20
Tem
How did I miss this before? Here you go, all the radios in Greece. Fan-tas-tic…
19
Tem
 It says “We are against ’smoking’ and ’smoking ban’” |
 It says “No smoking” (duuh!) |
Well folks, it is real in Turkey too. From tomorrow on “smoking ban” which is started a while ago with minor effects is becoming EU style ban. Greece has already started this month 1st of July. So, I wondered what is the differences between Turkish and Greek smoking bans.
| Greece | Turkey | |
| Population | 11 million | 78 million |
| Smokers | 42% (number 1 in Europe) | 48% (number 1 in Middle East) |
| Yearly number of deaths because of smoking | 20.000 (~0.2% of the population) | 120.000 (~0.15% of the population) |
| 1 pkg. of cigarette costs | €3.5 | €2.3 |
| Starting Date | 1 July 2009 | 19 July 2009 |
| Fines if you smoke | upto €500 | smoker pays €30, place owner pays €2600 |
| If everybody smokes 1 pkg./day, and they stop smoking now. How much do we save? | €18.5 million/day €0.5 billion/month €6.7 billion/year |
€86 million/day €2.6 billion/month €31 billion/year |
And links:
Here is how Greeks see what is happening in Turkey
And here is how Turks see what is happening in Greece
A small note:
While reading Greek articles, I came accross more than 1 time, saying that “sultan Murat the 4th” has ban smoking in Ottoman in 1700’s. That is true but not all of it. He ban smoking because he was addicted. It is kind of a “Let’s stop together” campaign. But a bloddy one, people were finding people hanged on the trees every morning. He also ban “drinking alcohol” for a short while. Yeap you got it, he was alcoholic. 
01
Tem
After couple of years of intense relationship with Greek food; now I am finally ready to make some comments. I will start with some “BEST OF” brand names and update this post anytime there is a new winner. Here we go…
20
Haz
The long-awaited Acropolis Museum in Athens has been opened.
The modern glass and concrete building, at the foot of the ancient Acropolis, houses sculptures from the golden age of Athenian democracy.
The £110m ($182m; 130m euros) structure also offers panoramic views of the stone citadel where they came from.
Culture minister Antonis Samaras said he hoped it would be the “catalyst” for the return of the Parthenon sculptures from the British Museum.
Some of the sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, originally decorated the Parthenon temple and have been in London since they were sold to the museum in 1817.
The museum has long argued that Greece has no proper place to put them - an argument the Greek government hopes the Acropolis Museum addresses.
Read More at BBC news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8110010.stm
03
Eyl
This year we made a long holiday (26 days, 4 days UK + 11 days Turkey + 11 days Greece). You can find the photo album in the link below. But if you also want to read the story take a look at the rest of the article by clicking the “Read the rest of this entry »”.
Pictures from 1 to 67 is from Turkey and after that from Naxos
02
Eyl
I do not know how did I miss but there is a new movie coming up from/made in Turkey about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. It has been written about lots of time in press but I totally missed it. I saw today on a newspaper, visit the official website and watched the trailer. It looks like a nice one. This year is the 70th anniversay of his that and the writer of the movie says he wanted to make a “real” movie about him with his all human sides. Here is the story of Mustafa Kemal from Selanik/Thessaloniki Greece.
At the website I saw a Greek article about the movie so I found the link for it. Any Greek speaker can find the link below.
http://www.mustafa.com.tr/ [Official Website, opens with trailer]
Article at Greek newspaper Kathimerini (in Greek only)
16
Ağu
In first 10 seconds of the movie above, they use the word “Erkete” twice. Try to catch it… Sorry no subtitles…
I am back from my yearly Greek Island holiday. There are tones of things to write but to do that I need to dig into the pictures. For now I want to write about a funny (for me) issue. OK here it goes…
There is a saying in Turkish, “Erketeye yatmak” which means “To sleep on erkete”. This term is used when a group of people do something hidden from the others, like “smoking in the high school bathroom while trying not to get caught by the teachers”. You pick someone from the group to watch outside the door and say “Go and sleep on erkete”. So this person waits outside and watches around and when someone is coming he shouts back inside “He is coming”.
The term was not widely used till a comedy movie from 1972 came out called “Hababam Sinifi / The class of hababam”. A group of young guys in a private school makes naughty (mostly funny) things. The movie was a big success and the term “Erkete” has became a known term, not only by Istanbul people but all over the country.
Now the funny thing for me is; I never knew what this word means and thought it was an army term or one of the thousands of Persian words in Turkish. I used it in high school, in army and in lot of other occasions.
If you are Greek, you already know what is funny with this, but if you are not, here you go. “ερχεται” means “He/She/It is coming” in Greek. Third person, present tense.
It is funny I learn what I am saying at 33 years old.
07
Tem
This time, it is in Greek and about Turkey. Like my blog is looking into a mirror. (I must admit, it is much better)…
http://eistinpolin.wordpress.com/
02
Nis
Today I left Athens and came back to Copenhagen Denmark. I will miss you Athens….
