30 November 2012
30 November 2012
30 November 2012
This is Ramazan, maker of breakfast this morning for a hungry foreigner who showed up out of nowhere carrying a big backpack, speaking pidgin Turkish, and greedily scraping every crumb off of every plate like some kind of starved homeless person.
There are 30 goats out back of Ramazan’s restaurant, but none of them were harmed in the making of this morning’s breakfast.
30 November 2012
30 November 2012
30 November 2012
30 November 2012
30 November 2012
30 November 2012
The south side of Sertavul Pass has a lot of houses made out of rock, tin, and flimsy wooden branches. I don’t know who lives in them or what they do or when they do it, but yesterday at least all the houses were empty. It was kind of creepy, seeing all those unoccupied shanties.
EDIT: A couple people have suggested to me that maybe those are storm shelters for shepherds and their flocks. That sounds pretty plausible, and definitely takes some of the creepiness away.
30 November 2012
30 November 2012
30 November 2012
28 November 2012
28 November 2012
28 November 2012
28 November 2012
This is my least favorite road surface for walking. I’ve only run into it a few times, so it’s no big deal. But man, it hurts to walk on. I suspect it’s the cheapest surfacing option — let’s just lay down some tar and throw some rocks on it. It’s used mostly on lightly-trafficked country roads. It hurts to walk on because it’s one layer of rocks on top of an unforgiving surface, so the rocks push into the soles of my feet. Thank god I only run into this occasionally.
28 November 2012
In this video I say I’m walking out of Mut, but I mean I’m walking out of Karaman. I’ve got Mut on the brain this morning — Mut is the next town up the road, three or four days from now. All day I’ve been saying Mut when I mean Karaman.
28 November 2012
27 November 2012
Across the street from the Karaman Ogretmen Evi (Teachers’ House) is a small restaurant called Kubra, named after the woman who runs it.
Kubra is a family-run restaurant with just two tables inside, and about four in the patio outside. Kubra serves about the best manti (imagine a meat-filled ravioli in garlicky yogurt sauce) I’ve ever tasted in my entire life.
Here are two of Kubra’s four children, Enes and Omerfaruk. Kubra herself was too shy to be included in the photo.
26 November 2012
A few weeks ago I spoke about the walk at Istanbul Toastmasters…
Personally, I think the most interesting part is hearing what questions people ask. That starts at minute 14.
Mom, you are mentioned at 24:20, and again at 25:50. 😉
At 25:44 I mention moving off the road to avoid getting hit by cars, and I knock on wood. The audience, mostly Turkish, chuckles at that gesture. Here in Turkey they also knock on wood to avoid tempting fate. It’s a habit I picked up years ago, long before I came to Turkey.
At 26:55 I answer a question about what scares me on the walk.
At 28:15 Aydin asks an interesting question about Turkish vs. western cultures, and is western culture more encouraging of projects like this.
Craig Randleman, I mention you specifically at 32:20.
At about 34:30 Metin asks about safety and terrorism concerns.
At 40:05 I answer a question about struggling through the walk with my limited Turkish language skills.
At 43:00 Seli asks perhaps the most challenging and complicated question, “Is your midlife crisis over?” followed by one of the simplest and most straightforward, “What shoes do you wear?” 😉
Thanks Alper, for recording this and putting it on YouTube!
What I do
I do communications coaching. I have two companies, The Presenting CFO (helping companies with their investment pitches), and Krause English (helping people with their language and presentation skills). My clients get projects approved and investments placed.
I have spent 50% of my adult life abroad, with stints living and working in China and in Turkey.
I have extensive international trade and operations experience, including supply chain management, ecommerce sales and customer service, and business communications coaching.
Other stuff:
Video shorts