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!

Orientation Days 9 & 10: English Teaching & Learning

Tuesday & Wednesday, September 8-9, 2015

I am going to combine Tuesday's and Wednesday's activities into one blog post because they have the same theme: English teaching training sessions by State Department officials. Three ladies from the U.S. Embassy have come to teach us strategies for effective teaching, classroom management, cooperative learning, and web engagement. For the most part, it’s been really interesting to learn about how Turkish students and classrooms are different from American students and classrooms. Turkish students often show up late and can sometimes be unmotivated; but they also love and respect their American teachers and don’t hesitate to illustrate their affection. For every session, we had to complete activities that at times felt a bit childish to us. For example, the lady conducting the “Cooperative Learning Techniques” training made us complete cross word puzzles, a describe-and-draw activity, and “Find someone who____” activity—all of which would hopefully encourage our students to speak English and practice conversational vocabulary.

One lady told us about the power of nursery rhymes; repetition helps remember phrases and words that can trigger more grammar and vocabulary learning. Everyone recalled their favorite nursery rhyme from kindergarten or pre-school; my favorite rhymes have always been Humpty Dumpty and Mary Had a Little Lamb. In Turkey, kids grow up to “Ali Baba'nın çiftliği” (Ali Baba’s Farm). It’s similar to the American “Ole McDonald Had a Farm” which teaches kids about animals and their sounds. The Ali Baba song was quite catchy, if I must say so myself.

Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM43PcWPXsI.

On Tuesday, September 8th, we were scheduled to learn Turkish folk dancing and have a “Turkish Night” that evening. However, due to news about an attack on a police minibus, in which 14 police officers died, dance activities were cancelled to pay respect to families in mourning. The news about the attack concerned some Fulbrighters and many of them expressed interest in discussing more security measures. The very next day on Wednesday, the Turkish Fulbright Commission invited back the security officials from the State Department to answer any student questions and concerns about security. After 1.5 hours of repetitive advice from the security officials about avoiding rallies, dangerous situations, and eastern parts of the country, executive director Dr. Professor Ersel Aydinli addressed us for 30 minutes. His advice was simple: be prepared, aware, and use common sense. He said our security was their first priority but they can only take so many measures; they’ve done their part in providing us with as much knowledge, phone numbers, and material as they can—it is now up to us to use our common sense and look out for one another. He was right.

Orientation Day 8: Museum of Anatolian Civilizations & Ankara Castle

Monday, September 7, 2015

First things first, happy Labor Day to those back home in America! Hope you are enjoying the long weekend.

On this side of the world, week 2 of Orientation starts today. After a well-rested free day, I woke up refreshed and ready to start. I ate a healthy breakfast  — two boiled eggs, watermelon, wheat bread and butter, simit and Nutella, and orange juice with mint — and  my Turkish homework was completed. I was very awake and made the most of the 3 hours of Turkish lessons this morning. Today, we learned to conjugate verbs and answer questions in proper sentence form. I feel as though I have already mastered half the Turkish vocabulary because Turkish is an agglutinating language, which means letters are added onto root words to form meanings. The books we are using are very comprehensive and do a good job of teaching grammar through lots of visuals and colors. I must say, I am thoroughly impressed by the top-notch materials that the Turkish Fulbright Commission has provided us all, including books, CD's, and a dictionary. I am excited to continue learning Turkish when I get to my host university next week. I hear from former Fulbrighters that Akdeniz University in Antalya provides intensive and comprehensive Turkish lessons that Alex and I can take advantage of.

Baklava, famous Turkish delight.

We went out to lunch this afternoon which was a nice change from the hotel food. Not to sound ungrateful, but I'm getting a bit sick of the hotel selections. We ate inside a museum with food catered from Divan restaurant. I feel like we are being treated like foreign dignitaries with fancy tables and fancy food. The four-course meal; creamy tomato soup with croutons and cheese, spring-roll like delights stuffed with vegetables and pastrami meat, grilled chicken and fried potatoes for the main course, and the famous Turkish sweet, baklava, for dessert. I was stuffed!

We then walked over to the "Museum of Anatolian Civilizations," where I got a deeper understanding of the historical peoples that have preceded the present-day Turks. The museum is built on the historical market where tradesmen and their animals would rest before continuing on their journeys. The Ottoman Empire covered the costs of lodging and food for up to three days, and Angora (former name of Ankara) was a major stop on the trade route from east to west and north to south.

Vase depicting ancient wedding festivities.

Anatolia is a land rich with historical settlements and is therefore a popular archaeological site. The tour guide quickly walked us through the history of different civilizations in 20 minutes using an interactive map on a touch-screen. The geographic maps changed as she clicked on these eras: Paleolithic, Neo-Paleolithic, Chalcolithic (copper age), Hittite Empire (unknown where they came from), Phrygians, Assyrians, Lydians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and of course, Turks. We walked around and marveled at the stone tools and animal paintings made by hunters and gatherers; pottery and statues by sedentary peoples; gold jewelry and coins by civilized communities. Archaeologists and museums around the world envy the vase shown on the left because it pictorially depicts the wedding ceremonies of the ancient peoples.

It was interesting to learn how the ancient people's belief system changed over time. For example, hunters and gatherers worshiped animals because animals were different and stronger than humans. In all the cave paintings that have been discovered, archaeologists found animals to be drawn much, much larger than humans, symbolizing animal superiority. The belief system changed when nomadic tribes began to settle down. The sedentary people idolized plump women statues because they symbolized fertility and prosperity, which was important for the survival of a settled community. This symbol evolved once again, when developed communities worshiped skinny women, and the idea of beauty changed. I find it interesting that women, not men, were worshiped. In today’s patriarchal religions, God, gods, and other idols are often men. I am not sure when that switch happened, but I am curious.

Alex, Amer, and I in front of a souvenir shop.

After a group photo outside the museum, we were given two options; to board the bus and head back to the hotel or tour the citadel (Ankara Castle) and find our own transportation back to the hotel. I’m an adventurous person and I like to seize the moment, so I decided to stay behind with the crowd that wanted to climb to the castle. The path to the Ankara Castle was steep and hilly, but so very beautiful. Along the way, there were houses and souvenir shops, children running up and down the alleys, and astray cats meow-ing at the tourists.

When I finally got to the top of the Castle, I was blown away. It was so breathtaking! I don’t know how to describe in words the feeling I had when I saw the entire city of Ankara below me. I was hundreds of feet above ground. I felt like I was on top of the world. And I felt so liberated, free, and happy. In the United States and Guatemala, I have been to really high places, such as monuments and structures that give a fantastic city view, but all of those structures have some sort of protection, either metal bars or glass windows. But on this castle, there was nothing guarding me from the edge. I could take the leap and fall, if I wanted. I could just sit and stare at the red roofs below me. I could stand and stare at the depths of the landscape in front of me. I could do anything a free spirit desired. There was a beautiful breeze that not only weaved through my hair, but also filled my soul like air filling a balloon. I felt at ease.

Here is a short video and some photos I took so you can vicariously experience what I saw on top of the Ankara Castle.

Fulbrighters sitting and enjoying the beautiful city view of Ankara.

With Michael and Alex on top of the Castle with city view in the back.

I was brave enough to sit on the edge of the Castle for this picture.

I felt like I was on top of the world.

Turkish hospitality: çai with two random Turkish ladies.

We then ran into two lovely ladies, with whom we experienced our first Turkish hospitality. They invited us to çai and we practiced our what little Turkish we had learned from our lessons. Despite not being able to understand every Turkish word they were saying, we could understand what they were trying to convey through their body language and facial expressions. The language of humanity is so beautiful—who needs words when you can survive on sounds and gestures? I learned that one lady was from Germany visiting her Turkish friend in Ankara. They showed us photos of their family on their phones, and asked about each of us—where we came from, how old we were, what we were doing in Turkey, how we liked Turkey, etc. As the sun began to set, we attempted once again to walk down the alleyway toward the taxis.

Four girls and I shared a taxi back to the hotel, which means Alex was sitting on the lap of one of the girls sitting in the back. I called the front seat first so I had the pleasure of buckling up my seat belt. Regardless of the seating arrangement, however, all of us engaged with the taxi driver and we experienced our second hospitality of the day. The man was probably in his late 30s or early 40s, very warm, and made all of us laugh. We used the same phrases we had used earlier. When he asked where we needed to go, Alex blurted out “Gule Gule Park” and the man broke out into laughter because “Güle Güle” in Turkish means ‘Goodbye’ and the park near our hotel is actually called Kuğulu Park. Before reaching the hotel, the man placed his right hand over his heart and said in Turkish which I believe was something to this extent of: “No matter where you are from, what is in the heart matters the most.”

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 6: Teaching Techniques & Emotional Well-Being

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Another really tiring day today. I woke up to the sound of the beautiful azan, call to prayer, for the morning prayer. It was so peaceful, my soul felt at ease. I prepared for long day ahead.

The day started with more English Language Training sessions. We learned how to incorporate technology, such as websites, softwares, and phone apps, in our classrooms. Technology helps us get information, connect to people around the world, and access media and current events. This cross-global communication is imperative for emphasize in the classroom.

Interactive learning helps the brain remember better, so the instructor gave us some useful suggestions. For example, some websites we can take advantage of are:

• Americanenglish.state.gov – official U.S. State Department website with English and American culture teaching material.
• Eslgamesplus.com – English interactive games
• Englishclub.com/esl-games – English interactive games
• Classtools.net – has tools such as “random name picker” so you call on students

Apparently Turkish youth loving being up-to-date with technology, so it’s fair to assume that almost all of them have smart phones, in which case we can encourage them to use their phones to learn English.

Other ideas that were shared during the workshop are listed below:

• For podcasts or assigning audio homework, we can use apps such as Vocaroo, Soundcloud, and WhatsApp
• -Other cool English-learning apps are GrammarUp, SoundsRight, Intro to Letter Sentence Builder, Hello-Hello English, Speech Tutor, and Daily Pro HD.
• Joining LinkedIn groups for ESL (great exchange of ideas)
• TED-Ex talks with Turkish titles
• Jeopardy review online
• Blogging – publishing student essays  - this was my idea that I shared with my peers. I did this when I taught in Pakistan. Check out my student essays here: alimtiaz2010.blogspot.com and aiajournalism2011.blogspot.com.
• Breaking News English – news at various levels of English comprehension
• Voice of America – English learning/teaching materials
• Games – completion in the classroom gets students very motivated
• Assessment sites – Kahoot.com and Socrative.com

The day continued with another session titled “Focus on Speaking and Listening.” Like Pakistan and most other countries, Turkish educational system is based on “rote” learning, which means that students spend a lot of time memorizing but not enough on speaking and listening. Speaking is defined as the “process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbol in variety of contexts” while listening is defined as the “complex process, active role in discriminating sounds, understanding vocabulary grammatical structures, and interpreting stress in various socio-economic and cultural contexts.” Keeping this in mind, our primary focus should be to get students to gain more confidence in speaking their English, which inherently requires that they practice their listening skills.

Switching gears to a more solemn topic, after lunch we had a session titled “Maintaining Mental Health and Emotional Well-being.” Mental and emotional health are party of the harsh reality of traveling and living abroad, and as such, it was important to discuss the types of symptoms Fulbrighters feel. I learned about the phases of cultural shock which include honeymoon, anxiety, adjustment, and acceptance. Keri and Tess, who are program advisors and two-time renewing grantees, facilitated the discussion. In their presentation, they said it was normal to feel lonely, depressed, homesick, anxious, and helpless; that all these emotions that are legitimate and justified, however it’s important to take care of ourselves so that we maintain good health and well-being. We were encouraged to tour Turkey, yes, but also take time to relax, catch up on sleep, and take part in hobbies. Instead of becoming a homebody, we should explore our city and make friends.

It was also interesting to learn that one can experience depression by helping someone else go through a tough time. “Various trauma,” for example, is the experience due to supporting someone going through an emotional time, and “secondary traumatic stress” (also known as “compassion fatigue”) is the experience through proximity to emotional unhealthiness.

I also learned there are two types of coping techniques: active (resolving) or avoidant (running away from the issue). Teri and Jess encouraged us to ask ourselves if what we are experiencing is daily annoyance or a serious issue. They said to keep everything in perspective because not everything is in our control. Could it be ignored or does it need intervention? Is the discomfort leading to personal growth or is it destabilizing? Teri and Jess warned us that different attributes such as skin color, eye color, hair color, hair texture, and weight do breed attention in Turkey, but that majority of it is coming from curiosity. “We other that we do not know.” As such, micoaggressions, non-conscious bias in intercultural and intracultural situations, are common.

Although I cannot prepare for any emotional distress I may encounter, it was helpful to be aware of various types of emotions, and keep in mind that mental and emotional health are real. Listening to this session reminded of what Baba always tells us: “Heath is wealth.”

“The Qualities of a Good Teacher” was next, which reinforced best practices for good teaching. A classroom with a friendly atmosphere and clear rules and routines, for example, creates a comfortable environment. A good teacher challenges her students, networks and is resourceful, and gives specific feedback. Seating charts can be helpful for learning names. For troublesome students, we should make sure students understand that it’s their misbehavior we dislike, not them. Speak slowly at first so they can hear your pronunciation of words and understand your sentences.

Finally, the day ended with a lecture by a judge who told us about things to be aware of as a foreigner. His English was limited but we understood the main concepts. It was essentially a briefing on the Turkish legal system. It felt like a recap of the security briefing we had received on the second day.

As you can see, it’s been a LONG day. Tally-ho for now, I need a nap.

Orientation Day 5: History 101 & Turkish Manners

Friday, September 4, 2015

Jummah Mubarak!

Today I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I missed my 7:15am alarm and frantically awoke at 8:32am. In panic, I brushed my teeth, threw on clothes, ran to grab some breakfast, and did my Turkish homework while stuffing watermelon and a boiled egg (I'm usually not a bad student!). I made it to class for Turkish lessons barely in time at 9:02am! Oh, it was brutal. The entire morning felt like a drag. I needed coffee to stay awake and learn the new lessons. We learned how to say different countries, nationalities, and languages, and also how to shop at the market – clearly, a very important dialogue for my next 10 months. Luckily the lessons were for only 2 hours but they felt like an eternity with my constant drowsiness. I could feel my body completely shut down from inside.

I was grateful for a coffee break, when I put more caffeine in my system to help me get through the day. I even ate a biscuit because I had a small breakfast.

We then had a very informative and interesting session by a political scientist, Assistant Professor Ilker Ayturk of the Ihsan Dogramaci Bilkent University, who shared with us the fascinating history of Turkey since the fall of the Ottoman Empire in early 20th century. Unlike the United States, which declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776, the Republic of Turkey transitioned from the crumbling Ottoman Empire and was officially established in 1923. We learned about the War of Independence, battles with Greece, sweeping cultural reforms that transformed Turkish society, and the identity crisis that resulted from these visible (calendar, dress, alphabet, time) and substantive (law, penal ode, Westernization) changes. Turkey is known as the “Cradle of Civilizations” because of its rich diversity of people and cultures—Turks, Greeks, Jews, Arabs, Kurds, Shiites, Sunnis, orthodox, Armenians, Kurds. The “Kemalists” (named after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk), who fervently imposed these changes, did not want to repeat the mistakes of the Ottoman Empire and viewed the diversity of its population as a threat to nation-building.

At the same time, there were a good number of people, mainly conservative Muslims, who felt left out of this process and felt they were “wronged” during the formation of the republic. They want modernization but not Westernization and they want to keep Islam and not comprise it. This split in ideology, explained Professor Ayturk, still exists in Turkish politics today. Being the history and political science nerd that I am, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about this process. The professor went on to brief us about contemporary Turkey and important figures such as current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Kurdish issue also resurfaced and I listened carefully to all the viewpoints in the conference room, hoping to learn as much as I can before forming an opinion of my own. The professor encouraged us to stay current on Turkish politics, especially with an election approaching in November.

The next two sessions were not quite as interesting but important nonetheless. They were “English training sessions” which taught us how to use the course book, design adapting new materials, and knowing the responsibilities of teachers and students in Turkey.

The day ended on a lighter, much more entertaining note. An elegant lady by the name Ms. Ayşen Yücel led the “Turkish Way of Living” workshop, which gave us a flavor of do’s and don’ts of living in Turkey. It was essentially a run-down of the mannerism of Turkish culture. I found many of them to be similar to the Pakistani culture in which I grew up during the early party of my childhood, and still experience at home. I’ll quickly summarize them here in bullet format:

• Sharing is caring – never return an empty plate
• Bring a gift if invited to dinner
• Take shoes off before entering the house
• Football is always a conversation starter
• Don’t leave early from a party – hosts might think you dislike them
• Common to spay a few drops of cologne on your hands and run on your arms if the hosts offers it to you
• Turkish way of bathing and refreshing is at a “hamam” (similar to a spa)
• The Evil Eye – not superstitious but a cultural belief in the negative intentions of others towards you.
• Buy a little magic blue bead to save you from the evil eye and say “MashAllah” after all good things
• Traffic is really dangerous – be very careful
• Always a good idea to dress conservatively if you’re not sure if the city/region where you at is liberal or not
• Tipping – don’t have to tip taxis, but yes to barbers and waiters
• No (french) kissing in the public – when greeting someone, you match the cheeks and kiss the open air on both sides
• People do not respect personal space
• Some men do not prefer to shake ladies’ hands
• Know special holidays such as  Ramazan Bayrami (Eid al-Fitr), Kurban Bayrami (Eid al-Adha), November 10 – Commemoration of Ataturk (he died on this day in 1938), and a few others
• Try Turkish drinks such as çai (pronounced chai), ayran (like Pakistani lassi, blended yogurt with water and ice), Turkish coffee, soda (mineral water)
• Raki – Turkish alcoholic drink, but drink with lots of water because it is highly concentrated
• Simit – bagel-like donut made of bread and sesame seeds
• Foods – şiş kebap (sheesh kebab) originally Turkish, salata (salad) eaten during main course not before, Adana has the best kebaps
•  “Afieyt olsun” (“have a good meal”) is wished before, during, after the meal
• Avoid certain gestures which she demonstrated to us – which was hilarious

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.