Ankara Midyear Evauation Meeting

February 18-20, 2016

Once again, 104 Fulbright grantees gathered at the famed (or infamous) Niza Park Otel. We were all summoned here for a mandatory, 3-day midyear evaluation meeting. The purpose was to check in with grantees, give updates, and discuss some ways to overcome issues we might be facing at our sites.

The thing with the Fulbright Program is that no site can be comparable to another. Each university is different, each city is different, and therefore each Fulbrighter is having a unique experience. This also means that there is a wide spectrum of positive and negative experiences at each location. Some folks, for example, do not have good relations with their university representation; some are struggling to get Turkish lessons, even 2 hours a week; some universities, like ours, are strict with international travel permission while others let their Fulbrighters go to a different country every weekend. Some Fulbrighters are actually teaching the 21 hours/week contractual obligation, some are teaching 2 hours to nothing (like us). Some are struggling in the classroom because they have no teaching experience, others are thriving. Some love their bustling cities, others are not fond of their conservative towns. Some wish the Fulbright Program provided more professional skills to advance their careers, others love the “year off” mentality.

The agenda was similar to Orientation, with speakers and panelists, briefings and updates. Something unique to the midyear evaluation meeting was the singing performances, in which I also participated, and the talent show. The talent show was amusing. I’m impressed that my fellow peers had learned Turkish songs, instruments, and dances.

Overall, it was great to see some of my peers and chat with new friends. With a cohort as big as 104, it’s absolutely impossible to know everyone on a personal level. People chatted about their travels and shared their awful university situations. There were opportunities to empathize, sympathize, and even pity or envy. We got cool blue t-shirts, though the company made the sizes too small. Everyone complained. I got a small, for example, and I felt like I was wearing a 6-year-old’s tshirt! I switched to a medium immediately, and even that was tight. Oh well. Another gym tshirt to add to the collection I suppose.

With hotel roomie Erika Prince, placed in Ankara.

We had the same hotel roommates, and I loved sharing a room with Erika Prince. She’s stationed in Ankara and shared her experiences of being in the capital with two bombings already. We also exchanged some “fossip” (Fulbright gossip) and vented about things in our cities, especially within our school. Unfortunately, similar to our situation, Erika and her roommate are underutilized at their university. They were told they would be helping prepare a classroom curriculum; not only did that not happen, they also had no students to teach for the first few months. It’s really disheartening to hear that, like me, so many of my fellow Fulbrighters are not having a meaningful professional experience through this prestigious program. If I were a recent college graduate, perhaps I would have enjoyed this year off; but I am a 20-something young professional who likes being challenged and doesn’t like her days to go to waste. On the flip side of that, I know I’ve gained some really spectacular cultural and travel experiences which have been very valuable and enriching. Sometimes we don’t always get what we sign up for, but it’s important to make the most of the situation and count our blessings.

One aspect of midyear that I really enjoyed were safe-space workshops organized by Fulbrighter Sarah Khan, who is placed in Sinop near the Black Sea region. She single-handedly organized topics, questions, and sought out facilitators for the following workshops: experiences of women of color in Turkey, faith and religion in Turkey, and identity discovery in Turkey. It was really chilling to hear some of the experiences that my fellow Fulbrighters were having, especially those of harassment, struggle with trying to convince Turks that they’re “American” (something I can relate to), and how some have gained a greater appreciation and understanding of the religion of Islam.

On the last day of the meeting, we had the option to make a few video remarks about the program for promotional purposes. I decided to be interviewed and my video is now available on YouTube here. Check it out!

Free Day: The Hamam Experience

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Finally, our first free day! Nothing scheduled on the agenda, we can do what we want, roam as we please. The program advisers created a fun scavenger hunt that we could do around the city, but most people just made their own plans.

I decided to sleep until noon, take lunch at the hotel, and then join the group of about 20 students who were leaving for the hamam. Turks go to the hamam once a week or once a month to bathe and socialize with friends. Men and women sections are separated. After a long week, I knew I could use a massage and a good cleaning, but little did I know what was in store for me.

Three girls and I carpooled a taxi to the hamam, which cost all of us 5TL. I’m learning that carpooling is an efficient and cheap way to get around. When we arrived, we met up with the other 8 or so girls. Everyone paid for the package they wanted—majority of us selected the scrub, coffee bean cleansing, a soupy massage cleansing, and a pedicure, costing 72 TL (~$25, pretty cheap by U.S. standards). We were directed to changing rooms, where we took off our clothes and emerged in towels. Then we entered the “bathing section”—the hamam where the magic happens. At first, I was really uncomfortable at the sight of topless women having a good time, chatting about, and casually cleaning themselves and others. I didn’t know what to do, so I followed the lead of Bianca, a returning grantee. When she took off her towel, my jaw dropped. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do the same. But then, after a few moments of thinking, I thought to myself: when in Turkey, do as Turks do.

There was a hexagon-shaped pedestal in the center of the hamam. Along the walls, there were mini stone bathtubs holding lukewarm water. I copied what other women were doing, and began to wash myself with soap and warm water. There was a sense of discomfort and excitement on all of our faces; and I must admit, this was quite an intimate way of getting to know my fellow peers. Then, the cleaning ladies dressed in black bathing suits came and grabbed us one by one. They asked us to lie down on our stomachs, each of taking one side of the hexagonal centerpiece. Once the magic started, people were no longer staring at one another.

People are washed on the hexagonal center of the hamam.

First, the lady scrubbed me with a special glove, which peeled off my dead skin cells. I could see black dirt-like pieces falling to the ground. It was utterly gross. I then took a warm shower to wash it all away. Second, she used crushed coffee beans to exfoliate my skin. It felt like I was covered in mud, both on the back and the front. As she scrubbed me all over my body, she also massaged me and took out some knots from my shoulder muscles which had become tense from the travels and the long Orientation sessions. Again, I washed away the coffee with a quick warm shower. My third cleansing was with a soft soap that felt like silk and smelled like roses. Once again, the lady massaged me and I felt at ease. I showered off the bubbles, and sat in the steaming room for a few minutes to soften my skin. I grabbed my towel, and left the hamam for the upstairs spa where I got a pedicure. I was feeling Turkish so I asked that my toes be painted in red. My toes smiled to thank me.

By the end of the experience, I felt clean, happy, relaxed, and also empowered. I embraced my femininity, celebrated my womanhood with other women, and appreciated my female body. I saw women of all ages, shapes, and sizes, and it was beautiful. I expected to form many friendships during my Fulbright experience, but I had underestimated the depth of those bonds. The intimate experience at the hamam will be one that will be remembered forever.

The beautiful Luna Park.

The group broke up and everyone pursued different activities. I spent the rest of the day walking around with Alex and Karlene. We practiced our limited Turkish when purchasing a simits, buying ice cream, and traveling on the bus. We strolled through the beautiful Luna Park, which is split into a scenic picnic spot and an amusement park (which only cost 25 kuruş to enter). We watched families having a good time at the rides or relaxing under trees. Friends were taking pictures and young couples held hands. Ankara appears to be more liberal than the eastern part of Turkey. Thanks to Karlene’s intermediate Turkish, we were able to find the correct bus back to the hotel, where we exchanged stories with our peers about today’s exciting events as we ate dinner. 

Karlene, Alex, and myself at the Luna Park (amusement park).

Orientation Day 4: Atatürk Mausoleum & More Turkish

Thursday, September 3, 2015

With Alex in front of the mausoleum.

Merhaba

Today's agenda began with a trip to the Mausoleumof Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the highly revered founder of Turkey. The word "Atatürk literally means the "father of Turks" and no one in the country can ever posses that surname; not even his sister was allowed to take it on. Like most founders of countries, prior to becoming a highly esteemed leader of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Pasha was an army general and war hero. The mausoleum/museum covers 700 square meters which includes a Peace Park. It was really amazing to see how much Turks honor this great man, who was also a well-known international figure. I have read about Atatürk the Great only in history books, but experiencing the mausoleum was surreal and enriching. 
 

In front of one of the many portraits of Atatürk.

After seeing the mausoleum where Atatürk's tomb is buried and guarded by two soldiers who are required to stand still for 4 hours at a time (they can die, but if they move, there are huge ramifications), we proceeded to the underground museum. I am a history buff and I loved all the historical facts that the tour guide was sharing with us. For the first section of the museum, cameras and videos were forbidden. In this special hallway,  portraits of Atatürk from his presidency lined on the right hand side while personal belongings and special gifts from foreign leaders were displayed on the left. A personal belonging that I found particularly interesting was a side-by-side comparison of Atatürk's old passport in Arabic (from the Ottoman Empire) and a new passport in Turkish (derived from the Latin alphabet). Gifts such as swords, pens, cigar boxes, and smoking pipes decorated in jewels and gold were an awe-inspiring sight.

Atatürk introduced Latin alphabet for modern Turkish.

The second section of the museum was filled with 3-D panoramas of famous battles, portraits of all the past leaders of Turkey, sculptures, a library, and numerous exhibits describing Turkish history and Atatürk's reforms of modernization. I didn't have enough time to read through all the captivating artifacts and historical documents, but I was and still am the most fascinated by how Atatürk was able to, overnight, change the language of a nation that was used to a particular way of speaking, writing, and communicating for centuries. "Overnight" is an exaggeration of course, but the new Latin alphabet, introduced in 1928 thereby abolishing the Arabic script, was implemented in a matter of only 2-5 years. Two to five years. That's unbelievable, and my mind my blown just thinking about that fact alone. The tour guide said that this reform helped resolve the literacy problem in Turkey; literacy rate jumped from 10% to 70% and the adaption of the new alphabet was very quick. Still, can you imagine if President Obama tried to solve the American "literary problem" by adopting a new alphabet (that he handpicks) and imposes it on the entire nation? It's mind blowing.

 

Role of women during the war for freedom.

There were many beautiful paintings decorated throughout the museum. The one showcasing the role of women during war and battles was one of my favorite ones because it brought attention to the important role that women play during wartime, which is often neglected and unrecognized (universally true). In this painting, you can see the colorful clothing that women are wearing (very similar to Pakistani salwar kameez) and a day at the local shop.

After a lunch break, we had a session on the responsibilities of an ETA and how to make English teaching fun in the classroom. Then we plunged into three hours of Turkish lessons. Today I learned numbers, singular/plural tenses of nouns, and practiced more basic dialogues such as "Hi my name is Mariya, what's yours? How are you? How old are you? Where are you from?" I made the class giggle when I accidentally responded with a "si" (Spanish word for yes) to the teacher's question. I did this again later in the classroom when I was struggling to come up with a phrase and I turned to my teacher and said "Como se dice?" ("How do you say ____" in Spanish). My brain is trying to make sense the linguistic interaction between Urdu, Spanish, English, and Arabic. This means I'll either learn Turkish really fast or I will fail at it because there's too much mumble jumble in my head. Only one way to find out: HOMEWORK! Off I go.

Journey to Ankara

There are two take-away's from this post:

• First, that I am safely in my final destination of Ankara, alhamdulillah.
• Second, the journey was quite bumpy and interesting. See below for the three legs of my journey.

IAD (Dulles), 9:30pm to CDG (Paris), 11am
After saying goodbye to my family, I waited at my gate for an hour. An Air France staff lady walked around the waiting area looking for volunteers to check in additional carry-on items for free; I gladly gave up my carry-on, becoming a minimalist traveling only with my backpack which held my laptop, wallet, and journal. For the first time in my life, I had a seat near the emergency exit. I was promised extra leg room in exchange for guiding passengers safely to the exit in case of an actual emergency. There were two ladies who accompanied me in that role. To my left sat an African woman who was traveling to Mali for a peacekeeping mission for the UN, and to my right sat a white woman who had a cold. The worst part about this 8-hour flight was that I may have caught the white lady's germs. I did watch Legally Blonde 2 and The Queen though, which was a good balance between fun and serious movies, and helped me not think about the germs I was breathing. I'm very germophobic.

CDG (Paris), 12:35pm to IST (Istanbul), 16:55

A view of mountains while flying to Istanbul.

This was a very troubling flight. It was late, I felt sick on it, and there was an unusual passenger on board. While waiting at the gate, I ran into another Fulbrighter headed to Turkey. She was also Pakistani like me and therefore we bonded over our desi culture. But as we started boarding, we heard screaming from the back of the 25-row plane. At first I thought someone was getting medical assistance, but as I made my way towards my seat in the 20th row, I saw two French police officers holding down an Arab-looking man. When I put my backpack in the overhead compartment, I could see that the Arab man was handcuffed. He was yelling at the top of his lungs, repeating the same two phrases. I can't remember what he was saying, but I remember hearing the word "Hezbollah" a few times. I felt nervous and uneasy being seated so close to him. The Pakistani girl was seated in row 24, and she was even more scared than I was, so she asked that I sit with her. As a good friend, I agreed to be supportive. In row 24, we both sat directly across from what appeared to be a detainee, literally 3 feet away. As he screamed and banged his head against the seat, I couldn't help but stare. I felt nauseous, jet-lagged, hungry, sick, and sleepy; and now, very uncomfortable because of what I witnessed. After everyone was seated, the French steward noticed us turning completely yellow and he moved us to seats towards the front of the plane. I felt better about my new window seat, but still had a ranging headache as I tried to make sense of my sniffles and what was happening. As soon as we were served lunch (best plane food I have ever eaten, by the way! - mushroom/mozzarella cheese hot pocket sandwich, bread with brie cheese, pasta with salmon, and a chocolate brownie!), I took two pills of Advil-like pain killer medicine and slept like a baby. I managed to snap a picture from my window seat during landing. Enjoy the pretty mountains! (Unfortunately I don't know what mountain range that is.)

IST (Istanbul), 19:35 to ESD (Ankara), 21:02
Istanbul was a mad house! I felt like an ant squirming in an ant house or a dirt hole, pushing over other ants to move ahead. Needless to say, it was the most stressful airport experience of my journey. I had to single-handedly retrieve my luggage and recheck it for a domestic flight. This was not an easy task. My first challenge was getting a cart; I didn't have any Euros and the currency exchange line was huge. I decided to offer the lady in line ahead of me Turkish lira for a Euro coin; much to my surprise, she was very kind and gave me the coin for free! So glad to know goodness still exists in the world. I proceeded to my luggage claim area, which was the furthest station in the airport. Just my luck. With God's grace, I got all my luggage and exited the "international" section of the Istanbul Ataturk Airport and proceeded to the "domestic" section. This is where things were haywire. It was very disorganized and people were rushing in every direction. I managed to finally find Turkish Airlines desk and waited in line to book my luggage and get my boarding pass. Not only did people cut me in line, which I found to be rude and frustrating, I had to pay again to check my luggage, which as you know I despise. The man who was helping me could not speak any English, and I encountered my first gesticulating experience. He gave me a receipt with luggage weight printed on it and instructed me to go make a payment at the sales desk; noting that he would withhold my passport until I do so. What a hassle, and how inconvenient. I had to make my way back through squirming ants, wait in another line at the sales office, and pay approximately $60 in Turkish lira. After my first successful Turkish lira transaction, I went back to the short man at the Turkish Airlines desk, gave him my receipt of payment, and he finally issued me my boarding pass. Many people asked him questions while he was helping me and I exercised my patience skills.

When I found my domestic flight's gate, I found a huddle of young people sitting in a circle on the floor. Such an American thing to do at airports, and at once, I knew that was the Fulbright bunch. I chatted with them, made new friends, and waited for the flight to Ankara with dry eye contacts and an exhausted body. The food on the flight was eggplant sauce and a turkey sandwich -- ha, I'm not sure if that was supposed to be a punny joke on their part. The domestic flight was quick, maybe 40 minutes but the landing was atrocious. Instead of a smooth "woosh", the plane landed with a big "THUMP". Luckily we were all safe.

Ankara to Hotel
Like a sheep following a herd, all passengers getting off the Ankara flight went to the first sign that said "baggage claim". What many people missed, including myself and all my fellow Fulbright peers, was that there were two baggage claim areas -- an international one, and a domestic one. So where does everyone go? To the wrong baggage claim. For some people who were able to book their luggage directly to Ankara, the international baggage claim area was the correct place to be. But for majority of us, we waited like fools in the international section not realizing that our baggage was actually in the domestic area since our flight was coming from Istanbul. These are real life experiences, people. It would help if I knew some Turkish -- inshAllah, soon I will. At about 23rd hour (11pm), a group of of us found our luggage, took the Belko Air bus to the hotel (very fancy and comfortable for only 8 TL ~ $2.50), got off at a big station, took a taxi that drove 100mph without seat belts, and reached our destination, the fancy Niza Park Hotel, at 12:30am. My phone battery was at 3% and the first thing I did when I got into my room was charge it and let my family know I had safely arrived.