The Dog Story

I moved in to my new house yesterday and I woke there this morning. There is a park nearby called Ringer Playground. I went there for running this morning. Then I witnessed an interesting event.

When a big dog saw another dog he ran to him. His owner was a weak lady. She tried to hold her dog, but she couldn’t do it. The dog dragged her sometimes on inclined ground.  Then the woman fell into concrete road. She couldn't stand up. She lay there like she was sleeping. I could tell she was injured. Some people tried to help her but her dog didn’t allow them.

About ten minutes later, an ambulance arrived there and two paramedics approached the woman but the barking dog didn’t allow them to approuche very closely and touch her. Then the police came. Three policemen shouted the dog. One of them drew his gun and pretended he was shooting. Then the dog ran away and paramedics helped her and carried her to the ambulance. There was blood on her chin and arm.

Piercing

Last week I went to New York to get a Canada visa. After applied for visa I came back to Boston. When I was waiting the bus in the New York Port Authority Bus Station, I charged my phone in lounge. In the same place there was a teenager (later she declared she is 17 years old) who charged her phone. And there was an American guy in his forties. We began to talk. The teenager told us she is originally from Puerto Rico and her father passed away last year. But she looked pretty happy. Anyway she also mentioned about she loved piercing. And then she showed us her tongue which was pierced. There was a metal like a pin on her tongue. She told she had another one and she showed a piercing on belly. When I asked if she felt pain during the piercing. She said no. Then she showed us a video on her phone about her tongue piercing. As she said, before piercing she was very relaxed. She raised a laugh after someone pierced her tongued as well.

Then she showed us her two tattoos which one of them is on her arm and another is on her leg. I told tattoo is very popular in America and almost everyone has tattoo. Then I asked the man if he has any tattoo. He said tattoo is waste of money for him.

I asked myself "Can I have a tattoo or piercing" I said no without hesitation. What about my reason? Money or pain? None of them. For the time being I don't need them.

User Experience (UX)

I joined a meeting called UX Social Hour. According to Wikipedia, User Experience (UX) is the way a person feels about using a product, system or service. User experience highlights the experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human-computer interaction and product ownership, but it also includes a person’s perceptions of the practical aspects such as utility, ease of use and efficiency of the system. User experience is subjective in nature, because it is about an individual’s feelings and thoughts about the system. User experience is dynamic, because it changes over time as the circumstances change.


I know that mentioning about the definition was boring but I don't want to confuse with UX when I read the blog. Anyway, I met different people at the meeting. And I experienced some odd conversation.


First, a South Korean lady tried to guess my country and she said "You can be from Middle East but I can't say a specific country". She closed to answer, at least she didn't say, you can be from India:) I asked her whether she can distinguish Asian people or not. She told she usually can distinguish. She also told she could distinguish them not only looking at their face but also their body language. I also noticed her point before. I mean I distinguished Turkish people when I looked at their gesture and facial expression.


I met a Swedish guy. He is thirty something years old. He went to Turkey for visiting when he was young. He said he know a Turkish word and he added: "Merhaba". He also said laughingly he know another one but he didn't want to say. I asked him "Which one?" And I insisted him to say. Then he told it: It was a swear and it means "Fuck your mother." From what he told me, he learned the swear a Turkish friend of him who lives in US. By the way, I learnt that Swedish swears are not sexual words but religious words such as demon, hell and so on.


I asked him: As far as I am concerned, Sweden is very comfortable country and your people are happy in your country, so why did you come to US to live? He told he didn't want to be a regular citizen there. He said, he want to learn much money here.


I met an American guy in this meeting. He asked me "What is the rate of religions in Turkey" When I replayed he asked me another question? Are Kurdish population in Turkey Christian?


7/24/2012

USS (United State Ship) Constitution

Today we went to USS Constitution for visiting. She is a warship and she has a 200-year history. She was used against England by North American colonies two hundred yeas ago.

Today I noticed again that tour guides speak very fast. They memorized what they speak and they want to finish their job as soon as possible. So it is not easy to understand them at all. One day if I can understand them easily I will say "Ok, I did"

There were about 100 people who came with this group. After visiting some twenty people went to an Irish pub close to Haymarket train station.

I met some people at the pub. One of them is an old American lady. She complimented me saying "you have shaped lips". I do not know whether she was drank or my lip is really shaped. But years ago a Turkish friend of mine told me like this "your lips seem like a drawing:)
7/21/212

Wrapping Bottle With A Newspaper

I saw a black guy who was drinking a bottle of beer at a pub and he wrapped the bottle with a magazine. So this guy and his beer put in mind me someone who wraps beer with newspaper.

I asked him about the reason of the wrapping. He answered me that the beer was too cold. As I said he was a black guy. When I asked him country, he said he is from Rwanda.

We know that African people can feel cold easily because his bodies are used to warm weather.

Liquor ID

Here, in Boston if you go to a restaurant or a pub you need to show your ID. Legal drinking age is 21 in Massachusetts (All states were mandated to raise drinking age in 1986 in the US). If your age under this limit you aren't supposed to walk in these kind of places. People generally use driver's license to identify themselves. But I have no Massachusetts driver's license and so I have to use my passport to identify myself.

Liquor means a kind of alcoholic beverage but it also means any drinkable liquid. So it is a general name for drinkings so you can drink any beverage thanks to your liquor ID card:)

Last Thursday (7/11/2012), I went to Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) to get Liquor ID card. It looks similar to drivers’ licenses. I paid $25 and was taken picture there for ID. That was my first experience in a government office, here. 

They will send the ID card to my mail address in three weeks. So, I will not need to carry my passport with me in future.

By the way, I got confused about the "mail address" when I came here, because we use "mail address" just for "email address" and we say "post address" for regular address in Turkish. So when someone said "mail address" I thought he or she mentioned my email address:) Then I learnt to think in English about "address" 

Anyway, when I receive my Liquor ID, I can change this picture I found from internet with my ID card. But I am not sure whether I should change and add my ID or not:)


-----
I received Liquor ID after one week later the application.

Turkoglu

A dialog with my American friend:

Friend (F): There are some Turkish players in NBA League, do you know them?
Me (M): Yes, I do.
F: One of them is Turkoglu.
M: Yep, Hidayet.
F: Hidayet?!
M: Sure!
F: When?
M: What?
F: I mean when did he die?
M: No he didn't die, his first name is Hidayet.
F: Hahaha. I thought that you said "He died"
:))

Kismet

Today I visited MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Museum with a group. The visit lasted about an hour. I saw robots, small machines, holograms and some visual somethings. A sociable robot called Kismet interested me with just its name.

We know that "kismet" is used in English as the same meaning of that in Turkish. I searched on the internet to learn why did they call Kismet for this robot but I couldn't find. I decided to send an email to its creator to learn its name's story. When I learn I will share with you the story. (7/13/2012)

links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kismet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KRZX5KL4fA

A Greeting Story

I live in a studio apartment in Boston. The building I lived is a big building and its tenants are generally students. The owner of building is an Arabic company and therefore the security guards are also Arab in this building. At least I know several of them and they always greet me in Arabic "Salam aleykum" 

Tonight, when I was coming back to my apartment I saw one of the security guards outside. And I greeted him saying "Salam aleykum". He answer me in the same way but his greeting was a little hesitantly.

After some chatting I noticed his cross necklace. When he noticed I looked at his necklace he said "I am from El Salvador and my mother made it for me"

I understood that all security guards who works in the building are not Arab. (7/13/2012) 

Lobster

After conversation course at Central Square Branch Library we went to Chinatown for dinner. They say Chinatown because there are so many Chinese restaurants and some other Asian restaurants there.

When I looked at the menu, I saw lobster. Actually I want to try lobster for a long time, because I saw it big markets, they are sold alive and they attracted me.

I ordered lobster and they served it in five minutes. After taking picture, I tasted and I liked. They served it with ginger (zencefil) and scallion (green onion, spring onion).

Ginger was also a new taste for me. But I couldn't eat because of bad taste. Last week I cooked shrimp (karides) at home. And I ate oyster (istiridye) and scallop (deniztarağı). And this time I ate lobster (istakoz). I think, I can survive here in the future thanks to seafood. (7/12/2012)