The last waltz

So this will be the last post. I have just finished packing and am ready to go. Except for the fact that my flight is in 3 hours and i have some time to kill.

Lets start from Thursday. We got into a bus and started heading to the Ishak Pasha Palace. This is a palace in the east of Turkey near the border of Iran. Scary I know! We were thinking about heading 35km over the mountains in order to join in on the protests. But before we got to the palace we ate breakfast.

This was an odd experience. We arrive in this really crappy neighborhood. I mean bad. Dogs and chickens walking all over the place. A homeless woman with her entire body covered in black (including her face) begging for money. and a man riding a bicycle with no air in the tires. "It was the worst neighborhood but the best breakfast!" according to my Italian roommate Yakopa. The meal included bread that you dip into a mixture of honey and butter. There was also this stringy cheese that you could put on your bread. On a side note all food in Turkey is salty, even their cookies. Way too salty for my taste if you ask me. The place we ate at was a hole in the wall and it took about 20 min for the lights to come on but the breakfast is one that i will never forget. Here is a pic.



Here are some pics of the palace. One thing to note is that this palace is located near a Kurdish town. The Kurds are without a home and are denied land by the Turks. I dont know the history but if you want to look it up i am sure it will be very interesting. Another side note. Turks really do not like to talk about the controversial issues facing their country (like the Kurds) so it was difficult for me to get a clear idea of the conflict.



We also visited the Ani ruins near the city of Kar. There are ruins and old buildings but the most fascinating part is that there is a river below the town that makes the border between Armenia and Turkey. I was able to get a really cool video of it. Check it




Here is a pic of the ruins



On our Bus ride we also passes by Mount Ararat. Some believe that this was the mountain that Noahs Ark landed on. crazy right? It is at a very high altitude and therefore there is always snow on top of it. Take a look.



And now for your enjoyment Mark Walbergh talks to animals



Friday we had our closing ceremonies and we said our goodbyes. Wow i can't believe two weeks went by so fast. I guess i was expecting it. Anyway I will leave you with something I've noticed about the culture of Taiwan.... They love talking pictures. Romeo and Juliet style. See for yourself.




Goodbye from Turkey and hope to see you soon in the States!

Benjie

Shopping exprience

We had a lecture in Nano Technology this morning. But if you ask me what i learned i probably could not tell you one thing. It just went completely over my head. If you can explain nanotechnology to me in concrete terms i would appreciate it.

Today was also our day to go shopping in the city. On my free time I have been out to the shops but i had a much longer this time. The hardest thing was that none of the shop keepers speak English. It was lucky for me that I was with my Georgian friend Nestor who studies Turkish language! I will not go into the details of what I bought because it is a surprise! But i will say that after every transaction the storekeeper offered us tea and we drank together. It is a really wonderful custom. Imagine going to Best Buy, buying a large flat screen, and after the transaction you sit down with the owner while he serves you tea and asks how things are going!!! I don't think that could ever happen in America.

Another interesting thing i have noticed about Turkey is that there is no such thing as city planning. Most streets become narrow and curve. There are no street signs. Buildings are placed in a random order. Directions go like this. "Yea if you want to find a store to get tea go straight for a while then it will curve up then make a left" Needless to say we were constantly lost. My friend Nestor was trying to find a store to buy a hookah and we spent the good part of a half hour trying to find a store that sold them. Apparently hookah's are a bit taboo, like alcohol. This goes to show how that Erzurum is a fairly religious city. Most women wear head coverings, there are no bars, and it is only one hookah bar that is very remote. But oddly enough cigarettes are not.

Also in most of Turkey their are watering stations located on every block. They are kind of like water fountains here is a pic of how they look.

sorry i did not take many pics today

After we got back i ate dinner (which always consists of yogurt, tomato soup, meat, rice,and potatoes.... always!!!) then played two hours of basketball with the locals. It was really great but i have blisters on my toes now. But it was worth it.

Today we traveled very far to Trabzon, which is on the black sea coast. It was a very long drive and we only visited one site, The Sumela Monastery. The history is pretty long..... basically it is a half hour trek up a mountain. At the top you can see what looks like a huge building carved into the mountain. There is also an old aqueduct at the entrance. as you walk into the building (or should i say the mountain) there is a host of buildings and remnants of the old monastery. There is beautiful artwork on the buildings however they have been vandalized over the years. I guess people thought it would be funny to carve their names into the artwork! Here are some pics and a video.






Yesterday was a bit of a let down. We finally went to go visit the medical facitility on campus and it was near falling apart. They didnt even have occupational therapy (only physical therapy). I asked our contact if we could see another hospital and he said that we might be able to on Friday. So i am crossing my fingers!

We also learned a lot about the economics of Turkey. We learned that Turkey is a growing country and its imports and exports have been increasing over the past 10 years. Turkey, as a country, is relatively new to the free market economy and is still adapting to its perks and fall backs. It has the 15th biggest economy going by the gross domestic product(GDP). However when looking at GDP per capita it is much smaller. Turkey also has a very young population. 64% are between the ages of 14-60.

Turkey is also trying very hard to get into the European Union. After all it is the gateway between the east and the west. The professor informed us that Turkey is a growing country and doing well for itself on its own. However there are economic and social incentives for joining. Our professor told us that being a part of the European union will allow for greater human rights in Turkey. I think what he meant was that upon joining the EU Turkey would have to focus more on pollution regulations, equality rights, consumer rights, etc... In general the joining will help to increase in the standard of living. It would also change the economy somewhat.For instance Turkey is still big into the agriculture industry (35% compared to America's 2%). A big portion of Turkey's citizens are farmers. If Turkey joined the union then they could import goods from other countries. Thereby decreasing their reliance on the national agricultural industry. Also Turkey could export their services to other countries more readily. For example Turkey has high quality private service industries like hotel management and tourism. They could export these services to countries in the EU that do not have comparable quality services. The ultimate dilemma is that if Turkey imports agricultural goods then farmers in Turkey lose their jobs. If Turkey exports services to another country (like France) that means the French lose jobs in the service industry.

Turkey also has very close ties with Russia. Russian tourists come to Turkey often and spend money! For example the ski resorts in Erzurum are all in Russian. Many Russians come to vacation and ski in Turkey causing a lot of business for the Turks. Their is also under way construction to build an oil pipeline from Russian through Turkey (instead of Europe). This would increase business for Turkey. But who knows how this will effect relations with the EU.

Anyway I am getting very sleepy and need to get some rest.

Take care everyone

Benjie

Hiking Mountains and a Bath

"It was like the sky opened up for us." (from our hike today)

Yesterday we traveled to a waterfall, ate at a fish restaurant, saw the ruins of an old Georgian Church, and went to see an archeological phenomenon called the "fairy chimneys". I will not talk about it much but will show you lots of pictures. I will only say that the bus ride was very long and winding (like that Beatles song). Instead of trying to explain it i think the pics will do a better job.

Just look at the different landscapes in Turkey


Here are some pics and a video from the Tortum Waterfalls






This is the Georgian Church that was destroyed in the 10th century



We ate at a very good fish Restaurant


We then ended our trip hiking up the Narman Fairy Chimneys


Today was also amazing! We went to the Hamman (Turkish Bath). I did not know what to expect but my worries and concerns were thrown to the wayside when i walked into the bath house. They give you towels and slippers to put on when you first walk in. After you put these on you enter the bath house. I was unable to take pics in the bath house because it was so steamy. But i will try to explain it as best as possible. First of all everything is in marble, hot, and steamy. There are multiple sinks, which have hot/cold faucets with a bowl in each of them (The bowls are filled with water and used to shower and bathe yourself with). There are tables to sit/lie down on. There is a seperate room for a sauna, there is a cold shower room, and there is also a room to shave in. An old Turkish man gave me an exfoliating massage with a glove that looked like an oven mit. Then another old Turkish man gave me a bath. It was the most relaxing experience i have ever encountered. I will go back before i leave here (It is only 7 lira!!! or about 4 dollars). After you come out of the bath they wrap you in towls and give you water to drink. All in all we spent at least two hours there. Here are some picks of us wrapped in our towls.



We then climbed the mountain near the University. Our guide... none other than Mustafa. He told us he has never climbed the mountain and that it would be a new experience for him too. It was an amazing experience. We went up during sunset. It took us about an hour to climb. Words cannot describe it so here are some pics and a video.

Mustafa then took us to the 5 star hotel (Radison) and bought us tea. The hotel was very nice and expensive. Usually Russians come to ski in Erzurum and alot of the signs are in Russian. I left my camera in my bag so i could not take any pictures

I will leave you with one last thought. Men are circumsised between the ages of 9-12. There is a big ceremony held and the boy is dressed like a king. Take a look!

Turkish Culture classes and more

Friends and Family Nasal Siniz - how are you?

Yesterday was a bore so i did not blog about it. Sorry. All i did was play two hours of basketball and now i have a big blister on my toe! bummer.

This blog will be a long one without as many pictures (just to forewarn you). Today we had two educational classes One was given by the school of science education and the other by the faculty of agriculture.

The science education lecture was an interesting one with plenty of discussion. The school of education is the largest of Ataturk University (something like 8,000 students are enrolled). Most students are interested in studying primary education (K-8th grade) because the money is good and there are plenty of jobs available. The government has mandated that all children must complete primary education. This has therefore increased the demand for teachers. High school (secondary education) is not mandatory therefore many teachers are having a hard time finding jobs in the secondary educational system. One interesting fact is that there is a high demand for teachers in the disabilities arena (for the blind/deaf/ etc...) however many students do not want to go into in this area because they believe it to be too difficult.

You may be thinking do Turks have their classes in English? This brought up a big debate in the classroom and people told their stories regarding "dual translation". The Turkish professor (and many of the Taiwanese students) expressed that although it is important to use another language (AKA English is the most prominent second language) in the classroom, it does not allow students to understand concepts and ideas efficiently. "Dual Translation" means that foreign students must learn new concepts in their field (eg evolution) and its definition in their home tongue. They must then understand the concept in a foreign language (e.g. they must translate the word and its meaning from Turkish to English). The professor explained that students don't pay attention in classes taught in English. It is just too complicated. Therefore classes are now taught in Turkish. However for some reason their textbooks are in English. In America we should feel lucky that it is not a necessity to learn a foreign language to succeed in a profession. I learned Spanish for four years and i have nothing to show for it except for a couple of verbs and nouns.

Religion and science are considered to be two seperate entities in Turkey. Religion deals with beliefs while science deals in observations of the real world. Both are taught in primary education (this would not fly in america because of seperation of church and state). However Turkey deals with some controversial issues similar to ones found in the United States. Like the study of evolution.

Next we had a lecture given by a the professor in agriculture. His topic was called "Project Cycle" in which he described how students could organize projects, use them in the real world, and make them sustainable. 30 agriculture students came up with projects regarding farming education programs and received funding from the European Union to put their ideas into practice.

Quantity vs Quality - Turkey is neither a developed country nor a developing country. It is somewhere in between. In regards to agriculture they are more interested in feeding the masses rather than focusing on the quality of the produce. Therefore they focus on teaching farmers how to make greenhouses and produce more food in order to feed the masses. This is a problem that we do not have in America. We can eat anything we want wherever we want as long as we have enough money.

Two quotes from the professor:

1. "Resources are limited while problems are unlimited, therefore we must choose the right strategies and try and solve the most serious problems"

2. "Eradicate prejudice through knowledge"

After the lecture some students and I went up to the professor to ask him if he knew of any good shopping in Erzurum. He then turned to his colleague and told him to take us around Erzurum to show us some good shopping sites.... When they say that the Turks are hospitable they are correct. Our guide, Mustafa (like in the Lion King), not only took us shopping, but bought us tea, and then bought us dinner!! It was unbelievable! He wanted to show us all of Erzurum. We ate at the " Erzurum Homes" Which is a historical site that displays how traditional Turks lived. Here are some pics!



We will be going to the waterfalls tomorrow morning so i must be going to bed.

Iyi Aksamar (Good Night)

Merhaba (hello) my peoples

So yesterday Jacopo and i went running. We got lost. It took us 45 min to get back on campus and at one point we were running along the highway. The Turks looked at us like we were crazy. Good times!!

After we finally found our way back we found people playing basketball on the outdoor courts. We joined and beat the crap out of the Turks (there was even a crowd wathcing us play). It was really fun and we are supposed to come back and play tomorrow night. Its interesting though that there is no language or cultural barrier when playing sports. As long as you know the rules you dont need to communicate. Sports are a great way to get to know the locals!

Today was international day. We gave presentations on our countries and learned a little bit about Turkey and Erzurum.

Interesting facts about Turkey and Erzurum

1. The mean age is 27 years old (Turks are young)

2. There is a Jewish population (less than 2%)

3. Bottled water = 65 cents for 1.5 liters

4. Crazy dance moves in horse costumes. here is a video



We were given 10 min/ country, which was not long enough by any means. The presentations started with Azerbaijan. It was a very odd presentation. They talked about how they do not get along with Armenia and that the Armenians took their land by force. The even played a video displaying dead soldiers and civilians. At one point they said that 40,000 people from Azerbaijan were killed and later said only 600 people were killed. The worst part! they went over by 10 min. We sat through Italy, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Georgia (they showed a sweet video of sword fighting) before we got to speak. Our presentation was very short and i talked about the amazing Steelers and Penguins (Respect!!!).



After this Jacopo and I got a shave from the local Turkish barber for 5 lira. Take a look!

We then went out in the city for dinner. We had Kabob which was amazing. We then took a walk around the city trying to take in all the cultural differences of the Turks. For one thing there are not many women on the streets mostly men. Another thing men are very affectionate with another. You can see men holding each others arms (This would never fly in America). Things are also very tight. Examples: Not a lot of sidewalk space; people bump into you constantly; Cars will hit you if you don't pay attention. We also bought beer!!! This is an amazing thing because it is very hard to find alcohol in Erzurum (alcohol is forbidden in Muslim culture). It was located in this really shady corner and it felt like i was buying something disgraceful and wrong. But right now it tastes delicious and cold. The Turkish beer is called "Efes" and i am really enjoying it.

Erzurum

One day soon I will hike these mountains!




To my friends and family

I could not get any sleep last night! Partly because of jetlag and partly because i was drinking with the people on our program from Georgia. Wine and toasts seem to be a big part of the Georgian culture. Before we drank it was customary for one person to give a toast. After many toasts from many people we ran out of the wine, which by the way was some of the best wine I have ever had.

I woke up to the sounds coming from the university's mosque and went downstairs to eat breakfast, buy bottled water, and take a tour of Erzurum.

We all packed onto our bus and went into the city where we visited a citadel which was built during the byzantine era (however many renovations have been made and no one really knows the full history of the citadel because there were no markings on the walls). unfortunately we were not allowed to go inside due to safety concerns (whatever that means). here is a pic of the lookout tower with the Turkish flag above it. We will have a chance to tour the city on our own time and i hope to climb it.



We also went to and old Mosque/school/burial ground. There is a garden, class rooms, and a mosque inside. Here take a video look.



We also visited the oldest mosque in Erzurum. It was the first time i have stepped into (without shoes) a mosque and saw what it was all about. carpeted floors and beautiful decorations everywhere! It was very quiet and peaceful. However many of the Taiwanese students were taking pictures and holding up the peace sign. Apparently this is not appropriate to do in mosque and they were told not to do it again. I am still not sure why it was inapropriate. There was also a summer school taking place while we were there. I took a picture (check out the power point!)



For the next part of the tour we visited a barracks located 3000 meters on one of the mountains. The barracks were used by the ottomans to defend against the Russians in the late 19th century. Knives and forks and plates were some of the weapons used to keep out the invading Russians. The Ottomans were successful. One striking story is that of a woman named Nenahatun who lost her brothers and husband in the war. She decided to leave her only child (who died) and fight the Russians. She survived the war and died in the 1950's. She was named "Mother of Mothers" on Mothers day in 1955. There are many statues and monuments dedicated to her.



We then visited Ataturks home. Ataturk is the founder of Turkey and the republics first president. He brought secularism to Turkey. For more info about Ataturk visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ataturk Most of the house was pretty average and everything was written in turkish so i didn't quite understand everything. Ataturk is a very big deal for Turks. Everywhere i go, be it the markets, faculty offices, classrooms, etc..., there is a picture of Ataturk. He is so important that one can not speak negatively about him in public (it is a crime!). Here is a pic of him.
I am now on break and will be having a party for the international students. I will write about it tomorrow.

Take care

Benjie

First few Days

July 4th -6th

Hey everyone i am safely here and doing fine. Here are my experiences so far.....

From JFK to Istanbul (which was 9 hours) Sat next to a group of twenty teenagers from the country of Azerbaijan where they speak interestingly enough speak Turkish ( The country borders Armenia and Turkey. Have some fun and Google map it). They taught me some Turkish and i taught them some English. Overall though they were very annoying and were screaming and bumping my chair constantly. This led to me not getting any sleep (bummer!).

As soon as i landed in Istanbul got my visa and dropped off my luggage at the airport so i could travel and see the city. After all my next flight to Erzurum was about a 9 hour wait. So i went to pay for a cab but found 100 lira to be way too expensive (1 lira = 1.5 dollars). I therefore i took the metro into town. It was only 6 lira both ways and took about 45 min to the tourist section of town.

Some observations about Istanbul.

1. It is a lot like Israel/the middle east in that it is pretty dirty, traffic is hectic, and most of the shops are open and built in to these mid size apartment buildings.

2. Euro Trash hair cuts are everywhere ( I call it the "stylish mullet")

3. The culture is fascinating. Turkey is a secular country. However there is a strong Muslim presence. On the train I saw women completely covered except their face sitting next to girls in miniskirts.

I arrived at my destination safely and didn't get lost. The directions on how to get around the metro system were pretty intuitive and labeled in English.

So for the next four hours i was on foot! Here is what i saw:

The Blue Mosque:







The Aya Sofia: This is a palace that was destroyed and rebuilt three times. It was made into a museum by Ataturk. For more info wiki it. I didn't get to look at the history in detail.



Here is a video of Inside the Aya sofia:




I also got a haircut (thanks Avi!) from this old man who spoke no English. The sign said massage, haircut, and shave. But i didn't get a massage (unfortunate) i think the guy didn't want to touch a sweaty American who hadn't showered all day. However he did try to light my ears on fire!! No but seriously he did take a lighter and brought it close to my ear to light the hair on fire (Dont get grossed out everyone has ear hair). Here is a pic of the shop (sorry its kinda lame)



After i was done touring i headed back to catch my flight to Erzurum which was delayed an hour. Needless to say i got to my destination. However let me say that i had about 3 hours of sleep up to this point and had been in traveling for close to two days. Exhaustion was setting in.

When i arrived i was greeted by the University students who then took us to our guest house at the University. There are people from various countries in the program. Taiwan, Italy, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Most people are from Thailand (like 25 of them). My roommate is Jacobopa from Italy. We are getting along well and had a very special bonding experience. As soon as we walked into our room we were greeted by what seemed to be 20 black moths. Since our hosts were trying to set up rooms for 20 Taiwanese students they could not be of assistance. Therefore we took matters into our own hands. The mass murder that ensued lasted for at least an hour. We took our complimentary slippers and started the execution. In the end we killed around 50 moths and left many stains on our walls. It now looks like a moth graveyard. I would put pictures but i am afraid some of you would not be able to stomach it.

The next day we received a tour of the campus and were taught a lesson in the turkish language.

Teshekur ederim - Thank you

So far i am having a great time and cant wait for the coming days! I will keep you posted on the coming days.




Jacobopa and me Ataturk University (They ski on those mountains)



The whole gang



Take care

Ben-G