pictures pictures pictures

Right now blogger is being odd and won't let me see anything other than the html so I'll just include the descriptions here: the pictures are from the Fenerbahce celebrations on Bagdat Caddesi, Dolmabahce Palace, and there is also one picture of a tavla board. Tavla is backgammon and it's a really popular game in Turkey. I was so tired of forgetting the right way to set up the board that I took a picture of it. :)

Hello everyone!

Once again a whole month has gone by between my postings. It’s depressing that I won’t have a July 9 in Turkey as well, but at this point it doesn’t help to be sad. My boyfriend keeps telling me to not think about leaving whenever I bring it up, and he’s right I guess. These are my very last days in Turkey and I want to spend them having as much fun as I can, not just being sad about leaving. I think that I and the other exchangers all have this soak-it-up-as-much-as-you-can mentality at the moment. We still talk to each other a lot about leaving though. It’s one of those things that never leaves your head for more than about an hour at a time. Also we all keep wondering where the entire year went. This sounds a bit silly, but when we started our exchange year, it seemed like 10 months was so long that it would never really end. Going back to our home countries and seeing our families again was always in this hazy future that just floated in front of us, always keeping far away. So this is a warning to any future exchange students who read this: TEN MONTHS IS NOT LONG. TEN MONTHS IS VERY, VERY SHORT.

One more practical note before I move on to what’s actually been going on in Turkey: AFS is only allowing us to fly with 20 kilos worth of luggage when we go back. Since we have all accumulated much more than that over this year, a lot of us have been sending boxes of books, winter clothes, etc back in order to reduce the weight of our suitcases on the return trip. I sent two boxes, one of mostly books and another with only clothes, back to the USA and both got there about a week after I sent them. I was really surprised at this because I was expecting it to take much longer. So here’s another little tidbit: sometimes sending packages actually works and they don’t get lost or take forever to get to your home!!!

Now, on to more happenings in Turkey. This is old news by now, but on May 22nd, Fenerbahce won the Turkish football (soccer in American) championship and there was a GIANT celebration on Bagdat Caddesi, a very big shopping/hang-out street on the Asian side, not far from my house. After the game, at about 10pm, I went there with my host family to watch everyone celebrating and boy was it crazy! Most of the stuff that people were doing is probably illegal in the US. Fans were standing on top of the bus shelter, lighting flares, blowing air horns, selling beer in the street, blocking all of the traffic in the street, singing at the top of their lungs, lighting off fireworks…you get the picture. It was a bunch of delirious mayhem. I actually really enjoyed it though, because Americans definitely do not get this excited when their team wins. I mean, even when your favorite team wins the Superbowl or something you don’t do stuff like this in the US. You sit at home and cheer but you don’t think “Now won’t it be cool if I go to Pioneer Square and light off blue and green flares to let everyone know that I support the SEAHAWKS!!!!!” Doesn’t happen. We got home from the kutlamalar (celebration) at about 12:30 because of all the traffic (people and automobile), and we were all so tired the next day that my host mom canceled the cleaning so that we could all sleep in. ☺

June 12th, this Sunday, is secimler gunu, or election day, in Turkey, which means that the next prime minister will be chosen. In Turkey the voting system is a little bit different, you don’t vote for the candidate himself (women can become prime minister but there are no women in the running this time), you give your vote to his party. Each party already has a leader whose views you already know, so you basically vote for him and his party together. Now, Turkey has something like our Senate called the TBMM, or Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi (it translates to something like the Big Turkey National Council). It has 500 people, and whatever percent of the vote a party gets, that’s the percent of their representation in the council. So for example if one party gets 50% of the vote, 250 people from that party will be on the council.

Because the elections are so soon there’s a lot of party-promoting going on. There are political commercials on the TV and people hanging out pamphlets in all the busy areas such as Kadikoy, where my school is. One tactic that doesn’t seem to exist in the USA is having big vans with the candidates’s face on the side driving around blasting a particular song that party has chosen for everyone to hear. (I almost typed “here” instead of “hear”. Sometimes I think my English is going down the drain. That’s another side affect of being an exchange student.)

Besides the soccer and politics, there’s been a lot of normal stuff going on in my life too. It’s funny because you’d think that every moment of your exchange year would feel exciting and special. It’s not like that, though. Walking home from school, getting on the bus, coming home, walking into my house and taking off my shoes in the entryway have all become very mundane. There are still a lot of moments when I realize how incredible it is that I’m here, but I’ve adjusted so much to this life that they become fewer and fewer. Anyway, in school the last exam week of the year is over, so there isn’t much point in having classes anymore but school is happening for another week anyway. This week my school brought in a whole bunch of activities, food, games, etc for Kalfest, which is a weeklong festival that my school arranges every year. It culminates in a big concert the Saturday after the activities at school. So this week, we’ve all been outside lying on big cushions watching people try their hand at darts, karaoke, paintball, and some other things. It’s been a wonderful end to my school year. My host mom was sayıng today how nice it’ll be when school is out, but I don’t want school to end because it means that I’m leaving…

That’s all for now folks!

Hayley

Blogger is unblocked!!

Well, I guess the Turkish government finally decided to unblock Blogger, so now I don't have to use a proxy to edit my blog anymore! Woohoo!

Since my last post was so recent, I don't have that many new things to share, but I wanted to put up some pictures of the tulip garden that I mentioned. Also, in the category of exchange student life, I feel like I should mention that I have a Turkish boyfriend!!! We've been together for about a month now and he is very cute and very sweet. :) Having a boyfriend/girlfriend here is different than it is in the US, for example, excessive PDAing is really not acceptable, the most you can do in public is hold hands and peck on the lips. Here I've NEVER seen a couple make out in public and some of my friends who have a significant other kiss at school, but not when a teacher is around and not as much as people do over there. It's actually quite refreshing, though - no freshmen making out in the hallway! No couples curled up in corners going at it! Also, going *ahem* farther than kissing with your loved one appears to be more frowned upon and is therefore less common. It's more of a touchy subject here I think...

Anyway, I noticed that some of my recent posts got put up on the AFS website, which prompted some people to comment on my blog. I absolutely LOVE reading people's comments, and if you've seen my blog want to know anything more about being an exchange student (even not in Turkey), Turkey, Istanbul, what you should(n't) pack, or anything, don't hesitate to drop me a comment and I would love to talk to you! :)

--Hayley

Heading into May

The Friday before last I went to the lale bahçesi, which means tulip garden, with my mom and sister. Tulips are a really important flower for Istanbul and Istanbullites so every year they open this big tulip garden with paths amongst all the tulips and a restaurant where you can eat breakfast/lunch in the middle of the flowers. They’d arranged some of the tulips into patterns, like whirling dervishes, children holding hands, and Turkey (with different blue flowers for the Bosphorus). There was also a large pond with ducks and swans in the middle of the park. It was obvious that a lot of time and effort had gone into making it look really pleasing to the eye and put-together, not like the tulip fields in Washington where you just go tromp around the muddy rows of tulips and there’s only one cute little garden to see (the one that has the windmill). It was really enjoyable and as always, the Turkish breakfast buffet was delicious. ☺

Also, on the 23rd of April it was çocuk bayramı, or childrens’ holiday, which is exactly as it sounds – a day just for kids! All around Istanbul there are a bunch of activities, special events, etc designed for kids. This holiday is especially fitting for Turkey since in general Turkish people really love children. Since there are no children in my host family, however, I spent the day at the AFS office preparing for this festival for disabled children that is organized by AFS volunteers. It’s called Uluslararası Gülen Çocuk Şenliği, or the International Smiling Child Festival. The kids there were from Turkey, Macendonia, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Greece, Georgia, and the United Arab Emirates. Each of us AFS kids got assigned a group and we just hung out with them for the whole day, playing, dancing, and doing chores that were asked of us. It was really much more fun than work, though – it was so wonderful to see all of the kids smiling, laughing, and dancing along with us.

At last we're finally starting to experience some summery-like weather here! It's been cold and rainy up until now, but this week we've had 3 nice days in a row so far so hopefully it's a good sign!!

7 months later

Hi everyone! I'm really sorry for not posting for a month. Sometimes I get so caught up with my life here that I forget to inform the people across the ocean about what I'm doing. :)

I don't know if I ever mentioned this in detail but in November I joined my school's Model UN and my third conference starts on Tuesday. I'm going to miss a week of school but I don't mind because I always have so much fun. There are Turkish people and foreigners who come to all the conferences so it's really interesting to meet a whole bunch of new people every time I go. Also, because of this, the conferences are in English but I always find a way to sneak in my Turkish somehow. It's been a great way to keep up on current events too, because you have to know your topic well in order to debate about it.

Also, lately English hasn't been coming as easily to me as it did in the past so if you notice any weird wordings, mistakes or if my writing seems a little awkward, that's why. It's hard to type correct English with a brain that's basically stuck between two languages. I don't think entirely in English anymore, it's like this weird mix of mostly English but with a bunch of Turkish phrases, words, etc. mixed in. For the last two nights I've had dreams where I distinctly remember someone talking in Turkish or me speaking Turkish to someone. In fact last night I told someone "Bu benim halam" (this is my aunt) while pointing to a family picture... I've even begun to write in my diary in Turkish, sometimes whole pages of no English unless I absolutely don't know the right word. It's a strange feeling, like my native language is getting lost or something. But it's not like I've "forgotten" it, it's just that some parts of the English language are stuffed irretrievably in a cavern at the back of my brain. The same thing happened to my French and Spanish after a few months here. However, I also can't say that I'm "fluent" in Turkish because even though I'm learning fast my vocabulary is no where near that of a fluent speaker. Actually the vocab is the main thing that I need to work on now - I've gotten sentence structure and all the important verb tenses down. I'm dreading going back to the US and forgetting Turkish so I'm going to work really hard to find opportunities to practice!

Now for some exchange student feelings...I don't know what I was expecting 7 months later but I'm looking forward to seeing my American family and dreading leaving my Turkish one at the same time. Now Istanbul actually feels like my home - the guy at the post office recognizes me, I know how to take the bus if I want to go somewhere, my family is a family and I'm not a guest - though I stopped being a guest really quickly, it's not a recent thing at all. I have Turkish and not Turkish friends that I talk to in and outside of school. Being on exchange here kind of feels like you're inside a bubble. Even though with Facebook and stuff you can check in on what's going on at home, not being there makes it seem like it's less "real" than your life here. So I have no idea what to expect when I get back because coming back will pop the bubble. Also there's the nervousness that comes with knowing that you've changed, that the people in Turkey accept that but maybe your old friends won't like it.

Anyway, now I've got to go research Japan's policy on a variety of topics including the awful disasters that have been happening there, because Japan is my country for the conference. I have a lot more to write about but I'll have to save it for later. I do promise to keep you all more updated next time!

Görüşürüz,
Hayley

Well hello again!

Hi there everyone! First things first: Tried to write a new entry on my blog today, and guess what? I’ll have to send this entry to my mom to put on my blog from the USA because in Turkey they’ve banned blogspot/blogger and I can’t access my blog myself anymore. Yep. First Youtube, and now my blog site haha. You can read about the reasons and all here: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=blogspot-is-banned-2011-03-02 I’m hoping that Turkey will unblock the site like they did with Youtube, but in the meantime, thanks very much for your help, mom. I love you ☺

The unfortunate thing about not actually being able to see my blog is that I don’t have my previous entries to look at in order to remember what I did and didn’t say. Please forgive me if I repeat something or make a reference to something that I didn’t actually mention in a past post.

After-holiday school is going quite well even though I haven’t been to school for a full week since I got back. This was unintentional but life kind of made it that way. The Monday we got back (Feb 7) , I was sick and decided to stay home. That week I also missed Thursday and Friday because I went to AFS camp in Cappadocia. The next Monday I came back from Cappadocia. This week, today, Thursday and Friday are school-less days because I’m going to this conference with my MUN club from school.

AFS camp was absolutely wonderful! Even though it only lasted 3 days, it was lovely to see all of my friends from other parts of Turkey and look at my experience through a fresh lens. When I remove myself from my situation in Istanbul I seem to be able to look at my experience more objectively, reflect on what’s been happening and see what’s good about my home and what might need to change. The exercises and sessions that we did at camp also helped with that. My favorite session was when we wrote letters to future AFSers in Turkey, telling them about our experiences so far and trying to give them advice for when they come. It was great to write down my realizations and pieces of wisdom, but I really don’t feel like an “exchange student expert” or anything yet. I mean, we HAVE been here for 6 months, and we’ve learned a lot, but we certainly don’t know everything yet and we still get lost and fail to understand people when they speak Turkish to us sometimes. We can, however, communiate more effectively and get around more easily. After 6 months in your country that’s definitely a given!

I have some more differences between my lives in the US and Turkey for you:
-In Turkey there’s a cleaning lady who comes every week, in the US we didn’t have one.
-Burger King and McDonalds do DELIVERY (I think I’ve posted this but I think it’s funny so it bears repeating.) When I told my host sister and her friend they never did that where I’m from they were shocked.
-In the US, to get into a university you take the SAT or ACT or both, write an essay (sometimes multiple essays) fill out some tedious forms, fill out financial aid forms, and repeat this process multiple times for however many institutions you want to go to. You can also take the SAT as many times as you want. In Turkey you just spend your entire life in high school studying for this ONE exam that happens at ONE time on ONE day ONCE every year. And that determines your future.
-In the US teachers yell at students for sleeping and talking in class. In Turkey the students get yelled at for sleeping, talking, and doing exam prep questions in class. (I have not yet met an American who does an SAT practice test during a lecture.)
-In Turkey everyone marvels at my drivers’ license and the fact that I actually drove a car before I came here. In the US I sometimes explain why I got it 5 months “late” (My 16th birthday was in July, I got my license in December.)
-In the US houses are completely normal. In Istanbul I’ve seen houses in person about once, and I did a double-take.
-In Turkey everyone parks on the side of the road so that really only one lane is available and if a car is coming in the other direction you have to drive past them super slowly or pull over into a free spot and let them pass. People also park on the sidewalk occasionally. In the US the parking control people give you tickets if you park in the wrong spot.
-I haven’t eaten bacon in 6 months. ☺

Ta ta for now!

Happy Valentine's Day!

view of the Golden Horn from the Galata Tower
Busy busy busy Taksim
At Forum Istanbul they have an aquarium!

Hello there everyone,

Today I'm home sick from school so I decided to take this opportunity to write another blog post for you guys. :)

In Turkey V-Day is called "Sevgililer Gunu" and it's only for couples, so that pretty much knocks me out of the celebration equation. This is one of the only things I've seriously thought was "better" in my own country, because in the US you can celebrate Valentines Day with anyone that you love - your family, your friends, etc - so there is no feeling of isolation if you don't have a significant other. Valentines still remind everyone of their boyfriend/girlfriend or lack thereof, but it's perfectly acceptable to make a nice red paper heart for your sister, best friend, mom, etc. I like this much better because no one has to get left out. (In Turkey, as far as I'm aware of there are no counter-celebrations like "Singles Awareness Day".)

Also, some clarification about the guy who comes and takes our trash - apparently this is the apartman gorevlisi. Google translate says that it means the "apartment assistant". Basically he is in charge of the general keeping-up of our apartment building, takes the trash, brings packages occasionally, and you can also give him money to go buy something from the store for you and he'll buy it and bring whatever you wanted to the door. Having never lived in an apartment in the US I don't know if we have something similar to this in our apartment complexes. But anyway, I think it's rather nice to have that service around.

I'd been meaning to make a list of some random things in Turkey that are different than those where I'm from. I have a few good ones so far and I'll add more as they come to me.

~The bus will stop for you when you're not at the actual bus stop. I mean, it's obviously preferable to wait for the bus at the bus stop but I've never seen a Turkish bus driver refuse someone at a random place on the road who wanted to get on the bus. Whereas in the US, maybe if the bus driver is merciful enough he/she will stop for you.

~Apparently in Germany zippers are on the opposite side than in Turkey (depending probably on the nationality of the brand though). Okay, so this doesn't have anything to do with "where I'm from" but I thought it was interesting anyway.

~Receipts are in general much larger in size than I'm used to. Actually at the shopping center that my host parents use for groceries and stuff (think a cross between Fred Meyer and Costco) they give you like a full 8.5 x 11 - looking thing.

~Fast food restaurants like Burger King and McDonald's have multiple floors. There is one Burger King in Kadikoy that has 6 floors (5 if you count European style).

~Most people don't have microwaves.

~You also can get delivery from BK and McD. Like, if you want a McFlurry but are too lazy to go and get one by yourself, just call them and some dude on a motorcycle shows up at your house 15 minutes later with your McFlurry! AWESOME.

~My host mom told me that not very many people keep journals or diaries in Turkey. Not that a whole bunch of people in the US do, but I believe it's a more common practice.

~In Turkey if you use the school bus you don't walk to the school bus stop, the school bus comes in front of your house. (Please keep in mind that when I say "house" I usually mean "apartment building")

After I go back to school I'll have more updates on my social life and my Turkish skills, etc. But this is all for now!