where did you grow up (what city) and what do you miss most about the place and your childhood?

Question

I grew up in a small town of Afyon, the house I grew up in doesn not exist nomore :o( but what I missed most about it is my little gang called 'kara bela çetesi' :D I was the founder :p only girl member and leader, we were doing things a bit similar to İpeks gang, rescueing cats, (beating up the children who were being horrible to animals :))))) or making up stories like a murder and then later believin them and investigating:)) etc. have not visited there in last 15 years :o(

pala remzi 'pala' lakabın demek oradan geliyor ha :P nerde olduğunu söylemem evimizin ama 'türküyü' söylersen süper olurdu aslında 'zülüfler gerdana dökülür gelir dökülür gelirrrr' ah ah :D

Answer 1

I was born in Limassol and lived there until the war in 74 except for a year in the US and my uni. years in Ankara). Limassol (Leymosun in Turkish, Lemesos in Greek) used to be a very friendly typical Mediterranean/Cypriot town. It used to smell of the sea, fish and wine. There were quite a few wine and brandy factories. Now most of them left the town (city) for obvious reasons. Limassol has turned into a big city with over 200,000 population; a concrete jungle. Lots of foreigners living there now (Chinese, Arabs, Russians etc). It has lost its character.
What I miss most of all is the lively neighborhood. Neighbors who used to take care of all the children as if they were their own. The love and respect of people to each other (even between Greeks and Turks). I miss our games in that small dried up stream bed. We used to play football, marbles, all sorts of games with a tennis ball, we had our 'top' (topac) season, and the most dangerous of all was 'lingiri' (celik comak). God knows how many kids got injured with those sticks. We had great rules for that game:
you catch the stick with both hands: 1 stone
one hand: 2 stones
between two fingers: 5 stones
catch it with your mouth: 25 stones
catch it on your ear (lol): 50 stones (nobody ever done that)
I also missed my bicycles. Those old fashioned bikes with leather seats, so comfortable.
I miss the green, I miss the (real) picnics.
I miss people saying good morning/good evening to everyone.
I miss playing Indians/cowboys with my friends.
I miss buying comic books secretley and reading them in hiding lol.
I miss the weekend cinemas, going with the whole family and watching one American and one Turkish film. The guy walking around in the dark and selling coke and sandwiches, bringing coffee to adults lol.

Answer 2

I was born and raised in Grants Pass. A small city in southern Oregon.
What do I miss most about GP? Hmmm. Well I miss going on Sunday drives with my family. We would usually take a drive up into the mountains. Being the youngest of four children was kinda tough as I always got stuck in the middle of the seat. Was hard to look out the car windows searching for deer.
Or we would go to the beach.
Better yet would be when we went camping. We would go camp near Crater Lake. And pick as many huckleberries as I could eat. I sure do miss huckelberries.
Hmmm. Wonder if I can persuade my husband to drive to Crater Lake next weekend so we can go pick some huckleberries?

Answer 3

i've grown in Gebze, Düzce, İstanbul....

i miss the green field just behind of our house in Gebze.. Now theres an absurd empty place there with just dust... when i was a kid, we were playing football in there.. the smeell of the grasses and the soil was really perfect... by the spring we were collecting the frogs embrios and taking care of them untill they become a little frog.... Kite wars......... tie up a gilette into the tail of the kite and try to cut your friends kite rope... it was really fun...
for the middle-school i went to Düzce and stayed there 3 years.. there was a stream crossing across the town and we were going there to smoke cigarettes..
After 3 years i came back to Gebze and began school in İstanbul.....
The only thing i remember to my childhoodness is that; i was really enjoying all the stuff i do... playing with friends, hanging out, drinking, smoking, etc...

wish i was a kid now 2...

Answer 4

Istanbul. Istanbul Istanbul olaliiiii.
I love the smell of it. Bosphorus. The sea. I miss the diversity.
People going out, the cafes, the restaurants. Fish. Brunches.
The city lights at nights. I love that every inch of that city has a soul. It is the cradle of the cultures, languages,empires.
So full of life.

About my childhood i miss my grand mother and grandfather. I missed having Sundays with them going to Gebze i don't remember there was a market place that we used to go with my grandfather to buy fish. and to Kadikoy. I miss the smell of kinali barbun and roka that my grandmother used to cook.

I miss my family a lot actually. My brother my mother my father.
o i stop. you know i am far from them i will cry now.

Answer 5

I grew up in New Orleans. The neighbourhood where I grew up flooded in the hurricane and is all gone now. There weren't a lot of kids around in my neighbourhood, but my best friend Elsa lived across the street. We rode our bikes everywhere. We were quite athletic for girls who were untrained, we could do everything. When I entered school I could beat all the boys in arm wrestling which is crazy cause I was the smallest kid in he class.
Elsa's parents were immigrants from Hungry and they bought a pig and raised it in their back yard, I was terrified of it, finally, they ate it. They offered or family some but I think my parents refused. I never ate pork again.
We moved when I was 7 and then my best Friend was Amiee. She was also very athletic.

Answer 6

I was raised in Bursa. It was a small and trustworthy city then.

I missed our games on the streets- all day long without the fear of any kind of crime, my "gang" with the kids where we were the heroes and make up plays like "the wonderful five rescues the kitten" or swimming in the small brook that actually run through the city from Uludağ and clean enough to swim in.

And by telling it , I sounded like a 75 year old grandma.. I know :)

Answer 7

I grew up in Anamur. We were a gang of four. We loved to jump into the sea from a rock, yelling, "Parolamız Cesaret!"

I think we took that from the Pıtırcık books, but I'm not sure.

Why? Nobody said we had to be original or even smart!

Answer 8

i grew up in Edirne ( then at the age of 11 went on growing at a boarding school's dormitory! ). i miss the feeling of considering everything easy and possible.

Answer 9

I was born in Adana and I'm in Adana at the moment. When I'm not here, I miss its people the most. Crazy people, all over the roads...Adana people don't walk on the pavement lol. Because the hot weather makes you go crazy. I can't blame people for that.

I never knew I like Adana people until I went to another place, another country to live for a few months. Modern, developed....but heck people have no souls there. I can't take so much lifeless development. I missed Adana's crazy people, I missed the heavy kebap smell, I missed feeling secure in the streets of Adana where you don't know what's gonna happen to you in the next few seconds. I never thought I would miss it, but I did!

About my childhood...well I love February in Adana. Because February means winter holiday...and winter holiday reminds me of me walking in the streets of my mahalle...weather is great in February here. Clear blue skies, cold but not making you cold...a winter day, walking in the empty streets...because everybody's working and it's only holiday for you. I miss that the most. It gives me such a warm feeling even to remember them.

Answer 10

Dear DejaVu,

Umm, that is nice question...

I was born in Istanbul - Esenler.
I am really remember about my childhood, at that time, Esenler is really nice and little town ...
We were always playing football in our next street. Because it was empty area.
So, I do not know, what happened, suddenly changed badly ...
One night, Big machined comed and started to dig ...

When we asked, They said it was sold and build big apartment...
I hated big apertment ...

There are lots of example like that ...
This is just only first example ...

I missed my town...
But never it will change again.

Thanks for this question...

Good Evening and Big Kiss for Anatolia