Remedies and "Geçmiş Olsun"

What Better Photo Than of Children Playing?
(Countryside of Taraklı)

I've often said, "There's so much to write about".  But what?  What could I write about that would interest readers?  

I have to admit, if I think too much about my readers' interests and curiosity, I'm not able to write.  I'm as frozen as a fisherman in January, out on a drifting ice flow, watching the shore get further and further away.  I guess that's why I love to write.  I have to write for myself.  From myself.  

I spend a good amount of time alone.  It helps me write.  I can be laying on the floor, finished with my yoga and don't always feel compelled to get up.  I might look out the window, look at the ceiling, and even get distracted by a black bug crawling on the wall.  I'm thinking.  Pondering the many "Whys" as they creep into my mind.  Before I know it,  I'm off into another world.

This morning, I looked at my two suitcases, still sitting by my fireplace.  Unpacked, but not yet stored in my cellar storage.  I saw my small dining table filled with travel items.  So many I couldn't even see the tablecloth covering the table.  I knew I needed to go through them for my next trip.  I glanced at the summer clothes piled on the floor from my trip to Turkey.  (I need to sort through them. They're clothes for warm weather and I need to get my other clothes out for fall and winter)  I realize my writing bug is stronger when I'm avoiding the real day to day tedious chores.  

I can block them all out and they have to wait.  Maybe it's not avoidance, it could be the right time to write.  If I did everything I should do, before I write, I'd never write.   

One of the thoughts I was tossing around was, "I wonder if old remedies really made a person well.  Maybe they just make a person think it's working and they feel better."  What made me think about this is remembering how sick I got while traveling in Turkey.

View of City of Taraklı

Cemetery Stones in Taraklı

One morning I woke up very sick while staying in a small city called Taraklı.  I thought I'd be able to pretend to be fine. I didn't want to screw up our day. I knew we were leaving and traveling to another city.

I took one imodium tablet, which didn't helping the stomach spasms and diarrhea at all!  I lost the other 3 tablets I brought with me in my bag.  I wasn't in any condition to be very far from the bathroom .

Eventually, I had to tell my friend, Birim, I was sick.  Concerned, she suggested lemon water, right away.  We were leaving and heading for the small town Göygün, after we checked out of our hotel. In Göygün, Birim checked a small pharmacy for imodium, but they had none.  We walked to a small outdoor cafe.  The first thing I had to do was find a public restroom.

Example of Stand-Up Toilet from Google Images

The public restrooms are usually below street level.  This one had no seats as toilets.  They only had the standard "Stand-over-a hole-with-your-feet-apart" kind.  There's a place to put your left and right foot, a hole in-between and you squat while you're relieving yourself.  It's also standard for there to be no toilet paper.  (I always have wipes in my purse)  I understand this isn't a pretty picture I'm painting.  But, you do what you have to do. There was a little blue plastic pitcher under a spigot.  I knew it was for filling with water and for splashing and washing the area when I was done.

When I came out there was an old village woman washing her feet and legs by the sink I needed to wash my hands at.  I decided another wipe would be easier to clean my hands with and climbed up the marble stairs to daylight. 

I went to meet Birim at the cafe.  She insisted I try a Turkish remedy to feel better.  It was a large spoon of Turkish coffee grounds and a little lemon juice, washed down with water.  I told her, "I'll be fine."  I found myself swallowing the mixture, anyway, hoping it would help.

Turkish Coffee

It did calm my rumbling stomach down.  But, I felt weak and ill as we drove back through Göygün.  Birim stopped at the same small store we had purchased linens, on our way through, before.  She wanted to talk to a woman, Nürgül, about her linens.  

Nürgül

When Nürgül saw me in the car, she was concerned I was sick.  She came back with lime salt and water.  She assured me (translated through Birim) it would work.  When we drove away she said, "Geçmiş Olsun" several times with a kiss on each cheek.  As we pulled away, she said, "Return again!" in English.

Fortunately, we had some road time ahead of us.  I sat still and rested.  After a few hours, we arrived in Eskeşeher, our destination. I was feeling much better.

Eskeşeher

Ceiling of Mosque in Eskeşeher

I think the remedies worked.  It's possible I believed they would work, so they did.  Like a placebo.  But, the same could be true about Imodium.  I knew one of them wouldn't work and it didn't.  It probably would have taken the day to feel better with imodium, too.  

I know love and care is a healer.  Maybe a little attention, a few geçmiş olsuns, some sincere caring, was what I needed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraklı#Settlement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goynuk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskişehir

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyPdMTa0d3k  This is a rock & roll song in Turkish