Lost in the Mail

Warning: this is a very long post on what really only occupied a few hours of time.

Throughout this year, for reasons I will get to, the Post Office has been the setting for some of my most embarrassing and frustrating scenes. It has gotten so bad that many of the people there know me and probably, like I do, dread the visits.

 

First a little background on the postal system of Adana. There are a few scattered around the city but only one main office where any packages from outside the country are delivered. Apparently the first day your package arrives they bring it to you house but if nobody is home, as is often the case in my house, they leave nothing and bring it to the post office where you must be physic to know has arrived. If you don't show up in time they send the package back, which has now happened to me twice. 

 I am being a bit unfair to the post office though, the first couple package miscommunication started at a more local level. Somehow between Dilşad and we managed to get one letter in our address mixed up, which caused my moms package to take like three months to get here and my dads to simply be sent home, all this after hours of confusion. This was all frustrating, but it really only added fuel to the flame when I tried to pick up a very small package my sister had sent. 

 I have forgotten a lot of stuff a lot of places in my life, but leaving my camera charger with my sister in Rome while I returned to Turkey was a bummer. The cost to send it express so I could have it in time for my trip to Ankara and Antalya was also pretty bad, especially considering that it is a 2inch box of plastic. From experience with my other packages I knew that I needed to come with a barcode and patience. I first went to the package pick up room which is a small office adjoined to the big main post office. There I gave them my barcode, but was told my package wasn't in the system so I should go to the main post office. In the main post office I was directed to a row of high counters with a few people milling about chatting. When I gave them my barcode number, they told me there was some sort of problem, they weren't really sure, but did I know my address? That is were things started to get rough. I don't know my address because it is about six lines long and full of words I can't pronounce. At this point in very Turkish fashion, everyone wants to help, whether they are post office staff, just sending a letter, know English or whatever, before I know it  I have a group of people gathered around me all trying to explain something I was pretty sure I understood but was now only getting more more confused. Finally, when I was at the point of tears, I made it out believing if I returned with my address somehow it would all work out. 

Though I probably should have given myself a day or so to recharge, I went back that day to get with a friend who also had a package to pick up. She knew this because I saw her name in the three-ring-binder they keep with the print-offs from the incoming packages so you can sometimes see without asking if you have a package. When I looked in that binder again, I saw that I too had a package, one that turned out to be from Shelle, though when I showed the man there my id it ignited the fire. He remembered my dads package and the address problems, and apparently my dads package had been there (about 3 months) until the day before when they had finally returned it home, though my host mom says they are lying and it went back about a month before. He seemed a bit mad, and started yelling at me about all these problems that had occurred, obviously all my fault. He kept at it for a few minutes, and when I was bright red and near tears because everyone in the post office was staring at me he decided to get my new package and help me find the old one. He told me to go to Seyhan, though I had no idea where I was and so he told me to climb over the counter. I stared blankly thinking I had misheard. Climb over the counter? But no, because then he pantomimed climbing over this counter. My friend Sophie and I looked at each other, shrugged, and climbed over the counter. My face was about the color of the Turkish flag. We followed him through a hall and up a flight of stairs where we went into some filing room where after a quick check they confirmed my fear, the package had been sent back to the states. They say it was because there was no name, my sister says she put a name on it. Who knows? but I had no camera charger, fortunately I have great friends, one of  whom lent me her camera for a of couple weeks. Also having a new and wonderful package to open softened the blow.

This is not the end. About a month later, I made my way back to the post office. Already wary I avoided the package office and went straight to the big one. They send me immediately to Seyhan, which I now know is accessed from the other side of the building, and is also the drop off. After exchanging my ID for a beat-up looking card the security card points me to a door, when I entered, I was in the inner workings of the post office. All around me people were dropping off packages, filling mail, or loading their postal bags. I was confused. A nice man asked me what I wanted, when I told him I was looking for this package he didn't respond but asked me if I was from Turkey or Azerbaijan, which flattered and annoyed me, but mostly flattered. I was finally sent to a man named Erken who made some calls, and then wanted my number. Of that I was skeptical, I don't often give out my number and this didn't seem very protocol, but none of this does really. So I tried to give him my host moms so at least she could understand him when he called, I handed him my phone to see the number and he just called himself with it so he had my number. He told me to call him on Monday, which confused me even more, but I said I would. Saturday morning I woke up at 9:00 to post office Erken calling, and immediately passed the phone to my host mom. Apparently he had my package and now all I had to do was pick it up. Back at Seyhan on Saturday, Erken was nowhere to be found, and the gathering of, I swear, every member of the post office started. Finally I just gave up and called my host mom who talked to the men, and my package was found. 

 As I ripped open the tiny envelope and pulled out that plastic charger that I had gone through so much to get, I felt a sense of disappointment. I mean after all there is not that much exciting about a Panasonic DE-A59 charger. I was so frustrated by the postal system which seems to run without rhyme or reason, but comforted by the kindness of the people. I must have heard 15 times that my Turkish was good, and asked over and over what I was doing there. They were curious and anxious to help. It really helps in a place where I know so few people compared to my own little island, when people are as friendly as if they have known you for years.

Turkish

When I found out that out that I had gotten then NSLI-Y scholarship to live in Turkey I was asked primarily, why Turkey? but also a lot about the language. What language is spoken there? Is it written in the western or Latin alphabet? What does is sound like? Not many people outside of Turkey know how to say hello, or goodbye as they do in Spanish, Italian, or German. The reason of course being that it is mainly only spoken in Turkey, a country still working its way up to its full potential. So I thought I might explain a little about  the language, and my reasons for learning it.


Though Turkish is the official language of only Turkey and one of the official languages of Cyprus there are over 77 million people worldwide who speak it as a first language.There are concentrated speakers in Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Germany which is home to many Turkish immigrants. Also in countries such as Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan dialects of Turkish are spoken. Though Turks push for their youth to learn English they remain proud of their language and the evolution it has undergone to become what is is today. In 1932 Atatürk kind of redid the language, getting rid of a lot of Arabic loanwords and changing the alphabet to the Latin one, (great for me!) though there are still quite a few Arabic words used today.

As for why I decided to learn this somewhat unusual language I have a many reasons yet I am still not 100% sure. I loved Turkey the last time I was here and almost went as an exchange student my junior year, but chose Spain instead.. I probably would have jumped at the chance to learn any new language, and I wanted to take a gap year so when this opportunity presented itself it seemed pretty perfect. I believe that there is a lot to be gained from learning a new language and Turkey is a pretty extraordinary country to do so in. Through learning a country's language it is possible to connect  with the people and culture in a pretty unique way. There is so much about this place and people that I have become very fond of that it would be challenging to put into words. Also just speaking Turkish as a foreigner, especially as an American, Turk  are automatically impressed and excited.

When this year ends, my dad wants to know if I will be able to put the language I have labored over learning to any use, if I will be able to apply it to my job or future plans. I have no idea. I love the idea of having a job that I can use both Turkish and Spanish, but I don't know.  I'm not even sure I will be able to continue studying it. I do know though, one day I will live here again. Probably not in Adana, but Istanbul, Izmir or Antalya are all tempting choices. Though even if I don't manage to make it a big part of my life, I feel in no way that any of this year is being wasted.

So, as a final bit I am including a brief Turkish lesson, if you would like to know how these things are  pronounced (or at least our attempt at pronouncing them correctly,) check out my the podcast my friend Rebecca and I made, you can get to the link a couple posts down.


Merhaba- Hello
Hoşçakal and güle güle- goodbye
Görüşürüz- see you later
Teşekkür ederim- thank you
Sağol- another way to say thank you
Günaydın-good morning
İyi günler- good day
İyi akşamlar- good afternoon
İyi geceler- good night (İyi means good)

Göüşürüz!

Afiyet Olsun!

On Saturday Kenzie, one of my AFS friends and her family invited us for an afternoon barbecue, and since I rarely pass up an opportunity to eat some delicious Turkish food I happily accepted. It was a beautiful springy  day as we sped along the gravel roads that line the lake of Adana. I don't feel that the lake here gets nearly the credit it deserves especially since I would argue that it is the most beautiful part of the city. To get  out to our picnic spot it is quite a drive, past the packed commercial center, past the sprawling apartments, past the little houses that make up the outskirts of town into an area of lush green hills and lakeside restaurants. It would be very picturesque if it weren't for the trash that is pretty much everywhere. It is amazing thought the changes that occur once you make it past the urban areas, it turns into green fields, clear blue water, and absolutely awesome sunsets.

Long before the sunset though, we ate, and I was excited for this part because I was pretty hungry. So when Kenzie's host mom asked "acıktınızma?" (are you all hungry?) I quıckely replıed that I was and being a Turkish mother she immediately started preparing me something. She pointed to a bowl of what looked like ground meet and asked if I would like it in a flour tortilla, I didn't think twice when I said sure. Though as an afterthought I should have thought twice since I really had no idea what it was, but my general rule of thumb when it comes to Turkish food is to try everything and it generally works out pretty well. She handed over a pretty appetizing looking burrito with an "afiyet olsun," the phrase you say to the people who are eating. I knew I was in trouble when my friends giggled a bit but I took a first big bite anyway of what turned out to be lung, sheep lung.


If you have ever had sheep lung you may know that the though first taste is not good, it's not terrible either, but as you continue chewing the it seems to get bigger and bigger and the taste more and more distinct. Trouble is that in Turkish culture you eat what is on your plate and it is pretty impolite to take one bite of something and stop eating. But for the first time since being here I really did not think I could eat any more. I carefully set it down on my plate trying to create the illusion that I would come back to it later. The rest of the food was wonderful, sausage cooked over a campfire then stuffed in fresh bread, çiğ köfte, a sort of raw meat that is wonderful, and more. But every time I looked down at my forlorn sheep lung I felt a guilty. At some point one of the men there noticed that I wasn't eating it and quietly fed it to one of the many stray dogs that roam especially in that part of Adana but it only made me feel worse. Food is a huge part of the culture here, men and women take a special pride in not only their own cooking but the dishes of the country.I'm not exactly sure what I should have done, next time though I will try a little harder to get down a few more bites unappetizing as it may be.

Podcast!

Hello again!

About two weeks ago  my friend Rebecca I were inspired one morning by the podcasts we were listening to, to create our own podcast, and by the end of the day it was finished! Though the process of actually creating the podcast was pretty quick, without notes or a plan, our challenge was putting it on the Internet. Only today did we overcome the challenges of bad Internet, podcast information confusion, and our own general lack of tech-savviness, and get it online! Though we know our podcast is pretty rough we are confident that we will get better. We hope that you enjoy listening to us talk about our experiences here in Turkey and before.  We would also love your feedback, you can e-mail us at crpodcast@gmail.com, let us know what you think! Here is the link:

Rebecca and Charlotte's very first podcast!

 

Thanks for listening! 

 

Back to Cappadocia

As you can imagine Lent is a time not really celebrated here in Turkey, but I am a sucker for any time I get to make new goals and start fresh, so I am using these next 40 days to hopefully create some habits. Among my goals are writing more often in my journal, studying more Turkish, and blogging more consistently. Wish me luck.

I am finally and somewhat sadly back to my normal routine after a few weeks of travels. I returned to Adana after my trip to Ankara and Antalya but I was home for only a few days before I left for Ankara, again. The idea of getting back on the huge, cramped, smoking-bus-driver bus was not extremely appealing but I'd travel much worse in order to see Turkey. The purpose of our trip, me and the other NSLI and YES students, was to say goodbye to three of our group who are now home from their six-month programs. In what was a group of eight their loss is felt. We said a tear felt goodbye to them on Friday night and were then rushed off to a four day camp in Cappadocia.

I must have said this before, but Cappadocia is possibly the coolest place on the planet. Jammed inside this tiny region are underground cities used as far back as 400bc, homes carved into the soft Tufa rock, and natural rock formations that seem so unrealistic they were named fairy chimneys because such wondrous works could only have been made by fairies. And they do seem somewhat magical.

Unfortunately we spent two of our three days in camps talking about everything from our family issues to the reason Turks have a strange fear of wet hair. Though it is helpful to talk about the things we don't like or are having trouble with, I was anxious to get out and explore. The last day was our chance and we saw A LOT! We explored a different underground city than the one I had visited before, and it was a treat. We entered through and unimpressive mound in a hill into an intricate system of tunnels and rooms. At first glance a room may appear to sleep only a few people but with further inspection there are low walls and tunnels which lead to more space and as you continue through there seems to be an endless amount of different directions to turn. There are holes in the ground which our guide explained were for storing jars and small pools that were used for making wine or storing dish water (the underground cities had no septic system.) It is truly amazing, especially considering that they were built for thousands of people.

We also visited the Open-Air-Museum; a place that as I was walking through I realized my family had visited almost six years ago. Cut out of the soft rocks are monasteries side by side each with it’s own fantastic church. It is famous for frescoes that still maintain their original color. Though it was inhabited in mainly the 10th,11th, and 12th centuries as you enter the dark, cool caves and squint at luminescent artwork it feels far more recent. Some were better preserved then others but all of them have the distinct smell of damp cave and unfathomable history.

Ankara and Antalya

For the two-week semester break Dilsad and I had enough time to go on a little trip. Dilsad’s dad lives and works in Ankara, so we took the bus-about six hours-to go visit him. We left early on Saturday the 23^rd and stayed until Sunday the 30^th.

            Ankara became the capital city of Turkey when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk remade, and modernized the city. Though it is lacking some of the charm of many of the older cities in turkey is a nice town full of chic cafes and shopping. We spent a lot of time walking around the city, which was a good way to see it but Ankara was freezing! The weather in Adana is bordering on summer right now. I liked being in the cold though, I feel like I need that difference to appreciate the warmness of Adana and summer. Plus it was all worth it when one night it started snowing! It snowed all through the night and we woke up to a thick blanket on the street. I love the snow, and it was exactly the same feeling as when we get like and inch one the island and everything is white and wonderful. Dilsad, her dad, and I went to the park where we sledded on trash bags, threw snowballs and made snow angles. We warmed up by getting these delicious Belgium waffles topped in chocolate sauce, fruit, and nuts. Yumm!

Dilsad’s dad Selami, is a really pleasant person, though I’m don’t really feel like I really connected with him. He was great about taking us to see the sights like Ataturk's tomb and the museums. One night we went to a play (that I understood very little of) and visited a couple of Dilsad’s potential universities. He is a very jolly man and had me practice my Turkish some nights by explaining what we did that day, leaving out not even the tiniest detail. Overall it was a pretty relaxing stay, I spent a lot of time reading and writing and trying to study Turkish. I think it was good for Dilsad and I to have some one on one time because in Adana we are both super busy, and boy did we have plenty of alone time. Plus it was good to get out of Adana, I was feeling a bit cooped up and though it wasn’t a super exciting trip it was good to get out of my routine.

After Ankara we took another sevenish hour bus ride to Antalya where some of my host mom’s family lives. Remses and his wife are an older couple and their daughter lives with them as well. I met them when I went to the village with my family when my Turkish was terrible but really liked them despite the language barrier. Also visiting was their son who has been living in Azerbaijan for the past three years and his finance that is Azerbaijanis. Though there were a lot of us for the size of the apartment it was fun, and they were very welcoming. I like Remses a lot because he is also talking to me, most of the time I really have no idea what he is saying but I just kind of nod along. Sureya, their daughter, is in her late 20’s, and loves makeup and hair products. She has naturally light hair which I supper uncommon here and spends hours getting it ready. She s really sweet though and invited to me come back whenever. I think I may take her up on that because Antalya is beautiful! We did a sort of professional tour guide thing with one of Sureya’s friends, an annoying guy that kept referring to himself as “your handsome tour guide, Ali,” and took us bowling for some reason. But it was good to see the city. The old part of Antalya is beautiful, tiny streets that lead to the old harbor. The sea is the most beautiful blue green and though it was windy and cold it made me want to go swimming. It was pretty much deserted right not because it is the low season, but there are a ton of youth hostels and cafes so I imagine it gets pretty touristy in the summer.

Antalya also has this really great museum that I went to with Nilia the girl from Azerbaijan. It is packed with Greek and Roman artifacts, and it was super interesting to talk to her. In Azerbaijan they speak like 3 different languages, one is like old Turkish-so maybe later I can study there-Russian, and some Italian. After the museum Ozgre her fiancé picked us up and took us to the main beach in Antalya, so stunningly beautiful. You can see little islands in the distance and white-capped mountains in the other direction. I can’t wait to go back.

            The bus ride home was long to say the least, about twelve hours, though most of it is along the Mediterranean so the view was great. The roads though are way to narrow for the giant bus so we spent about half our time in the other lane and though nobody else seemed that worried I was on the edge of my seat because most of the turns are blind corners and crossing way over into the other lane seemed to leave a lot of potential for disaster. But we made it to Adana eventually, and it was wonderful to get home and see my host mom. I missed her.  I also really missed my AFS friends three of whom are leaving in about a week. They were only on the six-month program and will be flying out of Ankara late next week. So back I go to Ankara Wednesday of next week to see them off. Then the remaining five of us have some sort of camp in Cappadocia for a few days. It will be extremely sad to see those girls off because we have all become a very close group, but it will be nice to be a smaller as well. I really want to buckle down and study my Turkish in the next few months and it should be a bit easier to do so with a smaller group.