I am home!

I just wanted to say that I am home. My trip back to the US was uneventful and I really enjoyed seeing tourists and different cultures together at the airports. I will say that Americans are loud. I knew this already, but it was made clear to me when we landed in Zurich, where I changed planes, and instantly I could hear the group of Americans several rows in front of me. Also, while sitting in the food court I witnessed something interesting. Turks do not pick up after themselves because there are people that come by and pick up their trays and clean the tables. Americans on the other hand take their trays to the cleaning people when they are finished. I don't know about people from other countries because I wasn't looking at everyone, but it was interesting to me.

On another note, I  got hit on by these two french men on the plane. At first they were being nice and it was cool practicing my French, but then they started asking me if I was married and saying they wanted to come visit me. And let me say that this was before we even took off! I started reading my book so that they would hopefully leave me alone and luckily they ended up switching seats because they wanted to be by the window. I was glad :P.

I had a wonderful summer. Even though it is for a short time I am going to fully take advantage of everything the US and Maine offer :). Sorry this post is so short, but I have SO much to do. I hope you enjoyed reading my blog! Farewell until my next adventure :)

Final Days

Last weekend my friend Danielle came and visited. It was SO great seeing her. We hung out and walked around Taksim and Istiklal and did some shopping. Saturday night was my friend's birthday so we all hung on the roof of her house and grilled and danced and had a lot of fun. It was great to have everyone together and it was a fun way to celebrate my last full weekend.

With Danielle

Everyone at the birthday party

the aftermath of dinner

This week has been pretty uneventful. On Monday I hung out with two of my friends from Samsun for the last time. On Wednesday we had people over and I said good bye to my roommate and her friends. They are away this weekend so we had to say goodbye early. I finally started to pack last night, but I have really been resting. It has been good to rest, but I have been doing a lot of that. Work is very relaxing because they don't give me too much work, so it is good. Tonight I am going to meet up with some of my friends after dinner so I'll probably pack before then. Today is my last day of work and I leave for the US on Sunday!!

When I left Samsun it was really sad to leave everyone, but I kind of knew I would be back soon. This time it is sad to leave my friends because I really don't know when I will be back. I absolutely love Istanbul and Turkey and my friends and the culture and the language and the food, but Turkey isn't the place for me right now in my life. I am so glad I came this summer because I learned a lot, but I have realized that I am not meant to be here right now. I haven't been home since march so I am truly excited to be with my parents in Maine. I'm not really looking forward to the sitting-on-a-plane-for-a-really-long-time part, but I am excited to be back in my home country.

Quick Update

Last Thursday I went to meet with some people from HR from a company that I spoke with earlier this spring. I was open to the idea of an internship there, but by the time they wanted an interview I had already accepted the position at my current internship. However, I did want to meet with them at some point this summer while in Istanbul because I really like the company. Therefore I went for what I thought was an informational interview last Thursday, but it turned out to be a full on interview! Although it is a year in advance I pretty much have an internship there next summer if I want it! It is great to have this option, but I don't know what I want to do at this point.

Friday after work I met up with 2 of my brother's close friends who are Turkish but go to college in the US. It was great meeting and talking with them. Saturday I went to Büyükada with my roommate Ece and her friend Duygu. The Prince Islands are several islands off the coast of Istanbul and Büyükada is the largest one. We took the extremely crowded ferry in the morning and spent the morning walking around and then took a little boat to the back part of the island where we spent a few hours on the beach. It was a very relaxing day.

on the boat ride to the island with Ece

Büyükada

Büyükada

Büyükada

the beach where we hung out on Büyükada

Sunday was spent sleeping in and relaxing. I forgot how much spending a day in the sun takes all your energy and I definitely needed the sleep. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday after work I met up with different friends. It was great getting out of the house and hanging out. As a extravert, social person, I get my energy from others so I really enjoy spending time out and about with friends.

This weekend, my friend Danielle, who was in Trabzon for a semester while I was in Samsun for my gap year, will be visiting me. It is my last full weekend in Istanbul because I leave for the US next Sunday. It is crazy to me that I have only a little more than a week here, but I am excited to go home. I know I will miss Istanbul and my friends, however I am ready to get home. I have never felt this way before because normally after a short period like this I want to stay, however with everything going on in Istanbul and Turkey I am excited to get back to everything that is familiar to me, even if it is only for a short time.

T-minus 3 weeks

First, a quick update about the current situation in Istanbul and Turkey. There are still protests going on, but they are not as strong as they were a few weeks ago. During the week it is much calmer because people have work/internships/school and it gets bad on the weekend because there are many more people out protesting in the streets. At 9pm every night on the dot people start banging on pots and pans, and at that point we know it's 9pm. Erdoğan has made server all speeches on tv and also a couple in front of live crowds of his supporters and he is still not backing down. He hasn't changed anything, and I don't think the protestors will stop until something does change. Erdoğan still has a large percentage of the Turkish people behind him so he isn't alone. In Istanbul it seems that everyone doesn't like him, however that is not the case for all of Turkey.

Last week was a lot of fun because I saw lots of friends and socialized. Monday I went to see The Great Gatsby with my roommate, Ece. It was in English with Turkish subtitles, so although I wasn't really improving my Turkish it was good to watch it in it's original language and understands everything.

Tuesday Ece and I had some of her friends over and we played a huge game of monopoly. Although I did not win, I have to say I stayed in for a while and regardless it was a lot of fun. I went to bed around midnight and apparently they stayed for hours after I fell asleep although I didn't hear anything :P.

Here is a video about what happened at 9pm when everyone was over:

I got my hair cut Thursday and I love it. It has never been this short and I can't exactly put it all up, but it's great! Here is a picture:

Friday for lunch I met up with my friend Chris, who was with me in Izmir last summer, to meet before he left Turkey. It was great seeing him again while we are both here. After work I met up with my friend Turgut who I met last year while he was studying abroad at GW. It was to catch up.

Saturday I slept in and then met up with my friend from high school and we went to a bar where our other friend from high school in Samsun works. I met some new people and it was fun to be out on Saturday night. My friend had to get back to his dorm before the curfew (yes, many Turkish dorms have curfews) and I didn't want to get home too late. Good thing I left when I did because apparently soon after they closed the bridges. One of my friends who had spent the weekend in Izmir was stuck sleeping at the airport because she couldn't get back to the European side.

on the boat going from Beşiktaş on the European side to Kadiköy on the Asian side

European side

Train Station ın Kadiköy

Sunday morning I made a huge pancake breakfast for my roommate and her friends. It was a lot of fun cooking and then eating the pancakes :)

Like I mentioned before, while studying in Samsun I had several Palestinian friends who were studying Turkish too and one of them is currently studying in Istanbul. I met up with him on Sunday after not seeing him for 2 years, since I left Samsun. Again, it was a good thing I left when I did because things got bad again in the city and the police closed some roads and such.

I read in the news that earlier in the week the police shot tear gas canisters into a hotel off of Taksim Square where people were taking refuge. Apparently, the police stormed into a shopping mall on Sunday to find people hiding there good, luckily without the tear gas this time. The scary thing about this is that the mall is a 4 minute walk from where I work. In the square where my bus stop is for work there have been multiple buses and police stationed there since Sunday. Monday morning there were people cleaning up because there was so much trash in the square from the protests on Sunday. I know that it gets bad every weekend, so I am being cautious. It hasn't gotten too bad that we can't go to work, but I was slightly worried on Sunday when I heard this. Luckily things have calmed down again because it is during the week and, like I have mentioned several times before, people have work.

Yesterday I was out with my friend at a cafe/bar in the evening and at 9pm on the dot cheers broke out. I took a video, mostly for sound, that you can watch below.

Although I am really sad to leave Turkey in less than 3 weeks, I am somewhat glad to be back home and out of everything that is going on in Turkey. Although I am safe and I don't think anything truly bad will happen, it has put somewhat of a damper on my summer. I feel bad saying that because I fully support the protesters and I think they are being very brave standing up for what they believe in, but I haven't been able to do everything I had hoped. I am glad that this isn't my first time in Turkey, because I feel bad for the tourists that cannot experience everything to the fullest. At the same time, I am very glad to experience something like this and to see it first hand. It has been a very interesting and educational experience.

Samsun Part 2

Going to Samsun was a great decision. It was so good seeing people who know me and it was exactly what I needed. Saturday was a very busy day and I enjoyed every minute. During my gap year, there were 3 other Americans on my program and I became very close with one of the other host families, especially since they took me in while I was in the process of switching host families. Saturday morning my host mother, host sister, and I went to their house for a large pide (kind of Turkish pizza) breakfast. It was good food, good people, and a good time. After breakfast we went to the new shopping center which opened a few months ago. After walking around and eating ice cream on the terrace we went ice skating. I hadn't gone ice skating in years and it was a lot of fun :).

host families eating ice cream

 

After saying our goodbyes I met up with a friend and we caught up on everything that had happened during the past year. I saw him last summer so it was great seeing him again. Since we had woken up early after going to be late, my host sister and I napped for a few hours. We woke up to go walk around and meet up with my new host dad after he got out of work. We got lahmacun, one of my favorite Turkish foods, from my favorite lahmacun restaurant in Samsun.

My host sister Ceren

New Host Father

Sunday morning, after a delicious breakfast, I met up with one of my friends who I went to high school with. She now studies in Istanbul, but she had returned to Samsun for the summer so it was great that we were both in the same place at the same time. My host mom cooked my favorite meal that she makes for dinner and then I got on a plane back to Istanbul.

It was REALLY good going to Samsun. Even though I just summed up what I did, it was truly what I needed after a lonely week last week. Although my host family/friends and I live such different lives because there is such a big difference between Samsun and Istanbul, so imagine between Samsun and Washington DC, it was SO great seeing everyone. I didn't realize how much I missed them until I saw them. I am so glad I was able to go.

The traffic in Istanbul is awful and luckily it didn't take me that long to get home from the airport. When I arrived home it was great to see my roommate because we hadn't seen each other all week - she had been out protesting. It was great to swap stories and she filled me in on everything that was going on with Gezi Park and the protests. Things are much more calm now because the police aren't as aggressive, mainly because they haven't been going out. The protestors have barricaded every entrance into Taksim square so the police have no way to get out and they have been peacefully protesting together by creating a free library, doing yoga, and chanting together. It is incredible how everyone has come together. Erdoğan spoke on TV several times over the weekend, but nothing changed. I am really curious to see what will happen because I don't think the protestors will back down until something changes. Hopefully things will change for the better because I love Turkey and I would hate to see something bad happen to the country and the people I love.

Samsun Part 1

This weekend I came to Samsun, the city where I spent my gap year and truly learned Turkish. I came to visit my host family and friends who I truly missed. I'm writing about this weekend in 2 parts because it will be long and I wanted to update everyone about my life. 

I didn't go to work Friday because although my flight left in the evening, it is a trek trying to get out to the airport, and even more so with all of the protests going on, so I had to leave around lunch time. In Istanbul there are two airports, one in the European side (Atatürk Airport) and one on the Asian side (Sabiha Gökçen Airport). Most of the domestic flights fly out of Sabiha Gökçen and therefore they are usually cheaper - good for a college student budget. Therefore, I took the ferry across to the Asian side and got on a bus to the airport. I am glad I left when I did although I arrived at the airport 2 hours before my flight departed; better early than later when traveling. I was pretty bored while waiting, especially with no wifi, but that changed when I got to my gate. 

After scanning my boarding pass I got on a bus to go to the airplane with the rest of the passengers. We pulled up to an airplane that had a really interesting green design on the side that said Istanbul and Sun Express, another airline. First people didn't get off of the bus and once people started exiting everyone just huddled around the bus because they thought it was the wrong plane. After a few men came over assuring the passengers that it was the Anadolu Jet plane to Samsun they proceeded on board. I just smiled to myself because no one was getting on the plane, and although I agree that it was weird not having an Anadolu Jet airplane I just assumed that the driver took us to the correct plane. Once onboard, I was reminded how the concept of personal space doesn't really exist in Turkey. Instead of waiting for people to sit down people try to walk on by which doesn't make anything better. The best part is when someone has to get into a window seat in an aisle where people are already sitting down because the passengers waiting to get by are already so close that no one can get out and no one can move. This happened several times around me and I just kept smiling to myself. 

In order to understand what I am going to write I need to explain some things first. While I was in Samsun, the host family I stayed with consisted of my host mom and my two host sisters who are younger than me, although I refer to them as the older one and the younger one. After I left my host mom got engaged to a man, who met last summer while I was visiting. I also met several of his family members last summer. They got married in February. My older host sister is studying her freshman year in college in Erzurum, a city in Eastern Turkey, and my younger host sister is a sophomore in high school. Unfortunately my older host sister will be there studying for the summer so I am not going to get to see her. 

Okay, back to the story. The plane ride itself was uneventful and I got really excited when the pilot announced we were landing soon. My new host father's older brother has a car so he, his daughter, and my younger host sister picked me up at the airport. When they dropped my host sister and me off at our apartment my host mom was standing on the balcony waiting for me. It was so great seeing them. My host grandmother, who lives directly below them I might add, had come up too. Although we never had much to communicate about I missed her too and it was great to see her. My new host dad didn't come home until several hours later because he was working, which gave me time to get in some girl talk with my host sister who had lots of stories about boys to explain. Another thing you should understand is that I am only 5 foot 4 and I tower over everyone here. My host family is pretty short and I am super tall here - it makes me think about how this is what it must be like talking and hugging me haha. 

Anyway, my host mom had dinner ready with everything set on the table and we all sat down and ate soup, salad, rice, and chicken. Of course my host mom gave me generous helpings of everything even though she said it looked as if I lost weight. I joked that I was going to gain it all back this weekend while I was here, and she laughed while piling more food on my plate. 

Side-note: every time I have been to Turkey on an exchange I have lived with a host family and have gained weight because Turkish mothers force feed their children and guests; when the food is so good and you don't want to be rude it is hard to say no. This summer, since I am not living with a host family and I am cooking for myself I am all set because I understand portion size :).

We talked all throughout dinner and after. We made tea, chatted, and watched one of the soap operas my host mom watches, while waiting for my new host dad to come home. When he arrived, us girls are ice cream while he at his dinner. We talked about life and what happened this past year, and it was great. I was feeling a little down this weekend and this was exactly what I needed. We laughed so hard talking about memories and differences in our life styles and it was really great practice for me. We sat up for hours and finally went to bed a little before two.

I wanted to give you all an update so I'm posting this now, but I will write more about my weekend in a few days. 

Turkey's Current Political and Social Situation

Again, I want to reiterate that I am safe. I found a CNN article that explains the situation really well and why it has evolved to what it has become: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/03/world/europe/turkey-conflict-explainer/?hpt=hp_t1 . If you read it you will understand much more about what I am saying.

It has been over a week since the protests began in Gezi Park, and things are still going relatively strong. This weekend was the worst, and I think it was partially because people didn't have work or school so they were able to be outside all day and night. Friday night my roommate came home late from hours of being out protesting and after midnight everyone started protesting from their houses by whistling, banging on pots and pans, clapping, and flashing their lights, while people in their cars honked horns in the streets. Saturday morning 40,000 people marched across one of the bridges from the Asian side of Istanbul to the European side to go to Taksim and show their support against the current government. Saturday night was probably the worst time of all throughout this week because the Turkish government flew and bussed in police to Istanbul from other cities in Turkey to help "control" the protests. I stayed at home all day Saturday, and while I was somewhat bored, I was safe and off the streets. Saturday night I started getting a little nervous because the protesting got really bad in Beşiktaş and there was so much tear gas used that it had come up to my house and I was home alone. I closed all the windows and put tape over a vent that is in the kitchen, and after speaking with my parents I went to sleep. Sunday morning it had rained so things had calmed down a little. It also probably subsided somewhat because it was Sunday and people have work and school the next day. Also, I'm sure people were tired from the weekend. Sunday during the day I went to a friend's house and my plan was to return home that night, but I ended up staying there because the riots started up again and I did not want to go home alone. Beşiktaş was much worse than Taksim Square on Sunday night because all of the police were in Beşiktaş. Without the police, there is no violence; the protestors chant in groups, but there is no violence. There is only violence in places where there a police because the police have been using a lot of tear gas and compressed water. When the police use such methods to try and constrain the protestors, the protestors get angry and return the violence.

The frustrating thing about the whole situation is that Erdoğan, the Prime Minister, is not acknowledging what the protestors are protesting. While at first people were protesting the government getting rid of the historic park to turn it into military barracks with a shopping area, courtyard, and mosque, that just seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back now because it is no longer about the park; it is much bigger than that. The protests now are about the Turkish people's freedom and democracy. Erdoğan has made new laws that Turks are not happy about, such as banning alcohol in retail from 10pm-6am (this hasn't been put into place yet) and within 100m of mosques and schools. Whenever asked, in both interviews and speeches, Erdoğan keeps bringing everything back to the Park, reiterating that he announced this before he was elected, and people shouldn't protest it. The thing is, people are protesting because Turkey is a democracy and they feel as though they do not have the freedoms they used to and that the government is not listening to them. They feel as though Erdoğan is taking away their rights and freedoms.

Monday, I went to work and everything seemed to subside. I left work early to get home before the violence started again, and although it did get bad again at night and the city came alive, it did subside a lot. Today, I am back at work and everything is okay. I honestly have no idea what is going to happen now because both the government and the protestors say that they are not going to change anything and are not listening to each other. I don't know if things will subside, but I think there are 2 options. 1) Protesting and violence will somewhat subside during the week and then get really bad this weekend, to the point of there not being work next week, or 2) It will subside for now until something else happens and then people will resort to much more drastic measures. Either way something needs to change with either the government or the protestors in order for Turkey to return to normal and for the protests and violence to stop.

I think it is incredible how much Turkey has come together for this. I didn't really understand why people were honking or banging on pots and pans, but I completely understand it now. The people who do not go protest on the streets against the police want to show their support from their houses and so they use noisemakers and flicker their lights to do so. At first, the protests were just in Taksim, but because Istanbul is so big, the traffic is so bad, and because a lot of the public transportation was down, groups started protesting all over the city. This quickly spread to different cities all around the country, and now there are even groups protesting around the country. I am so glad Turkey has this much support around the world because this is such an important time in Turkish history. I am so proud of all of my friends that have gone out on the streets and protested, and I cannot imagine what it is like standing in all of the tear gas. I have been around areas where there is tear gas and I instantly started crying and my throat hurt, and I was not not even in the worst part. I am so amazed by everyone protesting and they truly inspire me. It is exciting being here at a time like this, however it is scary as well. If anyone is curious or worried about me, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am taking a lot of precautions and staying out of the protests by staying at home and supporting from afar. Please help support Turkey because the people need it. I will write another update  soon!