Final Party

December 26 was my last day at Koç. The library staff and I shared a mutual feeling- I felt like part of the staff, it was so natural to be there, it seemed impossible that my time was ending. The day before Didar (the library director) and I met with the provost. He is the man that made this adventure happen. He was at GA Tech for 9+ years so I gave him a painting of Hot Atlanta. He mentioned how he tried in the past to establish a relationship with Emory and nothing happended. I said I would report back on my positive experience and hopefully we could make things happen this time. He requested a short report from me.

I took Mithat, my office mate, up to the clock tower for tea. This is the jewel of the campus. Robin- you would love this room. It's like a large sun room, Ottoman style. Upholstered benches, marble fountain in the middle, delicate china in recessed shelves and 2 walls of windows looking out onto the Black Sea.

Due to the economıic crisis, the big faculty and staff party at the Koç museum was cancelled. Our party was in the staff area of the library- tables set up in horseshoe with a XMAS tree in the middle and presents underneath. The cleaning staff were given huge presents (I didn't see the contents) and then left. One cleaning woman stayed as the waitress and ate by herself. I thought this was reminiscent of the South in the 60s.

I lit the menorah before we sat down and briefly explained the origins of Chanukah. Figured this was a first of Koç library. Different people lit the 6 candles. Didar then mentioned how much they enjoyed and benefitted from my visit. She gave me a bag of presents.

The dinner was catered by a local restaurant and featured a whole turkey and wine.
We all bought a present for 20 lira. Each present was labeled with a number and then numbers were drawn from a hat. If my present was selected, I was next to draw a number. Everyone seemed to enjoy the process- scarves and various tea mugs were the prevalent presents. After taking a smoking break, people lingered and helped clean up. Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening.