After living in a fairly expat-rich neighborhood in Ankara, I was in for a bit of a shock when I moved to my current neighborhood in Istanbul. As far as I can tell, I am the only Western foreigner living here, and definitely the only single female twenty-something Western foreigner.
This is both a blessing and a curse. My first week here, I wandered into a pide shop to buy bread, and chatted with the owner a bit. The next day, as I walked down a different street, I heard a man turn to his friend to fill him in on me: “She’s American, she used to live in Ankara but now she lives here. She writes and she studied at ODTU.” My conversation with the pideci had spread around the neighborhood in under 24 hours, and almost everyone knew my basic background.
Not everyone remembers that I do live here though; there is a street nearby lined with restaurants catering primarily to tourists, and I walk down it almost every day. Even a month after moving, waiters and restaurant owners chorus behind me as I navigate between groups of German and Japanese tourists: “Excuse me lady! I have a question, do you want to eat? Our fish is the best!” I find the “I have a question” one a bit annoying, as I usually stop to hear what it is, hoping it’s not a request that I eat at their establishment, only to hear “Why aren’t you stopping here for dinner?” or “Do you want a drink? Fish?”
There is one fish restaurant whose staff has figured out that I’m a local. We exchange greetings as I take the corner in front of their tables, me in Turkish and them in English.
I’m not, however the only foreigner in the neighborhood -- not by a long shot. My neighborhood is home to a “migrant guesthouse -- Turkish doublespeak for an illegal immigrant detention center. The people who live there are allowed to stay there, and not much else: they cannot work, they would face problems leaving Istanbul, and I believe their movements within Istanbul, outside of the guesthouse, are restricted as well.
Most of these “guests” are of African origin: the call shops around my neighborhood prominently advertize their rates to Somalia, Congo, Libya and Ethiopia. It’s actually quite odd, I’ve seen more pagnes here than I have since leaving Niger; I keep meaning to ask if there’s a Turkish source for them.
I do wish that the government would allow the migrants to work legally, as I’d love to see some migrant-operated businesses in the area (especially restaurants -- Turkey has a dearth of ethnic food and I would absolutely love to find a place selling shinkafa da wake or fari masa, or serving up fresh cold glasses of byssop). I occasionally see a migrant or two working, clearly under the table, in one of the small tailoring factories that dot the neighborhood.
I do think I enjoy my current neighborhood more than I'd enjoy living in one of the "expat-heavy" areas -- Cihangir, for instance, although I do find myself walking around that neighborhood quite often. There's just something to be said for walking down the village-like streets of my neighborhood, where if everyone doesn't know my name, they do know who I am.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
And now for something a little different
Hey folks (I hope this works, I'm updating via email as this wifi doesn't seem to want to let me access Blogger),
I'm settling in nicely here in Istanbul, and inshallah will write some mildly amusing posts on that as soon as I get internet in my flat (should be any day now...). Til then, here's a piece I'm working on in response to an article I edited for my new job; the original article can be found here: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=178707&bolum=100
This isn't my usual blog fare, but I figured I couldn't very well post just the article with no commentary, so here goes:
I was somewhat bemused to read the recent headline "Judge sentences man to give flowers to his wife for 5 months," a bemusement which quickly faded when I read on to the article: a man in Diyarbakir beat his wife, and was sentenced to buy her a bouquet of flowers a week for five months after he told the judge he didn't know her birthday or their anniversary and had never bought her flowers. He justified the abuse by complaining that his wife wasn't helping out around the house enough, noting that his recently-married second wife was much more easy-going.
I almost don't know where to start here; I guess first would be the point that domestic abuse is never justified, and the excuse that his first wife "didn't help around the house enough" is nothing short of pathetic. But the background here is truly sad, for all involved but especially for the women. While I can't know for certain this exact situation, I imagine it was something like this: the man and wife's marriage was arranged by relatives, in a match that was set up because of the desirability of the families involved, or the bride price, or because they were of marriageable age. They may have known each other, but almost certainly would not have married each other if left to their own devices. After awhile, enough time for them to have a child, the man found a girl he was attracted to and actually wanted to marry. He lucked out, as her family was amenable to allowing her to be a second, not-legally-recognized wife (they probably were able to negotiate a higher bride price because of this). Most likely he didn't see a need to inform his first wife of his plans to take a second wife until perhaps as late as his wedding morning. As part of his second wife's bride price, he probably bought a new house for her to live in, which led the first wife to press for a new house for her and her child as well (this was mentioned in the article, as part of the man's justification for beating his wife). The man had probably spent any savings he had and took loans to finance his second wife's bride price, making him irritable on the subject of money, an irritation only exacerbated by the fact that he now had the wife he wanted, making the first wife almost superfluous. When the abuse started, the wife probably didn't think of going to authorities; recent studies have shown as many as 40% of Turkish wives have been hit by their husbands (I highly recommend reading through posts on the Kamil Pasha blog, on the sidebar, for background on the status of women in Turkey). The fact that she did go to police, and that there was enough evidence to find the man guilty, points to the likelihood of severe abuse.
The judge's sentence here, while it initially appears whimsical, serves to trivialize the issue of spousal abuse by advancing the notion that "everything will be solved if this man proves he cares about his wife by buying her flowers." The fact that the wife brought this case to court means that she does not feel safe in her living arrangement, and the husband's clear annoyance with his wife and her perceived 'unhelpfulness' is, if anything, a warning sign: there have been all too many recent cases of uxoricide in the Southeast, in many cases after the woman has sought help or the court has interfered. In all likelihood, this is one marriage that would be best served by a divorce: giving this woman freedom from her abusive life with this man, and paving the way for this man's second wife to legally marry him, which would afford her certain legal protections she currently lacks as the religiously-recognized second wife.
It should also be noted that the judge ordered this particular sentence in lieu of jail time or other probationary options; other judges recently have assigned men convicted of similar crimes to plant and care for trees, or in one case to print 1000 fliers apologizing to the man's wife and his neighborhood for beating his wife and distribute them throughout town. While this still doesn't do anything tangible to address the very real abuse, it at least doesn't trivialize the woman's experience like this flower sentence, and I suppose the fliers may serve to make the neighbors more ready to watch out for the woman and recognize signs of abuse.
Domestic abuse is a huge and largely not-talked-about issue in Turkey. Change is needed, at the judicial level and at the political level but most importantly at the social level. We need to figure out how to get from 40% of Turkish housewives reporting instances of abuse to 100% of Turkish spouses knowing that spousal abuse is never justified. Unfortunately, changing laws and changing judicial practices, while difficult, can be and have been done, whereas changing society's views is a formidable task indeed. Still, we owe it to ourselves and our communities to do our small part, so that women don't think they have no choice but to stay with an abusive spouse and so that men don't even consider beating their wives an option.
kib
-R
I'm settling in nicely here in Istanbul, and inshallah will write some mildly amusing posts on that as soon as I get internet in my flat (should be any day now...). Til then, here's a piece I'm working on in response to an article I edited for my new job; the original article can be found here: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=178707&bolum=100
This isn't my usual blog fare, but I figured I couldn't very well post just the article with no commentary, so here goes:
I was somewhat bemused to read the recent headline "Judge sentences man to give flowers to his wife for 5 months," a bemusement which quickly faded when I read on to the article: a man in Diyarbakir beat his wife, and was sentenced to buy her a bouquet of flowers a week for five months after he told the judge he didn't know her birthday or their anniversary and had never bought her flowers. He justified the abuse by complaining that his wife wasn't helping out around the house enough, noting that his recently-married second wife was much more easy-going.
I almost don't know where to start here; I guess first would be the point that domestic abuse is never justified, and the excuse that his first wife "didn't help around the house enough" is nothing short of pathetic. But the background here is truly sad, for all involved but especially for the women. While I can't know for certain this exact situation, I imagine it was something like this: the man and wife's marriage was arranged by relatives, in a match that was set up because of the desirability of the families involved, or the bride price, or because they were of marriageable age. They may have known each other, but almost certainly would not have married each other if left to their own devices. After awhile, enough time for them to have a child, the man found a girl he was attracted to and actually wanted to marry. He lucked out, as her family was amenable to allowing her to be a second, not-legally-recognized wife (they probably were able to negotiate a higher bride price because of this). Most likely he didn't see a need to inform his first wife of his plans to take a second wife until perhaps as late as his wedding morning. As part of his second wife's bride price, he probably bought a new house for her to live in, which led the first wife to press for a new house for her and her child as well (this was mentioned in the article, as part of the man's justification for beating his wife). The man had probably spent any savings he had and took loans to finance his second wife's bride price, making him irritable on the subject of money, an irritation only exacerbated by the fact that he now had the wife he wanted, making the first wife almost superfluous. When the abuse started, the wife probably didn't think of going to authorities; recent studies have shown as many as 40% of Turkish wives have been hit by their husbands (I highly recommend reading through posts on the Kamil Pasha blog, on the sidebar, for background on the status of women in Turkey). The fact that she did go to police, and that there was enough evidence to find the man guilty, points to the likelihood of severe abuse.
The judge's sentence here, while it initially appears whimsical, serves to trivialize the issue of spousal abuse by advancing the notion that "everything will be solved if this man proves he cares about his wife by buying her flowers." The fact that the wife brought this case to court means that she does not feel safe in her living arrangement, and the husband's clear annoyance with his wife and her perceived 'unhelpfulness' is, if anything, a warning sign: there have been all too many recent cases of uxoricide in the Southeast, in many cases after the woman has sought help or the court has interfered. In all likelihood, this is one marriage that would be best served by a divorce: giving this woman freedom from her abusive life with this man, and paving the way for this man's second wife to legally marry him, which would afford her certain legal protections she currently lacks as the religiously-recognized second wife.
It should also be noted that the judge ordered this particular sentence in lieu of jail time or other probationary options; other judges recently have assigned men convicted of similar crimes to plant and care for trees, or in one case to print 1000 fliers apologizing to the man's wife and his neighborhood for beating his wife and distribute them throughout town. While this still doesn't do anything tangible to address the very real abuse, it at least doesn't trivialize the woman's experience like this flower sentence, and I suppose the fliers may serve to make the neighbors more ready to watch out for the woman and recognize signs of abuse.
Domestic abuse is a huge and largely not-talked-about issue in Turkey. Change is needed, at the judicial level and at the political level but most importantly at the social level. We need to figure out how to get from 40% of Turkish housewives reporting instances of abuse to 100% of Turkish spouses knowing that spousal abuse is never justified. Unfortunately, changing laws and changing judicial practices, while difficult, can be and have been done, whereas changing society's views is a formidable task indeed. Still, we owe it to ourselves and our communities to do our small part, so that women don't think they have no choice but to stay with an abusive spouse and so that men don't even consider beating their wives an option.
kib
-R
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Just a quick update
I'm back in Ankara with my mom, after meeting her in Istanbul and spending a few days there. Mom's been a real trooper, heading from mosque to bazaar to my new house and all over the Golden Horn, as well as out to Arnavutkoy and back in rush hour traffic.
I'll inshallah get more details and stories from our trip so far up soon, but I just wanted to leave you guys with a few pics from our days so far:
This is Mom with the US Ambassador to Turkey, James Jeffery. Aren't they adorable?
We were at his residence earlier tonight for a talk and dinner by the Ankara Friends of the American Research Institute in Turkey. The talk was really good, and we both learned a lot: it focused on the architectural and other achievements of women in Ottoman Turkey, primarily the Valide Sultanas (mothers of the sultans). We had a great time, Mom got to meet the Ambassador and his wife, who are both really nice people and who both just love Turkey. We had dinner with a few Turkish-American couples and a Brit, from a variety of fields, and had all in all a fully enjoyable evening!
My trip to Istanbul to pick up Mom had another purpose as well: find housing for my pending move to the city. Luckily, a friend of mine hooked me up with her professor, and I am now renting his house for the year. It's a serendipitous find. It's in the Kumkapi section of town, which is in the Golden Horn, about a block off the water. There are many fish restaurants in the neighborhood, so I guess I'll finally find out what all Turkish fish varieties taste like. The pic above is me in the doorway of my new house.
So Mom and I are walking down the street in Sultanahmet (Istanbul, the tourist area), and we pass a little boy strutting around in one of these outfits, out with his family. I lean in and to murmur that he's on his way to get circumcised. Mom was pretty shocked, mainly at the relatively late age of Muslim circumcision ceremonies (I believe around 8 is the normal age here). And thus followed a fun, occasionally awkward, and interesting discussion of Muslim circumcision tradition. We saw these for sale the next day and naturally took a photo; what you can't see is below the cape in front, where the shop is displaying some sort of cup/protector, which kind of goes against the whole point there.
So there's a brief and incomplete snapshot of my 3.5 days showing Mom how awesome this country is. It's been great! Much more to come.
kendine iyi bak,
-R
I'll inshallah get more details and stories from our trip so far up soon, but I just wanted to leave you guys with a few pics from our days so far:
This is Mom with the US Ambassador to Turkey, James Jeffery. Aren't they adorable?
We were at his residence earlier tonight for a talk and dinner by the Ankara Friends of the American Research Institute in Turkey. The talk was really good, and we both learned a lot: it focused on the architectural and other achievements of women in Ottoman Turkey, primarily the Valide Sultanas (mothers of the sultans). We had a great time, Mom got to meet the Ambassador and his wife, who are both really nice people and who both just love Turkey. We had dinner with a few Turkish-American couples and a Brit, from a variety of fields, and had all in all a fully enjoyable evening!
My trip to Istanbul to pick up Mom had another purpose as well: find housing for my pending move to the city. Luckily, a friend of mine hooked me up with her professor, and I am now renting his house for the year. It's a serendipitous find. It's in the Kumkapi section of town, which is in the Golden Horn, about a block off the water. There are many fish restaurants in the neighborhood, so I guess I'll finally find out what all Turkish fish varieties taste like. The pic above is me in the doorway of my new house.
So Mom and I are walking down the street in Sultanahmet (Istanbul, the tourist area), and we pass a little boy strutting around in one of these outfits, out with his family. I lean in and to murmur that he's on his way to get circumcised. Mom was pretty shocked, mainly at the relatively late age of Muslim circumcision ceremonies (I believe around 8 is the normal age here). And thus followed a fun, occasionally awkward, and interesting discussion of Muslim circumcision tradition. We saw these for sale the next day and naturally took a photo; what you can't see is below the cape in front, where the shop is displaying some sort of cup/protector, which kind of goes against the whole point there.
So there's a brief and incomplete snapshot of my 3.5 days showing Mom how awesome this country is. It's been great! Much more to come.
kendine iyi bak,
-R
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Big news for my 100th post
I said I'd try to find something good for my centenary post, and it appears I have. Several of my readers have been asking what exactly I'm doing once my Fulbright grant is finished (especially those of you related to me, hi folks!), and my response has generally been a measured account of options I've been exploring.
Well no more: as of yesterday, I have gainful post-Fulbright employment, and in a development that will be good news for this ostensibly-a-travelblog blog, I'll be staying in Turkey!
I will be moving though, and fast. Next week I head to Istanbul to meet up with my mom, who's coming to Turkey for the first time to see Istanbul, Ankara, and me. After a full week of travel, sightseeing, and packing I'll see Mom off to the airport, turn around, and start studying for the foreign service exam, which I take the next day.
The day after I take the foreign service exam, I'll be shipping out to Istanbul, hopefully with all my stuff, although I'm not actually sure how this operation is going to happen. That weekend will be a maelstrom of unpacking, setting up house, and getting ready to start work that Sunday or Monday. Before I unpack though, I need to find an apartment, which at the moment I do not have.
So I'm two weeks out from starting. The job itself sounds really fun and challenging: I'll be copy-editing for an English-language newspaper here, turning questionable prose into beautifully clear articles. Since I'm a stickler for grammar, spelling, and good writing, and have spent the last year learning the ins and outs of the Turkish political system pretty intricately, I think it'll be a good fit.
In the meantime though, I'm commencing a blizzard of activity: packing up everything, getting rid of as much as possible, finding a new flat, getting my current flat ready for the realtor, settling my finances, physically moving all my belongings to Istanbul (this would be so much easier if I had a car), and somehow, between all that and showing my mom how awesome this country is, tracking down all my Ankaralilar to say goodbye. Luckily as I'm still going to be in the country, and in the largest city at that, it should be easier to still meet up with Ankaralilar.
Also easier, oh ye who have not yet visited but who should come see Turkey/me, will be visiting: my new job is 2 Metro stops from Ataturk International Airport, and flights into Istanbul are ludicrous amounts cheaper than flights to Ankara (and you get to skip the 6 hour Istanbul-Ankara busride, too--bonus). So once I have a legit place to live, visits are highly encouraged.
I'm pretty excited about all this, even though it will be a loooong few days getting all the details of my move organized. I'm taking a break from playing The Weakest Link with my wardrobe tonight to go see the last football match of the season, Genclerbirligi versus Kayserispor. It should be a good game, and I'll be in a pretty celebratory mood.
Side note, I'm soliciting ideas for a new blog title; I can't exactly write on Ankarali life when I'm living in Istanbul maalesef. Ideas?
kib,
-R
Well no more: as of yesterday, I have gainful post-Fulbright employment, and in a development that will be good news for this ostensibly-a-travelblog blog, I'll be staying in Turkey!
I will be moving though, and fast. Next week I head to Istanbul to meet up with my mom, who's coming to Turkey for the first time to see Istanbul, Ankara, and me. After a full week of travel, sightseeing, and packing I'll see Mom off to the airport, turn around, and start studying for the foreign service exam, which I take the next day.
The day after I take the foreign service exam, I'll be shipping out to Istanbul, hopefully with all my stuff, although I'm not actually sure how this operation is going to happen. That weekend will be a maelstrom of unpacking, setting up house, and getting ready to start work that Sunday or Monday. Before I unpack though, I need to find an apartment, which at the moment I do not have.
So I'm two weeks out from starting. The job itself sounds really fun and challenging: I'll be copy-editing for an English-language newspaper here, turning questionable prose into beautifully clear articles. Since I'm a stickler for grammar, spelling, and good writing, and have spent the last year learning the ins and outs of the Turkish political system pretty intricately, I think it'll be a good fit.
In the meantime though, I'm commencing a blizzard of activity: packing up everything, getting rid of as much as possible, finding a new flat, getting my current flat ready for the realtor, settling my finances, physically moving all my belongings to Istanbul (this would be so much easier if I had a car), and somehow, between all that and showing my mom how awesome this country is, tracking down all my Ankaralilar to say goodbye. Luckily as I'm still going to be in the country, and in the largest city at that, it should be easier to still meet up with Ankaralilar.
Also easier, oh ye who have not yet visited but who should come see Turkey/me, will be visiting: my new job is 2 Metro stops from Ataturk International Airport, and flights into Istanbul are ludicrous amounts cheaper than flights to Ankara (and you get to skip the 6 hour Istanbul-Ankara busride, too--bonus). So once I have a legit place to live, visits are highly encouraged.
I'm pretty excited about all this, even though it will be a loooong few days getting all the details of my move organized. I'm taking a break from playing The Weakest Link with my wardrobe tonight to go see the last football match of the season, Genclerbirligi versus Kayserispor. It should be a good game, and I'll be in a pretty celebratory mood.
Side note, I'm soliciting ideas for a new blog title; I can't exactly write on Ankarali life when I'm living in Istanbul maalesef. Ideas?
kib,
-R
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Tekirova Pics, and This Week in Ankara
These giant fish greeted us at our last group dinner, Saturday night. Fittingly, it was a seafood banquet.
6 of us braved "The Banana". I'm third from the front.
We missed the oil wrestling championships by just a week. Maalesef! I've still never seen oil wrestling or camel wrestling, so clearly my time in Turkey is not finished quite yet.
George powers up at the Antalya otogar on the long journey home. We were all a little worn out on Sunday.
This week though has been full as always; I had lunch on Youth and Sport Day (Tuesday) with a few assorted Fulbrighters and a Harvard PhD student newly arrived at ARIT. We went back to Spice, for their lunch special, which was well worth it. Afterward we took a group trip to Migros, and then split up. I walked back to my flat, and then on through town, as it was 80 degrees and beautiful. Of course Wednesday dawned chilly and rainy, but that worked well for me as I cloistered myself in my flat to work out what exactly I'm doing this summer. I think I've figured it out, but we'll see how all the pieces move.
Today I met up with the sister of a good friend of mine from Minnesota, who's been living in Ankara as an exchange student. It was nice to finally meet her, and to exchange thoughts on Ankara, Minnesota, and even Boston. It's odd how 2 people can have such a different experience in Turkey (in Ankara, at that), but I suppose it makes sense, as she's been living with a host family and going to high school here, whereas I've been living in my flat and researching. Still, our social circles apparently overlap: I go to football matches with her English teacher. Ankara's a small world.
Well, more will have to wait for later. Side note, this is my 99th blog post. I'll try and think of something suitably exciting for the 100th.
kib,
-R
Also: For those with access to Turkish television (or incredibly good American satellite packages), my cooking show will be aired June 15, at 12:10 and 13:40 EET on TRT Int. I don't actually have TRT International, so I'll be trying to figure out something to see my cooking show glory. Inshallah.
Monday, May 18, 2009
If a group of unicorns is a glory, a group of Fulbrighters is definitely a pride
So I spent the weekend before last in an assortment of Fulbrighter-accompanied activities. That Saturday, I met up with Janna for Indian food (and it was delicious...) before heading to Kizilay to watch the Gucu match with our expat contingent. Unfortunately, pretty much every good team in the league was playing at the exact same time, and Gucu is not exactly a good team, so we ended up wandering and doing a little text-message sleuthing before meeting up with everyone at the Platin. The game was good, what little we saw of it: the bar switched between games every 10 minutes, so we saw a decent amount of the Ankaraspor match as well. Unfortunately, we didn't win, so my personal win percentage is down to 50%. Should've gone to the Gencler match, as they won and my win percentage would've gone up to 67%. Ah well...
After hanging around chatting after the end of the game, grabbing a doner with a few Bilkent boys, and walking over to Kucukesat Janna and I headed over to Daniel's (a Fulbright teacher) place, where we met up with him and Zoe, a Fulbrighter in town from Trabzon on the Black Sea coast, before all heading out to a club. It was a bit Turkish in its music selection, which is actually odd as most clubs here play more American music than I've ever heard. Everyone else in the club was singing along to the electronica'd-up Turkish tunes as we danced along; it was good times.
That Sunday I woke up respectably late and headed out to meet up with Janna, Daniel, and Zoe on Tunali for some shopping, and ended up with another sundress as it's been warming up here in Ankara. Since it was about 75 out, the soft-serve windows on Tunali were open so I grabbed my first ice cream cone of the season with Janna before we split up to head home. That evening I headed over to Corey and Nick's place for dinner and some catching up. We had just finished dinner and were cleaning up when their carpet dealer called: he was in town. So we ended up at a hotel out by Panora (a pretty ritzy shopping mall), going through hundreds of absolutely gorgeous carpets. After tea, many carpet viewings, and about 3 hours of deliberations and decisions, I ended up with 2 carpets! They are the first carpets I've purchased in Turkey (...or, actually ever, although I bought a mat in Tefarkes), and they're quite nice: the first one is a sofra, which means 'family table', and is traditionally brought out for meals; the dishes are served on it. It's half-hali half-kilim, so half thick wool carpet (like the texture of American wall-to-wall, gibi) and half thinner dense wool weaving. It's mainly red and blue, and pretty dark. The second is pretty large (especially for my price range), and has finely-figured shapes on a v-shaped diagonal in several colors. It is beautiful. They're both Iranian, from Iranian Azerbaijan. Carpets purchased, I skedaddled home just in time to Skype my mom for Mothers Day.
The next day Jeremy, another Fulbrighter, showed up in town and moved into one of my guest rooms for a few days. I was a bit busy preparing for my last speech through the Embassy Speakers program, which was at Baskent. Baskent is technically in Ankara, but on the verrrrry edge of town, even further out than Bilkent. Tuesday morning I headed out to their bus stop and hopped on the Baskent downtown shuttle, after convincing the driver that I really did need to get to campus. Once on campus I headed to the American Studies department and chatted with several delightful grad students and professors before guest lecturing to a class of first- and second-year students on the differences between Turkish and American culture. It was a decent talk, although as these students were a bit younger than the ones I'd spoken to in other cities they didn't have many questions to ask. I brought up Turkish Superman, which brought down the house, and my/Americans' habit of walking down the street with a cup of coffee while listening to my iPod, which they agreed was crazy-talk and never seen in Ankara. After the talk, I chatted with the grad students again before I headed back to Tunali and ambled home, stopping en route for a haircut. It was pretty interesting: they had 4 guys working on my hair at once. One of the guys' sole role was to hold various sections of my hair out of the way. That's service.
Wednesday I took Jeremy and Janna up to the Red Lion for Trivia Night with my well-established team. We had delicious BLTs and ended up in second place; the high point of the night (from my perspective...) was when the question "What US state received its statehood in May 1858?" popped up--gotta love the Minnesota questions. We headed back to my place and crashed til way-too-early Thursday, when we headed off to ASTI to catch the bus to Antalya for the end-of-the-year Fulbright conference. The Ankarali contingent headed down en masse: on the way down we had about 15 people. We reached our pirate-themed resort in Tekirova somewhere around 7 in the evening, and settled in to our tropical paradise. Friday was spent predominantly in our conference room, discussing the program, but we had the afternoon free, and all of Saturday. It was fantastic: I spent hours on the beach, swimming in the Mediterranean, racing half the ETAs down the inner tube waterslide, and teaching the bartender how to make daiquiris. Saturday night, after our group dinner and Coast-versus-Anatolia Turkish trivia game (Anatolia won, because we're cool like that), about half of us headed down to the conference room to watch the Eurovision finals; it was a true bonding experience. Most of the viewers had never seen Eurovision before and were amazed at the glitz/glamour/tackiness that is the Eurovision Song Contest. There was widespread disbelief when Norway won, and when Azerbaijan took third place over Turkey (adopted patriotism can be pretty contagious).
Sunday morning, a smaller group of Ankaralilar took off to get back to town, leaving Tekirova at 10am. After ridiculous amounts of half-hour stops, we finally stumbled back into town at about 10pm, sunburned and exhausted. It was a great trip, and interesting to see Turkey as most tourists see it (...I don't spend much time at Mediterranean resorts at this stage of my life).
This week is full of miscellaneous activities, events, and errands. Yesterday was a holiday, and this weekend there are a few big football matches. But those'll have to wait til my next post.
kib,
-R
After hanging around chatting after the end of the game, grabbing a doner with a few Bilkent boys, and walking over to Kucukesat Janna and I headed over to Daniel's (a Fulbright teacher) place, where we met up with him and Zoe, a Fulbrighter in town from Trabzon on the Black Sea coast, before all heading out to a club. It was a bit Turkish in its music selection, which is actually odd as most clubs here play more American music than I've ever heard. Everyone else in the club was singing along to the electronica'd-up Turkish tunes as we danced along; it was good times.
That Sunday I woke up respectably late and headed out to meet up with Janna, Daniel, and Zoe on Tunali for some shopping, and ended up with another sundress as it's been warming up here in Ankara. Since it was about 75 out, the soft-serve windows on Tunali were open so I grabbed my first ice cream cone of the season with Janna before we split up to head home. That evening I headed over to Corey and Nick's place for dinner and some catching up. We had just finished dinner and were cleaning up when their carpet dealer called: he was in town. So we ended up at a hotel out by Panora (a pretty ritzy shopping mall), going through hundreds of absolutely gorgeous carpets. After tea, many carpet viewings, and about 3 hours of deliberations and decisions, I ended up with 2 carpets! They are the first carpets I've purchased in Turkey (...or, actually ever, although I bought a mat in Tefarkes), and they're quite nice: the first one is a sofra, which means 'family table', and is traditionally brought out for meals; the dishes are served on it. It's half-hali half-kilim, so half thick wool carpet (like the texture of American wall-to-wall, gibi) and half thinner dense wool weaving. It's mainly red and blue, and pretty dark. The second is pretty large (especially for my price range), and has finely-figured shapes on a v-shaped diagonal in several colors. It is beautiful. They're both Iranian, from Iranian Azerbaijan. Carpets purchased, I skedaddled home just in time to Skype my mom for Mothers Day.
The next day Jeremy, another Fulbrighter, showed up in town and moved into one of my guest rooms for a few days. I was a bit busy preparing for my last speech through the Embassy Speakers program, which was at Baskent. Baskent is technically in Ankara, but on the verrrrry edge of town, even further out than Bilkent. Tuesday morning I headed out to their bus stop and hopped on the Baskent downtown shuttle, after convincing the driver that I really did need to get to campus. Once on campus I headed to the American Studies department and chatted with several delightful grad students and professors before guest lecturing to a class of first- and second-year students on the differences between Turkish and American culture. It was a decent talk, although as these students were a bit younger than the ones I'd spoken to in other cities they didn't have many questions to ask. I brought up Turkish Superman, which brought down the house, and my/Americans' habit of walking down the street with a cup of coffee while listening to my iPod, which they agreed was crazy-talk and never seen in Ankara. After the talk, I chatted with the grad students again before I headed back to Tunali and ambled home, stopping en route for a haircut. It was pretty interesting: they had 4 guys working on my hair at once. One of the guys' sole role was to hold various sections of my hair out of the way. That's service.
Wednesday I took Jeremy and Janna up to the Red Lion for Trivia Night with my well-established team. We had delicious BLTs and ended up in second place; the high point of the night (from my perspective...) was when the question "What US state received its statehood in May 1858?" popped up--gotta love the Minnesota questions. We headed back to my place and crashed til way-too-early Thursday, when we headed off to ASTI to catch the bus to Antalya for the end-of-the-year Fulbright conference. The Ankarali contingent headed down en masse: on the way down we had about 15 people. We reached our pirate-themed resort in Tekirova somewhere around 7 in the evening, and settled in to our tropical paradise. Friday was spent predominantly in our conference room, discussing the program, but we had the afternoon free, and all of Saturday. It was fantastic: I spent hours on the beach, swimming in the Mediterranean, racing half the ETAs down the inner tube waterslide, and teaching the bartender how to make daiquiris. Saturday night, after our group dinner and Coast-versus-Anatolia Turkish trivia game (Anatolia won, because we're cool like that), about half of us headed down to the conference room to watch the Eurovision finals; it was a true bonding experience. Most of the viewers had never seen Eurovision before and were amazed at the glitz/glamour/tackiness that is the Eurovision Song Contest. There was widespread disbelief when Norway won, and when Azerbaijan took third place over Turkey (adopted patriotism can be pretty contagious).
Sunday morning, a smaller group of Ankaralilar took off to get back to town, leaving Tekirova at 10am. After ridiculous amounts of half-hour stops, we finally stumbled back into town at about 10pm, sunburned and exhausted. It was a great trip, and interesting to see Turkey as most tourists see it (...I don't spend much time at Mediterranean resorts at this stage of my life).
This week is full of miscellaneous activities, events, and errands. Yesterday was a holiday, and this weekend there are a few big football matches. But those'll have to wait til my next post.
kib,
-R
Friday, May 08, 2009
A succession of cities
Last post left off in Ankara, after getting back from Rome. That Thursday morning, I headed back to Istanbul to board a plane to Prague, where I met up with friends, sampled Czech culinary delicacies, saw the sight of the Defenestration of Prague, walked through a fantastic hilltop park leading to Prague Castle, and attended what may be one of the most awful shows I've ever seen: Aspects of Alice. It did make up some points for being a theater experience I'll never forget, and providing me with the story of attending the show, but it's in close contention with a 1960s-set Shakespeare theatre-in-the-round production as the most awful show I've seen. It was billed as a "blacklight show", which in retrospect should have tipped us off, and had clowns, a suave dark man, and a grown-up Alice in Wonderland. Oh yes. I think it would have been less galling if the tickets had not been more than tickets for the opera, which was also playing that night. Lesson Learned. We also stopped by the Communism Museum, which was quite well done as smaller Eastern European museums go. They had a good deal of interpretation, although sometimes the word choice was a little biased-seeming. They did translate everything into 6 languages though, so I don't hold it against them. Their gift shop was very tongue-in-cheek, which I think worked well for them.
I flew back to Istanbul that Sunday, and got back to Ankara just before midnight Sunday night, in time to repack my bag and get on a plane to Erzurum. Particularly dedicated readers or those with better memories may remember that I'd been to Erzurum in January for some pretty fantastic skiing (10cm of snow will do that). This time, I was flying out to give a speech at Ataturk University about 'American Life'. Erzurum was quite nice, snowless at the moment. I stayed at the University's guesthouse, which was gorgeous. The American Corner Director there gave me a campus tour and a city tour, which I appreciated as I'd not had a chance to explore the city in January. There are a few beautiful mosques and medreses in the center of town, but most of the city is quite modern, industrial, and a little gritty. I liked Erzurum though, as it had a vibe that was entirely Eastern Turkey about it. My talk was ridiculously well-attended, with about 200 students in the audience, and I discussed the American Dream as well as perceptions of American Life in pop culture versus the reality of life in America. The question-and-answer section was pretty great; my first question was about cohabitation, whether people actually did that in America, and whether I thought it was moral. We then wandered through various topics from higher education in America, to what people in America think of Turkey, to Superman. I got back that Tuesday night, spent a few days catsitting, and took advantage of temporarily living with an oven to bake chocolate-chip cookies with a friend, Janna. As it was the weekend, Janna and I ended up at a football match after the cookies were done, watching Ankaragucu win with a group of expats and fresh cookies. We extended our luck by going to the Genclerbirligi match the next day, where Gencler also won. So I'm rocking a 60% win percentage for Ankara games I've watched. I should get a stipend for watching these.
That Monday, I again headed to the airport and flew to Izmir, to give a speech at Izmir Economics University. This one was to be on my research, so I was a bit more excited to give it. I stayed at a hotel on the sea, fronting onto Izmir's seaside promenade, and spent a lot of time just enjoying the utterly fantastic weather and laid-back environment. On Tuesday, I headed to the university, where I met up with the AC Director, chatted for a bit, got my photo taken for some sort of publicity purpose, and headed to my speech room...only to find it empty. The AC Director had scheduled my speech, on Turkish Foreign Policy, at the exact same time as a symposium on Turkey's entry to the EU, held in Turkish. If I were a Turkish student, I know which one I'd be going to, and it wouldn't be mine. The Director then mentioned that the student body was up in arms over Obama's statements on April 24th* and would probably boycott anything American for the next week or so. Wonderful. So there ended up being a grand total of 3 people at the lecture, which morphed into more of a one-on-one conversation and which took much less time than anticipated. It all worked though, I took the bus back downtown, met up with Deirdre, a Fulbrighter in Izmir, for dinner, and then we checked out Izmir's expat bar, where we passed the 'good yabanci' test by being able to speak Turkish. We ended up chatting with a British NATO guy for a bit, who didn't think too highly of my choice of football teams, before heading back. I had almost a full free day the next day, which I spent strolling the Kordon (promenade), doing some shopping (the gorgeous weather convinced me to stock up on summer clothes; of course it's been 60F in Ankara ever since), and exploring some side streets. Before heading to the airport, I made a small culinary discovery: patlican boregi, or eggplant borek. Borek usually comes in cheese, potato, spinach, and ground meat varieties; this patlican variety was delicious and smoky. I'm going to have to do some kitchen experimenting with borek, clearly.
After arriving back in Ankara from Izmir late Wednesday night, I had a few days to do laundry, have a simply delicious BLT at the Red Lion with friends, and repack before heading out again last Sunday, to Kayseri. Kayseri is a Central Anatolian town, just south of the Cappadochia region, mainly known for industry, pastirma (a really garlicky, sausagelike product), and manti. I was chiefly interested in the last item, as it's my favorite Turkish food. My speech here was at Erciyes University, again on Turkish Foreign Policy. Luckily this time I had an audience, with 60-70 people attending and giving me great questions afterward on American imperialism, America's position on Armenian genocide, whether America is in the pocket of Israel, and why America didn't give Turkey more money after World War II. I love question-and-answer sessions like that! The AC Director there was a bit of a dynamo: she works full time at Erciyes, and is a PhD student at ODTU, so every Thursday at 2am, she takes a 5-hour bus to Ankara, has a full day of classes, and takes a 5-hour bus back at 5 that night to turn around and teach the next day. She had serious pull with the bus companies in Kayseri. After my speech, I met up with Candace, a Fulbrighter from Istanbul who was giving a speech the next day. We went to dinner with the Director at a traditional Kayseri restaurant, where I had manti of course. It was pretty delicious, although as they are traditionalists they don't have the whole wheat, spinach, or fried varieties that I love so much in Istanbul.
The next day I hopped a bus back to Ankara, where I again changed out my luggage and turned around the next day to take a bus to Bursa. Bursa is 6 hours from Ankara, and I lucked out by getting Kamilkoc's Rahat bus, which is a bit like business class in an airplane (or maybe closer to economy-plus; but they have big leather chairs and satellite TV and internet, so I can't complain). It was pretty uneventful, and I got in to Bursa late enough to grab a light dinner, find my hotel, and write my speech (...). Thursday I got up, checked out, and took the Metro to the Bursa Chamber of Commerce, where their American Corner is. The building looks like a giant pyramid, so that was snazzy. I had lunch with the AC Director and her boss, before giving a speech on the American tradition of the State Fair as a microcosm of American Life. Good thing I did that History Day exhibit on the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, and good thing I know my Minnesota State Fair. The talk was to a group of about 20 Turkish students, and the fun part was that they spoke almost no English. This meant that I got a translator, which was cool but also a bit different to get used to, as I had to pause after every sentence to let her translate. The questions this time were again all about Armenia, the US' position on Armenia, what Americans thought about Turkey, Americans' view on the Conquest of Constantinople, and US foreign policy failures through history. It was a bit like a mental ping pong match, and felt like I was back in my debate days. The students also told me I look like Tansu Ciller, who is Turkey's first and so far only female Prime Minister. She's pretty heavily linked to some corrupt dealings, so I'm thinking it's time for a haircut to put an end to that resemblance. After a few more questions about education in America, I headed off to the bus station, caught a bus back to Ankara, and got in late last night. Finally.
I do have one more speech, but it's in Ankara, so I don't have to travel for it. While I do love travel, I'm looking forward to being able to actually attend research lectures in Ankara, and football matches, and being able to buy produce and other perishables. It doesn't last too long though, as the Fulbright conference starts late next week on the coast.
Hope you all are doing well!
kib,
-R
*April 24th is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in many Western countries; Obama's remarks that day didn't specifically use the term 'genocide', but used a term close enough to earn Turkish ire and damage Turkish pride. The strength of the response to Obama's remarks in Turkey is a little difficult to explain, because honestly it's such a sensitive issue here that it's hard to understand the scope from outside Turkey.
I flew back to Istanbul that Sunday, and got back to Ankara just before midnight Sunday night, in time to repack my bag and get on a plane to Erzurum. Particularly dedicated readers or those with better memories may remember that I'd been to Erzurum in January for some pretty fantastic skiing (10cm of snow will do that). This time, I was flying out to give a speech at Ataturk University about 'American Life'. Erzurum was quite nice, snowless at the moment. I stayed at the University's guesthouse, which was gorgeous. The American Corner Director there gave me a campus tour and a city tour, which I appreciated as I'd not had a chance to explore the city in January. There are a few beautiful mosques and medreses in the center of town, but most of the city is quite modern, industrial, and a little gritty. I liked Erzurum though, as it had a vibe that was entirely Eastern Turkey about it. My talk was ridiculously well-attended, with about 200 students in the audience, and I discussed the American Dream as well as perceptions of American Life in pop culture versus the reality of life in America. The question-and-answer section was pretty great; my first question was about cohabitation, whether people actually did that in America, and whether I thought it was moral. We then wandered through various topics from higher education in America, to what people in America think of Turkey, to Superman. I got back that Tuesday night, spent a few days catsitting, and took advantage of temporarily living with an oven to bake chocolate-chip cookies with a friend, Janna. As it was the weekend, Janna and I ended up at a football match after the cookies were done, watching Ankaragucu win with a group of expats and fresh cookies. We extended our luck by going to the Genclerbirligi match the next day, where Gencler also won. So I'm rocking a 60% win percentage for Ankara games I've watched. I should get a stipend for watching these.
That Monday, I again headed to the airport and flew to Izmir, to give a speech at Izmir Economics University. This one was to be on my research, so I was a bit more excited to give it. I stayed at a hotel on the sea, fronting onto Izmir's seaside promenade, and spent a lot of time just enjoying the utterly fantastic weather and laid-back environment. On Tuesday, I headed to the university, where I met up with the AC Director, chatted for a bit, got my photo taken for some sort of publicity purpose, and headed to my speech room...only to find it empty. The AC Director had scheduled my speech, on Turkish Foreign Policy, at the exact same time as a symposium on Turkey's entry to the EU, held in Turkish. If I were a Turkish student, I know which one I'd be going to, and it wouldn't be mine. The Director then mentioned that the student body was up in arms over Obama's statements on April 24th* and would probably boycott anything American for the next week or so. Wonderful. So there ended up being a grand total of 3 people at the lecture, which morphed into more of a one-on-one conversation and which took much less time than anticipated. It all worked though, I took the bus back downtown, met up with Deirdre, a Fulbrighter in Izmir, for dinner, and then we checked out Izmir's expat bar, where we passed the 'good yabanci' test by being able to speak Turkish. We ended up chatting with a British NATO guy for a bit, who didn't think too highly of my choice of football teams, before heading back. I had almost a full free day the next day, which I spent strolling the Kordon (promenade), doing some shopping (the gorgeous weather convinced me to stock up on summer clothes; of course it's been 60F in Ankara ever since), and exploring some side streets. Before heading to the airport, I made a small culinary discovery: patlican boregi, or eggplant borek. Borek usually comes in cheese, potato, spinach, and ground meat varieties; this patlican variety was delicious and smoky. I'm going to have to do some kitchen experimenting with borek, clearly.
After arriving back in Ankara from Izmir late Wednesday night, I had a few days to do laundry, have a simply delicious BLT at the Red Lion with friends, and repack before heading out again last Sunday, to Kayseri. Kayseri is a Central Anatolian town, just south of the Cappadochia region, mainly known for industry, pastirma (a really garlicky, sausagelike product), and manti. I was chiefly interested in the last item, as it's my favorite Turkish food. My speech here was at Erciyes University, again on Turkish Foreign Policy. Luckily this time I had an audience, with 60-70 people attending and giving me great questions afterward on American imperialism, America's position on Armenian genocide, whether America is in the pocket of Israel, and why America didn't give Turkey more money after World War II. I love question-and-answer sessions like that! The AC Director there was a bit of a dynamo: she works full time at Erciyes, and is a PhD student at ODTU, so every Thursday at 2am, she takes a 5-hour bus to Ankara, has a full day of classes, and takes a 5-hour bus back at 5 that night to turn around and teach the next day. She had serious pull with the bus companies in Kayseri. After my speech, I met up with Candace, a Fulbrighter from Istanbul who was giving a speech the next day. We went to dinner with the Director at a traditional Kayseri restaurant, where I had manti of course. It was pretty delicious, although as they are traditionalists they don't have the whole wheat, spinach, or fried varieties that I love so much in Istanbul.
The next day I hopped a bus back to Ankara, where I again changed out my luggage and turned around the next day to take a bus to Bursa. Bursa is 6 hours from Ankara, and I lucked out by getting Kamilkoc's Rahat bus, which is a bit like business class in an airplane (or maybe closer to economy-plus; but they have big leather chairs and satellite TV and internet, so I can't complain). It was pretty uneventful, and I got in to Bursa late enough to grab a light dinner, find my hotel, and write my speech (...). Thursday I got up, checked out, and took the Metro to the Bursa Chamber of Commerce, where their American Corner is. The building looks like a giant pyramid, so that was snazzy. I had lunch with the AC Director and her boss, before giving a speech on the American tradition of the State Fair as a microcosm of American Life. Good thing I did that History Day exhibit on the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, and good thing I know my Minnesota State Fair. The talk was to a group of about 20 Turkish students, and the fun part was that they spoke almost no English. This meant that I got a translator, which was cool but also a bit different to get used to, as I had to pause after every sentence to let her translate. The questions this time were again all about Armenia, the US' position on Armenia, what Americans thought about Turkey, Americans' view on the Conquest of Constantinople, and US foreign policy failures through history. It was a bit like a mental ping pong match, and felt like I was back in my debate days. The students also told me I look like Tansu Ciller, who is Turkey's first and so far only female Prime Minister. She's pretty heavily linked to some corrupt dealings, so I'm thinking it's time for a haircut to put an end to that resemblance. After a few more questions about education in America, I headed off to the bus station, caught a bus back to Ankara, and got in late last night. Finally.
I do have one more speech, but it's in Ankara, so I don't have to travel for it. While I do love travel, I'm looking forward to being able to actually attend research lectures in Ankara, and football matches, and being able to buy produce and other perishables. It doesn't last too long though, as the Fulbright conference starts late next week on the coast.
Hope you all are doing well!
kib,
-R
*April 24th is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in many Western countries; Obama's remarks that day didn't specifically use the term 'genocide', but used a term close enough to earn Turkish ire and damage Turkish pride. The strength of the response to Obama's remarks in Turkey is a little difficult to explain, because honestly it's such a sensitive issue here that it's hard to understand the scope from outside Turkey.
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