I know, this is eerily similar to Emir... Like him, I'm Turkish but have lived abroad for almost 15 years. Went to Jeddah as a kid. Attended a British school there. Later came to Istanbul during my university years and then went to Austin, TX for a PhD. Married to a Texan (she's actually Turkish, but was born in the Lone Star Sate).
I know how though it can be to live abroad, so I like to help foreigners out. I also think you better grasp the goings-on in a country if you ask the opinion of someone from without... Hence my desire to mingle with foreigners.
Cheers,
Bengu

Like the road campaign! Welcome.

wow. thats crazy. welcome. i went to an american school in saudi and got my undergrad in Austin and work for a firm there. hope to meet you.

Welcome, Bengu.

I had a glance at the website and see you've written a book on biodiesels in Turkish. How are people responding to the concept? Do you hold any type of activities to introduce the book?

Best of luck.

Likewise, Emir; I’d love to meet you. I work at Bahcesehir University. Our campus is not, as the name suggests, in Bahcesehir but Besiktas (located on the sea shore right behind the denizotobusu terminal). So swing by when you can. Coffee is on me.

Burbaco: Thank you for the warm greetings. Yes, I’ve written a book on biodiesel. Like in the US, biodiesel is mainly a grass-roots movement here, but unlike the US it is very difficult to get people to communicate and share their ideas (the government’s negative attitude towards personal producers doesn’t help either). The book is merely an attempt to make people aware that small-scale biodiesel production is viable and that lots of folks are doing it. My role model in that regard is Maria “Mark” Alovert of California (a.k.a. Girl Mark). She’s the author of Biodiesel Homebrew Guide, and holds classes all over the US teaching people how to brew biodiesel at home…

Anyway, I digress, to answer your question, people are really attentive to the idea, but it is difficult to get the word across. I haven’t held any activities to introduce the book, but my sister-in-law (who works as a reporter for Fox TV) hopes to put it on the news on Fox. Any other ideas are welcome.

Best,
B.

i watched an interview of a Prof at ITU that was working in BIODIESEL on tv this weekend. i forget the channel but it was great to hear that its making a move. Also I saw something about bahcesehir univ. that was about solar energy or one of the departments that you have at the university on the energy subject. it was about solar panels but am not really a good tv watcher so i was multitasking with work and studying. but who knows maybe I saw you on tv. plus bahcesehir has a beautiful kampus. i would love to stop by when my boss doesnt require me to work 16 hour days... hopefully in a week or so... will let you know.

burbaco,
sis-in-law managed to put together a news report on my biodiesel book. it airs on Fox TV's main newscast tomorrow (7/14) evening at 7 pm.

Congratulations, Bengu.

I'm out of the country at the moment but if you can get the footage up to youtube I'd love to have a look at it.

By the way, Bengü.
The Turkish translation of "portfolio" is "portföy."
For some reason "yahoo@uluengin.com" looked like the wrong email address, so I decided to post it here.

Welcome to the forum Bengu,

and a nice and interesting introduction so far, Biodiesel is also used in Germany I see more and more cars running with
biodiesel around were I live (Freiburg) ... so I hope it coming more and more popular. Good luck with your book.
CU around

Nadja

Hi Bengu,
I'm not exactly a foreigner but I was born and raised in Canada, parents are Turkish. Welcome back to Istanbul.
If I buy a car again one of these days I would certainly want something enviro-friendly which is why I looked into this subject before but thought it would be too expensive to buy equipment to change McDonald's grease into usable fuel for the average person. Do you have such a set-up at your place or university ? What do you use for your car ?
P.S. I missed the show but it would be great if you can post it on YouTube