices of vegetables n fruits in Sapanca n istanbul is like.... woahhhh..there is a biiiiiig gapppppp between the two places.

To illustrate..in Sapanca...for tomatoes. We bought 3 kilograms of tomatoes...(i usually buy 6 kgs for Sapanca house) n i repeat..good n fresh n no hormone from the garden tomatoes for the price of 1YTL...i repeat 3 kgs of tomatoes for 1YTL in Sapanca. Today, the general price of tomatoes in the perşembe pazar is 1.5ytl for ONE kilogram!! imagine my shock!!

The fruits..for example peaches. The price in istanbul..the prices range from 2 TYL to 3.5 YTL depending on the quality of the peaches for one kilogram. Again a big gap price. We bought şeftali aka peaches for 500 kuruş (half of 1YTL) for a kilogram....

The benefits of living in the town or vilages huh? for those living in istanbul, nothing is cheap..everything is expensive. I suppose the transportation costs, the fee each pazar seller has to pay the mafia (or they will get beaten or something-expensive rent), the rent of the pazar space from the municiple admin (cheap rent)..etc..etc..those add up to the expensive price of each product sold. The pazar in sapanca for example, they r town people. Most people sell the fruits n veggies they themselves grow..(for some)..the rent they pay to the mafia may be much much cheaper... besides, if they sell things expensively, who would buy them, right? I remember i had the same shock when we visited the turgutlu pazar in izmir years back.. everything seemed soooooo cheap...

The conclusion is... dont compare the prices of things in istanbul to other smaller towns. Still, pazar offers the freshest n the best fruits n vegetables, regardless of the price. It is definitely worth going to pazar rather than buying ur greens from the supermarket. Things r definitely sold much much cheaper than normal shops (clothing, shoes, etc..etc).Everything is at a bargain price. Yes.. go to the turkish pazar. U will love it. I still do :0)

Perşembe Pazarı

Yes.. i go to my beloved pazar every thursday...i know i have mentşoned the pazar so many times... this time i have decided to just show u my beloved pazar taken 2 weeks ago when i managed to kidnap halil's handphone for this purpose... Enjoy the slideshow!!!

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

For those in Malaysia... Selamat Cuti Cuti Malaysia....Tomorrow night (thursday) i will go missing again for the weekend... a trip to finalize our summer holiday in Sapanca.. to collect whatever we left there that day (clothing etc) .....I just hope my ears will recover by tomorrow...geeeee i hate taking any form of medicines!!

Have a nice weekend everyone
Dont forget to smileeeeeeeeee..
Let us enjoy life as much as possible..

istanbul...n our sapanca..3

The scorching heat...this high humidity.. this desire not go out of the flat coz even while u r in the house..u sweat a lot..ur body getting sticky...these reasons reminded us..halil n i as to why we were in Sapanca for a long long time...

Oh boy... the weather is hot.. The kids r getting restless as well. Ever since we came back to istanbul, the kids have this *space* shock..To move from the big space in sapanca to this small apartment house.. just imagine, the sapanca house garden is as big as our flat.. (yup..that is how small our home is...)..and ..NO ..i am not complaining.. alhamdulillah we have a place of our own we can call home..but the shock after getting used to the open space of sapanca...the green n the breeze as if u r in spring though everywhere else is in summer is a total contrast to where we r now...to be cooped inside the flat is somehow.....let us just say... not very preferable

There r also much too less activities in istanbul in comparison to sapanca.. no mıstık for me to bully n fight with..no pool for us to jump into....just the bath tub to soothe our sweaty bodies....Yes... home sweet home...Sapanca was good but home is what my heart desire most in the end..regardless what...

Sapanca 3..The achievements...?

Hatice
-She can now dive n touch the floor of the deepest end of the pool.
-She swims very fast for a girl her age.

Conclusion: Her swimming has improved a lot.

Baddin
-He has created his own styles of jumping n diving..like superman jump n his famous *dadanınanatına dive*.
-He has abandoned the arm float when he is swimming at the part where his feet touches the floor of the pool.
-He screamed less when we brought him to the deeper part of the pool to swim
-But he insisted on using the arm float whenever he planned to swim at leisure at the deep part -Next year he knows that arm float is prohibited.

Conclusion: Baddin can swim but he needs time to totally abandon his arm float.

There is one totally memorable n my one favourite activity in this trip (next to swimming that is)....

wild berries picking while doing the jungle tracking.

I think we went tracking 5 times so far..

-One with just us (halil, hatice, baddin n I) with Kerim only (small tour tracking)

-One with us, kerim, Meşe n Merve (small tour tracking)

-One with just us n Kerim (big tour tracking)

-Two with just us n no one else (big tour tracking)

The small tour jungle tracking (us, meşe, kerim,merve)

I cant remember the exact date but somehow it was almost the same exact date we went wild berries picking with anne 4 years ago. We even took almost the same route to our house...That one special route..that one very interesting n definitely 100% adventorous route *chuckles*..the route where in order to reach the garden of our sapanca house, we need to climb our next door neighbour's garden wall... Let the pictures tell the story hehehhe
p.s All the ladies were wearing slippers!!

And confidently they walked out of the Professör Sitesi towards the jungle tracking route

Halil while picking the wild berries.
Just look at that face n tell me not to fall in love with him.
He looks so boyish in this picture.

Yup.. They r berries picking.
Allah has created thorns with every part of that berry plant that i think all of us had cuts everywhere after each berry picking
Mother n daughter trying to avoid the thorns n what nots

Next! As halil beckoned somebody to start climbing the stairs
(we shouted at mıstık from there to lower us the stairs)
With Anne 4 years ago, hatice n baddin n meşen merve n safa..we all climbed that wall.
Can u imagine??
That goes to the garden of our next door neighbour garden

Another climb into our own garden

The big tour jungle tracking

1. Us n Kerim
We didnt plan this one tour. It never crossed our minds even to do this. In fact, i had not known of these 2 tracking routes until this summer. We collected wild berries while walking. We stopped a lot as well. The 5 of us were walking upwards the hill; not knowing where the road would lead. We were all puffing n sweaty. At one point we even decided to turn back but later decided against it n after 2 and a half hours, we reached our sapanca house safe n sound...n dead on our feet hehehehe

2. Just us..a private family jungle tracking
THis time we were better prepared. We went twice together like this. The first time we took 2 hours to finish the tour and the second time it was only 1 hour and 20 minutes...we did 3 stops for ice tea n berry picking..And frankly speaking... I AM PROUD OF HATİCE n BADDİN for being able to walk uphill like that all those times we did the jungle tracking. It was an effort even for me..i was puffing.. (hey!! i am fat!! I am no longer as fit as i used to)

MasyaAllah.. my kids r strong n fit.. maybe all those swimming proved to be useful after all.

I think that is all about it..

Before i forgot..a Special request from The Queen of the House n Shami for a translation of the poem halil had written for Anne. I am translating it almost directly... almost word by word..without looking at the style of poetry writing..

Kan dondu beynimizde
The blood in our minds r frozen
Yağmurlara yenildik
We lost against the rain
Boynumuz kıldan ince
Our neck is thinner than our body hair
(this is a turkish saying which means that we obey to the rules of the Qadar)
Mevlamiza yöneldik
We turn our faces to Allah

Son bir kez baktı bize
She looked at us that one last time
O gözler inci badem
With her almond shaped pearly eyes
Ateş düştü yüreğimize
And the fire falls into our hearts
Ağladı cümle alem
As the world cries

Gözyaşı karıştı sellere
And the tears have mixed with the flood
Benzerdin gonca güllere
And u look like the buds of roses
Bırakmazdık seni ellere
We wouldnt have left u to anybody
Emir büyük yerden gelmese
If the order had not come from the ABOVE

Çok sevildim şu dunyada
U r loved in this world
Bu ne hazin elveda
this is such a heart breaking goodbye
Ansizin gitmek var mıydı?
Why did u leave so suddenly??
Ayrılmak kolay mıydı?
Is it easy to be apart??

Merve-cooking - Sapanca 2006

Allah Bismillah...The moment she enters the Sapanca house. Her destination is always n without fail..the couch in the living room...immediately, she will turn on that one very old n dying tv...watch whatever is on the tv...n i do mean everything that is on..totally glued to the tv..24/7..that is unless someone drags her out for some sort of sports..or perhaps a bit of pool......and to think...... Yup..to think that this one teenage girl (who does not enter the kitchen unless to find her coke) had prepared;

1. Turkish coffee for dinner
2. Milfoylu Sosisli Börek
3. Chocolate Chip Cake
4. Chocolate Pudding
5. Apple Pie

is something unbelievable, right??

She was under my strict supervision n instructions during all the cooking processes of course. But that is not the poşnt rşght? The point is... biraz zar zor....but she made it...and she definitely suprised everybody..n i think had made her mom very proud when she cooked the apple pie that day to celebrate her mom coming to Sapanca.That was Merve's proud achievement for that one week she was with us in Sapanca..

Merve n the mixer..u can guess how often she uses that machine right?

The end result of the usage of the mixer..
A wonderfully delicious chocolate chip cake..

What do u think she is trying to make now??

Yup...milfoylu Sosisli Börek..

Safa n Merve..2 Siblings
Picture snapped while Merve was preparing the Apple Pie for her mom..
At that time, Safa was busy eating the dough (hamur) of the apple pie hehehhe


The only problem with the cooking lessons was..my daughter was jelous!! She did not say it but i sensed that there was this burning sense of uneasiness in hatice as she saw me giving out instructions. She was n is used to helping me out while cooking that to see my attention was on someone else was unbearable to her. That was why after merve left Sapanca i deliberately let her prepared her favourite Cinnamon Cookies...As u can see..that was one happy girl that was...

I was just thinking..i mean in the olden days, moms usually make sure that their girls know how to cook especially to help them in the house n to prepare them for their marriage lives.. girls after all would be married off after a certain age.

Even today, it is assumed that girls should be able to cook. It comes to the territory of being a girl no matter how modernized one is (Yeah right...Beyonce dont know how to cook ..what is wrong with take aways???). I myself never learn how to cook properly until i was married..But i dont really blame the men for wanting a home cooked food..especially if it is prepared by his beloved wife...n just think if u have a child n u still do take aways for the meals..wouldnt u feel ashamed when ur child says to someone else..*my mom doesnt know how to cook*....

My personal opinion is.. i want to be able to cook because..

-not because i want to satisfy the society.
-not because i am a girl..after all many famous chefs r men
-not because i want to show off my cooking...

i want to be able to cook because i want to feed my family n when i cook..i feel relaxed.. it is my mental theraphy..since it is something i enjoy doing.. What about u? Why did u learn to cook?

Anyway... The conclusion is.. BRAVO MervE!! She has the interest.. She has the talent.. There is hope for her still.. I think Everyone is Proud of her.. Aferin Merve!! Evlenmeye Hazır Mısın??? hahahahahaahahahahahahahahha

4 Years Ago..

I must apologize sincerely to Syikin n Shami for making them worry of my absence since my last entry..i was away doing the splashing thing again..escaping the notorious heat of istanbul..shami..i do not have an internet connection there. Hence, my inability to blog from there..and Yes.. i am back..i would say Sapanca season is over now....or maybe this weekend will be our last visit? i am not sure...

but more or less....We r back today since there is a doa...majlis tahlil at baba's house for the late (arwah Anne) who left us tomorrow..4 years ago. I have my birth mom in Malaysia. Alhamdulillah she is still alive. But this second mom i had gotten to know for a very short time in turkey... my mother in law is just as important to me as my own mom...

This is an entry i had written on

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

When i came to istanbul, i had no idea of whatever..i was clueless of the customs, the norms, the way of behaving, ...clueless in all sense. Cooking for example was one of it...Actually the biggest problem of all for me. No 1: Did i know how to cook? NOPE! No 2: Have i actually cooked at all in the real sense all my life? Let just say cooking rice using the rice cooker was among the cooking i actually had done. I thought i would learn cooking before getting married. My mom is a wonderful cook. I thought I would learn from her.

And suprise suprise.. not only did i not know how to cook Malaysian food.. i got married to a total stranger with a totally different food culture!! Great move simah!! *chuckles*. As i said, I was clueless of cooking turkish food. After I came to turkey, everyday, we ate at anne. I did not cook anything. That was the time I was starting to be exposed to the type of cooking and the type of vegetables I never knew existed.Thru halil as my translator, I asked everyone..especially anne of the recipes of whatever i ate.

After the honeymoon, I started to experiment with cooking..(I cut my hand that first time cooking and that news spread everywhere!! hehehe the new bride is starting to cook!! hahah)...Yenge and yenge (muyessa and mahtura) were great help since they live the levels below me (level 2 and level 3) .

Cooking..yes i was learning. But did i cook ? I suppose so..everyday. But where did we eat most days?? At Anne's of course!! There I was, a new bride, sharpen ing my cooking skill...cooking at home and still eating at anne!! It was a real wonder that anne never told his son to dump me hehehehe.. The truth is anne cooked a lot everyday..Anne and kerim (he was unmarried at that time)..together as a team, they cooked enough to feed an army! I think her way of thinking was...*at any time, any of my sons and their families may turn up for dinner. So i better be prepared*...and yup, she did!! everyday!! ..And I took advantage of that. Not everyday of course..but too often enough.. I wanted to get used to her cooking actually. I wanted to actually learn how the taste of her cooking would be. (For 3 years?? hahaha simah) It was important for me coz halil grew up with her cooking. To cook differently would mean to challenge his tastebud and he might not like it.

7 months after our marriage, i got pregnant...still we ate there..and then when hatice was only 5 months old, i got pregnant again with baddin..With hatice everyday crying wanting to go to her babaanne (over there she had fun since her mese hala was always there as well entertaining her), we took the advantage of dining there as well....Dont get me wrong, i cooked at home..but somehow it felt just nicer to eat at anne. Like i said, not everyday but very often enough.

And all those while... she never say any bad things to me directly..no complaining like...*go eat at ur own home* or *what kind of a bride are you?*.. nope..she never did. Even if she did say, i would have deserved it totally. But she never did.

When i told her about my feelings on this (that was i think a year before she died)..about me always dining at her....she just told me *Estaghfirullah yavru m...ben çocuklara birlikte mutlu oluyorum* (I am happy when i am with my children).

Halil and I were also like her second shadow.. where ever anne and baba were, We would be there too.. we even went on vacation together!! (poor anne!! hehhe) After all, halil is her youngest boy..anne's little boy cannot be separated from his mommy hehehe

Now that i think about it, i am glad I dined too often at anne.. I am glad halil and I were following where ever she was like a shadow..I am glad for what i did though treating her house like a restaurant was wrong ( That i do have to admit). I had only almost 3 years to get to know her..and for that short years, she had made a great impact on me. And just think of the impact she had and has on those who have known her all their lives..

My only regret is...when i was in the kitchen talking to her one day..i had wanted to tell her this..but my language was weak at that time..i could not utter what was on my mind...What i wanted to tell her was...

*Anne senin hakkın helal olsun*
(Anne halalkan segalanya)

I know it is too late. But with every doa i sent her, I prayed that Allah will also send her this one message.. This one message the living anne never did hear from me..

This is a song written by halil dedicated to anne...a song to express his sorrow ..

******Al-fatihah******


Kan dondu beynimizde
Yağmurlara yenildik
Boynumuz kıldan ince
Mevlamiza yöneldik

Son bir kez baktı bize
O gözler inci badem
Ateş düştü yüreğimize
Ağladı cümle alem

Gözyaşı karıştı sellere
Benzerdin gonca güllere
Bırakmazdık seni ellere
Emir büyük yerden gelmese

Çok sevildim şu dunyada
Bu ne hazin elveda
Ansizin gitmek var mıydı?
Ayrılmak kolay mıydı?

******Al-fatihah******

To Learn to Swim

I have been thinking. We Malaysians r sooo very lucky. We have such beautiful beaches almost everywhere... even if u live in the city, the beach is let us say maximum 2 hours drive from the beach??? And yet quite a lot of us do not know how to swim.... (my assumption)

Take me for instance. .. As i was growing up.. before istanbul, my home was in Penang n later langkawi n then again Penang....Much too often, i went to the beaches.... countless batu feringgi..countless pantai tengkorak... Yet for those 24 years... had i learnt to swim??? Did i know swimming??

I would put that to fear. In my case, nobody ever offered to teach me to swim. My dad being a custom marine officer (before retiremnent) naturally knows how to swim. but he never offered to teach me to swim.. well to be fair, he was away most of the times anyway.. and i had this one case of almost drowning experience in telaga tujuh when i was in form 3 (do u still remember mat kie?).. if My teacher dearest cikgu Hashim had not rescued me, i would be an arwah at the moment..u would be referring to me as the late simah right now...i owe cikgu hasihm my life i think.. so my fear of swimming was only natural even if my dad had offered to teach me..

To think again, without the case of *almost drowned* thing..i think i would have still be afraid to learn to swim....My personal opinion is.. for everyone..to learn to swim.. the enemy of learning how to swim is not the technique itself.. it is the fear within oneself..

To float in the water.. it is easy enough.. let urself free..u can float...as easy as ABC..i think everyone can do it...What made people cannot swim is this fear..the fear that * i will sink*..I started to brave myself to swim when i was in my matriculation years in PPP...I remember how we girls used to book a bus n together we all went to the itm pool for an hour or two.. At that time even i could somehow swim.. i could go to the deeper part .. but this one fear that i would sink affected my logics n made me a coward in the water regardless of the times Mary or sham meow or dayah tried to persuade me not to be afraid.. i was still afraid till the end of my tertiary education..

I was still afraid even after i came to turkey. Slowly with halil's persuasion i managed to overcome my fears. I was a weak swimmer then..The SEA?? woah.. i never dared go anywhere deep..at least not where my feet could not touch.. It was that one çeşme trip..where we stayed at Afife Teyze's summer house there for a week n Meşelar was there as well that for the first time, together with halil, i actually went swimming in the sea....That was the first time there were people (Meşe n teyze) who looked after the kids at the beach while halil n i romantically swam together..n he taught me a few techniques on how to avoid the waves..etc..etc..etc..
I never look back after that..the only problem is.. halil wont let me swim anywhere else other than edremit..n since hatice will start her pre schooling soon.. edremit is like a bye bye for us for a very very long time... tu la yg nak balik mesia.. nak berenang...

When i look at hatice n baddin.. again what held them back in the early stages of swimming is the fear *i will sink*. Alhamdulillah hatice had overcomed that fear..but baddin is still much too full with it.. how do u overcome that *i will sink* feeling?? i have no idea..do u know?? Would u like to share it with me? For myself, it was halil's gentle persuasion. For hatice it was Zeynep who subconsciously acted as her motivator...baddin? i dunno...

To learn to swim in the pool vs to learn to swim in the sea..which one is easier?? There r the pros n cons of course. For instance;-

---- if u learn to swim in the sea, the salt water supports ur weight. Therefore, u swim much much easier. What about the waves?? It does affect the swimming lesson right? To have the waves splassssssssssssh on u all the time as u try to swim....i dunno..what do u think?

----if u learn to swim at the pool, there will be no waves. But no support as in the salty water. Hence, u swim much much more harder...but at least if u r afraid u can touch the ground. But then, that would be bad coz u wont be forced to overcome ur fears.


What do u think? What about U?


It feels funny though..ı was living in Malaysia n i took the beach for granted ..now i am somehow without it...my heart longs for it... i suppose all my life trees n beaches..they i adore...i still dream a lot of them..

Hatice n her new swimsuit
Pink as usual


Baddin n his new swimming trunk
Red coz he loves spiderman


Both siblings posing together

I will go missing again..the usual place.. will be back before the 20th... U can guess our activities by now there.... i have an armut (pear) tree to finish....that is my mission this sapanca hehehehehehehe

scientific fact:1. pear, cherry n apricot helps u go (buang air besar)
2. peach does the opposite.
If u have diarrhea (i think this spelling is wrong)...dont eat anything else but boiled potato without even the salt. Eat loads of banana to help strengthen the body. Drink loads of plain water...roll coffee with lemon juice or lime juice into small balls. swallow it.it helps..

HAVE A NiCE DAY EVERYONE and DONT FORGET TO SMİLEE!!

Sapanca 2

U know what? It was the perfect time to escape istanbul last weekend. The weather report warnings said that last saturday n sunday would be extremely hot... We left istanbul saturday night n on sunday, from where we were sitting, the temperature showed that it was 39 degree celcius!!! And just imagine.. we were uphill!! I cant imagine the heat downhill there or istanbul..everywhere else it must have been over 40!! Yeah yeah i know.. so what? u would say.. after all for those living in Malaysia..that is like almost a normal temperature right?

For the first time ever, we all felt hot while in the Sapanca house..It was the first time the pool water was hot...the heat was totally unbearable. In fact, for sunday n monday for that matter, we all spent hours n hours in the pool...none of us really wanted to go out of the pool unless necessary..i was drowned in the pool of my own sweat while working in the kitchen..Even on saturday night, halil n i swam in the pool...at 12.30 midnight..the heat was unbearable..n the night after that with selim added in our night swimming....I tell u.. it was soooooo relaxing to be able to immerse ourselves in the pool in that kind of temperature.. Alhamdullillah..May Allah bless Arwah Anne for making sure that baba built that pool in the sapanca house garden..Else, we would not have been able to do what we did.. The temperature is almost back to normal today...28 degree celcius the last time i heard (Sapanca house)..

This weekend i think i have become hantu kolam renang.. Normally it was just us n baba n mıstık..This time around, selim n his family..not forgetting kerim... too decided to stay in sapanca for a few days...Where the morning bread buying which normally was halil's task became the rest of the brothers' task..That left me free to have my morning swim alone in the pool as long as i desired.. I was swimming like a maniac!! At times i joined the crowd..n at possible times..alone..i swam swam n swam.. i am no less fatter (banyak gila makan kat sana)..but i can assure it i am definitely fitter..hmmm how can u be fat n fit? *chuckles*.. well at least i feel like it.. the weekend was maximum swimming for me..even when i was XXXXtremely tired..the pool was like magic...water revitalizes my strength..I had energizer batteries in me hehehe..eh teringat lak iklan bateri energizer masa zaman dulu....pink rabbit lawan lari.. ada lagi tak iklan tu yek?

The pool..the best feature this weekend..n another one as well... This one..

Comfort quest air bed...Every year, i would sleep together with the kids on this..2 single bed put side by side

but this year since they sleep like monsters.. n my body is tired of being abused from their sleeping movement on the bed..with the fear that my nose would be terribly flatten than it already is...(.ganas gila sekoq sekoq ni tidoq), last sapanca i had decided to sleep on the floor with the thick blanket underneath me(ala mcm toto la)...safer from these two cute monsters hehehehe but for 2 weeks I woke up with my right leg painful ( an indication that my back bone is not ok)...

And sweet sweet tem this weekend had bought the air bed from Carrefour so that i can sleep more comfortably..And it became like this..
After sleeping on the thick blanket, this air bed is so heavenly. I had never slept this comfortably this year..until now that is...of course it is not as comfortable as a normal bed..n it does make a lot of noise as u move..but this bed is not bad at all especially after u put thick blanket on top of it...Zzzzzzzzzzzz..

I also noticed one thing this week.. Selim, Kerim n Halil..3 brothers.. this Sapanca they really enjoyed themselves.. normally with the presence of Safa n Keremcan, they had no choice but to play with them sports (i.e Football or basketball)..but this time, the only boy was baddin n he was busy fighting with elo most of the time anyway..hatice n zeynep were in a world of their own..only in the pool they demanded a bit of attention..even then they played alone....

There 3 brothers, they just played n played to their hearts' content.. chatted at night till wee hours...just them enjoying themselves..no limit....3 carefree brothers...i had not seen this very often.. it was good to see them like this..I even see a bit of the old cheerful kerim in this sapanca.

basketball in the pool
Selim n Kerim

halil at the net.
That net is actually for collecting leaves or insects in the pool

All in all it was one hot..totally pool sapanca..7 adults n 4 kids.....I had a great time n i hope u all did as well.. Thank u for a wonderful time :0).. Saros için iyi yolculuklar.. biz her zaman gibi..Sapanca da bekliyoruz hehehehe :0)

And the song by bariş manço is dedicated to my tem..this is among his fav songs..

P.s Baddin can swim now but with 98% fear in him..therefore he still insisted on using the arm float...only occasionally we made him swim totally without support..oh boy he screamed worse than hatice!! heheh

Still standing

Yup..i have not fallen...fallen into that no reason depression.. i suppose the istanbul heat is catching up on me. And it is not even as hot as Malaysia!! Gee how pampered i have become over these years...

The great recipe to overcome depression for women..

S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G..

Never fail that one *chuckles*..tonite halil, the kids n i went to Carrefour. I needed to buy some things from there..And I knew that Peacocks ( a clothing shop in the carrefour building)is starting the 70% discount sale today..What i didnt know is that every other shop is making crazy discounts as well..If only i had the time to walk around the shops...

End of season sale is always my favourite..Everything is like sooo cheap.I always make it a point to go shopping every end of each season sale.. shopping for what? shopping for who?? I shop mostly for the kids.. like tonite i shop some clothings for next year's summer. We save a lot this way.. Just like tonight, i bought 1 long sleeve sweater, one long sleeve t-shirt, one short sleeve t-shirt n a 2 pack short for baddin ..For hatice i bought her a skirt, a sleeveless t-shirt and a fancy sort of overcoat (Hmm.. i bought 1 material less for hatice, i will have to make it up to her later)..The total price of those things should be around 132YTL but tonite i only paid 58YTL..That is like half price cheaper right? And the best benefit of all the shopping tonite is.. i spent money n therefore i feel much much better now hheheheheh Women huh??

Earlier on in the morning, i brought the kids to the playground. As usual, the 2 cousins (Zeynep n Elo) were there. We went quite late..around 11am..n by 12 noon we had to leave the playground since baddin needed to go for his friday prayer with halil (by 1pm)...a quick bath today for him n lunch took almost one hour..It was really a rush today..n in that rush i kidnapped halil's handphone (it is fixed now) n snapped the kids at the playground...

The kids eating ice cream
(Except elo..she refused the ice cream i bought her)
Who's that girl with the headcover?

Yup! O benim çiçeğim
..The flower of my heart...

Playing the balancing game..
eh eh nak jatuh...
Playing with the sand

*Elo sen baddin sarılamazsınki*
(Elo u cannot hug baddin)
and she did..
(her reverse talk psychology)
hehehI was rushing to the playground this morning.
n look what i ended up wearing on my feet at the playground!!!
hahahahahhahhahahahah

Yes.. Hatice has decided to wear the headcover. She suprised me actually. On the 1st of August, she asked me about me wearing the headcover i.e when i started wearing it..why i wear it etc etc. On the 2nd of august, we were about to go out of the house when she asked me* Anne, baş örtu bana takar mısın?* (Can u put the headcover on me?) I could not believe my ears. I took one of the headcovers that my brother joe sent from Malaysia n put it on her. She now wears her headcover everytime she is going out...Well.. the fact that she is wearing shorts n short sleeve t-shirt with her headcover is another thing of course.. she is still small.. plenty of time to teach her things.... to dress the proper way..

True. I am happy that she is wearing the headcover. But secretly i feared that she is wearing it to please me... to make me happy. That is not the reason to wear a headcover.Thus, today on the way to the playground i asked her the reason of her wearing the headcover. she told me that she wanted to please me. She also said that she wanted to try wearing a headcover. Well.. that is good enough for me.. We chatted some more. I told her that if she is wearing the headcover for me then it would be the wrong reason to wear it.

I told her that she should remember 2 things. In her life, whatever decisions she make, she should make them

1. For herself... not to please other but to please herself.
2. because that decision is the right decision for her

And in everything, i want her to try to enjoy life..to feel the pleasure of what life has to offer..
She said *ok*.. how much she understood... i do not know..but these r the things i always tell her when she is alone..just like i always tell her...that once i am old n she is grown up..if i am still alive.. i do not want any material things from her.. the only things i will ask from them (i tell baddin this as well) r a kiss n a hug..to me they would be much much more worthy than any diamond or gold...and once i die... a fatihah ...

This matter of the headcover, i never push hatice to wear it. I believe in freedom. There is no use in forcing her to do the things she doesnt want to n r not ready for.. how long this wearing the headcover will last, i dunno.. i just hope that she wont have an emotional conflict when she has to take off her headcover to go to school...

And as for baddin? the sister wears the headcover.. he doesnt want to be left behind as well..he wears his cap hehehe

Have a Happy Weekend everybody!!

See u all on wednesday...i will be missing again starting tomorrow night hehehehe..clue: Splashhhhh!!

Am i standing still?

Kerenah anak anakku..

Saime just asked me..

* elektrik süpürge niye toz çekmiyor?*
(why doesnt the vacuum cleaner vacums the dust..in another word..why doesnt it work?*

Arghhhhhhhhh..yesterday i tried to vacum the house as well. It didnt work..i checked the vacuum cleaner to see why n the part where the dust or whatever that should go into was like...stuck?? i dunno how she managed it but..i cleared the part as best as i could n still it is not working... i wonder how this woman vacums....arghhhhhhhh.. n she now she is asking me why it doesnt work? she is the one who has been using this machine for the last 3 weeks..n i remember clearly before going to sapanca i even had it sent to the servis shop to clear the stuck parts.. arghhhhhhhhh.....

dont get me wrong..saime is a person with a pure heart..very trustable..if not i would never ever trust her to look after my kids while i go to pazar every thursday.....her problem is her intelligence..if she has any...she had broken or destroyed countless things over the years esp at meşe's ..

anyway..back to the topic..my kids..

Story one

Hatice n baddin were having their dinner earlier on. The menu; köfte (meatball) n spaghetti. Hatice thinks my köfte is fantastic. She just loves my köfte ..or maybe she was just trying to bodek her mom hehehe anyway, she had finished her share of her köfte..there were only the yogurt n spaghetti left on her plate. With that naughty look, her fingers started to move very quietly towards baddin's plate

Baddin saw those naughty fingers...understood what those fingers were meant to do..looked at that one naughty face and said..

*alamazsın*
(u cannot take it)

That naughty face turned to the innocent mom with a sweet pleading face. That sweet look won..oo Gee..why is it that i am the one they always drag into these kinds of things???

The mom turned to the son n said..
*paylaşmaz mısın? Sonra o ağlar*
(wont u share? Else, she will cry)

And the victim slowly passed over a small piece of the köfte to the victor...

Anne: *Abla..baddin teşekkur et de* (say thanks to ur brother)
Hatice: *Teşekkur ederim baddin* (thank u baddin)

And the victim looked at the victor smiling in a meaningful look n said..
*Bir şey değil yok* (no ur welcome to u)

If the victim sued the mother at the court of law, the victim would win the scream of injustice. My only defence is..
1. sharing is good
2. he has got loads of köfte still on his plate..

And the mom of the victim n victor looks sweetly at the juries.. will u sentence me as the guilty counterpart???


Story two

We were in Sapanca. It was lunch time. I was busy in the kitchen. Halil was assigned to make sure baddin was eating his lunch.

Baddin: *Baba..bu su soğuk mu?* (Is this water cold?)
Halil : *Oğlum, herkes aynı suyu içiyor* (Everyone is drinking the same water = meaning the water was not cold)

Baddin took the glass containing his drink n put the glass to his cheek..Test one successful.
He then drank the water. Test two......

Baddin: *baba, bu bardak soğuk ama su sıcak* (the glass is cold but the water is not cold)

He never drank the water again after that..not even touching the glass again.

U see, baddin has this thing about water... he only drinks cold water..(with ice preferably).. ..he washes his hands with cold water....everything using cold water..luckily he never insisted on taking a cold bath..if not....So when he discovered the water was not cold, he refused to drink it.

Yesterday when we were in the playground, him,his sister n his cousins playing under the scorching sun of summer..thirsty. He came to me n asked..

*anne soğuk su var mı?* (do u have cold water?)

when he heard the *no* answer, he refused to drink the water...for that one and a half hour he was very thirsty..but due to his stubbornness..or perhaps him being a spoilt brat.. he never drank even a drop of that not cold water...

Kids huh? mcm mcm kerenah diaorang.. Hatice n baddin.. evet..bu hikaye doğru..bu siz yahuu..belki bir gun bu hikaye okucaksınız.. :0) Size çok seviyorum

Sapanca (12th -31th July 2006)

Did I mention that Sapanca is pronounced as *sapanja*? Anyway, in this Sapanca stay, i had seen a lot of things going on...a lot of development n i think it is only fair that i conclude this one Sapanca in a note form...

HATiCE

The Beginning
- She did not know how to swim properly. She was scared..99% scared.

The middle
- She had learnt to swim but was afraid to go to the deeper end. It was practically her crying vs halil's orders for her to swim where her feet could not touch the ground.Trust me..there were loads of crying on hatice's part.

The End
- She can swim anywhere she feels like it..deep or not deep.
-She can jump into the deeper part of the pool
-She can dive wonderfully that she managed to pick the pecks (penyepit baju in malay or mandal in turkish) when thrown at the middle deep floor part of the pool. She needs to work on her diving at the deepest end of the pool..
-She can swim on her back
-She is trying to do butterfly style swimming..that needs more practice n i think more strength?

The Conclusion
-Her development in swimming this year is very fast n unexpected
-her swimming developed faster with the presence of the other cousins n vice versa. Hatice was afraid to swim at the deeper end at the beginning. She was afraid but with Zeynep's presence, she did it. She managed to overcome the bulk of her fears.Zeynep too seing that hatice could dive felt motivated to learn how to dive as not to be left behind. Each motivated the other subconciously.
-hatice is officially a swimmer in the pool. U cannot image how proud i am of her now. She deserves the new gold earring we got her 100%.
-And she has lost the fatty tummy she had last year from too much swimming. U bet she is extremely proud n happy to be able to fit into the jeans whch was not very comfortable last year... Yeahhhhhhhh çiçeğim benim..!!


BADDiN

The beginning
-He was scared to even enter the pool let alone swim with only the arm float. Last year, he wore both the arm float n the round float in the pool.

The middle
-he was happily swimming with the arm float. Most of the times trying to run away from his dad coz halil loves to throw him bodily into the water.

The end
-He jumped into the pool repeatedly n happily many times.
-On the last days, halil took out his arm float, brought him to the middle of the pool with me waitinga few metres away from them,and by force n crying, baddin was forced to swim towards me in order to save his life. When he needed to, he could swim.

The Conclusion
-I need to feed him more fresh milk everyday so that by next summer, he will grow taller n can easily touch the not deep end part of the pool.
-Next year will be baddin's turn to learn to swim properly. Halil's job of course.

HALiL

Overall Conclusion
- Perhaps it is the weight. Perhaps it is the age but i find myself massaging his back n legs much too often this summer. His knees r not very well n he is somehow overforcing those knees overtime n overwork. Tem..Be CareFUL!!
-To read n to finish reading a book in sapanca for halil is an achievement indeed..he did both sports n reading...finishing the book at that!!..a history made..
-Being a kid at heart himself, halil has proven himself a good entertainer for the kids.
-And tem..geee THANKS for throwing us out of the room every morning so that u could get an extra half an hour sleep..dont u know that we were on holiday?? Grrrrrrrrrr.. *wink*
-Thanks for teaching hatice to swim..:0)

MERVE
-This summer she suprised me by wanting to learn how to cook. Will make a different entry on this topic later. But for that one week, under my strict supervision, she had prepared one time the turkish coffee for dinner, chocolate chip cake,sosisli börek, chocolate pudding n a special Apple pie for her mom. Bravo merve!! pictures n elaboration in another entry...

SAFA
-He played with the kids whenever he felt like it. There was one time mıstık, halil n ı went to pazar. For almost that 2 hours while we were away, safa looked after n played with baddin around the house. I was n am eternally grateful.

KERiM
-A regular to Sapanca house but grew to become a stranger to the house after a few years of not coming there. He was clueless of what the sapanca summer house entails. He wandered around the house aimlessly..after a few days of staying there i think he is now re acquainted to the house once again. However, Kerim no longer has access to the cooking in the kitchen AS i had forbidden him to enter my unofficial territory. I think he deserves a break from doing anything...especially cooking. ..though brutal Sapanca mosquitoes.. U all r free to bite kerim!! heheheh

MISTIK
-The most worked person in Sapanca. What will we all do without u??

ALL SIBLINGS GET TOGETHER
-It is good for all siblings to get together in the open space of the sapanca house where the kids can either play with each other nicely or fight till they cried..Togetherness is always good....
-Zaim siblings -chat chat chat
-Zaim brides -chat chat chat
-Zaim n Tarım children -play fight play

where in the end...
-Exhausted mıstık
-Exhausted parents
-Exhausted Siblings
-Exhausted children
-Happy Day

ALL CHILDREN

The kids form their own grouping..

With safa n merve around

Safa - keremcan-sports
merve-zeynep-hatice -girls' stuffs

Without safa n merve

keremcan-zeynep-hatice
baddin-elo
ediz-ekrem
or
baddin,elo-ekrem-ediz

Keremcan at times went out of the children's grouping to join the adults in sports.. MaşaAllah.. he is talented n agile in sports.

MYSELF

-I think i have brushed up my skill in making köfte. What do u expect..just this sapanca i think i had prepared at least 5 kilograms of köfte!! U cant help urself but be better after that right?
-When i am exhausted, i get angry. Need to go to an anger management course with robert de nero hehe
-I love to swim especially around 8am or 9pm ..ı think that is the time when the pool is the best.I find swimming relaxes my mind. Especially when i am in an emotional turmoil... i must swim.
-I must have eaten at least half of the young armut (pear) on the tree. The taste reminds me of guava (jambu batu)..one of my favourite fruits in Malaysia..So forgive my finishing the fuits alone hehehe anyway, i dont see anyone else eating it.. :0)
-Need to kill my kilo..very very difficult.. ..waaaaaaaa

PERSONAL FINDINGS
-Hatice wants to be alone with just halil n i. In Sapanca, she had the opportunity twice. She was so happy. To be without her brother. I dont blame her but this kind of things is only very rarely possible. I feel sad for her but i hope she can understand this fact as well..we all move as a family unit n not as separate parts.

-To teach ur kids to swim;
1. u have to force them. I remember the story of mesut teaching safa to swim when safa was younger. He just threw safa into the pool n safa learnt to swim at that very moment.
2. first let the kids learn to swim in whatever way..to be able to stay afloat. Only after then, the learning of different styles of swimming should be introduced (this is my own conclusion after watching hatice)
3. Cousins, or peers can be a good reinforcer n motivator.

-Ice Tea - a tradition- a must buy if we all go down to town alone. Lemon ice tea for baddin n mango ice tea for halil, hatice n i.
-Dont forget to spread the baby oil on the skin after the pool. If not the skin will go terribly dry. As for the hair, the use of hair conditioner is extremely recommended...

Well..i think that is about it..i may forget a thing or two..but i think this year sapanca development is something i feel important for me to write this year.. Hey!! it is not very year ur daughter learns successfully swimming right? n my son? We will see the next Sapanca.. I still have hopes for him...:0)

Enjoy the slide shoW!

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

These pictures below r a courtesy from funda n her new digital camera..as at this moment, meşe n family r on holiday somewhere in turkey n halim n family r in bodrum. Selim n family will start the holiday this 5th.. I am so glad to be home at the moment... but i think i am starting to miss the open space n the pool in sapanca again heheheheh

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Happy Birthday Anne

Years ago on this very date, the Zaim family members would get together to celebrate anne's bithday. Her last birthday was celebrated in Sapanca..a fancy bouquet of roses bought and brought by funda from istanbul (the vase is still in sapanca- the flowers have dried out)...and her first handphone which she never did get the chance to actually use it properly (from all her children) as her birthday present...

Material gifts n wishes r now the things in the past. They r of no use to her as she experiences her life in the other world..a life i hope consisting of a peaceful life with all the rahmats of Allah..Doa..prayers r the only things i can offer her today n the days to come....May u rest in peace Anne.. Al fatihah..

My Dearest brother Joe

It both confused our minds to be thinking as to why the package u sent to me 2 months ago went missing.. it should have reached me ages ago but it didnt. It was on tuesday while i was in sapanca that i received a phone call from halim (my bro in law) who went to the package office to collect a package from USA for his wife who saw the package u sent. The noticed the post office had sent must have been lost somewhere..Thanks to halim, he even collected ur package on our behalf from that office on thursday (packages from overseas r sent to an office in the european side of istanbul. Notices would be sent to the adressee) . I was still at the summer house in sapanca when i heard the news. It is monday..nope..tuesday now..

Ever since thursday, my mind was only thinking of going back home...going back to istanbul..to wait for monday was a great effort indeed.. Yet..waiting was what i had to do..we agreed to return to istanbul on monday night...

u cannot imagine my happiness when i saw that one box...that one package..i was shocked. It was quite a big box.I was right..the weight was not light either. The content..the posting cost..it must have cost u hundreds!!!!

After i threw the kids into bed, with a nervous heart..totally excited, i used the knife to cut the rope....my beloved packs maggie (instant noodle) of many different flavours, my beloved asams (mo far ko, halia etc), spices (perencah sup,serbuk kari, serbuk kunyit), instant bubur nasi (rice porridge) of several flavours....malay Cds.. my requested Marry Poppins, etc etc..n on top of that; clothing for halil n the kids!!..i love the tudung very much..

HUgs HUgs HUGs a very Big big Hugs

u r totally nuts to be wasting ur money like this..And u cant imagine much this means to me.. how happy u have made me..but u make me feel so guilty now..my request for mary poppins Cd n asam turned out to be costing u hundreds....u know i can never repay ur kindness...so halalkan la yea apa apa yg orang dah pekena hang heheheeh buat apa kalau ada abang kalau bukan utk dipekena kan?? :0)

I would like to snap the photos of what u sent but halil's phone is dead..so no picture snapping for me for now.. i just hope the phone will be able to get fixed..if not.. :0( can u imagine halil now using my handphone?Remember my handphone in one of my entries? halil talking on a phone with childish cartoon characters ? heheh

Anyway, We really thank u for the package..halil loves the t-shirt.. i bet hatice n baddin will love theirs as well. Hatice will be extremely happy in the morning after she discovers that her favourite maggie is here....

To be away from malaysia..to crave for things like u can never imagine is difficult enough..and to have someone sending some of the things u crave for...is a blessing indeed..i am blessed to have a brother like u..May Allah repay ur kindness at times u least expected.

Thank You dear brother.

It is late..1.30 am.. time to sleep..my dearest blogging friends, i know u expected pictures from Sapanca..i am afraid they will have to wait for a little longer.. half of the photos r in halil's hp..the other half needs to be developed.....too many things to do tomorrow.. will try to visit ur blogs at the earliest opportunity..i have missed u all a lot...but i promise the next entry will be on sapanca...*yawn* ..dah pekena perencah asam laksa maggie.. la ni masa utk tidoq..blogging kena tunggu esok..nak pengsannnnn dah...

but this one entry i have to write tonite....i just have to tell u what a special brother i have here.. he is not the type to show his affection n love openly..i dont think he know how.. ..but when he does something like this....i cant help but to think that he loves me after all....when halil saw the things he sent, halil's only comment was..*ur brother must have missed u*... Do U? (hehehehe am i fishing for open affection here dear brother?)

Good nite world...n yup! simah's back ...for now...