1. Pazar
Definition: Sunday
Why this definition is sooooo great: I can not tell you how much I love Sundays in Turkey.
a. Sunday is the one day a week when most people don't work. So, they get up quite late. This makes Sunday the absolute best day to go for a run or walk out in the city. You see, Ankara is incredibly polluted. It's truly out of control. There are no emissions controls on motor vehicles, and there sure are a whole heckava lotta cars in this city. Example: Here is Ulus on a pretty clear day. You can see some clouds in the sky, but you see that gray haze covering most of the place? That wasn't fog, that wasn't clouds. That was pollution. There are mountains not too far off in the background that you can't even see. Every morning when I wake up I'm convinced it's going to rain because the sky is so gray with pollution.
As a sidenote, down on the street you can see one of the dolmus [dolemush; hop-on hop-off minibuses to get around the city] centers. They are a particularly convenient and quick form of transportation...although taking them generally causes me to have a near heart attack for the duration of the ride. The drivers are ruthless.
But, back to the main point: in Ankara, there is no such thing as "going outside for a breath of fresh air." You've got fresher air inside your house even if the room with the squat toilet is sending out putrid fumes. But, on Sunday mornings until pretty late (circa 8:30 am), one can go for a walk without having a bus blow black air into your face.
Added bonus--Sunday morning is the one time when you can be pretty sure you won't get hit by a moving vehicle. You think drivers in Boston are bad? Pff. You have no clue. It's almost fun trying to cross the street here. It's like playing Frogger. I've always liked the feeling of being in a video game where i'm fated to eventually be killed...orrrr make it onto the high score table!
b. Sunday is the day I do my important grocery shopping. Right down the street I have an ekmekci [ekmekjih; breadmaker], a simitci [seemeetjee; simitmaker, simit is this tasty bread ring with black cumin seeds or sesame seeds on it] and a peynirci [payneerjee; cheesemaker] that has great Turkish cheeses, olives, and sucuk [soojook; a kind of sausage]. So, after my fresh air excursion I can go get bread and simit still warm from the oven and stock up on cheese for the week. And the streets are pretty quiet because the shops open late, so it's a delightful place to be. The people in the cheese shop are pretty fun and are starting to recognize me a bit...probably because they always have to ask me a second time what I've asked for.
c. Some Sundays I go walking with my cousin Gizem and afterwards we go to her house or her grandmother's house [my great aunt] for breakfast, who live three or four blocks from my apartment. They like to laugh and we eat outrageous amounts of tomatoes [2 or 3 kilo] and drink absurd amounts of tea. I can't tell you how badly I have to pee after breakfast with them. But, it's a pretty much awesome way to start the morning/week. I admit, sometimes I can't follow the conversation at all and have no clue what they are talking about, so I usually end up answering their questions with completely random answers. For instance, let's say they ask me how old I am...I usually respond with "her hair was red and striped and then she went to the bank" because I missed some key words in the flurry of Turkish. Oddly, they just shake their heads and smile like i've answered the right question...but the conversation usually dies in the awkward confused silence. These mornings are also prime time to fight with my cousin Ahmet about the quality of chocolate in Turkey.
2. Pazar
Definition: Bazaar
Why this definition is sooooo great: going to the bazaar is oftentimes a serious highlight of my week.
a. Pazar, as mentioned, means Sunday. Eskiden (back in the day), the weekly fresh produce and goods markets were generally held on Sundays. So, pazar --> bazaar. Simdi (nowadays), weekly pazars aren't necessarily on Sundays. The one in the area where I live is held on Fridays. It's a great place. According to dad, when he was a kid and he'd stay where I am now the Pazar was uncovered. Now, it's basically an open-air warehouse. It has a ramp going up into it and as you enter you go into a whole new overwhelming world of freshness. Everywhere you look there's produce and people screaming prices, calling to you "sister, sister, this is the freshest dill you've ever seen!"
Turkey is an incredibly self-sufficient nation, agriculturewise. The country itself is not much bigger than Texas, but i'm pretty sure it has all 15 microclimates [the Big Island of Hawaii has 13/15] which allows for all types of produce to be grown year round. Since it doesn't have to be shipped long distances, like from California to Maine, it's pretty fresh by the time it gets to Ankara. However, oddly, bananas grow in Turkey but at the pazar you still see bananas with the Chiquita from Ecuador sticker on them.
I'll take more pictures in the future, but it's hard to be discrete with a camera there--it's dark inside, so a flash is necessary--and once they know you're a foreigner your haggling opportunities are kaput. You should hear some of the old women in that place, though...they are champion bargainers. I've seen some of them hit the grocers with their canes saying "5 kurus for one kilo of carrots?!? THAT'S WAY TOO EXPENSIVE". mind you, 5 kurus is not in any way shape or form expensive for a kilo of carrots. But those old ladies, they always win! It's really pretty impressive.
Outside the pazar there are also all sorts of trucks with produce on them. Yesterday when I went it was really windy. One truck had these ginormous heads of lettuce on them--diameter = my forearm--and the back of the truck was open so they went rolling all over the street.
It's also artichoke season, so you see trucks piled with artichokes. Inside the pazar the guys just sit there ripping off the leaves (!!!!!) and taking out the bowl like part in the middle because they make a type of olive oil dish called zeytinyagli enginar [artichokes with olive oil]. Olive oil dishes using different vegetables are pretty prolific and the term "olive oil dish" doesn't really describe what they are at all. But, what I can tell you is they are darned tasty things. I made zeytinyagli kereviz--celery root with olive oil--last week and it was deelish. Maybe i'll post a recipe or two in the coming days.
So, there you have it--pazar is such a great word.
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