Wednesday, June 29, Thursday, June 30, and Friday, July 1, 2011 - Ankara, Turkey

Sorry for the lack of new posts the past three days.  We have in Ankara, which is a lovely modern European city, but unfortunetly, my hotel room in the top corner of the top floor doesn't have reliable internet service.

The past three days haven't been about sight-seeing so much as about learning and networking.  For the past three days I have been in a series of educational lectures provided by various university professors from around Ankara.  Here are seminar titles from the past three days.

Wednesday -

1. Turkish Lesson #1
2. Transition from Ottoman Empire to Turkish Republic
3. Class, Gender and Identities in Contemporary Turkey
4. Migration and Displacement: A Troublesome Intersection of Ways of Modernity in Turkey

Thursday -

1. Turkish Lesson #2
2. Main Contours of Turkish Foregin Policy:  Relations with East and West
3. Political Parties and the Electrol Process in Turkey:  Historical Background, Current Issues, and Challenges Ahead

Friday -

1. Current Economic Crises from Turkey's Perspective:  Homemade or Imported
2. Milestones in Modern Turkish Education:  Conflicts and Resolutions
3. Introduction to Islamic Mysticism and Spirituality:  The Case of Sufism

And Saturday I get to look forward to learning about:

1. The Ottoman Art of Painting
2. Anatolia: The Crossroads

Did you just hear my brain explode?  LOL!

I've gotten a TON out of a lot of the seminars while others I was struggling to stay awake and attentive, to be honest.  (There were times that I was NOT a good student!)  However, all in all the seminars have reminded me how much I LOVE LEARNING and it's been so rewarding to stretch my brain into new territories and topics.  It's also shown me first hand that if you don't have appropriate background when learning that most of what you hear will make no sense! 

The Turkish lesson the first day about made me cry.  I'm horrible at phonics and pronouncation.  However, on day 2, for many of us, it started to click.  We were sad we didn't have a third day of lessons. 

After two weeks in Greece, I had learned just four new words that I could actually use effectively in public:

(First is the the word in Greek, second is the phoentic pronunication, and third is the English word.)

ευχαριστώ - ef̱charistó̱ - thank you

καλημέρα - kali̱méra - good morning
καλησπέρα - kali̱spéra - good evening
καληνύχτα - kali̱nýchta - good night


So far in just three days in Turkey I have acquired several new words and have plently of time to practice them and make them stick. Here are a few I am working on.  (My goal is to get at least 8 words seeing that I got 4 in Greece!)
merhaba - hello
teşekkürler - thanks
günaydın - good morning
evet - yes
hayır - no
lütfen - please
afedersiniz - excuse me
üzgünüm - sorry

I've got a cheat sheet more in my purse...but I'm not holding me breathe any more.

In addition to these seminars, we have been to see Ataturk's Mausoleum (Ataturk is the father of the modern Turkish Republic), visited the Middle East Technical University (#183rd top rated university in the world), and Bilkent University (the #112th top rated university in the world).  Here are some random pictures from the past three days.  Hopefully the captions will help put them into perspective for you.

Ataturk's Mausoleum (he is buried 7 metres below the building and then around the area is a huge museum all about his life, his accomplishments, and his dedication and work for the modern republic that Turkey is today.

A statue of three Turkish women representing the love for and grief for Ataturk.



The soliders from the various armed forces sections were quite impressive standing guard.



Me with the Ankara in the background

The Turkish Flag and manicured grounds at the mausoleum

Here we are in one of our seminars at our hotel conference room.

Hey, Doves!  Check out the name of this store I walked past in downtown Ankara, Turkey!  I had to get a picture to show you I was thinking of you all even when I am 7000+ miles away!

Reception at Mr. Dennis Leary's house - he is the press secretary for the United States Embassador to Turkey

Mingling at the reception

Myself, LeeAnn (Portland, Oregon), and Liza (San Fran, California)

Myself, Kay (Del Mar, California), and Carol (Madison, Wisconsin)

I LOVE going to grocery stores in other countries and after the reception, where I didn't eat, I needed a little something light.  I was pleased to find Honey Nut Cheerios and milk.  It made a for a perfect dinner before bed!  Do you like my bowl?

One of the buildings at Middle East Technical University (METU)



The flag of Turkey - there is something about a flag blowing in the wind that captivates me.



Our offical seat and welcome at Bilkent Univeristy

A tour of Bilkent University

In addition to two seminars tomorrow, we are also going to visit the Citadel and the Old Town of Ankara in addition to the museum there.  Sunday we are visitng a Women's Center and then packing up to leave first thing Monday morning for our two weeks on the road traveling around Turkey!