Mavi Kelebek

Monday, October 31, 2005

tow MSA rocks!

I write frequently about our MSA (Muslim Students Asso) and wonderful things we do. One of the main events this year was the "fast-a-thon" The best student newspaper on campus covered the event. You can read it here: http://dailycardinal.com/article.php?storyid=1027398
I managed to get home in one piece and work on our group project for j335. It is going to be a ton of work, but I can honestly tell that it is going to be top notch!!
In other good news I got an interview with the LISAR people for the fellowship I applied for. Elhamdurillah I am so excited about it. Think of all the good that can be done by having a Muslim fellow in the bunch.
I hope everyone is having a blessed Lailatul Qadr (Kadir gecesi). Keep me in your prayers too!!

Turns out I took a lot less pics than I thought I did! In any case here is the few that I took:

We tried to get him to pose, but he was more interested in chewing his food!

That is Bengisu on the left, she's the younger sister of Burcu and of course the older sister of my boyfriend!

A sad attempt to get all three of plus my boyfriend in the pic. Didn't work too well!

Burcu and I. It is a shame how little we get to see each other!!

Here is an old picture of me and Burcu together. This pic is from October 2001!

Yes, of course as gorgeous as ever. Our families decided to go fishing in the freeezing weather. That is why we have about a gazillion layers on. This is one my favorite pics of me and Burcu!
kelebek }{

I make the rules up as I go
Just try and love me if you can
Are you strong enough to be my man?

When I've shown you that I just don't care
When I'm throwing punches in the air
When I'm broken down and I can't stand
Will you be man enough to be my man?
Sheryl Crow

Posted at 12:10 AM

Sunday, October 30, 2005

tow home

It is nice to be home. Well, for about a total of three minutes to be exact. After the initial welcome wears off my family goes back to, well, being my family. We had an iftar dinner today. My mom invited three families, and this meant tons of kids running around wrecking our house! Burcu's family was here too. After all this insanity that has been happening it was really good to have my dear friend around me. Of course my ever adorable boyfriend helped a lot too. The women were in the kitchen, and us girls were in my old room. He would come knocking on our door and say "bouuyyfweeend" meaning "boyfriend." He is so incredibly adorable. Burcu was saying that how he caught on to the fact that women will believe anything you say if you add "I love you." Burcu says he would take a bite of food, go to the kitchen, spit it in the garbage can, and come back to his mom and say "I love you." I think we might have a playa' in our hands!!! I did take pictures but the connection we have at home is excruciatingly slow so I am not going to try to upload the pics.
I have so much reading to get through next week. I realized, very recently, that I had something due last wednesday. But I was so hung up on the previous events that I didn't even remember to hand the thing in. Grr, I hope the TA won't take off too terribly much!
kelebek }{

Black socks they never get dirty
the longer you wear them the blacker they get
some day I'll probely wash them
but each time I wear them I say
NO NOT YET!!

Posted at 1:00 AM

Friday, October 28, 2005

tow photos galore

Iftars galore people, iftars galore! I can't believe Eid (bayram) is next week!! I am going home this weekend because my mom is giving an iftar. Burcu is coming too, and you know that means many, many more pictures of my ever adorable boyfriend!!! Can't wait to hear thim say "iii ouuuu youuu"
Now for some photo fun! I've been lazy with putting pictures on my blog, so I'll do it now. As always the rest are up at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelebek/

First batch is from the Dialogue International Dinner.

I promised you that I would get gussied up, well kelebek doesn't get much more gussied up than this! I mean I even went out and bought nylons!!!

A cute picture of me and Jess. Did you guys knew that she is the president of the DI? Well I didn't!

These pictures are from the MSA (Muslim Students Association) iftar that we had at the MSA iftar's advisor's house. It was quite the event, we even had "create your own sundae" bar.

This is me and my very good friend Maryam. We've been friends since we were sophomores in high school!! We even taught at the same Saturday school as teachers!

Thee hee this is a funny picture of us. Maryam is being the Indian bride here. In the next shot (I don't have that picture, Farha does, girl e-mail me those pics asap) Aisha and I have our hands under Maryam's chin. I am not quite sure what that action is called. Hmm, interesting! In the background are Amber and Nabeela.

I am not quite sure what this scene was intended to be but I think Fadi (third from left) arresting Awais, but I could be wrong! Muzammil is first from left, and Adam is first from the right.

See the girls know how to pose without looking like complete weirdos! From left, Ayesha, Nabeela, Farha and Mona.

Myra (left) and Mona were so incredibly amused by that toy. Turns out Myra didn't have toys as a kid, she only had workbooks!!! Myra's sister Amber is the background.

This is me and ever-always-gorgeous Yasmin! She is one of those people who never look bad in a photo! I recently quoted her in my blog. what makes her extra awesome is that she's a fellow Journalism major, but she's in grad school. Of course, the ever paranoid me blurred out my name, but you can see the blue butterfly!

Me, very tired after eating all that food and sundae!

Next event, another MSA iftar. I love these iftars soo much. I mean there is always great food, but what I love more is the wonderful diversity of Muslims that come together!!!

Yasmin & I

That's Amber on the left. She is the proud owner of "the Muslim Taxi!"

Mona with the kitchen key, and an awesome pic of Myra smiling!

That's Maryam wearing the "Fast-a-thon" shirt over her head. I couldn't go the fast-a-thon because I had to go to the iftar today. Sigh, I bet it was fun!

And finally today we had the iftar at Macid Hoca's house. It was us three musketeers, plus two other guests.

And here we are. Alex (the comic artist of the awesome comic "Get Extra Credit" aka Ahmet), Rachel (my awesome friend and even more awesome roomate)

Another shot of us, and yes Rachel is sitting on my lap!!

The awesome baby Zahid (too bad I already have Enes as my boyfriend) and our host, Meral Abla. Her husband is in the background.

I really like this pic of Rachel and Me.

After iftar Rachel and I headed to Borders (a book store). And here I am with my drug of choice, a latte!! A humongous, totally over the top latte to be exact!

And here is a poem Yasmin left on my Facebook wall. I figured it was facebook that started this insanity, it might be nice to close it off with facebook!

After a while...you learn
that love doesn't mean leaning
and company doesn't mean security.
You learn that kisses aren't contracts
and presents aren't promises.
and you begin to accept your defeats
with your head held high and your eyes open,
with the strength of woman, not the grief of a child.
You learn to build your roads on today
because tomorrow's ground is
far too uncertain,
and futures have a way of falling down
in mid-flight.
After a while you learn
that even sunshine burns
if you get too much.
So you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone else
to bring you flowers.
After a while you learn that you really can endure
that you really are strong.
and you learn
and you learn
with every goodbye, you learn...
-Judith B. Evans or Veronica A. Shoffstall (they both claim it!)

kelebek }{

Posted at 1:29 AM

Monday, October 17, 2005

tow I survived

Whew, I survived the midterm. It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. There were four short answer questions worth 5 points each and an whopping 80 point essay question. Luckily we did have a choice. I went on for eight pages, of course I made an outline first. Tomorrow I am going to work with my partner to get the J335 story done. It is actually kind of interesting. I am not sure if you already knew this but the Princeteon review chose UW as the number one party school in the nation. Our team is looking at how this reputation effects students in school and in their career hunt. It should end up being pretty good.
Right now I am working on a fellowship application for LISAR. It is the "Lubar Institute for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions." I figured since I have a lot experience with Dialogue International and went to a Catholic high school I will apply. I mean, I really have nothing to lose, other than few hours of filling out application and writing an essay.
I am looking forward to Thursday. It is the DI dinner. Selfishly I am excited to get dressed up and look nicer then usual. But honestly it is a great experience and a good mix of all kinds of religions. If I remember I'll take my camera with me. So you can see kelebek all gussied up and the lovely people who are my friends.
kelebek }{

Sometimes we can't find what we're looking for, not because it doesn't exist, but because we're looking in all the wrong places. If you're looking for a mountain and you find a hill--move on. Don't stumble in all the same holes. Dont try to make a mountain out of a mole hill-- it can never be one.
Mountains exist.

Find the mountain... unless ylou love the hill
--Yasmin Mogahed

Posted at 10:06 PM

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

tow ONE YEAR

tow first post
First time4everythin eh? kinda stressed out these days. thank God the pprs are done!!! now i got3 exams coming up, plus an essay. Got journalism essay on friday, next tuesday Italian lit and some time (shame shame i 4gat when) phil exam.
i cleaned my kitchen yesterday YEAH! the rest of the house is a mess but my kithcen is spot less
m still apratment hunting. gng2 c a place2day @4. looks pretty good. i wish this thing own't underline my @ sentences. the place looks decent. i am just so tired of waking up 2 and a half hours b4 each class jsut to get my butt to class on time.this place is less tahn a mile away
there is an auction on saturday. its like a police auction where they have bikes an stuff maby i'll go there if i can wake up in the morning.
now i gotta go look up the addy of the place m gna check out. meeting with miss marsha i think. ehehe funnie, no not really!

Well there you have it. The very first post that I ever wrote. It was exactly a year ago today on October 12th. Right now you are reading post number 172! I was planning on linking to my favorite posts ever, but I don't have time right now. I have a mid term coming up on Monday, so I have to study for it. It will be nice to take a trip down the memory line at some point though. So, I'll be doing that some time in the near future. But for now, look the left hand column of my blog. See the section named "archives"? There you can read all of my archives, just click on a month that looks good. I won't blame ya if you just want to look at the pictures! So go for it.

I've been reading and cracking up about lists online for a long time. I decided to come up with my own list. I call it "You know you are a Turk living in American when..." I've started this list last year, but never got around to finishing it. I finished it today. If you think of anything else, e-mail me or leave me a comment. And if you want to use it yourself go for it, just credit me or link it back to me! Enjoy. And do let me know which one is your favorite. If none of them are funny to you, then I suggest hanging out with more Turkish people!!!

You know you are a Turk living in America if you...

* Insist on wrapping remotes in plastic wrap.
* Know somebody whose last name ends with "oglu."
* Refuse to drink coffee for breakfast.
* Scoff when people call "gyro" Greek food. It is "doner" and it is Turkish food.
* Only drink "turk cayi" and refuse to put anything in it other than "kesme seker."
* Put lemons in the fridge without putting them in a container, then groan when they dry.
* Heard the joke "So, do you guys eat turkey in Turkey" more times than you care to remember.
* Are used to nobody understanding you when you pronounce words that start with a "v", as in: vote, village, verb, vowel, worm.
* Have friends who ask you if you have heard of Tarkan.
* Secretly be proud that the coffee grinders at the supermarket has a "Turkish" option.
* Know baklava is Turkish.
* Have "nazar boncugu" bracelet, earrings, key chain, necklace, or all of the above
* Have to explain to people, no, you do not speak Arabic. And no, Turkish is not similar to Arabic.
* Feel the need to point out that "yogurt" is a Turkish word.
* Can have a picnic and "izgara" anywhere and under any weather condition.
* Get "she" and "he" mixed up in a conversation.
* Wonder when to use perfect tense.
* Are used to disappointed looks from people when you write their name in Turkish.
* Laugh to yourself when you hear people say "pushed, peach, sick, ummm."
* Think twice before drinking icewater.
* Eat ice cream, then drink water so you won't get a sore throat.
* The proper way to spell the prophet's name is "Muhamet."
* It is "Ramazan" not "Ramadan" it is "Bayram" not "Eid" and it is not "Wudu" it is "abdest."
* Dread the Thanksgiving time.
* Ever demonstrated Turkish equivalent of giving the finger using your thumb, index and middle finger.
* Know how to play backgammon.
* Find yourself in a position explaining what a "sunnet dugunu" is.
* Refuse to sit next to a window if there is a draft. You'll get "zaturre" and die the next day if you do so.
* Wear socks and slippers, and insist your friends do the same so that they won't get a stomach ache.
* Know that eating fish and yogurt at the same time is a lethal combination.
* Are wishing that you can write the headlines of your notes with "kirmizi kalem."
* Won't be caught without your "fanile" tucked firmly into your underwear when it is cold.
* Think everybody who is not a Turk is a "yabanci," foreigner.
Thanks for reading, and luv always,
kelebek }{

Posted at 1:07 AM

Sunday, October 09, 2005

tow iftar everywhere

One way to tell Ramadan is here is the never ending iftars (dinner you have when you break your fast). Of course I am not complaining one bit. There was an iftar on Thursday with the MSA. I went to Milwaukee on Friday. There was an iftar at Aysun teyze's house. And today my mom gave an iftar in Madison. I left the camera in the car so I couldn't take that many pictures. But I took tons on Saturday. I am putting a few, the rest are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelebek

Me and Burcu. She was working so she couldn't come back until 8:30. Ugh, love you girly!!

This was right before we left. Burcu's mom brought him to Burcu's room so my boyfriend can sleep.

Inci teyze & me. Bengisu snuck in the picture somehow, I didn't even notice it until I checked the camera!!

Children, children everywhere!!!

This is Cakir. Burcu's doggy. I forgat how old she was, but she' still a puppy!

Does he need an introduction? I was chasing him around and asking him, "Are you my boyfriend." And he says "boyfriend" sounds more like "bouyfrey" I love him!!!

The ladies! My mom is the one wearing the black and white headscarf.

The boys. They were not cooperating at all. Couldn't get a decent shot of them! The one on the back is my brother. On the left is Burcu's other brother Mustafa (you guys do know that my boyfriend is also Burcu's brother, right?) I call Mustafa shorty, even though he's like 6 foot tall. Next to him is Berk.

I adore this picture of me and my mom. I think I am going to get it printed somewhere. Yes, I look just like her!!

My dad and my bro. Check out my bro's awesome shirt. It has the "Dark Mark" on it, and it says "Voldermort Returns." If that made no sense to you, go read Harry Potter!!

Vanity, thy name is kelebek, but I do like this picture of me!

Rachel and I went to the MSA iftar together. We took some pics while at the bus stop.

Check out my shoes. They are "hand me ups" from my little brother. We wear the same size and he always gets sick of his shoes in a few months. So I wear them. yeah!

My beautiful roomate, Rachel. She's back to her natural hair color, blond

"Yobaz kelebek" If you read my earlier post in Turkish it'll make more sense. Hala carsaf ariyoz, bulursak valla cok guzel resim cekecez Rachel'la!!
kelebek }{

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un. Surely we belong to God and surely we will return to Him. My dua's (prayers) are with the victims of the horrific earthquake in Pakistan.

Posted at 11:30 PM