caraway seed can easily be replaced by cumin in dishes...and i know for sure you can buy cumin Ask for kimyon. I usually get my spices and herbs  at the local market. They have the biggest choice and the cheapest prices.

I know that at first it seems a sexist idea, but you should look at the position of women in the Eastern parts of Turkey, the position of men, and look at the whole picture. There are MANY families that will only let their daughters/wives work on the farms, because they don´t want them to have contact with men, and other reasons as well. The problem with this kind of work is that it is black market work. The women have no insurance...not the legal insurance of non-employment, but also no insurance for work related accidents, and the like. I think they started the factory to draw these kind of girls in. At first sight very good for them, because they position will be much better than on the farms...

But also keep in mind that they will probably earn less then their male counterparts in normal factories (it is just statistics). Often companies open these kind of factories simply because women earn less, and are less mouthy to demand more rights and more money. Often women in underdeveloped positions are used by companies because they are easier to mold to the "perfect employee"...hard working but not demanding towards their boss.

(By the way, this is exactly the topic of the thesis that I´m writing I´m an expert, lol)

Basically these are the ways to contact:

Letters - romantic, old-school...I used to send them every week. The problem was that the guys working in the army post office wanted money or cigarettes for them every time my boyfriend picked them up :S

Phone - there are payphones on the base. I used to let him ring my phone, and then call my boyfriend back on the Turkish number because I could call him very cheap During the last months he also had a mobile phone, which he hid (I guess) in is underwear. I never called him on that ofcourse unless he called me, but would send text messages at night.

Free day - Usually my boyfriend was free one afternoon in a week. That was our internet-time

Vacation - all together he had 4 weeks he could spend on holiday. He used them as followed, three times one week, and he used his last week to leave the army early.

Visiting - people are allowed to visit. I was never able to visit my boyfriend in the army, but I know his mom did.

i booked some cheap tickets via www.ticketpot.com flying with sunexpress. I also bought a cheap flight (other way around) directly via Turkish Airlines website. corendon looks cheap at first sight, but then when you keep clicking they add LOADS of tax. Ticketpot shows the price you will pay directly.

I had a fight this year with my partner, and his family actually came to visit him and were all upset with him! I guess they DO really love me, lol. They seemed to be very angry with him that he upset me I guess because I made sure they had low expectations of me in the beginning (told them I can´t cook, and have no idea about how to run a household). After that I could only impress them They are thrilled when I am able to cook an egg!

You know, the only reason I heard about this flick is because it was mentioned in forums and messages about the big mistakes in it. Ohterwise I would have NEVER heard about it.

I had that problem with yok... There seem to be a million different ways of saying the k in that word

history is always subjective. Even if things are written in stone, it was a bunch of people who put it there.

thank you, as long as the general line of the story is correct she will be fine I guess

Can anybody translate the following text to Turkish for me? Somebody asked me for it in Turkish, but my Turkish isn´t good enough at all. (I may have been bregging too much about my Turkish skills, haha!) And I thought this text shouldn´t be translated through a machine, it´s too important!

Dear Y,

I have broken up with M. It turns out he cheated on me with many girls. It is a very sad thing, but he broke my heart in a million pieces. I can´t let him hurt me anymore.

I hope you understand that I don´t want to practice Turkish with you anymore. I like you very much, but I just don´t want to think about anything Turkish now. It just reminds me of M.

Please remember that I do really like you. I spend some great times with you and I will miss you. You were always good to me, but I know I will probably never see you again.

Send my love to your sister and mother, love from S.