Two more weeks of Turkishness

I have just 2 weeks left here in this country, and I'm still in denial. I keep telling the people around me how much time I have left, in order to remind myself that I'm leaving. It's not that I don't want to go back to the US. It's just that I haven't seen the US in almost 2 years. I've gotten used to this place. Since my old roommate left, I spend considerably more time with Turks than I do with Americans. In the last month, I've especially found myself becoming more comfortable being myself in my "new" language, and more Turks have commented how I've learned to communicate more naturally. I love learning, and every day I learn new words or phrases from every day conversation. I've even mastered 2 new Turkish dishes! Several months ago I wrote about learning in class how to make a bulgur pasta-like dish with a garlic tomato sauce (see previous post). Tonight I made it all by myself, with the help of a friend to chop and grate and form. She said it turned out great! Two weeks ago I made Turkish beans and rice and had my neighbor (who is an excellent cook and a good friend) taste it for me. She said the only thing I needed to change was to add more salt to my rice (I didn't salt it). Next week I think I'll try soup. I'm trying to soak up every moment of my cross-culture experience, drinking as much tea as possible, and stopping to sit and talk with an aquaintence for a while or have dinner at their house when asked even though I was originally on my way home.

Adventures in language learning

Tomorrow I have an exam in DNA class, so of course I feel the need to procrastinate from studying by doing things like updating my blog. (I got a lot more cleaning done during exam time in grad school!) Since my exam tomorrow will be in Turkish, it seemed appropriate to blog about my experience I had in language learning this week. I read an article once about acquiring a second language, and it said that when you are learning a new language, the language you are speaking is not really the language you are trying to learn (for example, Turkish), but instead a language you invent based on the building blocks of language you have learned. Eventually, when you become fluent, you will really be speaking that other language (such as Turkish).

So on Saturday I went to my friend's house for dinner and had a lovely time chatting with her and her family for a long time even after dinner. She made a TON of food for us, I think I counted 9 different dishes. Lentil soup, beans and rice, fried cauliflower, stuffed grape leaves, salad, potato salad...you get the idea. And of course she insisted I eat a considerable amount of EVERYTHING. After dinner, we had tea, as is the custom. After I had finished my tea, they asked if I wanted dessert. I said I didn't want it just yet because I was full. My friend asked, "how could you still be full, it's been a while since we've eaten." I replied by gesturing towards my empty mug of tea and saying literally, "yes, but I'm continually filling." The meaning I was hoping to convey was "I'm full because you keep giving me more to put in my stomach!" But in Turkish, the object (for ex, "stomach") is not always necessary like in English, which is convenient for a lazy language learner like me who prefers to stick to simple sentence that can be formed quickly. Well, when I formed this sentence from the building blocks I had acquired, my friend's family started laughing. I didn't ask why (I never do), so my friend offered an explanation. "In Turkish when a baby eats a lot and there's stuff in it's diaper, we say 'the baby is filling...'" So apparently I was implying not that I was stuffing my stomach, but that I was wearing a diaper and it needed to be changed. Ah, the joys of language acquisition.

What I'll miss the most

The focus of this blog has been new things I have seen and experienced in Turkey. Since I have been here for almost 2 years, there's not a lot left that's new anymore. Now I am getting ready to leave in less than a month. Someone has asked me what I'll miss the most from this place, and the answer was easy: the people. But I haven't talked much about the people on this blog, so today I wanted to show you some of them. Some of them I've only met once, or seen in passing. I Others are good friends. The good friends I'll miss very much, but I'll also miss the warmth and uniqueness of the many people I don't know (or know well) who I see here every day. I hope it gives you a glimpse of these people that I love.

Winter Wonderland on the Silk Road

This weekend I took a trip to the mountains near one of the cities that was significant on the Silk Road. We stopped to do some silk shopping in a caravansarai (a large building used as an inn/rest stop for caravans traveling on the Silk Road) that had been converted into a small bazaar. In the center of the caravansarai was a small building used for prayer, both in previous eras and today, and an outdoor cafe area. Then we headed into the modern shopping mall next door for some Starbucks! As we wandered around, we saw the ruins of sultans' tombs and an old city gate that was originally used by politicians.

After we had our fill of sightseeing we headed up the mountain. When we got there, we were disappointed by the lack of snow, but when we woke up the next morning, there was a foot of snow waiting for us with more on its way! We went out and played in the flurries--snow ball fights, sledding (or sliding around on trash bags in our case). Unfortunately my time in the snow didn't last very long. My high-heeled leather boots, while very warm, have no tread in snow. I didn't get very far up the hill before I was forced to slide down. The drive away from the hotel was beautiful, though. Everywhere there were trees covered with snow. We took a minibus from the hotel to the teleferik, something like a giant ski lift. We took the teleferik down the mountain and enjoyed the eagle's-eye view above the trees, even if we didn't have much visibility. It was the closest I've ever come to a white Christmas.