Learning About Ataturk

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Mikkel and I set our alarm for 10, but when it went off it still felt way too early. We laid in our beds and talked for a little bit before Mikkel decided it was probably time to get up. He got out of bed and went to see where everyone else was. He found them all fast asleep on the couch or floor of the living room. He woke Berk up, who then woke up all the others. They were in there talking for a little while, and then Mikkel came back in and told me that if I wanted a shower, I should probably start getting ready now. I went and got ready, and put on my sunscreen this time so that my face wouldn’t get any redder and was ready to go. We started walking a little ways, and then went into a small shop. Then I realized that we weren’t actually going anywhere yet, we were just going to buy breakfast. We bought eggs, meat and bread and I was really hoping for cheese, but apparently that was not in the plan. Berk paid, and then we walked back to the apartment. While we were waiting for him to cook, I answered some emails, and Mikkel did some more catching up with everyone. When it was ready, we all sat down to eat. It was a Turkish style omelette . . . Berk said the name of it, but I forget. It had egg and meat and a few different spices. It was really good. I tried not to eat it too fast so that I could savor it, and Berk didn’t even finish all of his. I was really tempted to ask if I could have the rest of his, but I didn’t want to sound like a pig. Oh, and of course, no meal would be complete without a nice hot cup of Turkish tea. Mikkel and I actually both had two cups. Anyway, shortly after breakfast was over, we packed up all our stuff and took it down to load in Berk’s car. Then we went to the bus office to see if we could change our bus reservations for a cheaper company and an earlier time to leave for Izmir tonight. When we went to cancel the reservations, they said they could refund the money after 30 days and only if I was in the country. We then checked with them to see if it had to be the credit card holder that was in the country, or if it could just be either of the people ticketed. They said the latter, and Mikkel promised to come back and get the money and then wire it to me. Hopefully that will work out.
After we left the bus office, Berk took us to his university where we were going to meet another one of his friends. We hung out and waited in a little courtyard area, where a lot of students were sitting around and talking. It reminded me a little bit of just outside Trabant and made me a bit nostalgic . . . Anyway, Berk again treated us to drinks while we waited. Soon, his friend arrived, and Berk introduced us. When we finished our drinks, we went back to Berk’s car, and headed to Atatürk’s grave. When we got to the entrance of it, there were huge gates with guards on either side. The guards came over to the car and asked Berk and the rest of us to get out of the car while they inspected it, and to go over to a nearby booth, where we would have to pass our bags through a security device to make sure we weren’t smuggling any kind of explosive into the monument. Once they had decided we were safe, they let us continue. Mikkel and I both thought this was extremely weird, and Berk explained that Turkey was very serious about Atatürk. He was the one who had unified their country, and Berk said that when he was in school, every morning they had to stand in front of a picture of Atatürk and tell him how much they loved him and how much they owed to him and everything he had done for their nation. We parked the car, and then started walking toward the monument. At the entrance to the monument, there were two museums with guards in glass cases, followed by a long pathway leading to the main area of the monument. Berk said that most people walk down the pathway with their heads bowed out of respect for Atatürk. When we went into the mausoleum to see the grave (actually, his body is buried elsewhere, this is all just for show), they told us to come back in 10 or 15 minutes, because there was about to be a procession. Sure enough, when we walked outside, there were men in uniform, some carrying a large arrangement of roses and others carrying muskets (or rifles? Some kind of gun . . . ). There was a large group of young students following behind. I watched the procession in awe of the importance that was attached to the founding father of the Turkish state. I mean, I know
(Look into wikipedia.org to get facts right) We walked around the entire mausoleum looking at all the exhibits and relics about Atatürk’s life, and then went into the war museum. This museum chronicled the Ottoman Empire’s part in WWI, how Atatürk bravely led the Ottoman army, and then continued to fight and lead troops in the Turkish War of Independence (from Greece), which led to the unification of the Turkish state in the 1920s. It was kind of interesting to read about WWI from Turkey’s point of view, and in one of the diagrams they had, there was a chart of who fought in the war, and it said “ ‘Allies: Germany, Italy, Austro-Hungarian Empire’, ‘Enemy Forces: Great Britain (and all her colonies) and Russia’”. We walked through the exhibits, and it was really interesting to learn a little bit about why Atatürk was so important, because to be completely honest, I don’t remember hearing about him until going to Turkey. I went through the museum, reading as much as I could, but also trying not to take too long. Every once in a while, I noticed Berk trailing behind with me and reading over my shoulder, so I took that as an opportunity to ask him questions about what I was reading. At one point when we were walking through the museum, Berk’s friend made some kind of comment about Mikkel being my boyfriend. I wanted to correct him, but Mikkel didn’t say anything, and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so I just let it go. Eventually we got through the whole thing, and then went outside. We walked down by the flag pole, and saw the huge map of Turkey made of painted red rocks, with the moon and star of the Turkish flag in the middle. There were a bunch of students huddled around it, and Berk asked if we wanted to try to get pictures. We both said yes, so he spoke to the students in Turkish, and they cleared away. Hah, it was kind of funny that he had that much power. Anyway, then we went back to the car and headed toward Kızılay Square, in the business district of Ankara, where we could see the metro, get some food, and reserve bus tickets to Izmir.
When we got to Kızılay Square, we wandered around for a little bit . . . there were SO many people! Berk took us down into the metro to show us what it looked like, and it was actually pretty cool, because there were also a whole bunch of shops. Mikkel and I were both disappointed that we didn’t have enough time to ride the metro, but oh well. We bought the bus tickets, and then went to get dinner. It wasn’t quite as good as everything we’d had until then, but it still wasn’t bad. Then we had enough time left for a little bit of souvenir shopping before leaving. Mikkel was on the lookout for Turkish tea, and I wanted to get mom and myself a Christmas tree ornament. I found my Christmas tree ornament, but Mikkel didn’t find the tea he was looking for. Finally, we headed back to Berk’s car, said goodbye to his friend, and then he drove us first to his house, to get a DVD of Ukraine pictures for Mikkel (and to let Mikkel go to the bathroom, because he started to feel really sick), and then to the bus station. At the bus station, he gave Mikkel a CD of Russian music, and me a CD of Greek music. Then he helped us with our bags until we got to the right terminal. He wished us luck, gave us a few more helpful Turkish phrases, made Mikkel promise to come back and see him again and then said goodbye.

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