TiT: This is Turkey

As my hosts have mentioned many times, life in Turkey is "easy". Especially here in Cappadocia, away from the bustling city centers of Istanbul and Ankara, the pace of life is slow and relaxed. Just the way I like it.

My job title is "volunteer" and I do everything and anything necessary. At breakfast I prepare and clean; at dinner I am a server. In the afternoon I might help out with tech related things (there are Macs, iPhones, and iPads everywhere) or go exploring with guests. The other day I helped Unal, Gulcan's brother, set up email and download some apps on his iPhone 3G. He was quite excited to use Google Translate and get his Yahoo mail.

We serve breakfast at roughly 8am each day. I go down around 7, unload the dishwasher, set the tables, put out some food, then chill for a couple hours while our guests meander through the brunch buffet. After eating with the other staff and cleaning up, I am free for the afternoon until dinner time.


Gulcan (inn owner Andus' wife) begins preparing dinner around 5 and we serve at 7. Gulcan is a fantastic cook and every night we enjoy something different. I tend to avoid the kitchen during dinner prep. It's way too small for 4 or 5 people all conversing in frantic Turkish. The other night while everyone was making dinner, I helped one of our guests from Columbia book a flight to Istanbul. Turkish keyboards take a little getting used to...Turkish Mac keyboards especially so. If nothing else, I understand the language of technology.

I joined Gulcan and Duran the other day on a trip to the market in Avanos. We bought bags upon bags of fresh local veggies. It's nice to get away from America's packaged foods, marketing schemes, and corporate mentality. Food here, like life, is simple. Fortunately my vegetarian diet has not been an issue. Breakfast is 99% vegetarian anyway (we put out some salami alongside all the veggies, dips, and bread). At dinner Gulcan makes a meat dish, a veggie dish, and soup/salad. In fact, she is attempting to eat a veggie diet herself for health reasons.


The weather has been absolutely perfect for the first few days. 65-70 degrees, blue, clear sunny skies and seemingly no threat of rain. This morning I woke up to rain and a forecast of thunderstorms. It should blow over in a couple days...nearby Kayseri is supposed to hit 82 tomorrow!

Of course, it's not always sunny and carefree in Turkey. Getting here via public transit was tricky. I took planes, taxis, metro, light rail, a ferry, bus, and shuttle. Thankfully I had a very kind guide during the most confusing part - crossing Istanbul.

I am surprised at how few people here actually speak fluent English. Most of the kitchen staff at Fairy Chimney Inn speak only limited English and my Turkish is rather embarrassing...though slowly improving. We spend a fair amount of time just trying to communicate. Thankfully, Andus, Gulcan, and Unal speak good English so there's usually a translator nearby.

The power went out across Goreme two days ago. Rather than sit in my dark cave, I joined our Columbian guest Veronica on a 4 hour adventure through Cappadocia. We rented a little 100cc scooter for 35TL (about $20) and cruised around to a few towns. It was really nice to get out and see beyond Goreme. We explored rock-cut churches, caves, and lots of fairy chimneys.








In the evening we joined the rest of the staff at FCI on a wild goose chase. Apparently there was supposed to be a massive meteor shower on the 8th with great visibility from Cappadocia. So we went to observe from a nearby hot spring. Long story short, there was no meteor shower and the car I was in never made it to the hot spring. Instead, I enjoyed a Turkish beer with Veronica from Columbia, Stuart from Canada, and Joy from England.

Interacting with guests is quickly becoming one of my favorite benefits. I love meeting people from around the world, and they love encountering someone who can speak English. So it works out nicely :)

Panda says hello to everyone back home.