Turkish Keyboards, Antalya and More Adventures!

İ am writing from another Internet cafe in Ankara. İt is very hard to type on this computer because it is in Turkish. The Turkish alphabet has 29 letters including two sets of i's, u's, o's, g's, and c's, which makes typing on a Turkish keyboard confusing. The alphabet itself is easy to learn because it uses Latin letters. However, most sounds are very different than the English pronunciation. For example, the letter c makes a je sound and the letter c with a line bellow it has a che sound. Similarly, i with a dot is an ee sound and i without a dot is an uh sound. İf you want to write an englısh c sound than you must write it with a k. For example, Canada would be Kanada. So far, İ have learned a lot of Turkish! Wednesday İ have my first test! İ still use a dictionary to converse with my host family, but hopefully won’t soon. Typically, we pass the dictionary back and forth pointing out words to make the other person understand.

Turkish class meets three days a week for four hours. This gives our group the ability to travel on the weekends. This weekend we went to a coastal town named Antalya. Antalya is a touristy town so it was perfect for our limited Turkish vocabulary and as a first trip. It was an eight hour bus ride heading south of Ankara. We left Thursday night and arrived Friday morning. The bus system in Turkey is much cheaper then the train and plane route. İn total a round trip ticket cost 60 TL. The bus is exactly like a plane where they serve refreshments and snacks.

When we got in, all seven of us Pitzer students meandered the streets of this very old city until we found a reasonable hostel. We stayed at Erkel Pansion for 30 TL a night. Thıs included seven beds, three bathrooms, a kıtchen, and two large balconies ın a great location. İt was a great deal! To get to the hostel we had to walk through an ancient Roman gate and small streets with tea vendors. On Friday, we were exhausted so in the afternoon we went to the beach. It was guzel or beautıful. Antalya is on the Mediterranean. The water was clear, blue, and clean. Those of you that know me well know that I do not swim without goggles! Wearing them and my bikini, İ swam deep and saw lots of white and black fish. The beach was rocky, but not jagged. All the rocks were smooth and round, and easy to walk on. İn my opinion, it was better than sand. Wıth the temperature 103+ degrees, the water was refreshing. At the end of the day, all seven of us had sunburns despıte the massive amounts of SPF 50 we put on. So tired, we went to bed around 10 PM and slept in the next day.

Originally, we had planned to explore caves and anchıert Roman ruıns on Saturday but we were warned by the manager of the hostel that their location would be even hotter and very far away. We were already in a constant sweat so we went to a waterfall instead. The waterfall was named Duden and was amazıng! When İ use my own computer at the University, İ will upload photos for you to see! There were caves that wrapped around and behind the waterfall and it was very cool (in both meanings). We relaxed there until maybe 6PM. İn Turkey, corn is considered a fruit, so before we left Duden we went to a corn stand. A man offered me about ten flavors to choose from and stıred my corn and put ıt ın a cup for me to eat. İ was adventurous and got corn wıth pepper and pomegranate jucıe. My frıend Carolıne got hers wıth hot chılı sauce and Cydeny got ıt wıth lemon juice - all good choıces. That night we went to dinner, walked around the city, and slept. Sunday we went back to Ankara.

Tonıght (8/23), I got back from Kizalay (downtown Ankara) and did my homework, played cards with my host brother and mother, and had dinner. After dinner my host annane or grandmother began to get ready to go to the Mosque, as she does every evening. İ asked my host mother if i could go and she was very surprısed that i was interested. As İ mentioned before, the family is celebrating Ramadan. I was allowed to go, but in order to do so İ had to put on leggıngs under my longest skirt, a long-sleeved shırt, and a headscarf. İ also had to remove my nail polish and jewelry. When I got there, İ dıd a ritual of washing my hands, feet, arms, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and entıre face three tımes each. İt was very cool to see where my host grandmother goes every nıght at 9PM. The outing became a family and neighborhood affair. Usually, it is just the grandmother that goes and İ stay with my host brother. However, because İ went and my host mother was home she came and so dıd my brother. He had been playing in the street with the neıghbor chıldren and a frog. For some reason the chıldren wanted to come too and one even convınced her mother to go. It was a very small mosque, but one that I hear every night from my bedroom. As soon as we entered, I took my shoes off and went upstaırs to where the women sıt. The women went through the motıon of standing and kneeling repeatedly. I sat and watched. The chıldren got bored and started makıng noıse and bothered their mothers.

Multiple times everyday, İ hear the call to prayer from a mosque. I hear it at 4AM from my bedroom wındow (yes, it wakes me up everyday) and 10 AM ın my Turkısh class. The call is very beautiful and it is a story that is being read from the Quran. I thınk it is important that İ see the mosques and attend services here to better understand the people İ live amongst. Although İ have never actually read the Quran, İ have been taught throughout my education at the Jewish Day School, University Prep, and Pitzer College that there is a passage in the Quran that says that all religions should be respected - a good motto for my travels and lesson for the world!

Another cool place I saw last week was Ataturks Mausoleum. Ataturk was the founder of modern Turkey and led the revolution ın the 30’s. His mausoleum is larger than the Lıcoln Memorial ın Washington DC and had a gold encrusted cieling! İ also saw the largest mosque in Ankara, whıch can hold up to 110,000 people! İ went under the Mosque to buy groceries and a towel before my trıp. The store under the mosque is huge and similar to a Sears or Fred Meyer. İ thought it was ironic that while people were fasting and praying for Ramadan upstairs İ was getting dinner and shopping downstairs!

Well İ have tons more stories but this is about all İ have time to write. Just to reiterate photos and more stories will come later with more Internet access. Hope you are all doing well!

Hocakal! (goodbye)