Sığacık

Sevasdà

Turkish Folk Song (Translation)

(https://lyricstranslate.com/en/sevasd%C3%A0-sebastian.html)

Here...

I really wanted to come

And say, once again, that I wanted

To live as if every day

Were the last day of my life.

And in life, thus it is, desire has accompanied me.

Here...

Grass grows green as I walk

While tasting the dewdrops;

The day is already arranging the table

With the horizon brought by the dawn.

And life is, thus, the smallest of all jasmine blossoms.

Here...

Your letter has reached me today,

When I needed it the most,

And this little bit of you that enters my home

Soothes my longing.

And life is, thus, both the earth and the heavens to me.

Here...

A conversation at midnight,

A burning stare,

Make a little bit more pleasant

An overpopulated city.

And life is, thus, like the road to friendship.

Here...

And the prayer each morning

To all the gods of life,

Places some myrtle at Aphrodite's feet

With leaves of poetry.

And life, thus is it, slowly falls in love with me.

Here...

I really wanted to come

And say, once again, that I wanted

To live as if every day

Were the last day of my life.

And life, thus is it, slowly falls in love with me.

I am getting completely spoiled getting to sleep at anchor or dock every night and having wifi a significant amount of the time..

This afternoon, his friend has taken us out to one of the nicest restaurants - calamari, octopus, eggplant with peppers, marinaded sea bass, spicy yogurt…. This was the first octopus I have ever actually liked - grilled crispy with no batter - just glazed with olive oil and some light spicing and served on a bed of greens

I think the best way to describe my relationship with Recep, is pet. I am his pet. Complete obedience, but cared for and given treats and tolerated when I make mistakes or don't understand what he wants. But ignored if I think I can offer advice or insight:) But pet can be ok for now LOL I have to admit - some people would find this paradise, and after a few drinks... it is kind of paradise:) No responsibilities, no real expectations ... just smile and do what is asked if me, which isn't a lot

Today, we did all the things to provision the boat and make it ready to go. We went to the gas dock and then pump out. People usually leave these things out of their vacation pictures and stories, but vacations are often made up of so many boring little things, like doing all the paperwork to check to a hotel, or brushing your teeth, or folding clothing, the list goes on. Just a few hours each day of the trip are really exciting. But that is what we take pictures of, and that is what we remember. We should do that in our regular lives. Too often I hear people complain about all the boring little things they have to do, without remembering the good things that happened in your regular life. Look up, see the architecture you are walking by, meet a new person, taste a new food. Spice things up a little and live like you are on vacation, and sit outside and watch the sunrise and sunset. Today, on the shores of the Aegean Sea, on the coast of the Ionian peninsula, on a yacht at the Turkish seaside, we went and watched our shit pump through little see-through plastic tubes.

After all our chores were done, then I had a choice, I could walk around a dusty ancient city, or go to the Hamam. Well, actually It was a really cool old city, and I should have gone, but it is in it’s early stages of uncovering, so there won’t be as much to see yet. It was one of the seven great Greek cities. Oh well, I decided to go to the hamam and it was wonderful. A Turkish bath is when they lay you down and scrub you from head to toe with rough exfoliating gloves and then cover you with giant piles of soft bubbles and massage it in, all the time pouring warm water over you. A Turkish bath and massage were well needed. I realized too late that I could have gone to the city in the daytime, and the hamam in the evening. But, it is what it is:) Instead, in the evening,

Instead in the evening, I went back to a store, that said they could find me a camera card. I ended up there for almost two hours getting a complete course on Turkish history. Wow, I had no idea. Cengiz (pronounced like Genghis Khan) at the X-Tel store was like a walking reference library of Turkish history. I told him that he needs to write books.

"Turkish belongs to the Altay branch of the Ural-Altaic linguistic family, same as Finnish and Hungarian. It is the westernmost of the Turkic languages spoken across Central Asia and is generally classified as a member of the South-West group, also known as the Oguz group.” Same as Finnish? WTF? He then went on “"Macro-Altaic" has been generally assumed to include Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Korean, and Japanese.” Seriously WTF, so Turkish is related to Finnish and Japanse and Korean??? Mind blown. The quotes above are not his, they are just from Google, but he told me all of this.

Cengiz told me that Urdu, comes form the Turkish word “Ordu” meaning “Army”. And was created for the army out of a combination of Arabic, Persion, Hindu and some Turkish. The Urdu language started evolving from Farsi and Arabic contacts during the invasions of the Indian subcontinent by Persian and Turkic forces from the 11th century onward. Urdu developed more decisively during the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) and the Mughal Empire (1526–1858).

A lot of the “stan” countries share the same ancestors as Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, the north of Afganistan, Kyrgyzstan etc, all the way over to China. Armenian people however, came from the Anatolian line. However, Iran shares the Turkish bloodline. Even in China, in Xinjiang, there is a large population, that shares language and culture with the Turks. I also did not know that Cyprus is a country divided. Half of it is called the “Turkish Republic of Cyprus”. You can cross the border from Cyprus to the Turkish Republic of Cyprus, but don’t try to go the other way…

I think that I did not go to the Ancient city, and I did miss out on that. But I certainly did get a better history lesson than anything I would have seen there. I think that If I ever make it back to Sığacık, I am going to talk to Cengiz, and beg him to let me pay him to take me to the ruins and be my guide.