Aegean Pearls: My Life in Izmir

Most informed people, when they heard I was moving to Turkey, assumed I was going for the food. They weren't wrong. Whether it's fast food like Döner, a market that the Turks dominate in Germany and other western European countries, or typical fare known as "Mediterranean" back in the States, Turkish food is some of the best in the world. Actually, a big reason I came here was to get healthier. Most importantly, I needed to get my mind far away from the stressful, drawn-out disollution of a marriage that had meant everything to me.  But I was in bad physical shape: I spent more time sitting in a car than walking in sneakers. I ate a pretty bad diet, and I ate quite often. In winter & spring, I had done a night course, nixing a pretty regular workout schedule I'd had before. Here in Turkey, I chose an apartment a 25-minute walk from the school, and I have walked every day (each Saturday I have taken a 7-mile hike, and each Sunday, I walk 20 minutes to t...

Yester we had Turkish coffee for our lunch break in the Konak bazaar. For those who are unfamiliar, a Turkish coffee is lies at a savory midpoint between an espresso and a really strong coffee. Ours came is tiny Turkish delights. As we drank, Elyas (from Lebanon, the new chemistry teacher at MEF) and I compared superstitions with our host Ipek, whose family has lived in Izmir for generations. We began by knocking on wood. I "knock on wood" when I mention a plan that isn't yet fulfilled and I hope will go well. Turks use it to ward off evil. They also grab their right earlobe before knocking on wood (they rap their knuckles on their teeth if wood isn't around). The conversation moved on to fortunes. We were drinking coffee, after all, and coffee grounds are used to tell fortunes.  I looked into my coffee, and all I saw was grounds, more than a quarter inch thick (half a centimeter) on the bottom of my tiny cup. Ipek showed us to place the saucer on top of t...