Christmas in Konya

I just got back on Sunday evening from a lovely weekend in Konya, the place where Rumi died and is entombed. I have friends who live in Konya: Franny, an ELF like me, and Aundreta, who is a Fulbright teaching assistant. Patreshia, another ELF, joined as well, and we all stayed at Franny's great apartment. On Friday, we had a really wonderful Christmas dinner. It was so special to spend the day and evening with them. The next day went to see a tile museum of local Selcuk era tiles, and then went on to the Mevlana (another name for Rumi) museum.

The museum was a powerful place for me as I've been reading Rumi's poetry for over ten years. Being near his tomb was incredibly moving in ways I can't quite express in this blog. After the museum we visited a beautiful ceramic shop, owned by a dervish. He was a wonderful and humble man and we chatted with his children for some time. We also visited a carpet shop and a felt shop, both of which I've pictured here.

Finally we went to the sema, the whirling dervish performance. It was very beautiful, though it felt a bit more like a spectator experience than an intimate ritual like the other performances I've seen. That said, it was still special and I got some lovely pictures. Anyway, check out the album below, especially for the sema pictures at the end.

Here is a short blog entry I wrote about sema, and click here for a much more informative web page about sema as well.

Hope your holidays were fantastic!

And the moral of the story is...

I recently had my students write dialogs for our speaking class. We created the two characters as a class: Jason and Natasha, married Russian immigrants in their mid-thirties, with two kids. Natasha, a truck driver in Istanbul, was frustrated with Jason for his irresponsible spending during his frequent poker games and his drinking problem.

Here is one of my favorites, thanks to the surprise moral ending and the omniscient newscaster. I put corrections in parentheses.

(N=Natasha, J=Jason)

N: Sweetheart, give me a cigarette please.

J: Okay, if you smoke in (the) truck, I'll drink vodka.

N: Why are you comparing yourself with me?

J: Remember, we are equal.

N: You always do this to me! I hate the way you (argue)! I can't stand your drinking. You are always dizzy. You are a different man from (the one) I fell in love (with).

J: You are the same woman whom I fell in love, you say? Ohhh...come on!

N: Things have changed so (much). You said that I was losing my beauty. It (hurt) me!

J: We have been arguing lately. I'm bored with this. If it goes on, I'll hate you!

N: Do you want to divorce?

J: I think it is better for us.

N: I don't want to cry, I don't want to cry!

J: LOOOOOK!

N: Oh my G....

Newscaster: There was an accident last night. A couple argued and had an accident. Unfortunately, both of them died. Please people, be careful when you decide to marry...

(HA!)

O Tannenbaum

This is about as Christmas as it gets here in Turkey: Our Christmas tree. One of Fielding's friends bought a potted tree and we decorated it with a hard-to-find strand of lights, some home made snow flakes, a wall hanging that we decided to use as an ornament, and some carefully crafted popcorn strands that I made (a close-up of the snow flakes and popcorn are below).

Nonetheless, I think he's super cute. His name is Charlie Brown, but I think he'd better than Charlie Brown's trees by far. It's the simple things like this that help you feel not so far away from home. But still--I miss the holiday; it's my favorite. And I miss the subtle signs of it everywhere...here it's nowhere to be found. It's funny too because all the Turks call New Year's Eve Christmas, so they keep asking about my Christmas plans and insisting that they celebrate Christmas too--until I ask them what day they celebrate it on (December 31st of course!) and I explain the difference.

Happy Holidays to you!

Riots in Turkey--The Kurdish Issue Strikes Again

For those not so aware of Turkey's inner political tensions, I'll fill you in a little bit on some recent events that, surprisingly, haven't made their way to mainstream news. A few days ago, when I was having dinner at my student's apartment (see post below), one of them walked in and shared some "very bad news." Apparently the Turkish government had decided to ban the main Kurdish party, the Democratic Kurdish Society Party (DTP), effectively shutting out the Kurdish voice out of parliament.

There were already protests and some minor riots because the Kurdish people were angry that their PKK leader, Aubdullah Öcalan, had been moved into a smaller prison cell. But with this news, suddenly the riots escalated, and suddenly masses of people were rioting, throwing rocks through windows and at riot police.

A little background: Turkey began serious negotions to join the EU, back in 2005. While that is an entirely separate topic to address, some of the EU's social concerns about Turkey joining (at least the outwardly spoken ones) are Turkey's human rights issues: women's equality (which Turkey has made large strides in addressing), and its treatment of Armenians and Kurds in the country. I'm going to gloss over Armenia right now and focus quickly on the Kurds, for obvious reasons.

The Kurdish issue is a complicated one. Kurds are a separate ethnicity with their own Indo-European language, and comprise about 18% of the population in Turkey. Kurdish people live all over Turkey, but primarily in the southeast and eastern regions. Since 1930, when Turkey was founded, the Turkish government has created a lot of policies aimed at forced assimilation and Turkification of local Kurdish populations. For example, in the 1980 coup d'etat, the government banned Kurds from speaking their language in public. The ban was lifted in 1991, when a president was elected of partial Kurdish descent. However, Turkish remains the official language, the only one spoken in politics and public services. In 2003, the Turkish Parliament eased restrictions on Kurdish language rights in Turkey, yet Kurds are still largely banned from giving their children Kurdish names.

As a colleague carefully explained to me yesterday, Kurds feel that being Turkish is an ethnic and cultural heritage, not a nationality. They want to be recognized as Kurds living in Turkey, but they don't want to label themselves Turkish (it is a bit like if Jews had to give up calling themselves Jewish, and could only call themselves American, because calling themselves Jewish and speaking Hebrew would be forbidden.)

During the 1970's, the Kurdish separatist movement gave rise to a Marxist-Leninist party called the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK). Between 1984 and 1999, Turkey was engaged in a continuous conflict with the PKK. Human Rights Watch documented many cases where the Turkish government completely wiped out villages of local Kurds in an attempt to quell the PKK movement. During that period, an estimated 3,000 Turkish villages in Turkey were wiped from the map, displacing over 378,000 people (1).

All of this inner tension has continually resulted in constant riots and instability. Much of this began to change, however, when the current prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, promised Kurds equal rights and planned to relax previous restrictions. Erdogan has been praised for his recent attempts to peacefully address both the Armenian and Kurdish issues that Turkey faces. As one article wrote: "Last September, tens of thousands flooded the streets, holding flowers and 'celebrating brotherhood' with the Turks. Not a single stone was thrown. Not one angry word spoken."

Then a recent turn of events changed everything. The Turkish constitutional court ruled that the DTP, a party that many believe funds PKK terrorism in Turkey, should be banned because of it's alleged connection with the PKK. This resulted in further rioting on the streets, and a sense among Kurds that their voices are not being heard. Another political party was established in May (The Party for Peace and Democracy), when the members of the DTP discovered that their party would likely be banned. I'm not sure how they will be integrated into the government.

The question is: What's the right thing to do as Turkey moves forward? If they shut out the Kurdish political party, it seems that they'll create more opposition and more violence. But if they accept them--despite possible connections with a terrorist group--then they are essentially allowing a possibly violent faction to have an equal voice in politics. What is the best answer to achieving inner stability in the long term, while also acknowledging the rights of 20% of the nation's population? This is the question Turkey must wrestle with now--and fast--before this issue gets increasingly out of hand.

For more reading on this topic, check out a TIME magazine article here.

Or a recent news article about the riots here. (I don't like the patronizing tone of this article, but it has some decent history and explanations). The photo in this blog was taken from this article, and is of Protesters running from tear gas fired by riot police during a clash between Kurds and Turkish police in Diyarbakir on December 14, 2009.


(1): ^ "Still critical". Human Rights Watch. March 2005. p. 3. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/turkey0305/3.htm#_Toc97005223. Retrieved 2007-09-12.

Students make me dinner!

Some of my favorite students made me dinner last weekend and it was so fun. Ferdi, the cook, and Ilker, the chief of affairs (Ferdi appointed him), and several other students gathered for a tasty meal of tarhani soup, a delicious chicken dish, and my favorite: Turkish rice.

Anyway, it was fantastic and I had such a great time. I felt really welcomed by my students--a nice break from a bunch of quiet (and often lonely) evenings at home. Here is one more picture below of Sevtap, me, and Fielding.

Special Birthday Party

Last weekend was really special for me for a number of reasons. One of them was a birthday party I was invited to. One of my colleagues, Beture, has taken me under her wing, introduced me to several of her friends, and invited me to several dinners and breakfasts. Anyway, it was her 60th party--by the way, I think she looks fantastic for 60!

Her best friend Diljin and I planned the party a few weeks before, and I was so touched to be one of the five women invited; the guest list included her daughter and her two children, her best friend Diljin, two other women who she's extremely close with, and another best friend who couldn't make it. Diljin said that Beture would only want people she loved there, and I can't tell you how much it meant to me to be included on that intimate list.

Beture had thought she was just meeting Diljin and I for an afternoon tea, so the whole event was a beautiful surprise. We had picked out an incredibly designed cake, written notes to her that we put into an envelope, Diljin had printed up special photos from her life, Beture's grandaughters prepared songs that they sung and performed on the saz or bağlama, a popular Middle Eastern instrument.

It was truly one of the most special days for me here--complete with incredible food, moving expressions of love and friendship from everyone, and a real feeling that I belonged and was loved here in Turkey. I know my students love me here, but to really connect on a deep level with friends...that was a great gift.

As part of my gift to Beture, I took over 240 photos for her to treasure the event. I've selected a few here to share with you. Just click on the album below.

A view of one's own

Pics taken from my room. First one is sunset, second two are sunrise. Glorious!

Edward Cullen is a big fat psycho

Note: The following is a rant about the Twilight series thinly disguised as a blog about Turkey. If you haven't read the series or don't know anything about it...skip to the next post if you like.

I'll admit it; I read all four of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight novels. I took the first one with me on a trip to California one weekend, got totally sucked in (don't forgive the pun) and then read the next two while stuck in the airport and on route back to Colorado a few days later. So there--I admit it. Am I ashamed? Not that I read them, so much, but that I too, fell briefly in love with Edward Cullen. Let's face it--he is girl-porn to the extreme. I got pulled in by his Byronic Hero-esque personality, his undying love and unending affection, and couldn't stop turning the pages to see if the vampire and his human love would eventually end up together, despite all the odds.

Today I watched the second Twilight film, New Moon, with some of my students. It was a bootleg copy (yeah, yeah, I know) and we only watched it because I was running my Shakespeare Club, and the Macbeth adaptation we began to watch was not only unbelievably horrible, but also dubbed over in Turkish. My students begged me to turn it off--and I wanted to as well (they had blood pulsing in spurts out of a guy's neck in the first three minutes--really, Hollywood?). Anyway, the technology was all hooked up and one of my students had the copy, so they unanimously decided to watch it.

Oh god, people, it was horrible. I actually somewhat enjoyed the first Twilight film. Maybe because it was an intriguing love story, a semi-new world, and it played to the part of me that secretly wanted a crazy-hot immortal being to fall madly in love with me and no one else. And being a vampire in Meyer's world seems pretty darn cool; you're invincible, gorgeous, rich...who wouldn't want that reality?

But the second book got really twisted. Suddenly this wasn't a love story at all (or a falling madly in love story). It became a weird, psycho tale about a girl with no hobbies, no real friends, and clearly no self esteem, who gets crazy co-dependent with some vampire who doesn't know how to communicate his real feelings and has to fight constant urges to kill her. He treats her like a baby by making a decision about their relationship without consulting her, and she acts like that pathetic girl/woman we probably all know or fear who completely breaks down and can't function when her man leaves her.

The months pass by and Bella just stares out the window, unable to exist without him. She only finds some respite by engaging in life-threatening activities so she can have psychotic episodes where she sees visions of Edward in her head. And when it comes down to it--when Edward's life is at stake--she'll gladly give her own because life just ain't worth living when the guy you've been dating for five months might not be around.

Yeah, it's just a story for teens; a story about teenage angst and loneliness. Okay, fine. If that's all it was, then I wouldn't be writing this post. But the fact is, people, it's not just teens who are into it, and the teens that are into it are going KUHRAZY! Girls cut themselves when they see actor Robert Pattinson (who plays Edward) and ask them if he wants to suck their blood. I have several friends (my age) who confessed that Edward made them question the man they were in relationship with. And I have students who tell me about romances like this that happen in the villages in Turkey where young people will kill themselves when they can't be with their seventeen year old boyfriend because their father won't allow it.

What does this say about our culture that we are so obsessed with a story about one girl's inability to be happy without her man? This clearly has tapped into many a woman's psyche, because I have several women friends and have heard of many other adult women who have gone nuts for this guy--myself included. We're all oohing and ahhing over dreamy Edward, when the reality is, the guy's a stalker. Edward Cullen is a big fat psycho.

I think this Edward phenomenon is dangerous, honestly, as it adds to the disturbing heaps of literature, film, and media that creates unrealistic men that women want to be with. Real men are not like Edward. And if they were, they'd be that super creepy guy you dated for a month before you found out he was staring in your window at night without your permission. I mean, really. Is that what you want?

But what disturbs me most is not Edward, but Bella, who is a lifeless, hopeless thing whose whole world revolves around one man. I wish young girls would go crazy over someone like Hermione Granger, the teenage heroine in Harry Potter. The girl was super smart, cute, caring, and tough. Or Lyra from the Golden Compass trilogy, or Sabriel from the Abhorsen Trilogy. I write young adult fiction; I know the genre. There are strong female characters out there that know how to respect themselves and love someone else at the same time. Why aren't these the role models young girls are going crazy over?

The truth is, I want young women (okay, all women) to fall in love with healthy, balanced men. There, I said it. I want them to ooh and ahh over men who can communicate. Men who don't stalk them. Men who don't keep secrets and hide their love. Men who don't want to suck their blood. Maybe it's because I recognize the sad, desparate part of me that went a bit crazy for unavailable guys when I was a teen (hell, in my twenties)--but I can now see all my insecurities, all the parts of me that wanted validation and suffered from a low sense of self-worth. And because I know what it stemmed from, because I know why I had those obsessive feelings, that's why I worry for girls today. I just want them to be loved in all the right ways. I want them to be strong, tough, and happy on their own.

This book will make you squirm

I'm not entirely sure how to write this blog post, because I'm uncomfortable with what people might say. But I'll be brave and write what I think anyway, because I think it's important, and because it's something I've been struggling to write about since I arrived here.

I just finished Ayaan Hirsi Ali's memoir, Infidel, a narrative about her time growing up in Somalia, moving to various Islamic and African countries such as Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Ali was also subjected to female genital mutilation (fgm). For much of her teenage years in Nairobi, Kenya, she was a devout Muslim, joining the Muslim Brotherhood and donning a back hijab (the full Muslim cover that only shows a woman's eyes).

Ali eventually moved to Holland, obtained Dutch citizenship, and began to question her Islamic teachings. But the harassment she encountered when she cut her hair and began wearing jeans was nothing compared to the death threats she received and the massive riots that broke out when she made a documentary called Submission, a film-short about the sufferings Islamic women must endure. Without giving away the ending, I'll simply say that Ali's main goal now is to try to wake Western cultures up about the violent messages inherent in Islamic doctrine, and to try to get them to be more conscious about how they integrate these cultures into their own. She's concerned about our fear of questioning other doctrines in order to avoid being racist, and feels that we're guilty of an over-tolerance that's allowing unhealthy and violent Islamic doctrine to flourish in Europe and throughout the world, in places where it directly counters the principles those Western nations are founded on. Ali thinks it's necessary for Islamic women and men to rethink the violent aspects of their religious doctrine and create a new, enlightened form of their tradition.

Infidel is a hard book to read, quite honestly. Partly because her stories about growing up in Africa during the tribal wars, her experience as a female who was often treated like property, her time living in Saudi Arabia, and the threats she got exercising her freedom of speech, are all quietly horrifying (not to mention the most horrifying story of all: her excision).

But it's also hard to read on another level. I grew up in California and have lived in mostly socially liberal communities, and to have a woman whose authority I respect (as someone who comes from the tradition in question) ask me to rethink the value of the extreme multiculturalism and tolerance that I've treasured all my life....well, it's shaking my foundation.

On the one hand, it's clearly so important to have religious and cultural tolerance. This is absolutely undeniable. And I recognize that this is ONE woman's experience in Saudi Arabia and Somalia--two very extreme versions of Islamic life.

But do we do when sects of a religion consistently teach that Jews are evil? What if it consistently teaches that gays are suffering from a disease or a psychological disorder? What if it forces women to have their genitals mutilated, or thinks it's acceptable for women to be locked away in their homes during the day, unable to work, and that they must completely cover themselves when walking outside, and only travel around in public accompanied by a man? Do I have to be tolerant of that?

This is a difficult thing for me to write, but it's a question I have to sit with. Just how valid is every voice at the table? When do you nullify your chance to sit and converse with everyone else with an equal say? I don't think this is just about Islam either--let me be clear. I think there are dangerous elements of these beliefs in other religions too.

That said, I've had students from Saudi Arabia who told me about men and women getting publicly stoned for adultery. They told me about men who were discovered to be gay who were thrown off tall buildings to their death as punishment. I'm here in "secular" Turkey now, where we experience one of the least radical forms of Islam, and I still have students from "liberal" Istanbul who tell me that Jews are awful, greedy people; I have students who will get ostracized for being friends with gays (they think it's a sickness here, and parents will disown their child if they're gay in many parts of the country). As far as women go, many women wear head scarves here (a very complex topic I don't want to go into here), and until recently, women had to get written permission from their husbands to get a job. One of my good friends, an American, constantly gets sexually harassed, even in Istanbul, just because she has pale blonde hair and blue eyes. Is this culture, or religion? Where do we draw the line?

Of course, I feel awful about saying any of these things because Turkish people can also be some of the most kind, most hospitable, and most friendly people I have ever met. I am so grateful for my colleagues and my students and I haven't experienced any of this negativity. But at the same time, I'm not blonde, I'm not gay, I'm not a Jew...I'm a Western woman, bound by different rules. 

I know that I have to be careful to project my Western worldview everything, to think that what I believe is best. And generalizations are very dangerous and I know there are many different expressions of Islam around the world. It also makes me nervous to feel intolerant of a religion, because they are intolerant of others--I know this may seem hypocritical.

But still, how do we address these radical, socially intolerant beliefs? It's one of the most important questions I think we need to struggle with during this day and age, and I think that the way we answer these questions will define us as a culture (because I don't think this is just an American question at all), and as a world.

You can see reviews of Ali's book on the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, or buy it on Amazon (where there are a bunch more reviews) by clicking on their names.

Christmas in Turkey!

Fielding and I had a Christmas/birthday party here in Isparta, Turkey last night...it was so special. I had my cheesy Frank Sinatra and Elvis Christmas music playing (those of you who know me well are certainly familiar with my Christmas addiction). Anyway, it was a real hit--they liked the sugar cookies, the decorations, the American-style food, and it helped Fielding and I both feel like we weren't quite so far away from home.

Enjoy the pics...sorry about the food pics--I feel like I am a bit obsessed with them these days. :)

The Sky was so beautiful today...

Need I say more?

Milano

I just got back from an incredible trip to Milan, Italy. I didn't go as a tourist, so I didn't do very many touristy things. I had vacation time here, so I was mostly going to see Guido, spend Thanksgiving with him, and meet his friends. It was really sweet. I loved being in Italy--Guido's community was incredibly loving and welcoming, and it was so fun to cook a very gourmet Thanksgiving feast for him and four of his friends. I was also surprised at how much English Italians know (it was a HUGE relief, even though I know some Italian), and loved eating the fantastic Italian food! But mostly I was just happy to spend quality time with Guido.

Anyway, here are some pictures. The weather was mostly overcast and cold, so I didn't take very many photos of Milan, but there was on day when the sun came out and I took the Metro to the city center and shot some pics. Enjoy!

Ah...the sweet joys of still not knowing enough Turkish

Just when I am proud of my Turkish knowledge, I have yet another situation that proves I know nothing.

I got back two days ago on Sunday night (LATE) from my 10 day trip to Milan. I tumbled off the bus around 11:30pm and somehow figured out that the guard on the West side of campus (where I live now) didn't want me to walk to my house by myself because of the packs of wild dogs that live near my house. Yeah...wild dogs. The conversation went something like this (the Turkish words that I understood are in English):

Security guard: "Blah blah blah," shakes his head and gestures for me to stop.

Me: "Why?" (In Turkish)

S.G.: "Blah blah blah dogs."

Me: "Problem yok!" (No problem.) I then proceed to make a symbol of my fingers walking. Then I say "I want!"

S.G. "Blah blah blah...they're coming...blah blah blah."

Me: (In Turkish) "How many minutes?"

S.G.: Twenty!

Me: I make the ever so helpful sign of me walking with my fingers again. "My house! Fifteen minutes!" (It takes about 15 minutes to get to my house). I then proceeded to show him how I could scare off the dogs by pretending to throw a rock at them. (It really works!)

He wouldn't let me go. We then stood there for another ten minutes or so making more awkward conversation. I did pretty good, considering I had Italian on the brain. Then the security guard drove me to my house (which was quite sweet, actually) and suddenly I was home.

I have GOT to study more.