Preparation

I've spent almost the entire day studying psychology for my finals this upcoming week! I've got a ridiculous amount of material to cover as I have learned very little in my psych classes. I attribute this to the teaching style adopted by my prof. Each student does a power point on each chapter of the book. That is our lecture. In a heavy Turkish accent, peer guided, word for word from the book. I haven't learned anything!

Luckily, my studies were quite interesting. I covered the humanistic approach to psychology and it's forefathers Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. I was pretty engaged in the information otherwise I would have gone nuts spending another day catching up.

Chris and I also planed a Christmas dinner. As I mentioned earlier the Christmas spirit doesn't frequent Turkey and we've all been missing its presence.

Then till Now

Tonight, I will finally be attending a football match. Fenerbahçe will be playing Trabzon a team from the black sea region of Turkey. Football here in Istanbul really is a part of life. I'm told that going to a match in Istanbul is a must and I have managed to purchase tickets to the final one. -- The conclusion of the game was Fener 3, Trabzon 2. Fanatics yelling and screaming. Chanting and calling from one end of the stadium to the other made for an electric atmosphere.


Since my last post in November I've done little traveling. School has surprisingly been taking up quite a bit of time. However, I've enjoyed further exploring the city: visiting Rumeli Castle and the Ortaköy Mosque, while dabbling in the club/pub scene.



Life here in Istanbul has been quite different. We've been on a holiday vacation (Kurban Bayrami) for the past week. Kurban Bayrami is a time to visit family and give to the poor buy purchasing a sheep or cow to have slaughtered and give 1/3 of it those in need. There have been make shift slaughter houses set up all over the city and it's been quite humorous to see all the cows and sheep walked down the street. Apparently they've had some trouble with cows escaping and running loose in the city! Visiting one of these slaughter houses next to the mall I was reminded of home with the pungent scent of cow shit! As for Christmas, it will be spent in a class room! I am possibly attending a midnight mass at an historic church here and will likely go out to dinner with a group. That's about the extent of the Christmas spirit. We've all been reminiscing about Christmas days spent eating, visiting family, and the general atmosphere.

I've begun the painstaking task of pick put gifts and souvenirs. With limitless possibilities, a tight budget and indecision, I've almost completed my shopping list. My fist intentions where to visit the Grand Bazaar for all my shopping quarries, however, I was let down with it's modern feel and aggressive selling. I found solace in visiting local markets which are quit amazing. They where more of the bazaar experience I was looking for, full of cheap knock offs, spices, veggies, fish, and fruit. It's the locals market and you get definitely don't get that feel in the Grand Bazaar.

I've been there...

Midterms are almost finished and in a sense school will be winding down for a while. I’ve continued my integration into the many facets of Istanbul and Turkey as they are seemingly very different.

I’ve posted a link to Wikipedia on Goreme, Turkey. We visited this region in Cappadocia which is in central Turkey a couple of weeks ago. I shot all my photos in RAW format under the assumption that they would be of better quality and of course easier to manipulate in Photoshop. This advice comes from my friend Dan who unknowing assumed I had a program to open these files on my computer, which I don’t. Needless to say I’ve got 80 pictures on my camera that I can not store on my computer, and until I find a solution you’ll just have to google the location.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churches_of_G%C3%B6reme%2C_Turkey

Babylon is apparently a famous night club in Istanbul; a hot spot for locals and celebrities alike, or so I am told by a fellow student. It was always his dream to go to this club, thus I invited him to accompany our group to the Balkan Beat Box concert playing that night. Quoting Dan's response to the live show, “Damn those beats were fresh…”. And truly fresh they were, I’ve never heard anything quit like it before. They didn’t actually beat box but hand two saxophonist, a percussionist, and a singer/keyboard/laptop….man. Although the concert didn’t start till midnight I danced wildly until they left the stage.
Not only were these guys talented, playing through a power outage in the middle of a song with just the saxes and the drum set. Which eventually crescendoed as the power came on flawlessly resuming their song. They were super chill as a few of the ladies we were with were so inclined to hop up on stage and dance with and around the musicians with they encouraged the act and asked security to let them be.

Efes Pilsin is really the sole beer distributor in Turkey. It has quite a monopoly on the market however because of the Muslim tradition liquor licenses and alcohol in general is extremely expensive and not so readily available. Although you can find Efes for relatively cheep, hard alcohol such as Jack Daniels sells for 58 YTL approximately 48 dollars.

I watched the film Zeitgeist the other night on a recommendation from Jeff Schutter, thinking that it would be obscure and a philosophical quagmire. However I was very please or should I say unsettled by its contents. It’s not a horror, but a conspiracy type film which analyzes Religion, the 9/11 attacks, and the Federal Reserve. The take home message here is to get involved and educate ones self. I though it was very well done…

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

**really it’s worth watching

Updates

I’ve finally succeeded in obtaining my residence permit. After several weeks of stress and failed attempts to procure this little blue booklet, I know have it in my possession and have grand plans of framing it or something to that extent.

Some friends and I traveled to Goreme in central Turkey to the region of Cappadocia. This place has the most obscure landscape I have ever seen. Homes are built into the soft rock have housed people for centuries. We visited an ancient seminary where some of the most beautiful biblical frescos have been perfectly preserved for 10 centuries. Due to the fact that the churches, where the frescos where painted, are vacant of window and as there is only one ground level entrance the elements where kept at bay.

Turkey has troop standing by at the Iraqi border waiting for a command to invade and put an end to PKK attacks. There have been several rallies and public demonstrations in the streets of Istanbul. A few small scale riots have broken out but nothing serious.

I am amazed at the integrity of the Turks. More often than not busses and trams are so crammed with people it’s difficult to even move as people consume every vacant place on the bus including 12 people in font of the little yellow line at the front of the bus which you aren’t supposed to cross. I know this because I was one of these people a few days ago and obtained a small piece of floor while I braced myself over the back of the driver. Anyway back to integrity, no matter how easy it would be to skip out of paying a the bus fair when the thing is totally loaded with people always are passing money, tokens, and passes from all over the bus to the front to pay for their ride. I’ve never experience this before, but it’s great.

Katie is coming on the 23 of this month and I couldn’t be more excited. There is so much I want to show her. Istanbul really is a romantic city and for the three days that she will be here I want her to get a full does of it. I’ve got a lot planned between touring and experiencing some of the local culture.

I’ve really cut back my eating habits, trying only to buy one meal a day (dinner) in order to budget some money. Typically for breakfast I am eating bread I’ve stolen from the baskets at dinner, with some jam and oatmeal I purchase at a local store. I don’t usually eat lunch save for a snack of some fruit or something else lying around. I consume so much white bread (as does everyone here) it’s almost disturbing. For a while my system couldn’t handle the carbo. load and simply shot off making for days with out a bowel movement…..lol. Back to regularity though and am doing what I can to keep weight on.

There are a couple on going t.v. series going on around Istanbul and one of them often films on campus. Today as we where sitting eating in the restaurant/hang-out on campus, the filming entourage rolled in and started setting up shop with their lights and cameras etc. Some of the “actors” where quite hilarious, w/ their gaudy dress and egos hardly fitting in the room, it made for a good time people watching.

I am allergic to dairy. In the sense that it has been the root cause of my poor complexion. I've done a little research on it and have found that their is a hormone in milk which my body is reacting to, like many dairy allergies. I've stopped eating dariy, which sucks, and my complexion has cleared up considerably. Soy products here I come...

Icing on the Cake

Things are heating up here in Turkey as clashes are progressing between the PKK, Kurdish Workers Party, and the Turkish government. Reports of thirteen dead Turkish military soldiers have been made public, but rumors of over a hundred dead are spreading. Turkey is looking to pursue the PKK into Iraq at all costs. In the midst of this turmoil the U.S. has also recognized the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces “genocide” (CNN news, webpage) in World War 1. A report by CNN news is quoted:

“President Bush and key administration figures lobbied hard against the measure, saying it would create unnecessary headaches for U.S. relations with Turkey.

The full House could soon vote on the genocide resolution. A top Turkish official warned Thursday that consequences "won't be pleasant" if it approves the measure.

The resolution arrives at a particularly sensitive point in U.S.-Turkish relations. The United States has urged Turkey not to send its troops over the border into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish separatist rebels, who launched some cross-border attacks against Turkish targets. Watch a report on the gathering storm along the border »

The Turkish military is poised to strike across the border to fight the group -- the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK -- a move opposed by the Bush administration. The Turkish parliament could give approval for the incursion into Iraq as early as next week.”

Potentially severing ties with a NATO ally, the U.S. will likely no longer be able to funnel a significant amount of its forces through turkey into Iraq. As turkey has been a strategic location for U.S. forces.
The U.S. fears that turmoil in Northern Iraq could disrupt the stability established by the U.S. forces. However, the Turkish Prime Minister seems determined to pursue the aggressors. Things will likely become very interesting in the weeks to come. Keep me in your prayers.

Pamukkale and Library in Ephuses

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Ramadon Holiday

We have made it back it Istanbul safe and sound after a week long trip through western turkey. Traveling down to Paumkkale known for its calcium terraces then to Fethiya, a resort town on the Mediterranean, and finally to Ephuses. Along the way we met up with another student from Yeditepe, Ishmail, traveling home for the Bayram holiday. Ishmail quickly became our unofficial tour guide while welcoming us to this family and village.
While in the village we toured his family farm, eating freshly picked grapes and figs. For lunch, his mother made for us a totally homemade meal of bread, cheese, tomatoes, butter and roasted corn. Later that evening we went to "Iftar" the breaking of daily fasting at 7:00 pm where the village joins to eat and fellowship.
We traveled to Fethiya that night in the back of a pickup taking in the fresh mountain air and beautiful starlit sky, quite a contrast from Istanbul. Ölüdeniz was a beautiful beach, mostly populated by English tourists, a short distance from Fethiya where we soaked up the sun and did a considerable amount of snorkeling. Our group also took a 12 island tour through the Mediterranean on a sail boat.
Additionally Ölüdeniz was my first experience at a topless beach; however, many of the exhibitionists were retired, buxom, English woman. It did spark a small desire to bring the speedo back into popularity in the U.S. as it is a very popular little article for Europeans. Again, most of the spandex clad men where will fed English men.
Our final stop was in Selçuk outside of Ephesus. The ruins where astounding. Only four to five percent of the city has been unearthed. While in Selçuk we met some very friendly men who own a rug shop and they invited us for nargile, and some great conversation. I took a look at their carpet collection and was awestruck at the magnificent works of art, and the price. I settled for purchasing a few scarves. These men were actually Kurdish from the city of Van in eastern turkey. It just so happens that these men are cousins with another man I met in Istanbul through a friend back in Montana. We ended up smoking, drinking wine and chatting in their shop until 1:30 am.
Turkey really does have a beautiful country side which to me is overshadowed by Istanbul's popularity. It's nice to be "home" but I loved the quiet small town atmospheres.

Baffling

Today all the foreign exchange students took an hour and a half bus ride to the police station as the residents permit applications submitted by the International Office here on campus where incorrect. That’s right 50 applications, all wrong. Our applications, which consisted of several papers, where sent back from the Police station to the international office in a completely disorganized mess. Everyone’s info was mixed together and many papers dealing with our proof of registration at Yeditepe where lost. However, after spending three hours at the police station there where five of us that found out we would not be able to file anything today and our trip was done in vein, but had to wait for the rest of the group even though the Yeditepe bus would not be taking us back to campus. So we sent an additional two hours until five o’clock when they closed for the group. On the following day we would have to get back to the same location on our own accord as Yeditepe would not be furnishing a bus for us and complete the process on our own w/o any assistance from the International Office. Let me just add that this trip was much like taking a trip to the D.M.V but w/o air conditioning, few speak English and much more of a pain in the ass.

The American student’s found out that they would have to set up a Turkish bank account containing 1,200 YTL in order to receive a permit. Here is the dilemma, in order to set up an account one needs a residence permit and in order to receive a residence permit one needs a bank account. However, on a large sign posted outside the office are requirements for U.S. students filing for a residence permit. It states that individuals need a copy of a U.S. bank statement containing at least 1,200 dollars. Dan, one of the Americans, had a print out from his banks website containing all the necessary information but it was not accepted as it needed to be notarized. They informed us that a receipt of a 1,200 dollar transaction into YTL would, in some way, be more official however this a percentage taken off of transactions and in this case we would be losing 400 dollars to obtain a receipt!

We are going to contact the U.S. consulate tomorrow in hopes of some definitive answers. I’ve taken the orginazional/efficiency of the U.S. for granted; this has been such a stressful ordeal. I look forward to the days of actually using technology to make processes like this so much easier. I’ve realized how advanced America has truly become in information processing. We are the hardest working country and it truly shows. It’s a hard transition from such efficiency to literally none.

Tony, take it easy...

As school gets under way I am beginning to feel the pressures of deadlines and commitments. Time moves at a different pace in Istanbul. Textbooks, which should have been available at the start of classes, are finally arriving in the form of a photocopied reproduction. Understand that bookstores only order a handful of textbooks for each class as they will likely be photocopied and made available to the rest of the university at a fraction of the cost. All copy rights aside, I wish they were copied earlier. In my Psychology of Personality and Psychopathology classes I am over 150 pages behind (in both classes) because of the lag in transfer.
My roommate reminds me to relax as all the students are in this same predicament. “If you can’t get caught up with your studies it’s unlikely that anyone else can,” Chris explains. I suppose I feel a greater responsibility for my studies while abroad because I am unsure of the value of my lectures. No one ever goes on exchange trips for the prospect of academics; I’ll have to strike up a happy medium.

Carrefour

Today my roommate Krzysiek, Chris for short, and I did some much needed grocery shopping. The cost of food on campus is astronomical so we thought it would be a wise idea to stock up food for breakfast and maybe lunch or dinner, in an attempt to save some money for travel. Carrefour is a chain of stores much like Wal-Mart, but on roids. It's like a mall, electronics store, grocery store and food service rolled into one. This place is enormous, and has the holding capacity of a small nation. Fortunately for us today there were only 5 billion shoppers today. Shoppers....they are really more like a ruthless, savage, band of rag-tag bikers. Navigating through this place with a cart which performed more like a giant clumsy ice skate, as all four wheels pivoted causing the driver to get a hellatious ab workout attempting to steer this thing in a straight line, would be enough to drive one insane. Apparently no one else has mastered the straight line either because you actually come out of there with bruises due to a misdirected cart into your hip. I actually had one woman driver the front of her cart into both my achilles'. There's no sense in being polite, you actually force you way through crowds using your cart as a battering ram. Shopping nearly brought to my wits end, any lesser of a man and I would have never made it out alive. Oh and need I mention, NO ONE speaks English! What an experience...

The Black Sea

We traveled up to a small city on the coast of the Black Sea last Sunday. Sile, pronounced She-lay was a beautiful little coastal town. The bay was full of weather beaten fishing boats and old men sat out in cafe's and on benches just watching time pass. We had lunch in a local restaurant on a patio which overhung a cliff and gave an amazing panorama of the coast. The beach was beautiful but upon further investigation was littered with trash which was quite disheartening.

RIDDIM

Riddim is the name of a night club in Taksim. Taksim is an area on the European side of Istanbul, teaming with night clubs, bars, and shops. Riddim was my first clubbing experience, which to all the Europeans I went with was ubserd. Located in the basement of an old building made the whole climax to arriving at Riddim quite an unnerving experience. Down three flights of rickety stairs adjacent to cold, cement, graffetied walls a dank thick oder of basment lead us to the entrence where lights and the reverberating tones welcomed us. The ambiance was typical, flashing lights, sweaty people, and loud music which in all made for a quite enjoyable time. However, there was a 20 YTL entry fee which after spending 8 YTL on a beer at a neighboring bar, seemed as though taksim was robbing me blind.
Upon leaving Riddim four of us grabbed a late night snack; Kokorec which is basically shredded cow intestines and discussed international politics.
We arrived back at the dorms way past curfew, which is at midnight, and sighed a sleepy "merhaba" (hello) to the gurads and we where in without any repercussions for our untimely arrival.