Friday, July 24, 2009

Summer

So today, July 7th, is my one year anniversary in Kyrgyzstan. In many ways it feels like a long time has come to pass, but overall it feels like just yesterday that I was going to The Wood n' Tap instead of the Chowder Pot (who would have thought there'd be an hour wait on a Tuesday??), having my last meal in America at a weird Mexican/'punk' food place (the only place open on July 4th...), saying my goodbyes both in person and on the phone, then leaving for Kyrgyzstan on my two-day venture via plane. It's been a wild ride so far, and I think this next year will have quite a bit more in store for me. Hopefully things will be much better, particularly with what experience I have and my own personal expectations in hand. Thanks to everyone for your support during year one, particularly my family and friends who have sent packages and mail!!
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After getting back from Turkey things have been pretty interesting. The first week back I was a bit depressed, not in the least because I was ill from some bad meat that didn't quite want to digest. I was also comparing things from Kyrgyzstan to Turkey -- not fair, in my opinion, or condusive to much if anything at all. After week one, though, things started to turn around.
First off, I must say that having an open schedule is so very redeeming. My mental health has skyrocketed, there's virtually no stress in my life at the moment, and I've started routines (like working out every other day) that have done nothing but good for me. Sometimes I'm a bit bored and feel like I'm not doing a whole heck of a lot, but it's so nice to take this time to recharge and look around me for once, instead of being tied down and working/fighting all the time.
My relationship with my host family is getting better day by day. There are still some quirks (like me not agreeing to my host eje trying to take money from a student who wants to come over and study English with me) but on the whole I'm getting much more comfortable with them and I think they're feeling better around me too. The one sister I was talking with regularly and was developing a good friendship with unfortunately just recently left for Bishkek in order to study at university (I'm happy for her but am sad to see my best friend here in the village leave). The food is hit and miss but usually it's something decent -- for example, today I got a plate of beans, a very good thing (esp. since not many Kyrgyz people eat beans) -- and if things keep up I'll be pretty content for the next year to come.
The biggest change for me, personally, is my attitude. I wouldn't exactly describe it as complacent, but it's fairly similar. I guess I'm just at peace with things at the moment. The feeling first truly struck my consciousness while in Turkey as I was travelling to Chanakkale (not truly knowing where I'd be staying the night or what was in store for me, but feeling that things would be just fine and to take things in stride), and has carried over to the here and now. It's a very good perspective to have here, in my opinion, especially with the norms and way things work in-country. I haven't lost concern and am still careful, but it's nice not worrying about things so much -- particularly about little things that irritated me beforehand. I'm feel like I'm at home here, and can actually relax for once.
Feeling at home here is also something new and good for me, in my opinion. I'm starting to fall in love with Kyrgyzstan and the people living here. I think that for my first year here I was unfair, for whatever/many reasons (putting Africa in as my preference, the general attitude toward foreigners here, troubles with work/counterparts, health issues, et al). Things have been changing in me, though. I'm starting to find myself internally rooting for the Kyrgyz more and more every day, and that for every bad thing that may happen here there's something good that will happen (and the good thing usually counts 10 times more than the bad). Things are interesting at the moment -- I'm trying to figure out how to channel my new perspective into something good and positive.
I've found a piece of heaven. That's more than I can say for America! Travel to one of the farthest villages in my oblast, so close to Kazakhstan you can walk to the hills that serve as the border. Once you get to the village, take one street north, then turn onto a street leading east after about 15 minutes of walking. Take this road all the way to its end, and you'll come to a local family's home. This home sits right next to a pond/lake, with reeds growing around it, sitting as a very striking view with the mountains off in the distance. All around this home there are trees -- I had something of a feeling of displacement due to how very similar this particular woodsy setting was to my home at Harvest Lane. Compile this with some of the most hospitable people I've seen in country, and a heavenly setting is just what I have in mind. A stroke of Cupid may have struck me at this particular location...
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Last week was the Talas Summer Camp. Somewhere between 60 and 70 students, 20 volunteers, and a handful of others were present at this camp. The schedule was usually sessions in the mornings and games/activities in the afternoon/evening -- lots of good stuff, essentially. I was on bazaar run duty throughout the week, so I went in to buy food every day so missed out on the morning events. However, I think it was a very good camp, especially for the kids -- if nothing else it was an environment in which they could be free and act without judgement (presumably), not to mention time away from daily chores and working in the field. I think my primarly role at the camp was trying to pick up on how to do things for next year -- the K-15's have sort of deemed me as the one to put things together and run the camp next time around.
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A trip to Bishkek for my VAC meeting, helping out with friends and birthdays, going to the gym three times a week. Not much more to my summer than this at the moment.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Turkey!

There and back again, a hobbit's... nevermind.
But I did go there and come back again! I was in Turkey from May 29th to June 11th and got to do a whole heck of a lot of things. I must say that I feel quite a bit refreshed and relaxed and like I have regained some sanity. It's nice!
I went to Turkey with a fellow volunteer. We pretty much spent the entire two weeks in Istanbul. It was a great time, the city is large and has about everything one could think of. The view alone is worth the trip -- a city half in Europe half in Asia, right on the sea, with sites and remnants dating back from Roman times... it's truly a great city. In Istanbul I primarily went out site seeing, shopping, and eating. There are plenty of great things to see in the city, be it the Hagia Sophia or 'random stone A' which used to be part of a forum. The shopping is fairly standard for your big city -- which is to say something I haven't seen in 11 months and decided to take advantage of while I still could! The food... oh the food. I'm not sure what I was most happy with in regard to the cuisine, but man was I ever happy! Everything was so delicious, be it the fish or the Ottoman cuisine or the omnipresent desserts, it was a gluttonous heaven!
I did take the time for an overnight stay outside Istanbul. My destination: Troy. My plan of action was sort of indefinate but I had a general outline of what I wanted to do. The standard trip to Troy first stops off in Chanakkale, a pretty good sized city in and of itself, before heading out to the epic ruins. That's what I did in this instance. I must say that, although I enjoyed Troy immensely, I think I enjoyed the trip to and from even more. It was a pleasant surprise!
First: getting there. In Istanbul I hopped on the metro (switching lines once) to get to the bus station. At the bus station I was greeted by some random guy who showed me the way to one of 160 someodd terminals where tickets are sold -- within 2 minutes I had a ticket and was ready to depart. No reservations, no haggling prices down from 'tourist' or 'American' rates (as is often the current case with me), no waiting 2+ hours for people to fill up seats. Within 20 minutes or so the bus was set and we departed. At this point I was a bit too much in a comfort zone to realize just how simply amazing this whole transportation process was -- things working efficiently, no absurd waits, no 10-20 men crowding around the American to get a rate. Shocking! Now, as if that wasn't enough. The buses in Turkey have airplane-esque service. I've been on the Greyhound a couple times in the States -- Turkey's buses kick Greyhound's butt. There are stewards who serve drinks and a snack, provide a pillow/blanket if asked for, and wash your hands with (what I at first thought simply lemon water) windex-type cleaning liquid. Not to mention that, for the entirety of the ride, there were absolutely spectacular views, be it of the countryside or the sea or the towns along the way. I also made friends with my neighbor (the guy sitting next to me) on both trips - the there and back - and I have to say that, despite claiming not to know English, they sure know a heck of a lot for my standards. That, plus my crash course in Turkish (combined with the crossovers from Kyrgyz) made for a good time of communication.
To get to Chanakkale, we had to take a ferry to cross through a strait. The bus just drives onto the ferry, people can get off and enjoy the view, and then hop back on the bus before departing. Very cool! Once the bus got off the ferry, however, I had an interesting experience. A guy gets on the bus, comes to my seat, and says 'I have seat #x' which was my seat. I said I also have the seat. The steward comes up, tells me "Your ticket is to Chanakkale, we're in Chanakkale now, time to get off!" and I basically get booted off the bus. I was planning on going in toward the bus station, not getting dropped off right after the ferry. Luckily my neighbor decided to get off with me as we were going to the same (presumably) location. The place my neighbor had in mind was literally right across the street from where I was booted off, a hotel. I had in mind a hostel, which bears the same nomenclature as this particular hotel. I went in anyway just to see the prices and all -- "We have a room available for 75 lira" the man behind the counter says. I was thinking something more in line with 30ish per night. I told him I needed something cheaper, he asked my budget, I highballed it at 50 lira, he found a room for 60 lira. I then made a decision, "I'm in Turkey on vacation, it's time to enjoy myself, just go ahead and do it," so I splurged on the hotel room. If I had been with someone else, it could have been 30 lira per person, but as I was with myself (and not quite fortunate enough to have a partner for the occassion) I dished that out.
Once settled with my hotel, I decided to explore Chanakkale a bit. I first was determined to find the bus station that has buses to Troy -- I didn't end up finding it that night. What I did find, however, was a bazaar. A true, honest-to-goodness, bazaar. Now, in Istanbul, there's the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar, but in going to both I was severely disappointed because they're primarily tourist traps and not true bazaars (living in a country whose primary commerce method is through the bazaar, I've learned a thing or two). Granted, outside of the Spice Bazaar there are streets that are more true to a bazaar, but I was put off by those. Anyway, the Chanakkale Bazaar was what I was really looking for -- vendors hawking out their wares, piles of random stuff just sitting everywhere, order to the place (general goods, clothing, produce, dry foods etc. sections), and most importantly Turkish people shopping there. I ended up buying a couple kilos of fruit, apricots and strawberries, before calling it in. I was thoroughly impressed with it all, though, and was so happy to run into this bazaar.
After the bazaar I went back to the hotel to drop off my fruit, then decided to head out again to explore some more. On a local map I saw there was a little Troy exhibit up by the dock so I decided to head that way. There's a mock Trojan horse up there (it may be the one they used in the movie) and a little diorama of what Troy looked like, along with some information. However, that's not was truly caught my attention that evening. As I was reading some of the info on the Troy exhibit, I noticed some music playing to my right and thought a concert was going on. Upon further investigation, I realized that it was a presentation put on by a local high school. They were raising awareness for conservation, pollution, consumption methods, etc. I was pretty shocked. The girl who seemed to be in charge was asking me if I had questions, and then a European with not-so-great English interrupted and captured her attention. I decided to check out the rest of the display -- the students had made arts and crafts as well. I was impressed right out of my pants (figuratively speaking) by all of this. After I was done with looking at the displays, I started talking to the girl in charge, who had become free. Once again, blown away. She spoke pretty impeccable English (not to mention that the displays were all in English, and fairly well written as well), but that's not what truly impressed me. She's interested in activism and helping out third world countries and generally most of the stuff that I'm interested in. We spoke for about 30-40 minutes about all that sort of stuff. I pretty much found my perfect student, if she were older I would be thinking a little bit differently... Anyway, as with all Turkish people I've met, she truly loves her land and wants to show it off (especially to the foreigners) so she directed me to the castle.
I took off and went down the dock in the general direction of the castle. I wasn't quite sure how to approach the castle because the streets seemed to be closed, and there were some police guards standing at what I presumed to be an entrance to a private home. So, I decided to take some side streets. If I hadn't been living in Kyrgyzstan for the time I have been, I probably would have been scared and not gone down these streets. But, I've learned fairly well enough that looks can be deceiving and that the best stuff is often found where those are least likely to look. The first thing I noticed were some kids playing in the street (something I hadn't seen since leaving Kyrgyzstan) -- they were staring wide-eyed at me, so I said hello to them in Turkish. I then had a little following (one girl asked if I understood Turkish, though I think my answer proved the reality to be no, heh) as I found my way to the walled-off side of the castle. As I was walking down the street, a guy sitting outside his home enjoying his dinner asked me what I was doing (in English) and I told him I wanted to see the castle. He said it's closed now (it's apparantely a museum) but that if I come back in the morning it will be open. I tell him I'm leaving for Troy in the morning and won't have time, I just want to take a picture of it. He says sure! Come on over here, climb the wall, and take some pictures from there. So I head over, but notice there's a security guard on the other side of the wall. I voice my concern, he comes over and talks to the security guard. The security guard is just fine with me on the wall taking pictures -- we talk for a bit, he's from Istanbul, knows Enligh (a reoccuring theme in Turkey...), and is happy to allow me to photograph the castle he's guarding! It was really cool, especially being in this neighborhood that I guarantee 99% of tourists would never think of walking down. I said my thanks and goodbyes, went off to find something to eat, headed back to the hotel, perused the 1200 someodd tv stations that they get (most of which are from Europe - some being inappropriate for the younger viewing audience - but also some really cool stations from Iran etc.), then hit the sack for my big day at Troy.
The next morning I got up and enjoyed the complimentary breakfast (for 60 lira it better be!). At hotel in Istanbul, the breakfast is basically fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, cheese, bread, and juice. Here there was more of a selection. Most notably was the cereal. Oh my. The cereal! Now, I've had a bit of cereal in Kyrgyzstan, but it's hard to come by and I eat it dry. But here, oh man, here I got to have cereal with cold milk! I haven't enjoyed a breakfast so much since... I don't know when. But oh was it good! Orange slices, tasty breads, eggs, and the cereal... I knew the day was going to be good! After breakfast I checked out early then headed down to the bus station. The bus apparently wasn't leaving until about 9:30 or 10, it was now about 8 or 8:30. I decided to just walk around a little bit, then came back. Lots of tourists on this little bus (more like a marshrutka to me, mini-van-esque) but that's ok, I didn't talk to anyone (really didn't feel like it either, the British couple in back didn't seem to be too nice in my opinion, plus I sort of enjoy my ambiguity -- I've been mistaken for many non-American nationalities, and in Turkey I've gotten some interesting ones). It only took about 30 minutes to get to Troy from Chanakkale, and for 4 lira it's not a bad deal at all. It was real interesting, though, when we got to Troy. The bus just stops in this open field-type area, everyone was sitting wondering what's going on, then he says "This is Troy!" and the dumbfounded tourists (me included) just sort of stumble off to find their way. After following a street for a little while, you actually come to the entrance to the park itself.
Now Troy, for most people, is probably just a bunch of ruins. It's nice to say you've been there and seen it, and many people probably are interested in it, but it doesn't hold much meaning if you haven't studied Homer or Virgil's work. I don't claim any special recognition on the fact, but four years of Latin in high school and a lot of time studying and translating the Aeneid (not to mention the Odyssey in literature classes) did put it in a special place for me. I was thinking quite a bit of Mr. Swanson, my Latin teacher, while I was going through the ruins. It would be nice if he could learn about my trip to Troy and perhaps see the pictures I took. Anyway, I found the ruins to be impressive and was trying to imagine things as they were depicted in the epics. There's a lot of stuff just lying around or waiting to be excavated, bits of columns, foundations of a home, parts of a wall, evidence of how the second Troy was built on top of the first (there are many different stages/several different Troys that were built). Overall an impressive place to be -- I was less enamored with the mock horse they have out front that all the kids were jumping into, and a bit miffed at the tour groups that would literally walk in front of my camera a I was taking a photo (luckily they rushed through everything anway so they didn't prove to be a big problem), but it was well worth the trip. I felt like I had come to a place of true significance.
During my trip I met up with an Australian couple who were there on holiday as well. They had been in the bus over, talking with the British couple. They proved to be very interesting people as well, recently retired, well-traveled, having knowledgable experience and expertise on a varying matter of subjects. On my last legs of Troy I spent some time with them, and after we left Troy and were waiting for a bus back, I spent time talking with them about most anything under the sun. It was a good time, I enjoyed meeting them. I should probably email them soon, seeing as how they gave me their business card...
Anyway, I got back to Chanakkale and right away got on the bus for Istanbul. No BS! I bought my ticket, was told to just hop on the ferry, and about 10 minutes later we were gone. I had a good neighbor again, talked it up a bit, and just had an enjoyable experience on my way back. I was a bit sad to leave Chanakkale, I really enjoyed it there and want to go back again. After the 5 or 6 hours to Istanbul, I just took the PT back to my hotel and crashed for the night.
The rest of my trip is basically me just enjoying the pleasures I wouldn't get to for the next year and a half. Excellent cuisine and service, daily showering, running water, electricity, daily (and free!) internet access, sea air, and a whole host of other things. It was truly an excellent time. Turkey is a great country! I want to go back again sometime, this time knowing that I should travel outside Istanbul (I'd probably spend most of my time travelling around the country if I could). My classification of Turkey: well-tempered people who love their country and are overall very courteous/accomodating, very beautiful (particularly the rustic bits), amazing food, overall an amazing country. I'd say it's a good place to fall in love, maybe one day I will get to find out. I give Turkey an A!