Sorry I haven’t written much but my wrist has been bothering me a lot because I spend too much time in front of my laptop, which has a keyboard that is too small for me. Both of my wrists are killing me right now. I have been dreading typing anything lately.
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In December07, I got up and went through my morning routine. Everything was pretty normal; Bathroom, shower, brush the teeth, get dressed, breakfast. On this particular gray and dreary morning, I poured the last drop of milk out of the container I had been using into my cereal, filling it far short of the desired level. So I took to the fridge rummaging around. I found one bottle and checked it over for the percentage. The bottle had already been opened and had not been bought by me so I assume Murat had bought it. It was in Turkish so I figured if I looked for a number I could figure out what kind of milk it was (I hate skim milk). After about a minute, I thought screw it, I am sure it’s fine.
The first spoonful of this milk had something wrong about it. The taste of the cereal hid the problem but not well enough. Something was definitely wrong with this milk. It tasted a little sour and salt of all things! It was definitely salty. I smelled the bowl and it smelled fine. It definitely hadn’t gone bad. I smelled the container which also smelled fine. Perhaps I was going crazy?
After two more spoonfuls, sniffing the bottle of milk a second and third time after each mouthful, I had had enough. Something was wrong with this milk! I needed to get something else for breakfast because I couldn’t take it anymore. That’s when I noticed the big letters on the front of the bottle. I guess perhaps while looking for a number I didn’t bother to mentally process any of the writing on the bottle, or perhaps because I know so little Turkish I simply disregard text that I see written. This however, written in the biggest font on the bottle was a word that I did know. It said “Ayran.”
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 Ayran is a Turkish specialty. I made my parents try it once while we were in Paris together back in March 2003 and they both were disgusted by it. This is awful they said, how can you drink this? My mother then proceeded to say that Ayran tastes like “yogurt mixed with salt water.”
Well that is exactly what it is. It is yogurt, salt and water mixed together. It is typically served cold along side just about every dish. If you are curious, you can check out this Ayran recipe. Ayran and yogurt in general are incredibly popular in Turkey. Ayran is a standard drink and can be purchased anywhere that Coke or any other soft drinks. It can be purchased in small containers or many places have their own Ayran machines that keep it well mixed and ready for serving. Even McDonald’s here serves Ayran (note: I have been told this. I have never actually been in a McDonald’s here nor have I eaten food from there).
Variations of Ayran can be served with mint, black pepper, cucumber juice or garlic. I can’t say that I have had any of the variations, but I have seen a kind of cold yogurt soup made with cucumber juice. I haven’t tried nor have I investigated what it is really, but it looks like Ayran with cucumber pieces floating in it. It is common in the Middle East, the Balkans and Central Asia (in other words a lot of the territory previously under control of the Ottomans). In some places in Turkey it is the standard welcome drink for visitors - bumping tea from that spot (Wikipedia.org)
I am not crazy about the drink, but I have a taste for it. It is refreshing and goes great with a heavy meat dish such as a kebab or gyro/donner. From time to time I order it, but the availability of fresh fruit juice here means that I end up ordering those instead.
What I learned from this experience is that I really should start learning Turkish. I was briefly motivated for a few days. I am hoping that in the next few months I will find that motivation again. Perhaps a third goof (remember trying to do Laundry?) to really get me going.
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March 15th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Yo what’s going on? I googled you and this came up. Pretty cool dude. I heard you and Izzy will in the ‘burgh for Carnival. That would be awesome.
As for this blog. You would think that living in Turkey for pretty much a year and being surrounded by Turkish people you would be able to read some Turkish. But I guess not. Also for a guy who used to eat/drink anything, if paid, I didn’t think you would have issues with a yogurt salt water drink. Maybe you could introduce this popular drink to the states. It would be a cultural learning experience for all.
From the looks of it on your blog site it looks like you are doing well. It’s good to know that. Take care.
March 20th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
My older brother once hosted a Italian co-worker. During a kebap meal, he thought Ayran is a sauce for the meat. Luckly, my brother stoped him in the nick of time before ayran can be spilt all over the kebap…
March 21st, 2008 at 2:49 am
On the plus side, it wasn’t milk that was WAY past its date, which is where I thought you were going . . .
April 5th, 2008 at 5:42 am
Turkish isn’t so hard to learn. I am American and my boyfriend is from Istanbul and Ive learned a decent amount in the last 6 or 7 months even though I havent dedicated myself until the last couple of weeks. Pretty simple actually as all the past, present, future verbs and whatnot are the same just changing the ending. You just have to pay close attention because you can add like 5 different suffixes onto one word and create a whole sentence!
April 5th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Hi Alicia, thanks for the two cents. I am not sure how much longer I will be here though since I no longer have a job. I suppose now that I have free time I should start making an effort since I have lots of free time.
Do you live in Istanbul?