Me, myself and cooking…

If you ask my colleagues from last year, or to my mother, they would confirm that I m not amongst the best cooks in the world, but they would also confirm what a swift learner I am.

After spending 1 year in a house where I had to cook once a week to 7 people, I got the basics of cooking quite well, and now I m quite handy in the kitchen, yet not close to perfect still. Also some of my colleagues from last year helped me out a lot with cooking, being my su chefs when I cook, giving me practical tips and nagging me whenever I made a mistake.

Right now I m living in a dormitory in Leuven, where 16 people from all around the world resides, with different habits, cultures and different tastes.

Every Thursday there is our community meal, where two people from the group cook for the rest of the group. And this week was my turn.

My Indian cook-mate unfortunately had his dutch class the same time, so we decided that he would do the shopping, and I cooking. I told him what he needed to buy, and he did it, more or less, for example not buying tuna, not knowing what a tuna looks like, coming from a non-meat eating Hindu culture.

So with not full materials, but adequate, I started my cooking adventure, alone, for 16 people.

The menu was soup ( ready of course ), pasta with 3 different sauces, boiled vegetables, banana and pineapple with milk and ice cream as dessert. Quite varied and sophisticated I must say:)

I started with the pasta’s and sauces, trying to reach every single one of the pots, but sometimes failing, with spilling of the overcooked pans. Also cooking tomato sauce was the biggest mess, while all the oven was covered with tomate sauce. After 1,5 hours, the food was almost ready, with everything spilled everywhere, more like a war zone than a kitchen. Also the pasta was too much in quantity, that there was no filter big enough for it, so I had to put it partially, put the filtered pasta on a plate, and put the rest of the pasta in the filter again. Dealing with all these left me dirty with sauces all around me and burned many times. I also felt like I burned the pasta and the vegetables, but wasn’t quite sure.

Finally eating time came, and my dorm-mates started gathering, after writing on the board what is on the menu, I let them start. Yet, I couldn’t eat out of excitement because I was looking at people’s faces after every bite, checking what their reactions would be, pleasure or disgust.

Unlike my cooking process, the eating process was quite good, and people were quite happy with what I managed. Girls even talked what a good husband I would make and guys asked me how I can make such good pasta.

At the end, one polite friend thanked me publicly, and I got an applause from 16 people for my cooking, and I got an applause in the first time in my life out of my cooking ‘ skills ‘. In my life I was applaused by 1000 people too, but when you are applaused by your cooking, it is unique:P

The ice creams at the end made it even better, and everybody withdrew back to their rooms happily.

When I said goodbye to the remaining ones, their respond was ‘ good cooking mate ‘.

I was happy:)

Love actually

It is funny that how much things like phones, or internet, especially nowadays Facebook is affecting our lives, since we started using these actively. With friendships, contacts, businesses and of course, relationships. Isn’t it funny how a social network device can strengthen, weaken or promote a relationship, like its something public. Isn’t it funny how relationships sometimes depend on being published on facebook, and what it means to couples, or to people around them. As in many things in human life, this is also a cause created by human beings, determining a relationship online. I wonder if relationships were as complicated in the past as they are today.

A relationship, or love we may call, is one of the biggest mysteries in life, that cannot be, and in my opinion, shouldn’t be solved. Is love about pain? I don’t think so. Is it about sharing, of course that is a part of it. But for me, love is a big fire, that gets stronger and weaker by everything that’s put inside, effort, jealousy, passion, history, future, friends, positions and many many more. Once its put down, its really hard to burn it up again. But also, there is this tiny bit of a sparkle, that holds everything together, and without it, whatever you put inside, the fire of love will die away. And we can never explain what is this small thing that keeps the love going or dying.

I sometimes wonder if I am a good boyfriend, am I giving enough, sharing enough, loving enough and more. I hear many things from many people, from me being, easy going, kind, polite, gentle, beautiful, clever, caring to selfish, hasty, negligent and more. With every experience I have in terms of relationships, I try to learn and I learn new things, about life and about relationships itself, and every time. I talk to many friends about relationships, and I hear thousands of different opinions, and ideas, and filtering everything I hear from people’s experiences and adding more and more to my own perspective. As you know, many people talk about ‘ the one ‘, the person who we will someday meet and be happy forever. I never knew if I should look for ‘ the one ‘, or not. I see many people believing in it, but I don’t know if I will ever meet ‘ the one ‘, or if I already met. I ask myself, if I m a guy with feelings and emotions, or if I m a guy who likes to play with girls and break their hearts, but then I ask myself, If I am the latter one, why am I crying for the ones I love.

One of the things I have found out with me recently is that, when I start something, and If I really believe in it, it starts like a bomb, very intense, very hasty and very quick. And that mostly leads to quick consumption of the relationship. I see that relationship is something you really should digest and go step by step, enjoying every little step you take, and enjoying every second in it. When you live a relationship skipping some parts, then it may be too late to get those parts together, which holds the relationship.

One of my friends told me ‘ you never know how much love lasts, but I m jealous when I see couples happy for years, sometimes 40-50 years, never losing the sparkle in their eyes, always with enthusiasm, doing things like they never did it before, and loving each other like they never loved each other before. What is the secret of it? I have no idea. I wonder if we ask those couples what is the secret of it, I m sure they will have some sentences to say, for example the guy can say ‘ every day I m putting a flower to my wife’s bed ‘, or something similar, which is a little gesture but means a lot. This may be a symbolic thing that makes the couple believe in the love, but I m sure there is much more than that, and this flower, that is on the bed every morning, is the symbol of this whole fire, that we call ‘ love ‘.

If love was something tangible, then it would be worked in a laboratory, but love is like life itself, you can’t hold it, but you can feel it. It is a big mixture of everything, it has and doesn’t have boundaries at the same time, there is no time limit for it, you never know who you will love, where or when you will fall in love. The last time I fell in love, I never would have expected with the person, with the time, or with the place I fell in love, but isn’t that the beautiful thing about love? You never know. When you feel the loneliest, it comes to you. But it is also spoiled, to go away from you when you feel the most confident and happiest. It is like a baby, that needs caring and effort, or it wont grow well, or it will leave you. What I think about love is, as long as you are as natural as yourself, love will be there around you, and it will find you, maybe only once, maybe several times. But life is too short to be prideful, doubtful or jealous with love, because If you are truly in love, none of those matters. Similarities, differences, faults, doesn’t matter, only love matters.

So ‘ love actually ‘, matters.

For my loved one…

Prison & Work

IN PRISON… You spend the majority of your time in an 8×10 cell.
AT WORK… You spend most of your time in a 6×8 cubicle.

IN PRISON… You get three meals a day.
AT WORK… You only get a break for 1 meal and you have to pay for it.

IN PRISON… You get time off for good behavior.
AT WORK… You get rewarded for good behavior with more work.

IN PRISON… A guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.
AT WORK… You must carry around a security card and unlock and open all the doors yourself.

IN PRISON… You can watch TV and play games.
AT WORK… You get fired for watching TV and playing games.

IN PRISON… You get your own toilet.
AT WORK… You have to share.

IN PRISON… They allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK… You cannot even speak to your family and friends.

IN PRISON… All expenses are paid by tax payers with no work required.
AT WORK… You get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.

My first day in my dormitory

It is exactly 24.00 when i started to write this.

Yesterday night, i moved from Brussels to Leuven, after an exciting trip with my good friend, Manos.

Today i woke up at 09.00, actually woken up by the former room owner, who wanted to show his ex-room to his new girlfriend. He was happy that he didnt get a punch in his face to wake me up like that:)

Joke aside, i was happy to be woken up so early, so i have a full day to explore around. Knowing the center of Leuven more or less, i d rather walked around my dormitory, which is 3 km away from the center, but this is quite a long distance in Leuven standarts.

I woke up, and checked the sports center, where i really plan to spend a lot of time this year ( got a bit of belly ) and shopped for my first breakfeast ( brunch more to say ) in Leuven. After buying some food and an ethernet cable, i came back and enjoyed my food in my forest, river and castle view dormitory.

Afterwards, i saw that university organized some nice sports activities for the day, and i left with my sports outfit and joined the football activity, playing 2 seperate matches for 4 hours. Apart from doing sports, it was my first steps for making new friends:P In the team, there were people form everywhere, but mostly Italians:) And its always fun to play with Italians, with words like ‘ que cazzo ‘ or ‘ vaffanculo ‘ flying in the air.

After the match, walked back, checked mails, did some work and then attended the dormitory introduction meeting at 20.30, where they bored me to death with all the rules and bla bla’s. It was essential actually, but sometimes, too much details. Afterwards, i got up to my room for 2 mins and went back. Somehow when i came, people were in a circle and needed someone to lead them. So i took the lead, with my habit of leading the groups, and started doing some activities, which they really liked and integrated better. Btw, my dormitory has people from all origins, from Etiopia to China, from Belgium to India and much more.

It will be a new year with lots of new things, but with my leading of the group tonight, i saw that i am coming into a new life with the experiences i gained from last year.

Thats why every year will be better than the previous one:)

It just started…

Cicu

Your friends are the ones that stay with you forever. Especially about close friends, even if you don’t see each other for years, nothing will change in between you when you meet again. That’s the beauty of friendship. However, with relationships it doesn’t work that way, while mostly you live your relationship more intense than friendships and things like distance, loss of enthusiasm and time in between are factors that can easily damage relationships.

I am 22 years old, and actually I started dating with girls quite late (around 18). I had few serious relationships, yet, there is a person, who deserves a place in this page, and much more.

My longest relationship so far, Cigdem Ertikin, a girl whom I had the chance to meet in my local in AEGEE. Chasing after her for some months, finally I managed to trick herJ, that ended up as my longest relationship so far, 2.5 years.  We lived together, we travelled together, we did many things together as normal couples do.

What makes this relationship more special is how the situation is now.

We broke up some while ago, and a brake up is never pleasant of course. But that’s not what I m talking about.

What makes the situation really special is how we treat each other now.

Right now I m in Turkey to visit my family, and I was in Canakkale for 3 days, and I stayed at Cigdem’s place, because I lived there with her for 1 year in the past, so I m used to staying there. The only difference was, that I was sleeping on the sofa now:)

It was the first time I saw her in person after our break up, but we have talked quite a lot after that online or by phone, and I knew that we will continue our chats, jokes and meeting our common friends when we meet. I was right. When we met, we spent all the time together, catched up, talked about our relationships after our breaking up, and met our friends and had fun alltogether.

Today before I left for Istanbul, I felt like we really are an example for ended relationships, a real example of how you should remain after breaking up. Before you are lovers, you should be friends, and then love should come. Because if love goes away one day, you can continue in the basis of friendship.

I was proud of myself and of Cigdem about our achievement in that sense, that not many couples manage to do. Yet, as I said, I wasn’t wrong, while I was sure that it would be no different than this, while Cigdem is also a very realistic, smart and qualified person.

I really am sad for people that had ‘ great ‘ loves and now not talking anymore, or end up hating each other. Because life is too short to do that.

Cigdem found love again, and I m really happy for her. She had found a guy that I really see that she loves him and is happy with him.

After you read this, you may ask ‘ Is Percin still loving her ? ‘

Of course I love her, and I ll always love her. I love her as my friend and companion to share something when I need to.  And I m very glad she found someone who is in love with her:)

I would like to thank Cigdem for making me proud and happy, once again.

Parents

Something that we always have, but not always appreciate.

You always have the chance to lose a friend at an instant, or a girlfriend. But with a parent, it is rarely the case that they give up on you.

I think thats why that people are more negligent with their parents than with anyone else, because parents will be there, whatever we do. We know that its not a big risk if we neglect our parents, but we know that its a big risk if we neglect other people, because we can lose them easier. That is one of the selfish part of the human beings.

As in every relation, both sides have expectations from each other. Parents expect their sons to be successful, well behaved, respectful and so forth. Children expect their parents to be supportive, flexible, understanding and so forth.

I really dont know what makes a good child, or good parent. I know that every child has problems with parents, for many different problems.

I had very different parents, whom didnt have the biggest love marriage, but more based on logic, so i wasnt raised in a great love environment. Towards me they were very loving, but towards each other, not as much. They were different characters, and had differente opinions. The good thing about this was, they were never angry at me for the same reasons, so they never united on getting mad at me, but when one of them was angry at me, the other one was defending me. But the bad thing about this was, there were a bigger variety of topics that they could get mad at me.

They were great parents, and i m always greatful for what they did for me. The schools they sent me, the places they took me, the love they gave to me, the things they thought me.

I think i have become a good combination of my parents. My father is a more work oriented & logical person, while my mother is more human oriented & emotinal woman. My father is hardworking, disciplined, very witty, a great lecturer and well planned, yet lacking in empathy, human relations and decision making. My mother is emotional, humane, a good communicator and mediator, a very open personality but lacking in determination, directness and selfishness ( i think every one shall be a bit selfish, because if you give too much, people want more and more ). Thats why i m saying, i think i m a good combination of my parents. The nice thing is, they are both beautiful:)

I love them of course, but after high school, i was sure that i wouldnt want to live with them anymore in the same house, so i moved to another city for my university studies. And it turned out better, because being away, i was avoiding stupid arguments caused of living together, and this way, we knew our worth better, while a person you love is more precious when he is far away. And when we met, we had a lot to catch up and talk about.

Now its harder, since i m further away, but i tried to go as much as i can ( 4 times in 6 months ).

I also had hard times concerning my parents. My mother had cancer about 8 years ago, yet she survived it quickly due to early diagnosis. But still it was hard to see her head shaved and with low morale. The harder thing is, my father, who also has cancer now and was diagnosed quite lately, and giving a harder battle now. The worst thing is, this happened right after i left for Brussels, first i heard my father puked when they brought me to the airport, and in one month, i got the news that he has cancer. He is still fighting it, and i believe he will manage. It is quite hard to be far away, busy with your mind at them all the time.

I think i gave them the best present by being successful and respectful towards them so far, because they always tell how proud they are of me, and this is my biggest reward in my life.

Parents are always there, but they wont come back once they are gone. So make sure you spend enough time with them before its too late.

:)

Espain

There are several reasons why Spain is a special country and culture for me, ranging from its inevitable stereotypes that has a bit of truth, to its open minded people, from its nice weather ( sometimes too hot ) to constant fun and much more. Apart from the typical reasons, i have exclusive reasons to love Spain as well. Very good friends, a girl whom i fell in love in the past, or the great news that i got when i was in Spain, such as the acceptance of my masters in Belgium. So there is no wonder why i choosed Spain for my 3 weeks vacation, which ended today. Being a meditterenean person, i very much find many things similar with my own culture to Spanish culture, such as generosity, hospitality and openness. At the beginning of my vacation, i flew to Valencia, where i was picked up by a very good friend, Marta and her mother, visiting them for a day, getting to know typical Spanish cuisine, especially paella, a typical Valencian dish. I tried to communicate with Marta’s parents with my extremely poor Spanish, but we managed to get along quite qwell. In the evening, we have met with some friends from AEGEE-Valencia and went out to drink ‘ cerveze ‘, what they call beer.

The next day, my trip to Alicante started, a city that is 2 hours away from Valencia, with another friend from Valencia called Mercedes, driving me there. She drove me to Calpe, a city near Alicante that is famous by its beach, and where my Summer University was waiting for me. After we arrived there, in one day, i felt how exhausted and down i was feeling, and my body fell sick, putting me in ‘ bed ‘ for 3 days, puking. After recovering, i spent a few more days in Alicante till the end of the event, and went back to Valencia, to rest after an intensive week, and getting ready for another intensive event in the following days. I had to go from Valencia to Santander, which is a 12 hours road journey, first stopping at Madrid and then taking anoher bus to Santander, watching Spanish movies on the way.

After a long ride, finally i was in Sandanter, where i had so many old friends to see and catch up with. I was picked up by a friend whom i’ve met 3 years ago in another Summer University. After refreshing some memories, we went to our destination, where all the participants were. I saw many old friends, whom i shared many memories in the past. I hugged them and we talked what we have done since the last time we met. Meanwhile, during my Spain vacation, i got the news that i was accepted for the masters programme in Leuven University for my next year, which is an important milestone in my personal and professional life. I also got the good news that i was accepted for a blogging competition in Denmark, while i am a blogger myself, and consider myself quite good at it. In Santander and Leon Summer University, we visited several places, from Oviedo to Bilbao, from Gijon to Salamanca and many more, from many various activities from rafting to sightseeing, from dancing to visiting muesums. I spent amazing 3 weeks in a country whose culture i really like and find similar to mine in many aspects, with friends that i really enjoy spending time with and look up to. After many negative things that has happened in my life, this 3 weeks were very helpful for my mental and spiritual health for the next busy year, where i will be busy with my studies and my project ‘ Where Does Europe End ? ‘ in general.

P.S. Thank to all Alicante, Valencia, Santander, Oviedo and Leon people for sharing this 3 wonderful weeks with me.

To be or not to be in Armenia

I was excited enough before leaving home that i was going to Armenia, but i would be even more excited if i happened to know the adventure that awaited me.

After coming from the conference in Turkey, i was already exhausted, and a trip to Armenia was waiting for me in 2 days. After doing some stuff in Brussels, the time has come for me to pack my stuff. I was going to go to Paris first and fly from there, while it was the cheapest option.

After arriving to Paris, i spent some time by walking around the city, and seeing some places that i have already seen before. I tooke the metro to the airport and realized that i got off at the wrong staation, which made me lost 30mins. After finding the right platform, i was seriously short of time. I ran to the check in and saw the huge line in front of me. After some waiting, it was only 40 mins that my plane would leave. When i asked the responsible when is the last check in time, he said it is 1 hour latest. However, because of the big line, they were flexible and checked me in. After some painful security check with people taking every object one by one and rather slowly, i started dashing towards the gate, while they were already admitting passengers in. I got on the plane safe and sound, and thought that would be the end of my adventures for today. I was mistaken…

After a nice trip, i have landed in Yerevan airport. I went to the visa booth, while for Armenia you can get a visa at the airport, regardless which passport you have. After going there, the official told me that my type of passport ( Diplomatic ) doesnt need a visa, and directed me to the passport booth. After i went to the booth, the lady took my passport, looked at it, making it quite obvious that she had never seen that type of passport before, and left the booth without saying any word. I understood that my adventures for today had just begun…

The lady came back with a higher ranking official, who happened to speak Turkish ( sort of ). He told me that with my passport, i cant get a visa at the airport, and i should have gotten it before coming. I tried to explain him that no such thing is written anywhere, and gave him the number of the project coordinator in Armenia, that can be of help. The official told that the only way for me to enter is a letter from the Foreign Ministry of Armenia, but it was a funny request to make at 21.00, while every single government building is closed at 17.00. Yet, the coordinator used his contacts and contacted some people in the FA, meanwhile in the customs, i was trying to find out what was going on, while the official wasnt telling a word, leaving me in complete blankness and ignorance about the situation. Since the official spoke no English nor German too, it was impossible to learn what was the situation. I was waiting for my destiny already for 1 hour now, losing hope more and more as time goes by.

Finally another lady came and told me in English that i need that letter. Afterwards 6 police officers surrounded me, and started discussing about sending me back to Istanbul, and i started explaining them that i live in Brussels, not Istanbul anymore. When i was at the end of my limit, the same officer who spoke Turkish took me from my arm and asked me to follow him, without saying anything else. I thought i was going to be either imprisoned or expelled, yet he tooke me to the passport line. He pointed towards the entrance and said ‘ Go ‘. I was surprised, because he was asking me to enter Armenia, without any stamp or visa in my passport. I wanted to ask the reason, but he interrupted me and said ‘ Davay ( Go ) ‘. I obeyed and entered. After picking up my bag that waited me for 2 hours, i saw my name and the driver that waited for me for 2 hours as well. When i approached him, he asked me ‘ Problema ? ‘, i answered ‘ Da ‘

Armenia is a country with high potential, yet little chances. It has borders with Russia, Georgia, Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan, while they have closed borders with the latest two countries. Especially between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the high tension still continues. Because of the border problems, the trade between countries is much less than it can be, But still i saw many Turkish products, especially textile, on Armenian market shelves.

Since i was in Armenia without a visa, nor stamp, i was actually non-existent, which meant, if i happened to die that moment, i would be dead nowhere, since i wasnt in Armenia theoratically. Hence, i had to get a visa from the FA. We went to Yerevan the next day, gave our documents, and got the visa in a day. My friend told me, ‘ Welcome to Armenia finally ‘.

In the process of changing, Armenia is still under heavy influence of the Soviet era, having many building left form that time, especially in the suburbs.p Almost everybody speaks Russian, and they have very good relations with Russia.

The training was nice with nice people, mostly Russian speaking. I tried to do my best with plain English and teach them as much as possible about youth work, application and projects. But the main things was, the time each participants spent knowing each other, experiencing Armenian culture, and of course, establishing future contacts.

I dont know if i will ever go to Armenia again, while there are many countries waiting in the line. But i can say that it was definitely worth the experience.

Pursue of Happiness

” We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ” Decleration of Indepence- 1776

It is funny that human beings always seek for happiness, but they are never totally happy. I dont know if its because of human metabolizm or mind, or if it is because that the world is really not the best place for a human being to be totally happy.

There are many kinds of happinesses, some short term, some long term.

I believe that a person should settle some things down in his life to be long term happy, such as a friendships, relationship, family and a quality life.

Because if one of those lack, every happiness is just like a piece of chocolate, it makes you happy for 10 minutes, then it fades away.

For me, it is the same case now. I am happy with my life, but there are still some things that i couldnt settle down in my life. And even though i have great things that makes me happy, such as a project that i write being accepted, or having a very good grade from an exam which will very positively affect my future, these things make me happy for some time, but then i forget about them. But i think, maybe i m not a grateful person as i should be.

I am a person who believes in God, and i think being a good person should be a person’s religion. And i always try to be grateful for what i have, and for the amazing things i have gone through in my life. I look at the people who is in a worse situation than me in life, and i feel grateful for mine. And when i look at people that are in a better status/sitatuion than me, i try to find things that they managed in life, and i couldnt so far.

I also have seen that there are some fundamental things in life that people generally should manage, such as balance, being positive, being grateful, being helpful and many other things.

But for me, what really counts is balance.

If you are too positive, you miss the realities of life. And if you are too negative, you miss the beauties of lie.

If you are too helpful, people will abuse you. If you are too selfish, you will not have any people around you at all.

If you love someone too much, its not good. If you love someone too less, its not good either.

Love someone enough…   Enough to make this person happy, content and in love with you.

Everyone pursues happiness. Some cannot find it, some think they cannot find it and some think they find it. We can never know what makes a person happy, because there is no recipee for it, but there are some general things that should be in a persons life.

And its also about bringing all the little things in life. Small things, small gestures in life means a lot. A smile, a greeting, a hug, a kiss….

I think happiness is like a puzzle, it is a whole picture that makes it meaningful, but its the little pieces that brings it together. You just have to make the effort of finding the pieces and putting them alltogether.

Its the same thing with love, it is very important that you do small things to your loved one, to show how much you really care for that person. Dont live your love inside, and dont make a show out of it.

Make it a sacred feelings, but make sure the person you love knows it, making sure you got each other caught up in romantic moments. If you manage to do that, it means you have a big piece of the puzzle.

Then it’s love actually…

Sorry for writing too long, i dont think many people will read this. But it makes me feel good to write actually how i feel and think.

My success…..

The last two days happened to be such lucky and proud days for many people, including me.

Working as the Projects Director of AEGEE, there were some  moments where i felt weak, incapable or slow, as well as other moments where i felt on the top of the world, happy and super confident.

These last two days was the days where i felt the latter feelings.

Having actively involved in 4 projects amongst some others, YNY, Y VOTE, SuFU and WDEE, i m proud to see how successful they turned out to be, that Y VOTE is reaching its great end, SuFu and WDEE ( which i am a founder of ) got their grants accepted for a total of 50.000 euro and YNY winning the European Youth Charlemagne Prize, one of the most prestigious prizes in Europe.

My friends were always saying that, the results show your success and make you stronger, and now i understand it better, being more motivated than ever to work for Youth and especially for AEGEE.

I really dont know if its a shame that i wasnt elected as the President for the next year, but now i see that its not a reason to stop giving to AEGEE. I ll have my great life and other tasks too, but i ll continue with AEGEE, with my ideas and my heart.

With those results i get, i feel so proud and happy now.