İ was often asked about what İ think about the issue of turkeys european communiy membership. people expect from me to tell about cultural difference, humen right situation and maybe economical “development”. İ was answering something about the inofficial sector, grey market and so on, İ expect to die. But know İ think different. Turkey has to com to EU, it`s essential for my live.
My friends will know, that there is nothing as important for me as coffee. But there is something really as important: butter. evryone who want`s to convince me to live vegan will have to capitulate at this issue. The problem is: butter is horrible expensive here. it`s three times more expensive than cheap cheese and about the price of sheeps meat. İ don`t know, why İ didn`t see the reason yet. it`s just because butter is indredible cheap in european community, due to high subsidies.
there are so many reasons not to like EU, but this kind of policy to make butter affordable to all İ really appriciate. But on the other hand, butter is not the same in europe and here. the market sells from blocks of maybe 10 kg. they promote it with the slogan “very tasty butter” - yes, butter has a taste, which you can`t guess, if you just know butter from european supermarkets. İt`s hard to discribe, but if you happen to come here, you have to try.

İ started to sell my fotos again, on the street. İt`s all in all a good job. You can start and finish, whenever you want. You can speak to a lot of people and you get some reaction on what you are doing. Selling two is giving me the money as working in a bar until maybe 4 o`clock in the morning, and selling just one is at least providing me food and cigarettes for one day. So İ don`t have to complaign, as long it is not raining or snowing.

And İ like the idea of street business as well as the idea of street exhibition. Art should not be something about galaries and big money. As far as possible, evrybody should be able to afford art and to do art. İ`m selling for 8 YTL per foto, and of course, they aren`t unicates but İ reprent them some times, as long as they are not getting boring - it`s me myself who gets bored at first by the way.

The foto İ sold today is this:

İ espacially like selling this foto, not because İ think it`s my best, but it`s my most abstarct. İt should be part of a serial, but it was never finished. İf İ sell it ance more, İ`m maybe motivated to finish the serial.

İ have to say it: There is no use to buy the cheapest coffee you can find.
Coffee is one of the most important things in my life, maybe more important than cigarettes. So there`s a problem here in turkey. You can find the really tasty türk kahvesi, but it`s served in really small cups, so İ would have to drink at least ten of them, to start my day. Or you can drink Nescafe, İ think İ don`t have to say something about that.
But at home, İ`m happy using türk kahvesi in an esspresso can, the one you can put on the oven and the heated water is pressed from down up. My can is producing about 1 1/2 big cups. And it`s the best coffee İ have ever drunk.
But only if you use “mehmet efendi”. İt`s between 1,30 and 1,50 YTL per 100g depending, where you buy it. There are two discount brands, İ tested yet, one of DiaSA - 100g for 0,69 YTL - and one of BİM - 250g for 1,49 YTL. But they`re disappointing. So if you wan`t to visit me, bringing coffee is not a bad idea, but …
İ just wanted to warn you.

ps: panic: now my gas is finished and şeker bayram is starting, three days holiday after ramazan, maybe the only days, where İ can`t get gas in the year - İ have to be fast now …

pps: ok, İ got it. let`s drink another coffee after this shock. - argh, the BİM one …

i spent two weeks in germany. too much to ignore and to less to see all my friends there. but i experienced some new things:

1. it`s possible to miss a plane.

İ always thaught, it`s not possible to miss a plane, if you reach the airport until the plane has not started yet. Two weeks ago İ spent a drunken night with a friend who left istanbul. That`s why İ managed to oversleep two alarm clocks. I got up one hour before the plane should start and arrived exactly at the scheduled starting tine. even as the flight was still shown as >last call< i couldn`t enter any more. So İ was lucky not to fly with an discounter air line, but with ÖGER TÜRK TOURS who booked me for the next available plane to stuttgart, instead of munich without any extra payment. So İ finally arrived in munich in the middle of the night by the >orient express< night train at 3:30 am, when munich is sleeping and no public transport is available.

2. there a new branches of street business in Berlin

the one is traffic light juggling. normally people are using the stopping period of traffic lights to clean the car windows. but now some people are jugglıng for 40 sec and still have 20 sec for collecting money.
the other is ticket recycling. people collect used metro tickets and sell them for some coins. The tickets a valid for 2 or 3 hours, so they can still be used. as transportation is quite expansive in Berlin, it`s a good deal for the sellers and the costemers. One seller gave even one for free, becdause i didn`t have money.

3. being back to istanbul is great

İ got a letter. a real one, paper, ink and some fotos, prints, not bits and bytes. İt`s strange, iyt`s out, it` nice. İ met R. some weeks ago in “little wing cafe”, an hippie-ethno-style location just opposite to “babylon”. totally not my style, but i like the talkative athmosphere, as long there is no open stage live music. So İ spent one evening with R. He told me something, which was really interesting. The famous revolutionary Antifa M from the perspective of a members parent. Funny, they kind of organized themselfe in order to protect and support their kids. in a way am “antifa M perants association”.
So we had an interesting evening, talking about me, my reasons to leave germany, homophobia and body and our relationship to society and much more. So thank you R. for writing me it was a nice evening for you , too.

The method to poisen cockroaches is working quite good. see hamam böceği and böcekler II. But know İ found a new method. İ could use a robot to lead them out of my kitchen to the neigbours. İ found this here. And İ tried google automatic translation for this - the result is better than İ expected.

there is a wedding festival next to my house. it`s the second day now. two days of arabesk music, maybe 100 people dancing, no alcohol, and just some rice. İ do not really understand the party. just one our ago it ended. the couple went to its room, the man is more or less beaten by other man while going in. İ don`t know, whether its still done here, but traditionally the linen is shown to public with blood, to proof, that the women was virgin.
Of course all this stuff is not so much strict any more. There is this idea of modernity in this city, this idea of sexual freedom, which means to be promiscuitive in a period of adulescence. But this is on the one hand for those, who can afford time and education, on the other its not really questioning family structueres. But there are also those, who are encouraged and brake with these structures.
İ don`t think, all this stuff is a matter of islamic cultural background. İt`s just, in Europe there were some people, espacially women, who tried to leave this stuff one or two generations before. More than here. So this is still here more difficult than there.