New Year's in Istanbul

December 31, 2015 – January 3, 2016

Happy New Year everyone!! May the year 2016 bring good health and happiness to you and your family.

New Year is one-of-a-kind holiday. It is special because it is celebrated universally, and it symbolizes many things: a new start, courage to let go of the past, strength to forgive and move on, and gratitude for being able to travel around the sun one more time. To me, a New Year is a mix of all these things. I look forward to what 2016 has to bring, while I smile at all what’s happened in 2015. I'm excited to let go of some of my past struggles and confront the new ones. For all the people that have hurt me or caused me anguish, I'm ready to forgive them and move on as a stronger person. And most importantly, I'm grateful to be alive for one more year, to spend time with my loved ones, and to live my life to the fullest.

I often use New Year's Eve as a time to reflect about the good and bad things that have happened in the last 365 days, while staying optimistic about what the next 365 days will bring.

As a recap, here are my 2015 milestones. I am grateful for all of these things.

• 2015 started with breathing in a sigh of relief after submitting all my grad school apps
• In March, I was selected for the Fulbright fellowship
• In April, I was accepted to the Tufts Fletcher School
• In May, I was offered the Pickering Fellowship, that brought me to tears
• In July, I left my work at Liberty Mutual with mixed emotions
• In August, I moved to Turkey, unaware of the challenges and opportunities that lied ahead of me
• Since August until now, I have been exploring Turkey, learning new things, making new friends, learning Turkish

Here are things I look forward to in 2016:

• Europe trip over winter break, if we can manage to plan it.
• Going home to America! Homesickness is real.
• Summer internship at the U.S. State Department’s Pakistan Desk.
• Moving back to MA for graduate school—brrr, hello snow again.

These are my three New Year’s resolutions:

• Drink more water. There is no better medicine than water. People drink a lot of Coca Cola in Turkey, and I plan to order su (water) at restaurants from now.
• Jog more and build stamina for running again, as I want to stay fit.
• Learn to read and write Urdu—Urdu is my native language and I can speak it fluently since I was born in Pakistan and lived there for 8 years before moving to the USA; however, I have lost the abilities to read and write this beautiful language. The alphabet is suppressed in my memory somewhere so I feel fairly confident that an intense summer course might bring me up to speed. Perhaps the State Department will allow me to study at their Foreign Service Institute (FSI) during my summer internship.

Traveling to Istanbul

Alex and I decided to spend New Year in Istanbul. We hadn’t traveled in three weeks, and revisiting Istanbul seemed like a good idea—we would get to see the famed fireworks and spend time with other Fulbrighters in Turkey’s historical city. We had a rough start, however.

Our administration failed to communicate to us that we had no speaking club classes the week leading up to New Year’s Day, which was frustrating because Alex and I booked an evening flight to Istanbul. Had we known we didn’t have afternoon classes, we could have booked an earlier flight. To make matters worse, it was snowing in Istanbul and there were an unusual amount of flights going to Istanbul, both of which contributed to major delays. Those that know me well know that I can be very impatient, especially during situations that do not have a logical justification. I could not figure out why every flight to Istanbul was delayed. Should the airport not plan for enough runways? This isn’t the first time people are flocking to Istanbul to celebrate New Year’s, therefore shouldn’t the airport officials and airlines plan for these types of situations ahead of time? Whatever happened to data analysis? If I were still at my desk at Liberty Mutual, I’d be slicing and dicing customer data like nobody’s business. Alas, I’m in Turkey and this place is surely teaching me patience.

Headed to Istanbul on NYE with Toffee Nut Latte.

Alex and I decided to kill our time by sipping Starbucks coffee. I’m actually not a huge fan of Starbucks—overpriced coffee is so overrated—but every once in a while, in peculiar situations like this one, when one’s soul is left with nothing but desperation, when frustration leaves you with no other choice, I resort to the multinational, multi-million dollar company to provide me with a warm cup of caffeine that can calm my nerves. And it worked. Toffee Nut Latte was just what I needed to calm my negativity and pessimism. I complained to Alex that we would miss the fireworks, that this trip was ruined, that it wasn’t worth it any more. I was grateful to her positivism because I was beginning to lose hope. That’s one of my favorite things about Alex; she reminds me of the light at the end of the tunnel. We make a great team!

Finally at a little past 10pm, our flight began boarding. In less than an hour, we were in Istanbul. Finally! But…it was snowing. We took a bus to Taksim Square. But the clock was ticking, and I feared that we would ring in the New Year en route to our destination. My fear came true. Alex and I counted the final minute of 2015 on an unusually quite bus. I couldn’t understand why everyone else was silent. Weren’t they happy for 2016? In hushed voices, Alex and I whispered “10, 9, 8, 7….” and then threw our hands in the air, and gave each other a hug. And this is how I spent my New Year’s Eve, my friends. No pity needed, because at least I was with someone I loved, Alex. Besides, all holidays are about being with the people you love. “Plus, it’s not New Year’s in America yet, so we really didn’t miss it,” said Alex, reminding me again to stay positive.

When we got to Taksim Square, we called our Airbnb host who directed us to take a taxi to the hostel. The weather was miserable; it was a blizzard as we got off the bus. We decided to taxi to our hostel, which was 10 minutes away. The driver made small talk with us and appeared to be very warm—but he turned out to be a crook! He asked us for 100 lira, which I knew was a joke; and then tried to tell us that he was giving us a concession and charging us only 50 lira. Which is still SUPER expensive. The ride should have only cost 10 or 15 lira, but instead we were forced to pay 50 lira. I begged the driver to give us 10 lira back so that we could buy baklava or something. Feeling guilty for ripping off two innocent girls, he smiled through the rearview mirror and handed us the 10 lira change. I expected rates to be high on New Year’s Eve, but this guy was a total crook. I don’t understand people cheat others. It’s an awful thing to do, and I don’t know how people live with themselves after having committed the deed. Needless to say, being overcharged by the taxi driver was the icing on the cake of our awful travel to Istanbul.

Hostel

Our hostel was actually pretty sweet, unlike the first one which was super sketchy. Four other girls joined us for this 7-bed hostel: Monica, Sara, Jessica, and Caitie. There were three sets of bunk beds plus a lone one. The hostel came with heating, towels, soap, shampoo, and slipper—I was super impressed. Felt like a mini hotel, but for a much cheaper cost of course. The only downfall of this hostel was the alley on which it’s located. Our host was also very hospitable, constantly checking in on us and being available at all times. The living situation was great, no complaints here.

Istiklal Street

Istiklal means ‘independence.’ Istiklal Avenue is one of the most famous streets in Istanbul. It is apparently visited by nearly 3 million people in a single day over the course of weekends, according to Wikipedia. “Located in the historic Beyoğlu (Pera) district, it is an elegant pedestrian street, 1.4 kilometers long, which houses boutiques, music stores, bookstores, art galleries, cinemas, theatres, libraries, cafés, pubs, night clubs with live music, historical patisseries, chocolateries and restaurants.” There’s even a historic red tram that runs up and down the street. The girls and I indulged in Persian food and sweets the night we hung out. I ordered an awful dish at the Persian restaurant—something sweet with walnuts, but curried in a dark gravy. Even though I didn’t enjoy my dinner, the cheesecake we had afterward totally made up for it.

 

Dolmabahçe Palace

One of the highlights of this trip was visiting the historical, extravagant, and ginormous palace of the Sultans. Sarah, Jessica, Alex, and I toured the Dolmabahce Palace on Saturday. It costs 30 TL for adults and 5 TL for students with IDs. The Dolmabahce Palace is a luxurious palace built by the many great Ottoman Sultans, and later used by the founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk. Ataturk used the place for work and occasionally lived in it. He also died in this palace on November 10, 1938 at 9:05am—all the clocks in this 285-room palace are stopped at that hour/minute to pay tribute to the father of this republic. Today, the palace is used as a museum and as a place to host foreign dignitaries. Maybe one day I'll be welcomed here as a representative of the USA. The palace is located near the Bosphorus, with huge gates smiling at the shining waters and waving at the tour boats swimming by. When my family and uncle visit Istanbul, I hope to take them on a Bosphorous ferry tour so that they can see the entire city. Because of the icy weather, it was very slippery to walk outside the palace. Our feet froze many a times, but we survived cold feet just to be able to see the magnificent interior. The palace had many rooms that were themed to a color, like the “red room” and the “blue room.” This reminded me of the East Wing of The White House, which, too, has color-themed rooms. We must have stolen the idea from the Sultans. Anyhow, even though we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, the tour was lovely and this is definitely a destination I’m adding to the itinerary of my family’s spring visit.

Orientation Day 11: Multiple Intelligences & Ambassador's Reception

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Orientation continued again with the three ladies from the State Department. Today we learned about how to engage our students with writing prompts such as sentence starters, prompt starters for stories, and incomplete pictures that students can finish and write about. It’s been kind of exhausting to do every activity, which feels a bit amateur to us since we already speak English. One recommendation I have for next year’s Orientation program would be to shorten the length of these sessions because they are excruciatingly long. Apparently Turkey has the longest Orientation program than any other country hosting Fulbrighters.

We also discussed Howard Gardner’s famous theory of “Multiple Intelligences” from his 1983 book Frames of Mind, in which he proposes the existence of at least eight basic intelligences. Gardner sought to broaden the scope of human potential beyond the confines of the IQ score and suggested that intelligence has more to do with the capacity for (1) problem solving and (2) fashioning products in a context-rich and naturalistic setting. I remember learning about this in Mr. Cabral’s eleventh grade AP English Language class; he made us debate about the existence of these intelligences. I believe I sided on the “YES” team. The point of discussing this theory was to be aware of different learning styles and to incorporate different types of activities into our lesson plans.

For those of you who are curious about Gardener’s 8 intelligences, they are listed below along with activities that help those types of learners learn best. I identify with the logic, visual, and interpersonal intelligences. Which do you identify with?

• Verbal-Linguistic --> capacity to use words effectively; activities = storytelling, writing journals, reading aloud, debating
• Logic-Mathematical --> capacity to use numbers effectively; activities = problem solving, sequencing, puzzles, using money or geometry
• Visual-Spatial --> ability to perceive the visual-spatial world accurately; activities = graphing, sketching, painting, illustrating, mapping
• Bodily-Kinesthetic --> expertise in using one’s whole body to express ideas and feelings; activities = dancing, crafts, hands-on experiments
• Musical --> capacity to perceive and express in musical forms; activities = rapping, humming, singing, rhyming
• Interpersonal --> ability to perceive and make distinctions in moods, intentions, motivations, and feelings of other people; activities = peer editing, discussing, study group, conflict mediation, social awareness, teaching, cooperative learning
• Intrapersonal --> self-knowledge and ability to act adaptively on the basis of that knowledge; activities = personal response, goal setting, journal log keeping, independent projects
• Naturalistic --> ability to easily recognize and classify plants, animals, and other things in nature; activities = reading outside, bird watching, gardening, dissecting

One lady also walked us through how to resourcefully use the www.AmericanEnglish.state.gov website for teaching materials. The website is filled with books, audio, music, American culture, articles, worksheets, readings, and all sorts of content for both English teachers and English learners. The end of this session was followed by a question that triggered an important discussion. One Fulbrighter asked: how can we make sure that we are not imposing English as an imperialist tool? The State Department representative answered by saying that English is a tool for global communication, not necessarily imperialist values. We have to distinguish between cultural exchange and cultural superiority; I personally believe that our role as “cultural ambassadors” is not to Americanize our students, but rather to teach them English and empower them to partake in the global economy and global communication. While we cannot turn back the clocks, and it is certainly important to acknowledge imperialist history, we must also be practical with the realities of today’s world. English is definitely a tool in my opinion for global exchange of ideas and access to information. At the very least, we are enabling our students to spread their Turkish language by engaging with English speakers.

We received our residency permits today, hooray! This is basically our driver’s license / ID card here in Turkey – we must carry it with us at all times.

Reception at the Ambassador’s Residence

Karlene, myself, Alex, and Erika before the reception.

We had a two-hour break before the fancy reception hosted by U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Mr. John Bass, at his residence. We met at the hotel lobby at 6:30p before departing. Everyone looked charming; boys wore suits and ties, and women wore formal dresses. I wore my favorite yellow dress (the last time I wore this was on my last day of work at Liberty Mutual), manila colored pointy heels, and large pearl earring studs. Alex curled my hair and did my eye make-up so I looked even fancier than I intended. We took photos in the lobby while waiting for our buses, and many peers complimented my outfit (I think because I was the only one wearing bright yellow).

The security guards at the gate checked our passports to verify our names on the guest list before allowing us to enter Mr. Ambassador’s Residence. The house was beautiful! It reminded me of a Pakistani bungalow, with large lawns, numerous rooms decorated with furniture and collectibles, expensive paintings on the wall, and china in the dining room. The reception was mainly on the lawn, but we were allowed to walk around the lower level and observe the rooms. Ambassadors live quite well when they are abroad.

I mingled with State Department officials and learned about their work at the embassy. One day, inshAllah, I will also be working at a U.S. Embassy and perhaps doing similar public diplomacy work. I also saw my Turkish hocam (pronounced “hojam” which means ‘my teacher’), met two ladies from Antalya, and a few other officials who were affiliated with the embassy.

With U.S. Amb. to Turkey, Mr. John Bass.

Since there was no dinner to be served, I indulged in the various hors d’oeuvres being offered throughout the cocktail-style party. Mr. Ambassador made welcoming remarks and Dr. Professor Ersel Aydinli also addressed the crowd by publicly thanking the State Department for their cooperation and his staff for the hard work in coordinating this program. After these speeches, I greeted the Ambassador, introduced myself, and asked for his advice for my future career in the U.S. Foreign Service. He said to pick an area of regional or functional specialty in graduate school and become an expert in it. I thank him for his time, snagged a photo with him before a long line formed to take selfies with him. I also spoke to his wife, Holly, who is a foreign service officer as well. She, too, had a large crowd of people waiting to ask her questions.


Other than losing my pearl ring on the lawn, the reception was wonderful.

Lesson Learned
Later that night, I decided to go out with my friends because I was in a festive mood. I hung out with Alex and a peer named Casey Mangan. He is a renewing grantee and a very sincere young man. He gave us a lot of good advice about the next 9 months and acted as a brother to many female colleagues. Just as we were about to leave the bar, we saw a few other Fulbrighters hanging out with a young Turkish man. They were about to go dancing and asked if we wanted to join them. We said we would check it out for a few minutes but were very tired and wanted to go back to the hotel soon. We walked for 10 minutes and realized that this mysterious dancing place was not nearby at all, which is what the Turkish man had promised us. Our gut instinct was not to trust him and to return to our hotel. Casey and Jordan also noticed that there were two men following us the entire time. I got a little scared and hoped that nothing bad would happen. Casey’s Turkish and leadership helped us get out of this situation; we simply told the Turkish man we did not want to dance and walked the other way. Tensions ran high amongst our group because some girls wanted to dance and others wanted continue to flirt with their newly acquainted Turkish men. Jordan stepped up and convinced them all to leave immediately and we all hurried back to the hotel.

Alhamdulillah (thank God) we were safe, however, I learned a very important lesson that night: to always trust your gut instincts and to always check your surroundings whenever you are outside, especially at night. I was grateful that Casey and Jordan were the two male, more experienced colleagues in our group to save the evening! Alex and I must be very careful in Antalya.

Güle Güle!

Last Week at Work

This morning, I snoozed my alarm three times. I was avoiding waking up not because it was Monday, but because this is my last week at Liberty Mutual, and I must admit, I feel sad. I have six days left in Boston, and my routine as I know it (wake up at 6:30am, get ready and out of the house by 7:45am, skip breakfast, catch the 8am T for a 45-minute commute to Arlington, get into work around 9am) will soon cease to exist. There is comfort in routines that become a part of our daily lives, and I am sad that this routine will soon become scribbles in my journal.

When I took this job in December 2012, I wasn't quite sure how insurance fit in with my goals of a career in public service or international affairs. However, I knew I wanted to try something new and different, something that would push me out of my comfort zones and develop me as a young professional. Liberty has done all of that, and more. It's given me a new skill set, a unique experience to draw from, a network of incredible people (some of whom I can see myself keeping in touch with for years to me), and most importantly, a new perspective for problem-solving. 

What I will miss the most about Liberty Mutual is the people I work with. They are a talented and dedicated group, and I feel very fortunate to have managers and colleagues who have challenged me, made me laugh, and allowed me to be myself around them. I'll also miss the free Hazelnut coffee every morning, and the Microsoft Lync emojis that always made the day go by faster when chatting with colleagues. I honestly could not have asked for a better first job out of college. #blessed

I will miss the Lync chat emojis -- and of course, the people at Liberty Mutual.

An Unusual Dilemma

This might sound silly to some, but believe it or not, I actually contemplated accepting the Fulbright Fellowship. Who would turn down such a prestigious honor, you ask? The opportunity to get paid to spend a year abroad sounds like the perfect adventure on a twenty-something's bucket list. Especially a twenty-something who regrets not studying abroad in college. So, why, after spending hours and hours on the application, and going through nearly 10 drafts to refine my essays, did I hesitate to jump in the air with excitement when I got the congratulatory email?

For some reason, neither the glamor of the fellowship nor the many draws of Turkey (the famous Istanbul, cheap flights to Europe, beautiful mosques, rich history, exotic vacation spots) were enough to convince me that I should leave my stable job at Liberty Mutual. Because I was not expecting to be selected, I now found myself in an unusual dilemma. At one point, I wanted this experience, and for some unexplained reason, I had a change of heart.

I'm still not sure what it was, but I think my anxiety stemmed from both personal indecisiveness and familial pressures. The thoughts of packing, moving, and leaving my lovely, spacious apartment in Boston scared me. I also did not know what I wanted for my next life adventure -- grad school? law or policy? another job? move to DC? this fellowship? -- or maybe I didn't want anything. Maybe I wanted to stay at the Fortune 100 company and continue to up my baking skills with my roommates. But, what would Kate Myall and Cindy Stocks (ladies instrumental in helping me with my application from the Bowdoin fellowship office) think of me if I turned down the Fulbright? Would their and my hard work go in vain?

At the same time, I wanted to be respectful of my parents' wishes. I want their blessings in everything I do in life, therefore getting their buy-in was important to me. While they were very proud of my receiving the fellowship, when it came to deciding between starting policy graduate school this fall or spending 9 months in Turkey, the 'desi' in them opted for the first choice. Understandably so; as immigrants to the United States, they've made many sacrifices to see their children achieve the American Dream. Going to a top graduate school and starting my dream job (sooner rather than later) would be achieving the American Dream; blowing off a year in a foreign country is what a rebellious, liberal, 24-year-old would do after reading the Buzzfeed article, "27 Surreal Places to Visit Before You Die" (see #9). I don't think I'm rebellious, but you get the point. And then of course there's the unspoken pressure of getting married (saving that topic for another time).

By late April, I still had not made up my mind. Fulbright aside, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, period.