Cappadocia

The international host student group planned a trip to Cappadocia this past weekend.  For those who don’t know, Cappadocia is a region in Central Turkey.  It’s a tourist attraction because of its history, landscape, natural wonders, wineries and unique rock formations.

So anyways, it was late Friday night and our bus was to depart early on Saturday morning at 1:00am.  We had about 70 people going on the trip and would need two big buses (like Greyhound).  We all met at a central location in the middle of the night. The air was cold and we were all really tired.  After all our bags were put away, we slowly filed onto the bus.  I sat with Máté and Fernando.  Before the bus even started a few people were already asleep.  Anyways, it was close to 2am and we started to move.  Ten minutes into the drive, 95% of the people on the bus were fast asleep.  They were the fortunate ones as we also tried to sleep but it was difficult because we thought we were going to die.  I think the bus driver might’ve been slightly drunk?  Me and Fernando were sitting two rows behind the driver and went to investigate the situation.  It was our version of CSI: Turkey.  There were no cheesy one-liners or sunglasses coming out yet, although I might’ve heard someone yell out “YEEEAH”???

The second driver was sleeping on the folded down passenger seat.  So we got out of our seats and introduced ourselves to the driver.  He told us his name was Zeki.  We told him our names and he got a little confused.  He said he will call me bara büro (crazy person) and he would call Fernando kirik (idiot). At the time we had no idea what it meant and he said it with such a straight face that we thought it was something super cool.  He seemed to be quite alert and sober as well.  All was well.  After chatting for a couple minutes we went back to our seats with our fingers crossed at the same time.  The driving in Turkey is a little less crazy than that of Pakistan.  Just think a little less crazy and less crowded than Pakistan, but at a faster speed.  After five hours (and no sleep) we finally reached Cappadocia… in one piece.  Since we left an hour later from Ankara, it was about 7am. We ate breakfast at our hotel and rested for a few hours before heading out on our tour of the area.  I shared a room with Dimitrije and Ognjen my two Serbian friends.

So off we went, on our tour…A lot of the rock formations were formed millions of years ago by volcanic eruptions.  The land eroded in such a way that it formed structures in different shapes, like the fairy chimneys for example.  This was because the layers of rock varied in their makeup.  Erosion had a different effect on each layer.  Also, since the volcanic rock was softer it was easier for the people at the time to carve out homes from the rocks.  In Goreme; an area in Cappadocia, churches were carved high up in the rocks.  This occurred between the 4^th and 13^th centuries AD.  They were hiding out from religious persecutors.  In Goreme alone, there are about 30 churches carved out of rock.  It was quite the scene.  A few of us climbed up high in the cliffs/hills and just sat there, soaking in the scene.  Just thinking about how dedicated these people were was amazing.  I compare that dedication to what we have now.  We can’t even wake up for prayer and are divided over the smallest issues…it’s really sad to be honest.

After exploring similar sites and various rock formations we headed back to the hotel for a much needed rest.  After napping for a solid 2 hours we all headed to the basement of the hotel for dinner.  There was so much variety.  They even had some fancy Mexican style bean salad, which my two hotel roommates and I inhaled…. bad idea…

After dinner we all got ready to head out to an underground restaurant called Yashar Baba.  There was a traditional Turkish theme to the restaurant.  There were dances from the different regions of Turkey, various percussion acts which were my favourite and of course a Turkish belly dancer.  Since drinks were limitless, a lot of people just got wasted and it was quite hilarious to observe some people at their most oblivious state.  After everything finished we headed back to the hotel and were ready to sleep.  Remember those Mexican beans?  They came into play that night.  It was unfortunate but all 3 of us took it in stride, and just hid under our covers hoping to avoid any self-inflicted dutch ovens.

The next day we went to an old town called Mustafa Pasha.  This was a place where many rich Greeks built a summer home in.  They were based in Istanbul but would spend their summers here.  During the lead up to the War of Independence, there was a civilian exchange program.  During this process the Greeks of the area left and went back to Greece.  It was nice going there as it felt like we were truly in a foreign land.  When in Ankara its as if we’re in a bubble.  For those who have been to Islamabad, it just feels different when you’re there.  It feels like you’re in a bubble; in a different country at times.  In Ankara the same kind of feeling exists.  It’s a very modern, westernized city and does not feel like you are somewhere in Asia.  It’s hard to describe but I think you get the gist of what I’m saying.  After Mustafa Pasha we headed to the underground city.  It’s amazing how sophisticated and well planned the underground city was.  After having lunch (flat bread stuffed with goat cheese, spinach and potatoes) at a café outside the underground city, we were headed back to Ankara.  For the amount of people who went, I’m surprised everything went as smooth as it did.  We arrived back on campus late Sunday night.  We were all sleep deprived and couldn’t wait to get some much needed rest.  It was an enjoyable trip and I look forward to the upcoming ones.

New Mode of Transportation

After being here for a month, I realize how I really miss driving a car. Especially winter driving.  The feeling of turning into the neighbourhood on an icy road and losing control, yet being fully in control at the same time…a feeling that I cannot experience here…sadly.  I do have my international driving license but since I’m on a student budget, I’m not up for renting a car or anything like that at the moment.

The first week I was here, I had no idea how to get around, as the campus is massive.  The METU campus is basically a separate town inside Ankara.  Once it gets a little greener around here, I’ll take some photos and try to put things into perspective.  To walk from my dorm to the main gate of the university takes a solid 35 minutes.  And when we want to head out to the mall outside campus it takes about 45 minutes to get there on foot.  Sometimes it feels nice to walk that much, it’s a good way to relax and talk to friends at the same time, but sometimes if you’re in a hurry and want to go somewhere quick, it’s almost impossible to do so on foot.  The Ring bus which comes every 15 or so minutes to specific stops around the main faculty buildings and dorms is sometimes inconsistent with its schedule and when it actually comes, its bound to be tightly packed.  I feel like they have those Japanese guys in the Tokyo subway stations packing people in trains doing the same to us.  Its almost not worth the hassle.

So one day I was with my Italian and Palestinian friend.  We didn’t have much time and needed to get some cooking supplies from CEPA (pronounced Jeppa), the mall just outside campus.  We noticed a few people sticking their thumbs out at oncoming traffic near our dorm; they were hitch hiking. We tried the same and after waiting about 10 minutes we actually got a ride from a student with room for us three.  We got there in a few minutes on car and were able to make it back in time as well thanks to hitch hiking.  Now whenever we need to get somewhere on the other side of campus we can count on this new mode of transportation.  Besides getting a ride, you get to meet some interesting people.  One time I was alone and picked up by a guy who actually worked for the UN as an international police officer in East Timor.  He was telling me about his Canadian and Pakistani friends and how he misses them etc.  Another time a couple of us got picked up by one guy.  And there was someone sitting next to him in the passenger seat that looked a little miserable.  The friend I was with was Turkish but at first glance he doesn’t look like it.  The driver and passenger probably assumed we weren’t Turkish.  So it seemed like they were having some sort of argument in Turkish and my friend quietly chuckled so the guys at the front didn’t hear.  He looked at me and told me he’d tell me what they were talking about later.  So we get out of the car, thank the driver for taking us, and off they go.  My friend just burst out laughing right after.  He told me that the guy in the passenger seat was upset because the driver didn’t pick up these good-looking girls who were also trying to get a ride.  And he went on to describe what kind of girls the driver should have picked up in detail.  From the sounds of it to me, they were debating about some big issue in politics or something, turns out it was just about some girls haha.  Another time I got a ride from someone who actually lived in Ottawa for two years.  He loved Canada, except for the winters of course (typical).  I asked him if he knew about hockey and he said just a little bit.  We talked about the Ottawa Senators and their chances this year at the cup.   It felt good talking NHL hockey with someone; even though it was for 2 minutes, as it’s been about a month since I’ve talked to anyone about it. (Usman, Henna, Humza, Umer, Fouad, Salman and Minaa) if you read this, we will have lengthy discussions when I’m back.  We even talked about the rivalry with the Maple Leafs and how they’re a joke.  He even knew that the team’s name was grammatically incorrect.  We had a good laugh about that one.

Although I miss the luxury of having a car to use whenever you need to go somewhere; there’s something interesting about hitch hiking.  Each trip is different; each trip is filled with new stories from a different person, which makes it interesting.  As of now there haven’t been any weirdos or anything. I mean it’s all fun and games until a psychopathic killer picks you up, right?  While I’m in Turkey though, I’ll take the risk.  If I had a choice, I’d still have my own car but I think I’ll enjoy the hitch hiking for the next few months.

From Enemy to Friend

WARNING:   If you get disgusted easily, please do not read the rest of this post.  Thank you very much indeed.

The toilet…man’s answer to the call of nature.  There are different variants of the toilet such as the English style, also known as the throne.  There is the squatting one built into the ground which can be known as a Desi or Turkish toilet.  And of course for the ones who are working outdoors there are port-o-potties and the bush in worst-case scenarios.

Being born and raised in the west, I learned how to use the English one.  Whenever we’d go to Pakistan, for the most part I’d have the option to use the English toilet but there were those emergency situations where I couldn’t find one and had to cope with using the desi style one.  It was a nightmare of epic proportions.  I didn’t know how people did their job in there while keeping their pants on?  It was something they should have done a documentary on or have it as a topic in the show “Unsolved Mysteries: Secrets of the Desi Toilet”…You know what I’m saying???  So when I came to Turkey I was horrified to learn that for the first 10 days during orientation, our dorm washroom was only fixed with a desi toilet.  The first few times I went to the washroom I had the hardest time figuring out how to use the toilet, yet I managed to come out successfully, unscathed.  And then on the second day, disaster struck…

I was taking my pants off in the washroom and before I could catch it in mid-air, my Nokia e51 slipped out of my left pocket and went straight into the hole.  I even heard a PLOP! That sound added insult to injury.  I was already all down from “holiday hangover” from the Pakistan trip and this just made it worse.  I had some important files on that phone too.  After a few hours I got over it though.  There was no way to get it out as the hole was way too deep.  When I told the dorm manager what happened, using my broken Turkish and hand signals, he just shrugged his shoulders and said he couldn’t do anything about it.  I eventually broke the news to my roommates, they literally fell on the ground and started laughing; I have to admit, thinking back it was pretty damn funny.  One of my friends just said, “it’s a phone, who cares, just get a new one…it happens”.  He couldn’t have been more right.  Things come and go.  Getting attached to any material thing doesn’t make much sense at all.  To get over it my roommates told me they’d treat me to some traditional Turkish food called Kokoreç.  They thought I wouldn’t be up for it after telling me what it was, but they didn’t know Shiraz Khalid Choudhary that well at the time.  When it comes to food, I’m down to try new things, regardless of how nasty it sounds, just no pork   Kokoreç is a dish consisting of lamb or goat intestines.  It’s chopped up into small pieces and mixed with spices, lemon juice, herbs etc.  They then put it on a long bun and you eat it.  It looks like something you can buy from subway.  I have to admit, it wasn’t too bad.  The chef seemed to mask any intestine taste by adding a ton of spice.  After eating so many spices I was worried about the toilet.  I had developed a strong hate for the desi toilet.  I had a new enemy….

For the rest of the orientation period I used an English toilet on a different floor.  After orientation was over we moved to our permanent dorms, which were a lot nicer and cleaner than the temporary ones.  The only problem was that they were farther away from everything else on campus.  The other problem was that we were on the main floor.  The main floor only had desi toilets as the space that was to be used for the english ones was used up by the laundry room.  The laundry room was only on the main floor and the other floors had the English toilets.  So if I wanted to use the English one I’d have to go upstairs to use them.  So I decided to man up and just get used to it.  And I have to admit, after one month I’ve gotten used to the desi toilets.  We’ve developed a mutual understanding and respect for one another.  I’ve even developed some leg muscles in a spot where I had not known muscles even existed.  As for our relationship, I’ll forgive but I won’t forget.  As of now we have mended our hate for one another and are on friendly terms.  Lets hope it stays that way.  In order for it to stay that way I just have to make sure of one thing…keep my pockets empty.

Orientation Week – Ataturk’s Mausoleum

Just before leaving for the field trip, the door to the room opened and I met Zemran and Ozgur, 2 of my roommates during orientation week.  They told me we’d go out to kizilay (shopping, food, business area) at night after I’d get back.  After walking back near the library, I met up with the group again and we all filled into a bus that was headed to Anitkabir (Ataturks Mausoleum).  By the way Mustafa Kemal was given the title Ataturk.  “Ata” means ancestor so “Ataturk” means “Ancestor of the Turks”.  His burial ground is quite the scene.  It’s on top of a huge hill so you can see it from a lot of places in the city.  At night they have all these spotlights lighting up the main building where he is buried. Once we got off the bus I was introduced to some of the Americans and we all headed up the stairs and past the guards who were standing at the top ends of the stairs.  They have a huge pathway leading up to the main open area in front of his tomb.  The stones in the pathway are spaced unevenly so you have to look down while you walk.  This was done purposefully so you have your head lowered to show respect to Ataturk.  Also on the sides of the path they have quite a few trees planted.  Since the mausoleum is on top of a hill the trees are blocking the view of the city.  The designers/planners didn’t want your attention to be towards the view while walking to his tomb.

Next to the tomb there’s a museum devoted to Ataturk and the War of Independence.  On display they had some of his clothes, personal things like cigarettes, gifts received from various world leaders, canes, guns, diaries etc. They even had his stuffed dog.  A few of his cars were there as well as his personal boat.  There was another room with tons of paintings of different Turkish war generals, paintings showing the battles against the Greeks, navy battles and other paintings related to the battles leading to independence.  At the end of the museum they had a gift shop.  They had anything ranging from pins, postcards, shirts and paintings.  They even had a tie with Ataturk’s face on it.  I knew the Turkish people loved him but they don’t just keep it to themselves, they display it everywhere.  Any place you go to, be it a bank, supermarket, barber shop etc. They will all have a framed photo of him hanging on their walls.  I know some people who carry his photo in their wallet as well.  As we were heading back to the bus it started to rain heavily.  We were leaving at the perfect time.  There was about an hour till sunset when I reached my dorm.  I wanted to rest a bit before going out with the roommates that night.  In the temporary dorm they had 2 rooms in the one main room.  In one room were 2 bunk beds for the four of us.  In the other room were 4 study tables.  As I opened the door to the study room a huge cloud of smoke rushed out at me.  My roommates greeted me and asked if I don’t mind the smoking.  I said that I don’t mind, which made them real happy as they each went through about 30 a day hahaha.  During the orientation week I got used to smelling like an ashtray.

PS. I forgot my camera during the orientation field trip but I later went back with a few friends and took some photos.

Orientation Week – Part 2

I saw that I only had a few minutes until the lecture started so I took the campus map the lady gave me and tried to figure out where to go next all the while hoping she’d keep an eye on my suitcase. The lecture was in the International Relations (IR) building, which seemed really close to the library where I was.  Turns out it was a 10 minute walk which means I would be late for the lecture.  I was already a day late and showing up in the middle of lecture would reinforce the stereotype for desis being late for everything; however, I’ve come to learn that this is not a desi-only problem.

After asking a few students where the G102 classroom was, I finally made it there.  It was about 10 minutes past the lecture start time and the classroom was empty.  I saw one guy sitting outside the class on the bench, so I asked him if he was there for the lecture and he said yes.  He seemed to be surprised that no one was here as he was there 5 minutes before the start time.  We thought they moved the lecture to a different room but decided to wait a little longer.  So we talked for a bit and I learned that he was from Montenegro and in Turkey as a Phys. Ed. Staff exchange member from his university in Serbia.  Finally we saw a large group emerge from around the corner of the hall.  As the group passed by us and headed into the classroom I noticed a lot of them were in smaller groups and each one was speaking a different language.  I knew we were in the right place.

There’s about a hundred or so exchange students in our batch and its also a very diverse group.  We have a large amount from eastern/central Europe like from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Montenegro, Bosnia, Serbia.  There are about 7 students from America, making them the next largest group.  The rest of the students range from different places like Italy, Germany, England, Iran, Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary, Yemen, Iraq and Portugal.  Christine and I are the only Canadians here and we’re both from Calgary too.

The purpose of these lectures are to interest the students in taking the class during the semester. Basically they provide a teaser of what’s to come in the course.  Besides the Turkey/EU one we also attended lectures on Turkish Customs and Traditions, Turkish Internal Migration and its consequences, Turkish Foreign Policy, and a Turkish Beginners language class.

After the lecture we had a 2 hour break before we’d head out for a field trip to Ataturk’s Mausoleum.  During the break I split up from the group and was going to look for my dorm.  I walked back to the study abroad office at the library, picked up my luggage and was off looking for Dorm 9.  I asked one girl passing by where to walk to as the dorm numbers weren’t on the map. She looked at my luggage and thought I was crazy. It was a solid 20-minute walk from where I was and one thing to know about this campus is that it’s not flat but very hilly.  I thought it wouldn’t be too big of a deal until I started walking and the path near the library was like the old school cobblestone roads.  It was bad for my rolling suitcase so I carried that in my arms with my full backpack on my back.  The hunt for dorm 9 was on.  After walking 5 minutes with a 50 pound bag in my arms and knowing I still had a ways to go I noticed a taxi on the side of the road so I waved him down and decided to take the easy way out.  Using my hands I explained to him where I want to go and we were off.  After reaching dorm 9 I realized the dorm manager didn’t know English so I just handed him my student ID card, filled out some paperwork which was all in Turkish, and I had no idea what a few of the documents were but I just signed them anyways.  I was warned about this beforehand and told to just sign whatever they give me.  With the suitcase in my arms he stacked the sheets, pillow and blanket on me and told me to walk up the stairs to room 306.  There was no one in the room so I set down my bags, made my bed and laid down for half an hour before heading back to meet the group for our field trip.

Orientation Week – Part 1

Orientation Week – First Few Days

After departing Pakistan, I landed in Ankara about 20 hours later.  It was 11pm Monday night and I was really tired.  I missed the first day of orientation which I hoped wouldn’t be too big of a deal.  The issue now was that when I called the university dorm management to find out what dorm to go to, the operator/secretary of the dorm didn’t speak English.  He just said “no english” and hung up…he did this the second time I called too.  I thought maybe he was just tired and didn’t want to talk or something??….I mean METU was after all an English speaking university, as advertised in Calgary.  Besides that secretary, no one at the airport was willing to speak English either, which was odd.  I decided I would just crash at a hotel for the night and go to orientation early the next day.  The Iraqi professor actually had the address and phone number of the place he was supposed to stay in.  In English the university is Middle East Technical University or simply METU.  In Turkish it’s Orta Dogu Teknik Universitesi or ODTU.  On his address it said Aysel Sabuncu Guesthouse in ODTU and we had no idea what ODTU was.  So anyways, me and the Iraqi professor picked up our luggage and were about to part ways, when maybe out of sympathy or just showing his hospitality the prof asked me to stay the night at the guesthouse….There was an awkward pause on my part when he asked the question.  I mean I just met the guy a few hours ago…I didn’t even know his name.  Anyways, after an awkward silence which lasted a few seconds I said “ummm ya sure, thanks” I decided to go because he seemed like he was legitimately a nice guy and he seemed pretty harmless too so if he tried to pull off some shady stuff I could handle it.  We walked out of the airport and noticed it was cold and raining really hard.  So we took a shuttle from the airport to the central bus station and were off towards the guesthouse.  The shuttle ride from the airport was about half an hour to the central bus station called Asdi.  From there we took a cab. Five minutes later we passed through the gates and I saw a sign that said Middle East Technical University and the Turkish name underneath with ODTU on the side so I was relieved to know I was close by for the next day.  Now we knew what ODTU was.

We got into the room and after calling home to tell everyone we arrived we put on the news.  We actually ended up discussing the situation in the Middle East, more specifically Iraq for a solid 2 hours before going to sleep.  It was interesting hearing the perspective from someone who lives and teaches there.  We decided to get up early because we both had no idea where to go to in the morning.  After a restless sleep on the couch; thanks to a bird that kept flying into the window over my head, we got up early and got ready to head to the Study Abroad office.  We had to take a taxi from the guesthouse, which was in the METU campus to the study abroad office.  I didn’t realize how huge this campus was until I got here. To walk from one end of the campus to the other would take forever.  The campus is 45 km squared, so it’s pretty huge.  It has two lakes, a shopping centre, two or three sports centres, various tennis courts, soccer fields, a track and field stadium, masjid, convention centre, a handful of restaurants, about six banks and a huge forest with a million or so trees.  Its huge.  There’s a shuttle service that can take students around campus called the Ring bus which can be useful at times.  After going to the study abroad office, the lady told me to leave my luggage with her and to go attend a lecture for the orientation about the topic of Turkey and the European Union…….. to be continued

From Pakistan to Ankara

My trip to Pakistan was a memorable one.  From experiencing the highs of meeting the family and attending a wedding to the lows of three family deaths in the span of three weeks; it was like a roller coaster ride. This was a trip that I’ll never forget.  After three weeks in Pakistan I was off for another trip which is expected to be quite the experience.

I left for Turkey, in the early hours of February 8^th.  I went with mom, a few cousins and uncles straight to the airport from Ali’s wedding reception.  I had a 9 hour stay in Dubai before heading to Istanbul.  In Dubai I walked around both terminals a couple times and had my lunch there as well.  After a few hours I got bored so I uploaded the wedding photos for the family to see.  After sleeping for about an hour I was ready to head to Istanbul.  After 5 hours I reached Istanbul.  I needed to catch a flight to Ankara where my university is.  I noticed a man talking at the counter next to me telling the travel agent he needs a ticket to Ankara because he has to go to Middle East Technical University (METU).  I approached him and asked for some help as the guy at the ticket counter barely spoke English.  Although the prof was from Iraq, he somewhat knew a little Turkish.  Turns out he was heading to METU for a 1 month exchange.  We bought our tickets and headed to domestic departures. After staying at the Istanbul airport for about an hour, we were on our way to Ankara.

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