A Life: March 2014

Merhaba!

I want to begin my post by clearing up a point from my last post that my have confused some of you. While talking about my return home, I stated that I was not filled with sadness, but with an excited glow at the thought of returning. This was not entirely true. As I have gone through life these past few days, interacting with my family, my friends, and my larger community. As I have spoken Turkish, and experienced new aspects of this country I live in, I have realized that going home is not all that I have made it up to be. I will be going home to my life, the life I have lived for 17 years, and I will be leaving this life in Turkey that I have lived for only six months, a life that is still very much new and exciting to me. The YES Program does not end when I de-board the plane in Santa Fe on June 12th, but the active part of it, the part that continuously opens up my world and mind, that forces me to become a stronger, more aware person, that part will be over. I go home to a family that loves me, to a group of friends that accept me, to countless opportunities for me to follow my dreams, to a year packed with school and college apps. I cannot say I am not sad at the thought of leaving. As I am eating delicious fish with my family, or laughing with everyone because I finally understood what was said, or dancing with my class during break, I think ahead to two and a half months from now, to living without these things, and my heart hurts. But there is the part of my heart that lies in the U.S. I am a born and bred American, and this year has made that piece of me grow roots that cannot be pulled up. Wherever I am on this big and beautiful earth, whatever I am doing to live my life to its fullest, that part of me will yearn for my country. And it is that piece of my heart that feels the happiness at returning home. While that part of me will never leave, I still have a nomad's soul, and traveling is in my bones. Some exchange students would give anything to stay in their countries, some are overjoyed at the thought of leaving, I am undecided, and my emotions will continue to change up until my return culture shock is over, but I do not want y'all to think I am happy at leaving Turkey. That is not what I was trying to say in my last post!

My sister and I usually spend the weekends in Izmir with her grandmother and aunts, however, my sister was sick last weekend, so we stayed here in Aydin. My family loves taking day trips, and on the rare occasions that my sister and I are home on the weekend, they take the opportunity. Last Sunday we drove to Marmaris, a seaside town that is a common attraction for tourists and cruise ships, but that in March is low key, and pretty. We walked beside the sea, enjoying the fresh breeze, and my sister and I listened for any American English speakers. Meeting other Americans is a goal of mine here, and having my sister to help me is nice, especially because we can speak to each other in Turkish, preventing the tourists from understanding us. I did not meet any Americans, but I did meet a Canadian couple who has lived in Turkey for the past few years, occasionally sailing up and down the Western coast in their boat. We discussed the differences between the West and Turkey, the generosity of Turks, and the political situation in Turkey at the moment. I didn't ask them, but it made me wonder what makes people leave their countries for good, when not for reasons such as famine and economic or social hardships.
After our walk, we headed inland a bit to dine at a delicious fish restaurant, where my host dad picked out a mind glowingly fantastic fish stew. It was located next to a crystal clear creek, inhabited by ducks, and surrounded by bright green foliage. Not such a bad way for me to spend my Sunday afternoon! To keep y'all up to date, my host dad's idea of a day trip is driving a few hours, maybe walking around a little bit, and then immediately finding the best fish restaurant in the town, and I must say, this system of traveling isn't so terrible! The pictures below are from that day.

My sister and I

Ahhhhh!

My sister, grandma, and I in front of a breathtaking view

Turkey has been a politically active country these past few weeks, to put it mildly. The Prime Minister, Erdogan, has blocked both Twitter and YouTube, after recordings of corrupt calls were posted. Protests have broken out after 14 year old Berkin Elvan died a month ago. He had been in a seven month coma after being hit on the head with a police gas canister during the Gazi Protests, although he had not been actively participating in the protests. After his death, people rose up to support him and his family, and to protest Erdogan's seeming disregard for the loss. To say the least, I have arrived in Turkey at an interesting time, and it is amazing to experience these events from within the country. This weekend was also the election for mayors around the country, and it has fanned the flame of tension that has been present for the past few weeks. Despite the actions of Erdogan, his party, AKP, won with the majority. There is speculation to the numerous power outages around the country while the votes were being counted, but it is not certain that fraud was committed. At first I could not understand how Erdogan would win without rigging the polls, but I am saying that after spending three months on the very liberal Western coast of Turkey, and I am forgetting the large area of middle and Eastern Turkey where he keeps a very strong group of supporters.
Due the elections yesterday, today is a school holiday. My host parents drove to Izmir yesterday, picked me and my sister up, and we took the long way back to Aydin, driving along the coast. The first place we stopped was Sigacik, a small town that boasted an old castle, a harbor full of boats, and a bustling bazaar. My host parents bought a hand-made string of woven flowers for me, that I can wear in any way I want. I'm thinking I will go hippie and wear it around my head!
We had eaten about forty-five minutes before, otherwise we would have eaten at one of the fish restaurants in the town. Instead, we headed out, and kept driving. We stopped at the beach at one point, and I immediately took my shoes off to dip my feet in. My pants got wet as well, but it was worth it. The water was heavenly! We eventually found a fish restaurant on the side of the road, and dined on another delicious plate of fish. I hope this family activity doesn't end until the day I leave, because it makes my weekends absolute heaven! My sister and I collected sea glass after dinner from the beach, and I realized that I learned how to skip rocks by not trying for years. Here are a few pictures!

One of our Sunday fish dinners

My pants getting thoroughly soaked

The bazaar in Sigacik

While I am writing on here, I will talk about the annual Nevruz Festival. It is a Persian tradition, and is celebrated around March 21st, to welcome in Spring. The usual activity is jumping over fire, and sometimes games are included. My school decided to have a celebration this year, and the 11th grade classes were chosen to participate in the games. Before we started, a fire was started in the school yard, and we all took turn jumping through it. Unfortunately I had forgotten my sweatpants, and my skirt had a tendency to fly up while I was jumping. But it was fun anyways! My friend signed me up for all of the games so I did everything from carrying a spoon with an egg in my mouth, to feeding my friend yogurt while bind-folded. It was so much fun (although my skirt was covered in yogurt at the end of the day)! The pictures below are just three out of the many that were taken.

The Persian tradition of jumping over fire to welcome Spring

A game we played to celebrate Nevruz... I was the only girl in a group of boys, and I lost :)

Yogurt!

The picture below is just my friends and I having a fun time! Becoming closer to my friends and creating memories like this one means so much this year, and makes adjustment that much easier. I love you guys <3

Moustaches

Merhaba!

I am so very sorry about my lack of discipline in keeping y'all up to date! Between normal life here, my online English class, and studying for the ACT (less than a month away...), blogging isn't at the top of my list most of the time. As of this week I officially have a few days less than three months left here in Turkey. AFS sent me my plane tickets, and June 10th is the day. The day I leave my family, my friends, my school, my city, my language, everything that has become home to me here in Turkey. The thought of going home fills me not with sadness, but with an excited glow at the thought of going home to my country, and an acceptance of moving onto the next part of my life, the part dedicated to college. While I will miss Turkey terribly, I realize that if I was not spending only nine months here (six in Aydin), I would not be forced to live as fully as I am now, I would not have to appreciate every moment spent with my host family and friends. I know there will be many moments this next year where instead of feeling happy and comfortable back home, I will be bored and uncomfortable in a culture that I haven't lived in for almost a year. But I'm ready to accept it. I try to live with no regrets in life, and that includes not looking back, so when I step onto that plane bound for New York on June 10th, I will not look back, but forward, and focus on creating more memories as wonderful as my ones here.

On February 10th a group of Italians arrived in Aydin to spend three weeks as exchange students. They lived with host families from my school, toured the area, went to school (although they didn't actually go to classes), and learned about the Turkish culture. The project is called Comenius, and works to form bonds between European countries (like YES!). Last year a group of twenty students from my school here spent two weeks in Italy doing the same thing, so this year was the Italians' turn. As the American exchange student I was able to be an honorary member of the group, and so on February 10th my three weeks of jumping between two cultures commenced. American and Italian cultures, while different in many ways, share the Western base, and so cultural mis-understandings are not as large as they can be between Western and Middle-Eastern cultures. With my AFS and YES training before arriving, and the past five and a half months of living here, I have an understanding and acceptance of the Turkish culture that the Italians do not have, and because I am American, I have roots and an understanding in the Italian's Western way of thinking that the Turks do not have. To my friends at school I am the representation of the West, so when the Italians offended a cultural value, didn't the like the food, or spoke Italian with each other when we were all together, my friends were aghast. "Why are they doing this? Isabel knows our culture, loves our food, speaks to us all the time" I had to explain to them that my situation here is different. I do not have a pack of fellow Americans to find comfort in, I do not have only three weeks here to look at the culture, learn a few things, and then leave. I live here. I must find comfort in the people here to get through the year, and so I do (and as for the food, well I am just special in the fact that I literally love all food everywhere). I also explained that they do not know the culture, they do not know what offends Turkish people, and that the food can't be loved by everyone. When cultural clashes occurred, I tried to explain to both sides the other's point of view, using my mix of Turkish and English to get my points across. My role as a cultural Ambassador expanded for these three weeks, so instead of simply representing the U.S., I was representing Turkey as well. It was a taste of what I will be doing for the rest of my life; showing people that Turkey is so much more than Istanbul and Islam, and that traditions such as the Hijab are more complicated that Americans like to think. It made showed me truly what the YES Program is about, and how important it is.

While the Italians were here, I realized that while the other YES students worried about me being lonely without other exchange students in my area, living here without them has benefited me greatly. It has forced me to form a community here, forced me to reach out of my comfort zone and become part of my school and family. There were, however, points while the Italians were here that I felt completely alone. The Italians had their group, the Turks were in their country, and where was I? I was the American girl who seemed part Turkish (one Italian boy actually thought I was Turkish for two and a half weeks), but who wasn't truly Turkish. I would look around at the groups and feel that I belonged in neither. So what did I do? I threw myself into the Turkish group. I tried extra hard to understand, extra hard to speak, and extra hard to become closer to my friends. The Italians were great to have here. I became really good friends with many of them, and I am trying to visit them next summer, and it made me realize how much I have learned here. I have moved past my own cultural beliefs and stereotypes, changed beliefs of mine that I have held since I can remember, and gained a new perspective on my own country. For me to fully adjust to a culture I must do it alone, and I know that now. It is scary, it is lonely, it is hard, it is tiring, yes, but it's the most rewarding thing a world trotter can do.