Christmas Oddments

In Turkey, a Muslim country, Christmas is not celebrated, but we have managed to celebrate with fellow Church members. We had a small but wonderful Christmas service last Sunday; and Tracy and I baked holiday cookies. We have seen some odd reminders of Christmas, though:

School bells play songs when it is time to change classes. We heard “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” repeatedly last spring. During August we dined twice with friends at a hotel in Ankara, where they played about two hours of Christmas music each night. It was so strange to hear “Winter Wonderland” and “White Christmas” in the heat of August evenings! Recently, I explained to my Turkish teacher that we play Christmas music only at Christmas time, and she was genuinely puzzled.

Turks exchange presents on New Year's Day, so the stores are filled with “New Year” decorations, which look just like Christmas decorations to us. They include lights, trees, bright balls, Santa Claus and we’ve even seen a couple of “New Year” angels.

Speaking of Santa, St. Nicholas was born in Turkey. Every December people make pilgrimages to a 4th century church near Altalya, on the Mediterranean, and there are symposiums and debates.

There are a few poinsettias everywhere, but they are called “Ataturk flowers.” Apparently Mustafa Ataturk saw them in Europe and brought them to Turkey, thus they are named after him.

We found a box of Christmas decorations in our missionary apartment, so we have a very small tree with lights and a few other things, including the carved wood crèches we bought in Armenia when we were there last April at a Humanitarian Couples’ Conference. I also pieced a quilt top a little at a time during the autumn, so that makes the apartment look cheery. About 15 people will come to our house for dinner on Christmas Day. We are luckier than most people and have a real though small oven in our kitchen; our 18-lb turkey just barely fits!

We enjoyed singing Christmas music with Ankara A Cappella Choir, a small group of mostly American and British expats. We gave two concerts and will sing at the candlelight service at the British Embassy chapel on Christmas Eve.

We wish our friends and family a very merry Christmas! We're grateful to be serving the Lord at this season of giving. Our Humanitarian work feels like Christmas all year. We hope you feel the love of the Savior in a special way during this joyous season. We wish you "Noel kutlu olson" - May your Christmas be blessed!

Thanksgiving and Kurban Bayram (Sacrifice Holiday)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration here in Turkey! We managed to fit a 15-lb turkey in our small oven, and there were 13 of us for dinner. We even had a children's table. Two women brought their favorite dishes; and we had dressing, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean bake, rolls, cranberry jello salad and sauce, and we ended with pumpkin and apple pies. I mastered the Turkish rolling pin to make our family's traditional rolls in our tiny kitchen. We were lucky to have access to the commissary on the small US Air Force base here, so we could buy all the foods we can’t find here on the economy. We had a true American feast, and it was a wonderful day with our friends.

The day after Thanksgiving, the biggest Turkish holiday, Kurban Bayram or Sacrifice Holiday, began. According to the Koran, Ishmael was the son whom Abraham was commanded to sacrifice, not Isaac as the Old Testament claims. In remembrance of this event, Turks make animal sacrifices on the first day of the holiday. The man of the family will go to the place where animals are sacrificed and will buy a sheep or, with other families, a cow. The animal is then slaughtered. (The slaughter took place on the street near home until a few years ago, but now in the cities this is no longer done.) The man of the family may take 1/7th of the meat home, if he desires, and all the rest of the meat is distributed to the poor. At home, the women are preparing a large meal, which may include some of the meat from the sacrifice when the men arrive home. After a day of celebrating with family, the Turks will spend the next three days visiting friends and extended family. Trains and buses are crowded as people travel to visit with family. Very few stores are open during this favorite holiday of the year.

Although we missed our family very much on Thanksgiving, we were busy and happy. We were pleased that our latest project was accomplished just the day before Thanksgiving: we gave winter boots to all the children in a village school, so now they will be able to attend school even when it snows. The supplier of the boots was so impressed with the project that he donated 15 extra pairs as a "sacrifice" in honor of the holiday, so some brothers and sisters will also get new boots. We're having an amazing experience here as humanitarian missionaries!

A Visit to the Village of Hısarlıkaya

We had a most interesting experience at a small, isolated village which is at least an hour outside of Ankara and even 30 minutes from any other village. LDS Charities provided tables, chairs and educational toys for the kindergarten class and also a multi-purpose printer for the office. The school is just two rooms at present: grades 1-3 meet in one room, grades 4-5 in another. Although there is also a kindergarten room, right now the kindergarten students are divided between the other two classes, since the teacher had to leave a couple of months ago and has not been replaced. Each of the classrooms is heated by a wood stove, and the bathroom is a separate, unheated, very dilapidated building.

There are about 40 students in the Hısarlıkaya school, and they are very sweet. The older students wrote us letters to thank us for our donations. They called us “Elizabeth teyze” and “Ron amca” (Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Ron), which is common for younger people to do to show respect for their elders. Practically every letter said, “Sizi çok seviyorum” (I love you very much).

After visiting the school, we went with some Lions Club members to the community building where the women of the village were gathered to have their blood pressure and blood sugar checked by a doctor. What an amazing sight it was to see about 50 village women seated around the room on the traditional carpet-covered benches. They all wore the baggy pants that look like skirts until just above the ankle, where the skirt divides into two legs. They could easily sit cross-legged in such an outfit, and many did. They all wore headscarves and colorful outfits, and we “city women” looked and felt very different from them. Our interpreter said most of them have only the 5th grade education that they got there in the village. Now children must attend more school, but it was not required until several years ago. I wanted to take a picture, but I didn’t want to be offensive; so I admired a baby and asked if I could take a picture of the baby. Of course, I got a few women in the picture, too. The woman was very pleased (and so was I), and when she left, she hugged me and kissed me on both cheeks—even though most people aren’t doing that these days for fear of swine flu.

We talked to the doctor after the village women had left, and she said that they found many women with blood pressure and blood sugar which was too high, but she was convinced that they wouldn’t be able to do much about it. The nearest doctor is at least 30 minutes away, and we saw very few cars in the village. The doctor feared that even if the women got diagnosed and treated once, keeping up on regular visits and prescriptions would probably be too difficult for most of the women.

One of my friends told me that her mother had been "too old" to come to her wedding. I was surprised to find that this OLD mother was several years younger than I. "But village life is very hard," my friend said. It is! We feel very blessed!

Remembering Ataturk

November 10th was the national day of remembrance of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey’s great national hero. He died at 9:05 a.m. on this day in 1938, so everyone stops for a minute of (supposed) silence at that time. We went out on the main street in our district to see what would happen, and sure enough, all traffic stopped and pedestrians stood still for a minute. At 9:05 we heard a siren in the distance, and everyone stood still. Unfortunately, we were by a large number of stopped cars, and some of the drivers observed the minute by sounding their horns for that period. It was deafening. We were impressed that the minute really was observed by everyone in our sight. There was a major ceremony at his huge mausoleum and in other locations, and we saw flowers by his statues. Many buildings featured huge banners with his pictures, many stories in height.

Ataturk is revered by the Turks—and with good reason. His name means, roughly, “father of the Turks.” He was the first president of the Republic, but he also brought sweeping changes to the country, among them changing the alphabet and numbering system to coincide with those of Europe. He changed and westernized the language, calendar, dress, education and social institutions of the country. Before Ataturk, no one used last names, and women had little legal or social standing. He truly was a remarkable man. He faced Turkey toward the West.

Each schoolroom and office has at least one picture of Ataturk, and there are myriad statues of him in every city in the country. We counted four pictures of him in our own apartment, from "thank you" gifts we had received! We visited a school yesterday and saw the “shrine” above in the playground. The slabs in the foreground read “We are following you,” and “We miss you.” "How happy I am to say I am a Turk" is inscribed under the bust of Ataturk and is one of the most common quotes inscribed on his statues.

The school we visited yesterday, by the way, educates only children who have been cured of leukemia and are being monitored. Their immune systems are often weakened, so special care is taken to provide a healthful environment. LDS Charities outfitted a science lab for the school. A special ceremony was held yesterday, where we cut a ribbon in the doorway leading into the classroom. Since it is an elementary school, the scissors were very dull and blunt!

A Village Project - Yeşilöz

This week we were driven to a village about 60 miles outside of Ankara, where we had provided student lockers and classroom bookshelves for an elementary school. It was a lovely fall day, warm and sunny; and it was very pleasant to drive out of Ankara up into the hills where the village is located. Some of the leaves were turning, and it was lovely.

We visited the school along with the mayor of the village and saw the lockers and bookcases in use. The younger students were beautiful in their blue uniforms and were amazingly well-behaved. (They were very proud of their locker keys, as the boy is showing us.) Starting in grade 6 the boys wear suits and ties to school and the girls wear uniforms with skirts, vests and ties. Their behavior in class reflects the formality of their attire, but on the playing field they are probably just like other children! The headmaster gave us a little plaque in front of a large group of students, and we got to say a few words, translated by our trusty interpreter, of encouragement to the kids. The school serves 5 villages, none of which can support the rising generation because of a lack of available land, so the parents and children are highly motivated to make education the path to success. The headmaster said more than 75% of the students go on to higher education after high school. It was very satisfying to be helping a school that is so successful.

The mayor and his wife hosted us for lunch in a little park by the river. We could hear the bells of the sheep grazing across the river – very peaceful and pleasant. The mayor’s wife cooked traditional soup and a kind of vegetable and lamb stew, and they served us fruit from their own garden, which they pointed out to us before we left the village.

After lunch we took a short walk. We visited and walked on a new suspension bridge and then walked closer to the caves in the mountainside across the stream. The mayor said the caves were from the 1st Century but no one knows who lived in them. We wish we had been properly dressed to climb up and go in the caves, but we agreed that next time we’ll bring some other clothes so we can. Everyone was so gracious; we had a wonderful day. We hope to do another project for the school, and maybe one for the village. (If they can find a suitable area, we might be able to provide fruit trees for a source of income to the community.) It is very satisfying to work with a community which works together so well for their common good.

An International Wedding

Last night we went to an international wedding at a fancy hotel. Marina, a Ukrainian girl from our Turkish class, married her Turkish boyfriend. It was great fun, since we were seated with classmates from our last class, whom we really enjoyed. Our teacher, Arzu (Turkish), Selma (Bosnian), Jasmine (Russian) and Karen (German) and their spouses were at our table. It was wonderful to see everyone again.

It was truly an international event. The couple was married while seated at a table with a government official in a red satin coat. She said “Da” and he said “Evet”, both meaning “yes,” of course. Then they signed papers and were officially married. There were both Turkish and Urkainian customs; the parents presented the couple with their first meal of bread and salt. Their table had both their flags on it. The first dance was an old American waltz (“Fascination Waltz”), and one of the first wildly popular dance sets was a medley of 1950s rock and roll—starting with “Rock Around the Clock” and ending with “Blue Suede Shoes.” Dancers loved it and ran to the floor. When the band played an especially rousing version of “House of the Rising Sun,” I turned to my German friend and said I knew the words to that song. “Everyone in the world knows that song,” my friend replied. Later there was Russian and Turkish music, and the dance floor was jammed with happy people dancing wildly.

Although there were elements of tradition at this wedding, it was not a traditional wedding, our Turkish friends told us, but a “rich” wedding. A traditional village wedding will last three or four days and include a drum and pipes and marching from one place to another. There will also be a night when the women henna the bride’s hands. This wedding could have been in the US, except for the table next to us filled with elderly women relatives of the groom, all of whom were completely covered and wore head scarves.

The traditional gift for any major occasion (like a wedding, a baby’s birth or a young boy’s circumcision) is a piece of gold. We purchased one from a jeweler with the help of our interpreter. It looks like a coin with a loop and ribbon on top, and in villages, guests pin it to the bride’s dress. When the bride wears a western-style fancy dress, she carries a little purse, and we put the gold coin in the purse. The groom also wore a sort of bandolier, to which his friends pinned gold pieces. Later, when the young couple needs to buy something big, they may cash in the gold pieces.

We feel very comfortable in this Muslim country where family ties are cherished and where social gatherings are wholesome and family-oriented. Many people do not drink alcohol, and it is never a problem to decline tea or coffee when we say it is a “religious rule.” The people are very warm and hospitable. We are so grateful for our dear friends who are making our experience here so wonderful.

Floods in Istanbul

During the week of September 7 there were flash floods in Istanbul which killed about 40 people, swept about 200 cars and trucks into the sea, and destroyed hundreds of homes. The homes which were destroyed were largely substandard, makeshift housing built by poor immigrants to the area. When the waters subsided and the city began the cleanup, the senior missionary couple in Istanbul began to assess what the Church could do to assist. We joined them in Istanbul on Wednesday.

Istanbul is a huge city of somewhere around 20 million people, but only a small proportion of the population was involved in the flood. Of course, the poor are always the victims in natural disasters.

In the photo on the right you may be able to see the watermark above the second story. The second story balcony was washed away!

It was overwhelming to see such great need, but we worked with the municipal government in two affected areas to determine that blankets and hygiene kits were a top priority. The hygiene kits were far more extensive than the personal ones we’re used to; these were huge family survival kits which filled a 5-gallon garbage bag. The supplies were ordered, and our first assignment was to pay the supplier. Turkey is a cash economy. We had to visit ATMs and withdraw as much cash as we could at each one over a two-day period. At one point we had 35,000 Turkish Lira (about $25,000) on the table in front of us. After making the small down payment, we were able to arrange a wire transfer of the remaining funds. We worked closely with the Europe East Area office in Moscow to accomplish the financing.

The next day the supplies were delivered, assembled by city volunteers, and we took a few hundred kits and blankets for distribution. We visited only a few streets, and the remaining kits and blankets were distributed by city employees and other volunteers that night and into the next few days. It was devastating to see such destruction of people’s lives.

Above you see a little boy (without full arms) sitting on raw wool. It was washed and used as mattresses.

There will be other projects to follow, and we have been asked to return to Istanbul to help in the future. The Church membership in the area is small, with only about 50 people attending meetings, and there is only a single senior missionary couple assigned to the city. But we were able to work with the government to provide immediate assistance worth a great deal. It was very gratifying to be able to be a part of the Church’s response to the floods!

Ramadan

Ramadan is now about half over. It started on August 21 and will end on September 19. This is the Muslim holy month, when almost all Muslim adults fast from dawn (about an hour before sunrise) until the evening call to prayer, just after sunset. Ramadan is based on the lunar calendar; this year, the fast is for a 14-hour period.

We're greatly impressed with the Turks! Would we Americans be able to show such control? We have seen very few people eating or drinking during the day and only one or two people smoking—and that’s amazing, since not only do nearly half the Turks smoke, but they are heavy smokers. I’m sure there are some cranky people out there, but by and large, there is a festive feeling in the stores and in the streets.

The grocery stores are jammed with people, because after the evening call to prayer, families and friends gather for very festive dinners. There are special foods in the stores just for this time of year. We buy the fresh bread (Ramazan Pide) every day, and it’s so delicious that we often eat the whole loaf with dinner. There are also special desserts. I bought the ingredients for gullaç and made it, because the directions on the package were in English. It was easy—just boil milk and sugar and then pour it over thin sheets of, well, starch that are thinner than paper. I’m not sure I’ll ever make it again because it tasted sort of like sweet milk poured over paper, but it was a fun cultural experience. The restaurants are full of large tables of happy people in the evenings.

We were invited to one Iftar (festive meal after the fast), to be honored guests at a nursing home where we had donated some beds. We started with dates, then had a dinner of soup, chicken, rice, tomatoes, bread and watermellon. Everyone else ended with tea.

Burger King and McDonalds even have special Ramadan menus. The McDonalds’ hamburgers have turned into meatballs with Turkish spices, served on flat bread. Burger King still offers burgers—but they feature a Sultan, not a King. Both places serve ayran (a yogurt drink) with their combos instead of soft drinks. Both restaurants deliver here.

The only thing we haven’t enjoyed much about Ramadan so far is that our sleep has been a little disturbed. We think they have cranked up the volume for the 4:30 a.m. (pre-dawn) call to prayer. It is loud enough to wake us. At least we don’t have the neighborhood drummer who bangs a drum at 3:30 a.m. to awaken people for the early morning meal before the fast. Our neighborhood is sort of downtown, and the people in it aren’t as interested in keeping up that old tradition.

After Ramadan. the Muslims celebrate for four days called Seker Bayram, or Holidays of Sweets. Families exchange visits and give the children candy. Holidays here are very family-oriented, which is a wonderful aspect of Turkish culture.

The Gordion Knot and King Midas

History and legend came to life for us yesterday as we visited a little village, Gordion, about an hour and a half outside Ankara. It now has only about 500 inhabitants, but it has been continuously inhabited since the Bronze Age (3000 BC). One of the earliest Phrygian kings, Gordios, tied his ox cart with such an elaborate knot that it became legend that whoever could untie the knot would become master of Asia. The knot was kept on display in the temple, and when Alexander the Great and his armies marched across the Anatolian steppe in 334 BC, he went to the temple to untie the knot. He attempted to untie the knot but was unsuccessful. In an impatient rage, he took his sword and slashed the knot. He did go on to conquer the Persian Empire and become master of Asia, but sages considered that his untimely death at age 33 was his fate for his impatience with the knot.

The burial mound of King Midas is also in Gordion. He was a true historical Phrygian king who reigned during the 8th century BC, but there are legends associated with his name, including "the golden touch." We are pictured here with our Turkish friend, Meric, in front of his burial mound. There is a fine museum with Assyrian, Hittite, Phrygian, Lydian, Greek, Hellenistic, Roman and Slejik Turk treasures from nearby excavations. The coins found here indicate this was an important commercial and military center for many centuries.

Now the area is surrounded by grassy plains on which hay, melons and sunflowers are grown. Gypsies work as seasonal laborers and are camped near the village.

On the way home we visited Polatli, site of an important military battle in the Turkish War of Independence. The Greeks had captured the city, only an hour from Turkey's capital, Ankara. Ataturk commanded his troops not just to fight but to die for their country, and they were able to turn the Greeks back. There is a dramatic monument on a hilltop with a moving museum.

What a great outing!

Village Harvest Festival

We were invited to attend a harvest festival in a small village about 70 km outside Ankara. The mayor had heard about our work and invited us as special guests to visit the village school, which is in great need. We attended with Seda, our interpreter, and some of her friends.

The festival was wonderful. There was lots of traditional music, with singers and instrumentalists: a drum, a piercing reed flute, and a sach (like a lute). There were also wonderful dancers.

Our grandsons would have loved the male dancer's costumes, because each one featured a weapon. The young men each had a dagger hanging from his belt, and the older men danced with swords and had a dagger, pistol or other weapon tucked in his waistband.

The dress of the villagers was as colorful. More than half the women wore the traditional long skirt and headscarf, but several wore the full trousers that are tight at the ankles but very voluminous and low in the crotch. Many men wore the traditional trousers, which I have captured in the last photo.

After a few hours at the festival, we visited the school and then went to a private home for some refreshments. It was a holy day, one of three before Ramadan starts next month, so the hostess had made special sweet desserts.

It was a wonderful, most interesting day!

John and Louise Dalton Visit us in Turkey

We had the most wonderful visit with Louise and John Dalton, my sister and her husband. They had been on a Greek Islands cruise, which ended in Istanbul. From there they flew to Ankara on Sunday morning, where we spent two fun days together. They arrived in time to speak in our meeting, and then we visited Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s tomb. The next day we went to a museum, ate börek from a stand (a mistake, I discovered later) and saw many sights in Ankara.

Tuesday morning we all flew to Istanbul together. We stayed in a lovely and interesting hotel filled with “ceiling ornaments,” lamps made from all sorts of beautiful glass pieces. It is just down the street from the Basilica Cistern, and we could see both the Haghia Sofia and the Blue Mosque from our front balcony. After visiting the Haghia Sophia and having lunch with the Istanbul missionaries we took a small cruise on the Bosporus. It was a beautiful day, and we really enjoyed just relaxing and soaking up the beauty of the day and the city. On the way home we walked through the Spice Market.

We spent our second day at Topkapı Palace, the Blue Mosque and other nearby sites. Louise and I linked arms and walked and talked as fast as we could. We had a great visit! We had lunch at a little restaurant in a park, overlooking the water. In the afternoon we sat in front of the hotel and watched the street action and talked more. We even found time to shop; Louise bought me a beautiful necklace for my birthday.

After dinner at an outdoor restaurant we strolled around and looked at the lights on the Haghia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. It was a beautiful evening! The next morning we took a shuttle to the airport together, and the Daltons returned to the States and we to Ankara. It was a wonderful, wonderful visit!

As you can see, rules for Senior Missionaries are less strict than for young missionaries. We are able to have visitors—so we’d love to see you, too!