Searching
My perspective on my life in Istanbul is in total flux right now. I am at that point where I am no longer a fresh off the boat newbie in this town. My mind has raced ahead to me being fluent in Turkish and fully understanding the culture, but alas, it will always be a long time before I get there, and that is frustrating in this gotta have it now culture. I want to download the knowledge, the Turkish, directly to my head in the next few days…BOOM…as John Madden would say, I am fully acclimated! Acculturation takes time. Hey! I have only been here two full days!
I applied for a job at Berlitz language schools and I was given a test as to my English skills. I think I passed. I would be a hopeless person if I was not able to pass this sucker. Still looking for digs. My friend Doa was nice enough to take me in for a little while, and I sure do appreciate it.
Yours truly is using this opportunity to explore new areas of the city I have never seen. I love seeing places that I have been to before from a new angle. It is almost better than plunging into a new city altogether, because you have the oppurtunity to have your notions of certain areas of town disproven. Take the area of Besiktas for example. I thought it was a very westernized area. Then my friend who I had dinner with said there weren’t a lot of places to drink beer in Besiktas and…well…if that is not a warning sign of non-western i.e. “Islamic!!!!” culture, then I don’t know what is. WHERE IS THE TGI FRIDAYS?
Arrived in Istanbul
Hey everybody! Its been a few minutes since I rapped at you, but I wanted to throw out a hearty “Merhaba” from Istanbul!
Being here again after six years is like having a good recurring dream that hasn’t recurred in a long time. The places look oddly familiar, the people do to, and the hills are just as tough on the calves as ever.
The slightly melancholy feeling of the city, combined with the tremendous hospitality of people I just met, such as the young Turkish guy who works at this hostel I am blogging from, make this town something of a continual enigma, unable to fit neatly into categories. Even the climate is such: Is it Mediterranean or temperate? The wishy-washy spring temps add to this identity crisis.
People have been telling me that picking up and moving here is “adventurous.” I am grateful for all the well wishes. It makes me wonder, though, about what being adventurous is. My friend in Portland mentioned that he would like to buy an old house there and fix it up. To me, that is very brave, somthing I would be very intimidated by. THAT is very adventurous in its own right. It takes commitment, patience, a desire to explore an unknown corner of the world, and even a bit of soul searching.
If I move to a city I have been to a few times, get a 9 to 5 job teaching a language I am fluent in, go home to an apartment and kick back with a friend and a beer. Is that an adventurous lifestyle? I suppose a lot of it is in the spinning.
But I hope to do some traveling, and some things I have never done, such as visit eastern Europe (Turkey borders Bulgaria, and places like Croatia and Hungry are not far away). There are still broader horizons to be sought, but learning to speak Turkish fluently and plunge back into the culture. Learning a language like Turkish is an adventure in its own right. Right?
Stay tuned for a post from what I hope will be my new apartment!
From Pakistan, With Frontline
PBS just aired an amazing Frontline (watch it) news feature on Pakistan. Based on the suicide bombings in the “settled” areas, and the strengthening of the Taliban, Pakistan is the next major hotbed of activity, dwarfing the skirmishes in Israel/Palestine. This is a scary thought, and my mind races to a potential major conflict with Pakistan. Obama, if he is elected, must be strong. Should he commit forces in a cross border raid? It is a sticky situation. Both candidates dwell on the issues but it is clear this will be a major issue for months, if not years, to come, given the inability of the Pakistan government to clamp down in its outer regions, and concerns about Aganistans ties with India.
Don’t Count Out the “Underdog”
You can just feel it echoing through the mainstream media and even liberal blog soundchamber: Obama is thumping McCain, this sucker is all but over. Even the Daily Kos seems rife with the Beowulf victory party narrative. Obama 51, McCain 42. Put er ta bed.
Wait just a second. Deserved or not, McCain is known as a sort of backyard tough guy fighter who has seen it all and can rise up with a snap. Remember Spring 2007 (yeah it feels long ago — thanks scottrade, motley fool, and thestreet.com) Jerry Fallwell and the christian right establishment through their weight behind Rudy Guiliani, McCain was a has been who had to travel to New Hampshire just to fill 300 seats for a townhall meeting.
Now I know what you might be thinking. “Uh, yeah man that was a good six months before serious-o primary season:).” To which I might reply “yes” and then fumble around for a few seconds before saying: but we see how wrong the media can be, and we underestimate the ability of the Reumblican machine to rise up and play on peoples worst fear.
Stay Strong obama folks. With the way the Cheney-Bush establishment has treated us, Obama is still most definetly the underdog. Keep your head up.
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