Harika Tatil Vardım (I had a great vacation)

Okay I know I know… It’s been forever since I’ve updated my blog. So much has happened I just don’t know where to start. Since I wrote last I have been to Cappadocia, South Eastern Turkey near Syria, and my last trip was to Ephesus and Izmir.
Cappadocia was so wonderful. There are strange rock formations made from volcanic ash that look like small mountains. The rock is very soft because it is ash so for hundreds of years people have lived in caves in them. When we went we were able to stay in some of these caves. It was nice and cool in the cave (the temperature and the effect). We saw many hot air balloons which you could take a ride in for a cool 100 euros per person. This is about 150 dollars when the exchange rate is good. Needless I enjoyed the balloons from the ground. As a group we saw an underground city where Christians lived to escape their enemies. There were so many cave rooms underground and they were all connected with tiny pathways. Sometimes we almost had to crawl to get from one room to the next. It was amazing to see where they lived and to imagine living not only in a cave but to be in fear of your life. We had a guide while in Cappadocia who took us on a hike through the wilderness and through a few villages. We saw a beautiful church that was carved into the side of a mountain that was hundreds of years old. We had to climb to get to it but it was completely worth it. It was amazing to see the church so small and humble in the side of the great mountain. It was so beautiful.

The next trip was to the South East. Many of my Turkish friends have never been there and were afraid to go. However, when I arrived there I expected to see more differences between the south eastern cities there and Ankara. However, the cities we stayed in were very modern. I wish that we could have visited some villages. However, the danger that my friends speak of comes from the bad blood that exists between some Turkish people and Kurdish people. This issue is evident throughout Turkey but it is especially visible in the South East. I am not an expert on the issue but from what I understand the Kurdish people (who have slightly darker skin) lived in Turkey first (sort of similar to the Native Americans in the U.S. but not exactly). Turkish people came mostly from central Asia and tend to have lighter skin. After the Ottoman Empire collapsed after WWI Turkey was in shambles. There was no sense of national identity because so many different people from different places had lived under Ottoman rule. So, when Atatűrk helped to create a Turkish republic, nationalism was a very important piece of the puzzle. However, many Kurdish people do not identify with the Turkish national identity because they have their own language and different customs from Turks. This creates problems because people on both sides believe there is not room for a Kurdish identity in Turkey. Although there is still violence that exists in when we were in Mardin we made friends with some Kurdish students. They were so nice and showed us around their beautiful home town.

My final and probably my favorite trip was this past (almost week) weekend. I went with my friend Hayal and Duygu from my Psychology class to Ephesus (Efes) and Izmir. Fist we went to Selcuk (the town efes is in) which is adorable. We stayed with Hayal's older sister. She has three children. The oldest girl is nine, the second is a boy is 4 and the youngest boy is ten months old. They were adorable and I got to practice a lot of Turkish. Because the family lives in Selcuk we were able to get in to the museum, Efes, and Mother Mary's home all for free! They showed me around the city and it was perfect being with some one who lived there. Because Hayal had an exam on the weekend she was planning to leave on Thursday night. I spent Wednesday and Thursday in Efes and that night I took a 1 hour bus to Izmir to meet my friend Duygu. I was able to spend Friday, Saturday and the day on Sunday in Izmir. There are not a lot of historical things in Izmir and the one site of ruins is nothing compared to Efes. However, the sea is so beautiful and we had a wonderful time walking around, going to the pazar, and drinking tea. Also, one night they made Eggplant kebab which was delicious. It is eggplant pieces with meatballs cooked with spices and tomatoes and peppers. You take the skin off the eggplant and eat it with the meatballs. So delicious! It was so relaxing and I had a wonderful time living in their homes and getting to know my Turkish friends better. I will miss them very much.

Ben Türkçe yavaş öğreniyorum (I'm learning Turkish slowly)

Sometimes I feel like I don’t know any Turkish. I try to communicate with people and after I introduce myself and tell them that I am from America there is not much more that I can say. However, I am doing better it just takes me a long time to form sentences. I know past, simple present, and future tense. However, because it is a suffix language some of the words turn out being ridiculously long. “Siz koşmayacak mısınız?” Is, “Are you not going run?” “Siz” is the formal “You.” “Koşmak” is the verb “to run” but when you conjugate it you take off the “mak.” Then the “ma” is negative which you have to pick “a” or “e” depending on the vowel that comes before it and because “koş” has an “o” then you use “a” for “ma.” Then the “y” is to separate the two vowels because you can not have them next to each other. The “acak” is the future tense suffix which can also change to “ecek” depending again on the vowel that comes before it. The “mı” is the question form and the “sınız” is the ending for the formal “you.” As you can see this can get really complex really quickly and is difficult to remember when talking with native speaking Turks who speak SO fast. One of my Turkish friends says that he will no longer speak English with us but when he speaks Turkish it sounds like a completely different language because it is so fast! I tell him, “yavaş, yavaş” which is “slowly, slowly.” When he doesn’t slow down I speak really fast in English and he can not understand. He understands a little of what I’m going through so he slows down in Turkish.

Even though I get frustrated I had a wonderful experience yesterday. It was raining and so I went in to a café. I noticed right when I sat down that it was very expensive so I just ordered tea politely in Turkish. “Bir tane çay alabilir miyim?” Then after he brought me one he asked me where I was from, “Nerelisin?” I responded in Turkish that I am American, “Amerikalıyım.” Then he said that my Turkish was very good, “Türkçe çok güzel.” I worked on homework for a while and drank another çay. When I was ready to go I asked for the bill “hesap lütfen.” He said “yok” or there was no bill. I was confused and so I asked again. He said no again and I realized that they were not going to charge me for my tea. I said thank you! “teşekkürler!” and told him to have a good day “iyi günler.” I couldn’t believe that I had sucessfully spoken entirly in Turkish and that they gave me free tea. It was great!

The pictures are from my trip to Mersin. It is on the south coast of Turkey and one of my Turkish friends lives there. It was so warm and beautiful there. It was a nice relaxing trip and I am so glad that I was able to go somewhere for a weekend.

Aaron’e aşığlm (I am in love with Aaron)

So as many of you know my boyfriend came to visit me in Turkey! It was so amazing not only to spend time with him but to show him around a foreign country! He arrived on Friday February 27th and I picked him up at the airport. We then took a bus to the train station and took a train to Istanbul that night. We arrived in Istanbul early Saturday morning and only had one day in the city because we were taking the train back to Ankara Saturday night. It was a very quick trip but we were able to see the major sites of the city and do quite a bit of shopping at the spice bazaar and the grand bazaar. Aaron really enjoyed bartering (or watching me attempt to barter in Turkish) and he loved the fact that we never paid the full price for anything. When we returned to Ankara he was able to meet some of my Turkish friends and we went to a museum and traditional restaurant. I think they really liked Aaron and I was glad they got the chance to meet him. They were also very impressed by the amount of Turkish he picked up in only a few days. By the end of the week Aaron was able to count, order the bill, ask how much something cost, barter, say thank you, and many other phrases. I was so impressed by how quickly he picked it up and how willing he was to learn.

The week went by so quickly but my favorite experience by far was on Friday. I did not have class so we were able to spend the whole day exploring the city. I took him to an old castle outside the city center. The castle is in a poorer neighborhood but that adds to its character and the view from the top is spectacular. When we go to the top we both wanted a picture of us together. I tried to ask some Turkish people who were also there touring the castle if they would take a picture. They understood and after taking a picture of them they took a picture of us. We tried to communicate with the little Turkish I knew and they were very nice and patient with me. I asked them where they were from and found out they were all a family and were touring in Ankara for a short time. After we left them the older man came up to us again and gave Aaron some prayer beads. It was so nice of him and we both couldn’t believe it! Then on our way down from the castle there were some small shops and outside one of the shops was this rug. Aaron noticed it first and then I saw it. It was absolutely gorgeous. We continued walking because we didn’t think we could afford it. After about fifteen minutes of shopping we kept talking about the rug. Aaron knew that I wanted it and I knew that he wanted it too. I also knew that if we didn’t go back and look at it we would forever wonder about it. I asked “kaç para?” (“how much?”) and the man said $400. I said “Ohhh çok pahala!” (“very expensive!”) I also did not have any dollars on me so I offered him 200 turkish lira. He said no (because this is much less than half of the original price.) Then he said 400 turkish lira. I said 250. He said 300. I said yes. The man was so excited he ran inside and got his friend. They invited us in and gave us elma çay (apple tea) and then vacuumed off the rug while we drank our tea. After that they tied the rug up and put it in a plastic bag. At this point I still was not sure how much money Aaron and I had. I looked in my wallet and only had 180 lira. He looked in his and had 120. So we had exactly enough to pay for the rug. It was meant to be. After we drank our tea and paid for the rug Aaron carried it down the hill. We found out later that the rug weighed 14 kilos which is about 30.8 pounds! We had to ship it because we were hanging out with friends later and I knew that we would not be comfortable carrying a 30 pound rug around all day and then the next day to the airport. We found a post office which just happened to ship cargo. We brought the rug in and after taking a picture of it brought it to the area where they ship cargo. The man said that I needed to buy a box. I had no idea where to get a box that large. I told him that and he brought out a large shipping back and it took about ten minutes but he finally was able to get the rug in the bag. I wrote my home address on the bag with a permanent marker and wrote as much of my return address here in Turkey that I could remember. I really hope it gets to America. Aaron and I were both fresh out of money so I asked the man if we could go to the bank and get more money out. He said that was fine and we left the rug at the post office. I pulled out about 160 lira and we went back to the post office. After weighing the rug and putting in the address he told us that to ship the rug by boat it would take about 14 days and it would cost 150 lira! Good thing I pulled out a little extra money. I paid him in cash and we left. It was definitely an adventure and I am so glad that we were able do to buy the rug together. It was hard to see Aaron off at the airport but we were able to share some wonderful times together and I am so glad that he made the trip safely!

Ben Tűrkiye seviyorum! (I love Turkey!)

Last weekend our group went to Istanbul! I can see now why all my Turkish friends think Ankara is so boring! The city is full of fascinating history, beautiful architecture, and wonderful people. We arrived to Istanbul at 7:30 am after a long night on the train. It was cold but the sun was shinning and we took a ferry boat from the Asian side of Istanbul to the European side. It was absolutely gorgeous. That day we were able to go to the spice market which looks like it fell out of the Disney movie Aladdin. There were huge buckets of spices, huge slabs of Turkish delight, scarves of every color, and every kind of souvenir you could imagine. It was so cool!

The next day we went to the Sultan Ahmet Camii (Blue Mosque) and the Haghia Sophia. They were both so beautiful! The Blue Mosque still has worship services that are held there but the Haghia Sophia does not. The Haghia Sophia used to be a church during the time of Constantine but was turned into a Mosque when the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453. In 1935 it was converted into a museum so that there would be no fighting over the space. This way all can enjoy the beauty of the mosque (around the scaffolding) for the low price of 20 YTL (New Turkish Lira) which comes out to be about $11.80. I was also able to meet up with my friend Susan from Hope College! She is studying in Greece this semester and just happend to be in Istanbul the same weekend! =) It was amazing to see her! We went to this little place down a back street that was filled with places to eat. There was live music and we had a blast! I was sad that it was cold and rainy but I still had an amazing time and I can not wait to go back this weekend when Aaron comes to visit me!

Memnun Oldum (Nice to meet you)

I have met so many wonderful people here in Turkey! From only being here for 15 days I can already tell that hospitality is a major part of the Turkish culture. I have some Turkish friends that offer to pay for me whenever we go out to eat. This shocked me at the beginning and I protested. However, they told me that they view me as a guest in their country and paying for me is part of being a good host. I knew that I was not going to win that argument and so I let them pay for my dinner. I really enjoy spending time with my Turkish friends and I wanted to repay them for the meals and showing me around the city of Ankara. Because they would not let me pay for them if we went out to eat I decided that I would make them dinner.

There is a small grocery store on campus called Şok that has some food and other personal amenities which is where I got my brilliant idea. I would make them spaghetti! That should be easy enough. I just needed noodles, pasta sauce, and stuff to make garlic bread. Wrong. The spaghetti noodles were easy enough to find. However, there was no pasta sauce only tomato paste. So I got some olive oil and oregano to spice the paste up a bit. It still tasted pretty bitter so I added sugar and some salt and pepper. It was not the same as Prego but it turned out fine. Also, when I decided to make garlic bread I thought I could use butter and garlic power. We finally found the butter but we couldn’t tell right away which container the butter and which was the cheese. We figured it out when we found the word for fat (yağlı) on the side of all the butter containers. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to buy it after that but I still did. Also, there was no garlic powder only real garlic. I guess I never realized how strong real garlic is but even though the toasted butter, garlic, and oregano bread tasted amazing my breath stunk for a few days after the party.

I made the food at my friend’s apartment. She has a small yellow lab type dog named rűzgar which means wind. That name suits him well because he is crazy like the wind. It was very funny because two of my other friends who had dinner with us are mildly afraid of dogs. One of my Turkish friends told me that he thinks dogs are not clean and only touched one once before in his life. I was shocked. I could not believe that a person could go their whole life and never pet a friendly dog. He tried to avoid rűzgar at all costs but it was very funny when rűzgar tried to get his attention and jumped up on him. The party was a huge success and I was so happy I got the chance to cook for them.

Hoshgeldiniz! (Welcome!)

I have been in Turkey for one week and I am absolutely in love with the country! The people are so friendly and the food is amazing! I am staying at METU (Middle East Technical University) which is about a 20 minute dolmus (minibus) ride from the city center. The other American students and I are taking a Turkish language course at one of private language schools downtown Ankara. Through the Active Languages School we have peer students who speak Turkish and are learning or who have learned English. They are so friendly and I really enjoy spending time with them. Our peer students push us to speak Turkish which helps a lot. Although I am sure I sound like a two year old when I speak Turkish but I know more Turkish after only a week than I ever thought I would. The city of Ankara is very busy and exciting (although our peer students say that compared to Istanbul Ankara is very boring) I love the fact that I can take public transportation everywhere and I feel safe traveling in the city.

On Friday we went to the largest mosque in Ankara and stayed for one of their services. The mosque was beautiful on the inside. It was fully carpeted and there was Arabic script written all over the walls. I could not believe how breathtaking it was! Everyone had to take off their shoes when they entered but as a woman in the mosque I had to cover my hair. I also had to go to the top floor of the mosque because the men and women were not allowed to worship together. I did not like the fact that the women were segregated from the men especially when we were forced to squish together to make room for more men on our floor because it was so packed. However, it was an interesting experience and I hope to see other mosques during my stay in Turkey.

I am having such a great time I could not have picked a better place to study abroad and I am so glad that I am here in Ankara, Turkey!

Why Turkey!?

There are only 12 days before my departure for Ankara, Turkey! I am so excited! I can’t wait to be immersed in a culture that is almost completely different from my own. However, when I tell people that I am going to Turkey I have gotten some interesting responses. A few people become extremely animated and tell me that they or someone they know has been to Turkey and absolutely loved it! But the majority of the people that find out I am going to Turkey have a quizzical look on their face and say something along the lines of… “Turkey! Oh! Hmm… that’s interesting. Why did you choose Turkey?”

The answer to this question is not as easy as you might think… there were a lot of factors that went into my decision along with the nudging of my heavenly Father. I should probably start at the beginning. When I was eleven years old my father did a pastoral exchange just outside of York, England for seven weeks. I was fortunate to travel with him and family to England and caught the travel bug. Ever since then I knew if it was possible I had to study abroad while I was in college. At first I wanted to study in Australia. I even talked with a few of my friends who had gone there and loved it!

But then, the summer after my freshman year of college, my family and I traveled to China to visit my brother who had been studying there for a semester. After returning from that trip I realized that I did not have to be afraid of studying in a country where English was not the primary language. Then, during my sophomore year of college I was in the study abroad office and a brochure for Turkey caught my eye. I had never considered Turkey before but I knew that my parents had traveled there when they were in the Middle East. I called my parents and asked them about their time in Turkey. They both said that it was a beautiful country and they had an amazing experience. A few days later I was reading a book where one of the main characters travels to Turkey for the summer on an excavation. The next few weeks I thought and prayed a lot about it and I just couldn’t get the idea of traveling to Turkey out of my head. The final deciding factor was when I looked in the booklet describing the program and I saw they offered Psychology classes. I was hooked on Turkey! It has been a crazy and exciting journey ever since and I haven’t even set foot in the country yet!

I hope you find this blog informative and at least a little entertaining and I will try to keep it updated. May God bless you all and keep you safe! =)