Victory Day

     August 30th is Victory day in Turkey. It marks the successfull ousting of allied forces from present-day Turkey by Turkish nationalists. Most notable of these nationalists is the revered Mustafa Kemal. Kemal would later take on the title Atatürk, which I believe translates to "Father of Turkey." Atatürk's image is everywhere from statues to classrooms to billboards throughout Turkey. As a foreigner, I know little about this country's complex past and present. The most I can hope to gain is a glimpse and the best thing I can do is avoid any political conversation I might happen to encounter. This is my policy in any country.

     Today, banks and government institutions are closed. I have the day off which has given me the opportunity to hunt down some pictures and go grocery shopping. As I waited for the bus with Rae, a large group of proud Turks on motorcycles drove down the seaside boulevard honking and waving Turkish flags.We exchanged a silent look of admiration for the pride of this young country (88 years). Rae dug in her purse for the bus number that would take us to the Kipa market. The sky rumbled and we turned back to look at the Aegean. Nine helicopters flying in precise military formation flew low over the city and everyone around us cheered. I immediately thought of watching the Blue Angels from atop my Uncle's chiropractic office back home.

    Here are some pictures from my experiences in Istanbul. First is the Hagia Sophia:

     Words cannot describe the humbling effect this place has on a person. The dome is approximately 55 meters tall (180ft). There are many eccentricities and unique elements to the Hagia Sophia. The first church was inagurated by Constantius II in 360 and called the "Magna Ecclesia" or Great Church. It served as a principle place of worship within the Byzantine empire. The patron of the city John Chrysostom came into conflict with then empress Aelia Eudoxa. At that time, the roof was wooden and in 404 riots in Constantinople broke out which eventually resulted in most of the original church burning down.
       Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II inagurated the second church in October 415. That church also had a wooden dome which, you guessed it, burned down in 532 during the Nika Revolt. Several blocks survive from this church. They look like this:

     This piece was originally part of a grand entrance to the church. It had 12 lambs representing the 12 apostles. This piece and one other were discovered in 1935.
     So, when did they finally construct something that would last? In February, 532, the structure which stands today was built. Justinian I decided he was going to do things right. Hellenistic columns were brought from the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Stones were brought from quarries in Porphyry, Egypt. Green marble came from Thessaly. Black stone was brought from the Bosporous region. Yellow stone came from Syria.
     The place is amazing for any number of reasons but for me, it's a great way to compare Christian and Islamic art forms side-by-side. When Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453, it was immediately converted into a mosque. Mosques are not allowed to have graven images of any kind. This is an interesting contrast to western cathedrals which generally have illuminated mosaics and various allegorical tales cataloged on their walls and stained-glass windows. All art in mosques is generally Arabic calligraphy, the language of the Koran which is forbidden to be translated. Atatürk made Turkey a secular state and turned the mosque into a museum in 1935. Now the two art forms can be viewed side-by-side.

      I know this post is already pretty history-heavy but I've got to mention the Basilica Cistern which is just a few hundred feet away from the Hagia Sophia. The Cistern is the largest of hundreds that are beneath all of Istanbul. It was built during the reign of Justinian I that I mentioned earlier. Imagine a chamber about 450' x 200' filled with water. It's supported by 336  marble columns.

     The cistern was used for water until just after the Ottoman conquest in 1453. It was actually completely forgotten about when the ottomans decided they wanted to use other water filtration methods. A westerner named P. Gyllius came to Istanbul to study Byzantine art and stumbled on the cistern when he heard rumors that people had been obtaining water by dipping buckets into holes in their basements. According to rumor, he was invited into a hospitable Turkish household and witnessed the husband fishing from the comfort of his basement. Gyllius lowered himself into the cistern and made it known to the Western world.
       The other thing about the cistern is the Medusa blocks:

     There are two of them supporting columns in the northwest corner of the cistern. Nobody knows why or how they got there. Like anything else, there are any number of wild and unsupported speculations on it. I'll tell you my favorites.
     Legend has it that Medusa was in love with Perseus, one of many half-mortal sons of Zeus. Unfortunately for her, Athena was also in love with Perseus. Being a war goddess, Athena wasn't inclined to work out differences over a hot cup of chamomile tea and instead opted to turn Medusa's hair into snakes- forever cursing her to be a hideous monster who turned people to stone with her gaze. Harsh. To make matters worse, Athena would eventually instruct Perseus to decapitate his former secret-admirer in order to use her tragic power that, unbeknownst to him,  was simply the result of the most epic cat-fight of all time.
     Medusa heads were said to be used to protect sacred places by the Byzantines. Paradoxically, the heads would often be turned sideways or upside-down to prevent her gaze from turning people to stone. So...nevermind. My theory is that these blocks happened to be the right size to prop the cistern columns up and whoever moved them just looked at them as old car parts because Istanbul is so awash in ruins. Anyway they look neat.
     We ended our tour of Istanbul with a cruise on the Bosphorous that I mentioned in a previous post. This is what the back of my head looks like on the boat:

I wish I had more pictures of the beautiful scenery. We were essentially surrounded by ancient architecture, good food and better Rakı. That's all for now.

Aegean and Aegean

Today I went to Ceşme. It’s a town and a  peninsula that juts into the Aegean. It’s very close to Izmir and many families have had vacation homes there for quite a while. It seems that most people in Izmir go to Ceşme for the summer and it’s easy to see why. 

This was the first time I've ever dipped my toe in salt water so it was an especially interesting experienced for me. I was amazed at how buoyant I was in it.  My Turkish is still developing but I can at least successfully order tea and say hello. Today I learned the words for "sand" and "sea" and met some new friends.

I know it's hard to pick me out but from left to right is Anıl, Mert, Myself (Note the golden tan and toned librarian physique) and Murat. They're all brothers and, like every other Turkish person, extremely friendly and hospitable.  They fed me so I'll be coming back to Ceşme and the küçük plaj (little beach) very soon. 

The Library

We had a day of training with our new cataloging client. I realized that I haven't posted any pictures of our beautiful library yet.

     This gives an idea about the campus that the school sits on. At one time, it was an olive orchard. Now it's the most beautifully manicured K-12 campus I've ever seen. I feel lucky to work here everyday I make my way to Naomi Foster library.

I really believe that the library is the heart of any school and this campus seems to adopt that philosophy. Here's what the inside looks like.

      I also work with some amazing women. I've heard more than one administrator refer to them as the "Dream Team." This becomes obvious a few moments after meeting them. Ekin (left) helped me buy a cell phone (no small feet for me). Meric (2nd from right)  and I will be working close. This means she has a much better handle on how things work than me and will be answering my silly questions for a while. Ebru (center) is very knowledgeable about just about everything having to do with the library. Gulten (far right) keeps everything tidy and makes a delicious cup of coffee or tea for everyone each morning.

     That's all for today. It's time for dinner!

Spending an evening in

I really treasure the friends I've made in Izmir so far. Among them is a fantastic English instructor named Rae. I know we'll have many adventures together. She's shown me that doors open for tall blondes in Izmir's local culture. Definitely a good person to share a night out on the town with. In this case, it was good to end a long day with a quiet glass of wine on the balcony.

     Everyone who's been here a while tells me it's gonna get tough when the semester begins but for now I can't imagine wanting to leave.

Settling In

Ever so slowly, I'm settling into my new home here in Izmir. The entire experience has been a fantastic gift from  ACI and a testament to the hospitality of the Turkish people. Everyone has been very excited to help me.
     When I arrived, I was picked up from the airport and driven to my new place at the Lojman, which is like a dormitory for teachers. It's just off-campus on 77/1 Sokak ("Street" in Turkish). My fridge was stocked courtesy of the school:

     The very next morning we began an elaborate orientation process that I'm still in the middle of. This process has included the logistics of getting around town, the culture of the school and Turkey itself, setting up a bank account, getting a work permit, cell phone, you name it. The first two days were in Izmir and we were then flown to Istanbul to begin the second part. We spent most of the day getting to know faculty and continuing orientation. At night I stayed at the richmond hotel in downtown Istanbul near Taksim square. Here's the room:

Unfortunately, I brought the wrong camera memory card so I was unable to take pictures of the Hagia Sophia or the Cistern near it. The school took us on a cruise of the Bosphorus with plenty of delicious Turkish food, wine, and Raki, which is a little like ouzo and jagermeister. I'm trying to prepare myself for when this luxury treatment will likely end but it's tough not to get used to it. Here's a picture of the street leading to Taksim square in Istanbul:

      I successfully journeyed to Best Buy in Izmir and got the card I needed so I will have better picture quality/quantity soon. We're doing training at the library for the new cataloging system. Everyone I work with is fantastic. I'm working hard to familiarize myself with everything; so far, so good. I'm also trying to remind myself not to stick to the comfort of other English-speakers all the time so I can develop my Turkish skills and truly immerse myself in the culture.

Interesting cultural discoveries so far:
      Turkish people do not socialize in the same way that American's do. It is very unusual to go out for a drink with friends and to communicate with anyone outside that group. Asking if you can sit down or speaking to someone else is accepted and met with hospitality but it instantly makes you an obvious foreigner who is unfamiliar with the culture. This begs the obvious question, "How do people develop groups of friends or date for that matter?" In Turkish culture, you know people from work and your family. Everyone is a friend of a friend. Relationships are rarely created spontaneously. This makes for a slowly-developing circle of friends and support group here in Izmir, though I know it will come in time.

I'll write more when I can!

The Journey

     This post marks the first day of my journey to Izmir, Turkey. It also represents my first serious attempt at blogging. I hope that keeping a consistent record of my experiences in Turkey will benefit others who are interested in learning or laughing at the many mistakes and successes I hope to have over the next two years.

In order to establish an idea of just where I'm starting and where I think I'm going, let me paraphrase myself. I'm an MLS-wielding librarian from Kansas. I have worked in junior college and high school library environments for several years. I have always enjoyed travel and have been abroad several times, never more than a few months at a time. It's been a lifelong dream of mine to live in another culture and I feel extremely lucky to have been given the opportunity in Izmir.

I'm working as a high school librarian for ACI. This marks my first job after grad school.  My hope is that I can be a positive influence on the students at ACI by supplementing the curriculum with one-on-one help, particularly with database resources and proper academic citation. In short, I want to help students navigate through the sea of information we find ourselves in today by giving them the tools to determine a good source from a bad one and giving credit where credit is due. These skills are essential for helping people educate themselves and to build the collective body of human knowledge. I take my job and my personal philosophy seriously but I try to laugh at everything else.


My personal goals, while here are to gain language skills and scratch the surface of the unique culture of Turkey. I can't imagine a place richer in ancient world history and contemporary uniqueness. On the Agenda are the biblical city and library at Ephesus, Pamukkale springs and Troy. First, I have to make it to my apartment in Izmir and settle into my apartment.


I promise to post as often as I can, which will likely pick up when I set up my Turkish bank account and get internet service at my apartment. Thanks for reading!

Welcome!