The Turkish Twist

One of the more witty and insightful Fulbrighters came up with a neat little phrase that summarizes Turkey perhaps more aptly than the "four T's". We call it "The Turkish twist", which is not a dance (I will invent that later), but rather, the strange ways that a perfectly normal experience is rendered confusing and stressful for no real reason other than the fact that we are in Turkey.

For example (mesela), two weekends ago I went to Sinop. I had a lovely time with the three other Fulbrighters there and got to see the Black Sea, eat fresh fish in a floating restaurant, and hone my tavla (backgammon) skills. However, after the first night of staying in the polisevi (police house, where the two Sinop Fulbrighters were living), the front desk staff brusquely informed us that it was NOT A HOTEL and refused to give the Sinop duo their keys on the second night. Even though between the two of them they have six beds, apparently you need "permission" from "[insert bureaucrat here]" in order to stay there. So, I ended up taking the night bus home, and the other non-Sinop visitor found a new place to stay. It didn't ruin the weekend, but it did cause a few moments of unnecessary stress. The Turkish twist.

Sinop as seen from near a cafe that is on the northernmost point in Turkey.

This is part of the Sinop harbor, where apparently cruise ships dock from time to time.


As for last weekend, I went to Eskişehir and Uşak's neighboring big-ish city, Afyonkarahisar. The Turkish twist in Eskişehir for me was that the "EsTram" there, while adorable and convenient, did not magically get me to the otogar on time, so I ended up missing my scheduled bus at 11AM, changing my ticket to the 1PM bus, taking the tram back to city center, going on a short (and awesome) gondola ride in the canal, and then immediately getting back on the tram to go to the bus station to leave. Eskişehir is the best potential site of a Fulbrighter romantic comedy, so we decided. I am slowly easing myself into bigger Turkish cities--this weekend, Antalya, perhaps next weekend, Izmir, and then maybe...Istanbul?

Look at how cute this tram is.

A beautiful mosque which I did not go in to because even though I had a scarf at hand, I did not have a female guide to prevent me from making some kind of sacrilegious mistake. Another mosque, another time.

"I just got [to Eskişehir], and I think I know why no Fulbrighter was placed here."
"Why?"
"Because it's AWESOME."

The last-second gondola ride on the canal.

I am glad for my extra 45 minutes or so in Eskişehir because it allowed me to take just enough pictures to illustrate its cuteness, which I hadn't before, spending most of my time in Kahve Dünyası (a chain here, trans. coffee world) nibbling a chocolate spoon that came with my salep (a popular drink here made from the roots of orchids). I didn't take pictures of Afyon because it was night and I mostly only ate dinner there.

But back to the Turkish twist...yesterday morning, I got to teach my first class. Of course this could not happen without some kind of scheduling malfunction! (As an aside: I actually am totally in love with the lackadaisical attitude towards class here. I realized not too long ago that the reason classes last 4 hours is that a "ten minute break" inevitably means a "25 minute break", and teachers and students come late or leave early pretty much at random, so if classes were allotted a normal amount of time, next to nothing would ever get done.)

Anyways...the twist? My class actually did not come at all, or, as I perhaps more accurately speculate, they came to class around 8:30 but left the room before I arrived at 9:40, because my Fulbright coworker and I were not shown where our classrooms were until an hour after the scheduled starting time, due to our guides needing to finish their breakfast and drink their tea first. So we taught one class together (instead of two different classes separately, but at the same time) for about two and a half hours, which was perfectly OK. I am just happy to be doing what I came here to do, and the "students" (actually mostly department heads, assistant professors, and other bigwigs) are enthusiastic and do not need too much coercion to speak. Heck, they even seemed to enjoy themselves a little bit, but I don't want to get too cocky. Eventually (inşallah!) we will know when and where we are teaching each day more than five minutes before class or at least not an hour in to the start of class.

The Four T's (Things in Turkey Take Time)

Many things have happened in the past few days since I was on a cross-country bus using free Wifis. Many things...and nothing. I'm still not teaching for confusing reasons, and our housing situation is unclear at best. These hiccups aside, here's what's been happening this week.

My fellow American and I arrived in Uşak at 4PM on Saturday (Cumartesi). Three people from the university were there to greet us, two spoke excellent English, and all were exceedingly kind and helpful. We moved our heaps of belongings into the university guest house and then went to the main street of Uşak, known sarcastically by the students as "Compulsory Street", because if you want to do anything remotely cool you will probably end up on that street. After eating delicious pide and going to a cafe with our new coworker R, we then went to the local Migross-anchored mall (it is tiny and adorable) and met our head of department for ice cream. At this point, being too fat and/or sassy to move much, we went back to the guest house...for sleep.

The next morning (or early afternoon) we took the dolmuş into town and met R at her apartment. We then proceeded to the grocery store for fixin's to made fırında patates --chicken and potatoes oven roasted with tomatoes and onions. We also made tarhana soup (apparently really popular and famous in Uşak) and hazelnut chocolate instant pudding. After this small feast, we went bowling at the aforementioned mall. There are six lanes. This is a six-lane-bowling-alley-in-the-tiny-mall kind of town.

On Monday (Pazartesi) we went to the police station with our other coworker F, and the driver for the Rektör (head of university). The driver knows everyone in town and how to navigate anything in a Fiat SUV. I wish I could keep him around all the time. In any case, two cups of tea into our residence permit application, the police officer abruptly stops and says (in Turkish of course), "There is another American from Chicago here!" He then proceeds to call her from the number in the registry, instead gets her Turkish husband, and moments later said Turkish husband is sitting in the office with us enjoying a cup of tea. He puts his wife on and she informs us she is actually from Nevada, she met her husband on the internet, and she has been living in Turkey for some time,would we like to go on a picnic sometime. Her husband then takes his phone back contentedly and shares a cigarette break with the police officer. This is how Turkey's bureaucracy stays alive.

On Tuesday (Salı), we went to the police office again to get our completed permits. They are like tiny passports just for foreigners in Turkey. We tried to open a bank account but we need tax ID numbers from Ankara, which will take time. We returned to campus with the hope of meeting the Rektör himself and maybe getting our teaching schedules, neither of which happened. However, our head of department decided to make up for it by taking us on a magical mystery tour with our coworker, R. (I don't know if I can call her a "coworker" if we have yet to do any work and do not know if we will ever work due to bureaucratic concerns, but still.) We got in our department head's car and he started off towards Izmir, begging the obvious question, "Uh...are we going to Izmir?" (Izmir'e gidiyoruz, hocam?) He said,"Oh, maybe not tonight," thereby keeping the mystery alive through awkward use of English. Eventually we ended up at a very surprising place-a Turkish truck stop.

At the truck stop/rest stop, we were treated to some of the most delicious homemade pide, grilled chicken, and grilled (whole) fish I have had in a long time on shabby tablecloths and with bent tableware. Our head of department said "No need to be polite here. I come here to rest, they know me, they care for me." Then we had three cups of tea and talked about movies and the difference between "diseased" and "deceased", and also about how American accents are the worst (good thing they're paying us to teach people to talk real 'merican!) Then we drove back to Uşak towne and went to a cafe to play backgammon (super popular in cafes here). Then, more sleep.

On Wednesday (çarşamba), we finally met the Rektör and had a trilingual conversation with him. We mostly spoke French, but sometimes English and Turkish would slip in on all our parts. Basically it was the best conversation I've ever had (maybe not content-wise, but, you know, details). Our housing problem was somewhat solved as a result of this meeting, but I am still wary of unpacking lest our situation change again. We shall see.

More details on all of this forthcoming. My internet situation is shaky at times so I haven't been blogging much. I will post pics of Uşak U as well. Until then!