Friendship Force in Turkey
by Fred Hadley, Member Kansas Friendship Force
My Trip to Turkey With the Friendship Force of Oklahoma
Arrived at Izmir Turkey airport after 30 hours of travel time from Wichita, Kansas. This included the three hours driving time from Wichita to the Oklahoma City Airport and parking the car at Winery’s.
My Izmir Turkey, Friendship Force host, Tolga Yildirim, was at the airport to meet me. While most of the other hosts had signs with their guests name on them Tolga did not. But it was not hard to recognize him since he had sent a picture of himself to me about a week before we left for Turkey. His mother, Zeynep (they nap), and his father, Ozcan (Erut Jon), were also there to greet me.
We pile into the small car and go to a hotel which fronts on the Aegean Sea. We sit down at a small table on the shady patio between the sea and the hotel. We order a coke and Zeynep opens her bag and places on the table Poachcha, a biscuit made out of potatoes and parsley. They were a little dry and crumbly and she handled them with her fingers, but how could I refuse the first food offered to me? With the cokes in hand, Erut Jon, offered a toast that sounded like “shed-a-fet.” After several poachchas we proceed to an upper floor of the hotel where there was a reception for the US Friendship Force (FF) with all the Izmir hosts there. A finger food buffet was provided along with soft drinks and wine. Some welcoming speeches were made after which we set out for Tolga’s home.
Tolga is 21 and a new member in FF. He is in the military completing the mandatory two years every male must serve in Turkey. He has finished high school and must decide if he will make a career out of the military or go to college. College in Turkey is free, however you must pass a test before you can enter. If you fail you can take the test next year or the next year until you pass the entrance exams. Tolga is a sergeant in the Turkey Air Force. He is required to carry a gun (a 7.35 mm automatic) at all times even when not on duty. He lives at home and spends the daytime hours at the military base. He carries the gun in his belt either in front or in back (in a holster).
All living quarters in Izmir appear to be in apartment buildings eight or nine stories high. All buildings have red tile roofs. There are no wooden houses in Turkey (that I saw). Most are apartment buildings with 95% being as described above. In the country side there are a few three and four story apartment buildings. Tolga’s apartment was on the 8th floor. Each floor contains only one apartment. The elevator stops at your floor and there is the front door to your apartment (Tolga’s had two locks on it). You take your shoes off just like just inside the front door (just like the Japanese). Then you are presented with a patio of thongs to wear in the house. The ones they gave me were too small and I didn’t want to wear them anyway, so I ask if it would be alright for me to just go around in my stocking feet. Permission granted. There also were another pair of thongs to be worn in the bathroom, but I didn’t ask which pair were mine since I really didn’t want to be bothered with all that changing given the many frequent times I go to the bathroom!
I was given Tolga’s room. It consisted of two twin bed size beds. The one I slept in had a thin (paper thin) sheet, a colorful spread and a thin pillow with pink ruffles. I had no problem sleeping on it. The room had a small window at each end. One opened onto the balcony of the parents bedroom (where a couple car tires were stored). The balcony looked down into the alley behind the apartment. There were curtains but no screens on the windows. The apartment contained no air conditioning. But being May the temperatures never got so hot the apartment was unbearable. However I can imagine that it would in the summer time.
In the center top of the picture of the room, you can see the picture of Yvonnie and I that I had sent Tolga before arriving. It's the same one that I have down in my basement in Wichita, in king size, with me holding a drink and Yvonnie in a slightly spastic pose.
After a two hour nap I am awakened for dinner. In the living room (the one next to the street) are a greeting group consisting of Tolga’s father, mother, brother OMER (Urmus), another brother and an uncle. I take their picture in a group and they take my picture with their camera. Then we all sat down for dinner. The food was good. Seemed to be very oily and mostly fried vegetables. Cucumbers in a little white sauce was very good. After dinner Tolga took me to a wedding reception of a friend who had just got married hours ago. The reception was held in a very large room with about 300 hundred people attending. There was a stage in the middle of the room where a small musical group was playing on one end and the new bride and groom as well as some of the guests were dancing.
The bride was very attractive and I took a close up picture of her. Their official photographer came over and ask that I not take any more wedding pictures since he had contracted to take the wedding pictures. (I hadn't been in Turkey but a few hours and here I was already in trouble! I hoped they don't shoot ignorant foreigners for such transgressions). Tolga explained that I was just going to be a short time visitor and could not infringe on his picture taking business. But he persisted and said if I were allowed to take pictures the other people would also. So I said that I would desist. However when the belly dancer came on I could'nt resist taking just one more picture, after all this was not of the bride!
The Turkey music for the dancers was very loud and each piece seemed to be very long. The young Turkey girls seemed wear heavy makeup and the one across from me at the table (at the reception) seemed to me to represent this class of Turkey's population (here I am in the country less than 24 hours and already an expert on a portion of turkey population), anyway I wanted a close up of her, so as I aimed the camera, the bride came up beside her and got in the picture.
A ceremony was preformed where a red ribbon was tied around the waist if the bride. Tolga said this indicated that the bride was a virgin (the Bride and groom had been going together for about six months - go figure!) Then all the guests (except me) formed a line and went on the stage and hugged the bride and gave an "air" kiss to each side of the groom. There was finger food and all the champagne you could drink. Tolga doesn't drink but I had my share and besides I wasn't driving (driving in Turkey is another subject we will touch on later).
They drive on the left side of the road. They have speed limits posted (but not many) but no one pays any attention to them. It seems that every one drives as fast as they can. Stop signs mean nothing. If it appears that no one is coming the drivers will not stop at a stop sign (which in Turkey is spelled DIR). And Pedestrian beware. In the USA the pedestrian had the right of way. Not so in Turkey! If you are on foot it is your responsibility to get out of the way of the vehicles. The drivers don't feel at all constrained not to brush you if you get in the way. Tolga, being young in age and spirit drives faster than any one else (you could almost say reckless).
At the wedding I met a guest who worked for NATO at the Izmir Air Base. His name was Ssgt. Rabin Ramsook. Since Jack Bruns (a friend from Garden City, Kansas) son was at the base in the recent past I thought Rabin might remember him, but he did'nt. He talked very fluent English and said he was in the American Air Force stationed at the NATO base. He is a native of Guyana, South America.
The toilet at Tolga's had a pull chain to flush it. In the bowl there was a metal tube about four inches long that stuck out the back side of the bowl at the place where your crack began.
I ask Tolga what it was for and he told me it was to help to keep you clean. And indeed it did! In all stools in Turkey (except the foot pad ones in some public places) there was this tube. Tolga showed me the knob to turn when you were ready for the cleansing water to start. At Tolga's it was cold water, but at the four star hotels we stayed at it was soothing warm water. At the Maca Hotel in Istanbul they had a "bidet" with hot and cold water for your service.
At Tolga's I couldn't figure why the toilet would'nt flush during the night time. It was bothering me so I had to ask Tolga. They turn off the water to the tank because the pipe to it has a small leak that lets water accumulate on the bathroom floor. They do not have hot water on demand. When I was ready to take my daily shower I told Tolga and he turned on the "instant water heater" and in a few minutes I had hot water for the shower. They are very energy conservative. At the entrance hallway at the street level it is dark and they turn on the hall light. It remains on only a few seconds, just enough time for you to get to the elevator then it goes off automatically. They had an apartment size clothes washer but no drier. On the front balcony of their apartment, eight stories above the street, they put out a folding rack and dry clothing on it. The rack unfolds over the street several feet.
LEBLEBI -pronounced let-a-be, was a small hazel nut size tid-bit that tasted a lot like flower was served when we had coffee. The coffee was strong and very black and served in small cups reminding of the doll cups that your sister played with as a young girl when having someone over for tea.
Most roofs had a black water tank to provide water pressure for that apartment building. Many had sun heat collecting devises so the building had warm water.
Tolga lived with his parents. The father, Erut Jon, owned the apartment and had paid $20,000 for it over 20 years ago and had lived there all that time. He is 46 and his wife, Zeynep is 42. He is retired. He worked as an accountant. In Turkey they encourage early retirement so as to create jobs for the young people. they have a 10" TV in the front room. They subscribe to cable but do not include CNN. While at the hotels we stayed in, CNN was available. Tolga said that he had had a larger TV in his room but someone had broken into the apartment and stolen it. They had also stolen his watch and some radio equipment and a jacket. They had broken the locks on the front door to gain entry. (to make up for his loss of his watch I sent him a "Boeing" watch, with a flying 727 aircraft, after I returned to Wichita).
From the balcony over the street you could view the school yard and notice that all the children were in uniforms. There were about 300 in the school yard and at a signal they marched two by two into the buildings two doors.
Since most in turkey are Muslim there are many Minarets that call the faithful to prayer many times a day. One of the times happened to be about ten to five in the morning of the first nights sleep I had in turkey. It's hard to describe but if you ask me I can give a pretty good rendition of the loud waling sound. This continue for about five minutes. The tall slender minarets have loud speakers on all sides of it which blasts out the call. One is close to Tolga's bed room. It's startling the first time but you can get used to it and can eventually sleep through it. Tolga and his father are not so devout and do not heed the call to prayer. However Tolga's mother, Zeynep, gets her small rug, points it toward Mecca, puts on her head dress and kneels down on the carpet and says her prayers. Sometimes in the middle of the night I could hear her going through her prayer routine at the sound of the call. However once when we were in a shopping center and the call to prayer came she did not react to it. So I guess it is a sometimes thing with her if it is convent and not even a sometime thing with Tolga and his dad, Erut Jon, even though they profess to be Moslems. Zeynep showed me the copy of her Koran, the Bible of the Moslems. They say of their religion that the teachings of the Koran has never changed but that the Bible of the Christians has changed many times (St. Joseph version and the St. James version being two examples).
It was hard to go back to sleep after the 5 am prayer call. My body was still on Wichita time. Before going to bed had given Zeynep a box of Hefty plastic bags I had brought from home for her. They were unique and new on the market because they opened and closed by sliding a slider across the top to open or close them. She had used one to store the rest of the poachchas we had on the patio of the hotel yesterday. So this morning for breakfast there they were again plus a boiled egg, tomatoes, some hot tea and thick sliced bread. Since I wasn't eating on any of my slices, Erut Jon took the bread and pulled off a piece for him and put the rest back on my plate. I made a sandwich with a tomato; ate a poacha, and drank my tea.
Zeynep had a cough. It sounded like a deep chest cough. She always covered her mouth when she coughed which seemed to be a dry cough. She showed me pictures of her family and pictures of Erut Jon's family. She enjoyed this very much. Jon joined in with his comments. The sun was shinning nicely and out on the front balcony was a table on which Erut Jon would place some bird feed for his favorite turtle dove to feed on. One morning I was sitting out there at the table and the little turtle dove came up and ate his feed only a foot from me.
The apartment has a small sitting room, nice front room just off from the balcony, combined with a dining room, small kitchen, master bedroom for Erut Jon and Zeynep with a queen sized bed and a small room for Tolga which was mine for four nights while he slept on the couch in the front room.
Tolga had many metals for his efforts in running and broad jumping. In fact he was the best broad jumper in Turkey when he was only 15 years old and had a metal to prove it. In a small space between the kitchen and the bathroom was a small apartment size washing machine. The elevator, just outside the apartment was so small that only three normal sized people could fit into it at one time. Sometimes when the four of us was going someplace Tolga would run up or down the eight flights of stairs and beat us on the elevator.
Erut Jon smokes a lot. Zaynep or Tolga do not smoke. Eurt smokes almost chain like. He changes his shirt often because hs sweats a lot being overweight about 30 pounds. Winston's are his favorite but he smokes other brands I didn't recognize, probably Turkish or European. He is 5'5" and Zaynep about 5' even. Tolga is 6'2". They use their fingers to push food into their forks and are fast eaters. Since I am a slow eater, they finish and watch me and offer me some more of what ever I have finished on my plate and almost insist that I have more. Erut Jon puts away a lot of food. Tolga ask me why I didn't eat more food - I tried to explain that at my age I really did't need much to keep me going.
The guide books and the information from Atlanta FF headquaters on Turkey advised us to only drink bottled water while in Turkey. Erut Jon told me that he had good water, in the apartment, and I could drink it and be safe. But I tried to explain to him, through Tolga, that while his system was immune to any real or imagined problems with the water, mine was not and the FF had advised us to only drink bottled water. I don't really think he understood this answer and felt bad that I insisted on drinking only bottled water. Bottled water was sold everwhere and I saw a number of locals drinking bottled water also. Erut Jon and Zeynap were hard to ucommunicate with since neither of them spoke or understood a word of English. Tolga could read and write English but had little practice in speaking it so I had to speak very slowly to him and sometimes he still didn't know what I was saying, so if I said it in a different way he might understand.
They provided me with a lot of AYRAN which I think was yogurt. Erut Jon insisted I try some of his after shave. In fact all the time I was in Turkey someone in the group (a Turkey resident) would come around to every one in the group and spray a liquid substance in your hand: a refresher I guess. Some rubbed their hands with it and some splashed it on their faces.
From the front balcony I could see street sweepers out early sweeping the street in front of Tolga's apartment. Human sweepers with hand brooms!
Erut Jon gave me an "Evil Eye." It is purple glass (I guess) about eight inches in diameter with a white circle just off center with a small chip gone from the top of the white one and a half inch center peice. Erut Jon called it "NAZORILK".
Tolga's brother who has a job in Samsun, a city on the northern coast of Turkey, came all the way to Tolga's just to see me. His name is URMAS. I gave him a medal of the Wichita Boathouse and a FF of Kansas lapel button.
The Ismir FF took us to the Arkeoloji Muzesi (The Archaeological Museum) this afternoon with our hosts. However Toga had to go to the air base, so Erut Jon and Zaynep went along with me. There were many Roman tombs and "...detailed bas-relief depicting Hurcules making light work of his 12 tasks....". Then we crossed the street and went to the EGE UNIVERSITESI ATATURK MERKEZI for a concert with many violins and other string instruments and smaller bass section. Playing today as the "Izmir State Symphony Orchestra." Erut Jon didn't like it so we slipped out at intermission (and I had to go to the bathroom pretty bad).
We were always stopping for tea in the morning and in the afternoon.
Before dinner this evening Erut Jon brought out his RAKI.(an alchol based drink) It is clear in color until you put in a little water and then it turns milky. For dinner Zeynep fixed chicken soup and a king sized artichoke, cucumber and yougrt salad, and a dish of pine nuts mixed in.
Zeynep gave me a string of prayer beads: There are thirty-three beads and you finger the beads while you say the prayers. You go around three times with three different prayers. The beads are made from olive pits.
Early today Erut Jon took me across the street from his apartment to what appeared to be a jewery shop and they exchanged my $50 US into 76,301 TL (Turky Lira), the going rate for this day for the dollar.
At the museum there were many marble statues some dating back to 2500 years BC. There were many bodies without heads. There were students (I guess) sketching some of the statues. there were sarcophagis (coffins), which were 10' long and 3' wide and about 3" thick.
Ismir is still often known by it's Greek name Smyrna, "...is served well by air land and sea. In the summer there is an overnight ferry from Istanbul." Istanbul is Turkey's third largest city with three million people. It is located in the middle of a large gulf fed by several streams and flanked by mountains an all sides. (History of the city can be found in "Berlitz Pocket Guide" Page 74 and also in "Turkey The Rough Guide" page 242 of it's 1996 edition.)
A special sight on Izmir streets are teenagers selling round hard bread rolls covered with sesame seeds. They call it a GEVERK, and it sells for 20,000 TL (about 30 cents).
My body not yet recovered from jet lag, woke up at 4am and my stomach said that I was hungry. So I got out my crunchy peanut butter and cheese crackers and had a snack. Soon the minarets were wailing for the faithful to come to prayer.
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The Ismir FF loads us on a bus and we went to the world famous antiquity site of Ephesus. Our guide told us mant facts about the many sights there but it was hard to remember all the details. Oklahoma FF member, Buddy Turner, sent me the above picture as we passed the ruin of Traian Fountain. In the picture, on my left in the red shirt is Erut Jon. The tall fellow on his left is Oklahoma FF member "Doc" Ron Whiteneck. He was a retired GP doctor. Leading the pack in the red and white ball cap is OK FF member Fern Toye from Miami OK.
Terian Fountain
Today tree and bush fringed, it's a forlorn echo of the era when it was lined with hundreds of shops and illuninated at night.
Next we visited the place where Mary died. It is not far from Ephesus. Next to her shrine they were holding mass out in the open under the trees. There were about 40 participating. Only about a week ago there was a news cast at home that showed Hillery Clinton visiting Mary's place of death.
Next we visited Pergamum. At one time one of the richest and most powerful small kingdoms in the middle east. It is remembered mostly for it's library. It is said to have held more than 200,000 volumes.
Then it was to the Sultankoy carpet house. We visited three carpet houses while in Turkey and the approach was about the same in each one. We would all file into a large room where chairs were all around the room with the center space open. Then a worker would ask what you would like to drink - red wine, white wine, tea or apple juice? When the sipping was about done the workers would begin to unroll carpets on the floor - one on top of the other until there were three or four layers of carpets one on top of the other.
Then they explained how much work it was to weave these carpets by hand and how in some cases of the most intricate designs it would take as long as 10 months to complete. But before this we were shown the looms and the women weaving the carpets from design patterns at their side. If you showed you were interestd in one of the carpets the sales people would tell you how much it was - like $300 on up to $3,000.
They had some silk carpets for big prices. They showed how they take the silk worm's cocoon, put in a hot solution then unravel the silk strands from the cocoon on to bolts of silk thread.
Got back to Tolga's about 9:30 pm. Zeynep fixed tomato soup, sliced squash fried with eggs, left over chicken, and left over veggies from last night. Also Raki and yogurt and bread. For dessert we had a special dish "Semolina" cooked up by Zeynep.
SemolinaTolga ask what foods I liked best. I answered fruit. I had seen no fruit at all and was missing my apple a day very much. Erut uses a locking bar on his car when leaving it. It is a Renault. There are military ships in the Izmir harbour. Looks to be several destroyers with maybe 5" guns and several patrol boats.
Up at 3am! Couldn't sleep more. Had a peanut butter snack attack. The call to prayer came soon after. The call to prayer times gradually change I think it has something to do with the time of sunrise. Anyway I could hear Zeynep up answering the call. I could not actually hear the prayer. But I could hear her hacking cough.
It was hot today. I wore my white shorts today. All the cars are small ones. No Lincolns. Tolga and Erut had never heard of a Lincoln Town car. (my car at home) There are no golf courses in Turkey. Only one McDonalds in Izmir (but I hear that there are over 100 in Istanbul), no Pizza Huts, and no KFCs.
Izmir FF loaded us on a bus and we headed for the seacoast town of Foca. "Old Ottoman-greek stone houses line a sinuous shore crowded with fishing boats". Erut Jon took a picture with me and Zeynap and Tolga and the beautiful bay in the background. We had lunch at a seaside restaurant and Joe Armbrister (of the Oklahoma FF) found a little nut shop and purchesd some peanuts and shared them with all of us.
Foca
Then it was off to Askelpon where medicine got it's start. The carved snakes on the stone stele is where todays symbol of doctors comes from - the staff and the entwining snakes.
May 12, 1996
I ask Zeynap in I could use her washing machiene. She did my laundry and hung it out over the street to dry. Breakfast consisted of all fruit. Apples, oranges, bannans, green plums and another fruit I was not familiar with that had a rather large seed in it. I took an extra apple and put in my room to help with my next snack attack. Tolga took me out to lunch to a place with a beautiful view on the bay. But there was some trash in the water and I think Tolga was embaressed because of it. Anyway he ordered a dish for me with a beer. I ate some of it although it didn't taste so good. Tolga ask if I knew what I was eating. I said no. So then he told me it was sheep intestines. I knew at once that I didn't like it and sipped my beer for my lunch. I told him thst if he ever came to the USA I would give him some pork to eat without telling him what it was.! While he was finishing his I wrote postcards to my list of friends except Yvonnie. I didn't send her one since I was expecting to call her later today. I had trouble getting through to her because I was using the wrong country code number. Anyway I was finally able to get through to her . A week later she complained that all her friends had received their cards from Turkey but she had not received one! So I mailed her one post haste!, which she got after I returned.
Zeynep made some SEMOLINA that was so good I had to have the recipe to make it. This is the way she said to make a batch. You put some margine in a sauce pan and cook two tablespoons of pinenuts one minute. Then add one cup on Semolina and heat over a low heat and stir until pink then add two cups of sugar and two cups of water and cook and stir until it becomes stiff. You put the water and sugar together and boil and then add to the mixture. She and Eurt Jon made a batch and took it to the farewell party.
The farewell party was at a first class restaurant (Sato) high on a hill with a beautiful view of the bay. The party was on the patio. As the sun set you could see the lights of Izmir around the bay like a string of pearls. Had excellent curry chicken as the main dish and some good soup like strained bean soup. The restrooms were exceptionally clean with the latest in technology such as automatically turning on the water when your hand was under the faucet and etc: Farewell speeches by the Izmir FF exchange director, and Fran, and Wayne Schooley, the Oklahoma FF director. They had loud Turkey music that went on and on to which the Izmir FF hosts danced as the one man musician with his synthesizer played on and on. Then the belly dancer came on. People were polking Turkey Lire in her bra and panties. Tolga enticed her to get on our table and do some squiggles. I helped her down and placed some TL in her small bra, for which she gave me a pursed lips "air" kiss.
Some more fruit for breakfast which I didnt mind in the least, but the toast was a different story. It was so hard you could not bite into it! I noticed Erut Jon dipping it into his coffee. This did soften it up a bit. Then it was off to the airport for our flight to Istanbul to catch a flight to Ankara for our next home hosting. On the way to the airport we stopped at a super market. I think it was to show me that they had super markets in Turkey. Anyway it was about as big as a Sam's store in the USA. It contained a very large display of fresh fish and all kinds of meats including pork. I found some coffee cups that the people of Turkey drink their coffee out of and thought Yvonnie would like this as a gift from Turkey. I also bought a bag of Turkey coffee to bring home. Tolga drove to the airport which was about 20 miles away. Zeynep and Erut Jon was along also. Tolga drove very fast and I thought a bit reckless but I didn't have the guts to admonish him. Zeynep said she didn't like to ride with him because of his driving.
At “good bye” at the airport I gave Tolga, Erut Jon, and Zeynep a Turkey good bye hug and an “air” kiss on each side of their cheek. I don’t know if I did it correctly or not but they seemed to enjoy it. I offered Erut Jon 1,000,000 TL (about $15 US) to help pay for petrol for the car. He refused it so I stuffed it into his shirt pocket to which he murmured a quiet “thank you.”
The flight to Istanbul was on a 737-400, one of Boeing’s newest airplanes on the market. Security was very tight. At Istanbul our bags were on the tarmac and we had to point out which bags were ours before they could load them on the aircraft to Ankara. The flight to Ankara was on an aircraft I could not identify. It had four prop jets with stubby wings and held about 100 passengers. Turkey Airlines of course. The flight was about an hour and at the airport my host for the Ankara stay recognized my name tag and came over and gave me a packet of flowers. His name was Ilker Pak.
ILKER PAK, my Ankara host, teaches German and English at the University of Ankara. He is 24, part German and part Turkey origin. After picking me up at the airport he took me to his home then had to leave to go back to the University from 4pm to 8pm. He lives on the 5th floor of the apartment building. The building is the same type as Tolga’s in Izmir except it does not have an elevator. The five flights do not seem as severe as five flights in the USA. Anyway I went up and down them many times. The entrance to the building is through a very narrow passageway and at night, dark. Once inside the door you hit the light switch and the light stays on about enough time for you to climb the first flight of stairs, then at the second flight you hit another light switch which lights this area and so on all the way up. They must save a lot of electricity doing this in every apartment building in Turkey.
ILKER lives with his 19 year old sister, ADA, who is a student at the University of Ankara. The apartment is well furnished. The TV is connected to cable and has CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN. The apartment has two bathrooms. They are side by side. One has a tub and shower besides the stool and a wash basin. The kitchen is small but efficient with a window opening out onto a small patio, used for drying the wash, up over the narrow passageway. Ilker gave up his king sized bed (which was in two sections) for me while he slept on the divan. Ada sleeps in the other room.
The weather in Ankara is decidedly different from Izmir. It is much cooler and not so muggy as Izmir. The other end of the apartment overlooks a vast greenery area that I would guess is larger then Central Park. A beautiful sunset was visible from the balcony. A very busy thorough-fare cut through the vast greenery area.
Ilker is a Mosle as is Ada but they do not practice it. They ignore the calls to prayer which are not as loud in my bedroom as they were in Tolga’s bedroom in Izmir. Ada does not speak English but she is a good cook and served dinner one evening on the patio. Ilker has two cats. One is rather strong and would push her way into my room if I left a crack in the door. However, at times when I closed it to keep her out she would meow real loud outside my door until I would feel I would have to let her in or risk waking Ilker or Ada. Inside the room she was a pest, brushing up beside me and wanting to be petted. Ilker’s parents live in another area near the Black Sea and have a hazel nut farm.
The Mehter Turkish Ancient Military Band
The welcoming party was held at ASKI. Red carpet was rolled out for us at the entrance. The Mehter Turkish Ancient Military Band played and performed for us before dinner. There were about 20 in their fine red and black uniforms and about half performed marching routines to the command of whistles and a drum major who raised his arms over his head for leverage in beating the base drum with much vigor and loudness.
This was performed by a large swimming pool or maybe it was just a reflecting pool (since I never saw anyone in it). It was unique in it’s size, about 50 feet by 100 feet. The pool surface was at ground level. The water which spilled over from the pool was captured by drains 12 inches from the edge of the pool. Then another drain about 12 inches from the first drain was in place to capture any water the first drain didn’t. The view is spectacular, it looks as if the pool is at ground level, which of course it is.
We were entertained by Turkey dancers doing their vigorous male pulling and shouting at each other while going rapidly around in a circle holding onto each other. Welcoming speeches were given by the “Lord Mayor” and of course by Wayne Schooley our exchange director. The gist of the talk was that they wanted us there in Turkey so we could go back to the USA and tell of our experiences in Turkey and in this way stimulate more tourism to Turkey. The governmental officials in Ankara went out of their way in providing transportation and free entrances to the museums and historical sights for us FF visitors.
Back at Ilker’s place Ilker and I sat on his darkened patio and drank Riki. I was tired and ready for bed but he wanted to talk (I think to practice his English) but it seemed to me I had to carry the conversation.
As directed by the Ankara FF, Ilker packed a lunch for me to take on our day long trip to visit Bogazkoy - Hattausas, the former center of the Hittite kingdom. The lunch contained three kinds of cheese, bread, some cold cuts and an apple. Once when the bus stopped for a view of some old homes on a hillside, three beautiful Turkiye children came over to the bus to look at us. So I took their picture and as a gift I gave the largest boy a coin I had. Their guide noticed I did this and said we shouldn’t do it because it would make them to start to beg for coins from tourists. I found no such begging in Turkiye.
Back at Ilker’s for the dinner his sister had prepared for us. We, Ilker and I, had two raki drinks before she served dinner to us out on the patio (balcony). The main dish was egg sized bread like containers filled with some kind of a meat mixture - not unlike our “bierocks” in the USA.
Ilker fixed me a breakfast of a badly scorched cheese omelet, sliced tomatoes, small slices of cold cuts, bread and coffee. Today we do the city of Ankara which includes the Mausoleum of Ataturk, the Ethnographical Museum, and the Museum of Anatolian Civilization. the Museum of Ataturk was by far the most impressive. It covers a city block and you have to see it to believe the vastness of the layout. It is not in the city proper but out a ways on a sort of a hill that overlooks the city. The view from there is spectacular.
Ataturk, 1881-1938, whose name means “Father of the Turks” founder and first president of the Turkish republic, attempted to westernize and modernize the country, give women the right to vote, abolished use of Arabic and mandated use of Latin alphabet, created written and spoken Turkish language, abolished fez/turban for men and discouraged veil for women, separated church from state, prohibited religious sects, reformed the calendar, and abolished polygamy.
Ankara Friendship Force "Day Hosts" Okan and DuyguFor lunch we stopped at a very upper class place in downtown Ankara called ULUDAG. We had to climb three flights of stairs to get to our eating level. Other guests occupied the other levels. The fare was thin beef slices over small squares of dough. The dessert was creme cheese over a bread pudding type of base. Most of the Ankara FF people are University students since it was this group which initially started the Anakra FF. Some “Day Hosts” were at the luncheon. At my table were day hosts DUYGU BUYUKCELEBI (male) and OKAN ENIS (female). Communication was not easy since they spoke very limited English.
After lunch, on the way to the bus, we crossed paths with groups of school children who all wanted to shake hands with us. It was a very pleasant experience to shake hands with so many school children all trying to touch a person from a foriegn land (my thought).
Since my host, Ilker, had to be at the University until 9pm, Ankara FF member, Seda Aydin, hosting Oklahoma FF member, Clara Payton, took me to her home where Ilker would pick me up later. Seda had been to South Dakota on a Lion Sponsored exchange for three weeks. Her father is a Lion in a city on the Black Sea. Clara Payton was one of the few smokers we had on the trip and in addition her health didn’t seem to be too good. She is from Miami Oklahoma and is the chief of the Peoria Indians.
Ilker didn’t want to go straight home (I did because I was tired after our long day) but ask if I would enjoy going to his favorite night spot. I couldn’t refuse, this might be my only chance to see what a Turkey night club was like. The name of it was SAKIIKENT which means “Lost City.”
We were frisked when we went in, for guns I guess. It was a very unique place. It was made to resemble a city street with curbs and sidewalks and buildings along each side of the street. In fact you could go into the “buildings” where there were tables and windows where you could watch the people down in the “street.” At the end of the street there was a band stand. On the “side walks” were more tables and chairs representing a sidewalk cafe. There were street lights on the street, but the lighting was so that you got the effect that you were on a very dimly lit street. I wanted to buy Ilker a beer and me a Jim Beam (since they could not find their Jack Daniel's) but I didn’t have enough Turkiye Lire so Ilker took my $50 and got the management to change it into TL. Ilker would only have two. He said this was his limit since he had to drive us home and Turkiye is very hard on drunk drivers. There were not many people in the place when we arrived, but more and more arrived as the evening grew later. Ilker said that on weekends a crowd of 2,000 would be dancing in the street. He said that they sometimes show video movies on a big screen. The music was Turkish and loud and provided by a “disk jockey.” A friend of Ilker’s dropped in with his dog on a leash. Back at Ilker’s apartment we had leftovers from last night's meal along with more raki. Ilker wanted to stay up and drink and talk, but I was ready for the sack. And besides he didn’t watch my glass close enough. He would pour him another glass of raki without noticing that mine was empty and fixing me another.
Had tea with the Governor and he told us a little history of Turkiye through a very attractive interpreter.
Then it was off to an outlaying section of town where there were some hills that looked like they needed some trees. So the Government sent out a load of tree plantings, small trees about a foot in height, so the Ankara and Oklahoma FF could "plant a tree" with the city Governor. Spades were available and workmen suggested where the embryo trees should be planted.
I had Ankara FF member, Dr. Yesim Bardakci, stand by my tree while I took a picture of her in line with a surveying bench mark so sometime in the future I might be able to locate the tree.
Then it was off to lunch at a Pizza Hut. It was a grand feeling to see, on the back of the menu, a history of the Pizza Hut with a rendition of how it got started in Wichita by the Carney boys borrowing $500 from their grandmother. Of course I had to let everyone know that that was my home town.The place did not have the traditional red roof of a Pizza Hut since it was on the ground floor of a 350 foot tower with a rotating restaurant on top. We went to the top for a grand view of Ankara. Since my Ankara host, Ilker, had to work late, Serap Hizel, Ankara host to Oklahoma FF visitor, Ron (Doc) Whiteneck, took me to her home until it was time to go to the farewell party. She usually wore jeans but for the farwell party she was very attractive in her short black dress, in fact she did not even look like the same girl. She and her husband were both doctors. I suppose that is why Ron was assigned to their home. Her husband, Kenan Hizel, was a infectious disease specialist. They both were in their mid thirties! Their apartment was the best I had seen in Turkey. Serap wanted to show us off to her father, so we all went over to his house for wine and a nice buffet with some more of those biorock things filled with lamb, I think. Her father was a supreme court judge. Then it was off to the farewell party. On the way we ran into a 30 minute traffic jam.
Farewell party at Golbasi Vilayetier Evi, a beautiful hotel with a buffet and all the raki and wine you could ask for. It was set on a hill overlooking a lake. Dancing Turkey girls and boys entertained us. Ilker, who is a musician and composes music, wrote a few bars which he played and said he had written the piece just for this occasion. After the speeches a DJ took over and much dancing took place mostly between the young Ankara FF members and hosts. A few Oklahoma FF members did get into the fray but the music was Turkish and the pieces were long. Ilker wanted to return to the “Lost City” after the party, but I begged off since I was bone tired after my long day.
Farewell party in Ankara. Esther, Aysen Carga, Buddy and Helen Tuener’s host, Helen and Fred.
Departure for a tour of Turkey from Ankara to Istanbul
The first stop on our tour was AGZIKARAHAN. It was a stopping place for caravans of traders from all points east; China, India, etc: on the “Silk Road.” It was built like a fortress since it was a haven for the traders to protect them from bandits at night time. These stopping places are built all along the Silk Road for this purpose. There are tall camel stalls and also a small mosque where they could say their prayers.
We had lunch at AGACLI. Our hotel for the night was at AVANOS, a hotel seemingly away out in the country, just for tourists was named “OTEL YILTOK.” We arrived in the early afternoon and it looked like we were the only ones in the hotel by looking at the parking lot. But later other tourist buses would arrive and offload their tourists. We, all 26, sat at a long table in the dining room which had our tour name on the table. The meals were buffet style. If you wanted wine it was extra out of your pocket. I usually got some red wine to go with my meals. I was able to get through to Yvonnie, (from my hotel room), in Wichita to say hello and that I was doing alright (although I had developed a slight case of diarrhea). The cost for about three minutes was 1,044,000 TL or about $15 US.
From Avanos to “Old Nevsehir” where we stopped for a “photo op.” This is where we saw the kids beside the road. Then on to the Valley of Ihlara and the wondrous rock churches. I could see that there were 540 steps down to the valley and some extended walking to look into the rock churches - and it was a hot humid morning, so I elected to buy a book with pictures on the churches rather than make the tour. A handful of the others did likewise. The name of the book is “The Wondrous Valley of Ihiara and its Rock Churches” and may be found in my Turkey file.
Back to the hotel for lunch which started off with a salad of cold, under cooked, green beans.
Next we were off to one of the underground cities of Cappadocia. “A land created by the complex interaction of natural and human forces over vast spans of time.”
It all started eons ago when the volcanoes erupted and spewed out ash and big boulders. The ash mixed with the the dust and mud to form a substance called “tuff.” The indigenous peoples were able to cut into the tuff to form underground cities which gave them protection from invading armies and regional enemies. Some are only a few stories while others are as much as 27 stories underground. Most of these underground cities have not been uncovered but the one for the tourists are strung with lights.
The entrance may be just a hole in the side of a hill and a short way inside a large wheel shaped stone could be pushed to block the passageway to unwanted enemies. In the center of this blocking stone (of granite), is a hole so that those inside could shoot arrows or whatever at the enemy through the hole. There are venting shafts that go up to the surface for air and to allow the smoke from cooking to dissipate. There are duel-purpose shafts that provided water from a well at the bottom and fresh air from the top for all connecting levels. Wine making crevices were also dug; a channel taking out the wine pressed from the grapes by foot. Some of the rock caves are still inhabited; the fields are still fertilitized with guano collected in rock-cut pigeon houses; and pottery is still made from the clay of the Kizihrmak River. “Cappadocia" translates from the Hittite as ‘land of well bread horses.’”
Near the entrance of the underground city was a pottery shop, underground. We watched the employees form the vases, plates, etc; and paint the designs on the pottery. Of course it was a place for the tourists to purchase these works, and many in our group did.
Back to the hotel then, after an hours rest, we head for a side attraction our guide told us we could have for an extra $40 and he would give us back our money if we didn’t like it. About half of the group took him up on the deal. Our bus was there first and we were seated on stone benches with stone tables in a domed shaped room. Four or five other tourist busses arrived and soon the room was filled. A small turkey band of about seven played Turkey music almost all the four hours we were there. It was amplified so loud you could not hear yourself think let alone hold a conversation. It must have been run by a “baby boomer” who thought that it had to be loud to be good. The six course, sit down dinner, started with a tomato and cucumber salad - the last course was lamb sliced from a whole lamb they pushed around on a cart to each table to serve on a bed of rice. There were plenty of apples and oranges and I was glad of that since I still had a touch of diarrhea and only ate the fruit and drank the red wine for my dinner. However I did nibble on each course then spread it around on my dish in good FF manner.
There was a belly dancer who could really move her belly and even hold a normal sized broom on her belly while doing her dance. We were entertained by Turkey dancers the same type we had seen in Izmir, the ones that held on to each other and went around in speedy circles. Then to the tunes of the loud music, with the lights turned down low, they played a lot of Turkey dances to which the younger set danced. They did have a couple of waltzes and I thought I recognized a disco tune in there.
May 19, 1996
Next it was off to the onyx factory. We were able to watch workers using lathes turn oblong pieces of “raw” onyx into an onyx egg. This process made the egg very hot and the manager let us hold on to it. I was able to hold on to it longer than three others so he gave me a prize for the effort. The prize was a three inch high representation of a “fairy chimney,” famous in Cappadocia, made from the “tuff” of the area. It is on my desk this date, February 1, 2009, and will probably remain as one of my favorite artifacts from my visit to Turkey. For one reason, I didn’t buy it, and for the other reason it is made of the stuff the entire area is made of. I bought two onyx eggs home and gave one to Yvonnie and the other to son Chris.
Visited TOKALI church which had outstanding frescoes showing the story line of Jesus. No flash pictures were allowed inside.
Visted SULTANHANA, the largest of the safe houses along the “safe road.” It had many stalls for the visiting camels of the caravans that traveled along the so called silk road, the trade route from the far east.
At a rest stop we were invited to try yogurt and honey. It was different but once would be enough. This was a day on which we covered many miles in the bus, I would say about six hours. We saw lots of wheat fields and learned that Turkey is the fourth largest wheat producing country in the world. In addition there were a lot of grapes growing on small grape vines that were only a foot or 18 inches off the ground. We had a rest break every 1 1/2 hours. The retired GP doctor, Ron Whitneck, sat across the isle from me on the bus. I overheard one of the FF members asking his advice for blood in “her movement.”
We had lunch in KONYA at the hotel BILIKCILAR. “St. Paul preached in Konya with Barnabas, but had to flee the city when members of the Jewish population plotted against them. Twelve hundred years later, the mystic philosoper, Mevlana, met a more receptive audience when he founded a sect that became known as the ‘Whirling Dervishes.’” We had to take off our shoes to visit his mausoleum.
PAMUKKALE looking back toward the Hotel KORUThis evening we arrived at PANUKKALE and our Hotel KORU. Dinner was at sunset out on a vast patio that overlooked a beautiful lake. A stray cat happened by and we both enjoyed the beef stew that was the main course of the meal. I slipped her chunks of beef under the table. Entertainment was a couple of belly dancers. One got Doc to take his shirt off and danced with him (when I sense that the dancers are about to come to the audience and pull one of us tourists out on the dance floor with them, I usually disappear so I won’t be asked. I would have been embarassed to have to show my belly with my shirt off - so should have the Doc.).
The hotel had several large swimming pools heated naturally by underground thermals. Jeanne Klaus and Evelyn Saigeon from the Memphis area FF who went with the Oklahoma FF to Turkey, invited me to join them for a swim. This was the only time I got to use my swimming suit and ear plugs on the entire trip. Jeanne had brought her video camera on the trip and was always taking a lot of video. She sent me a copy of her video.
PAMUKKALE is the site of “white travertine terraces.” The responsibility for this freak of nature rests with a spring, saturated with dissolved calcium bicarbonate bubbling up from the foot of the CAL DAGI mountains beyond. As the water surges over the edge of the plateau and cools, carbon dixode is given off and carbon carbonate precipitated as hard chalk (travertine).
Below is seen red waters near Pamukkale. The same forces as at Pamukkale produced this except for maybe a little iron thrown in the mix. A vender at this site sold me a sweater for Yvonnie and some onyx eggs for her and Chris.
The museum contains a cult statue of Aphrodite, "discreetly gowned and looking particuarly behaved for a goddess of love."
Not much remains of her temple, but the stadium is enormous, possibly the finest in the ancient world with a seating capacity of 30,000, still put to use at festival time.
Next stop was a leather factory. First off we were seated outside around a runway for models to show off their leather goods. We were given wine or tea while waiting for the show. After the models showed their fine clothing made of leather, I and Elaine Schooley were selected to be models for the group. I modeled a leather coat of many colors with Elaine, then with a leggy model. Then we went inside and saw the women working on the leather clothing. Then to their sales room where they had many leather articles for sale.
Some of the sales girls liked my gold bracelet and said it was Turkish since it had many hearts in the design. They wanted me to give it to them.
Lunch was at a place on a large patio with a roof of many boards loosely put together. A puppy and a rooster were sparing for territory beneath the eating tables. Shisk kabobs of lamb were for lunch and fat, warm, pita bread.
We spent the night in KUSADASI at a five star hotel OTEL GRAND OZCELIK (the “H” was not inadvertently left out, that is the way they spell hotel, without the “H”). The room overlooked the Aegean sea on the southern coast of Turkey. Each room had a balcony overlooking the sea. The otel was in the center of a half moon bay. But the surprising thing for me was that there were no waves crashing on the beach front. And also there were no boats running around on the water. I saw only two small boats tied up about 100 yards from the shore.
There were birds that must have had a nest close by to my sixth floor balcony. They appeared to be barn swallows with their split tails and diving antics I have seen them do at Grand Lake, Oklahoma.
Stopped at DIDUM for lunch and viewed ruins across the street. An “old timer” dressed in old military clothing (it was hard to tell from which country or what war) was very friendly with us and wanted to show us his metals. He wanted his picture taken with us but he did not have a camera, so FF member, Charlie Breeden had our picture taken with him and promised to send him one.
Then it was off to the Izmir Airport where we boarded our plane for the flight to Istanbul. We stayed at the Macka Otel, and I in room 106. We had a tough steak for dinner, then I set out on foot for a look at the town within walking distance of the hotel. Dusk was fast approaching and even though our guide told us we were safe on the streets of Istanbul I was a little apprehensive. The following night I ventured a little further and then came upon a “Casino” just adjacent to the hotel. It was below street level with two lovely ladies at the entrance required seeing my passport before letting me in. It was a small room with about 50 electronic slot machienes, a roulette wheel, and another table where I don’t remember what they were playing. The slot machines were mostly poker hands. The manager kept his eye on me as I walked around the room looking at the play. It took a special coin (which you were supposed to purchase at the entrance) to play the machines. I hadn’t bought any and besides it looked like all the machines were occupied.
In place of the familiar washing tube in the toilet, the bath room (at my hotel) had a “bidet” - “a low, bowl-shaped, bathroom fixature for washing the crotch.”
This mornings city tour took us first to the not to be missed Blue Mosque. It is so unique one must see it to feel it's impressive importance.
At the entrance to the Blue Mosque I bought three tops (with string starting cords attached) from a youngster about seven years old. After watching him a few times and remembering from my youth how to spin a top I was able to spin it. We also visited TOPKAPI PALACE, the Mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Grand Bazaar, St. Sophia, the Hippodrome and the obelisks.
St. Sophia Mosque was very impressive. The name was taken from the word philosophy (or wisdom). This is the third St. Sophia. The first had burned (330AD) and the second destroyed in a sporting event which got out of control in 550 AD. Two thirds of the city was destroyed with this and 30,000 people were executed in the Hippodrome by the Sultan over that. The Hippodrome was no longer used for sporting events after that. St. Sophia was rebuilt 532 AD - took five years to build. It is one of the largest churches in the world and has the fourth highest dome. Christians were free after the third century and this was their church. It was used as a church until the 15th century and since then as a mosque. The huge gold and silver ceramic mosaic Christian scene, shown below, still exists in an exit.
A bridge across the BosphorusWe took a ride on a boat up the Bosphorus. It took us to the Asia side of Istanbul.
A visit to the spice market was interesting, especially a vender selling all kinds of birds and even live chickens. These sights and sounds of Istanbul were impressive and never to be forgotten. The photographs and video taken will be a great asset to joggle the mind to the sights and sounds of Turkiye.
The trip back was uneventful except for the thunderstorm we encountered over St. Louis. It was so severe the pilot, who was about to land, put on full power to abort the landing and told us it looked like to him of a "down burst" of rain at the end of the runway so he elected not to land. We circled the airport about an hour until the thunderstorm moved on. Turkiye was a grand experience!. You should try it!
It is now August 2012 and I hear from Lutfiye via e-mail often. She only sends upscale items she has received and thought I would enjoy. And I do the same for her. But the main purpose of this post is to determine if I still have the skill to add to a blog I created 5 t0 10 years ago.
