Erzurum PR

One of my new, and rapidly very dear, friends here, Nermin, is in charge of American Corner at Atatürk Üniversitesi. To avoid the risk of insulting my employer, the State Dept, I will not go into too much detail about my feelings about the Corner. I’ll just say though that it is a room in our Foreign Language Department stocked with books about Broadway musicals and Barack Obama and DVDs narrated by Ken Burns. It’s where my weekly “English Music Club” takes place and as well as various speakers, and different events that either we or Embassy visitors host. Anyway, the greatest downside of the Corner in the eyes of those who operate on the daily are the reports that must be written to the Embassy about its activities (and really all activities involving Americans and Turks in Erzurum) on a frequent basis. Nermin has taken to outsourcing this task to me and I’ve been happy to oblige. Here are parts of our last two reports on Thanksgiving (which actually took place in  Elizabeth’s and Emily’s apartment, not the Corner) and our Halloween Party for our students. 

Thanksgiving in Erzurum

This Thanksgiving, the American ETAs living in Erzurum celebrated Turkey Day with turkey in Turkey. Although the turkey (affectionately named Hank Hindi) was certainly the centerpiece of the feast and the source of many jokes and shameless puns, the heart of the celebration was the people.  Nine American Fulbrighters from Eastern Turkey descended on Erzurum for Thanksgiving weekend to celebrate with the Erzurum ETAs and their new Turkish friends. On Saturday, a group of 25 gathered for a feast of mashed potatoes, stuffing, börek, corn, quince compote (cranberries could not be found), sauteed eggplant and of course, the turkey. Hank (thanks to the determination of Erzurum ETA, Elizabeth Dratz and the kindness and resourcefulness of a fellow English lecturer at Atatürk Üniversitesi, Alper) was alive only about 12 hours before he was eaten. Hank belonged to Alper’s friend who was willing to give him up to help the Americans in town celebrate their holiday. It was Elizabeth’s first time she cooked a turkey for Thanksgiving without her mother’s help and her first time she had seen one slaughtered. Before Hank was enjoyed, all the guests said what they were thankful for this year. Many of the Americans were thankful for the generosity that they had encountered in the short three months they had been in Turkey and for friendships they had begun to form. The Turkish guests were also grateful for their new American friends and for the opportunity to share in this celebration. The dessert selection was symbolic, revealing that this night was not about one culture passively displaying their tradition to the other but was an organic merging of two cultures celebrating together. Since the Thanksgiving Party fell close to Aşure Günü or the day to celebrate the landing of Noah’s Ark, aşure pudding, a delicious, sweet hodge podge of rice, dried fruits and nuts was prepared in abundance by one of the guests and enjoyed by all. Along with the aşure, the guests indulged in apple pie, baklava, pumpkin pie, Gumuşhane pestil and köme, and chocolate chip cookies. 

Halloween in Erzurum

On October 31st, about 35 students of Atatürk University attended the American Corner Halloween Party. The night was was filled with games led by English lecturers and Fulbright ETAs, dancing that spilled out into the hallways and of course, lots of Halloween candy. Students bobbed for apples with a competitive zeal that the ETAs noted far surpassed what they had seen at Halloween parties in the States. Some students opted to be blindfolded as they played pin the nose on the jack o’lantern while others wrapped their classmates in toilet paper to mimic mummies. As the sounds of “Thriller” and “The Monster Mash” drifted around the room, students laughed and poked fun at those that struggled to eat donuts off a string. Not many attendees donned costumes but there was a cheetah, a witch and even the late Bariş Manço in attendance. The climax of the night was certainly the dancing. Trading off between the hustle and other dances led by the Americans and traditional Turkish dances by the students, students participated in a spontaneous dance exchange. Needless to say, many are counting down the weeks until Thanksgiving and the next large American Corner event.

Salı Günü, Tuesday.

Hello family and friends! Tonight, I would like to tell you about my day in Erzurum. 

I woke up at 6:15. It sounds early but the sun had beat me. Turkey only has one time zone so cities in the East like ours enjoy very early sunrises and early sunsets. I’m grateful that I don’t teach afternoon classes because it is usually dark before 4. I’m looking forward to the winter solstice. I made some Nescafe. I’m in the market for a French press. 

As I waited in front of the fruit stand where Aysegul usually picks me up, the manavci (fruit seller) insisted that I wait inside his store because it was way too cold to wait outside. We have experienced our coldest temperatures this week--in the low 40s. He also told me that I would learn more Turkish inside than I would outside. He had clearly noticed my terrible accent in mornings past. I sat on the chair behind his register and ate a pastry for a few minutes as he bustled around stacking tomatoes and speaking to me in Turkish. Probably giving me advice about how to stay warm but who knows for sure.

I arrived at school ready to knock out my four hours of teaching. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I teach two hours of engineering students and two hours of tourism students. Although both fields require an English proficiency, engineering students must score much higher on the college entrance exams and the difference in my two classes’ speaking levels reflects that difference in scores. What the tourism students may not have in vocabulary and grammar, however, they certainly make up for in their enthusiasm and competitiveness.

In each class, I teach (or sometimes attempt to teach) my students how to speak about two topics. Today our topics were “Food Around the World” and “The Movies.” Highlights include: When I was explaining that enchiladas were bread rolled up and stuffed with meat and cheese, one boy chimed in: “Oh, like a cigarette.” Sure. When discussing pizza, I felt it suitable to explain the beauty of a Little Caesars’ “Hot and Ready”s--especially in a city like Erzurum where there is no such thing as fast food. I went on at length about how one could walk in and take a pizza and only be $5 poorer. One of my very serious students stood up in the back of the room, took a deep breath and said: “Teacher, this pizza--maşallah.” Maşallah is a phrase which roughly translates to “may God bless and keep.” It’s usually reserved for newborn babies. But apparently also appropriate for Pizza Pizza.

I joke that my mornings are filled with teaching and my afternoons are filled with drinking tea. This is actually the truth, not a joke. I drank my first glass (and they are served in glass cups here) with Elizabeth and Korey at the Medical School cafeteria with our menemen, a casserole-type dish of tomatoes and eggs. When I got back to school, Muzaffer Bey, the vice-director of the Foreign Language School invited me into his office for a glass. I think of Muzaffer Bey as the grandfather of Erzurum. He has bright white hair. He has taught English here for his entire life. Our boss, Mehmet Bey, had him as a teacher for his first year of high school. He always stares out the window as he speaks to me in his office. He has a look in his eyes like he is gazing at the mountains that surround Erzurum and thinking about all the people he has influenced here. This would be really cool if he actually had a view of the mountains but his office is on the first floor so he can only see cars in the parking lot.

I went upstairs and drank a glass with my office mate, Aysel, as I graded speaking presentation topics. When I went downstairs to print some grading sheets, I refused a glass with Zekir Bey the printer. I instantly regretted it. He is someone I should befriend but I had left my office door unlocked upstairs so I felt like I could not stay. I drank my fourth cup of the day with Zeynep, one of my partner teachers. She teaches my tourism students grammar and reading. She wanted to hear how they were progressing. I was happy to tell her that they are trying very hard and was also secretly pleased when she agreed that one of the best students is a girl named Helin. She’s pregnant and as I was leaving, she told me that the next time I stopped by, she’d love to discuss what it is like to give birth in the U.S. I’ll have to do some research on that one. 

After dinner with Emily and Korey, Emily and I embarked on what we knew would be an Erzurum adventure. As I mentioned, we had agreed to give English lesson to the family that owned Guzelyurt, Erzurum’s fanciest establishment, but still did not know many--or any--details about these lessons. We were told to arrive at Guzelyurt at 7 where Mervlat the waiter would meet us. Emily accurately described our experience with Mervlat as something out of an old movie. The bar is empty. Classical music is playing. A man wearing a suit beckons you urgently over to two empty bar stools. Tea is poured. A phone rings. Just as urgently, you are beckoned down some back stairs. You introduced to another man in a suit. You are told to sit  inthe back seat of a car. You have not idea what is going on since everyone is speaking a different language. You are suddenly zooming down the city streets. This is where my narrative breaks down. I really can’t imagine Cumhuriyet Street as one in Paris or Rome--but up to that point, we felt like film noire stars. The driver (who turned out to be the owner’s brother) drove us to Dadaşkent. The suburbs. Although it was dark, I could tell it was the nice part of town. At a first floor apartment, we were greeted by Sibel and Dilay. Dilay is 12 and she will be our pupil. From the mere hour and a half I spent in their house, I could tell that Sibel is the ultimate Turkish Tiger Mom. She is a doctor at a private practice in town. Her apartment was impeccably decorated. She made us tea with such haste, I did not know water could boil that quickly. She does not speak English so she immediately put Emily on the phone with her sister who does. I heard the conversation secondhand but apparently Sibel wanted to know about our qualifications for teaching her daughter. Emily told her that we were English teachers at Atatürk. “Wait, are you Fulbrights ETAs?” said Sibel’s sister, “I work for the Fulbright Comission in Ankara.” Yes, just to prove that the world is smaller than I already thought, we had met this women during our orientation in Ankara. She is the accountant for Fulbright’s programs in Turkey and knew details about us from our applications long before Sibel handed Emily the phone. 

Sibel wants Dilay to be accepted to Robert College (actually a high school) in Istanbul in three years. Robert College could probably be described as Turkey’s Exeter and English fluency is required. Dilay is well on her way. She can understand me better than the majority of my students and her accent is flawless. I’m looking forward to spending an hour with her each week and figuring out how to keep her attention. We might try to read Harry Potter, she told us she enjoys the movies. Sibel was lovely to us as well. Although I emphasized her intensity, she seemed very happy to meet us. When she drove us home, she told us about a Blues Festival--the first in Turkey--that was visiting Erzurum on Sunday. “Tickets are hard to get but my husband has some if you would like to come.” I think we may have accidentally fallen in with Erzurum high society.

For those of you that made it to the end of this account, it is now later than I would like to go to bed to be rested for my 8 a.m. class--and what will follow. Luckily, however, I have no doubt that my tomorrow will be charged with the caffeine from the glasses of tea. Inşallah.

Obama Hoş Geldin!

Ah, Erzurum in the fall is even more beautiful when its four American residents are assured that their leader will be leading for four more years. I did not realize how stressed out I was about the election until I had my state of cheerfulness this morning to compare it to. I had given half hearted attempts to give a lesson about the elections in my classes on Monday and Tuesday but was met with blank faces. I found it close to impossible to  explain the differences between the two candidates in a way that interested my students and used only their limited vocabulary. I kept finding myself repeating the statements like “But the race is very close. We do not know who will win.” Clearly, that was where my mind was. 

Today, I rolled into Derslik 1-7 with a huge grin on my face. I think my students sensed this change in my attitude because they (my “Muhammad” class, led by five lively boys all with the same name who insist on a constant din of Turkish whispering) listened so attentively, I barely recognized them. Korey and I had been up since 4 am watching the votes come in. I should have know it was a good omen when I woke up the exact minute MSNBC called Michigan. The first call to prayer of the day began when New Hampshire went blue. And when Ohio--and the race--was called for Obama, Korey and I were jumping around my apartment. Ayşegul, my coworker who drives me to work, said playfully as she picked me up, “I hope there are other things in this life that make you this happy, Helen Marie.” Definitely, Ayşegul. This is just one of them. 

My first hour of teaching consisted of fielding questions from a newly interested class--again, I think my enthusiasm was contagious. Teacher, how is Obama different than Romney? All I was able to get across clearly is that Obama is not from Bush’s party and Romney is, to which the class nodded enthusiastically. Teacher, why was Ohio important? I was so impressed with that one that I went into a rudimentary crash course on the electoral college and was furthermore impressed with how much they seemed to understand. I told them that they now knew more about the American voting system than some Americans their age. 

My favorite question though--one I have received many times since being in Turkey--is about Obama’s religion. Teacher, Obama is a Muslim? I explain that although his name is Arabic and his father was a Muslim, he was raised by his mother and is therefore Christian. Teacher, are you sure? Maybe he just says that to get the votes, my students tell me with a smile. Sure, I say, maybe.That America’s president could be Muslim is considered so positive, I certainly don’t see the sense of arguing. And if it contributes to Obama’s positive image in this country, why deny it? 

Obama’s win seems to have been taken positively by my co-workers as well. What they were most curious about, however, is why we were so happy that he won. Well, we voted for him, we said at lunch. Yes, we voted for the party of Prime Minister Erdoğan but we are not as happy or surprised when he won, they replied. Elizabeth went on to explain that there are certain policies of Obama’s like being able to covered under our parent’s health insurance and his support of programs like Fulbright that directly effect our lives. Our co-workers (all of whom are state employees) joked that that would be like voting for Erdoğan because he promised to raise their salaries. They way they spoke about it, it did not seem like there was much hope of that transpiring in the future.

Although the election has been occupying a significant part of my brain, everything else has been going quite well in Erzurum. The weather has held out, only about 45 F, apparently much warmer than usual. We continue have l“only in Eastern Turkey” adventures. Such as my secondhand cell phone giving out but the man I bought it from giving me a new, nicer one free of charge without a receipt or even a question. Or a waiter we had one night at “Guzelyurt” (one of the fanciest restaurants in town) finding me in my office at school one day (I did not recognize him and have no idea how he found me) and asking for private English lessons. Turns out his boss, the boss’ wife and their 12-year-old daughter would like lessons too. We agreed to tutor them each for an hour each week...in exchange for free meals at Guzelyurt. Sidenote: When I say fanciest place in town, I mean it. It’s been open for 80 years and the waiters take your coat and pull out your chair before you sit down. I think we got the better end of the bargain on that one. More details to come when it pans out. 

Speaking Turkish is still a daily struggle. I was able to open a bank account and deal the aforementioned cell phone issues on my own but can still barely follow the constant chatter of my co-workers at lunch. I did, however, understand this comment from Aysel to our waiter at the cafeteria when he asked if we wanted salad for the table: Yes, please. And could you bring two? We have foreigners here, try to impress them with your service. When I called her out on it, she laughed and apologized for “using” us. Hey, happy to oblige.