čtvrtek 8. prosince 2011

Bread, The Omnipresent

One of many things that fascinate me here in Turkey, is the role bread has on the Turkish table. It cannot be missing no matter if you are having breakfast or dinner, and no matter what you are eating. When preparing a meal, the crucial question always is: Do we have bread?

The philosophy is that you can always get full by eating bread with your meal. So don't be surprised if you see the Turkish chewing bread together with side dishes, with meals missing any sauce, with fried cheese, risotto or pasta. I am not sure if it has anything to do with the respect Turks have for foods in general, or if it's just another Turkish mania, as I like to call such particularities.

čtvrtek 1. prosince 2011

About the toilets in Turkey

Everybody travelling to Turkey is always curious what the toilets are going to be like. So here it comes.

In majority of places, public or not, you have the "normal", European, toilets. Some public places, such as university or gas station, have both types. As for flats, they usually have a bathroom with a European toilet inside and apart, in a different room, a Turkish one. (But the very new modern flats have no more Turkish toilets.) If you visit a village or some place out of the city, they tend to have just the Turkish toilet.

What the Turkish toilet is like for us girls? It´s ok, I have already said it before but I sometimes make fun of it seeing it as a game of pretending to be a guy (because, ehum, there is a hole that you might see as your target). I also consider it very convenient in public places. Why? Because it´s much more hygienic. You are not touching anything! You don´t have to think if you put paper on the toilet seat or if you just stand above it, being uncomfortable after a while since it is kinda high. The only disadvantage might be for people who have some problems with their legs, of course. Oh, and I don´t recommend reading in such a toilet!

One more thing people imagine about Turkish toilets. They think it is just a hole in the ground. Not really, the design and material is quite the same like the European toilet. So don´t imagine any mud and dirt there.

What can be surprising about the toilets in Turkey is the fact that you don´t throw the paper into the toilet. You throw it into a bin next to the toilet (I always get extremely embarassed when I can´t find any). It might seem strange at first, or even disgusting, but trust me, it´s perfectly ok. The toilets don´t smell more because of it and you get used to it quite easily (on the other hand, I get confused after coming to my homeland). They say the paper can´t be thrown into the toilet because the pipes wouldn´t take it, they are said to be too thin.

There is one thing about the European toilets in Turkey I wish all toilets in the world had it. It´s a tiny pipe in the back of the toilet, right below the seat, which you can turn on to use some water for cleaning yourself. It is much more useful than a bidet!

That´s it for the toilets, I hope next time I won´t take so long to write something again.