Support Izmir for EXPO 2015!!!

Hi there. Please help my city to win EXPO 2015 world fair over Milano, Italy. Over the last century Italy hosted 6 EXPO's but Turkey never got that honor. So, please go here and vote for Izmir. If you are determined to help Izmir, then you can always become a volunteer. To become a volunteer simply fill this form. (Turkish only)

Remember, as a developing country, Turkey needs every penny of the infrastructure investment that will be made thanks to EXPO 2015. One of the world's oldest cities (more than 8000 years old) will be revitalized. So, help Izmir, help world heritage!

Thanks in advance.

Yours Truely,

Guntie

Wanna Be Like Guntie? -3

Oh boy oh boy, those overwhelming fan requests and emails... Seems like the whole world wants "the Official Wanna Be Like Guntie? Series" to continue. And continue it will.

Today I will teach you how to cook like Guntie. I don’t claim to be a great cook but at least I do have some skills. To me, the secret is to prepare a tasty dish with minimum effort possible. Without further due, here is my recipe for pasta sauce…

• 1 medium size onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• A handful of walnut
• Red pepper
• Oregano
• Salt
• 1 tea spoon of Chicken broth
• 3 table spoon of crushed tomato
• 1 table spoon of margarine

Put the onion, garlic and walnut in a chopper and chop them untill walnuts are finely minced. Preheat a pot with margarine in it. Once the margarine melts down, add the chopped stuffed and stir them thoroughly. Lower the heat and close the lid for 10 minutes (stir every other minute). Make sure that onions are not burnt. Then add 400 ml. of hot water, 3 table spoons of crushed tomatoes and 1 tea spoon of chicken broth. Mix them and bring it to boil. Add oregano, red pepper and salt as you please. Boil it for another 5 minutes.

As you can see this is a very simple recipe. The catch here is the taste that fried walnuts add. If you are not a big fan of walnut then you can replace it with almonds, peanuts etc… It takes you only 20 minutes to prepare it and believe me it is worth it.

On the next episode of Wanna be Like Guntie?, I will teach you how to do moonwalk.

Why Someone Would Love Montreal?

Because you can randomly pick an ethnic restaurant where you can have, probably, the least Americanized dish in North America. Then, while you are enjoying your meal, a local musician might pop up out of nowhere and start playing folkloric tunes from his homeland. Once he is done, a customer might borrow the instrument and play a couple of tunes from his region. All of these would happen in a very civilized way. And this could very well happen on a Monday night!

Big Trouble in Little Switzerland

There are three things that I hate in this world: damn federals telling me what I cannot do, pizza boy delivering my pizza cold and transatlantic flights. I don't order pizza and I don't live in the States but I fly transatlantic. Oh yes I fly transatlantic.

Yesterday I flew from Izmir to Montreal and had two connections: one in Istanbul, one in Zurich. I had to buy two bottles of whiskey and I opted to buy them in Istanbul free shop, thinking of making a Turkish man rich. When I arrived to Zurich, in a misguided attempt, the security lady took my bottles and told me that those two bottles weren't bought in the EU so I can't carry them. Mind you, Switzerland is not in the EU! I said it is horse shit. The bottles are sealed and I have the receipt. What kind of absurd security reason is that? I told them to give me back my bottles in an angry way and went to the information office. The lady there wasn't helpful at all. Then I went to a free shop and begged them to give me a paper declaring that those boxes are original. Of course no help there. They recommended me to leave the airport and check those boxes in as a luggage: Something I couldn't do because I am from Turkey and need a transit visa. And the Swiss government knows that very well...

Being the person I am, I simply couldn't let Swiss "steal" my bottles. I went to passport control and told them the story. I said I am willing to pay if they just give me a transit visa. They told me it costs 30 Euros. At that point a normal person would let it go because it might be cheaper to re-buy those bottles but I simply couldn't let Europeans "steal" my legitimate bottles. I said OK issue me that visa cause I wanna leave the airport. The police officer made me wait and talked to his commender. And finally they said, if it is only for those bottles, we will walk you out, check your boxes in and walk you in the airport again.

Now, that was a really classy act. They didn't have to do it but they understood my situation and showed empathy. And within half an hour, I went all the way from "I hate Switzerland" to "I love Switzerland". If you want foreigners to like you, all you have to do is to help them. It is that simple. That's why Canada is way ahead of many developed countries.

Wanna be like Guntie? - 2

After a long while, my narcissist idol strikes back! If you really wanna be like Guntie, then your desktop picture should be replaced with this. And you shouldn't be able to find a mistake since there's nothing wrong with him.

See you on the next episode of Wanna Be Like Guntie.

Holy Cow

I was in Istanbul for a couple of days. Needless to say it was really nice to see friends and family. It was nice seeing Istanbul nine months later too. The heat wave and extreme humidity was annoying but Istanbul was as beautiful as usual. Yet there was something unusual in Istanbul. Actually there were more than one...

Nowadays Istanbul is invaded by funny looking cows. The city is hosting the world’s biggest public art event (Cowparade), as life-size fiber-glass cows, colorfully painted and decorated by Turkish artists, celebrities and members of the public are adorning the streets. So far, 39 cities hosted this event but with 200 cows Cowparade Istanbul is one of the biggest ever. After 3 months of display, all 200 cows will be sold in auction and the raised money will be donated to charities.

I didn't have enough time to see them all since they are clustered around the town. Considering that Istanbul is a huge city with a population of above 12 millions I had to dedicate 2-3 days of mine to see them all. Alas, I could only see a quarter of them but those cows are definitely worth it!!! For more info you can log on to this website. I posted 3 of my favorites: the alien-cow, the metro sexual Turkish bull and the trendy lady. Check this website for more pics.

Just a quick reminder: My birthday is rapidly approaching. Unless someone wants to buy me one of these as a present I have to buy one. That means I still have 2 months to get a job and save some money...

Wanna Be Like Guntie?

This is the first one of "the Official Wanna Be like Guntie series". All in all, what you are trying to accomplish is not an easy task. Then again, if I managed to do it with my limited resources, why can't you? Plus, you gonna have an experienced guide.

You can start by replacing your mobile ring tone with this. When you receive a call, cool people around you will notice your presence and you can go ahead and start a conversation right away.

See you on the next episode of Wanna Be Like Guntie.