- I regret that I did not know Turkish. I would have learned more about the politics and society if I could have spoken with people who don't speak English
- People from work did not invite me home - maybe because they were limited with the university-provided transportation and most lived with family, not in their own flats
- The vast majority smoke- so sad and frustrating. In June there may be riots in the street when a law banning smoking in restaurants takes effect
- The unemployment rate is 9.9% plus underemployment of 4%. Lots of men in every town and city sitting around in tea houses at all hours of the day. The underemployment perhaps is reflected in the 10 waiters that work in a shoe-size restaurant or store. You could say the Turks have an entrepreneurial spirit, but the situation is also sad when you seen men selling spin tops in the street or 5 packages of batteries.
- You need to hold on to your plates in restaurants. Waiters watch you like hawks and whisk your plate away as you swallow your last bite. Then the custom is to let you sit for hours until you request the bill.
- Turks drink tea every 47 minutes. You can decline tea, but still it will appear in front of you. They are incredulous when you decline multiple refills. Teapots look like double boilers with the tea essence on the top and water on continuous boil in the bottom. At a reception I saw a large urn with 2 spigots - I thought perhaps coffee and tea. But, it was tea essence and hot water to dilute the tea to your liking.
- Maybe it's just me and my circle of friends who question authority, but it appears that the Turks follow rules. Library web pages feature the library rules - what you can't do in the library.
- Lots of police with machine guns patrolling the street, in particular on Istiklal Caddesi - the main street of modern Istanbul. There are buses of police and policemen stop young men to check their identity cards
- Turks are very proud of their cuisine, but it appears to me that it is the same everywhere - 4 star restaurant or hole-in-the-wall cafeteria. There is variety, but meat, rice, spinach, eggplant and fresh salads are staples.
- It's not because I wasn't a buxom blond that I was never hassled. Smiles broke out on everyone's face when I used my few words of Turkish. They have a hard life of long commutes, low salaries and few career options. Yet, they are close to their families. They enjoy shooting the breeze with their friends and family. I'm convinced there is a Turkish friendly gene. They weren't helping me to give their country a good reputation with tourists, rather it just comes natural to these lovely people with a complex past and an evolving future.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Reflections/ Observations
The best part of my time in Turkey was meeting and getting to know the incredibly friendly people. Here are some thoughts and observations as I sadly wrap up my blog
Monday, 5 January 2009
Final Delightful Day
The best part of staying at the Turkoman Hotel is eating breakfast on the roof terrace. I know the owner so joined her for breakfast with her friends, an American artist and an Australian selling textiles. They recommended the exhibit at the Pera museum and when I complimented the American on her ring, she told me about the Afghan store in the Covered Bazaar.
It was great going directly to Tribal Arts in the bazaar and not dealing with the other aggressive store owners. Muhammed is an Afghan who had walked as a child to Pakistan to escape the war. He travels to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmanistan and other eastern countries to collect the traditional silver jewelery. He pointed out the origin of each piece. He also sells wholesale. As usual various cousins also work at the stall- literally a hole in the wall with additional merchandise - including yemini slippers - decorating the outside columns. I had recently seen a video in a museum about the yemini slippers, so purchased a pair.
Despite the rain, I took a bus to Balat- up the Golden Horn - which was a Jewish neighborhood a long time ago. It is a 20 min. ride from the center of Istanbul, but a place frozen in time. Narrow passageways, small shops, cobblestone alleys, two-story houses cobbled together with plaster and tin. Even though it was raining I loved wandering around. Asking an abaya-clad woman for directions, I received a friendly smile and hand gestures to the center of town. I had visited the Ahrida synagogue in the neighborhood in 2006. This time I stumbled upon an entrance way with hebrew inscriptions in the lintel.
Next stop was the Pera museum to see "The Lure of the East," an exhibition of the most important works of British Orientalist painting around the world. It was magnificent. The east was so mysterious for the Europeans. A British woman traveled to Turkey in the 1800s and observed first hand the life in the harem. She commented that it was liberating for women - they could do their own thing, away from the supervision and constraints of male society.
I met Gurbet for dinner. She is a business librarian at Koc. I really like her. She lived in Houston for a few years and even in Cappadocia. I think she is a little off-beat. She wanted to make sure I had a traditional meal. She brought me to a place to have bazlama, a type of crepe. Women sit in the restaurant window in traditional dress making the bread. I thought these places were tourist traps, but that is the beauty of Turkey. Turks like to frequent such places, too! We then moved on to a cafe with a 10 page menu of desserts. It was sad when Gurbet asked me what was next - you've seen Turkey, where's the next adventure. I had been saying to so many people that of course I would see them again. Now, I wasn't so sure.
A final walk back through the bustling city streets. Packed for an hour. Up at 5:30 and on the tram at 6 to catch my 9 am flight. One more post on reflections
It was great going directly to Tribal Arts in the bazaar and not dealing with the other aggressive store owners. Muhammed is an Afghan who had walked as a child to Pakistan to escape the war. He travels to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmanistan and other eastern countries to collect the traditional silver jewelery. He pointed out the origin of each piece. He also sells wholesale. As usual various cousins also work at the stall- literally a hole in the wall with additional merchandise - including yemini slippers - decorating the outside columns. I had recently seen a video in a museum about the yemini slippers, so purchased a pair.
Despite the rain, I took a bus to Balat- up the Golden Horn - which was a Jewish neighborhood a long time ago. It is a 20 min. ride from the center of Istanbul, but a place frozen in time. Narrow passageways, small shops, cobblestone alleys, two-story houses cobbled together with plaster and tin. Even though it was raining I loved wandering around. Asking an abaya-clad woman for directions, I received a friendly smile and hand gestures to the center of town. I had visited the Ahrida synagogue in the neighborhood in 2006. This time I stumbled upon an entrance way with hebrew inscriptions in the lintel.
Next stop was the Pera museum to see "The Lure of the East," an exhibition of the most important works of British Orientalist painting around the world. It was magnificent. The east was so mysterious for the Europeans. A British woman traveled to Turkey in the 1800s and observed first hand the life in the harem. She commented that it was liberating for women - they could do their own thing, away from the supervision and constraints of male society.
I met Gurbet for dinner. She is a business librarian at Koc. I really like her. She lived in Houston for a few years and even in Cappadocia. I think she is a little off-beat. She wanted to make sure I had a traditional meal. She brought me to a place to have bazlama, a type of crepe. Women sit in the restaurant window in traditional dress making the bread. I thought these places were tourist traps, but that is the beauty of Turkey. Turks like to frequent such places, too! We then moved on to a cafe with a 10 page menu of desserts. It was sad when Gurbet asked me what was next - you've seen Turkey, where's the next adventure. I had been saying to so many people that of course I would see them again. Now, I wasn't so sure.
A final walk back through the bustling city streets. Packed for an hour. Up at 5:30 and on the tram at 6 to catch my 9 am flight. One more post on reflections
New Year's
I had considered taking the boat to Heybeliada, the 2nd largest of the Princess Islands, but it was raining so headed to Marmara University library to use the computer. I introduced myself to Yazbahar, the reference librarian. She was eager to practice her English, having just completed a 3 month English course in Edinburgh. She proceeded to give me a tour of the library and introduce me to all the staff. It's a public university so the resources are rather meager. Librarians sit behind glass walls, simple wooden desks for students and porcelain hole in the floor for rest rooms.
Yazbahar invited me to her New Year's Eve party! She gave me simple directions and drew a map. I was off to see the Rezan Has museum. It should have been labeled a gallery seeing as it was just one room! This small private university is located in restored brick buildings with a beautiful garden courtyard.
Stopped off at the Grand Bazaar for some quick shopping. Bought a tablecloth from a man whose Indian partner was visiting. The Turkish textile industry had been devastated due to cheap labor in India and China. He claimed the design was Turkish and the product is manufactured in India.
The short bus ride to the party turned out to be an hour in heavy traffic. I was instructed to exit on a bridge. I got off on a major highway and proceeded to show multiple people my directions. I found myself walking through a dark, closed industrial area. Inquiring at a barber shop I learned that my landmark was a tall building on the horizon. I considered turning back, but was rewarded when I finally arrived on Yazbahar's doorstep. She was surprised and pleased to see me.
Her husband is doing his mandatory military service for a year. 3 male friends and 2 women friends were enjoying the first course of kebab and spinach borek. Yazbahar then ripped open a Santa Clause costume and asked for volunteers. One man quickly acceded to her request. They had picked numbers previously to buy one present for a friend. Of course she gave me a present of earrings. One man was pleased to receive a remote controlled helicopter. The man who gave the present was crestfallen when it failed to work. Then the recipient read the directions and managed to get it flying all around the room.
Then there was a break as the women retreated to the kitchen to make the next course. They played Turkish music and showed me videos from the computer. The next course was stuffed grape leaves and peppers, salad, potatoes, beer, chocolate and wine. Yazbahar was pretty good in translating the conversation for me. It was delightful to see them laughing and enjoying each other's company. About 11:30 I was fading so Yazbahar and a friend walked me to the bus stop. Turks celebrate the New Year, but the bus schedule was not extended for the holiday. We then had to go to the mini-bus stop. The friend jumped on the bus, paid my fare and instructed the driver of my destination.
From Kadikoy I needed another mini-bus to my university. A young man brought me to the stop and inquired whether I had money - he was ready to pay my fare!!
January 1 was a brilliant, sunny day - I forgot what a day without rain looked like. With a pleading look I was assisted with getting my suitcase on the ferry and over to the European side. I took the tram to my original hotel in Sultanahmet so Saturday I could easily hop on the tram to the airport.
I met Itzak Mizrachi at 1. He hosted a group of Atlantan Jewish tourists who were visiting on an interfaith tour. He's a tour guide in Spanish and Hebrew. The visit was a bit awkward because he wanted to bring me around to the sites, but I had seen them all. I really wanted to talk with him about Jewish life in Turkey. We walked in the Hippodrome and entered the Blue Mosque. While eating boreks he said that life wasn't so good for Jews, but he did not elaborate of consider leaving.
I met Erhan, my friend who is a hotel clerk whom I had met in 2006. It was the same story with him- he wants to make job changes and advance - but, he hesitates, ponders too much and is not too realistic. Once again, I quashed the option of marrying a Russian in Denmark. We drank tea in a tiny restaurant, literally a hole in the wall. We climbed a very narrow winding staircase up 2 flights to a delightful perch with a breathtaking view of the Blue Mosque at sunset.
Erhan declined my dinner invitation because he was tired. I called the remaining people on my list and found one woman at home. She was quite far away, but I had no plans so took the tram and metro to Nisantasi. This woman was type A- really driven. I suddenly showed up at her door at dinner time - a little presumptuous - but only received a cup of tea. Her #1 project is her kid. When she told me she had cameras installed to watch the nanny, I thought it was time to head out! I had my final fish sandwich near the Galata Bridge. I was surprised to see many stands closed, thankfully people were home with their families.
Yazbahar invited me to her New Year's Eve party! She gave me simple directions and drew a map. I was off to see the Rezan Has museum. It should have been labeled a gallery seeing as it was just one room! This small private university is located in restored brick buildings with a beautiful garden courtyard.
Stopped off at the Grand Bazaar for some quick shopping. Bought a tablecloth from a man whose Indian partner was visiting. The Turkish textile industry had been devastated due to cheap labor in India and China. He claimed the design was Turkish and the product is manufactured in India.
The short bus ride to the party turned out to be an hour in heavy traffic. I was instructed to exit on a bridge. I got off on a major highway and proceeded to show multiple people my directions. I found myself walking through a dark, closed industrial area. Inquiring at a barber shop I learned that my landmark was a tall building on the horizon. I considered turning back, but was rewarded when I finally arrived on Yazbahar's doorstep. She was surprised and pleased to see me.
Her husband is doing his mandatory military service for a year. 3 male friends and 2 women friends were enjoying the first course of kebab and spinach borek. Yazbahar then ripped open a Santa Clause costume and asked for volunteers. One man quickly acceded to her request. They had picked numbers previously to buy one present for a friend. Of course she gave me a present of earrings. One man was pleased to receive a remote controlled helicopter. The man who gave the present was crestfallen when it failed to work. Then the recipient read the directions and managed to get it flying all around the room.
Then there was a break as the women retreated to the kitchen to make the next course. They played Turkish music and showed me videos from the computer. The next course was stuffed grape leaves and peppers, salad, potatoes, beer, chocolate and wine. Yazbahar was pretty good in translating the conversation for me. It was delightful to see them laughing and enjoying each other's company. About 11:30 I was fading so Yazbahar and a friend walked me to the bus stop. Turks celebrate the New Year, but the bus schedule was not extended for the holiday. We then had to go to the mini-bus stop. The friend jumped on the bus, paid my fare and instructed the driver of my destination.
From Kadikoy I needed another mini-bus to my university. A young man brought me to the stop and inquired whether I had money - he was ready to pay my fare!!
January 1 was a brilliant, sunny day - I forgot what a day without rain looked like. With a pleading look I was assisted with getting my suitcase on the ferry and over to the European side. I took the tram to my original hotel in Sultanahmet so Saturday I could easily hop on the tram to the airport.
I met Itzak Mizrachi at 1. He hosted a group of Atlantan Jewish tourists who were visiting on an interfaith tour. He's a tour guide in Spanish and Hebrew. The visit was a bit awkward because he wanted to bring me around to the sites, but I had seen them all. I really wanted to talk with him about Jewish life in Turkey. We walked in the Hippodrome and entered the Blue Mosque. While eating boreks he said that life wasn't so good for Jews, but he did not elaborate of consider leaving.
I met Erhan, my friend who is a hotel clerk whom I had met in 2006. It was the same story with him- he wants to make job changes and advance - but, he hesitates, ponders too much and is not too realistic. Once again, I quashed the option of marrying a Russian in Denmark. We drank tea in a tiny restaurant, literally a hole in the wall. We climbed a very narrow winding staircase up 2 flights to a delightful perch with a breathtaking view of the Blue Mosque at sunset.
Erhan declined my dinner invitation because he was tired. I called the remaining people on my list and found one woman at home. She was quite far away, but I had no plans so took the tram and metro to Nisantasi. This woman was type A- really driven. I suddenly showed up at her door at dinner time - a little presumptuous - but only received a cup of tea. Her #1 project is her kid. When she told me she had cameras installed to watch the nanny, I thought it was time to head out! I had my final fish sandwich near the Galata Bridge. I was surprised to see many stands closed, thankfully people were home with their families.
Final Week in Istanbul
I had a delightful visit with Didar, the library director, at her home Sunday afternoon. The conversation flowed easily about operations in the library, which gave me a little more insight to my observations. She graciously called a taxi for me so I avoided lugging my large suitcase on 2 buses.
I took the boat from Besiktas to Kadikoy. It's a challenge maneuvering up the gangplank with just 2 legs' but with a 50 lb suitcase.....but, as usual men were there to pick up luggage before I even asked.
I stayed in the guest dorms of Marmara University again - very nice, cheap rooms- but not so conveniently located. It was pouring rain, so I just ducked into a fish restaurant across the street and watched BBC in the evening.
Monday I went to Uskudar Amerikan Lisesi to talk with H.S. students considering Emory. They have very heavy security with lots of gates and policeman. During lunch with Tara, the college counselor, she asked if I had a presentation. I was taken aback, I was just planning on answering the students questions! Just 3 students showed and one in particular was interested in business. The meeting was a bit disappointing; I thought they would ask more about Atlanta and campus life but they were more interested in knowing the entrance requirements.
Then it was off to Ozyegin University to visit Muhteşem Hakkı Önder, the librarian who came to my presentation and used to work at Koc. This university opened about 6 months ago. Once again, a wealthy man opened a university in his name. There are not enough universities in the country, so these wealthy philanthropists are serving an important need. Sometimes I think they should consolidate their efforts and provide funds to existing public and private colleges.
They are located in a bright, open office building. I met with Gulcin Cribb, the director, and Ilkay Holt, the manager of Information Access Services. Small world, Gulcin lived in Australia for 30 years and knows Ruth Pagell. The library and IT services are in one unit. The library stresses how they will be on the cutting edge of IT. They are starting with 18 business administration students, the 200 other students are in the English preparatory year. I could feel the excitement as they plan their new facilities, but also wonder what you do all day with so few students!
Monday evening I had dinner at Seval's home. Kim Whalen, who I used to work with at Emory, introduced me to Seval who is a professor of Materials Science at Marmara University.
Tuesday I took the boat back to Besiktas and then a bus to the Sabanci Museum to see the Salvador Dali exhibit. There were hundreds of school children- even 5 yr olds. I learned a lot about the life of Dali, it was an excellent exhibit including some of his films.
I met Gulnez at Taksim Square for lunch. She is the young Kurdish woman who I met a few weeks ago. She had just returned from a week-long seminar to train youth to stand for election in the upcoming municipal elections. They just lowered the age of candidates from 30 to 25. She was offered a job with UNDP. She commented that too many Turks wear horses glasses (a.k.a. blinders!) December 30 was the first broadcast day of Kurdish TV. She had not seen it yet, it wasn't clear to me where they were broadcasting from. She talked about how important it is for the current generation to know their Kurdish language. She repeatedly said how the different groups in Turkey get along and it's just the government that creates wedges between them. I could sit at her feet and learn so much about this dynamic society- subjects that are rarely discussed in most circles.
Despite no minutes on her cell and a broken computer, she was determined to buy me Turkish momento, even after she already gave me earrings. I think I really insulted her when I told her I had no room for an additional mug.
Parting from Gulnez was sad, but I am convinced I will see her again in some leadership capacity in Turkey or another country.
I took the boat from Besiktas to Kadikoy. It's a challenge maneuvering up the gangplank with just 2 legs' but with a 50 lb suitcase.....but, as usual men were there to pick up luggage before I even asked.
I stayed in the guest dorms of Marmara University again - very nice, cheap rooms- but not so conveniently located. It was pouring rain, so I just ducked into a fish restaurant across the street and watched BBC in the evening.
Monday I went to Uskudar Amerikan Lisesi to talk with H.S. students considering Emory. They have very heavy security with lots of gates and policeman. During lunch with Tara, the college counselor, she asked if I had a presentation. I was taken aback, I was just planning on answering the students questions! Just 3 students showed and one in particular was interested in business. The meeting was a bit disappointing; I thought they would ask more about Atlanta and campus life but they were more interested in knowing the entrance requirements.
Then it was off to Ozyegin University to visit Muhteşem Hakkı Önder, the librarian who came to my presentation and used to work at Koc. This university opened about 6 months ago. Once again, a wealthy man opened a university in his name. There are not enough universities in the country, so these wealthy philanthropists are serving an important need. Sometimes I think they should consolidate their efforts and provide funds to existing public and private colleges.
They are located in a bright, open office building. I met with Gulcin Cribb, the director, and Ilkay Holt, the manager of Information Access Services. Small world, Gulcin lived in Australia for 30 years and knows Ruth Pagell. The library and IT services are in one unit. The library stresses how they will be on the cutting edge of IT. They are starting with 18 business administration students, the 200 other students are in the English preparatory year. I could feel the excitement as they plan their new facilities, but also wonder what you do all day with so few students!
Monday evening I had dinner at Seval's home. Kim Whalen, who I used to work with at Emory, introduced me to Seval who is a professor of Materials Science at Marmara University.
Tuesday I took the boat back to Besiktas and then a bus to the Sabanci Museum to see the Salvador Dali exhibit. There were hundreds of school children- even 5 yr olds. I learned a lot about the life of Dali, it was an excellent exhibit including some of his films.
I met Gulnez at Taksim Square for lunch. She is the young Kurdish woman who I met a few weeks ago. She had just returned from a week-long seminar to train youth to stand for election in the upcoming municipal elections. They just lowered the age of candidates from 30 to 25. She was offered a job with UNDP. She commented that too many Turks wear horses glasses (a.k.a. blinders!) December 30 was the first broadcast day of Kurdish TV. She had not seen it yet, it wasn't clear to me where they were broadcasting from. She talked about how important it is for the current generation to know their Kurdish language. She repeatedly said how the different groups in Turkey get along and it's just the government that creates wedges between them. I could sit at her feet and learn so much about this dynamic society- subjects that are rarely discussed in most circles.
Despite no minutes on her cell and a broken computer, she was determined to buy me Turkish momento, even after she already gave me earrings. I think I really insulted her when I told her I had no room for an additional mug.
Parting from Gulnez was sad, but I am convinced I will see her again in some leadership capacity in Turkey or another country.
Saturday, 27 December 2008
when you miss the boat
This Saturday was my first week-end staying up here at Koç. I went with my flatmate, Ayşe, to Anadolu Kavağı. We took the boat from Sarıyer to cross the Bosphorus- just about 10 minutes. We climbed steps, pass fish restaurants to the ruins of a Byzantine fortress. The view is superb- clear view of the Black sea and lots of large and small boats traversing the Bosphorus.
We had a delicious fish lunch at a restaurant on top of the hill. The wood-burning stove felt great. Ayşe insisted on buying me a very nice blue glass disk - a symbol to ward off the evil eye- which is in most Turkish homes. We wandered around the village, had 25 min to wait for the boat, so went to have more tea. When we returned to the ferry landing we were told the next ferry was in 2 hours! We missed the boat by 5 minutes. We had enough tea, but it was rather cold. I suggested we return to the store where we purchased the present and wait there.
The owner was happy to see us. He works as an engineer in Russia for 6 mos of the year. He thinks Putin is doing a great job. When I mentioned that I thought corrupt oligarchs control the country, he said after a year of getting the state companies, the rich have to pay 35% tax and this is distributed to the poor.
Then things got more interesting. This guy was happy with Obama. He then said Jews didn't vote for Obama because he was Black and they thought he was Muslim. I corrected him on that. Then Ayşe and him claimed that the US is supporting the PKK (the Kurdish separatist group.) I chimed in that I didn't think that was correct because Turkey is a strategic ally for the US. He said the US woke up to Turkey only after they were turning toward Russia. Then he asked why the US didn't get a peace deal in Palestine. I asked him to what period was he referring. I said things are complicated- the Palestinian Authority is fıghting Hamas. (little did I know that at that moment Israel was bombing Gaza.) Then the guy said- why is Hamas considered a terrorist organization and the PKK is not?
We moved on to 9/11. Ayşe, a post-doc in chemical engineering, said that perhaps the US was behind the bombing of the WTC. There were 4000 Jews in the building and they did not die. A plane crashed into the Pentagon, but that was planned because it didn't do so much damage. Needless to say I told her she was incorrect. She said it was reported in the news. Sightings from extraterrestrial beings are also reported in the paper was my response.
They then asked if I think there was an Armenian genocide. I felt uncomfortable even though I was asking this same question to Turks. I said yes. Ayşe said, "we lived with the Armenians for 600 years. Why didn't we massacre them during this period?" (I was thinking- the Serbs and Bosnians didn't massacre each other when they were under the iron fist of Tito.) Then she said- "They say 1.5M were massacred. But, I am from that region. There were not that many Armenians in the area." They both said it was war time. People naturally defend their homes and people. There were atrocities on both sides. Archives must be open and "objective" historians need to review the material. They insist that the Armenians are not open to reviewing the Turkish documents. They agreed that the Germans committed a genocide on the Jews. Then they said the Germans never admitted this and that they did these atrocities because of Hitler. I again corrected them on this score!
We touched on the American Indian massacres, killing Iraqi civilians and WWII. Of course we parted friends and again putting our hopes for a better world on Obama.
We caught the ferry this time. Back in Sarıyer for my last time, we went to the pudding shop where they serve a special cream pudding with rose water and sugar. Then on to the best borek shop where the man ceremoniously raises his cleaver to cut the cheese pastry.
As I write on Sunday, I have just returned from Kilyos, a small town on the Black Sea. It is a holiday resort for Turks- quite a few hotels and lots of restaurants with big lawns and picnic tables. I dipped my toe into the sea and then walked up to the point. Reminded me of the headlands north of San Francisco. Windy, quiet, abandoned - hearty plants clinging to the rock cliffs. Unfortunately Turks have a very undeveloped sense of the environment. There was litter everywhere. Lots of abandoned property on this beautiful coast and most of the structures standing were quite ugly.
I leave Koç now and head to the city center- Asian side. I am staying in Istanbul for my final week. I contemplated going to the Black Sea coast- east of here. But, it's raining here and that area is the rainiest in the country!
I hope you all are enjoying your time off. Hopefully I will do some final postings before I leave on Saturday. Tomorrow I am talking to some H.S. students in Üskadar- a little recruiting for Emory.
We had a delicious fish lunch at a restaurant on top of the hill. The wood-burning stove felt great. Ayşe insisted on buying me a very nice blue glass disk - a symbol to ward off the evil eye- which is in most Turkish homes. We wandered around the village, had 25 min to wait for the boat, so went to have more tea. When we returned to the ferry landing we were told the next ferry was in 2 hours! We missed the boat by 5 minutes. We had enough tea, but it was rather cold. I suggested we return to the store where we purchased the present and wait there.
The owner was happy to see us. He works as an engineer in Russia for 6 mos of the year. He thinks Putin is doing a great job. When I mentioned that I thought corrupt oligarchs control the country, he said after a year of getting the state companies, the rich have to pay 35% tax and this is distributed to the poor.
Then things got more interesting. This guy was happy with Obama. He then said Jews didn't vote for Obama because he was Black and they thought he was Muslim. I corrected him on that. Then Ayşe and him claimed that the US is supporting the PKK (the Kurdish separatist group.) I chimed in that I didn't think that was correct because Turkey is a strategic ally for the US. He said the US woke up to Turkey only after they were turning toward Russia. Then he asked why the US didn't get a peace deal in Palestine. I asked him to what period was he referring. I said things are complicated- the Palestinian Authority is fıghting Hamas. (little did I know that at that moment Israel was bombing Gaza.) Then the guy said- why is Hamas considered a terrorist organization and the PKK is not?
We moved on to 9/11. Ayşe, a post-doc in chemical engineering, said that perhaps the US was behind the bombing of the WTC. There were 4000 Jews in the building and they did not die. A plane crashed into the Pentagon, but that was planned because it didn't do so much damage. Needless to say I told her she was incorrect. She said it was reported in the news. Sightings from extraterrestrial beings are also reported in the paper was my response.
They then asked if I think there was an Armenian genocide. I felt uncomfortable even though I was asking this same question to Turks. I said yes. Ayşe said, "we lived with the Armenians for 600 years. Why didn't we massacre them during this period?" (I was thinking- the Serbs and Bosnians didn't massacre each other when they were under the iron fist of Tito.) Then she said- "They say 1.5M were massacred. But, I am from that region. There were not that many Armenians in the area." They both said it was war time. People naturally defend their homes and people. There were atrocities on both sides. Archives must be open and "objective" historians need to review the material. They insist that the Armenians are not open to reviewing the Turkish documents. They agreed that the Germans committed a genocide on the Jews. Then they said the Germans never admitted this and that they did these atrocities because of Hitler. I again corrected them on this score!
We touched on the American Indian massacres, killing Iraqi civilians and WWII. Of course we parted friends and again putting our hopes for a better world on Obama.
We caught the ferry this time. Back in Sarıyer for my last time, we went to the pudding shop where they serve a special cream pudding with rose water and sugar. Then on to the best borek shop where the man ceremoniously raises his cleaver to cut the cheese pastry.
As I write on Sunday, I have just returned from Kilyos, a small town on the Black Sea. It is a holiday resort for Turks- quite a few hotels and lots of restaurants with big lawns and picnic tables. I dipped my toe into the sea and then walked up to the point. Reminded me of the headlands north of San Francisco. Windy, quiet, abandoned - hearty plants clinging to the rock cliffs. Unfortunately Turks have a very undeveloped sense of the environment. There was litter everywhere. Lots of abandoned property on this beautiful coast and most of the structures standing were quite ugly.
I leave Koç now and head to the city center- Asian side. I am staying in Istanbul for my final week. I contemplated going to the Black Sea coast- east of here. But, it's raining here and that area is the rainiest in the country!
I hope you all are enjoying your time off. Hopefully I will do some final postings before I leave on Saturday. Tomorrow I am talking to some H.S. students in Üskadar- a little recruiting for Emory.
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.
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.
Thursday, 25 December 2008
Excursions to other libraries
İstanbul Ticaret Odası
December 3 Gurbet, Mithat (the 2 new Koç business librarians) and I were scheduled to visit ITO. We researched the ferry schedule in order to avoid the horrific traffic and settled on our meeting time. Then Gurbet informed us that the library director had arranged a driver for us. I said let's take the ferry anyway, but Gurbet said that wasn't an option now. (the driver then just waited all day for us to finish our meeting...so much for Turkish productivity)
It was very boring when the librarians started out by explaining their thesaurus terms. Gurbet had to translate because the librarian would not speak English. I was there to learn about ITO- what I thought was the Istanbul Trade Organization. I asked to speak with a researcher and when I proceeded to ask about how they support businesses who want to import to Turkey, I learned that we were at the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, who just support local businesses! They produce a lot of sector reports on the major industries such as textiles, automobiles and agriculture. So if you want to know how many red apples are grown on the Black Sea coast - this is your address.
They invited us for lunch. Gurbet hesitated, thinking we needed to be back at work. I said I will take responsibility for the decision- we're staying for lunch! Most places of employment provide lunch. The food is basically the same, it just varies whether or not there are waiters and tablecloths.
Our host warmed up when we visited their publications department and started talking English. He was very generous and gave me a cd of traditional music, Istanbul guidebook and more. Then he proudly gave me a paperback book and explained to all that this was written by the first prime minister of the independent Armenian Republic. The intro states: "this is a full fledged documentary ...historical document..entire facts about the 1915 Armenian issue. It is a silent cry against the unfounded Armenian genocide claims made by Armenia and in particular the Armenian Diaspora with the purpose of embarrassing the Republic of Turkey..." This opinion is in sharp contrast to the 200 Turkish intellectuals that apologized on Dec. 15 for the Armenian ethnic cleansing.
Sabancı University
Mithat, Gurburt and I visited the rival university on 18.12.08. About 3 families control Turkey, Koç and Sabancı being 2 of them. Sabancı is located on the Asian side- quite remote from the center of activity. The campus is not as pretty as Koç, but it has some nice architecture. I felt like a visiting dignitary from the EU when we arrived! Librarians greeted us at the door and ushered us into the Director's office. He was a bit obnoxious saying how much better they were than Koç, listing all their firsts.
The librarians gave powerpoint presentations of all their services. Their mission: Access vs. Ownership." So they want other libraries to purchase the materials and they will just borrow!They have a proprietary database of Ottoman Culture images - some from the Topkapi Palace. Students are given free laptops so very few computers in the library. Library staff does more manual labor than us- clipping articles, etc.- we are more automated.
I was blown away by the MBA Director who came straight from the hospital to deliver his talk. His first child was born the previous night- talk about dedication to your work!! Sabancı,like Koç, is a new school so they are very proud of their accomplishments.
Freshmen are required to be involved in a civic project. This is not for credit, 40 hrs in the semester, work as a group, a significant percent continue with their project after fulfilling the requirement.
They were very proud to show the stats of how they attract the top students. Turkey has a very antiquated education system. High School graduates take an exam and depending on their grade, get placed in a university. Students must list 20 preferences- specific university and major- their scores determine their placement. University is free, but there are few good public schools. Koç and Sabancı are private, they provide scholarships for the top students. Some rich students attend Engish, German, Italian or French private hıgh schools where they acquire very good education. Most universities offer a year of preparatory English. Sabancı is unique in allowing students to choose their major in the 2nd yr.
CAFE- Center for Applied Finance Education has a simulated trading floor- real-time date from Istanbul stock exchange, Bloomberg and Reuters terminals- to support teaching and research. This is the only trading floor in the Middle East, except for the one in Israel. It started in June 2008- 25-50 M dollars to set up. Most interested in energy trading.
Turkey strives to be an international player, but now they are a regional actor in the Middle East and E. Europe. Turkish companies are now investing in Russia, E. Europe, Romania, Ukraine and Egypt. Challenge for companies in this region to find competent management. Sabancı wants to attract students from these countries.
It was great to learn that Sabancı has signed on the the UN Global Compact. They have committed to integrating principles of human rights, anti-corruption, labor and environmental issues into their curriculum. "By doing so, business, as a primary agent driving globalization, can help ensure that markets, commerce, technology and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere." Seems like more US companies need to get on this bandwagon.
SINAİ KALKINMA BANKASI
23.12.08 we visited the TKSB- the Industrial Development Bank of Turkey. It is a private investment and development bank whose mission is to grow investment in Turkey and the surrounding region. The researchers and economists create sector reports, mainly in the areas of textiles, banking, energy, automobiles, education, health, paint, metals, mining, scientific fibers, transportation, logistics, renewable energy, meat, poultry and tourism. The librarian reads 13 newspapers daily and scans relevant articles into a database. This is something we did 30 yrs ago, but Turkish newspapers are not in a database so users cannot easily conduct their own research. The World Bank helped create the library. They don't have databases, mostly purchase paper reports.
They are proud to be the first Turkish Bank to obtain an ISO 14001 environment certification. "TSKB has been involved in important environment related activities in Turkey through the loans extended for the projection of the enviroment as well as the loans provided for investmentsin renewable energy."
I asked to speak with a researcher and was pleased that an Economist came down. This man was very smart and knew well the global economic scene. They track US, China and then Europe. Of course he knew that Nouriel Roubini (a Turk) at Stern was most correct with his predictions on the economic crisis. He said Turkey is in recession now and they predict negative growth for '09. They are in the worst position since 2001, when they experienced a macroeconomic crisis. The World Bank took over and reformed the banking system. Turkey does not have a direct exposure to the mortgage crisis because they only started offering mortgages in 2004 and they have a 5-7 yr maturity. They'e waiting to see what kind of government intervention Obama will take. He thinks the entire financial architecture must be restructered. He noted how Hyman Minsky was right. He proceeded to give us a short history of the mortgage crisis. If there is going to be a short recession, we should see positive signs by April- watch commodities- oil should rise. If this doesn't happen world economy could recover in 2010.
Of course they took us to lunch and our driver joined us.
December 3 Gurbet, Mithat (the 2 new Koç business librarians) and I were scheduled to visit ITO. We researched the ferry schedule in order to avoid the horrific traffic and settled on our meeting time. Then Gurbet informed us that the library director had arranged a driver for us. I said let's take the ferry anyway, but Gurbet said that wasn't an option now. (the driver then just waited all day for us to finish our meeting...so much for Turkish productivity)
It was very boring when the librarians started out by explaining their thesaurus terms. Gurbet had to translate because the librarian would not speak English. I was there to learn about ITO- what I thought was the Istanbul Trade Organization. I asked to speak with a researcher and when I proceeded to ask about how they support businesses who want to import to Turkey, I learned that we were at the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, who just support local businesses! They produce a lot of sector reports on the major industries such as textiles, automobiles and agriculture. So if you want to know how many red apples are grown on the Black Sea coast - this is your address.
They invited us for lunch. Gurbet hesitated, thinking we needed to be back at work. I said I will take responsibility for the decision- we're staying for lunch! Most places of employment provide lunch. The food is basically the same, it just varies whether or not there are waiters and tablecloths.
Our host warmed up when we visited their publications department and started talking English. He was very generous and gave me a cd of traditional music, Istanbul guidebook and more. Then he proudly gave me a paperback book and explained to all that this was written by the first prime minister of the independent Armenian Republic. The intro states: "this is a full fledged documentary ...historical document..entire facts about the 1915 Armenian issue. It is a silent cry against the unfounded Armenian genocide claims made by Armenia and in particular the Armenian Diaspora with the purpose of embarrassing the Republic of Turkey..." This opinion is in sharp contrast to the 200 Turkish intellectuals that apologized on Dec. 15 for the Armenian ethnic cleansing.
Sabancı University
Mithat, Gurburt and I visited the rival university on 18.12.08. About 3 families control Turkey, Koç and Sabancı being 2 of them. Sabancı is located on the Asian side- quite remote from the center of activity. The campus is not as pretty as Koç, but it has some nice architecture. I felt like a visiting dignitary from the EU when we arrived! Librarians greeted us at the door and ushered us into the Director's office. He was a bit obnoxious saying how much better they were than Koç, listing all their firsts.
The librarians gave powerpoint presentations of all their services. Their mission: Access vs. Ownership." So they want other libraries to purchase the materials and they will just borrow!They have a proprietary database of Ottoman Culture images - some from the Topkapi Palace. Students are given free laptops so very few computers in the library. Library staff does more manual labor than us- clipping articles, etc.- we are more automated.
I was blown away by the MBA Director who came straight from the hospital to deliver his talk. His first child was born the previous night- talk about dedication to your work!! Sabancı,like Koç, is a new school so they are very proud of their accomplishments.
Freshmen are required to be involved in a civic project. This is not for credit, 40 hrs in the semester, work as a group, a significant percent continue with their project after fulfilling the requirement.
They were very proud to show the stats of how they attract the top students. Turkey has a very antiquated education system. High School graduates take an exam and depending on their grade, get placed in a university. Students must list 20 preferences- specific university and major- their scores determine their placement. University is free, but there are few good public schools. Koç and Sabancı are private, they provide scholarships for the top students. Some rich students attend Engish, German, Italian or French private hıgh schools where they acquire very good education. Most universities offer a year of preparatory English. Sabancı is unique in allowing students to choose their major in the 2nd yr.
CAFE- Center for Applied Finance Education has a simulated trading floor- real-time date from Istanbul stock exchange, Bloomberg and Reuters terminals- to support teaching and research. This is the only trading floor in the Middle East, except for the one in Israel. It started in June 2008- 25-50 M dollars to set up. Most interested in energy trading.
Turkey strives to be an international player, but now they are a regional actor in the Middle East and E. Europe. Turkish companies are now investing in Russia, E. Europe, Romania, Ukraine and Egypt. Challenge for companies in this region to find competent management. Sabancı wants to attract students from these countries.
It was great to learn that Sabancı has signed on the the UN Global Compact. They have committed to integrating principles of human rights, anti-corruption, labor and environmental issues into their curriculum. "By doing so, business, as a primary agent driving globalization, can help ensure that markets, commerce, technology and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere." Seems like more US companies need to get on this bandwagon.
SINAİ KALKINMA BANKASI
23.12.08 we visited the TKSB- the Industrial Development Bank of Turkey. It is a private investment and development bank whose mission is to grow investment in Turkey and the surrounding region. The researchers and economists create sector reports, mainly in the areas of textiles, banking, energy, automobiles, education, health, paint, metals, mining, scientific fibers, transportation, logistics, renewable energy, meat, poultry and tourism. The librarian reads 13 newspapers daily and scans relevant articles into a database. This is something we did 30 yrs ago, but Turkish newspapers are not in a database so users cannot easily conduct their own research. The World Bank helped create the library. They don't have databases, mostly purchase paper reports.
They are proud to be the first Turkish Bank to obtain an ISO 14001 environment certification. "TSKB has been involved in important environment related activities in Turkey through the loans extended for the projection of the enviroment as well as the loans provided for investmentsin renewable energy."
I asked to speak with a researcher and was pleased that an Economist came down. This man was very smart and knew well the global economic scene. They track US, China and then Europe. Of course he knew that Nouriel Roubini (a Turk) at Stern was most correct with his predictions on the economic crisis. He said Turkey is in recession now and they predict negative growth for '09. They are in the worst position since 2001, when they experienced a macroeconomic crisis. The World Bank took over and reformed the banking system. Turkey does not have a direct exposure to the mortgage crisis because they only started offering mortgages in 2004 and they have a 5-7 yr maturity. They'e waiting to see what kind of government intervention Obama will take. He thinks the entire financial architecture must be restructered. He noted how Hyman Minsky was right. He proceeded to give us a short history of the mortgage crisis. If there is going to be a short recession, we should see positive signs by April- watch commodities- oil should rise. If this doesn't happen world economy could recover in 2010.
Of course they took us to lunch and our driver joined us.
December 25
I was interested in doing some recruiting for Emory, mainly to have an opportunity to meet another demographic- high school students. Scott Allen at Emory gave me the name of 4 schools he recruits from. I called Üsküdar Amerikan Lisesi and the college advisor knew Emory well and was happy to arrange a time for me to meet with the students. Before I knew it, Tara sent me an invitation to her Open House on XMAS eve. Last night I met a delightful group of people, mostly teachers at her school. One was close to retirement and looking for an adventure for 2 years. Another woman fell in love with Turkey and claims she wouldn't live anywhere else. I have a date with a friendly Australian woman for drinks New Year's eve. The neighbor upstairs invited us all to hear her daughter play piano, after serving us the best spinach boreks! A former water official from Idaho explained why you can't drink the tap water. (It is pumped from tanks on the roof that are unregulated and most likely filled with trash, cats, etc.) In Atlanta, I don't think I would travel 2 hours for an evening party, but I'm so glad I met Tara - a new friend and guide to Istanbul.
Woke up today to a dusting of snow. The sun was shining brilliantly, the roadways were a bit icy. I had my 30 min. walk to school and took some nice photos (see below.) Despite the Christmas decorations, it was a pretty normal day here. I finally met with the Provost - the man who made this all happen. He was very friendly, asked me to write up a report for him and hopes that Emory and Koç will have an ongoing relationship.
People are busy with year-end projects so my other meetings were cancelled. The Black Sea is down the street, but I had not been there yet. I hopped on a city bus and feasted on one of the most spectacular views of the Bosphorus - we were high on the cliff, passing a narrow strait and on the other side were ruins of a fortress. We rode through the Belgrade forest, thick with pine trees. Koç was built in this forest and the lawsuit, by environmentalists opposed to the construction, is still pending. We descended to the small village of Garıpçe and then climbed the hill again and headed straight down to Rumeli Feneri. Californians would be in shock to see the crumbling houses on this spectacular coast! Just your normal Turkish village with a few apartment houses in descent condition and many in a state of disrepair. There's a small marina and the ruins of a fortress. Casting your eyes to the north, you see many boats on the horizon. Big tankers make their way slowly down the Bosphorus. Large fishing boat are anchored right at the mouth of the strait. The women are conservatively dressed, all in headscarves. Not much happening in town, nevertheless there were 3 teahouses for the men to hang out in. I went to purchase some glue and only had a 50 lira bill. The proprieter replied, "sonra"- later. This man never saw me in his life, he knew I was a foreigner, yet he was telling me- just come back when you can. Then he went back to his tray of food that his wife brought him for lunch. I had time until the bus was coming so I wandered around and found change in the grocer. I think the guy was almost insulted when I returned with my one lira for the glue. He simply offered me a date from his tray.
Sunday, 21 December 2008
rain and underground mosques
Saturday it was pouring rain. Luckily there was a short film festival and a festival of refugee films on Istiklal Cadessi. I met Ozge at 12 - she was an Exchange student at Emory, now studying in London. The shorts were pretty bad. Ozge partially translated a Bosnian refugee film for me. Then I saw a Palestinian film with English subtitles. It took place in Nazereth and was quite critical of the Palestinian Authority.
Sunday it was still raining. An Exchange student from Rutgers told me his Istanbul history class would be having a field trip. I asked if I could tag along - the professor agreed and they met right by my hotel. The professor is Austrian- she did her thesis on hamans (Turkish baths!) I was happy that she brought the students to the Jewish museum. Even those who grew up in Istanbul had never been there. The man who wrote the Jewish guide to Istanbul gave us an introduction. There are 4 groups of Jews in the city: 1. came after the destruction of the Temple in 70, 2. Eastern Jews - from N. Africa, 3. Russian Jews and 4. Sephardic Jews- came after expulsion from Spain in 1492.
All along the route we saw Genoese buildings. We visited churches. (Earlier in the day I entered a church and saw mostly Africans males and Asian women. It was pretty sad because you realize all these people are far from their families- ın the country just to earn a living. I talked with a Tanzinian who works on cargo boats.) The underground mosque- Yerali Cami- was the most amazing. I think it had been a Genoese prison. From here they put the chain across the Golden Horn to prevent unwanted ships from entering. Nearby was the Arap Cami- the Arab mosque- a former church of Dominican monks that was given to the Hispano Arabs. It is a miniature of the Aya Sophia.
A highlight of the field trip was lunch at Namli in Tophane - like Zabar's. Huge array of prepared foods, lots of Turkish and exported cheeseş candies and more. The professor was laid back- giving everyone enough time for a nice break.
When I returned I had a message from a Turkish man that invited me to a Chanukah celebration in Örtaköy. The consul was there. Unfortunately he only called yesterday- so I missed celebrating the first candle. Happy Chanukah to my family and friends.
Sunday it was still raining. An Exchange student from Rutgers told me his Istanbul history class would be having a field trip. I asked if I could tag along - the professor agreed and they met right by my hotel. The professor is Austrian- she did her thesis on hamans (Turkish baths!) I was happy that she brought the students to the Jewish museum. Even those who grew up in Istanbul had never been there. The man who wrote the Jewish guide to Istanbul gave us an introduction. There are 4 groups of Jews in the city: 1. came after the destruction of the Temple in 70, 2. Eastern Jews - from N. Africa, 3. Russian Jews and 4. Sephardic Jews- came after expulsion from Spain in 1492.
All along the route we saw Genoese buildings. We visited churches. (Earlier in the day I entered a church and saw mostly Africans males and Asian women. It was pretty sad because you realize all these people are far from their families- ın the country just to earn a living. I talked with a Tanzinian who works on cargo boats.) The underground mosque- Yerali Cami- was the most amazing. I think it had been a Genoese prison. From here they put the chain across the Golden Horn to prevent unwanted ships from entering. Nearby was the Arap Cami- the Arab mosque- a former church of Dominican monks that was given to the Hispano Arabs. It is a miniature of the Aya Sophia.
A highlight of the field trip was lunch at Namli in Tophane - like Zabar's. Huge array of prepared foods, lots of Turkish and exported cheeseş candies and more. The professor was laid back- giving everyone enough time for a nice break.
When I returned I had a message from a Turkish man that invited me to a Chanukah celebration in Örtaköy. The consul was there. Unfortunately he only called yesterday- so I missed celebrating the first candle. Happy Chanukah to my family and friends.
Meeting the Radical Left
Friday I had a mind-stretching day talking with some incredible individuals who are working to make Turkey a true democracy.
I took the boat from Sariyer (the town down the hill from Koç) to Besiktaş. I saw the sun rising over massive ships heading to the Black Sea. From Besiktaş I jumped on another boat to cross to the Asian side and disembarked at Üsküdar. Thanks to Professor An-Na'im at Emory Law School, I had a meeting with Recep Senturk who was a Human Rights fellow at Emory. Recep earned his PhD at Columbia in Sociology. He teaches at the Center for Islamic Studies (ISAM) and Fatih University. I could have talked with him for days, but he was preparing for a conference that evening- so I was lucky to have an hour of his time. He is an engaging man who I enjoyed speaking with from the moment I met him.
Recep is focused on the legal and moral issues of Islam and human rights. I had a crash course in Islam, learning that Islam has multiple truths. Imans in the same city can rule on issues differently. He said there is a convergence of religion and human rights. Now some minorities in Turkey are fighting for their rights, but Recep said they should be fighting with the Muslims who are advocating for human rights. The government will never give the minorities rights that the Muslim majority does not enjoy.
Recep defines a secularlist as one who is against religion. He defines himself as secular; he believes in God, but wants a separation of religion from the state. When the Turkish republic was founded, Islam was the religion of the state. In 1937, the state accepted secularism. However, secularism is not defined in Turkey. In America, we define it as a separation between church and state. In Turkey, there is some freedom of religion, some separation of religion from the state and some control over religion by the state.
Today thanks to the Internet and other media, Turks are aware of what is going on in the West. No longer can the state say - we are emulating the west in order to be progressive - and this means that religion plays no part in society. Turkey's concept of secularism does not exist anywhere in the west. 88% of Turks want freedom of religion. The EU is requiring Turkey to redefine their relationship with religion. Religion needs autonomy while the army needs less autonomy and should come under the control of the elected government.
Currently the elite in the country- those in control- the wealthy, the army, the highly educated such as university rectors, etc - do not want to enter the EU. Entrance into the EU will require them to obey the rules. Right now they are the ones who are writing the rules. They will lose their power with EU entry. I was confused because I know Koç is involved with an institute that is working on EU acceptance and supposedly I heard that the business community is pro-EU. Recep claimed that they are just playing the game, really they are not interested. The typical response I hear from many Turks is that they are receiving unfair treatment. Croatia and Romania are in worse condition than Turkey, yet they sailed through the process.
When I said to Recep - maybe Europe really doesn't want to admit 70M Muslims to their community - he responded by saying I do not expect them to love us. Protestants and Catholics do not get along - we need to be realistic and look at the broader picture. The extremists on both sides get the media attention, so those are the views that we hear.
My head was spinning as I left. Mats were being laid in the central atrium for the upcoming prayer. Recep gave me a lot to think about. Turkey is a young country undergoing many changes. I have been learning a lot of negative things about the country, but Recep gave me hope that things are moving in the right direction.
I took the boat over to the European side to meet with Surreya, the Fulbright director in Istanbul. He brought me to a Russian restaurant, but alas - this is Turkey - so the food was the same Turkish food (just the eggplant salad was yellow.) Surreya had just returned from NY so unfortunately he was telling me about the tough economic situation. He mentioned that the Fulbright program might be affected. Germany has the largest Fulbright program because the government gives 90% of the funds. Turkey is number 2, with the government providing 25% of the funds.I tried out my new ideas that I learned from Recep on Surreya. He didn't exactly agree; I think he may be a Kemalist!
Then I tried my luck with walking into a hotel to get a good rate and once again my luck held. I wanted to stay in Taksim/ Beyoğlu area. This is the center of the modern, European side. Istiklal Caddesi is a 1.5 km pedestrian shopping area. It is packed day and night. At first I thought I didn't need to be around Western shops, but the side streets are amazing and this is where all the action is.
At 5:00 I met Selma, thanks to David Montgomery at Emory. He organized the International Summer School on Religion and Public Life. Selma just started talking, as if we had been friends for years. As we waited for the bus to Bilgi University, I learned that she is finishing her masters. She is analyzing people's attitudes about being Turkish. She found her interviewees on Facebook and Yahoo Groups! Now she is really interested in making documentary films. She was in Teheran in October and would like to do a fim about everyday life in Iran, using the upcoming election as a focal point. Recently she did a bike ride for peace in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. I asked why no Israelis and she said Israelis would only be able to enter Jordan - not even Palestine. (I want to explore this more with her.)
Bilgi is like the Antioch of Istanbul- real free-thinkers. I only saw it in the dark, but it is amazing. We were on the new Santral campus. Bilgi started out in a poor neighborhood - the philosophy being that the university should be situated in needy neighborhoods and then students could work on projects to benefit the community. This new campus is situated where the Ottoman electric works were located. Now this building is an fascinating hands-on science museum. The library is just half of one floor, but the campus boasts 3 restaurants! We also visited the modern art museum which had an exhibit on 1968- photos from Germany.
Gülnaz joined us at 8- she was also at the International Summer School. She just graduated and is a dynamo of action. She is currently involved in a youth congress. I wish I had a tape recorder (and that I was 30 yrs younger!) These young women are very passionate and active about making Turkey a better place. They stated that there was an Armenian genocide, but they didn't think it was the US business to get involved in the issue. They did not think passing a resolution in the House would promote matters. They talked about Turks being complacent. Soldiers die in the East and no one - not the families, etc. ask why. We talked about the similarities between Israel and Turkey. I asked if they knew about any planned solidarity protests with Greece. Selma responded, "Turkish people are killed every month by police, but no one says anything."
Gulnaz would like to work with NGOs, but the money is not enough. She is Kurdish, first university graduate in her family. A beautiful, articulate young woman who will go far in life. As we parted I knew two new friendships had just begun to blossom.
I took the boat from Sariyer (the town down the hill from Koç) to Besiktaş. I saw the sun rising over massive ships heading to the Black Sea. From Besiktaş I jumped on another boat to cross to the Asian side and disembarked at Üsküdar. Thanks to Professor An-Na'im at Emory Law School, I had a meeting with Recep Senturk who was a Human Rights fellow at Emory. Recep earned his PhD at Columbia in Sociology. He teaches at the Center for Islamic Studies (ISAM) and Fatih University. I could have talked with him for days, but he was preparing for a conference that evening- so I was lucky to have an hour of his time. He is an engaging man who I enjoyed speaking with from the moment I met him.
Recep is focused on the legal and moral issues of Islam and human rights. I had a crash course in Islam, learning that Islam has multiple truths. Imans in the same city can rule on issues differently. He said there is a convergence of religion and human rights. Now some minorities in Turkey are fighting for their rights, but Recep said they should be fighting with the Muslims who are advocating for human rights. The government will never give the minorities rights that the Muslim majority does not enjoy.
Recep defines a secularlist as one who is against religion. He defines himself as secular; he believes in God, but wants a separation of religion from the state. When the Turkish republic was founded, Islam was the religion of the state. In 1937, the state accepted secularism. However, secularism is not defined in Turkey. In America, we define it as a separation between church and state. In Turkey, there is some freedom of religion, some separation of religion from the state and some control over religion by the state.
Today thanks to the Internet and other media, Turks are aware of what is going on in the West. No longer can the state say - we are emulating the west in order to be progressive - and this means that religion plays no part in society. Turkey's concept of secularism does not exist anywhere in the west. 88% of Turks want freedom of religion. The EU is requiring Turkey to redefine their relationship with religion. Religion needs autonomy while the army needs less autonomy and should come under the control of the elected government.
Currently the elite in the country- those in control- the wealthy, the army, the highly educated such as university rectors, etc - do not want to enter the EU. Entrance into the EU will require them to obey the rules. Right now they are the ones who are writing the rules. They will lose their power with EU entry. I was confused because I know Koç is involved with an institute that is working on EU acceptance and supposedly I heard that the business community is pro-EU. Recep claimed that they are just playing the game, really they are not interested. The typical response I hear from many Turks is that they are receiving unfair treatment. Croatia and Romania are in worse condition than Turkey, yet they sailed through the process.
When I said to Recep - maybe Europe really doesn't want to admit 70M Muslims to their community - he responded by saying I do not expect them to love us. Protestants and Catholics do not get along - we need to be realistic and look at the broader picture. The extremists on both sides get the media attention, so those are the views that we hear.
My head was spinning as I left. Mats were being laid in the central atrium for the upcoming prayer. Recep gave me a lot to think about. Turkey is a young country undergoing many changes. I have been learning a lot of negative things about the country, but Recep gave me hope that things are moving in the right direction.
I took the boat over to the European side to meet with Surreya, the Fulbright director in Istanbul. He brought me to a Russian restaurant, but alas - this is Turkey - so the food was the same Turkish food (just the eggplant salad was yellow.) Surreya had just returned from NY so unfortunately he was telling me about the tough economic situation. He mentioned that the Fulbright program might be affected. Germany has the largest Fulbright program because the government gives 90% of the funds. Turkey is number 2, with the government providing 25% of the funds.I tried out my new ideas that I learned from Recep on Surreya. He didn't exactly agree; I think he may be a Kemalist!
Then I tried my luck with walking into a hotel to get a good rate and once again my luck held. I wanted to stay in Taksim/ Beyoğlu area. This is the center of the modern, European side. Istiklal Caddesi is a 1.5 km pedestrian shopping area. It is packed day and night. At first I thought I didn't need to be around Western shops, but the side streets are amazing and this is where all the action is.
At 5:00 I met Selma, thanks to David Montgomery at Emory. He organized the International Summer School on Religion and Public Life. Selma just started talking, as if we had been friends for years. As we waited for the bus to Bilgi University, I learned that she is finishing her masters. She is analyzing people's attitudes about being Turkish. She found her interviewees on Facebook and Yahoo Groups! Now she is really interested in making documentary films. She was in Teheran in October and would like to do a fim about everyday life in Iran, using the upcoming election as a focal point. Recently she did a bike ride for peace in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. I asked why no Israelis and she said Israelis would only be able to enter Jordan - not even Palestine. (I want to explore this more with her.)
Bilgi is like the Antioch of Istanbul- real free-thinkers. I only saw it in the dark, but it is amazing. We were on the new Santral campus. Bilgi started out in a poor neighborhood - the philosophy being that the university should be situated in needy neighborhoods and then students could work on projects to benefit the community. This new campus is situated where the Ottoman electric works were located. Now this building is an fascinating hands-on science museum. The library is just half of one floor, but the campus boasts 3 restaurants! We also visited the modern art museum which had an exhibit on 1968- photos from Germany.
Gülnaz joined us at 8- she was also at the International Summer School. She just graduated and is a dynamo of action. She is currently involved in a youth congress. I wish I had a tape recorder (and that I was 30 yrs younger!) These young women are very passionate and active about making Turkey a better place. They stated that there was an Armenian genocide, but they didn't think it was the US business to get involved in the issue. They did not think passing a resolution in the House would promote matters. They talked about Turks being complacent. Soldiers die in the East and no one - not the families, etc. ask why. We talked about the similarities between Israel and Turkey. I asked if they knew about any planned solidarity protests with Greece. Selma responded, "Turkish people are killed every month by police, but no one says anything."
Gulnaz would like to work with NGOs, but the money is not enough. She is Kurdish, first university graduate in her family. A beautiful, articulate young woman who will go far in life. As we parted I knew two new friendships had just begun to blossom.
Friday, 19 December 2008
Anıt Kabir
Ankara is a modern city- not a whole lot to do as a tourist. Atatürk made it the capital when he founded the republic so visiting his tomb is the main attraction in the city.
The main entrance is guarded by Hittite-style lions. Turkish history is chronicled differently, depending upon who you are talking to. Ataürk reached back to the Hittites as the direct ancestors to the Turkish people. A colonnade surrounds a massive courtyard with the mausoleum in a neoclassical temple at one end. Turks were proud to have their pictures taken at this site, some said a prayer by holding out their cupped their hands.
The museum had some battle scenes (replete with sound effects) of the Gallipoli campaign - similar to the Cyclorama in Atlanta. You get the sense of what life was like in the trenches. Further exhibits were of Atatürk's possessions- everything displayed except his underwear- including his stuffed dog.
Other exhibits documented the founding of the republic. Atatürk changed the alphabet from Arabic script to Western. He opened adult schools; officials were required to learn the new script within 3 months. Previously illiteracy was high partially due to the fact that the written language was different from the spoken language. He also changed the day off from Friday to Sunday and changed the calendar from lunar to Gregorian - all to accomodate the West. He wanted to push Turkey forward and he was emulating the West as the center of progress. I was thinking of how Israel did things quite differently - even though they were faced with similar challenges of quickly forming a state and unifying the populace. Israel revived an ancient language that no one else was speaking in the world and observed Saturday as the day of rest. (Certainly there were many differences between the founding of the State of Israel and the Republic of Turkey, but there are some interesting similarities- plenty of material for PhD theses.)
There were many oil paintings about the War of Independence, women were prominently featured. Scenes showed villagers donating linens to the war efforts and women making bullets. A scene of Greeks pillaging a town stated that they had documentary evidence that the clergy was involved- and in the background you see a priest holding up a cross.
Saturday night dined with Louise and Steve friends- a Fulbrighter from Baylor U. who is researching Atatürk's transition from military commander to politician. On the way home we passed "Abu-Ghraib Santa," as Steve pointed out- blown up Santas hung by their hands from a store's awning. (still waiting for Steve to post this video)
Sunday I visited Hasan and Elif who I had met in an Emory law class. Elif is a professor of Political Science at Ankara University and Hasan is completing his PhD. They have a cute 1 yr. old. As I discussed politics with them they told me they had voted for AKP- the current party in power, but are now disappointed with them. AKP was representing the masses, but now that they are in power, they act elitist. Hasan and Elif immediately recalled an incident where a party member had insulted the common folk- they took this as a great offense. When I asked about their "democracy" Hasan responded by saying- "what kind of democracy do you have with just 40% or so of the people voting?" I would have loved to talked with him longer and take notes as we talk...I'm struggling now to remember all he said. He is a thoughtful, introspective young man. I look forward to corresponding with him as more issues come up. Elif was interested in having the Fulbrighter scholar come talk to her class.
Sunday evening we dined with a couple (he's British and she works for the Italian embassy) and their French neighbors. Luckily a fresh shipment of Italian wine had just arrived from the embassy. Sebastian, the French neighbor, works for the United Nations Development Program on designing a new police program for Turkey, to comply with EU standards. I would have loved to hear more details- he just said they will have some successes- not all of their recommendations will be implemented. When I mentioned this to my flatmate, she was not as impressed as me. She said- didn't you hear the news....she thought the EU was close to dissolving because Ireland had vetoed something. Turks often bring up their unfair treatment compared to Croatia and Romania. They resent the fact that they are forced to jump through many hoops. They think they are in a better position than many E. European countries and the EU simply does not really want to admit Turkey.
Monday all planes were delayed for 3+ hours due to heavy fog. Didn't get to work at 2, as planned. Arrived home about 6.
The main entrance is guarded by Hittite-style lions. Turkish history is chronicled differently, depending upon who you are talking to. Ataürk reached back to the Hittites as the direct ancestors to the Turkish people. A colonnade surrounds a massive courtyard with the mausoleum in a neoclassical temple at one end. Turks were proud to have their pictures taken at this site, some said a prayer by holding out their cupped their hands.
The museum had some battle scenes (replete with sound effects) of the Gallipoli campaign - similar to the Cyclorama in Atlanta. You get the sense of what life was like in the trenches. Further exhibits were of Atatürk's possessions- everything displayed except his underwear- including his stuffed dog.
Other exhibits documented the founding of the republic. Atatürk changed the alphabet from Arabic script to Western. He opened adult schools; officials were required to learn the new script within 3 months. Previously illiteracy was high partially due to the fact that the written language was different from the spoken language. He also changed the day off from Friday to Sunday and changed the calendar from lunar to Gregorian - all to accomodate the West. He wanted to push Turkey forward and he was emulating the West as the center of progress. I was thinking of how Israel did things quite differently - even though they were faced with similar challenges of quickly forming a state and unifying the populace. Israel revived an ancient language that no one else was speaking in the world and observed Saturday as the day of rest. (Certainly there were many differences between the founding of the State of Israel and the Republic of Turkey, but there are some interesting similarities- plenty of material for PhD theses.)
There were many oil paintings about the War of Independence, women were prominently featured. Scenes showed villagers donating linens to the war efforts and women making bullets. A scene of Greeks pillaging a town stated that they had documentary evidence that the clergy was involved- and in the background you see a priest holding up a cross.
Saturday night dined with Louise and Steve friends- a Fulbrighter from Baylor U. who is researching Atatürk's transition from military commander to politician. On the way home we passed "Abu-Ghraib Santa," as Steve pointed out- blown up Santas hung by their hands from a store's awning. (still waiting for Steve to post this video)
Sunday I visited Hasan and Elif who I had met in an Emory law class. Elif is a professor of Political Science at Ankara University and Hasan is completing his PhD. They have a cute 1 yr. old. As I discussed politics with them they told me they had voted for AKP- the current party in power, but are now disappointed with them. AKP was representing the masses, but now that they are in power, they act elitist. Hasan and Elif immediately recalled an incident where a party member had insulted the common folk- they took this as a great offense. When I asked about their "democracy" Hasan responded by saying- "what kind of democracy do you have with just 40% or so of the people voting?" I would have loved to talked with him longer and take notes as we talk...I'm struggling now to remember all he said. He is a thoughtful, introspective young man. I look forward to corresponding with him as more issues come up. Elif was interested in having the Fulbrighter scholar come talk to her class.
Sunday evening we dined with a couple (he's British and she works for the Italian embassy) and their French neighbors. Luckily a fresh shipment of Italian wine had just arrived from the embassy. Sebastian, the French neighbor, works for the United Nations Development Program on designing a new police program for Turkey, to comply with EU standards. I would have loved to hear more details- he just said they will have some successes- not all of their recommendations will be implemented. When I mentioned this to my flatmate, she was not as impressed as me. She said- didn't you hear the news....she thought the EU was close to dissolving because Ireland had vetoed something. Turks often bring up their unfair treatment compared to Croatia and Romania. They resent the fact that they are forced to jump through many hoops. They think they are in a better position than many E. European countries and the EU simply does not really want to admit Turkey.
Monday all planes were delayed for 3+ hours due to heavy fog. Didn't get to work at 2, as planned. Arrived home about 6.
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
On to Ankara
When I went to the bus company to purchase my ticket for Ankara, I attempted to ask for an early bus. The clerk nodded and wrote down 10. That was too late so I went to the next company and they had a bus leaving at 9, but the clerk was rather obnoxious, so I went back to the first place. I asked again; a customer in line also tried to help out with the transaction. Then the clerk called her colleague who got on the phone with me and explained that indeed there was a 9:00 bus and I was being assigned seat #10! I then realized what the other customer was doing- he was crouching down and bouncing - attempting to illustrate a seat! On the ticket your gender is indicated so unaccompanied men and women do not sit together.
I hit the jackpot on Thursday- in seat #9 was a young English teacher. Tuba answered all the stored up questions I had such as- why is that group of people in the bus station throwing that young man up in the air and why does he have 6 pacifiers around his neck? Turns out the extended family was giving their son a grand send-off to the army; the pacifiers were just a joke.
Before we got to the outskirts of town I asked Tuba about the scarf issue. She said that as a public school teacher she cannot wear a scarf. Women who wear scarves must take them off as they enter. When I asked why she did not wear a scarf, she took my dictionary and looked up the word tolerance. "We have a tolerant religion. I can pray and fast, but it is my decision to wear the scarf." She said people just accept the fact that the scarf can't be worn, they play by the rules. I mentioned to her that in Israel there are public religious and public secular schools. She was impressed. But when I mentioned then that the 2 communities lead very separate lives, she did not think that was good. She said her best friend wears a scarf, there is no separation between the groups.
Her school is applying for grants so they can have an exchange program with another school for a few weeks. She thinks it's ımportant that the children learn about another culture. School is compulsory until 8th grade. Students who can afford it pay for heating the school. Money is collected for students who cannot afford the uniforms.
Riding buses is really a trip. Smoking is prohibited, unless the driver is sticking his cigarette out the window. A young man first dispenses water, then your choice of a hot drink, then coffee cake, then handiwıpes, then hand sanitizer. What could be more fun! There's a rest break- really a smoking break.
Like many Turkish people, Tuba hadn't traveled much in her country. During her summer break, they go back to her father's village and help with the cherry harvest. He is there for 2 months, as she explained to me the key to delicious cherries is the timing of the watering.
At the Ankara bus station we exchanged emails and parted. She had come to visit her boyfriend. I was visiting Louise and Steve from Atlanta. Louise is on a Fulbright for 9 mos. at Ankara University hospital. She is a doctor working with the elderly.
They have a big apartment with a great view of the city and its notorious pollution. They could intercept communications from the mammoth 10 story+ green Russian embassy. And of course there is a huge skelton of a massive hotel that has been empty for 18 years. (Half built buildings is a common site all over Turkey.) Louise brought me to the old section of the city. Not much was happening in this sleepy backwater town until Atatürk decided to make it the capital. Now there are lots of government agencies and embassies in this city of 4 million. We climbed around the old Roman walls.
Friday we went with a group of Fulbrighters to Beypazari - just a 1 1/2 hour bus ride from the city. It is a delightful town with some restored Ottoman houses. The lower story is stone and the upper 2 stories are wood-framed filled with mud adobe. It sprawls across a number of hills. Lots of vendors plying their wares. They famous for carrots, weaving and even pasta! Lots of Turks come from Ankara to enjoy the village.
I wandered around up into the neighborhoods to see women roasting animal heads in small courtyard fires. They greet me with "welcome" and willingly consent to photos. Then for some reason they point to their fingers - ınquiring where my wedding ring is. One Ottoman restored mansion is a museum where you can try to art of marbelized painting. You drop paint into rose water- stir it around, like you are making a marble cake, place a sheet of paper on top of the water and then extract it by pulling it over the edge of the pan. My creation wasn't so great so I purchased a picture lying on the shelf. They were also demonstrating the shadow puppets. Louise had molten lead poured on top of her head to extract the evil spirits. When I inquired if anyone spoke English, a woman rushed over to the cupboard and pulled out a script that she read to me about the museum. Turns out she was reading phonectically- the first few sentences made sense. It was heart warming to witness her efforts.
In a linen shop, I asked the proprietor if she was the weaver. This plump woman then rushed over to her loom and demonstrated her craft. When I was ready to buy some pita in the street, the woman motioned me up the alley where I entered a dark hovel to see 2 women baking the pita in a wood oven. I bought fresh pasta and what I thought was tomato sauce for dinner (turns out it was paste.) The town has a lovely mosque with a wooden ceiling- quite unique. The women wear large patterned scarves as shawls. Next post- sights in Ankara.
I hit the jackpot on Thursday- in seat #9 was a young English teacher. Tuba answered all the stored up questions I had such as- why is that group of people in the bus station throwing that young man up in the air and why does he have 6 pacifiers around his neck? Turns out the extended family was giving their son a grand send-off to the army; the pacifiers were just a joke.
Before we got to the outskirts of town I asked Tuba about the scarf issue. She said that as a public school teacher she cannot wear a scarf. Women who wear scarves must take them off as they enter. When I asked why she did not wear a scarf, she took my dictionary and looked up the word tolerance. "We have a tolerant religion. I can pray and fast, but it is my decision to wear the scarf." She said people just accept the fact that the scarf can't be worn, they play by the rules. I mentioned to her that in Israel there are public religious and public secular schools. She was impressed. But when I mentioned then that the 2 communities lead very separate lives, she did not think that was good. She said her best friend wears a scarf, there is no separation between the groups.
Her school is applying for grants so they can have an exchange program with another school for a few weeks. She thinks it's ımportant that the children learn about another culture. School is compulsory until 8th grade. Students who can afford it pay for heating the school. Money is collected for students who cannot afford the uniforms.
Riding buses is really a trip. Smoking is prohibited, unless the driver is sticking his cigarette out the window. A young man first dispenses water, then your choice of a hot drink, then coffee cake, then handiwıpes, then hand sanitizer. What could be more fun! There's a rest break- really a smoking break.
Like many Turkish people, Tuba hadn't traveled much in her country. During her summer break, they go back to her father's village and help with the cherry harvest. He is there for 2 months, as she explained to me the key to delicious cherries is the timing of the watering.
At the Ankara bus station we exchanged emails and parted. She had come to visit her boyfriend. I was visiting Louise and Steve from Atlanta. Louise is on a Fulbright for 9 mos. at Ankara University hospital. She is a doctor working with the elderly.
They have a big apartment with a great view of the city and its notorious pollution. They could intercept communications from the mammoth 10 story+ green Russian embassy. And of course there is a huge skelton of a massive hotel that has been empty for 18 years. (Half built buildings is a common site all over Turkey.) Louise brought me to the old section of the city. Not much was happening in this sleepy backwater town until Atatürk decided to make it the capital. Now there are lots of government agencies and embassies in this city of 4 million. We climbed around the old Roman walls.
Friday we went with a group of Fulbrighters to Beypazari - just a 1 1/2 hour bus ride from the city. It is a delightful town with some restored Ottoman houses. The lower story is stone and the upper 2 stories are wood-framed filled with mud adobe. It sprawls across a number of hills. Lots of vendors plying their wares. They famous for carrots, weaving and even pasta! Lots of Turks come from Ankara to enjoy the village.
I wandered around up into the neighborhoods to see women roasting animal heads in small courtyard fires. They greet me with "welcome" and willingly consent to photos. Then for some reason they point to their fingers - ınquiring where my wedding ring is. One Ottoman restored mansion is a museum where you can try to art of marbelized painting. You drop paint into rose water- stir it around, like you are making a marble cake, place a sheet of paper on top of the water and then extract it by pulling it over the edge of the pan. My creation wasn't so great so I purchased a picture lying on the shelf. They were also demonstrating the shadow puppets. Louise had molten lead poured on top of her head to extract the evil spirits. When I inquired if anyone spoke English, a woman rushed over to the cupboard and pulled out a script that she read to me about the museum. Turns out she was reading phonectically- the first few sentences made sense. It was heart warming to witness her efforts.
In a linen shop, I asked the proprietor if she was the weaver. This plump woman then rushed over to her loom and demonstrated her craft. When I was ready to buy some pita in the street, the woman motioned me up the alley where I entered a dark hovel to see 2 women baking the pita in a wood oven. I bought fresh pasta and what I thought was tomato sauce for dinner (turns out it was paste.) The town has a lovely mosque with a wooden ceiling- quite unique. The women wear large patterned scarves as shawls. Next post- sights in Ankara.
Monday, 15 December 2008
Konya - the land of Dervishes
On the bus to Konya I thought maybe I had made the right decision because it was alternating snow and rain. Lots of trucks piled high with sugar beets.
Decided to try out the advice of my Canadian friends. I ignored my reservation for 80 lira. (they said the hotels in the guidebook are double- just look for something nearby.) I walked around to 3 hotels to see what deal I could get. I got a room in a rather new hotel one block from the Mevlana Center for 40 lira. He showed me a room on the 2nd floor, but I preferred the room on the 4th floor. When I returned after 5 pm and noted there was no heat, he explained that there were no guests on the 4th floor so they turned the heat off. The technician was gone for the holiday so they could not turn it on now. It was about 30 degrees with just a dusting of snow. Why he didn't mention the no heat situation when I considered the 4th floor- I do not know.
Konya is the focus of Sufic mystical practice and teaching. It is a place of pilgrimage for the whole Muslim world. Konya is the adopted home of Celaleddin Rumi, better known as Mevlana (our master,) the Sufic mystic who founded the Whirling Dervish sect. Supposedly it is a very conservative city. December 10-17 is a big celebration because Mevlana died on 12/17. I thought the place would be real crowded.
There was not a lot to do in the city. I visited the Mevlana museum on Wednesday. It used to be a medrasha, but the government shut down Dervish lodges after the founding of the state. I would think this would be of concern to the more religious Muslims. The museum consists of quite a few tombs, cases of sacred texts and other artifacts of the Dervish life. I thought a lot of foreigners who were into this mystic cult would be hanging around, but no such luck.
As usual, I headed out to the market. A lot was closed because of Bayrum. I did find the section where they blow torch the heads of animals. Later I learned that if you add lemon and potato you have a delicious soup! There was a special section of the bazaar just for cell phones. They also sell loose tobacco and roll cigarettes.
In the evening the place to be was the Mevlana Cultural Center- a huge new complex. This week they were having the Whirling Dervishes dance performances every night. The place seats over a thousand in a round auditorium with a pitched roof- like a big circus tent. The guidebook said the dervishes weren't practicing - they were just paid performers - so I couldn't get into the solemnity that they tried to convey. The next night I went to a film at the center about the period of 1789 when the Sultan asked the French to set up an army. A Dervish was involved so it was interesting to see how life was depicted in the lodges during this period. The funniest part of the film was I thought I heard the call to prayer during the film, but alas it was just the ringtone of a woman's cell!
There were lots of vendors selling pictures, musical intruments and other Dervish-related materials.
I enjoyed just wandering around the city- most tourists seemed to be Turks enjoying Bayrum. Seemed natural that all the women wore scarves and long coats. I always felt comfortable walking around, even late in the evening. Wednesday morning walked around for 1/2 hr. looking for coffee. The place was so quiet- even at 8 am, these Turks know how to relax and enjoy their holidays! No luck, had to settle for the nescafe and powdered milk at the hotel.
Decided to try out the advice of my Canadian friends. I ignored my reservation for 80 lira. (they said the hotels in the guidebook are double- just look for something nearby.) I walked around to 3 hotels to see what deal I could get. I got a room in a rather new hotel one block from the Mevlana Center for 40 lira. He showed me a room on the 2nd floor, but I preferred the room on the 4th floor. When I returned after 5 pm and noted there was no heat, he explained that there were no guests on the 4th floor so they turned the heat off. The technician was gone for the holiday so they could not turn it on now. It was about 30 degrees with just a dusting of snow. Why he didn't mention the no heat situation when I considered the 4th floor- I do not know.
Konya is the focus of Sufic mystical practice and teaching. It is a place of pilgrimage for the whole Muslim world. Konya is the adopted home of Celaleddin Rumi, better known as Mevlana (our master,) the Sufic mystic who founded the Whirling Dervish sect. Supposedly it is a very conservative city. December 10-17 is a big celebration because Mevlana died on 12/17. I thought the place would be real crowded.
There was not a lot to do in the city. I visited the Mevlana museum on Wednesday. It used to be a medrasha, but the government shut down Dervish lodges after the founding of the state. I would think this would be of concern to the more religious Muslims. The museum consists of quite a few tombs, cases of sacred texts and other artifacts of the Dervish life. I thought a lot of foreigners who were into this mystic cult would be hanging around, but no such luck.
As usual, I headed out to the market. A lot was closed because of Bayrum. I did find the section where they blow torch the heads of animals. Later I learned that if you add lemon and potato you have a delicious soup! There was a special section of the bazaar just for cell phones. They also sell loose tobacco and roll cigarettes.
In the evening the place to be was the Mevlana Cultural Center- a huge new complex. This week they were having the Whirling Dervishes dance performances every night. The place seats over a thousand in a round auditorium with a pitched roof- like a big circus tent. The guidebook said the dervishes weren't practicing - they were just paid performers - so I couldn't get into the solemnity that they tried to convey. The next night I went to a film at the center about the period of 1789 when the Sultan asked the French to set up an army. A Dervish was involved so it was interesting to see how life was depicted in the lodges during this period. The funniest part of the film was I thought I heard the call to prayer during the film, but alas it was just the ringtone of a woman's cell!
There were lots of vendors selling pictures, musical intruments and other Dervish-related materials.
I enjoyed just wandering around the city- most tourists seemed to be Turks enjoying Bayrum. Seemed natural that all the women wore scarves and long coats. I always felt comfortable walking around, even late in the evening. Wednesday morning walked around for 1/2 hr. looking for coffee. The place was so quiet- even at 8 am, these Turks know how to relax and enjoy their holidays! No luck, had to settle for the nescafe and powdered milk at the hotel.
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Guzelyurt in the fog
We arrived in Guzelyurt about 3:30. Halil continued to present options to me- he could bring me to Selime in the valley where he knows the pension owner or..... But, we checked out the pension where I had made a reservation. A family had added a few rooms to their home for guests. He said he felt comfortable leaving me with the family- so this is where I should stay.
Unlike the description in the guidebook, the room was OK- extra mattress stored behind the couch, broken TV and shower head just stuck in the bathroom wall did'nt add too much to the ambiance, but I had a beautiful view. The town features Monastery Valley - dotted with ancient churches. I left for a quick walk before dark.
Guzelyurt was far from the big city lights - a village untouched by modernity. Think of the big cliffs on the Palasaides Parkway - and then picture a window with a light inside and people living up there. Well, that's what I saw. It was fun to greet people with "Iyi Bayramlar" which means happy holidays. Of course I stuck out with my red wool hat - as opposed to a scarf- but smiles broke out in response to my greeting. A small boy took my hand and kissed it and raised it to his forehead. I was so touched (but, also pondered that he viewed me as his elder!)
The guidebook noted that I would be dining with the family. When the 10th grader knocked on my door to announce dinner at 6, I entered to see the table set for one! I ate as members of the family sat around and watched. They make bread on top of the stove - again a type of delicious thick pita. Water was served in a clay jug with a doily on top. The yogurt soup was good, the veggies too spicey.
I would have loved to have chatted with the family, but even the 10th grader's English was very limited, so I caught up on 5 days of "Democracy Now" on my iPod.
Up at 6:40- I had requested dinner at 7. The mother was waiting for me. I knew not to ask for coffee! The weather wasn't great, but I took off anyway for Monastary Valley again. The fog was extremely thick- you couldn't see 20 feet ahead. The path had some signs for the ancient churches. I found the first one, couldn't fınd the next two. Greeted one man on the path and he was incredulous as to what I was doing out in such weather. In the back of my mind I heard David saying, 'Lee, you should turn back.' So I headed back to the village. A tractor stopped to pick me off and I climbed on- just for Mike Froman- adding a tractor to my mode of transportation. He lowered his hitch and I held on carefully as we bumped along over the big cobblestones.
I then asked an elderly man about a bus and he pointed out the bus schedule. I decided to take the next bus out in 30 minutes. I felt bad leaving early, but I had no idea whether the weather would improve or not.
When I got to Aksaray I decided to head to Konya because I had no idea what the weather would be like in the Ihlara Valley. I was sorry to miss the opportunity to see the valley, but I had to make a decision.
Unlike the description in the guidebook, the room was OK- extra mattress stored behind the couch, broken TV and shower head just stuck in the bathroom wall did'nt add too much to the ambiance, but I had a beautiful view. The town features Monastery Valley - dotted with ancient churches. I left for a quick walk before dark.
Guzelyurt was far from the big city lights - a village untouched by modernity. Think of the big cliffs on the Palasaides Parkway - and then picture a window with a light inside and people living up there. Well, that's what I saw. It was fun to greet people with "Iyi Bayramlar" which means happy holidays. Of course I stuck out with my red wool hat - as opposed to a scarf- but smiles broke out in response to my greeting. A small boy took my hand and kissed it and raised it to his forehead. I was so touched (but, also pondered that he viewed me as his elder!)
The guidebook noted that I would be dining with the family. When the 10th grader knocked on my door to announce dinner at 6, I entered to see the table set for one! I ate as members of the family sat around and watched. They make bread on top of the stove - again a type of delicious thick pita. Water was served in a clay jug with a doily on top. The yogurt soup was good, the veggies too spicey.
I would have loved to have chatted with the family, but even the 10th grader's English was very limited, so I caught up on 5 days of "Democracy Now" on my iPod.
Up at 6:40- I had requested dinner at 7. The mother was waiting for me. I knew not to ask for coffee! The weather wasn't great, but I took off anyway for Monastary Valley again. The fog was extremely thick- you couldn't see 20 feet ahead. The path had some signs for the ancient churches. I found the first one, couldn't fınd the next two. Greeted one man on the path and he was incredulous as to what I was doing out in such weather. In the back of my mind I heard David saying, 'Lee, you should turn back.' So I headed back to the village. A tractor stopped to pick me off and I climbed on- just for Mike Froman- adding a tractor to my mode of transportation. He lowered his hitch and I held on carefully as we bumped along over the big cobblestones.
I then asked an elderly man about a bus and he pointed out the bus schedule. I decided to take the next bus out in 30 minutes. I felt bad leaving early, but I had no idea whether the weather would improve or not.
When I got to Aksaray I decided to head to Konya because I had no idea what the weather would be like in the Ihlara Valley. I was sorry to miss the opportunity to see the valley, but I had to make a decision.
The Sacrifice
Monday, December 8 was the first day of Bayram- the day of the sacrifice. I actually met a Fulbrighter at the Consul's home who is researching the sounds and smells of sacrifices during Roman times. I mentioned that they were perhaps similar to the sacrifices of the Jews. Her response, "Yes, they were similar to what the Jews were and are doing with sacrifices." I said - EXCUSE ME.... we are not sacrificing now. Oh, she said - you don't sacrifice the Pascal Lamb? Nope, I said - no temple - no sacrifice.
Hmmmm....seems like some "scholars" need to get out of their ivory towers sometimes and learn about something other than their narrow thesis!
I arrived at Halil's home at 10; the butcher was scheduled to arrive at 11. Some relatives arrived- the young kiss the elders' hand and then bring it up to touch their forehead. We were served raisins and nuts. I smiled and wished my Turkish was better.
The butcher arrived early, then the men went down below where the cow, donkey and sheep were stabled. I took pictures of them all pulling out the cow and tying its feet. I'll stop now with the description - I did not look. The grandmother was holding the little kids to the side. I wandered back into the yard - too much groaning of the cow and then a small red river flowed down the hill. The butcher and assistant were served a meal. It took about 2 hours for the family to cut up the meat- it then looked like a butcher shop. Up to 7 people can share a cow. Most people are sacrificing lambs. All over the country there were pens set up for people to select their animal. The US of A has XMAS tree stands on every corner, here they have tents with various livestock for your choosing.
The tradition is they donate a 1/3 of the meat to the poor. Later I learned that you can leave the skins by the curb for Turkish Airlines pick-up! They in turn sell the skins and donate the money to the poor. On TV the next day they showed various groups going to poor neighborhoods with coats for the kids and other donations. Children were also visiting nursing homes. My colleague said she was rather replused by the killing of animals so she asks her friends for donations and send the money to her cousin who is a teacher in the impoverhished east. He then purchased school supplies for the students.
While Halil and parents were cutting the meat, his friend and I walkd to town and saw the big rock. Now there are cute wine cafes in the caves. The town was pretty much shut down - as was much of the country. In the yard of Halil's home are caves that they use to store fruits, cheese and pickled veggies. His friend is in the cave storage business - lemons are stored in the caves and shipped all over the country. Halil would like to build a pension in the rock formations in his backyard, but he requires UNESCO approval.
They had gone to the mosque at 7:30 then had a festive breakfast. So at 12, he made just me lunch before we took off for the valley. His sister would come later and they would feast on the meat.
Halil picked up his friend for the ride which was just about an hour. On buses, I would have traveled 4 hours! My colleague Gurburt had lived in the region and had insisted that I spend a day in Guzelhurt and a day in the Ilhara Valley. So I was merely following instructions!
Hmmmm....seems like some "scholars" need to get out of their ivory towers sometimes and learn about something other than their narrow thesis!
I arrived at Halil's home at 10; the butcher was scheduled to arrive at 11. Some relatives arrived- the young kiss the elders' hand and then bring it up to touch their forehead. We were served raisins and nuts. I smiled and wished my Turkish was better.
The butcher arrived early, then the men went down below where the cow, donkey and sheep were stabled. I took pictures of them all pulling out the cow and tying its feet. I'll stop now with the description - I did not look. The grandmother was holding the little kids to the side. I wandered back into the yard - too much groaning of the cow and then a small red river flowed down the hill. The butcher and assistant were served a meal. It took about 2 hours for the family to cut up the meat- it then looked like a butcher shop. Up to 7 people can share a cow. Most people are sacrificing lambs. All over the country there were pens set up for people to select their animal. The US of A has XMAS tree stands on every corner, here they have tents with various livestock for your choosing.
The tradition is they donate a 1/3 of the meat to the poor. Later I learned that you can leave the skins by the curb for Turkish Airlines pick-up! They in turn sell the skins and donate the money to the poor. On TV the next day they showed various groups going to poor neighborhoods with coats for the kids and other donations. Children were also visiting nursing homes. My colleague said she was rather replused by the killing of animals so she asks her friends for donations and send the money to her cousin who is a teacher in the impoverhished east. He then purchased school supplies for the students.
While Halil and parents were cutting the meat, his friend and I walkd to town and saw the big rock. Now there are cute wine cafes in the caves. The town was pretty much shut down - as was much of the country. In the yard of Halil's home are caves that they use to store fruits, cheese and pickled veggies. His friend is in the cave storage business - lemons are stored in the caves and shipped all over the country. Halil would like to build a pension in the rock formations in his backyard, but he requires UNESCO approval.
They had gone to the mosque at 7:30 then had a festive breakfast. So at 12, he made just me lunch before we took off for the valley. His sister would come later and they would feast on the meat.
Halil picked up his friend for the ride which was just about an hour. On buses, I would have traveled 4 hours! My colleague Gurburt had lived in the region and had insisted that I spend a day in Guzelhurt and a day in the Ilhara Valley. So I was merely following instructions!
My Father's Sense of Direction
I'm in Ankara visiting Louise and Steve. They're from Atlanta' Louise is on a Fulbright for 9 mos. Now I'll tell you about my holiday adventures.
Kurban Bayram is a 4 day holiday- celebrating the sacrifice of Ismail. Because this year is Mon-Thurs- the whole country is pretty much taking off for 9 days!
I flew on Friday south to Kirsehir. The Turks beat the Israelis- they were taking their luggage from the overhead bins before the plane landed. Turkish Airlines is in better financial state than Delta- they serve great sandwiches on a 55 min. flight.
Had no idea where to go from the airport- so I just said Urgup- my destination and people tell me to follow them. Turns out there's an airport bus to Neveshir' the closest town. Then another person takes over my care from there- a nice young man who knew English walked me for many blocks to my bus stop.
Neveshir bombards me with new sights and smells. The woman are wearing baggy flowered pants and scarves edged with lace. Lots of new breads. Urgrup is a nice small town, my hotel was a 15 min. walk from the center. Pretty nice hotel thanks to a travel agent who works with Emory, but it caters to tour groups with their own buses.
Took off for the open air museum in Goreme. The entire region of Cappadocia is an UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a magical landscape formed by volcanoes. The ash and mud created the region's raw material- tuff. This soft stone, formed by compressed volcanic ash, has been worked on ever since by processes of erosion to form valleys and fairy chimney rock formations. Of course I thought it looked like a Disney set. What is amazing is that Christians fleeing the Romans lived in caves in this area. The Open Air Museum is a concentrated area of these cones where caves were carved out and the Christians created many churches. There are amazing frescos- some with dark reds still visible. Unfortunately many have been vandalized- lots of graffiti.
I then walked to Goreme and checked out the different hiking options listed in my guide book. Sort of felt confused and a little disoriented. The rather obnoxious tour guides didn't add to my sense of joy being in this much touted magical space. But little did I know what lay ahead...
Saturday hitched a ride back to Goreme with the hot air balloon company. He dropped me right at the trailhead to walk to Uchisar. Guidebook said it was a straight shot and the cafe owner just lifted his arm and pointed straight. Supposedly walk was 1 1/2 hrs. Saw one sign. Of course I came to junctions - chose one path until it ended in a locked gate. Retraced my steps and then took the other fork. Did this 3 times. Thought how Joe could have found the path through the valley, but I had no such luck. So after about an hour retraced my steps back to Goreme, determined to take the bus to Uchisar. As I was waiting for the bus, my ears are always tuned to hearing another language. I asked this couple if they spoke English and EUREKA - I hit the jackpot! Thanks to the fact that I inherited my father's sense of direction and not my mother's- I could not find my way to Uchisar, so I was fortunate to meet Becky and Scott- Canadians biking across the world!!! Not using airplanes. From them I learned about couchsurfing.com and warmshowers.org- a wonderful way to meet adventurous people.
They were heading to Derinkuyu, the underground city. The guy at the hotel on a tour said you couldn't go alone, you would get lost. The guidebook did not say you needed a tour, but with my sense of direction, I thought it best not to go alone (David- are you happy?!) So I asked if I could join them. We had a great time, I immediately felt very comfortable with them, the conversation flowed easily about our Turkish experiences and about their travels.
In Derinkuyu there was a great outdoor market- hard to break away from the many photo ops. The day is short- dark at 4:30, so we headed to the underground city.
Some of these underground settlements accomodated 30,000 people- a total of 40 settlements have been discovered. These date back to Hittite times, most recently used by Christian communities. 7 floors have been excavated, we could visit 5. Lots of tunnels and staircases. Luckily not too many tour groups so we didn't have to wait too much for groups to ascend before we descended. Just empty rooms to see- Scott and Becky wanted to explore every nook and crany- they had head lamps so we could see a lot.
Next took bus to Uchisar to climb the rock/castle, riddled with caves and tunnels which once housed the entire village. The guidebook says the caves are abandoned, but satellite dishes are perched in strategic positions! It's mesmerizing where people live. Some are in the caves, some use the rock as one wall of their abode and build out. I could clearly see the path through the valley that I was suppose to enjoy in the morning- Scott was really wanting to walk back in the dark, luckily Becky wasn't too enthusiastic about that idea.
Uchisar is frequented by French tourists so we went in search of a French restaurant. My luck- Becky shares one of my passions- checking out luxury hotels. We had a tour of Cappadocia Caves Hotel- standard room starts at 300 euro. Gorgeous rooms cascading down the hills. The spa has a snow and salt rooms. The restaurant features a sushi bar, so guess who pays the bills!
Buses stop about 5 pm. Scott wanted to walk the 6 km in the dark to Goreme. Luckily he agreed for 10 min. to try to hitch a ride. I had been having very good luck with hitching, so my luck held and we caught a ride. We had a delightful dinner with Cappadocia wine. Then they brought me to my junction and we tried again for a ride. They were going to call their hotel manager to arrange a ride for me, but I was confident I could find and ride....little did I know what awaited...
As they stood to the side, a car stopped and the yound man said he's bring me to the main road where I could catch a bus every 20 min. At first I hestitated, then jumped in. Halil is a tour guide in French. So I did my best to remember my H.S. French. When we got the the junction he said, "If you have time, you can come to my parents for dinner and then I will bring you to your hotel." Little did he know my entire night was free!
Halil lives in Ortahisar- a small village near Urgup- also has a fortress-like 86 metre high rock that once housed the entire village. His mother was in traditional dress- baggy flowered pants and headscarf. They quickly set the coffee table for dinner. The mother bakes the thick pita bread in an outdoor oven. We feasted on soup, salad, veggies and bread. Halil is a university graduate and a licensed tour guide in the region. There is no work during the five winter months. He plans to take a Spanish course to expand his tour options. Dinner was brief. Then the father put on his coat and left, probably heading to the local tea/backgammon joint.
Halil brought me to Urgup to check out options to get to the Ilhara valley to the west. He called his friend who runs tours - I could have just paid for the transportation, but they were headed to the underground city. Then as he drove me to the hotel, he kept giving me more options. (David should have been there to warn him- I have a hard time with too many options because I like to explore all of them before I decide.) During dinner he mentioned that they would be sacrificing their cow for Bayram tomorrow and I was invited. Of course that is what I really wanted so see so the plan was I'd come to his house and then he would drive me to the valley and I'd pay for gas.
Kurban Bayram is a 4 day holiday- celebrating the sacrifice of Ismail. Because this year is Mon-Thurs- the whole country is pretty much taking off for 9 days!
I flew on Friday south to Kirsehir. The Turks beat the Israelis- they were taking their luggage from the overhead bins before the plane landed. Turkish Airlines is in better financial state than Delta- they serve great sandwiches on a 55 min. flight.
Had no idea where to go from the airport- so I just said Urgup- my destination and people tell me to follow them. Turns out there's an airport bus to Neveshir' the closest town. Then another person takes over my care from there- a nice young man who knew English walked me for many blocks to my bus stop.
Neveshir bombards me with new sights and smells. The woman are wearing baggy flowered pants and scarves edged with lace. Lots of new breads. Urgrup is a nice small town, my hotel was a 15 min. walk from the center. Pretty nice hotel thanks to a travel agent who works with Emory, but it caters to tour groups with their own buses.
Took off for the open air museum in Goreme. The entire region of Cappadocia is an UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a magical landscape formed by volcanoes. The ash and mud created the region's raw material- tuff. This soft stone, formed by compressed volcanic ash, has been worked on ever since by processes of erosion to form valleys and fairy chimney rock formations. Of course I thought it looked like a Disney set. What is amazing is that Christians fleeing the Romans lived in caves in this area. The Open Air Museum is a concentrated area of these cones where caves were carved out and the Christians created many churches. There are amazing frescos- some with dark reds still visible. Unfortunately many have been vandalized- lots of graffiti.
I then walked to Goreme and checked out the different hiking options listed in my guide book. Sort of felt confused and a little disoriented. The rather obnoxious tour guides didn't add to my sense of joy being in this much touted magical space. But little did I know what lay ahead...
Saturday hitched a ride back to Goreme with the hot air balloon company. He dropped me right at the trailhead to walk to Uchisar. Guidebook said it was a straight shot and the cafe owner just lifted his arm and pointed straight. Supposedly walk was 1 1/2 hrs. Saw one sign. Of course I came to junctions - chose one path until it ended in a locked gate. Retraced my steps and then took the other fork. Did this 3 times. Thought how Joe could have found the path through the valley, but I had no such luck. So after about an hour retraced my steps back to Goreme, determined to take the bus to Uchisar. As I was waiting for the bus, my ears are always tuned to hearing another language. I asked this couple if they spoke English and EUREKA - I hit the jackpot! Thanks to the fact that I inherited my father's sense of direction and not my mother's- I could not find my way to Uchisar, so I was fortunate to meet Becky and Scott- Canadians biking across the world!!! Not using airplanes. From them I learned about couchsurfing.com and warmshowers.org- a wonderful way to meet adventurous people.
They were heading to Derinkuyu, the underground city. The guy at the hotel on a tour said you couldn't go alone, you would get lost. The guidebook did not say you needed a tour, but with my sense of direction, I thought it best not to go alone (David- are you happy?!) So I asked if I could join them. We had a great time, I immediately felt very comfortable with them, the conversation flowed easily about our Turkish experiences and about their travels.
In Derinkuyu there was a great outdoor market- hard to break away from the many photo ops. The day is short- dark at 4:30, so we headed to the underground city.
Some of these underground settlements accomodated 30,000 people- a total of 40 settlements have been discovered. These date back to Hittite times, most recently used by Christian communities. 7 floors have been excavated, we could visit 5. Lots of tunnels and staircases. Luckily not too many tour groups so we didn't have to wait too much for groups to ascend before we descended. Just empty rooms to see- Scott and Becky wanted to explore every nook and crany- they had head lamps so we could see a lot.
Next took bus to Uchisar to climb the rock/castle, riddled with caves and tunnels which once housed the entire village. The guidebook says the caves are abandoned, but satellite dishes are perched in strategic positions! It's mesmerizing where people live. Some are in the caves, some use the rock as one wall of their abode and build out. I could clearly see the path through the valley that I was suppose to enjoy in the morning- Scott was really wanting to walk back in the dark, luckily Becky wasn't too enthusiastic about that idea.
Uchisar is frequented by French tourists so we went in search of a French restaurant. My luck- Becky shares one of my passions- checking out luxury hotels. We had a tour of Cappadocia Caves Hotel- standard room starts at 300 euro. Gorgeous rooms cascading down the hills. The spa has a snow and salt rooms. The restaurant features a sushi bar, so guess who pays the bills!
Buses stop about 5 pm. Scott wanted to walk the 6 km in the dark to Goreme. Luckily he agreed for 10 min. to try to hitch a ride. I had been having very good luck with hitching, so my luck held and we caught a ride. We had a delightful dinner with Cappadocia wine. Then they brought me to my junction and we tried again for a ride. They were going to call their hotel manager to arrange a ride for me, but I was confident I could find and ride....little did I know what awaited...
As they stood to the side, a car stopped and the yound man said he's bring me to the main road where I could catch a bus every 20 min. At first I hestitated, then jumped in. Halil is a tour guide in French. So I did my best to remember my H.S. French. When we got the the junction he said, "If you have time, you can come to my parents for dinner and then I will bring you to your hotel." Little did he know my entire night was free!
Halil lives in Ortahisar- a small village near Urgup- also has a fortress-like 86 metre high rock that once housed the entire village. His mother was in traditional dress- baggy flowered pants and headscarf. They quickly set the coffee table for dinner. The mother bakes the thick pita bread in an outdoor oven. We feasted on soup, salad, veggies and bread. Halil is a university graduate and a licensed tour guide in the region. There is no work during the five winter months. He plans to take a Spanish course to expand his tour options. Dinner was brief. Then the father put on his coat and left, probably heading to the local tea/backgammon joint.
Halil brought me to Urgup to check out options to get to the Ilhara valley to the west. He called his friend who runs tours - I could have just paid for the transportation, but they were headed to the underground city. Then as he drove me to the hotel, he kept giving me more options. (David should have been there to warn him- I have a hard time with too many options because I like to explore all of them before I decide.) During dinner he mentioned that they would be sacrificing their cow for Bayram tomorrow and I was invited. Of course that is what I really wanted so see so the plan was I'd come to his house and then he would drive me to the valley and I'd pay for gas.
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
brief encounters
Monday I met with the reference team without their supervisors. We were talking about marketing library programs. I mentioned often Americans do marketing events around holiday themes. The holiday next week, Kurban Bayram-The Feast of the Sacrifice, is a religious holiday that remembers the ram that Abraham sacrificed in place of his son Ismail (Isaac). During the four-day festival, lambs are slaughtered and the meat distributed to the poor. Some of the ritual slaughters take place in public places. So the librarians joked that they should slaughter a koç (ram) in the library reading room and that may attract some students to the library.
I started my formal presentation to the librarians by saying that Emory was founded by Methodists. The next day one librarian wanted to know what kind of influence the Methodists still had on the university. I showed her the religious life web page at Emory to illustrate that all religions were openly practiced. Turns out there is a woman who is the Muslim coordinator. The librarian asked if she wore a turban. I told her probably not, but it turns out she meant headscarf (the Turkish word is similar to turban.) I replied I didn't know, but explained that we had students wearing headscarves. Koç does not have a mosque- that would be taboo here.
It's easy to run into students here because it's such a small campus. I was chatting with a student who had lived in San Francisco. I said that I thought Istanbul and SF were similar in some aspects - like the hills, beautiful views and the water. This student said "and Istanbul has such a diverse population like SF." I said really- looks to me like most of the people are Turks. Oh, but he said many of the people are from eastern Turkey, so it is really quite diverse!
Mitas, my office mate, doesn't seem overly thrilled with being a business librarian. Turns out he makes films. I asked him today how he chose to be a libarian. All high school graduates take a national test. The results of that test determines where you will study in university. All state schools are free. So, he wanted to study film, but his grades were not good enough. His choices were librarianship and archaeology! He waits now until his friends from Ankara will join him in Istanbul and then they will make films- seems like this could be a long wait.
Today Mitas and I went up to the clock tower for coffee. You get a bird's eye view of the university and see the Bosphorus and Black Sea. It's very small and decorated in Ottoman style- a real jewel on campus.
I had lunch with some faculty members. They were quite surprised that I as a librarian was taking such interest in the business school. The lunch was short and we concluded by the professor writing down the best place to get pudding and desserts in Sariyer, the town by the sea, down the hill from school.
I started my formal presentation to the librarians by saying that Emory was founded by Methodists. The next day one librarian wanted to know what kind of influence the Methodists still had on the university. I showed her the religious life web page at Emory to illustrate that all religions were openly practiced. Turns out there is a woman who is the Muslim coordinator. The librarian asked if she wore a turban. I told her probably not, but it turns out she meant headscarf (the Turkish word is similar to turban.) I replied I didn't know, but explained that we had students wearing headscarves. Koç does not have a mosque- that would be taboo here.
It's easy to run into students here because it's such a small campus. I was chatting with a student who had lived in San Francisco. I said that I thought Istanbul and SF were similar in some aspects - like the hills, beautiful views and the water. This student said "and Istanbul has such a diverse population like SF." I said really- looks to me like most of the people are Turks. Oh, but he said many of the people are from eastern Turkey, so it is really quite diverse!
Mitas, my office mate, doesn't seem overly thrilled with being a business librarian. Turns out he makes films. I asked him today how he chose to be a libarian. All high school graduates take a national test. The results of that test determines where you will study in university. All state schools are free. So, he wanted to study film, but his grades were not good enough. His choices were librarianship and archaeology! He waits now until his friends from Ankara will join him in Istanbul and then they will make films- seems like this could be a long wait.
Today Mitas and I went up to the clock tower for coffee. You get a bird's eye view of the university and see the Bosphorus and Black Sea. It's very small and decorated in Ottoman style- a real jewel on campus.
I had lunch with some faculty members. They were quite surprised that I as a librarian was taking such interest in the business school. The lunch was short and we concluded by the professor writing down the best place to get pudding and desserts in Sariyer, the town by the sea, down the hill from school.
Thanksgiving & more
Thanks to Dave Goldsman at GA Tech I met Ole, a Danish man that lives in a small fishing village near me, on Thursday. We had planned to hike to the nearby fortress, but it was raining so I invited him for lunch. I really wanted to get his take on Turkish society and culture.
He's an artist. He fell in love with Turkey because he was teaching Turkish people in Denmark and then decided he needed to know more about his pupils, so he traveled to their villages in eastern Turkey. His take is that the Kemalists, adherents of Atatürk who were in power for 80 years, are corrupt and the current party is actually doing some good. (The situation is a little similar to Labor and Likud in Israel.) He says the government has vocational programs to get the unskilled working and they are helping the poor, something the previous government never did. As he was criticizing Atatürk, he actually said we needed to be careful because it is against the law to criticize the him. I invited Ole to the Thanksgiving dinner because he knows a lot of Koç folks.
The English Language Center organized the dinner in the Founders Hall. Turkey was provided and everyone brought the fixings. It was pleasant to see Turks and Anglos. Seems like English teachers who travel around are a special breed- everyone has a story. I chatted with the Turkish boyfriend of a teacher. Ole enjoyed telling this man his take on his society! This Turkish professional said that the ruling families (Koç, Sabançi and a few others) did have to clean up their act and improve their products when the government relaxed trade barriers.
Some of the teachers are going to Bulgaria during the Bayrum holiday to get cheap wine and ham.
Friday I attended "Innovations in Marketing," sponsored by the student marketing club. They said it was in English, but when the woman who I thought was just introducing the speaker started with powerpoint slides- I went to get headphones for similtaneous translation. It actually worked quite well. Rajesh Chandy was the keynote. He superbly entertained and enlightened us about the topic of innovation which is applicable to us all- not soley in the marketing arena. His theme was taking concepts across contexts. He gave the example of Goldcorp, a mining company in Canada that was going bankrupt. Normally mines keep all their maps confidential. Goldcorp posted their maps on the internet and offered money for advice on where they should dig. An Australian using a 3D computer mapping program won the prize and Goldcorp became profitable.
We had a break "cocktail" break at noon- no liquor- just small finger food- guess the students just liked the name.
He's an artist. He fell in love with Turkey because he was teaching Turkish people in Denmark and then decided he needed to know more about his pupils, so he traveled to their villages in eastern Turkey. His take is that the Kemalists, adherents of Atatürk who were in power for 80 years, are corrupt and the current party is actually doing some good. (The situation is a little similar to Labor and Likud in Israel.) He says the government has vocational programs to get the unskilled working and they are helping the poor, something the previous government never did. As he was criticizing Atatürk, he actually said we needed to be careful because it is against the law to criticize the him. I invited Ole to the Thanksgiving dinner because he knows a lot of Koç folks.
The English Language Center organized the dinner in the Founders Hall. Turkey was provided and everyone brought the fixings. It was pleasant to see Turks and Anglos. Seems like English teachers who travel around are a special breed- everyone has a story. I chatted with the Turkish boyfriend of a teacher. Ole enjoyed telling this man his take on his society! This Turkish professional said that the ruling families (Koç, Sabançi and a few others) did have to clean up their act and improve their products when the government relaxed trade barriers.
Some of the teachers are going to Bulgaria during the Bayrum holiday to get cheap wine and ham.
Friday I attended "Innovations in Marketing," sponsored by the student marketing club. They said it was in English, but when the woman who I thought was just introducing the speaker started with powerpoint slides- I went to get headphones for similtaneous translation. It actually worked quite well. Rajesh Chandy was the keynote. He superbly entertained and enlightened us about the topic of innovation which is applicable to us all- not soley in the marketing arena. His theme was taking concepts across contexts. He gave the example of Goldcorp, a mining company in Canada that was going bankrupt. Normally mines keep all their maps confidential. Goldcorp posted their maps on the internet and offered money for advice on where they should dig. An Australian using a 3D computer mapping program won the prize and Goldcorp became profitable.
We had a break "cocktail" break at noon- no liquor- just small finger food- guess the students just liked the name.
Monday, 1 December 2008
P&G Factory Tour
I saw posters all over the business school announcing a P&G plant tour. There were no details, so I called around. Next day there was an email with details- lucky for me I have a student email account, not staff. So on Wednesday I went with 18 students from the Engineering Student Club to tour Procter & Gamble Gebze plant. We traveled 1 1/2 hours in a charted minibus to an industrial park on the Asian side. Strict security- we had to give our IDs and then receive an ID card. Pictures were only allowed in the visitors' room. Outside this room they had charts about their production, morale, etc. but I was not allowed to photograph.
The first woman asked if there were any foreign visitors. I raised my hand so consequently the students had to listen to the presentation in English! She was Ms. P&G, proudly proclaiming that they "make the life of each customer really better each year."
The presenters quickly engaged the students by asking how many brands they think P&G has, how many employees, etc. Guessing the correct answer for employees (450 in Gebze) I received a kilo of Ariel, their most expensive detergent. I saw on the poster that Olay is a P&G brand- would have been nice to win a bag of Olay products, but this plant only manufacturers detergent, diapers and feminine products!
This was a recruiting event. They said they were interested in all degrees, for all functions. The students check job availability online and take some tests. If they pass, they are invited for interviews. They were promoting the P&G Live Event in March. Our CMC should see if we could have such an event. BBAs- check this page.
Internships are a minimum 2 months in the summer. It was a real corporate pitch- I hadn't seen this in awhile; it was textbook corporate strategy. They talked about Power of People, Power of Agility and Power of Minds. They offer a challenging environment with young managers, lots of learning opportunities, international exposure and promotion from within (in the marketing seminar I attended on Friday at Koç- the professor mentioned that P&G's promotion from within was one of their downfalls and the current CEO changed this..more on this later.)
At Gebze they produce detergent, bleach, diapers and feminine pads. They export toRomania, Balkans, Nigeria, Russia, Kuwait, Iran, Afghanistan and the Caucases.
The following presenters spoke in Turkish so a few students translated for me. After we put on our safety shoes, we entered the factory floor. They made sure we took ear plugs from the dispenser and once we were on the noisy factory floor they started their explanations! The plant is highly automated, resulting in few employees on the floor. Posters are plastered everywhere - Safety, Quality and Delivery. Posters illustrate x savings by doing y. Machine operators have their photo on the machine that they are responsible for. We passed rooms of people starring at computer screens (quality control) and labs. 78% of detergent produced is for local consumption.
In response to the economic situation they are already producing more of the cheaper line of detergent. For China they make a cheaper diaper, per customer request. Process Engineers were are tour guides. They're responsible for increasing productivity and decreasing costs. Our guide received her MBA from the UK. Parts of the plant runs 24/day. They use hazardous enzymes in the detergent, but of course assured us that they only use an acceptable amount and this activity is isolated from the rest of the operation. After seeing the massive towers and huge operation, I thought about the Native Americans gathering plants and whopping their clothes against the rocks. Have we really progressed?
Entering the packaging facility I observed that it was Israel day- all packaging in Hebrew. Turns out they do this run in 2 hours and then switch to another language!
We concluded the day with lunch- Sodexho is the contractor here, as well as at Koç. I think Sodexho could radically increase their profits if they uniformally adopted the Turkish menu! The 2 engineer tour guides ate with us and answered more student questions. Students were impressed with the tour and most hoped to land a job with P&G.
The first woman asked if there were any foreign visitors. I raised my hand so consequently the students had to listen to the presentation in English! She was Ms. P&G, proudly proclaiming that they "make the life of each customer really better each year."
The presenters quickly engaged the students by asking how many brands they think P&G has, how many employees, etc. Guessing the correct answer for employees (450 in Gebze) I received a kilo of Ariel, their most expensive detergent. I saw on the poster that Olay is a P&G brand- would have been nice to win a bag of Olay products, but this plant only manufacturers detergent, diapers and feminine products!
This was a recruiting event. They said they were interested in all degrees, for all functions. The students check job availability online and take some tests. If they pass, they are invited for interviews. They were promoting the P&G Live Event in March. Our CMC should see if we could have such an event. BBAs- check this page.
Internships are a minimum 2 months in the summer. It was a real corporate pitch- I hadn't seen this in awhile; it was textbook corporate strategy. They talked about Power of People, Power of Agility and Power of Minds. They offer a challenging environment with young managers, lots of learning opportunities, international exposure and promotion from within (in the marketing seminar I attended on Friday at Koç- the professor mentioned that P&G's promotion from within was one of their downfalls and the current CEO changed this..more on this later.)
At Gebze they produce detergent, bleach, diapers and feminine pads. They export toRomania, Balkans, Nigeria, Russia, Kuwait, Iran, Afghanistan and the Caucases.
The following presenters spoke in Turkish so a few students translated for me. After we put on our safety shoes, we entered the factory floor. They made sure we took ear plugs from the dispenser and once we were on the noisy factory floor they started their explanations! The plant is highly automated, resulting in few employees on the floor. Posters are plastered everywhere - Safety, Quality and Delivery. Posters illustrate x savings by doing y. Machine operators have their photo on the machine that they are responsible for. We passed rooms of people starring at computer screens (quality control) and labs. 78% of detergent produced is for local consumption.
In response to the economic situation they are already producing more of the cheaper line of detergent. For China they make a cheaper diaper, per customer request. Process Engineers were are tour guides. They're responsible for increasing productivity and decreasing costs. Our guide received her MBA from the UK. Parts of the plant runs 24/day. They use hazardous enzymes in the detergent, but of course assured us that they only use an acceptable amount and this activity is isolated from the rest of the operation. After seeing the massive towers and huge operation, I thought about the Native Americans gathering plants and whopping their clothes against the rocks. Have we really progressed?
Entering the packaging facility I observed that it was Israel day- all packaging in Hebrew. Turns out they do this run in 2 hours and then switch to another language!
We concluded the day with lunch- Sodexho is the contractor here, as well as at Koç. I think Sodexho could radically increase their profits if they uniformally adopted the Turkish menu! The 2 engineer tour guides ate with us and answered more student questions. Students were impressed with the tour and most hoped to land a job with P&G.
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Six is a charm
First of all I want to acknowledge the tragedy in Mumbai. I had BBC over the week-end so I could get more news. 185 people- so many families torn apart. Such a tragic situation in the Chabad house - amazing how the child was saved.
It's Sunday evening. I'll fill you in later on what happened during the week, now I'll tell you about the week-end. I left Friday afternoon for Istanbul. I was having a dinner with the Emory alumni in a neighborhood just north of Taksim - the center of the European side. We were meeting at 8:30 so I had time to wander around. I visited the nursing school library at the Koç hospital. This is a branch of our library. It's small; the librarian was so friendly.
This is a wealthy area with a lot of fancy shops and restaurants. The side streets were more interesting. They don't have a lot of trash cans on the sidewalks. When I finally found one near a grocery store, I tossed my banana peel. When I heard a plop I think I found the olive barrel instead.
Only 3 Goizueta alum showed and 1 Emory econ alum and a girlfriend. 2 of the alum work for family businesses - one with petrochemicals and the other manufactures steel boxes and tomato products. They travel to Syria, Jordan and the Caucasus- little different orientation than us!
The econ student is freelancing in Istanbul.
3 of us headed to the Asian side afterwards - this means crossing the Bosphorus. I took a bus to Mamara University. Seval, a friend of Kim Whalen, is a professor there. I stayed in the guest house. When I entered and saw rugs drying on the radiators, I thought maybe I made the wrong choice. My room was superb- I had a large living room area, double bed and best of all- BBC!
Saturday I met Seval and we wandered around Kadıköy and Moda. There are always a lot of transportation options - bus, train, tram, etc. I have an akbil- a little metal button that you keep adding money to- it's so convenient. They were passing out free tulip bulbs. ( you know the Ottomans sent the tulips to the Netherlands.)
I asked Seval if she had seen the movie "Mustafa," about the founder of the state. She had not and said some of her friends did not like the movie. I asked what was their criticism and she said that Atatürk was a great military commander with many victories. This movie depicts him as a womanizer and drinking a lot. Seval said- "why do we need to see such things about our leader?" Hmmm I was thinking- JFK, FDR, Clinton......
Seval is opposed to the current government. She thinks they give all the contracts to their buddies. She said her cousin was told she had to wear a headscarf in the grocery store where she was working. She quit instead of complying. There are very strong opinions about the government. I'm no political expert, but supposedly the current government represents the more traditional elements of society. The Kemalists - the founding party - are the elite secularists. They still control the army and the judiciary.
Late afternoon I took the boat across to the European side to a concert in the train station. The room was beautiful- sort of 1920s look. Easy to buy tickets at the last minute. I bought the cheapest. I was wondering if Turks move up to the better seats once the lights go out- when 2 guys near me whipped out of their seats as soon as the program started, I followed them quickly.
The pianist Tuluyhan Uğurlu was accompanied by 3 musicians on traditional Turkish instruments. Tuluyhan pounded way too much. The savings feature was the slide show during the music. I couldn't understand the captions so I was trying to figure out the theme, but after seeing scenes of the country followed by Jesus, Greeks, soccer stadiums and tea and cookies - I figured there was no theme! I think it was still rather nationalistic. The best part was when they came to the Atatürk slides near the end, the audience actually broke out into applause! Mind you, the country was founded 85 years ago by this guy. I had read somewhere that for Turks, Atatürk is a combination of George Washington, FDR and Jesus all in one.
Sunday morning I woke up early and thought I'd try to get the 7:10 boat to the Princess Islands. These are popular summer spots for people from the city escaping the summer heat. It's really unbearably crowded in the summer - today was just delightful. I witnessed the city unfold in the morning. Very few people on the 1 hr 25min boat ride that stops at the 4 islands. I was only on the island for 1 1/2 hours. The big island is like Mackinaw Island in MI. No cars allowed. There are horse and buggies around and everyone has a bike. A beautiful respite from the Istanbul traffic. I took lots of pictures of the old wooden houses that are nicely restored. The houses are on top of each other, but some have breath-taking views of the sea and the city. Only later did I realize I could have visited some churches and monasteries. On the return I chatted with 2 English women and learned a bit about the ex-pat community. I guess they are getting pensions and legally need to be living in the UK. So they go back every so often. One woman had lived on Crete - the other woman's son is a correspondent in St. Petersburg. They travel a lot, but hadn't been to the monastery on the next island!
I left the island quickly because I wanted to go to a carpet exhibit in the Galata area. The directions were - in the Crimean church, near the tünel, down from the German high school. Early on, someone told me to ask 3 people for directions because the first 2 will be too polite to tell you they don't know the address and will just point somewhere. Well, I decided that on Sunday, you need to ask 6 people.
I got to the tünel (the name for the tram that climbs the hill.) No church around - wandered up the street, heard some Brits, but they were only familiar with other churches. Then a German woman pointed me to the school, but the guards wouldn't let me pass the gate. I asked the police- he simply pulled out a map. The Brits had said that the churches are quite hidden. Then I stopped some Italians with a guidebook- but no entries under Crimea. I continued to wander around and saw a sign for a restaurant that a friend had recommended. I walked into the restaurant and finally the woman knew the church and gave me simple directions.
It was all totally worth it because this exhibit was indeed special- only takes place twice a year. A German couple started teaching some villagers about 30 years ago how to use natural dyes that their great-grandparents had used in their rugs. They had a great video about the whole process- "A piece of Carpet History," by Barbara Trottnow. Someone at Emory should purchase the video. Harald Böhmer is the German who researches old carpets at Mamara University in order to learn about the natural dyes. They have formed 2 cooperatives. Now the women in the villages are the main breadwinners. The film says that the men are proud to have their wives in the co-ops. The men work as dyers and some make the wooden tools used in the process and of course they herd the sheep. Now the people have employment and don't need to leave their villages which are located in western Turkey- near Troy and Bodrum. The video even showed the young kids collecting flowers for the dyes.
Some of the men were at the exhibit. I'm pleased to say I purchased a carpet. It was nice not to have to bargain and to know that you are paying a decent price. After watching the video and seeing all the work that goes into the carpet, I feel the price is well worth it. It's a great project- something our BBAs could think about - social entrepreneurship. Böhmer revived an ancient craft. Now 1/3 of Turkish carpets use natural dyes. I have the name of the carpet weaver and her village. The men even said that quite a few of their women went to a San Francisco museum to demonstrate carpet weaving!
An American was volunteering in the exhibit. Dee was very knowledgeable about the carpets and speaks Turkish so could ask my questions to the men from the village. Turns out she was here during the devastating earthquake in 1999. She was translating for NGOs. She was then hired by Mercy Corp and travels all around the world. She does logistics and said this is in great demand. Perhaps some of our BBAs would be interested in such work- Dee says NGOs really need business and finance people.
So she is off to Sudan in a few weeks. She offered me her apartment! So we'll see- all in all- it was a delightful afternoon. As I was leaving, we heard a lot of music outside and I was told that was a wedding procession. So I rushed out to take pictures. It was just a few women with 3 musicians. One young woman held flowers - maybe she was the bride? They were celebrating something and they didn't have much money. They danced a few minutes in the street. Then the small crowd dispersed and a woman brought new socks to the musicians- not sure if this was there full renumeration.
Mike Froman will be happy to know I took 7 forms of transportation from my guest room to home- bus, boat, subway, fernicular, tram, metro and dolmus (minibus.)
It's Sunday evening. I'll fill you in later on what happened during the week, now I'll tell you about the week-end. I left Friday afternoon for Istanbul. I was having a dinner with the Emory alumni in a neighborhood just north of Taksim - the center of the European side. We were meeting at 8:30 so I had time to wander around. I visited the nursing school library at the Koç hospital. This is a branch of our library. It's small; the librarian was so friendly.
This is a wealthy area with a lot of fancy shops and restaurants. The side streets were more interesting. They don't have a lot of trash cans on the sidewalks. When I finally found one near a grocery store, I tossed my banana peel. When I heard a plop I think I found the olive barrel instead.
Only 3 Goizueta alum showed and 1 Emory econ alum and a girlfriend. 2 of the alum work for family businesses - one with petrochemicals and the other manufactures steel boxes and tomato products. They travel to Syria, Jordan and the Caucasus- little different orientation than us!
The econ student is freelancing in Istanbul.
3 of us headed to the Asian side afterwards - this means crossing the Bosphorus. I took a bus to Mamara University. Seval, a friend of Kim Whalen, is a professor there. I stayed in the guest house. When I entered and saw rugs drying on the radiators, I thought maybe I made the wrong choice. My room was superb- I had a large living room area, double bed and best of all- BBC!
Saturday I met Seval and we wandered around Kadıköy and Moda. There are always a lot of transportation options - bus, train, tram, etc. I have an akbil- a little metal button that you keep adding money to- it's so convenient. They were passing out free tulip bulbs. ( you know the Ottomans sent the tulips to the Netherlands.)
I asked Seval if she had seen the movie "Mustafa," about the founder of the state. She had not and said some of her friends did not like the movie. I asked what was their criticism and she said that Atatürk was a great military commander with many victories. This movie depicts him as a womanizer and drinking a lot. Seval said- "why do we need to see such things about our leader?" Hmmm I was thinking- JFK, FDR, Clinton......
Seval is opposed to the current government. She thinks they give all the contracts to their buddies. She said her cousin was told she had to wear a headscarf in the grocery store where she was working. She quit instead of complying. There are very strong opinions about the government. I'm no political expert, but supposedly the current government represents the more traditional elements of society. The Kemalists - the founding party - are the elite secularists. They still control the army and the judiciary.
Late afternoon I took the boat across to the European side to a concert in the train station. The room was beautiful- sort of 1920s look. Easy to buy tickets at the last minute. I bought the cheapest. I was wondering if Turks move up to the better seats once the lights go out- when 2 guys near me whipped out of their seats as soon as the program started, I followed them quickly.
The pianist Tuluyhan Uğurlu was accompanied by 3 musicians on traditional Turkish instruments. Tuluyhan pounded way too much. The savings feature was the slide show during the music. I couldn't understand the captions so I was trying to figure out the theme, but after seeing scenes of the country followed by Jesus, Greeks, soccer stadiums and tea and cookies - I figured there was no theme! I think it was still rather nationalistic. The best part was when they came to the Atatürk slides near the end, the audience actually broke out into applause! Mind you, the country was founded 85 years ago by this guy. I had read somewhere that for Turks, Atatürk is a combination of George Washington, FDR and Jesus all in one.
Sunday morning I woke up early and thought I'd try to get the 7:10 boat to the Princess Islands. These are popular summer spots for people from the city escaping the summer heat. It's really unbearably crowded in the summer - today was just delightful. I witnessed the city unfold in the morning. Very few people on the 1 hr 25min boat ride that stops at the 4 islands. I was only on the island for 1 1/2 hours. The big island is like Mackinaw Island in MI. No cars allowed. There are horse and buggies around and everyone has a bike. A beautiful respite from the Istanbul traffic. I took lots of pictures of the old wooden houses that are nicely restored. The houses are on top of each other, but some have breath-taking views of the sea and the city. Only later did I realize I could have visited some churches and monasteries. On the return I chatted with 2 English women and learned a bit about the ex-pat community. I guess they are getting pensions and legally need to be living in the UK. So they go back every so often. One woman had lived on Crete - the other woman's son is a correspondent in St. Petersburg. They travel a lot, but hadn't been to the monastery on the next island!
I left the island quickly because I wanted to go to a carpet exhibit in the Galata area. The directions were - in the Crimean church, near the tünel, down from the German high school. Early on, someone told me to ask 3 people for directions because the first 2 will be too polite to tell you they don't know the address and will just point somewhere. Well, I decided that on Sunday, you need to ask 6 people.
I got to the tünel (the name for the tram that climbs the hill.) No church around - wandered up the street, heard some Brits, but they were only familiar with other churches. Then a German woman pointed me to the school, but the guards wouldn't let me pass the gate. I asked the police- he simply pulled out a map. The Brits had said that the churches are quite hidden. Then I stopped some Italians with a guidebook- but no entries under Crimea. I continued to wander around and saw a sign for a restaurant that a friend had recommended. I walked into the restaurant and finally the woman knew the church and gave me simple directions.
It was all totally worth it because this exhibit was indeed special- only takes place twice a year. A German couple started teaching some villagers about 30 years ago how to use natural dyes that their great-grandparents had used in their rugs. They had a great video about the whole process- "A piece of Carpet History," by Barbara Trottnow. Someone at Emory should purchase the video. Harald Böhmer is the German who researches old carpets at Mamara University in order to learn about the natural dyes. They have formed 2 cooperatives. Now the women in the villages are the main breadwinners. The film says that the men are proud to have their wives in the co-ops. The men work as dyers and some make the wooden tools used in the process and of course they herd the sheep. Now the people have employment and don't need to leave their villages which are located in western Turkey- near Troy and Bodrum. The video even showed the young kids collecting flowers for the dyes.
Some of the men were at the exhibit. I'm pleased to say I purchased a carpet. It was nice not to have to bargain and to know that you are paying a decent price. After watching the video and seeing all the work that goes into the carpet, I feel the price is well worth it. It's a great project- something our BBAs could think about - social entrepreneurship. Böhmer revived an ancient craft. Now 1/3 of Turkish carpets use natural dyes. I have the name of the carpet weaver and her village. The men even said that quite a few of their women went to a San Francisco museum to demonstrate carpet weaving!
An American was volunteering in the exhibit. Dee was very knowledgeable about the carpets and speaks Turkish so could ask my questions to the men from the village. Turns out she was here during the devastating earthquake in 1999. She was translating for NGOs. She was then hired by Mercy Corp and travels all around the world. She does logistics and said this is in great demand. Perhaps some of our BBAs would be interested in such work- Dee says NGOs really need business and finance people.
So she is off to Sudan in a few weeks. She offered me her apartment! So we'll see- all in all- it was a delightful afternoon. As I was leaving, we heard a lot of music outside and I was told that was a wedding procession. So I rushed out to take pictures. It was just a few women with 3 musicians. One young woman held flowers - maybe she was the bride? They were celebrating something and they didn't have much money. They danced a few minutes in the street. Then the small crowd dispersed and a woman brought new socks to the musicians- not sure if this was there full renumeration.
Mike Froman will be happy to know I took 7 forms of transportation from my guest room to home- bus, boat, subway, fernicular, tram, metro and dolmus (minibus.)
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