Chapter 11

Before Christmas, I had anticipated that after the day, I'd be writing about a consumption-free holiday passed. I would venture into the future as an enlightened critic of the holidays and consumerism. I would click my tongue and shake my head at the mention of Christmas trees and presents.

And I think these early thoughts were fair. I'm in a country where not many people (except those in the tourism industry) know when Christmas is celebrated. School's still in session on that day, but if you're an exchange student, you're given a couple of days off to enjoy celebrating far away from home. As a result, I didn't expect Christmas, in any of its culturally different forms, to make much of a cameo.

We opted to spend the holidays in a cave. The literalness of being in a cave on Christmas seemed translate into some kind of metaphor. Or we hoped it would. Maybe one of rebellion. Or shelteredness. Or the deprivation of wasteless consumption.

If our balloon pilot that morning stood for anything, he was an indication that you can run and float away, but you can't actually hide.

Except maybe in a cave.

Which we did.

To our dismay, Christmas lights and trees were the only thing that filled the empty streets of Goreme with life. On the balloon, boxes of Turkish delight were passed out as gifts by a bearded Santa (or Baba Noel), although to his credit, he was actually Belgian. Shouts of 'Merry Christmas!' came from shopkeepers and lonely restaurant owners, and our server where we had our 'Christmas breakfast' greeted us warmly on our holiday.

So it found us.

But, as Hilary is telling me right now, I didn't really want to get away from Christmas. There are certain things that still make the season a great time- going back home for Christmas has always been a highlight, the weather, the food- none of this is stuff I'd be glad to get rid of. What we really wanted to experience was how much of the world viewed it- as just another day.

And in the end, that's how it felt. Sure, we belted out a painfully tone-deaf version of Jingle Bells as we floated hundreds of meters into the sky. But nothing clicked that it was actually Christmas.

So we got what we wanted.

On a more interesting note, we found out why there are so many trees, and little Santas on the branches as decoration. All of the paraphernalia is shipped in to celebrate the New Year, which, to them, is the main reason for celebration at this time of the year.

The original Saint Nicholas, or Nicholas of Myra, was from an area near Antalya. Since this falls into present-day Turkey, they see Saint Nicholas as being Turkish. And if you believes he comes from your area, you ought to have a fair claim to exploiting him for commercial purposes. So Saint Nicholas, or Baba Noel comes to bring presents for Turks on New Year's. Which saves him from about 80 million people on Christmas eve. Although the one thing that still doesn't make any sense is why he dresses exactly like the Coca-Cola Santa. C'mon- really? Let's be a bit more original...



The pictures of the holiday season can be found on Flickr

Chapter 10

I mean, it was on the menu. To our tired minds, it meant at least a few people before us had been feeling adventurous.

It seemed like the perfect end to about two weeks of travelling, which had taken us from Eskisehir to Izmir on the Agean, then the old city of Selcuk which held the ruins of Ephesus, Pamukkale, and finally onto Egypt. We'd travelled up and down the country via the rail line, convincing ourselves that we were seeing the not-so touristy side of Egypt.

When we told the waiter we wanted to order it, he seemed surprised- not as if we were the only ones who had ever asked for it, but as though we didn't quite understand what it was. He repeated it a few times in confirmation.

We spent four days in Izmir, a city laden down by its history. Homer was born there, and mentions if frequently in his works. The first residents are known to have lived there in 6,500 BC. Our hotel was near a market, and on the day that rain wasn't turning the pavement into sponges, we got lost (not so figuratively) in the bazaar. Since Selcuk is only an hour by train from Izmir, it lent itself to day trips.

He first brought over napkins and forks, and then, realizing a mistake, rushed over with knives. At this point, there was a feeling in my stomach. It wasn't hunger. It was closer to anticipation, but a wary form of it. If Hilary was feeling the same, she wasn't showing it. We both sipped our raki and ate the bread that has been left on the table.

The ruins of Ephesus are only 3 kilometers from downtown Selcuk, so it's only a dolmush ride away. At one point, Ephesus was the capital city of Asia Minor, and for a short time, the second largest city in the world (with a population of 250,000). From the pictures we'd seen, it was filled with sickeningly cool ruins, and a copious amount of tourists. Fortunately, when you arrive in early December, when the sun spends most of the time in hiding, not many tour buses make their way out to the site. To stand at the top an old theatre, blocks crumbling, but still with perfect acoustics, alone, is a pretty amazing feeling.

We'd only ended up in the restaurant for some food before our overnight train. At first we'd ordered a tea or two, but soon hunger overcame our want to sit and drink teas. We'd asked for the menu, and we scanned over the regular items- dolma, kofte, kebap, gozleme. Then it caught my eye- midway on the page, tossed between eggplant salad and a sheep cheese platter.

"Hey check this out- we need to get it. C'mon- it will make us smarter!"

Pamukkale, the somewhat appropriately named the 'Cotton Fortress' posed a challenge to us. By naming itself a 'fortress', we were left to wonder, 'how easy is it to get into?' We'd tested our shrewdness the day before, when we scaled the walls of an old Roman fort, suggesting that if two young people can get in without a problem, perhaps the Empire wasn't as glorious as it had one claimed. So in Pamukkale, we learned two things- first, it's not really cotton. Second- we weren't the first people to try and sneak in. So we got caught, and the guards laughed off our attempts at apologetic Turkish, and told us to go by a ticket. Which we did. Sigh.

Pamukkale is an amazing scene, once you're in and have paid for a ticket. Cloudy water flows over the mountain, and the calcium is deposited onto the rock, where it hardens. Over time, it builds up and the mountain looks like a cotton hill. Unfortunately, a need to develop it has led to pools being constructed at the bottom of the mountain, and the hot spring at the top (with dubious-looking ruins underwater) now costs 23 lira for a 2 hour 'swim'.

We both stared at the menu, our eyes on the same item.

"We should definitely get this," said Hilary.

This was something we'd never seen on a menu, and one we probably wouldn't see back at home.

After Izmir, we boarded a cheap domestic flight to Istanbul, waited a few hours in the Ataturk airport, sipping disgustingly overpriced coffees, and then made our way to the Cairo gate.

We'd managed to get round-trips tickets from Istanbul to Cairo for a great price. This was due in part to the proximity to Cairo, but also the push on behalf of the Egyptian government to reign in Turkish tourists. It seemed like a good place to contrast my studies in Turkey. While the Republic here is staunchly secular, Egypt is a Muslim country. It uses Sharia law, and there is no real attempt to part religion and politics. Unfortunately, as we would soon learn, this well-intentioned trip would end in an exercise in futility.

So he brought it over. There was no fanfare. No lull in converstation. No rousing applause. No Oscar-like acceptance speeches expected on our behalf. When he put the plate down, it just sat there. On some lettuce. With a few tomatoes. Oh. And cucumbers.

After flying into Cairo, catching a ride into the city to the hotel and checking into our room, we sat down with the young guy who ran the place. We told him we'd be in the country for a week, and wanted to see as much as we could, for cheap. If he'd heard this request before, his expression hid the well-rehearsed approach he would take.

After a few minutes of explaining, with diagrams drawn on napkins to further confuse, we learned we could see Cairo, with the Giza pyramids, then take a train down to Aswan (only 14 hours!), where we'd travel up to Luxor, and then back to Cairo in time for our flight back to Istanbul.

The days would be peppered with morning and day trips. Which, in hindsight, are a traveller's worst nightmare. This became evident as we trudged up a sand dune over to the pyramids. I guess that's unfair. The horses trudged. We just sat there. But the guide, who's promised us adventure, and allocated our adventure time into segments. 15 minutes here. 10 here. 5 here. 10 minutes of free time. Yeah. That's right. Free time. On our tour. That was just us. As we were shepherded around, the only thing I could think of was the time in Havana when our family was going on a tour of the city. After 15 minutes, Dad called it quits, walked off the tour, and met a Cuban doctor in a run-down bar, getting by on Italian, while the rest of us were dragged to preset locations. If only I could have Larry Cecco'd the tour to the pyramids....

This horrendous formula for a tour was replayed each time, and eventually Hilary and I hit our breaking point. Although we never thought it'd come to this, we realized we needed to hijack our own tour. So we tried our best in the coming days to just do our own thing. We wanted meet Egyptians, which is surprisingly hard to do in Egypt.

We managed to, a bit. But in the end, we realized that Egypt is set up for tourists. It's magnificently orchestrated to cater to desires of tourists who want the charm of the desert, but none of the eyesores that go with it. The poverty is veiled by kitsch souvenirs, and magnificent temples now have outdoor cafes and ice cream for sale. The transportation network serves those on tours, and the industry has made it next to impossible to travel from city to city other than by prearranged trips by 'travel agents'. So we arrived in Egypt looking for a unique experience and a different perspective, and we left with both.

I picked up my fork, and poked at it. Just sitting there, staring up at me. Well, no it wasn't. It wasn't an eye. Or a foot. Or tongue. I guess I should just say what it wasn't- intestine, heart, lungs, liver, kidney, toes, testicles, skin, or stomach. So at this point, you're left with only one option.

Yup. A brain. Just sitting on the plate, like a brain should do, if it's been boiled up.

I should say now, before it arrived, I didn't think it'd look like a brain. But seeing it now, it most definitely did. A solid mass of grey matter. Ready for consumption.

We could have just looked at it and said 'no way'. But we didn't We said 'way'.

"Afiyet olsun" (Bon appetite) we said to each other, and dug in.

Photos can be found in two places:

Flickr This is for the high quality images.

Or:

Facebook (More photos)

Chapter 9

Probably one of the best moves I could have made here was to take the courses on Rural Sociology.

The lectures are interesting. I'm the only one in the English version of the class, so while it begins with the professor discussing the nuances of the IMF's policies and how they affect the neo-liberal economics of Turkey, it usually ends up with her telling me I'm paying too much for tomatoes when I go to the grocery store.

So if I don't take anything else from the class, I've learned that 2.5 lira a kilo is far too expensive. ($1.7 in Canuckian dollars)

Fortunately, I've taken a lot from the class. Unlike the other exchange students here, I've been able to travel to remote Turkish villages. In the most recent one, an 84-year-old man was chopping wood (definitely putting me to shame), while a 96-year-old was collecting leaves in her yard. There's no concept of retirement here- everyone works until they physically can't. The area was the site of a proposed hydroelectric dam, but when the plan fell through, all that was left was a concrete corpse and unemployment.

As in every village, there's the local hangout where all the old men sit and drink tea and play backgammon. I realize I just said that everyone works, but I've learned here that loitering seems to be a full time job.

Most of the employment in the villages is agriculture, and to a lesser extent, subsistence farming. When you step into one of the villages, it's like being tossed back decades. But not the 60's. Or 70's. I'll take that back when I see Turkish villagers in polyester disco suits. Kids ride down the dirt roads on donkeys, and scythes are tossed casually by the houses.

For those that are interested, I was able to snap a few photos.

They can be found at: flickr.com/photos/lcecco

I switched from Facebook to Flickr because the quality is much better on the latter.

Chapter 8

One thing that I thought I had escaped was Christmas.

For a few fleeting weeks, I had assumed I was in an oasis devoid of commericals, premature sales and hefty catologues.

While I don't want to speak too soon, something may be terribly wrong here.

The other day, on the tail end of the Kurban Bayram (Sacrifice of the Animals), I went to the mall to pick up some groceries. I noticed some tinsel hanging from the railings.

Ok. Maybe it's to celebrate the bayram.

Next I saw gold painted bells.

And a plastic Christmas tree.

And the coup de grace- a small Santa Claus on the tree.

While there aren't any commercials advertising anything remotely like Christmas, and there isn't a mall Santa, it still puzzles me why the decorations suddenly went up a few days before the first of December.

My only hope lies in the fact that when I ask Turks if we get Christmas off, they all say "Yes, there is no school on January 1st."

CORRECTION: I haven't completely renounced Christmas. There is an advent calendar hanging on the wall of my place. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Chapter 7

Some people have pointed out that I have yet to write about the Turkish school system.

I've refrained until now, so I could have a month to get a better idea of it, just like you don't know much about a course from just a week of attending.

The students here take more classes than we're used to back at home- the average is 7 or 8 per semester, but I have a few friend who's stuck with 15. 15. 15 classes. He starts school at 8, and leaves at around 7.

The universities seem to take the 'independent learning' approach, and while there are lectures, students are graded on presentation on different topics, and term papers. With Turkish classes, however, the don't write term papers since there's no equivalent to www.turnitin.com, so plagiarism is rampant.

The classes let me get a new perspective on issues, which has been invaluable. Learning about the media from a Turkish standpoint has made me really appreciate what we have back in Canada. While people will criticize the Globe and Mail for a subversive leftist agenda, and others will mock the National Post for some clandestine neo-conservative movement, they are pillars of quality journalism compared to the news one would find in Hurriyet, or Taraf. There is no real middle ground here- half the media is staunchly nationalist, the other half is pushing the Islamist aim of reducing the secular structure of the Turkish government.

Having said that, the comment sections in both Turkish and Canadian newspapers still make me cringe.

Although I've mostly focused on the university aspect of the education system, I've also had the chance to volunteer with an organization called TGEV, or the Turkish Educational Volunteers. It's an NGO that works throughout Turkey to provide students (mainly under the age of 12) with education enrichment to remedy the failures of the elementary school system here. Many of the children lack quality education in their home villages, so they're bussed out to the different TGEV schools, and once a week get to learn about science, chemistry, math, English. It's a great program, and it's the leader in the Turkish NGO movement.

Chapter 6

The best places in life don't have giftshops.

Following a close second, are places that lack real roads.

When you put the two together, stir, and cook over charcoal with a tomato on top, you get the village of Old Red Apple.

Accessible only by enrolling in Rural Sociology (or by dirt road), this village is located high in the mountains near Bursa. It's remote enough that the driver got lost three times (because he took directions from other Turks), yet modern enough that the school has a computer- with internet.

The Old Red Apple is home to about 500 villagers. It gets its name from the apple trees that used to grow there, until poor land use resulted in an extinction of apple trees from that area. On the bright side, if they ever wanted to make it into a condo development, the name is already chosen for them. You'd be hard pressed to find young professionals and retirees who would pass up the opportunity to gaze for hours at the non apple orchards and dine on non-existent apples throughout the year.

In addition to myopic land use, the village has been hit even harder by the International Monetary Fund's structural adjustment policies, which, in the most simple terms, puts villagers out of work. As such, the income generation has shifted from agricultural to seasonal labour.

Hm. Maybe I was paying attention in class.

So to arrive with enough time for the students to conduct interviews, we left Eskisehir at around 6:30 in the morning. Since the is about 3.5 hours from our departure point, it seemed as though we'd arrive at around 10 in the morning. But, traveling in true Turkish form, we were required to make many tea stops. Turks can't seem to go more than an hour or so without tea, so we stopped more than a few times. While they drink copious amounts of the stuff, they have an amazing ability to not have to pee all the time. I wish I could say the same.

After some tea stops, we also took a couple of hours at a lake resort (Gol Yazi). I thought that the resort was the village when we first got there, and then figured that the prof had been blowing everything out of proportion- would a village with only 500 people have a Go-Kart track? Didn't think so.

It was in Gol Yazi that I met the closest thing to Leyland Cecco I've ever seen. It's a bird that lives on the water, and it's called Leylek Ciconia Ciconia. Creepy.

The site of buses pulling themselves up the mountain and into village brought all the residents out of their homes and into the streets. Children came out of out of the school and stared as though they'd never seen an outsider before. Then one of the children's phone rang, and he had a Kanye West ringtone. Hearing 'Stronger' immediately shattered my idealized notion of this pure and untouched village.

In reality, virtually every person has satellite TV. Which is more than I can say about my current situation...

The men work as farmers to produce for the village only- structural adjustment policies have made it useless for them to sell to the government. During the summer, they work as seasonal labourers at the archeological sites a few kilometres away. The women are unpaid household labourers, but the Turkish government considers them employed (although they receive no pay), thus inflating employment numbers.

As per the norm in Turkish culture, the villagers were outrageously hospitable- tea and fresh baked bread was brought out, and all were eager to give tours to the sociology students.

When they heard I was from Canada, some gave me blank stares, others (the lumberjacks) silent nods that said "Yes, my brother, we know of the fine trees that grow in your faraway land." Or something like that.

The village was a beautiful place- houses made of a random assortment of boards stood next to brick buildings, and the vivid colours seemed more Caribbean than rural Turkish. And cows drank from the fountains in the village square- always a treat to see.

The village was a nice departure from all things touristy. Evidence of such these activities can be found at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcecco/

Chapter 5

How do you comfortably fit 6 people in a 5 person compact European car? You don't.

But once you do manage to 'tetris' yourselves into the car, the necessary ingredients for a good trip are in place:

1) Map of location you're not going to: Check.

2) Cramped seating: Check.

3) Buying groceries that, in theory, should be kept below 4 degrees, but are left in the hot car for more than 5 hours? Check.

4) Finding out the gas tank is empty? Check.

Since there were enough Cecc's there that it could have been a family reunion, we were all set to adventure off. The main goal was to end up in Çavdarhisar, a small village 2 hours from Eskisehir. The draw of the area is a scattering of Greek and Roman ruins going back as far as 2500 years. Pretty old stuff. And since we're young, the contrast seemed like a good idea.

After three close encounters with drivers "passing" (in the wrong lane), we arrived in Cavdarhisar. The first site was the old stadium and theatre. There was no facility or ticket booth there. It was essentially a free for all among the ruins. I fell victim to ignorantNorthAmerican Syndrome, and thought it would be a great idea to see how I could climb on some of the 2500+ year old walls. I learned that just because something's been sitting there for more than two millennia, doesn't mean that it's sturdy. Or safe. Or won't crumble and crack.

The second site was a set of old Roman baths. I can see why they abandoned them- there was no water. I guess old Octavius dropped the ball on that one...

The third site was an old Greek temple, which looked stunningly like the Parthenon, only smaller. And more crumbly. And more Turkish, since there was a place to buy tea a few meters from it.

While in Turkish cities, it's easy to forget that this area has a rich, rich history. The Byzantines, the Greeks, the Romans, the Seljuqs, the Ottomans- all of them controlled Turkey at some time, and it was a crucial part of all of the empires. When you think about how far back civilization goes back here, it makes you feel pretty insignificant.

As always, there are accompanying photos.

Check them out at : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2176134&id=94807105