Single words

I believe the use of full sentences is overrated. I manage perfectly with just shouting out a few words.

This last week has been Bayram holiday: the holiday to celebrate the end of Ramadan. All government buildings were closed in Turkey, but our embassy opened again on Wednesday. We were with a handful of people, which made the atmosphere quiet, but also nice and informal. Due to the fact that the receptionist and every logical replacement for him were on holiday, I managed the reception desk for a day. Of course, I don’t speak Turkish, but a friendly colleague had learned me to say ‘call tomorrow’ in Turkish. So, if all else failed, I just shouted ‘yarın ayarın’ through the phone, and hoped they would understand.

The Bayram holiday offered a good opportunity to finally see some more of the city. With a German friend who studies (and thus speaks!) Turkish, I went sightseeing: we visited the museum for Paintings and Sculptures, which has a nice collection and no logic at all behind the order of the paintings; we went to the ethnography museum, which shows nice costumes and pottery, and a lot of pictures of Atatürks funeral (his tomb used to be in this museum); we went to the Parliamentary museum, which lacked information on vital politically-historical events in Turkey, but did display the shoes and pens Atatürk used to wear and use; and we went to see the ruins of a big Roman bath, diplaying the ingenious system of floor heating in Roman times.

And when Ankara started to feel too small for us, we decided to take a minibus (dolmus) and look ahead. Finding a minibus to Beypazarı, a nice small town with Ottoman houses, reminded me of how I once decided to go from Tbilisi to Gori in Georgia. It was 2009 and I was alone, and curious to see Stalin’s birth town. Georgian is not written with Latin letters, so next to not speaking the language, I was also not able to read it. I knew three things: 1) the name of the busstation from where minibuses to Gori would leave; 2) the Georgian word for minibus and 3) the name of the town I wanted to go to: Gori. So, I got into a taxi, said the name of the busstation, and viola: I was dropped off there. It was big and hectic. Then I started walking around, in this place where really no one spoke English, and all I did was repeat all the time: ‘Gori. Minibus’. People pointed at all directions, and at some point someone tried to get me into the big (and expensive) bus for Gori. So I shook my head and said: ‘minibus. Gori’. Believe it or not, but I found the right minibus, and spent an agreeable day in the only town in the world where they believe Stalin was a really cool guy. So again, you see: a few words can bring you a long way.

But so, we went to Beypazarı. It was a lovely town, with very nice regional specialities, mainly made from carrots. They have carrot lokum (Turkish fruit) and carrot juice. And one of the main roundabouts in town has a really big statue of… a carrot. Gotta love those carrots. We went to a museum there, where they showed us a traditional painting technique, and we were even allowed to make our own painting. Although the expected tip was extravagant, it did provide us with a nice, hand-made souvenir. We ate in a lovely restaurant, where they served home-made baklava (hmm!), gözleme (a pancake with cheese or potato) and ayram (a salty yoghurt drink which Turks, and only Turks, love). Then, we climbed up through the old town, where people stared at us, to the former castle, and endulged in Turkey’s national pastime no. one: eating sunflower seeds.

Another trip with the minibus brought us to Kızılcahamam, another nice town. It is surrounded by mountains, like Ankara, but unlike Ankara, these mountains are actually green. We went to the national park to breath in some fresh mountain air. However, all we breathed in was the smell of barbecue. Apparently, national pastime no. 2 is barbecuing, and a national park is an excellent location for that (risk of fire, anyone?). We had a hard time passing all the picknick benches, where hundreds of families were enjoying their kebap. A lot of them wanted us to join them and taste their food.

But, so much for the fun: Bayram is over and a new political year is about to start. This Sunday I have been to the congress of the Kurdish political party. It was interesting to see a political congress in Turkey. It was huge, warm, and there was a lot of dancing and food involved. After listening for a few hours, my colleagues and I went home again by taxi. I pointed the taxi in the right direction through hand gestures, paid him, and then asked for the receipt: ‘fiche, lütfen’. Yes, 10 words or so. Really all you need.

Adult Life

1.5 years after coming back from half a year in Burkina Faso, and a year after my little comeback trip to Africa, I find myself once again packing and preparing for a new adventure abroad.

Turkey – after West Africa, a longterm stay there seems like peanuts. They have roads, regulations, and budget airlines connecting to the Netherlands. There are proper shopping malls, and at least one season in which it can freeze: what more proof is there that a country is part of the Western world?

The past year, I have been busy with what one can call Adult Life. I got a job, a proper one, and all the responsibilities that come with it. And actually: it’s not that bad. The job is nice, and challenging, and comes with a lot of Opportunities. And they give me money, more than I ever had as a student, so I can go shopping twice a month, eat out four times a week, and still deposit a reasonable amount of money on my savings account each month.

I have also been busy bonding with the European continent: I felt I had neglected it. I’ve been to Oxford, London, Porto, Luxembourg, Valencia, Brussels – and – Istanbul. That was where it started.

One of the Opportunities that come along with the job, is to work abroad for a few months. I tried to think what would look good on my cv, which would most probably have been Brussels. But then I realised that I might be taking this Adult Life-thing too far, and decided to go for a job in a country which intrigues me, where I need to make an effort in order to understand the customs, the politics and the people. So, Turkey it is.

I’m not gone yet: I still have two weeks. But preparations have begun, so let’s say I’ll keep you posted!