Most interesting blog Merhaba,
Congratulations on your marriage.
I have been invited to a wedding in Izmir and am leaving in ten days. I was very curious about the henna night to which I have also been invited.
I enjoyed your blog (and link to the Turkish music) which I found through a google search. I am not sure if a gift is to be given to the bride at this event in addition to the wedding day.
All the best!
Paula
The importance of mosquitonets Yes Europeans put mosquitonets on their prams. ´here is a reminder of how important a mosquitonet is. A Danish mother of a 4 month old boy, left her son to nap outside in his pram. She did not put the mosquitonet on, because she would put the boy and the pram into the shed and just leave the door open for air to come in. So it wasn´t neccesary, so she thought. 4 Hours later the boy still had not woken up, and she became worried and went outside to check on him. He was dead!! He had swallowed a whasp that had stung him in his throath. This could have happend even if she had been with him.
Brought back memories of my wedding in Pakistan. It is indeed bittersweet. I cannot view any wedding videos of mine because I get too emotional. American Woman, Pakistani Man, love, tears, religion, henna, culture... it's all so raw for me and it happened 15 years ago. I wish you luck in your marriage. It is a hard time for such marriages as ours.
Thanks for keeping in touch Hi Saskia, Levent and Kaan,
It's always interesting and fun to read your blog. Great job! I hope to visit some day...
Your new apartment is beautiful. Best wishes on your soon to arrive new addition to your family.
Shari
Cost of delivering a baby in Germany I don't know how much it costs to deliver a baby in Germany - it is required to have health insurance here, and if you don't get private insurance, you get publicly subsidized insurance (how much you pay depends on how much you earn). We have public insurance. It paid for the entire birth and all midwifery services. You don't get a private postpartum room with public insurance, but you can pay something like 100 Euros a day extra to get a private room. I read somewhere that the maximum you can be charged for a birth here (any kind of birth, including C-section) is 7000 Euros, if you are here from abroad, for example, and don't have German insurance.
Thanks, Bob Thanks for your comments - when I started writing this blog, I figured only my family and friends would read it, but it's inspiring that people I don't know also read -and like- them. Take care!
fascinating these 'travel' blogs are addictive... other peoples stories are interesting when laced with humour and well written, tho' of course its down to personal style and taste. liked your story esp living the 'dream' of being carless. great stuff, hope all continues to go well.
Being Foreign Thanks, Mimi, for your comment - I think being a foreigner makes it easier to observe. It's also a good way to learn about one's own culture - read books about it written by immigrants :)
Gets harder for a while... Thanks for your comments, Jennifer :) I must say, travel as much as possible before your baby can crawl or walk. Between crawling and I don't know when (Kaan is 17 months now, and still hasn't reached the can-sit-down-more-than-2-minutes stage), it's awfully rough - on the parents, at least. Just took a trip to the East Coast of the US - nightmare on the way there, as Kaan slept 3 hours of a 10-hour flight, meaning he was jumping on us for 7 hours. The way home was easier - only 8 hours and Kaan slept 6 of them because it was a night flight. Good luck!
BRILLIANT blog!!! Was just researching travelling with an infant (as we're expecting our first) and this was a fabulously fresh and eye-opening read! Hope Kaan continues to enjoy his travels (and you, too!)
Good observations Your wit, writing style, choice of subjects, and keen observations make a great read and sometimes make me laugh. I visit German friends in Stuttgart and Ulm every other year or so. Though they speak English very well, they don't think to tell me things that are common to them. I am learning from you some subtilties of SW German culture. Please keep writing, I'll be reading. Thanks!
Proof's in the Pudding You're the proof that it all turned out just fine! Probably a bit scary for your mom, though. It is amazing how much is just instinct. :)
Inspiration... I was born in Germany to a mother to who didn't even know English but instead a language of Africa that almost noone knew...but your blog gives me inspiration to ask Moms how it went over in that hospital in Heidelberg!
Congratulations Thanks for your comment and best of luck for your wedding :) It is actually amazing how little there is in English on Turkish culture... guess we all can change that? Maybe you can post somewhere about your Aussie-Turkish wedding!
Thanks! Sorry it took me so long to respond to you - thank you so much for your comment. I hope your wedding goes well - maybe you can write about it on TravelBlog, or elsewhere and let me know where you post it!
Can't blame everything on the Nazis Rudeness is definitely culture-centric and subjective. According to the American "rules of politeness", Germans don't fall in the very polite category. But it's not their fault - they are raised with their own norms. If Germans want to seem more polite to Americans (and it seems that many do), they have to learn what is polite and what's not, especially in the area of customer service. There actually are such classes here - it'll happen :) And being polite also doesn't mean someone's nice. Germany has its own share of nice and not nice people, just like every other country.
Don't have to I don't have to eat this food - I like to. Of course, some tastes and textures might be new to me and take some getting used to, but I want the food my family eats to be a reflection of what I grew up with AND what my husband grew up with :)
very cool blog! hey,
i just wanted to say thank you for this fantastic bit of information, i am a turkish girl, who grew up in australia and am in the process of getting married. Naturally i have lots of aussie friends who dont know what a kina gegesi is. When i came across your blog i though perfect! forwarded it onto all my girlfriends who were invited and when the night came they all knew what was going on and why it was happening!
Thanks
Yasemin.
Thank You. I wanted to take the time to say thank you for sharing your story. I'm getting married in the states and my future husband is turkish. We are having a mixed hispanic-turkish wedding but I've been having a hard time with turkish wedding traditions. I found your page and loved it. I love the idea of having my reherrsal dinner with my henna night. I think this is the best idea ever.
My in laws are going to be so happy I've decided to incorporate this has part of my wedding weekend. My Dogu will too.
Again thank you thank you thank you for sharing such wonderful details with us.
Grechen
great i liked this site so much thank you for your view and I'm from Denizli and welcome to denizli my sister ..:) and i live in USA and i missed Denizli and When I saw this site I was affected.
And you were beatiful in your wedding. I wish you have a good time in Denizli ... bye.
Germans are rude ... Generally most of the Germans are rude. They don't know about it but rudeness is one of their their national, cultural characteristics. Probably inherited from their Nazi past this rudeness is still a part of a German daily life. Don't be fooled if you got some kind of help for once, you have to live inside the society to find out these hidden side of Germany.
We moved to Europe so that we could experience life here and travel around easily. Our three sons were born here, and these days, most of our pictures are of them! We only planned on staying in Germany for a few years, but it's rapidly becoming HOME.
This blog is featured on Expat Women
... full info
Paula
non-member comment
Most interesting blog
Merhaba, Congratulations on your marriage. I have been invited to a wedding in Izmir and am leaving in ten days. I was very curious about the henna night to which I have also been invited. I enjoyed your blog (and link to the Turkish music) which I found through a google search. I am not sure if a gift is to be given to the bride at this event in addition to the wedding day. All the best! Paula