Thursday, September 30th, 2004

Up at far too early of a time. Selo was to come and get me but was late. I’m thinking that perhaps I will buy a mobile phone so that I can be in better contact with the few people I am around. Maybe I can keep it and bring it back to the states after I leave… I don’t know. Even though I can only call three people it would probably pay for itself. And I’m sure I’ll meet more, so it’ll work itself out.

I met with Selo’s English class today. What a different scene than Hakan’s class. The students were much rowdier, and it didn’t seem like he had a whole lot of control over them. Perhaps it was because I was there. I’m not sure. He had me do a few activities with them but nothing major. Spelling names and the like. I think Hakan teaches much more advanced classes… or just has a much more effective style. Probably both.

Some tourism students, females I have to admit, invited me to go out with them this weekend. Selo teased me about the attention from the ladies but told me that I should do it. So I probably will… they seem to speak English very well and will be a refreshing change from the professor crowd. The profs are nice, but I miss my peers. It’s funny; females are much more assertive than males are here. I receive many invites to come to a girl’s home or whatever, but never anything from guys. I wonder what the deal is.

After lunch I helped translate some letters and documents for the school. It seems that the Foreign Relations Dept. is actually not a department for students, but one for actual foreign relations. It’s just that most of the professors in the department teach classes as well. It’s so odd to help with translations. You get asked the funniest questions and see some amazing combinations of words. It’s nice to help though. It makes me feel like I’m being useful here.

After Selo left for his classes I did some research on governmental economics websites. Kept falling asleep though. Finally at 4:10 I shut the office door and passed out on the couch for a good hour. No one came in luckily. It’s so funny; I know I’m doing a lot here but still feel like I’m not doing anything. It’s hard to explain. I do wonder about this research project and how far I should go with it. I’m not worry too much now though, as I have a presentation on GC to prepare for next Friday. This should be cake, but I still want to do a good job. So I may start on it soon. Try to dazzle them. However, setting the bar to high may be a bad thing. They may end up expecting some sort of Master’s thesis on the economy if I give them too much at the beginning. I don’t know… they treat me like I can do no wrong, but I would hate to disappoint.

Bekir Gülbidi invited me to his house for dinner, so off we went. At 7:00 pm I might add. It seems that university profs work late, as there are many evening classes and late office hours. I am quite often at the school for 11 hours a day. So I actually feel quite good about my nap. I think I shall be culturally insensitive and take them more often!!!

Bekir lives 2 kilometers outside of the city center in a country house he built himself. It turns out that his Master’s is not in Computer Science but in Construction! He studied C.S. for his doctorate. The house and property was very beautiful. Simple but very pleasing. They have a large garden where they grow tasty fruits and veggies organic style.

Anyway, we had a good dinner and nice talks. I met his three sons who were very enjoyable. The four year old kept calling me “Baba Simon”, which means “Father Simon”. Very touching. The one thing that threw me, and this is perhaps my first culture shock (although not that distressing) is that I was not allowed to see his wife. I knew that Bekir is a devout Muslim, although I did not understand the extent of it. He explained that after their marriage, he wife is not allowed to see another man. Ever. This was a definite surprise. We kept the door to the living room shut. Dinner was prepared out of site. We ate the dinner while she stayed upstairs, then returned to the living room. She cleaned up, made us coffee, and all the other things that hosts do. And I never saw her. I guess guy has seen her other than Bakir since they were married. That was 17 years ago. Wow!

After he dropped me off at home (arms laden with apples, pomegranates, hazelnuts and more from their garden) I had a very random encounter. I was in my room getting ready for bed when I heard a knock on the door. Actually, I was on the can when the knock occurred. I ignored it in hope that whoever it was would go away. No such luck. More knocking. Went to the door and answered. The night watchman comes in with a hearty “Merhaba (hello)”, unfolds a mat out, dumps a ton of sunflower seeds onto it, and motions for me to start eating. Which we did. For 40 minutes. The funny thing for me is, this happened at 11:20 pm. Crazy Turks and their late night shenanigans! I even tried to drop hints like “yawwwwnnnn” and folding my clothes and cleaning off my bed. Nothing. I speak no Turkish, he speaks no English. So we were stuck.

Finally at midnight (I had stopped eating the dumb seeds twenty minutes earlier) he grins, hands me the huge bag from which he had poured, and says goodnight. Heh… it has not been more awkward here. The whole thing is really quite funny. And it says something nice about the Turkish people. He received nothing from me, not even conversation, just simply enjoyed sharing sunflower seeds together. They are a generous group of people. Sometimes the generosity works in the wrong ways (at least not in ways that I’m used to), but it permeates what they do. Or at least how they treat me. And I think that is well worth remembering.