Chicago Turkish Festival

Hello Faithful Readers!

This week I spent three days volunteering for the Chicago Turkish Festival, which was held at Pioneer Court on North Michigan Avenue this year. Lots of wonderful people showed up from all over the country and from Turkey to set up, manage and take down the event. We saw a huge turnout despite the occasional downpour. On Saturday my family and I attended the event as participants, and I finally got to watch the show, including lots of traditional dances and also whirling dervishes, something I didn't get to see while we were in Turkey. I really enjoyed the whole event, both as a volunteer and as a participant. It was so wonderful to be around the Turkish culture again for a few days.

Here is the link to the festival page. http://www.chicagoturkishfestival.com/
I may eventually add some pictures, but I forgot to take my camera to most of the event, so f I do, it will be sparse.

While we were at the festival, it came to my attention that there are some major protests happening in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and probably in other parts of Turkey right now. They started when the city of Istanbul tried to tear out a park in the middle of the city to build a shopping mall, but they have spread. Citizens are protesting the ruling party's recent restrictions on their freedoms and demanding better democracy and more rights. A few people have died from excessive police force, which includes tanks and tear gas. Local businesses and hotels are opening their establishments to the injured and providing food and shelter for the protesters. The Turkish (state-run) media is downplaying the events. There is not much we can do from here except try to make people aware that there is a problem and encourage others to stay informed and aware. I encourage you all to dig for information on these events and do what you can to help.

This week I will be finishing my next book, "Ten Little Beavers," which I plan to publish toward the end of the year, after "Ten Little Geckos" and "Ten Little Hippos." I'm also working on artwork for another series, "Pomphrey Pig..." about a little pink pig that loves sunflowers. You can stay up to date on my writing by following my Amazon.com author page here:
http://www.amazon.com/Rose-Breuer/e/B00D0QSI7S/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1370271097&sr=8-1

Thank you for visiting!

This is me, signing off...

New Book!

Hello Faithful Readers,

I'm finally posting on my much-neglected blog to comment on my latest adventure.

After returning from my recent international travel experience, I decided to do something that has been on my list for a long time, writing and publishing a kids book.

"Ten Little Owls" is now for sale on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, the iBookstore, and several other online bookstores. You can take a (better) look at the cover (or buy it!) at this incredibly long URL:

http://www.amazon.com/Ten-Little-Owls-Animals-ebook/dp/B00CRLL33I/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1369576591&sr=1-1&keywords=ten+little+owls

Don't forget to take a look at my Author Page on Amazon.com. You can read it by clicking on my name under "Author" at the link above.

Other books are ready and waiting to be published, so please check back every couple months.

Thanks!

This is me, signing off...

With Good Intentions...

Hello Everyone,

So I logged on to BlogSpot intending to post an interesting blog with some pictures from a recent adventure, but instead got engrossed in my own writing and just spent the last two hours re-reading some of my old posts.

Today we spent an enjoyable day wandering around Besiktas. It really feels like we have come home, staying in the same neighborhood near our old house after being out of Istanbul for the last couple weeks.

After checking into our hotel we went to the  hair salon one last time before exiting Turkey, Land of Reasonably-Priced Haircuts. Maria wanted bangs, so she got her haircut first, then proceeded to sweep the bangs off her forehead and tie them down with her headband. I got my usual haircut, as short as I can get away with and still look reasonably feminine.

Next we wandered around the Besiktas Carsi (mall) and found some souvenirs for friends back home, some expensive yarn and plastic crochet hook so I can entertain myself on the long flight home, and a pile of Turkish beads for Maria to make stuff for her classmates. After spending a fortune, we met a work friend for dinner, then picked up our suitcases and took them back to our hotel. (Thanks, friend!)

By this time it was too late to really go out to the museum like we had planned, so instead we sat in and worked on crafts. I started three crochet projects with a variety of expensive threads. Somehow, starting a project is always more fun than continuing to work on it for a long time. Watched some of a movie, ate leftovers for dinner.

How did it get to be nearly 1:00? I'm off to bed. We'll include some pictures another time (as always promised and not usually fulfilled.)

Thanks to all my faithful readers!

This is me, signing off...

Horseback Riding in Cappadocia

Hello Everyone,

We've finally started our tour of the rest of Turkey. We left our Beşiktaş apartment in Istanbul on Friday morning and took the short flight to Nevşehir. We eventually made it to our hostel in Göreme and spent the first day relaxing, wandering aimlessly around the town and sleeping.

Yesterday we got up early, planning to go on the all-day tour with the other hostel guests, but one of them ended up having a little leg injury, so we put it off a day and spent that day relaxing too. We arranged a horse tour in the afternoon. I had hoped to save money by riding the same horse together, but the saddle was really too small, so we ended up getting two horses. Maria was thrilled with her little white pony....

off to breakfast--I'll finish this post later =)

A bit of Turkish music...

I love the sound of the traditional flutes and drums (Mercan Dede) combined with mind-blowingly fast-paced lyrics by one of Turkey's greatest rappers (Ceza).

I heard this song two years ago in my advanced Turkish class, immediately bought it from Amazon.com and spent quite a while learning the lyrics as a challenge for my Turkish pronunciation. I can mostly sing it now but still get hung up in a couple spots.
 
...kaybolan bir kumum...


MERCAN DEDE 800

Aşk geldi..
Aşk geldi..
Damarlardaki kanım gibi oldu..
Varlık boşalıp, her tarafım dost eliyle doldu..
Zapteyledi bütün ensaî vücudumu.. kaldı kâvi bir namı bana..
Şu koskoca alemde yalnız bir kulum..
Aşk olmasa hiç bir işe yaramazdı gün ışığı..
Aşk geldi.. Damarlardaki kanım gibi oldu..
Varlık boşaldı.. her tarafım dost eliyle doldu..
Zapteyledi bütün ensaî vücudumu.. kaldı kâvi bir namı bana..

ya sana varmak ya bana varman..
ya bana gitmeden yanıma kalman..
yasını tutmasam, yaşına varsam..
karanlık doğmadan, ışığa kalsam..
hayal hiç ölçülmez, ne boyu ne de eni..
kaya kürür gönül yakar hep, koru benim..
hayata seninle dayanırım her nefes diken..
diken de derttir gülüm, canın sağ olsun da senin..
aşkın yok nispeti, bir anda bağlanır kısmetin
her düğüm çözülür, çek hasreti..
havadaki kasvet birazcık benden,
karadaki ben değil, havadaki bazen..
uçan bir kuş, bazen kaybolan bir kumum,
koskoca alemde yalnız bir kulum..
kolkola gezmek her can ile suç mu?
tamam o zaman benim bu alemde en suçlu..

baktım göğe masmavi,bastığım yer hâki..
gördüğüm diyar çok, görmediğimse gani gani..
nefes alıp veren bu can da çaresiz kalınca,
özlemim büyük, yolum uzun, bende bir karınca..
yanan gönül akan suda, o yolun en sonunda..
dostum bende solur, eğer dostum benle kalırsa,
dostun senle yaşar, dostun eğer senle ölürse.
bir çiçek olup açar belki tekrardan doğunca..
her açan senin gülün, hergünse benim günüm..
gözyaşı insan külüyse, her yakan insan sözü,
kıvılcım sözün özüyse, ayrılık yakar gözü..
tek gören gönül gözüyse, kelamım gönül sözü..
yalnızlıktan galip çıkmaktır irfan hiç olmadan,
irfan çıktığın her seferden dönmek hasret ekmeden..
ektiysen de ders almaktır hasret filizlenmeden,
ekmediysen gönül almaktır seferin bitmeden..

 Koskoca alemde yalnız bir kulum..
irfan gönül almaktır seferin bitmeden..

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92GPfeQOWRA

 

Thanks to all my faithful readers.

This is me, signing off...