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Published: August 22nd 2010
Streetside Display
Scenes like this give us comfortWelcome to "Month 3 of Bill and Carol's Senior Trip Abroad"! This month's theme is "rahatiik" (comfort). Despite staggering heat/humidity and a modest list of annoyances, we are finding great comfort here. A few nights ago, we found ourselves in one of those stock-taking conversations in which we tried to think back and line up earlier expectations with reality. We recalled that as we packed our bags in Seattle last May, our greatest hope was to be able to become part of an authentic community in Turkey: to become more connected to the people and culture around us than is possible on even a long vacation. And, to our astonishment, that's beginning to happen. A few weeks ago, our Turkish teacher (who is also a friend/neighbor/advocate) became a grandmother for the first time, and we love being swept along with her daily delight in Berk, the baby. Another friend has been worrying about her daughter who is suffering from a serious illness that is better known in the U.S. It's been gratifying to help her get information about U.S. clinical trials and medications through the internet. And our dear friend Gloria, who has lived in Turkey for 11 years, has decided
Serene...
The word "serin" means cool in Turkish, and that means comfort to us (on the brink of her 75th birthday!) to become a Turkish citizen. The process is harrowing--not for the faint of heart, but Gloria is equal to the task. We enjoy cheering her on or cheering her up-- depending on the outcome of her adventures in bureaucracy on any given day. One last example: just before dark yesterday, I walked a half block through the sauna-like evening to the tiny market on the corner. It's on a one block cul-de-sac ending at the Sea. In front of the shop, the street was full of kids playing with soccer balls and scooters while their shirtless dads puzzled over a broken bike, and their moms cut up a watermelon on the stoop. A couple of people greeted me, and the smiling shop owner handed me his baby granddaughter to hold while he packed up my purchase. That's "rahatlik."
As expected, August has been hot--with humidity that reaches 80-90% most days. The high Taurus mountains that run along the coast near us often block any breeze. Grimmest of all, the view of the sparkling turquoise Sea and the mountains towering behind is completely blocked most days as if by an opaque gray curtain.
We used the heat as an excuse to take two short trips--both in luxuriously comfortable, air conditioned buses. (That type of bus is actually called "rahat".)
First, we headed north to the lake district in a mountainous area near Isparta. We stayed in a cozy, family-owned pansyon on the small island of Yesilada on Lake Egirdir (the fourth largest lake in Turkey). Yesilada Island was not only beautiful, it was truly serene. (Antalya is vibrant and throbbing with sounds, so the quiet felt lovely.) In the evenings we ate bass from the lake as the water lapped just feet away. One day as we studied by the lake, we heard beautiful a capella singing of young voices from a nearby building. Later we saw dozens of adolescent girls in colorful Islamic dress frolicking in a garden. We learned that they were attending a residential summer school for Islamic studies.
Then, last week (when the internet weather forecast for Antalya warned of a heat index of 50 degrees C--or 122 F), we plotted another escape. This time our destination was the northern Aegean Coast. On this second trip, the "rahat" (comfy) bus ride was six hours through gorgeous countryside,
4 Generations of Innkeepers
This family runs the cozy pansyon where we stayed on Yeselada (Green Island) in which the center of each village contained a gleaming mosque. In the huge Aegean coastal city of Izmir, we picked up our rental car and headed about three hours up the coast to the city of Ayvalik, where we stayed four nights. Unfortunately, Ayvalik was in the midst of a very rare heatwave too, but it was less humid--much more comfortable than in Antalya. It was fun to poke through the narrow cobblestone streets between rows of very old houses that had lots of crumbly charm.
The highlight in Ayvalik, though, was a full-day trip out among the islands on a large, handsome "yat" that was packed with lively Turks on holiday. Though there were many parents/grandparents with young children, it was largely an exuberant bikini-clad crowd who danced and swam for more than six hours--with very little liquor consumed too. An identical boat of merrymakers was making the same trip, and sometimes the boats would pull side by side for dance competitions! At the end, as we pulled back into the Ayvalik harbor, the boats again pulled side by side and a crew member from threw a rope from the top deck of one boat to the
other. Suddenly, the rope was pulled taut unveiling a HUGE Turkish flag. As the flag flapped in the wind, EVERYONE on both boats sang the same song with great feeling. We assumed it was Turkish national anthem, but later we learned that the Aegean coast is a politically liberal (and more secular) part of the country, and the song is actually a protest song--expressing resistance against the current administration that is leading Turkey in a more conservative direction. It was moving!
Lest we give the impression that our lives here are never more taxing than spitting watermelon seeds off the balcony, we should admit that August has presented some white-knuckle moments. A few examples: 1)We were required to pay 170 TL (about $140) for the previous tenants' unpaid electricity bill. 2) BOTH our living room air conditioner and the refrigerator stopped working! (The Turkish word for "broken" is "bozuk"--and we've had to use it now for four appliances.) 3) The monthly wire transfer of our retirement income that needs to go from our credit union in Seattle and our Turkish bank in Antalya was stopped by the U.S. Federal Reserve because one institution omitted Bill's middle initial. Naturally, the
resolution of such issues is complicated by language and cultural issues that are unfamiliar. For some reason, Bill seems to relish the kind of trouble shooting that gets us through such glitches.
Of course, Ramazan began August 11, bringing some fascinating changes. In this country in which it is assumed that almost everyone is Muslim, drummers come with loud chanting and drumming through residential neighborhoods to wake everyone up in time to eat before daybreak--when the fasting begins. I guess alarm clocks just don't do the trick! When we were in Ayvalik, our guesthouse was in a residential neighborhood, and the drummers came through between 3:30 and 4:00 each morning. They even walked between houses! The drumming was in a strange, uneven rhythm and the whole experience was quite eerie! Back in Antalya, though, we live in a neighborhood with residents from many countries as well as a good many Turks who don't strictly observe Ramazan. We were told that in areas like ours, neighbors often pay the drummers NOT to come--and that has apparently happened because our early mornings are blissfully drummerless.
But signs of Ramazan are everywhere--decorations, concerts, and special schedules at the supermarkets--which open well
Between Antalya and Izmir
Lombardi Poplars grow in this dry valley before daylight now. We are surprised to find something of a party atmosphere--with smiling families out together after the iftar (fast-breaking dinner) at sundown. After dark, the park is full of cotton candy, live music, and vendors selling special toys and trinkets for children. As I write this, Bill is calling me out to see a unicyclist who had drawn an astonished audience. A huge stage with jumbo-trons has been set up at the edge of the Sea quite near us, and every night beginning at 9:30 p.m., a large crowd gathers for a special program there--a speech, a slide-show, or (more often) a concert. In short, large numbers are fasting--and it must be murder not to be able to drink liquids in these temperatures! But after dark, there's a lot of celebratory hustle and bustle--not the more somber, contemplative period we had expected.
For us, there's just one disappointment with Ramazan: You know the simit man we mentioned in earlier blogs --the guy who balances a tray of hot bread on his head as he comes down our street every morning? Well, the simit man has disappeared during Ramazan! Now Bill walks 4 or 5 blocks to get
Old Ayvalik
Streets are almost too narrow for cars us hot simits every morning--but he NEVER puts them on his head.
Right now, Turkish politics are even hotter than the weather! (We learned something about that on that boat in the Aegean!) The newspapers and the chai gardens are buzzing with fiery controversy about a referendum that is coming September 12. It will determine if there will be key changes to the national Constitution, adopted in 1982 in a political crisis. The focus of most of the controversy are two articles that would give the ruling party more power over the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Board of Judges. Critics (who include many in the CHP party that is dedicated to keeping Turkey a secular state) say that a majority YES vote on the referendum will give the ruling AKP party greater freedom to advance a hidden Islamist agenda--that the AKP denies that it has. In Antalya two activists have been detained for circulating flyers urging a NO vote on the referendum. At the same time, the (liberal) Turkish newspaper reports that the ruling party is putting pressure on major businesses and NGOs to endorse the YES vote. Current polls project an EXTREMELY close vote, and--in the meantime--things
are getting nastier by the day.
We close with a huge thanks to each of you for following us on this adventure. You can't imagine how much we enjoy your comments and e-mails! They really add to our "rahatlik"! As before, we are including a section of additional photos we'll call FACES AND PLACES just to give you a bit more flavor of this extraordinary country and its people.
With affection,
Carol and Bill Roach
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Gloria Patterson
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Your view of Turkey
Your view of Turkey even gives me a new dimension. I have seen these spots but your photos and comments give me a new dimension. I wish I had done this when I came. I have written down some stories but not as cleverly as you have done.