Miss Jess...

or Miss Jekissa, or My Teacher...I seem to be answering to any of the above these days more often. School's in session. I've got a new class that I'm tutoring and I've just got to go ahead and tell you that they have just become a spot of sunshine in my weeks. They're such sweet kids. English is the name of the game that we're playing...in the picture, I baked them cookies for their surprise this week because they all had smiley faces left at the end of the week. Let me tell you that my cooking skills are much improved this side of the water (I am still a work in progress, though), and I hope the cookies will motivate them to keep those smileys! Other than constantly making each other laugh and wanting to never stop singing our silly school songs...they're pretty well behaved. Even when they're not, I have to stifle a giggle before I tell them to sit down or listen. I meet with them three times a week and I kind of feel like I'm back in grade school again. When I was little, I used to ride my bike down the street and play 'school' with my girl friends. If memory serves me correct--I like to get my way--I think I was the teacher quite often! We'd get old worksheets and make bulletin boards...all the works. So, I've been having fun getting creative with my lesson plans again, many years later. Not to mention the fact that I have to live up to their former teacher (the real live teacher from America--not to mention fabulous teacher--Katie)... but I'm doing my best. Melissa's been helping and laughing at me as I ravage Google for ideas and am constantly making up silly songs now to whatever we might be learning! The last one was called, 'School is Fun' to the tune of 'Three Blind Mice'...and really, school has been fun!

Ramadan Nights to Days

So...Melissa and I have had the chance this past week to experience both sides of Ramadan. We had an Iftar meal with one of our friend's families and I cannot even tell you what a spread of food it was. They are a very devout family, and though I doubt they eat that particular meal every night during Ramadan, their entire family does fast and break the fast together each evening. There were so many courses.All the food was of course delicious. I have yet to taste anything that her mother has made that I dislike--and there are a few dishes that, well...aren't my favorite. After the meal, we piled into the family car. I am already acquainted with the whole family from previous teas and my friend's brother was in one of my English classes this summer! We headed to a local park for a Ramazan festival. Now, there are two things lately that I have been missing--you can be assured I miss everything--but these two things I got to have in one form or another here! I miss rain. I love a good rainy day and it rained yesterday for half an hour. I can't remember the last time it rained. It may have been in April. It just doesn't rain here in the summer...at all, literally, period. AND...I miss the fair. If you know me at all, then you will know that I love the fair! I know, it's trashy sometimes and too crowded and the rides are shaky and the food is greasy...BUT I love every minute of it. And this particular Ramadan festival included homemade craft booths and even had a Ferris wheel. I did not get to partake of the Ferris wheel, I believe those activities were only intended for children, but it made me feel like I was at home! After the Ramadan festival, we went for ice cream and then like we were in school again, our friend's dad dropped us off before he took the rest of the family home.

So, that is one side of Ramazan...there is another. This last weekend, our Turkish tutor came over for dinner and a movie and a game of Okey. Early evening and mid-game, her family calls and asks her to come home this weekend. She lives about an hour and a half away from our city, but stays with her aunt and uncle during the week and sometimes on the weekend so she can work. Well...she invited us to go along. Basically she said, 'how about we go to Mersin tonight?' Melissa and I are spontaneous--but usually not that much--so we said, 'well...we have to take the trash out at about 8, but that was the extent of our plans...so, okay!'. Within 30 minutes, we had packed our purses for the night and were on a bus headed to the train station. We road the train to Mersin and made it in time for her family's and now my favorite Turkish soap opera. I have got to get cable before Friday night at 8 o'clock in time for my new favorite show...it's good Turkish practice. Melissa and I set our alarms in order to be a part of the whole Ramadan experience for 3:30 a.m. and woke up and had sahur with her family. Sahur is the morning meal that everyone eats before the sun comes up since they fast during the day. If I thought the drums were loud at my house to wake the neighbors up for this pre-fasting meal, it was like a marching band at her house. We could not have slept through sahur if we had wanted to. I think what we ate was smaller than usual, but this is generally what Turkish breakfast consists of.

The Road Trip (Part III which also may be referred to as The End)

So...this is the end of stories from my first Turkish road trip. I know you've just been dying to know, and yes, the water was on when we woke up Sunday morning...thank goodness. I was beyond ready for a real shower! I know, I'm just down right spoiled, huh. I don't know if this village girl could swing it in Ankara. The power has already gone out twice here in my little abode today and I'm okay with that...water; however, that is another matter. That might require an even further daily attitude adjustment... They really know how to make the best of it there and surely head to Starbucks when water is short in their part of town, I mean we did. (smile).

Sunday was a great day. We went to a Turkish church with our hosts. It was a really neat experience for me. I didn't know a lot of the songs, but I knew one and I actually knew it by heart. That's the first time I've been able to sing a whole song by heart in Turkish and not have to read the words and try to figure out what I'm singing to Him. It was a neat feeling to be able to raise my hands and sing in Turkish something I believe and actually know what my heart was expressing to the Father in a language other than English. It was kind of an incredible feeling. A milestone, if you will, being in a new city with nothing really familiar around and being reminded--once again-- that He is the familiar. He is the constant in my life. He always will be. He is bigger than English and Turkish and He sees into the depths of my heart no matter what language I may choose to praise Him in as long as it's from my heart's overflow.

The rest of the day was spent really in waiting. We ate lunch, did a bit of shopping, and hung out with our friends at their house waiting to go to the bus station at--yet again-- midnight. I've never ridden Greyhound, so pardon my mistake if this is how it is in America (it's been awhile), but I don't think the Ankara bus station could have been more busy if it had been the middle of the day. Midnight was crazy busy at the bus station. There were so so so many people there. Apparently midnight bus travel is the way to go. We bought a few bus pillows--a risky move in itself as I am quite sure they were pre-used, but we hadn't had a ton of sleep between the two of us during the weekend and we were practically giddy as we boarded the bus. Anything to help aid in the sleep process was a luxury at this point. We were ready to come on back home and we actually slept right through the 3 a.m. pit stop this time. It was a neat weekend spent making memories with a new friend, who now I can call a really close friend and I'd take a midnight bus with anytime...

The Road Trip (Part II)

I certainly hope that you didn't think stories from the road trip were done... They are not. After the interview, we met back up with our hosts and headed to Anitkabir. The first 'i' should be un-dotted in Turkish and it is pronounced (Ah-nuht-kah-beer)...It's hard to prounounce those un-dotted 'i's, so I'm sure I can't do it justice over the computer. Only in person could I help you say it in Turkish. But we should try because this is where a museum has been established that gives homage to Turkish history and where Ataturk himself's body is and if you know anything about Turkey or Turkish people, you should know that they are a fiercely patriotic and proud people and Ataturk holds a special place in each one of their hearts. (We're standing in front of the building that holds his body.) I cannot over-exaggerate this point to you. They love their country and they have a deep respect for the man who helped make Turkey what it is today. On a plaque at the museum dedicated to Turkish history and Ataturk, himself, the 2nd president is quoted saying that Ataturk will remain in, "the Turkish people's heart full of love and pride." I couldn't help but feel the truth of that statement as I toured the museum and mausoleum with Billy. She teared up at one point and couldn't really explain to me what she was feeling, except to say that Turkey wouldn't be the place that it is today without this man and what he did. It was a moment full of insight to these people for me to see my friend--who is not usually overly outspoken about her country or it's first leader--moved to tears over this history. You have to know these people to understand their love for him and this place where we live.

All around the museum guards are placed and we were able to see the very ceremonial changing of the guards. Do not get in their way! My friend told me that they are commanded to not stop while they are changing, no matter who gets in their path!

I really enjoyed getting to go to the museum. I don't think my time in Turkey would ever be truly complete without it. We left the museum and headed to the Ankamall for Arby's...you saw the proof in the last blog. It's a happy picture, isn't it. We were just beat at this point after the museum, lunch, and a marathon shopping extravaganza. Billy is a shopping machine. Girl after my own heart. But, all this and we still hadn't had showers yet, lest you forget the midnight bus ride hence from we came. After a short nap, our hosts headed their way for the evening and we headed ours...to Pizza Hut. We had great aspirations to wash our faces, use the bathroom, and brush our teeth at Pizza Hut since...the water was still not working where we were staying. We just couldn't help but do anything other than laugh when we got to Pizza Hut only to find a note on the bathroom door that the water was not working. That entire part of the city was without water. Now, those living in Ankara would call us girls from the 'village', but these village girls had no trouble hopping a taxi and heading to refuge. We found it back in the Ankamall--our familiar landmark--at Starbucks. I think those were my favorite moments at Starbucks--I already told you we went twice, don't give me a hard time--laughing about the weekend and getting to talk about real things, a little in Turkish and a little more in English. But it was a great weekend. It really got me challenged to keep on keeping on with my language because as great as Billy's English may be, when conversation went to matters of the heart over pizza or coffee, it also went to Turkish. Thankfully, I could understand and even contribute to those moments, but that was definitely of Someone other than myself. It was a great weekend, water or no water...

The Road Trip... (Part I)

I went to Ankara this weekend. I boarded a bus at midnight, and rode to Ankara with a friend. It was almost 72 hours non-stop with a new Turkish friend--we'll call her Billy for blogging sake so you can pronounce her name while you're reading--and we just really bonded. 72 hours of fun, and special, and hysterical moments will do that to you. She had an interview in Ankara that was short and sweet and left us plenty of time to sight-see...but I'll start at the beginning. I came face to face with Turkish culture in so many ways this weekend. When we got to the bus-stop, I realized that this was going to be a new experience. I had to force her to let me pay for my own tickets. She wanted to buy my tickets for me and she proceeded to want to buy everything else the entire weekend for me! I had to keep exerting myself to be able to pay for me and help pay for her every once in a while. I constantly didn't want to be in-debted to her and she constantly wanted to pay for things for me. We were kind of a funny pair always fighting at the cash register forcing our cash or card into the cashier's hand!

Well, we got on the bus at the place downtown where she purchased the tickets from and I had never ridden this particular kind of bus. It was basically a clunker and did not even have enough seats for everyone. I got very nervous that it was going to be the most uncomfortable experience of my life. There was a kind of mass of people that all tried to smash on the bus at the same time fighting for seats. We managed to get to seats together in the very back row. But we had our luggage in our laps and we couldn't lay our seats back. I very politely a few minutes later asked her, 'How will we make it to Ankara like this?'...'Can I lay my head on your shoulder if I get tired?'...

What ensued was about ten minutes of laughter that became so contagious (it was already almost midnight at this point as we're beginning our journey) that the boy sitting next to us began to snicker as Billy explained to me that we were on the service bus. There was even a man standing and she found it absolutely hysterical--as did I later--that I thought he might stand all the way to Ankara. After the laughter passed, I was ecstatic to find that the service bus only takes us to the bus station where we catch our real bus, which proceeded to be a very nice charter bus with leather assigned seats. Crisis averted, but pre-laughter, I couldn't help but sit on the old dilapidated bus (unbeknownst to me that we were only going to the bus station fifteen minutes away) with my backpack in lap and uncomfortably think that this was going to be a very interesting weekend...

The bus ride ended up being great, except for the break we took at 3:00 in the morning that roused me from my R.E.M. sleep. Lights were turned on and everyone got off the bus and headed for the hot food line. Why in the world wouldn't I want to be roused at 3:00 in the morning to eat Turkish food is beyond me...it was a good potty break.

The next time I was roused was right outside of Ankara when we were served tea. I think our bus hostess must have been convinced that I was holding the fast and needed to drink before the sun totally rose because I fell asleep somewhere before the sugar made it into my tea and found myself being nudged awake by the hostess to tell me to finish my tea.

We were happy to reach Ankara only to find out that our sweet hosts were without water. Welcome to Ankara. We freshened up in the bathroom at the bus station for our day and headed to our hosts' home. A Turkish breakfast later, and we headed off for the interview with the International Rotary Club.

It really was a wonderful wonderful weekend. We had so much fun, and the food I got to eat was only the icing on the cake...I got to eat Arby's, Pizza Hut, Schlotzsky's, and Starbucks (twice)...

An Early Wake Up Call

Today marks the second day of the Muslim religious month-long fast called Ramadan. All around Muslims of many appearances are beginning this month of observing one of the pillars of Islam with fasting. They fast from sunrise to sunset from eating, drinking, and smoking. There is a calendar on my table that marks the exact time of the call each day that signals to the fasters that they may eat at this time. The time changes every day as the sun changes in it's setting. They break the fast with a traditional meal called 'Iftar' that from what I know consists of several courses but initially they break with dates and water. I hope I get invited to some big feasts at my friends' houses! Then they wake up before sunrise to eat again before they fast during the day. Some offer a service in my city--which I actually read in the paper today that is illegal because of noise pollution, but this law has clearly not been enforced yet in my neighborhood--that woke me up this morning much earlier than my alarm was set. A man made his rounds around our neighborhood banging a drum to wake everyone up and signal to them that they should rise and eat before the day begins and they must fast. I am told that he will do this every morning and then at the end of the month, he will come around to collect for his fine service. So, as you can tell, things in my city are taking a different look this month as I'm learning many things and seeing things through new eyes during this month long fast for the Muslims in my city.
Tomorrow; however, I will not be awakened by the drums...I'll probably already be awake on a bus! I'm taking a mid-night bus with a new friend to Ankara for the weekend. She has a scholarship interview and I'm going to be some moral support and then we're going to do a bit of sight-seeing! I've never been to Ankara...and I surely have never gotten on a bus at midnight to arrive at my destination the next morning! We'll see how this goes. We'll again, get on a bus at midnight Sunday night to come on home and be home early Monday morning. I've had the song, 'I'm leaving on that Midnight Train to Georgia' in my head all week, I've just been modifying the words for my roommates listening pleasure. Look for some pictures of the capitol next week!

My Big Fat Turkish Wedding

(title inspired by my dad). So, Melissa and I went to another Turkish wedding last night (Melissa's first and my second) and to answer the question already brewing in your mind, no, we did not have a police escort this time, nor did we get to ride in police car. Pity for Melissa, I'd already been there and done that, though. This is our pre-game picture in the elevator getting ready for our night out on the town! Not really. We felt a little funny. The sun is setting earlier here and it's just not really culturally appropriate for us single girls to be out late at night. But last night was a special occasion so we found ourselves leaving to go out in the dark for the first time in many months for me. We'll come home in the dark escorted, but we rarely leave to go out in the dark for an evening out--life is just different here culturally, but we're adjusting--but now the sun has been setting at 7:06, thanks to our Ramadan countdown that starts today. (I'll blog about that later this week, but Ramadan started today and there are no weddings allowed during Ramadan, so there have been lots of decorated cars driving around to weddings this past week.) And a Turkish wedding probably won't start until 8 o'clock--and the bride and groom certainly won't be there until later than that!

We played a little game called the 'trust' game because Melissa got the directions and well, I just trusted her to get us where we were going...and she did great. Our wedding was in a new part of town for me, about 45 minutes from our house the opposite direction of our discovered territory (the opposite direction of the mall from our house). Weddings here are usually at a wedding salon. It's a big room equipped with disco lighting, lots of tables and chairs, and a concession stand. Must have a concession stand because other than wedding cake, nothing was served. Melissa bought us some drinks at the concession stand. We even debated popcorn--yes, they were selling popcorn, too! It's also where we bought the confetti to throw at the bride and groom as they entered the salon. Here's Melissa buying our refreshments!

We felt so privileged. Our friend invited us to help usher in the bride and groom to the room. We stood in a line as the lights were dimmed and we raised our sparkler bearing hands to give them a proper arch to enter under and confetti to run through into the salon, filled with waiting Turks. Here's their grand entrance and our friend in the other picture is the very dressed up looking girl. Family wears very fancy prom dress looking outfits and then the other guests wear whatever, basically. Some were dressed up and then some were just wearing jeans.
And then, the dancing started...and boy, was there dancing. The lights dimmed and the music got turned up and everyone started dancing. Turkish dancing has a style all to it's own--which involves a bit of belly dancing, some snapping and flailing your arms around, and definitely some hip shaking, but no touching of the opposite sex. The dancing took a short break to cut the cake and then started up again.

What did we do after the cake was cut? Good question. We danced some more! Finally, when it was time for our blue bus to turn into a pumpkin and stop making runs in that part of town (much before midnight), we said we had to leave and got to pin our gift on the bride early, before the ceremony began. Most guests will bring a quarter piece piece of gold (I don't know what it's a quarter of) and pin it on a red sash that the bride wears. There was also a money dance. We only brought gold. But at one point at the wedding party, the bride and groom danced and their parents and some older guests came up while they were dancing and threw money at them. No, really, they threw money at them. They made sure to throw it right in their faces so it almost touched them. Then little children who had been assigned, ran around and collected the money. Here we are with our friends' sister, the lovely bride.Then we headed home, but of course the adventure didn't end there. We missed the blue bus we were suppose to get on--not because we didn't chase after it though--so our friend helped us flag down another bus and told him which bus we needed to be on and where we were going. For the next few minutes our driver kept honking and trying to flag down our appropriate bus, but with no success. So finally, we ended up at the end of the road. I've never been to the bus depot before, but we went last night. It's the final stop, and all the buses break here and turn around, I guess to do their route again. Our driver ordered everyone off the bus. We started to get off the bus and he said the name of the place we needed to be. This is the interaction that took place: Bus Driver: (says the name of the place that we need to go). Me: We don't know how to get there. We're lost. Bus Driver: Don't be lost. Get back on the bus and sit down. Me: (Well, at this point, we were on a city bus, so I felt like we were safe. So, we got back on and waited while our drivers had their tea break with the other buses breaking.) Then, sure enough, they got back on the bus and we started the route again. And they not only took us where we needed to go, but waited with us until the bus we needed to be on came and they never charged us for their delivery services. The nature of this hospitable culture. We definitely had our guardian angels in action last night. So, we got on our bus and headed home. With all the adventure, we got home a little later than we wanted to, but it was a great night and our friend was so excited that we came.