Gece Kondur

Hey everyone,
Today, I visited the Citadel, or Castle: an ancient fortress in the middle and on the top of the city. Ankara has an air pollution problem, especially in winter, so we couldn't see too horribly far, but it was really gorgeous: spread out beneath the citadel in all directions were huge areas of gece kondurs. These, in my opinion, are one of the really cool things about Turkey: Turkish law says that if you erect four walls and a roof in the course of one night on government land, it's legally yours, and you can stay, hence the name "gece kondur," or "built overnight." A lot of internal immigrants from outlying villages did that when they moved to the city to find work, so there's maybe a million or so people living in these quasi-squatter residences. It's really something to walk around in the gece kondurs: it's a delightful mishmash of architecture, and a maze of narrow, sloping streets. Little kids are everywhere, and the shops in the area seem very relaxed. As my group was walking through on our way down from the citadel, it was teatime, and there was a man with a tray full of individual tea cups, all poured and ready, making his way among the merchants. Most of the shops had their wares displayed on the roadside in front of their windows, and other vendors wove their way through the street, hawking shoe sole inserts, jewelry, and fresh simits (simits are these wonderful thin round pastries, named after the sesame seeds they're coated with and the sesame seed jam they're baked with; they're somewhere between a donut and a bagel). It was all so timeless (well, maybe not the shoe sole inserts), and yet modern at the same time.

Well, I think I might go find some government land, put up four walls and a roof and beome a Turkish homeowner. Anyone fancy a vacation home in Ankara?

-R

Winter

Hello, everyone!
This is just a quick update, as I have a few extra minutes. It is so snowy here, it's incredible. There's currently over a foot of snow; it stopped for a bit last night, but picked right up this morning. They handle the snow very differently here: it's been snowing almost nonstop since I arrıved, but they just bothered to plow a few roads last nıght. Most roads on campus aren't plowed, and none of the sidewalks are; my socks are soaked. Today, on the way back to my dorm, we came upon some students sledding on plastic bags (I don't know that they have sleds), and we joined in. It was a lot of fun, and definitely not something that I thought I'd be doing in Turkey. The weather is a little dangerous, though: they don't shovel sıdewalks, so the snow melts a bıt, freezes, and ın covered by more snow. This makes outdoor steps more than a little interesting; there are also 40-degree ramps all over that take the place of stairs. It's more than a bit difficult to walk up a ramp in a snowstorm wıth several inches already coating the inch of ice coating the ramp: I have a black and blue knee to show for my efforts to do that Monday night. Other than that, the weather has been unexpected, but pretty fun; it reminds me a bit of wınter in Minnesota.
-R

I'm Here!

Hi everyone;

I'll keep this short, as i'ts 1AM here and I'm writing on a Turkish keyboard (fairly confusing/exasperating), but I figured I'd let'ch'all know that I'm here in Ankara. I arrived yesterday at about 3 pm local time, or 7 am Minnesota time. So far, it's very exciting/fascinating; the campus is interesting, it's pretty wooded, and it's maybe 20 minutes from downtown Ankara. The biggest struggle I've had as of yet is the food: it seems as though everything is made smothered in cheese, even breakfast foods. I had some sort of dinner today that's apparently a Turkish favorite; it was a baked potato split down the center, with the insides scraped out and mixed with something, like mashed potatoes. The mashed stuff was then put back into the potato and topped with pork sausage slices, pickle slices, jalapeno peppers, olive slices, onions, peas, corn, ketchup, and mayonnaise (it normally also has cheese, as well). It was pretty interesting.
Well, I'll write more when my wireless is up and running, so I don't have to use these darn Turkish ones,
-R

Updates!

Merhaba!

I'm slowly getting ready for Turkey; I have nothing packed, but I've made several packing lists. I've been reading a lot of travel books and books on Turkey, and I've been slowly working through my Turkish phrasebook. A few weeks ago, I was assigned my housing and my roommate: I'll be living in one of the EBI dorms, which means I'll have ethernet access in my room and a kitchenette, with a student lounge and a breakfast bar/cafe on the first floor. My roommate is Turkish, from a region called Pamukkale, and she seems really nice. I went to the Travel Clinic last week and got my Hepatitis A, Typhoid, and Influenza innoculations, along with a strict lecture on staying away from birds. I've been following the bird flu developments in Turkey quite keenly; it should be interesting to be over there as they're dealing with bird flu, but I hope it doesn't get too much worse: I don't think I'll be in any personal danger from bird flu, as I'm not going anywhere near any bird that's not fully cooked, but if a large outbreak results in mass panic or disorder, or travel restrictions, or instability, it would be interesting but not all that safe. At the moment, it looks like bird flu won't be horribly widespread in Turkey, knock on wood.
At the moment, I'm just trying to figure out what I'm bringing and how I'll pack it; I can bring 2 suitcases and a carry-on, but I have no idea how much stuff I should bring. I'm sure I'll probably manage to bring too much, and to forget something crucial back in Minnesota.
Looking ahead, I leave for Ankara at 3:20 next Saturday, and I'll arrive in Ankara at 3 on Sunday (or 7AM Minnesota time), where I'll be met at the airport by a student guide. I'll then spend two weeks in orientation, learning Turkish, learning about Turkey, registering for classes, and probably taking a trip to Cappadocia; classes don't begin 'til February 8. I'm getting really excited, and in the meantime, email or comment if you have any questions, comments, warnings, advice, or jokes about Turkey! I'll post more contact info once I get to Turkey; I won't know my address 'til I get there. 'Til later,
-R