Our Turkish Class

We have started a Beginning Turkish class at Tömer, a part of Ankara University. It is only a 10 or 15-minute walk from our apartment. Our class is small and lively. It includes two Americans besides us, a diplomat (in tie) and a young man who is preparing to teach English here. The other students are from Saudi Arabia, Russia and Japan. They are all married to diplomats. English is our common language, and we all speak better English than our teacher, Eren Hamım (Ms. Eren), who is a Turk. She is on the back row in the picture. She teaches us in a wide variety of fun ways.

Our classes are 4 hours on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Some of the students have been in Turkey quite a while and speak the language pretty well, so our class moves along at sometimes frightening speed. All the teaching is done in Turkish, and when we have been away from class for a while, it is very hard to attune our ears again and understand everything that is going on. But we are enjoying it greatly, and we find we’re able to figure out a lot more of what’s going on around us. (The words on the oven and the instruction booklet on the washing machine at home are still complete mysteries, though, and will probably remain so.)

The Saudi Arabian woman often has her driver stop by the bakery to buy treats for the class, so last night I made oatmeal/chocolate chip cookies to take to class. They were a big hit, and everyone wants the recipe. We got the chocolate chips at the commissary at the small US military base in Ankara, but oatmeal is available here.

We have homework every night. At first it looked like first grade work, with pictures and blanks, but it’s less juvenile now. The class is hard work but lots of fun.

We have visited many public schools, and they are terribly overcrowded. This is a third grade class which has 56 students in the morning and another 56 students in the afternoon. Private education is expensive. We are planning a project with this school; we hope to provide them with new desks. The students were all very eager to practice their English on us--but they didn't get past, "Hello, my name is ...."

Now I can say goodbye several ways: İyı günler, güle güle, Allah ısmarladık, görüşürüs! Bye bye!

First Humanitarian Projects

Last Tuesday we had our first appointment with a potential partner organization for a humanitarian project. We had been anxious to get started, but were delayed by our interpreter, who needed some medical attention to her ankle before she was able to get around. She finally made an appointment with the Turkish Foundation for the Blind, and when we arrived, we were introduced to about 10 people, who all sat down with us around a large table. We were slightly unnerved by the size of the group, which turned out to be the entire board of directors of the foundation. One of them was a sort of elder statesman, whose card described him as "Ex Minister of State" and "Ex President of Religious Affairs". That made us wonder if they would want to work with us. When we traded business cards, one of the board members asked what the "LDS" meant in "LDS Charities". Ron told him, "Latter-day Saints", and he asked, "Isn't that Christian?" Ron said, "Yes", and there was a pause. (Ankara is about 99% Muslim, and many do not to work with Christians.) Then the conversation went on. It was not an issue after that. The president of the foundation is very sharp and speaks a lot of English; it turns out he got a Masters from USC in the 60's. He will be great to work with.

They showed us a small computer lab, where 5 blind persons were using "talking computers" to learn computer and secretarial skills under instruction from a teacher. They hope to expand the lab to accommodate 10 students and hope we can help them. We'll decide about that as we get more info on cost, sustainability, etc. They were very cordial to us, and even served us herb tea while they drank their tea (an invariable part of business and social meetings). We left feeing pretty good about our first effort to represent LDS Charities. We felt like we had received some "tender mercies" when we needed them.

The next day we visited a school for disabled children. In Turkey, many parents of disabled children are ashamed, and their elders encourage them to keep the children at home and not educate them. So a vital part of this school is family education. We're looking forward to working with this family-oriented school!

Anatolian Civilization Museum

We have now been to the Anatolian Civilization Museum twice. What an amazing place! Even the building is tremendously old: it was built in the mid 1400s to house a market. They have many, many artifacts, all presented beautifully—with English titles. Their earliest artifacts date from 9,000 BC! In 1997, this museum was designated as the best museum in Europe. They had a huge collection of early writings, like cuneiform tablets. They even had cuneiform tablets with envelopes! There were lots of Roman statuary, and jewelry and pottery from many civilizations. They had a very large Hittite collection, with a gigantic room filled with friezes and carved lions. It was wonderful! The only thing missing was a museum gift shop--but I was able to go to a market a few days later and find replicas of some Hittite jewelry. Perfect!

Ataturk's Tomb

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the father of the modern Turkish Republic, is more than revered here—he is almost deified. His mausoleum is a huge, imposing structure that takes up a whole hill on the west of the city. Because he was a military hero in WWI (he was in command at the battle of Gallilopoli), it’s not surprising that there is such a military presence at his tomb.

The walk to his tomb is lined with 24 lions ("aslan" in Turkish). There is also a museum that contains his automobiles, books, clothes and many presents from foreign dignitaries. Underneath the mausoleum is a very patriotic diorama of the war of independence.

Atatürk is said to have dragged Turkey 400 years into the present day. He gave rights to women, instituted universal education, changed the alphabet from Arabic to Latin, reformed the language, changed the calendar and time system to correspond to Europe, encouraged modern dress, and established a secular state—to name only a few of his accomplishments. He also required that Turks have last names, and the name given him, Atatürk, means father of the Turks. His picture is in every office and schoolroom.

The Streets of Ankara

We have spent a lot of time walking around Ankara this week because our interpreter is sick and unable to help us with appointments. It’s winter, and the tree branches are bare, but the sun has been shining. If we keep moving, it’s not too cold. We find we want to be outdoors for a few hours every day. We miss California weather and living! We have visited a few parks which we will be glad to see once the world is green again. Giant swans swim in the park nearest us, and they look very cold!

We live near the foreign embassies here in the capital city of Turkey. When we walk around them, we feel like we are in Europe, because we see a lot of French and German language signs. Then we hear middle-Eastern music, and we KNOW we aren't in Europe! I carry a small dictionary in my purse so we can look up Turkish signs.

We visited the Kocatepe mosque again—and this time we also visited the large mall underneath the mosque. There is a multi-level shopping center there, with nice shops, a market, bakery, etc. We find it very surprising that a huge shopping center would be directly underneath a sacred structure. The people who visit each place are very distinct: all the women’s heads are covered “up top” near the mosque. We even saw one woman in complete burka with only her eyes showing. Downstairs, all are in western dress.

On the sidewalks, the men usually walk ahead of the women. Men will link arms and walk together, and so will women; but the sexes don’t mix much on the streets. Occasionally we’ll see a teen couple slyly holding hands, but not too often. I have been reminded of my place in society while out walking. I thought that as a “little old lady” I would command some respect on the street because of my age, but apparently my gender is more important. Females don’t get any respect! At first I expected young men to step out of the way on the very crowded sidewalks—and I nearly got knocked down a few times. Men do not step aside for women. Now I ask Ron to walk ahead and clear a way for me!