Here are some pictures from my last weeks spent in Turkey. Last day of Turkish class Ketchup I found at Arby's. It claims it is "Colorado Ketchup". What At Ataturk Kosku with my brother again in Trabzon. The 99 names for God At the Hagia Sofia, a very old church in Trabzon Exploring Mosques around Samsun with Madison. We also interviewed a man at one and he told us what it meant for him to be Muslim We finally visited the most famous part of Samsun, the port where Ataturk came on May 19 to begin the War of Independence. Last day of school :( Picnic with our families and neighbors Model UN. Madison and I both represented America in different councils. I, strangely enough, was put into European councils (America is not in that council) and there was no America in, get this, NATO. (?) Ramadan in the village. We woke up at around 2 am to the sound of drums, awaking the neighborhood to have their last food and water before the sun came up. Graduation with my host dad, mom, and brother. I got to graduate at his school even though I didn't go there. They made me a fake diploma and everything. An image that went viral on social media. My host brothers English teacher is in front. The boys in the back were playing this game they always seem to when teachers aren't looking where they throw boys in the air and try to make them go higher every time. Unfortunately he found out they were doing it behind his back because of this shot :) Everything I had in the world. And yes, it was mostly books
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Here is one of my unpublished posts from one of my last excursions in Turkey, I was really luck to have the opportunity to go on a school trip to Izmir with all of my classmates. We visited the İzmir Saat Kulesi (Izmir Clock Tower). It has four fountains around it. It is said that when everything was being destroyed during the war the clock never stopped working and even since it was built in 1901 the clock has stayed accurate, not going too fast or too slow. This is me and my classmates (with our school scarf, as always!) A Mosque near the tower I was really lucky to run into Mary, who is not only also an American on a scholarship program here (NSLI-Y) but also a fellow Coloradan! I met her at the beginning at a meeting in Colorado for people going with AFS to other countries. (we go way back). It was great to talk with her and introduce her to my friends. We didn't get to spend much time together but a little foreign-nes goes a long way :) We then went to Alaçatı which is a beautiful city that looks really Greek. None of the houses can be more than two stories and everyone decorates them so well. I couldn't believe that something like that really exists. Parts of it were pretty tourist-y with the little shops and things, but since we were speaking Turkish we actually had many opportunities to make conversation with the locals. I loved how calm they all were. A lot of people got around only by mother cycle. After that we went to Çeşme which is by the beach. We ate mussels which you can find all throughout Turkey but they are always delicious no matter where they come from. We also go to hang out by the beach a little. We went to Meryem Ana (Mary's apparent death place) and Ephesus which I have already described. I learned a lot more about them now however because I actually understand Turkish and our guide was really great at describing things. When driving up the mountain to the house where they say Mary died (though this is really questionable) our guide told us this story of how a nun (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich) had visions and described the way to find it before she died. Apparently some French explorers took her instructions and climbed through the mountains to discover it. The great thing about Meryem Ana is that for Muslims and Christians it is a kind of place of worship. It was also cool to be with all of my classmates. There were certain things that I take for granted that I could describe to them that were interesting. I told them what a rosary was and said a Hail Mary which I think was really interesting for them. Here are pictures again from Ephesus Then we went to what has probably become my favorite tourist attraction I have ever been to in my life, Pamukkale. This strange mountain is made out of "travertine" which causes the rock to all look white!
Where did it get its name?We all know about the brand Nike. I can't mention a single place that I have gone where that little check can't be seen. But where did the name and symbol come from?
Recently I went to Izmir and we went to the ancient Greek city Ephesus. We saw a famous statue, and our guide told us that this was the Greek Goddess Nike. She is, unsurprisingly, the goddess of speed, victory, and strength. When you look at the statue also you may be able to see where that check came from. İçli köfte is a special Turkish dish made by cooking ground beef inside of a spiced bulgur coating. When my host grandmother came over she taught me how to make it with my host mom. My host mom tied back our hair. My host grandmother made the inside with spices earlier. We made the outer coating together. As you can see, you make the bulgur into little palm-sized circles. Then you slowly hollow it out with your thumb until it is shaped as you see in the picture. Then you put in the filling. I only made four! I can tell why this is generally only made for special occasions!
(yes it is a selfie but it's more than nothing...)From left to right: My host dad, host mom, middle brother Alp, older brother Ozan, little brother Can, and I!!!
When I was in sixth grade I went to South Korea with my sister to stay with my best friend Yuji who was a foreign exchange student at my middle school. We were staying there for two weeks. Now it seems like just a small little trip, but back then it was a big deal, and the longest time I had been away from my parents. I had brought the stuffed alpaca that my dad had brought me from Peru and never took off these butterfly earnings that my mom had given me. They became so special to me and I always wanted them near to me because they reminded me of my parents who I missed so much. I realized that when I was preparing to go to Turkey, bringing "comfort items" never really crossed my mind. One of my friends brought "blanky" who doesn't really count as a blanket because he is so old and basically now the size of a rag. But I had been so intent on packing light that I hadn't thought of it. However, unknowingly, I had brought many things that have served of reminders of my old friends and family. The most notable is my green necklace. A few of my friends and I bought identical ones at this rock store together and it had some meaning like "bodies apart but should together" or whatever so we thought that was cool. When I got to Turkey I got in a habit of never taking it off. I looked back at some old pictures and saw that necklace in a most every picture from my goodbye party and last race to my first day of school here and my recent trip to Izmir. I really do feel as though it reminds me of my friends and family and that even though I feel so happy here that I do have a different background than those that I am surrounded with. However, recently, I was shocked into reality that I am going to live through the goodbyes and the sadness and leaving a place that really feels like home, again. On my birthday my friends Beyza and Yiğit arranged a surprise party for me. Beyza and Yiğit made this video for me as a present and it was absolutely amazing and so sweet. Then among the presents they all wrote in this little notebook for me. Then two of my other friends, Zeynep and İrem, gave me this necklace: Inside there is a little grain of rice that says "bizi unutma", which means "don't forget us".
I was really effected by all of this. When I took that necklace in my hand, I felt sharply the same exact feeling that I did when I was preparing to leave the US. I am in a place where I have lived for a large portion of my current life, with people who have affected my view on the world forever. Leaving seems impossible. It won't be easy, I know that. But I am committed to making the best of the time that I have here and knowing that with every person that you meet if they are important to you your souls won't ever be far away and you won't forget them. Green PlumGood news for every Eric out there who wants to come to Turkey: your name is pretty funny. "Erik" in Turkish is a type of plum. However, as I have recently learned, not just any type. Erik are small, slightly sour, and less sweet green plums. They seem as though they are unripened. I was really curious when everybody started to talk about them excitedly. First they showed up in small packages on the street. I was shocked by how expensive they were for the tiny little package. Apparently these were the first batches of the season, not fully ready to be eaten really. But people love these little guys so much that in order to eat the first eriks they will pay that money. Later they get bigger and astronomically cheaper and are sold on huge carts in the street. They are generally eaten with a little bit of salt on top. I have never met anybody who doesn't like them (except Madison, but clearly something is wrong with her!). When I first tried it I became in love with the,. Now my answer to "what is your favorite Turkish food?" is definitely "erik". They are so fresh and not too sweet.
I also love how everyone buys huge bags of them and brings them to school to share. In some schools they have erik trees and the kids can just walk by and pick them. My host family jokes that I need to come back during erik season or I will die of the need to eat them. This is very well possible. I have cousins that currently live in Istanbul. They have been there off and on for about 5-6 years, and have raised their two kids there. Here is a photo of my cousin Mark, his wife Ann, and their kids Mary and Silas: This weekend they were able to come to Samsun to meet up! I was nervous because this was going to be my first time seeing someone from my past life and reflecting on my experience. Actually it felt extremely normal. I was able to show them around Samsun a bit. I guess I never thought much about the fact that my new family doesn't actually have blood relation with me. We are simply close because we live with one another and care a lot about one another. I get along well with them because deep down all people need to care for one another is try to understand and respect each other. Because of the patience and kindness of my host family, this was easy.
I learned early on in exchange that blood relation is not necessary to call someone family. But I haven't thought about the opposite. It seems cool to me that my cousins bought a ticket to come to a random part of Turkey, spend time with me, talk with me, and meet my new family. If they weren't related to me they would have no reason to be have done so. I also realized while being with them that certain qualities that they had reflected my dad's and mine. Talking to my cousin Mark made me realize the strength a certain philosophy can possess within a family, spanning generations. I think it is because things that moms and dads teach to their children will be important enough for them to unconsciously teach their kids. The new family that I live with holds different values that I have been pleased to learn from. But being reminded again of the words I have heard my dad say since I was a kid was comforting and interesting. My cousin told me about how loving unconditionally is the best love of all. He told me how he told his kids that no matter what they do he will be beside them, and I heard my dad's words when he said that. He used a lot of analogies while explaining his thoughts, which I know everyone in my family seems to do. I realize that this belief may come from anywhere, maybe Christianity, seeing as both my grandpa and grandma were Catholic. It could come from Montana, where they grew up, or Croatia/Ireland, where our roots are from. But no matter where it comes from or what it is, some basic principles that our whole family upholds pulls us together. I realized this weekend that we can't help but be close to our families, even relatives that seem distant. Our qualities reflect one another and that really can make you feel great especially when you have lived as a black sheep for almost a year. There is nothing that could separate me from either one of my families, and I think that is not for my original family that "blood is thicker than water" and for my host family that they are better than the first (haha my dad always jokes about that) but because both have kept the little space for me wide open and never pushed me out. At the same time I feel that I have done my job within them to earn that spot. I am just glad for the chance to be with both families at the same time. Hopefully my nuclear family will also be able to come to Turkey sometime. A food that is special to Turkey, çiğ köfte, or raw "meat/steak/meatball", is impossible to not know while living here. Even though the name suggests that there is meat in this dish, if you buy it from a restaurant it is actually completely vegetarian. It is not legal to put raw meat in. However if my neighbor makes it at home they do put raw meat which apparently makes it taste way better. ( I don't know I like it as it is). What it mostly is is a great combination of tomato paste, onion, peppers, spices, and bulgur. It is generally eaten in lettuce or a tortilla with lemon, this spicy sauce, and pomegranate extract. My host brother, his friend, and I made it together. It was really fun and way harder than I thought. They had to knead it for at least 45 minutes to get it the right consistency. **I don't know why I allowed my foot to be in all of these pictures.** In the end Utku, my brother's friend, wrote his name in it. It tasted really good especially judging by the fact that we had never made it before. I ran into more çiğ köfte accidentally just a day or two later. We were all going to go to a bakery for one of my friends birthday but it was really crowded. She was good friends with people who own a çiğ köfte store so we just went there and had an... alternative cake: They wrote happy birthday on the plate!
If you ever come to Turkey don't expect candles with it but do expect a really different taste. From what I can tell people actually almost always like çiğ köfte though it really does have a unique taste that I can't compare to anything else. Though not as amazing as sushi, one of the things us foreigners miss the most, I will definitely miss this when I go back home! Comes from GodThough I have brought attention to this word before, I really have become confident using it and wanted it as a word of the week. It is used when something is so wonderful that you can hardly imagine it being created by anything but some all-powerful force. The most common time that I have seen people use it is when they see or talk about babies. If a woman tells you that she had four children then you should definitely respond "Maşaallah". Also if you see a baby on the street or meet one of a friend or family member. I was reminded of this word because, despite some difficulties my friends, family, and the world have been facing, my cousin now has a new baby daughter! Her name is Mailey and her birth was such an uplifting event for all of us. Here is a picture with my uncle and her: A great thing that I have learned in Turkey is to not ignore little amazing things like this. The other day when Madison and I were volunteering a mom brought her baby. I was taken aback when without thinking I went, said "Maşaallah", pinched his cheeks, and picked him up. I walked him around showing him flowers and messing with his cute little shoes as if he were my brother. A part of me that realized I normally would not do that without asking permission or knowing the mother made me halt, yet when I looked at the faces of those around me they were all smiling and encouraging it. "ooohhhhh ablası! Çok tatlı yaaaaaa" (oooooh his "big sister". How cute) Here is, again, the beloved Nisa with Beyza and I one night when we were trying to get her to go to bed. I am glad to have been shown a culture where these unexplainable masterpieces are shared. It seems insane to me that in America I would feel awkward helping a neighbor put their kid to sleep. It may be that they would see it as burden to their guest. But why? I don't have my own little sister (though the two small brothers are generally enough, don't worry) and for one night every week or so putting her to bed is both fun for me and a break for her mom.
I have loved this about Turkish culture so much. Even with other work, like washing the dishes, taking out the trash, and setting up beds, a lot of the Turks that I have met have the amazing ability to let their guest earn their keep already! Though it may seem strange, if I go over to somebody's house they often will let me pick up plates, wash, and pour tea if I offer. It is so refreshing for me to see that people aren't afraid of my help inconveniencing me. It also gives us more time together. If all of the guests (though unfortunately not the male guests but that is a whole different topic entirely) pick up their plates the work is done in a matter of minutes when it would take one person about an hour. I guess what is important is letting other people in. I have felt that this part of the culture is something only explained by Maşaallah. It is so hard to understand the possibility of such openness but I think it should be celebrated. God Willingİnşallah is yet another Arabic word used in Turkish.
Whenever I ask people "Are you going to make the pilgrimage to Mecca?" they almost invariably reply: "İnşallah". Though religious, it is not only used for religious situations however. In fact, I was shocked at how often it was used. At first I couldn't really understand it. For example, if I said, "You will get into a good college, I believe in you" my friends may respond with İnşallah. To me, as an American, this response seems a little passive. I have been raised believing in my power to make my future bright. If I want to go to a good college, then I have to work hard. I have to try and get good grades and do things outside of school. If I resign myself at any time because it "isn't meant to be," then I could lose some opportunity I am actually capable of accomplishing. I started to hear it more and more often, and began to analyze it. How could someone immediately rid themselves of responsibility and throw their future to fate? And by doing this, did their actions become passive as well, because they didn't in words make themselves responsible? What first must be understood about Islam is that fate exists. I have always been very interested in fate so when I talk to people here I always ask them the same question "Kader var mı?" ("Is there fate?"). If they are Muslim, they invariably say "yes". God knows everything that will happen. He cannot tell you what you will do, and you are held responsible for it, but it will happen. To me, this absolutism is so strange. To them, there is no question that what God wants will happen. So if God wills them to go to a good college, then it will happen. Really, as we know that no one can prove or disprove the existence of fate, it isn't that important (though it makes discussions about fate in philosophy for some people really boring because they can't imagine a world with infinite possibilities.) And as I asked, I don't think that it makes people passive. Yes, the Turkish culture is much more passive than the American culture, as far as I can tell. My Iraqi friend's mother said she didn't want to go to America because they work too hard there. I think this is true. In America, if you want something done you generally take it upon yourself to do it. It is efficient and productive, but yes. We work. A lot. In Turkey people are much more loose with their schedules and tasks. However, people tend to use İnşallah for things that we see to be above and beyond our reach of influence. That note in Turkey is a lot easier to reach than in America (tests, getting in to university etc are some that can be considered) but I believe for every person there are things in our lives that we cannot comprehend and that maybe we can use İnşallah for. Just as a way to continue with life. This week especially taught me this lesson. On Sunday I came home to find that (at that time) 27 people were killed by a bomb in Ankara. (As far as we know now there are about 37 deaths). I then got a text from my friend alerting me that a girl who went to my high school lost her life in a car accident. The next morning my dad e-mailed me to inform me that my mom had broken and dislocated her ankle, and was going to have to get surgery. Then there was a bomb in Istanbul. Sometimes, no matter how much we believe in ourselves, we are reminded of the ephemerality of humans. We are reminded that we cannot save the world alone. And sometimes our only defense against these tragedies and the only way to calm out tiny little minds is to blame some bigger force, and to hope that that force will stop. İnşallah Turkey will become safe again. İnşallah no other kids will lose their lives so soon. İnşallah my family will remain in good health. Although the hard-worker in me wants an answer, a thing that I can change, it feels okay for now to realize that some things are larger than I am. I think that the best force that I can give is my positivity. In our lives the things that we can effect the most are ourselves and those around us. Sometimes we need to not focus on the big outside picture. People go crazy that way, fighting with one another and straining relationships over a subject that they cannot even change. Understand what you have the most influence on and focus on that to make your world better. That is how I use İnşallah. To dismiss things that will distract me from doing the best that I can with my life. Lentil SoupOne of the first things I ate in Turkey was the famous lentil soup. I had heard about it and how delicious it was before going to Turkey. Many tourists remember it as one of their favorite dishes. I soon realized that I would be eating it almost every meal before dinner. With many foods, almost any other foods, I would probably have gotten sick of that by now. But this, this is mercimek çorbası. This is different. Oh and there is also really good news. Lentil soup is extremely easy to make! After falling in love with it I decided to go on a mission to figure out how to make it. I have been shown by many people their methods for making it and tasted all different versions. But nothing is better than the kind made right in your home. Even if I taste a decent soup outside of my house it is always missing some ambiguous something because it is not the same as the one here. So I decided to write you guys the incredible, SECRET (just kidding) family recipe of how we make lentil soup here in my home in Samsun. It is simpler than a lot of recipes and perfect for a quick protein filled lunch or dinner appetizer anytime. Ingredients:
Kırmızı Biber Red Pepper Flakes Instructions:
Evil Eye"Nazar" is a concept based off the belief that a person's look can affect others. When I first came to Turkey I was intrigued by this concept and loved the symbol everywhere. But no matter how many times people tried to explain it to me. I didn't actually get it. When playing table tennis with my friend Merve however, I finally saw it used in a relatable manner. I said how it was amazing how quickly we had begun to play. She agreed, and then laughingly commented "I hope we aren't nazar!". It was after hearing this that I realized Nazar is a little bit like jinxing something. If something is beautiful or good and you mention it, it can ruin that goodness and lead to problems. I think that the use above is more of a modern use of the word nazar however. It is just used in the place of "I hope you didn't jinx me," which we use also in the US. However in Turkey, most people can tell you the superstitions about this "jinx" that we mention all the time. Few people still believe in it, but it is an important part of Turkey's culture. The evil eye is generally associated with jealousy. If someone looks upon something with jealousy and says "oh how beautiful" then something bad may happen to it. Madison's host sister told me a story that her family likes to joke is nazar. When they bought their new house they showed it to a lot of their friends. All of the friends said "oh how beautiful" "what a nice house". But after their friends left they heard a crash. The found that the mirror in the bathroom had fallen and broken. According to old beliefs, the mirror broke because one of the people who came through the house was jealous of it. This jealously caused negative energy that broke the mirror. People will also often tell me the example of children. Many people want to protect their children from the evil eye because they are apparently more susceptible to being jinxed by it and have something bad happen to them because of it. A lot of times when people see cute babies they will say "Allah seni nazardan korusun" "(May Allah protect you from the evil eye) or "Allah seni nazardan saklasın" (May Allah hide you from the evil eye). They say this because they fear that the babies beauty will bring jealousy. Some people hang Nazar boncuğu (evil eye beads) in their homes to "protect" against the evil eye. However most people do not believe in the superstitions. I think that the superstition may come from a source of truth however. If you are jealous of something you should not always look upon it and wish for it. It is like kids playing with a toy. If the one that doesn't want it imagines it would be better if they had it, then they may try to take it away from the other kid, it could break, and then no one will be able to have it.
I can imagine in the past how this may have looked. In the Kuran the evil eye is mentioned often. It talks a lot about not doing that to a woman (which yes can bring up the discussion of sexism but for now). It was probably a good thing to teach men to not look upon other men's wives with jealousy because it could lead to fights. I also just believe that jealousy can cause bad things to happen around you because of the butterfly effect. If you become jealous of something then you always wonder why you do not have such great things and may hold less compassion in your heart for those you think were given more than you. When that happens you may not treat people as well and in turn cause their days to turn out bad as well. In the end, you all would have been better off without you giving out nazar. I don't think you need to be superstitious to believe that. (For the Time Being)I know a general rule for finding happiness doesn't exist, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't constantly search for it. My current theory for happiness is complicated, but mostly held up by two simple principles. The first is balance. In America because of my busy schedule I just started to believe that balance doesn't exist and sometimes in life you have to give up big things that you value. It wasn't until I removed myself from that life that I saw that things that I had thought only existed in the past are still attainable. I can live less for me and more for others. By understanding early on that the lack of time for other people in my life was making it unbalanced, I was able to at least try and explore the world to see if it existed. I always wanted to have time for my family, but before I worked so hard and was thinking too much about what I had to do. Here I find myself playing zombies with my host brothers, making food with my host mother, and being content just sitting playing cards with friends. It was confirmed for me that this thing I felt was missing exists, and that I could seek it. I think I have gotten about as close to it as one can get. That said, the search for balance probably never has an end. By going toward the spectrum of family and time-for-one-another, I have lost what I had in terms of time to work and play sports. I can tell that I miss those things sometimes, naturally. I have a tendency to be more strict about my schedule and stick to regimes more than my friends and family here, and have trouble coming to terms with the fact that people here don't finish what they say they will as often as I was used to in America. I want to run and climb and hike and ski. But at the same time, I know that at this point in my life I am perfectly okay with sacrificing those things for a while to explore this life. And that is where the balance comes in. Knowing that with every up there is a down. Learning to accept imperfection. Learning to accept that with everything you take you have to give something back. My dad used to say "Life is a smorgasbord, but most people go through on a diet." I always thought this was nice. Take what you are given, don't be afraid to explore because you will look back and regret it. But then again, I think that you can't fit everything on your plate. You have to try everything to know that you are getting what makes you happy, but you can't get upset when you realize that by taking more of one thing you also chose to get rid of some of another. By being in Turkey I got a great taste of family, a huge giant plate full of it. I know it well enough now to see how I should portion it in my life. When I continue exploring, making decisions in my life, I will do so with this in mind. My second principle is to understand old cliches that you have heard throughout your life. If you look at the above text it is scattered with cliches that you have probably heard from thousands of people from thousands of places. But that is not is what important about them. I clearly didn't discover these first. What is important is that I am telling them to you because the experiences that I have been lucky enough to have have made me know for sure why they are true, for me, in my life. I still know many cliches that I don't understand. But from past experiences, if I hear them enough from people that I respect, they almost always turn out to be true. I know that I should take them seriously, and so when I hear them even though I can't always bring myself to heed them I try, knowing that it probably will do me good. For example, after being sick, everybody said to me, "if you continue to think badly about it you won't get any better." I don't have great life experiences that make me want to stop complaining and getting sad every time I get sick again; I have never been sick for this long before. But that means now is the time to learn. It can't hurt to force myself to talk about being sick more positively. And as I have done so, I at least feel better on the inside. However, due to the fact that for me this long sickness I was unprepared for makes me feel like a child again, I still have my moments. People may ask "how is your voice?". I will think of getting up and again and not being able to make sentences, or how it hurts whenever it feels like it. And honestly, I still sometimes say "Well there is nothing I can do about it and it isn't going to get any better". It escapes my mouth even though that day I set out with the intention to be positive. But I try. I try as often as I can to stop such sentences from escaping my mouth. The other day I was so upset about it. Madison's sister Beyza and her friend Çidem came to meet me. When they came and immediately knew something was up, I saw a crossroads. I could tell them about my problems, like I have gotten used to, or I could tell them about what hadn't been problematic that day. Lucky for me, I have so many good examples from my friends and family to look up to. My host mom, for example, has so much to do. She takes care of the boys and picks them up, works at the furniture store that my host parents own. Yet if I have something to do and need her help she acts as if it is nothing to do it on top of everything. Then there was my friend Yiğit. The day before he had fractured his nose in our classroom because a lot of the boys were rough-housing. It was really kind of scary and everyone was concerned for him. He took the whole thing so lightly though. He even sent me this picture: I tried to think about these things. I wasn't about to be the one who gave in after being shown so much by the people around me. I told them that today I just wanted to be happy and we ended up going to Yiğit's house. It was really fun. His family was lovely and so happy to have us. We played just dance. Probably the best one was where we all did the mermaid dance: Then I taught them how to swing dance which is really different but super fun. Afterward we decided we should hang out more. Despite the general routine of going home directly after school this Friday, we ended up going to the beach together. I realized (with yes, a spout of immature grouchiness) that everybody was right. I need to be positive and look forward. I won't say that I completely understand this cliche yet. When you go through something you have no tools yet to deal with it can set you back many years and make you irrational about things. But I try to put myself in situations to learn. For now, this is my secret. There are holes in it. I can't always follow it because I am human, but it exists for me. I guess if I could add a third part it would be to realize that sometimes the best people are just surrounded by good people. I certainly feel that I owe my happiness to my family and friends. I will never stop letting other people into my heart because they are what will make it full and happy. One of my best friends (from the beginning), Merve Going to an engagement party with Madison's family Being Turkish and getting a picture with my cute old English teacher Snow days
UvulaThough no word can compete with the hilarity of the English word "uvula," which I have always for unknown reasons found super funny, I think that it's Turkish equal gives it a good try. In order to say "uvula" in Turkish you just have to say "küçük dil," which means "little tongue." I guess it makes sense?
This Mardis Gras Madison and I made a King's cake to share with our families. If you know the ingredients that go into a King Cake then you also know that it is impossible to make the thing taste bad. Unfortunately we did not have time to find a plastic baby but I think that when we told my family about it they thought that it was extremely interesting. At school I also told people that I am fasting for lent and described what it is that we do for it. A lot of them were surprised that Christians also fast like they do during Ramadan.
I described to them how mostly people don't eat meat and generally also attempt to create goals for themselves. Madison and I gave up sweets and meat because really we need a break from unhealthy food and to gain a little self-control. My Turkish friends were mentioning how it is strange that unlike Ramadan the Christians don't have certain times that you cannot eat, and some kids in my class were very ready to convince me that Ramadan is healthier and more difficult. However I think that most people realize that fasting is just a great way to connect with people who are less fortunate than we are, reflect upon ourselves, and learn to practice self-control. And More Respect For Colorado in Turkey!!!!It was really awesome this morning to wake up early for the first day of school this semester and see an e-mail for my mom about the Broncos winning the Super Bowl. Of course I was happy for my state. I didn't expect something like this to happen while I was gone, but it did! But mostly, I was really happy to see a picture of my family celebrating together with friends: I so often get to show them all of the things that I am doing but I rarely see what is happening back home. It makes me somehow feel better about being away from them knowing that they are still the same and still enjoying themselves. I also would like to mention that I talk about Colorado enough to make sure that people don't forget the name. When I first came to Turkey this boy in my class wore a Colorado T-shirt (yes the kind that also doesn't make sense but that's okay, it means "Colorado" is significant-looking enough to make people think a t-shirt is worth buying.) I was really excited and told him that that was my state. Now if anyone who doesn't know where I am from asks almost anyone around me will likely say "Colorado!" before I have time to open my mouth.
For this reason I have decided to continue the Colorado education. Having the Broncos win the Super Bowl helps in making us seems ever so slightly more significant. And this is one thing that is great about exchange. Most people only know about New York and California in Turkey, but now they will at least have another state to think about. I hope that people at home will realize this when they see things that happened in Istanbul or Gaziantep. Though those cities are influential it doesn't mean that everywhere else is like that or experiencing the same situations. GreenhouseYes, it is true. The closest word to my name in Turkish is "greenhouse". I learned about this slowly, because I told most people to pronounce my name "sahrah", being used to people in Costa Rica who could not make the first "a" the same.
It is such a random thing to have your name sound like that people don't even make fun of me for it... I actually have found a way to make a connection with my new experience and my newly discovered name meaning. A long time ago I mentioned that I lost my voice, and since then I have gone through an incredible amount of sickness. In Turkey it is most common to cure things naturally at first. As much as I think that is a great practice, it is really hard when you have an infection, and it quickly escalates in the time that you don't get it fixed. After loosing my voice, everyone was worried and helpful, but I just ended up eating a lot of ginger and drinking cups and cups of various teas. After a while it became clear that I needed to do something more, but going to the doctor was also put off, seeing as it isn't normal either. When we finally went it was to the government doctor, what I like to call the "assembly line doctor". After waiting in line they took one look at my throat, mentioned that it looked red, and sent me out with a scribbled note to get some antibiotics. Unfortunately those did not work, so I had to go to the doctor at the hospital, so that they could take time to figure out what was really going on. They told me that the infection was all throughout my ears and throat. I am now on really strong antibiotics which are terrible and make more complications, but I am hoping that once they are done I can be back to normal. It has been so hard for me to be sick. I have never been so afraid of germs or cold in my life. I am used to running in below zero weather if I feel like it, and eating food with spoons that fell in the dirt while camping. But here I can see myself slowly becoming more and more cautious. The true scary thing is that when I first came here I wondered why everyone acted that way, and now I completely understand. It has been hard to deal with this sickness. It affects me a lot more than I like to let on. I really love to talk, and it is hard to be myself and talk because my voice gets really tired and starts to hurt after only a few minutes in to conversation. When snow fell at the beginning of break, I felt sad, which I have never felt for snow before. For one thing, it reminded me about Colorado, and I didn't want to think about that. I didn't want to think of all of the things I used to do in the snow. Snow showing, backpacking, skiing, running, sledding. Here none of those things were possible. None of the friends I used to do it with are with me. It also meant more cold burning my throat and ears every time that I take a breath. More days where I can't walk out and run. I am scared of not being in control of something that I have been so used to controlling. But I am a greenhouse. It is winter outside. There is adversity and troubles and it is cold. But on the inside I cannot let what is important be affected by that. When things get better I don't want to look back and think of how I gave up when it was difficult. I want to keep my little plants inside of me growing so that when summer comes they can bloom immediately. And looking back at life, I think this lesson is important for any time. There are so many times where we feel that now is not the time to act. We feel like if we just wait things will be better when the circumstances change. But what you must realize is that great things need time to grow. And cutting off the life of something, like say a friendship in your life, will make it weaker and different. But if you hold on through the difficult times times it will be stronger in the end. "Right-handed" (and sorry, yeah...)When I first learned this word I thought that people were kidding with me, because this word sounds a lot like "salak," the word for "idiot" in Turkish.
To an english speaker it is really hard to pronounce what we call the "yumuşak g" (soft g). It is a letter that simply makes the vowel in front of it carry longer, but it takes a lot of effort to make it clear that you carried the vowel. So the other day in gym I was actually wondering if someone was right handed, but avoided it for fear of saying "Salak mısın?" (are you an idiot?) instead of "Sağlak mısın?" (are you right handed?). It doesn't help that the word for "left" happens to be "sol," making "solak" close to "salak" as well... Sigh. Turkish just really likes to continually test me on my pronunciation skills! P.S. Thanks auto-correct for making "salak" "salad" every time I typed it. Yet another idiotic thing about that word :P A Guest Post (!!) by Madison HaddixHello all! I'm Madison, the other YES Abroad student in Samsun. I live a few floors above Sarah, and it's been really cool to be able to share my experiences with her, so we figured I could share them with all the wonderful people on this blog. I remember this time last year, I was stalking all the YES Abroad blogs, and I was super excited to go to IPSE (In Person Selection Event, basically just a series of interviews for YES).
YES Abroad has by far had the most profound impact on my life yet. It's hard to put into words the amount of change I've seen within myself and how I perceive the world since I've been here. At PDO (Pre-Departure Orientation; this was a YES Abroad event in which we all had seminars teaching us how to adapt to an exchange) we all wrote letter to our future selves, and a few days ago YES emailed us those letters. The content of my letter was interesting - I wrote about how I thought it would be hard and that I wouldn't know Turkish, and that I would miss my best friend and (at the time) boyfriend. I worried over my parents' marriage and my sister's wellbeing. I worried that I wouldn't make friends. I worried that I would gain weight. I worried that my host family wouldn't like me. I worried so much. I know that I've changed so much from that 15 year old worrying little girl. I'm a free, independent, mature, life-loving person now. It's hard to pinpoint what exactly changed me. It was just the overall content of the exchange, of being separated from your family and made to reestablish who you are in a whole new setting and a whole new language. It's not one point in the exchange, it happens gradually and over time. We're heading into month 6 of being in Turkey, and I know both Sarah and I will change so much more than we already have by the end of the exchange. I cannot describe to you how good this change has been. I was a 4.5, perfect GPA student, only because I stayed up on long nights and gave everything I could to school while in the US, because I thought I had to be perfect to get into college. Everything had to be perfect. My grades, my family, the food that I cooked, my friendships, my body. It was exhausting. My parents can tell you how stressed and tired I was all the time. I no longer feel that stress anymore. It all seems to have just melted away and in its wake left a pile of artistic inspiration, passion, and the ability to actually enjoy life to it's fullest. Yes, I miss my family, but I'll always have a good enough relationship with them to know that we're here for each other. Yes, I miss my best friend as well, but I know that she supports me and I support her, and she's grown so much as well. Also, a side note: you are a teenager. Do not let any sort of romantic relationship hold you back from doing something amazing with your life. Like ever. Both Sarah and I speak Turkish quite well, and it's amazing to see how it gets better everyday. It's not like that was given to us however, I know exchange students who speak little to no Turkish, we worked quite hard for it. Yes, I gained weight, but I have more important things in life to worry about. Besides, I might actually have a healthy BMI now because of it. My host family is wonderful. Of course we have arguments all the time, we're a family. And my friends here are equally if not more amazing. Sarah is really like a sister to me, I couldn't picture my exchange without her. Caity and Bruno, two Rotary exchange kids here in Samsun, are just as awesome. My friends from school are always so patient with my Turkish. I'm also great friends with my host sisters. I've fallen in love with Turkey so much that I'm very much considering completing the rest of my high school education in Istanbul at an IB International School there (I'm only a sophomore this year, though the rest of YES Abroad and NSLIY, with the exception of Julianna, are heading to college after this). I just feel so free. Free to do amazing things with amazing people in amazing places. For the love of God, do YES Abroad. If you've submitted your application and you're still unsure, just do it. I cannot think of a better learning experience. Be inspired and inspire others and learn things from people you barely know. In the Turkish way of saying goodbye: Haydi, Görüşürüz hayatlarım (Come on, we'll meet again my loves) After Christmas I was lucky enough to get to see yet another part of the Black Sea region of Turkey. My host family is originally from Trabzon, which is east of Samsun. I think it is a very interesting place. The sea is right next to very steep mountains and houses are scattered all along them. This is a photo I took from the internet, and I think it is more in the small areas. Trabzon is actually a big city, however it feels small when you have a family who know people in every corner of it. We took a 6 hour car ride to go visit their old house and my host dad's family. The view was really great. We stayed with my grandma, who has one house in the "village" outside the city and an apartment in the middle of the city, so we got to see both parts. I felt afraid of what it would feel like, but she just acted like I was another one of her many grandchildren (she had five sons). She showed us some of the green tea picked from farms in Rize, which I was of course really excited about. This is just a normal night, with my little brother and grandma: When we went to the village house, where my family used to live, I got to see a life in Turkey far different from what it looks like in big cities. This is the house that my family used to live in. My family had the bottom floor and my grandparents had the top floor. This is the view from behind the house. There is a huge garden where we picked clementines. My grandmother also showed me where there was mint growing and the garden where they grew all types of vegetables. There were neighbors all over who welcomed my family back. It was cool to see how we could walk into their houses like they were our own. A lot of them told me how their kids were like siblings with my brothers. Another cool thing about their old house was that it was about a five minute walk from one of Atatürk's homes, called Atatürk Köşkü. We thought we would have more time to take pictures near it but it was funny because we end up taking them late at night. Here is my oldest brother Ozan and I: I also got to meet Ozan's old friends. We went around to lots of cafe's, ate Trabzon's famous pide, and went to playstation rooms. It is really great because you can walk in and play guitar hero together and get out of the cold. Here are only a few of the many I got to meet: For the most part going to Trabzon was the best because I got to see again how even a few hours away life can be very different.
I got to be with my host family all together and I think I got to know them much better. I'm sure anyone knows how close you can with people if you are in two six-hour car rides with them. I didn't get to see the Sumela Monastery that was built on the mountains there in 300 AD because it was under construction. However I did get to learn about it and it seems really neat. Turkey is well known for being the number one tea-consuming country in the world. When I heard this I thought that Turkey would welcome me with isles and isles of hipster tea mixes like the ones that can be bought at Whole Foods in the US, only homemade. I was used to having jasmine green, chamomile with rose petal, lemongrass, lavender, pu'erh, and chrysanthemum. Each different mix matched in harmony with the mood I was in or the time of day I was drinking. To me a cup of tea meant a time of peace with myself and moments of silence. However, when I first came to Turkey, I was shocked when every day we had the same black tea. My host family couldn't even finish their cups of jasmine that I made for them because it was "so... different..." I was shocked. How could this country be filled with the greatest amount of tea drinkers when the majority of people only drank one type of tea? One thing you quickly learn about tea here is, however, tea is not just tea. Tea is an invitation. Being a foreigner in a strange country can be scary at first, but in Turkey meeting new people is never hard. All you need is a pot full of tea to make an excuse to invite someone over.
Tea is a cure. I have never been better cared for than I am in Turkey. Here people always want to show that they are concerned for your health. At school when I had a cold my friends bought me tea to show that they wanted me to get better, and when I came home I was invited over to my neighbors house where they made a special linden tea to help me get better. It is a wonderful feeling to have someone make you tea, and I have learned to do the same for others. Tea is patience. A great explanation for why so many people can drink so much tea is that Turkey has one of the highest hours at the dinner table together. When having a conversation at dinner if a conversation seems to be getting a little intense or trying, Turkish people deal with it by pouring another cup of tea, meaning that they are preparing to continue the conversation. I have seen this in school when I would have conversations with my friends that I completely butchered. When I first came I always wondered how people would continue to ask me questions, deal with my lack of language, and believe in me. It is clear now that in everyday life it is as if Turkish people just continue to pour another cup of tea. They believe that in time people will open up. In my life I want to remember this when it seems that I should give up on someone. I would not be so integrated in Turkish culture if people had not done this for me. I think if you are the type of person that pours another cup of tea for people in your life you will be surrounded by friends who open up for you and can share with you how they feel and their truest selves. Lastly, each cup of tea is about another twenty minutes. After living in Turkey you learn to put a number on a cup of tea. Go over to a neighbors house late at night with math homework you still need to do? Definitely do not them pour more than three cups of tea. Went to a cafe to study for an hour? Bring enough money for two cups of tea. Have a really important subject to bring up to your host family? Make two pots of tea, at least :) The other day when attempting to find a better explanation of a certain grammatical element of Turkish, I stumbled upon this website, with an article accurately entitled: Why Turkish Isn't as Hard as You Think! I think it did an excellent job both proving its point and giving a brief overview of what it is like to learn Turkish. Of course, I really don't think that learning Turkish is a walk in the park. After having learning Spanish in high school, I definitely felt unprepared when beginning to learn Turkish. For one thing, previous to learning Spanish, I not only already knew a few words of it, but I also knew how it should sound and feel. Though we may not notice it, the average American, without any research, already has a small cash of Spanish words. Though we joke that it isn't "real Spanish" knowing "burrito" "mi casa" "buenos días" and "como estás", you are at least four words ahead of any Turkish learner trying to say "döner" "evim" "günaydın" or "nasılsın?". Then of course, Turkish is in an entirely different language family. Turkish is part of the Altaic Language Group, which means, believe it or not, the closest major languages to it are Korean and Japanese. At first sight this may be a little confusing. Many people like to guess that Turkish is close to Arabic, based on the number of cognates and the fact that it used to be written in the Arabic script. But it becomes clear when you remember that the language and first Turks came from Central Asia. So Arabic serves as a nice icing on the cake, but when you cut in the structure is extremely different. I realized this very quickly when thinking back to the little bit of Korean that I had studied. I remembered it all seeming so crazy and different. However a friend in my class is working on learning Korean, and now I see that the rules are exactly the same, and quite logical. When I first began learning I didn't think it was easy at all, looking at the structure and the sentences that could be formed with just one word because of the addition of suffixes. However, once I began to relax and just say things that I had heard, rather than waste time learning the grammar, I found it just as easy to learn as any other language.
The best point of the above article is definitely that the people are extremely encouraging. I never feel like people are judging me or mad when I mess up. Certainly I have had to laugh off a thousand mistakes, but it is never a big deal. Everywhere I turn someone is ready to explain a concept to me. And encouraging yourself is not hard when everyone around races to do so. The other day Madison and I went to our host siblings' school, and the people who make lunch at the cafeteria talked to us for a while before we were introduced as the American foreign exchange students. They immediately took us into the back to give us tea and coffee and food and just talk. They took time out of their day to thank us and ask us questions to learn about what we had to say. My last comment is that the best thing about learning Turkish is being able to talk to Turkish people. They are interested and patient, and almost anyone you meet will be willing to take time out of their day to have a conversation. To have an opportunity to be surrounded and participating in an environment like this is on of the most valuable things I think I have done for myself in my life. Worth learning "one of the hardest languages". "Peace be with you"One thing that all foreign exchange students will probably learn after the first week of school in Turkey is how to say "Selâmün Aleyküm" and how to give the proper response: "Aleyküm Selam". Selâmün Aleyküm, is a greeting taken from Arabic, and literally means "peace be with you." However it functions simply as "hello".
This phrase is considered to be religious, however everyone uses it from time to time. In school it sometimes boarders on being used jokingly, but for the most part I think it is an important greeting to know. A lot of Arabic words are commonly used in Turkey, and I think that it shows how greatly the culture is affected by that. I also like the fact that when people speak Arabic here I can understand tiny bits and pieces. I have recently learned also that sometimes people simply say "SA," which is followed by the response "AS." Everyone thinks it is really funny when I respond to that. MoneyMonday was Madison's birthday. We had the fun traditional birthday celebration, with her mom making a cake and all of the neighbors coming over. Only this time, it was a surprise! It was probably the cutest surprise party I have ever seen. Clearly Madison knew that all of her family knew it was her birthday because they would not stop talking about it for about 3 weeks before it was to occur. However, that morning we were all instructed to mysteriously forget about it. While riding the service bus to school Madison's sister Beyza and I whispered to each other about what food we would make etc. When she came home Beyza called her and told her that for no particular reason no one was home and they lost the keys so she was going to go to my house for a little bit. It was really cute because Madison asked "Oh, then where are you right now?" (Peki, şimdi nerdesin?). And Beyza just got quite and said she had to go. While everyone upstairs was scrambling to fix everything Madison and I entertained ourselves at my house. When we were called to her house we found it filled with food and people, all singing iyi ki doğdun! As in America there is a cake and candles here. I think the biggest difference is that parties seem to be with family more than friends. We went out with friends on Sunday to a cafe. This is Dilara, me, Beyza, Madison's host mom, Madison and İlayda. Madison cut the cake: Then the party got rolling with the kids all being rowdy as usual. In the middle you can see the boy in the red, Batuhan. He is Nisa's older brother.
At the party Batuhan saw Madison's famous Euro phone case (that everyone jokes about because Turkey would like to be in the Euro zone ["Why don't you have the Turkish lira!?"]) We explained to Batuhan that the Euro is different from the Turkish Lira. We said, for example, in Japan they use Yen. Then he told us that he knew that already. So then we asked what para they use in the US, if Turkey has the Lira, Japan has Yen, and Europe has the Euro. He thought for a moment, then said, triumphantly, "Money!" |
AuthorMy name is Sarah. I am a high school senior studying abroad in Turkey! Archives
June 2016
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