Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Fall Has Arrived
Leaving work on Monday afternoon we all noticed how chilly it had gotten. Granted, the sun had gone down, but still there was something different. What it was became apparent at about ten that night. Thunder and lightening, wind and rain. It was just wonderful. I sleep right next to the window, which I keep open all the time. I couldn't help but smile. I've been waiting for this for a long time. The air smelled so good this morning; it had been cleaned of the dust. There were still clouds around but there was sun too. It was a beautiful morning but I had my umbrella just in case. Sometime around mid-afternoon the entire scene repeated itself, only this time we added hail and it was daylight so you could watch the front move through. By the time we left you could see the moon. I think the heat is finally past.
Birecik Bird Sanctuary
It was already dark when we left Halfeti. We’d been late leaving that morning and then we went off daylight savings time, robbing us of an hour of light. We all assumed we were heading back to Gaziantep. However, we found ourselves bumping along a road next to the river, clearly in some sort of town. The driver pulled into a gas station – we thought he was lost and was trying to get onto the freeway. It turned out he was looking for a famous bird sanctuary. The station was right next to the sanctuary, but it wasn’t obvious how you got in. I’d read about this sanctuary in exploring possibilities for birdwatching in Turkey. It’s the only place in the world with bald ibises. The bird almost became extinct. This refuge began with one breeding pair, and now they have 109 birds. When they hit 100 they bought a satellite and inserted some sort of transmitter in each bird. Now they know where they all are all the time. Bald ibises are migratory birds that winter on the Nile. Most of them travel through Syria and Jordon to get to Egypt, but some fly over the Mediterranean. Sadly, it was too dark to see them, but I bought a couple of photos. It seems like a good cause to support, even if they are singularly ugly birds.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Halfeti
From Zeugma we bumped north through pistachio orchards to a little village on the Euphrates. At this point I was reminded of the Columbia River gorge. The cliffs rose quite steeply on both sides of the river. The little village hung on the slope above the river. We learned later that part of it had been submerged by the water backing up behind the dam. It is obviously a local tourist attraction. Tied up on the shore are a half dozen covered barges that serve as restaurants. There are also a number of little putt putts that give short tours up the river. The Turkish teachers who were with us went to all the restaurants bargaining for the cheapest group rate. We ended up at the first place because they were willing to throw in the boat ride.
While our fish kebabs were being prepared, be chugged up river. We way the remains of a Roman fort atop one of the cliffs. We then went into a little inlet. I saw a minaret sticking up out of the water right on the shore. I innocently asked where the mosque was – not having understood the explanation (in Turkish) by the driver that the village had been submerged. He took us close to the shore and we could see the roof of the mosque about a foot under water. Think Yangzee River. The Turkish government paid the residents to relocate to a new village built on higher ground. There were a couple of groups picnicking on verandas, but they’d had to get there by boat – or so we were told.
We chugged back to our barge where we were served truly delicious fish. It had been prepared with some sort of spicy rub and grilled. Yummy and a nice change from the usual meat kebabs. I was quite impressed that the barge was lit with compact florescent light bulbs. In fact, they even had them in red, blue, yellow, and green. I don’t think I’ve seen those in The States.
I did take my binoculars along in hopes of seeing some sort of bird life. I may have seen an egret on one shore of the river. However, it was far away, and I was also able to identify plastic shopping bags posing as birds (joke – there was a lot of junk around) so I’m not sure I was actually seeing a living creature. I also saw one gull and one black “duck” – looked a bit like a scooter. That was about it.
While our fish kebabs were being prepared, be chugged up river. We way the remains of a Roman fort atop one of the cliffs. We then went into a little inlet. I saw a minaret sticking up out of the water right on the shore. I innocently asked where the mosque was – not having understood the explanation (in Turkish) by the driver that the village had been submerged. He took us close to the shore and we could see the roof of the mosque about a foot under water. Think Yangzee River. The Turkish government paid the residents to relocate to a new village built on higher ground. There were a couple of groups picnicking on verandas, but they’d had to get there by boat – or so we were told.
We chugged back to our barge where we were served truly delicious fish. It had been prepared with some sort of spicy rub and grilled. Yummy and a nice change from the usual meat kebabs. I was quite impressed that the barge was lit with compact florescent light bulbs. In fact, they even had them in red, blue, yellow, and green. I don’t think I’ve seen those in The States.
I did take my binoculars along in hopes of seeing some sort of bird life. I may have seen an egret on one shore of the river. However, it was far away, and I was also able to identify plastic shopping bags posing as birds (joke – there was a lot of junk around) so I’m not sure I was actually seeing a living creature. I also saw one gull and one black “duck” – looked a bit like a scooter. That was about it.
Zeugma
This Sunday Zirve University arranged for a bus to take any of us who wanted to go on a field trip to the Euphrates. We made three stops and I’m going to write separate entries on each. So bear with me.
As we drove out of Gaziantep heading east, one of the Turkish faculty members said: you’re riding on the Silk Road. In fact, the highway is built on the old trade route from China to Antioch, when goods were traded or put on ships for Venice, among other destinations. Except for the pistachio orchard here and there, the landscape felt quite empty. It was hilly but barren and dry. We passed through one medium-sized town, Nizip, on the way, but other than that, nothing. I commented to one of the Turkish teachers that it felt strange not to see any people. As we got closer to the Euphrates, the pistachio orchards got larger, but still no people. She commented that the people had their orchards outside the village but lived in the village and they were probably all home. That may be true, but we saw few villages and when we went through a village, you didn’t see many people.
As we got closer to Zeugma, the roads got narrower. They twisted and turned over steep hillsides. Finally, we crested a hill and there it was, the mighty Euphrates. Actually, it was more of a lake created by a new dam built just downstream from Zuegma. Historically, Zeugma was the easiest place in the region to cross the Eurprates. While there is archeological evidence that the area has been settled since early Bronze Age, the actual city was built by one of Alexander the Great’s Macedonian generals, Seleucus Nicator, who also built a town on the other side of the river and named it after his Persian wife Apama. Until the Romans captured the city, it was called Seleukeia ad Euphrates. The Romans renamed it Zeugma, which means something like “bridge” or “passage.” Located as it was on the Silk Road trade route and home to Legion IIII (not Legion IV, as one might expect) the city became quite prosperous and was used as a staging area for many of the campaigns the Romans undertook against eastern rulers – usually one of the dynasties ruling present day Iran. However, the city was overrun by the Persian Sassanids in 256 (“ravaged with fire and sword,” to quote the book I bought on Zeugma mosaics) and never recovered its former prosperity. There are no written records of the settlement after 1048. It remained essentially “lost” for over 900 years.
I mention this little bit of history because it’s so hard to image that in this empty, somewhat dusty, silent place you might once have seen the camps of the army of Alexander the Great or of Cassius, as he was about to launch an attack against the Parthians (Iranian empire) under the reign of the emperor Claudius. Or just think of the arrival of the caravans carrying goods from the East. Now nothing but pistachio orchards right down to the water’s edge – and silence. Scarcely a trace of all those momentous events in history. If it hadn’t been for the building of the dam, the actual site of Zeugma might never have come to light. There is one villa above the waterline – the rest are under water – that is still being excavated. At the moment they are building a structure over it. Eventually, it will become a kind of open-air museum. If you want to see the mosaics or frescos from the other villas, you have to go to a museum in Gaziantep.
As we drove out of Gaziantep heading east, one of the Turkish faculty members said: you’re riding on the Silk Road. In fact, the highway is built on the old trade route from China to Antioch, when goods were traded or put on ships for Venice, among other destinations. Except for the pistachio orchard here and there, the landscape felt quite empty. It was hilly but barren and dry. We passed through one medium-sized town, Nizip, on the way, but other than that, nothing. I commented to one of the Turkish teachers that it felt strange not to see any people. As we got closer to the Euphrates, the pistachio orchards got larger, but still no people. She commented that the people had their orchards outside the village but lived in the village and they were probably all home. That may be true, but we saw few villages and when we went through a village, you didn’t see many people.
As we got closer to Zeugma, the roads got narrower. They twisted and turned over steep hillsides. Finally, we crested a hill and there it was, the mighty Euphrates. Actually, it was more of a lake created by a new dam built just downstream from Zuegma. Historically, Zeugma was the easiest place in the region to cross the Eurprates. While there is archeological evidence that the area has been settled since early Bronze Age, the actual city was built by one of Alexander the Great’s Macedonian generals, Seleucus Nicator, who also built a town on the other side of the river and named it after his Persian wife Apama. Until the Romans captured the city, it was called Seleukeia ad Euphrates. The Romans renamed it Zeugma, which means something like “bridge” or “passage.” Located as it was on the Silk Road trade route and home to Legion IIII (not Legion IV, as one might expect) the city became quite prosperous and was used as a staging area for many of the campaigns the Romans undertook against eastern rulers – usually one of the dynasties ruling present day Iran. However, the city was overrun by the Persian Sassanids in 256 (“ravaged with fire and sword,” to quote the book I bought on Zeugma mosaics) and never recovered its former prosperity. There are no written records of the settlement after 1048. It remained essentially “lost” for over 900 years.
I mention this little bit of history because it’s so hard to image that in this empty, somewhat dusty, silent place you might once have seen the camps of the army of Alexander the Great or of Cassius, as he was about to launch an attack against the Parthians (Iranian empire) under the reign of the emperor Claudius. Or just think of the arrival of the caravans carrying goods from the East. Now nothing but pistachio orchards right down to the water’s edge – and silence. Scarcely a trace of all those momentous events in history. If it hadn’t been for the building of the dam, the actual site of Zeugma might never have come to light. There is one villa above the waterline – the rest are under water – that is still being excavated. At the moment they are building a structure over it. Eventually, it will become a kind of open-air museum. If you want to see the mosaics or frescos from the other villas, you have to go to a museum in Gaziantep.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Second Attempt
Today another teacher and I headed into town to try to find the “covered bazaar.” What we’d found before was the “pedestrian arcade.” The arcade is lined with stores – for several blocks. But they have plate glass windows and sort of standard interiors. It clearly wasn’t bazaar like.
This morning we got out relatively early and took a bus. I turned out to be going the mall and not all the way to the center of town. We got off there and walked into town through the big city park. It was wonderful. The air was still cool and there weren’t too many people in park. Once in town we walked past the entrance to the arcade and headed down a commercial street that was a bit more “primitive.” By that I mean each merchant had a kind of stall that could be closed with a heavy wooden door at night. Most of their merchandise was right on the sidewalk. Part way down the street we looked left up an alley. Eureka, we found it – at least we thought we had. The street was narrow and covered and wound gently uphill. At first there were nothing but copper artisans/merchants. But we then came to an area where everyone was selling herbs and spices – and handmade soaps. Then there were the textile folks selling tablecloths and blankets. Mostly we just looked. I ended up buying a tablecloth for 3 TL (about $1.75) to cover the desk/table in my living room. It adds some color and softens the feel of the room a bit.
After our little sojourn in the market – and a failed attempt to locate a particular store near the castle – we headed back to the mall where my friend was going to – bravely – get a haircut. I went to the bookstore and got Orphan Pamuk’s new novel The Museum of Innocence. In the US he’s known for his novel Snow. I was amazed they had the book in English, because they have only a handful of English titles – among them Dan Brown’s new book.
As usual, this whole narrative is really heading to food. I’d heard about this special kind of Turkish ice cream. There is a store in the mall that sells it. It turns out not to be a store but a restaurant. I talked Judy into sharing a plate. It’s served in slices – like they’d been cut from a roll We got a plate with a slice of vanilla, slice of chocolate and – surprise, surprise – as slice of pistachio. It’s hard to describe the texture. It’s not as creamy as what we think of as ice cream. It’s more like the texture of a fudgesicle but not as icy. And the flavors were very intense.
But the real surprise of the afternoon was the beverage we ordered, something called sahlep. (Go to this link for a great article on sahlep. http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-192329-keep-the-winter-chills-at-bay-with-a-warm-cup-of-sahlep.html ) A sahlep is a kind of wild orchid. This drink is made from milk, sugar and a flour made from the dried tuber of this orchid. It was topped with cinnamon, which had been applied using a stencil of two dolphins chasing each other in a circle, and – bet you can’t guess – chopped pistachios. It was one of the most amazing beverages I have ever consumed. For starters, it was quite thick, but not like cream. Clearly, the orchid flour thickened the milk and sugar mixture. We kept trying to think of what the flavor reminded us of. I thought of bread pudding – but not quite. Apparently rose water is sometimes added and that might have been one of the things we were tasting. Clearly, this is a kind of comfort food and would be fabulous on a cold, damp day.
Epilogue:
On returning to our apartment complex we learned that we had not, in fact, been at the "covered bazaar." This will require yet another -- third -- foray into the center city. I will keep you posted.
This morning we got out relatively early and took a bus. I turned out to be going the mall and not all the way to the center of town. We got off there and walked into town through the big city park. It was wonderful. The air was still cool and there weren’t too many people in park. Once in town we walked past the entrance to the arcade and headed down a commercial street that was a bit more “primitive.” By that I mean each merchant had a kind of stall that could be closed with a heavy wooden door at night. Most of their merchandise was right on the sidewalk. Part way down the street we looked left up an alley. Eureka, we found it – at least we thought we had. The street was narrow and covered and wound gently uphill. At first there were nothing but copper artisans/merchants. But we then came to an area where everyone was selling herbs and spices – and handmade soaps. Then there were the textile folks selling tablecloths and blankets. Mostly we just looked. I ended up buying a tablecloth for 3 TL (about $1.75) to cover the desk/table in my living room. It adds some color and softens the feel of the room a bit.
After our little sojourn in the market – and a failed attempt to locate a particular store near the castle – we headed back to the mall where my friend was going to – bravely – get a haircut. I went to the bookstore and got Orphan Pamuk’s new novel The Museum of Innocence. In the US he’s known for his novel Snow. I was amazed they had the book in English, because they have only a handful of English titles – among them Dan Brown’s new book.
As usual, this whole narrative is really heading to food. I’d heard about this special kind of Turkish ice cream. There is a store in the mall that sells it. It turns out not to be a store but a restaurant. I talked Judy into sharing a plate. It’s served in slices – like they’d been cut from a roll We got a plate with a slice of vanilla, slice of chocolate and – surprise, surprise – as slice of pistachio. It’s hard to describe the texture. It’s not as creamy as what we think of as ice cream. It’s more like the texture of a fudgesicle but not as icy. And the flavors were very intense.
But the real surprise of the afternoon was the beverage we ordered, something called sahlep. (Go to this link for a great article on sahlep. http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-192329-keep-the-winter-chills-at-bay-with-a-warm-cup-of-sahlep.html ) A sahlep is a kind of wild orchid. This drink is made from milk, sugar and a flour made from the dried tuber of this orchid. It was topped with cinnamon, which had been applied using a stencil of two dolphins chasing each other in a circle, and – bet you can’t guess – chopped pistachios. It was one of the most amazing beverages I have ever consumed. For starters, it was quite thick, but not like cream. Clearly, the orchid flour thickened the milk and sugar mixture. We kept trying to think of what the flavor reminded us of. I thought of bread pudding – but not quite. Apparently rose water is sometimes added and that might have been one of the things we were tasting. Clearly, this is a kind of comfort food and would be fabulous on a cold, damp day.
Epilogue:
On returning to our apartment complex we learned that we had not, in fact, been at the "covered bazaar." This will require yet another -- third -- foray into the center city. I will keep you posted.
Friday, October 23, 2009
A Great Discovery
I played hooky this afternoon. I was down to half a lira in Turkish money, and you can't change money around here on the weekend. The director of the "Preparatory School" (English language instruction) is off in Poland and the person he left in charge has a desk right next to mine. The Texas people were fine with me leaving early and the number two person was also leaving on the 1:30 PM van into town. So off I went.
I walked about a half hour down to a bank that can change money. At least this bank (Garanti -- somehow connected to GE Capital) has a "take a number system," even if they only had one teller on duty on a Friday afternoon -- there were seven teller stations. I spent my time trying to read their promotions posters and signs. Ironically, the only thing I could translate for sure was the phrase "good service." Hmmm. I probably waited about 45 minutes before my number came up. I was 838. They were at 824 when I came in but they kept jumping to numbers in the 500s or 300s. Don't know how folks got those numbers. They'd come in after I did. But I did eventually get my money changed.
When I left the bank I heard a lot of noise -- shouting -- coming from down an alley. I looked up the street and saw that there was a large covered area behind the bank building. It wasn't large enough to be a covered soccer stadium but I thought it must be some kind of sporting event. Then when I got closer I realized it was a market. It reminded me a lot of the market in Meaux where my sister Courtney used to shop. A bit more than a third of it was given over to food. The rest was clothing, every cooking utensil you could imagine, dishes, clothing, yardage and even colorful scarves.
The produce was just gorgeous. Eggplants, tomatoes, peppers in every size and shape, zucchini (which are very pale green), lettuce, scallions, potatoes, persimmons, pomegranates, etc. etc. Everything in season. There is also an interesting citrus fruit in all the markets. It's shaped like a small orange but it's mostly green. When we lived in Riverside CA I learned that oranges left on a tree will start to turns green. I thought maybe that's what they were -- wrong. They look sort of like an orange inside but they are somewhat tart. The canteen at Zirve keeps a big bowl and they will squeeze them on the spot. Very refreshing.
What caught my eye were green beans that reminded me of our Romano beans. I just couldn't resist. I couldn't tell how much they were so I gave the guy 2 lira -- about $1.25. I got a kilo of beans -- and believe me, that's lots of beans. I've been giving them to people in my building and still have a lot for myself. For dinner tonight I had a plate of beans and fresh tomatoes, with a slice of good whole wheat bread. For dessert I sliced a persimmon in half and scooped in out with a spoon. As someone said, it's almost like eating jam, they are so sweet.
I guess I write a lot about food, but the produce here is so fabulous and so reasonably priced. That's all I want to eat.
I walked about a half hour down to a bank that can change money. At least this bank (Garanti -- somehow connected to GE Capital) has a "take a number system," even if they only had one teller on duty on a Friday afternoon -- there were seven teller stations. I spent my time trying to read their promotions posters and signs. Ironically, the only thing I could translate for sure was the phrase "good service." Hmmm. I probably waited about 45 minutes before my number came up. I was 838. They were at 824 when I came in but they kept jumping to numbers in the 500s or 300s. Don't know how folks got those numbers. They'd come in after I did. But I did eventually get my money changed.
When I left the bank I heard a lot of noise -- shouting -- coming from down an alley. I looked up the street and saw that there was a large covered area behind the bank building. It wasn't large enough to be a covered soccer stadium but I thought it must be some kind of sporting event. Then when I got closer I realized it was a market. It reminded me a lot of the market in Meaux where my sister Courtney used to shop. A bit more than a third of it was given over to food. The rest was clothing, every cooking utensil you could imagine, dishes, clothing, yardage and even colorful scarves.
The produce was just gorgeous. Eggplants, tomatoes, peppers in every size and shape, zucchini (which are very pale green), lettuce, scallions, potatoes, persimmons, pomegranates, etc. etc. Everything in season. There is also an interesting citrus fruit in all the markets. It's shaped like a small orange but it's mostly green. When we lived in Riverside CA I learned that oranges left on a tree will start to turns green. I thought maybe that's what they were -- wrong. They look sort of like an orange inside but they are somewhat tart. The canteen at Zirve keeps a big bowl and they will squeeze them on the spot. Very refreshing.
What caught my eye were green beans that reminded me of our Romano beans. I just couldn't resist. I couldn't tell how much they were so I gave the guy 2 lira -- about $1.25. I got a kilo of beans -- and believe me, that's lots of beans. I've been giving them to people in my building and still have a lot for myself. For dinner tonight I had a plate of beans and fresh tomatoes, with a slice of good whole wheat bread. For dessert I sliced a persimmon in half and scooped in out with a spoon. As someone said, it's almost like eating jam, they are so sweet.
I guess I write a lot about food, but the produce here is so fabulous and so reasonably priced. That's all I want to eat.
Little Dramas
Sometimes I wonder what I can write about in this blog as my days seem so repetitive. Well, perhaps the banality of this report will tell you how far I have to stretch to find something to write about – or maybe you’ll find it interesting. It’s hard for me to judge – it’s just my life
As I think I’ve mentioned, all Zirve students and staff – teachers, administrators, support staff, etc. – have to be ferried out to campus in the morning. There are buses back into town at 12:30 PM for the students who have only morning classes. Then another fleet leaves shortly after 5:00 PM. There are two, smaller busses for the teacher staff; some administrators also ride those busses.
Thursday morning we got on our bus at the usual pick-up point just outside the main entrance to Gaziantep University. The bus hadn’t really pulled completely into traffic before a policeman motioned our driver to pull over. There was some conversation through the window and then the driver got out and stood behind the police car. They were obviously looking at his papers. At one point one of the policemen got out a very thick pad of pink papers (I thought, tickets), but I don’t think he ever gave anything to the driver. Eventually, the driver got back in the bus and drove us to work. He was explaining something in Turkish to one of the administrators on the bus – who didn’t volunteer an explanation to us.
Later in the morning we learned that ours wasn’t the only bus to have been stopped. Many of the student buses had been pulled over as well, and there was concern that some of the students might not have made it to campus. The buzz in the faculty/staff lunchroom was that the company with the contract to transport the students wasn’t properly licensed to do so. Part of their fine is that they cannot provide any kind of bus transport for 26 months. Somebody obviously “squealed”; I just hope it’s the company and not the individual drivers who’ll be out of driving for 26 months. This city is a magnet for people escaping hard-scrabble farms to look for work. What they don’t need is more unemployment.
Fortunately, there were no noon busses scheduled for Thursday as all the students had to stay around for language lab training and to be visible to the folks from Apple who were visiting campus. The administration wanted to be certain the Apple folks saw lots of students hunched over their new MacBook Pros. They needn’t have worried. Everywhere you looked students were busy with their computers. But if one percent of them were using their laptops for anything remotely academic, I’d be astonished.
Somehow Zirve rounded up busses to get the students home that night. The two buses and drivers who always transport us have remained the same. And classes went on as scheduled today. Just a little blip and something to gossip about in the hall.
I'll save the other drama for another slow day. This posting has gotten too long.
As I think I’ve mentioned, all Zirve students and staff – teachers, administrators, support staff, etc. – have to be ferried out to campus in the morning. There are buses back into town at 12:30 PM for the students who have only morning classes. Then another fleet leaves shortly after 5:00 PM. There are two, smaller busses for the teacher staff; some administrators also ride those busses.
Thursday morning we got on our bus at the usual pick-up point just outside the main entrance to Gaziantep University. The bus hadn’t really pulled completely into traffic before a policeman motioned our driver to pull over. There was some conversation through the window and then the driver got out and stood behind the police car. They were obviously looking at his papers. At one point one of the policemen got out a very thick pad of pink papers (I thought, tickets), but I don’t think he ever gave anything to the driver. Eventually, the driver got back in the bus and drove us to work. He was explaining something in Turkish to one of the administrators on the bus – who didn’t volunteer an explanation to us.
Later in the morning we learned that ours wasn’t the only bus to have been stopped. Many of the student buses had been pulled over as well, and there was concern that some of the students might not have made it to campus. The buzz in the faculty/staff lunchroom was that the company with the contract to transport the students wasn’t properly licensed to do so. Part of their fine is that they cannot provide any kind of bus transport for 26 months. Somebody obviously “squealed”; I just hope it’s the company and not the individual drivers who’ll be out of driving for 26 months. This city is a magnet for people escaping hard-scrabble farms to look for work. What they don’t need is more unemployment.
Fortunately, there were no noon busses scheduled for Thursday as all the students had to stay around for language lab training and to be visible to the folks from Apple who were visiting campus. The administration wanted to be certain the Apple folks saw lots of students hunched over their new MacBook Pros. They needn’t have worried. Everywhere you looked students were busy with their computers. But if one percent of them were using their laptops for anything remotely academic, I’d be astonished.
Somehow Zirve rounded up busses to get the students home that night. The two buses and drivers who always transport us have remained the same. And classes went on as scheduled today. Just a little blip and something to gossip about in the hall.
I'll save the other drama for another slow day. This posting has gotten too long.
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