Inscrutable city: İstanbul

Hello everyone,

I just arrived back to Ankara from the magical İstanbul. I participated in EVS On-arrival training even if I am so close to finish my volunteering, I found it very useful. Before this training I had some informations about EVS volunteering and youth work and also I learned a lot during my project, but now I see more clearly. In five days we got education about many details so after this training you can understand every aims and reasons of volunteering. I met with a lot of great people, also volunteers and we could share our experiences and remarks.
Also I was so happy that the training was in İstanbul, and finally I could visit the city what everyone loves with whom I was talking about my trip. Lot of people told me many things how the city is, but I couldn’t understand till I experienced personally. Unbelievable the great many beautiful buildings, mosques, towers and so many shops, restaurants, strictly speaking you can find everything what you may look for. Huge city with 15 million people, many different cultures and historical places, seems impossible to explore everything (would take years).

Cause the limited time, I could visit only few places, but I tryed to use all my free times for exploring. I guess everyone who is going to İstanbul visiting Ayasofya and the beautiful square. It’s not coincidence! On that square I felt I am in the Turkish culture’s center. After a short walk, we started our tour in the neverending Grand Bazaar, with a pack of Turkish delight and got lost in the shop jungle. But our adventure didn’t end up here, next destination was Miniatürk and the Galata tower (Galata Kule), the famous tower with so rich history, lot of stories and legends connected with it. So amazing that the ­670 years old edifice still flawlessly beautiful, with stunning view from the top.  

I also tryed to visit many areas of the city, Taksim, Kadıköy, Beşiktas, Eyüp, etc, all had their own atmosphere and style. That’s why it’s a so colorful and inscrutable city. It was my first time in İstanbul, hopefully not the last! İnşallah! 

Ankara tour

Hello everyone,

It’s Sara again. I had a great opportunity to visit some famous signseens with a small group from different countries and I would like to share few thoughts about it with you.

 Foreign people who lives in Ankara long time ago offered me to listen their tour guard tryings. Of course I got on the chance and I don’t regret it at all! Lot of pleasure walking in the city allowed us to see many statues, mosques , parks and museums in our way. We visited the first independent parlament of Turkey which is a war museum as well. Why I mentioned it was the first “independent” parlament?! Cause in that period the country had two parlaments in the same time, in Ankara and one other in İstanbul. It made some interesting situations in the management, so they disbanded the parlament in İstanbul, and Ankara become the center of state leadership. After we continued our trip to see the column in front of the Social Sciences University. This column was erected in the 3rd century to honour the visit of Roman emperor Julian the Apostate.  Our next destination was the old city, and the castle. The old city became my favourite part of Ankara with the green areas, fortrain, pretty white houses and I felt different atmosphere in that environment. A short tea break, and we started to climb up to the castle. You must be physically capable to climb it though, there are many stairs, but from the top you can see the whole city and it gave back my energy.

Because of the rainy weather, we couldn’t visit Anıtkabir on that day, but few days later  I celebrated the International  Women’s  Day with a tour to see this stunning place. Anıtkabir is Mustafa Kemal  Atatürk’s mausoleum, the first president of Turkish Republic, but as I got to know from the people, it would be and endless listing what Atatürk gave to the country. Hes picture can be found everywhere, so I was really corious about his mausoleum too. When I entered the park, I realised that a quite long way to reach the main building. The whole park is so huge, and the buildings also much bigger than I expected. It was amazing. It confirmed in me the Turkish people’s respect of Atatürk. So hard to write down the feelings what it made me, it’s must see to understand.

Learning, travelling with fun

Hello everyone,

I am just in the middle of my EVS Project, I have mixed emotions. I am highly greatful for my time spent so far, also  I am happy cause I still have one month, but I am sad to know it will pass away as fast as the previous month did. My first blog was about my arriving and first impressions but for now  I feel much more riches of experiences, about a different  culture, life style and it is really satisfying. I would like to  never stop the exploration. 

Even in one month, the differences in Daily life became habitual but there are still million things what I could learn about Turkey. At least I have learned to travel in the crazy traffic without heart attack, I get used to use roughly the turkish keyboard,  I got to know I love Turkish food, and now I know I am able to drink 2 liters of tea per a day. I learned, some body expressions means something totally different than in Hungary, maybe it was the most difficult part of my learning, to change my reflex reactions. For example what is “What’s up” for us, for Turkish peaople means  “No”. What is “What’s up” for them, that’s  obviously flirting for us. But I had no problems about this differences, I experienced kindness and conforming from turkish people, especially if I try to use that few basic words what I have learned. J  

Weekly we are visiting a school and spending our time with sweet 6-7 years old children. Every week has some surprise for us from the cutties. They are speaking only Turkish, they just get acquainted with English language, and – of course – they don’t  know what is foreigner. They think we can speak Turkish, we just acting like we wouldn’t  know. So I am listening many stories and expressions from the children, I have no idea what about. J At the beggining I didn’t  know how to deal with this particular situation, but time to time I realised how open are they even If we can’t understand each other in every cases, we are playing and learning together,  it’s awesome. Joyful and useful cooperation; they learning English, I’m learning Turkish – and get many hugs and smiles every time. I am planning to learn some adorable Turkish children’s song. Especially one song stucked in my mind, I hum it every day, so I need to learn it for my soul peace. J

I had luck to be part in a Project with IYACA about non-formal education what was organized in Antalya. After  5 hours around travelling by car, the beautiful weather greeted us. +15-20 degrees, sunshine, and I even didn’t talk about the city. But go step by step. Many people participated from 7 countries and wanted to learn together about the Project’s topic and also about each other. Many many sessions, games and fun could build a lovely group from all around the World. I am so greatful for the knowladge what I could get during the Project. Also we had tour in the city. From the morning till evening we visited the most famous signseens. I was amazed. Especially the old part of the city stole my heart with the pretty houses, narrow streets beautiful natüre and sea view.

I am really thankful for IYACA for all experiences, knowladge and fun what I had during my EVS, I am happy for the time ahead me, and next destination is İstanbul. 

Experience Turkey

Merhaba dear friends,

It’s Karolina, again. Before my EVS I was reading a lot of articles about EVS, what is it, why to join and so on. I found a lot of information about it, for example how is EVS unique, how it helps to communities, to the society, how you can acquire new skills and abilities useful for your personal and professional growth. But it was all just written information for me, without any specific examples. And also, till you don’t try, you don’t know. In the previous blog I also tried to be more specific, how is it when you live in a different country with different culture. This time I would like to share my adventures from the last month, it will more look like a traveler blog, but don’t forget that EVS is also about traveling and exploring.

I just started my 7th week of volunteering, that’s mean that my volunteering time is almost over. Unfortunately, time flies too fast when you are having fun. During the past month, I have visited Pamukkale, Denizli and Antalya. If you are planning to visit Turkey, don’t skip Pamukalle. I saw many pictures of Pamukalle before I visited this place, but anyway it took my breath away. This surreal, brilliant white travertine terraces and warm, limpid pools filled with calcite-laden water, truly spectacular in its own right is called in English Cotton Castle. I also caught the perfect season for travellıng Pamukalle, it was not so crowded, the weather was perfect and we felt as celebrities (there were plenty of tourists from Asian countries and every time they saw us, wanted to take pictures with us). Besides of this geological phenomenon, you can find in the neighborhood an ancient city of Hierapolis. The thermal spa of Hierapolis was established by the kings of Pergamon.  The ruins of the baths, temples and other Greek monuments can be seen at the site. Hierapolis is an exceptional example of a Greco-Roman thermal installation established on an extraordinary natural site, even thanks to this combination Pamukalle- Hierapolis are on the list of World Heritage. By the way, if you are already in Pamukalle and you like history, make the effort and visit another ancient city of Laodikeia. It’s also on the list of the World Heritage and it’s one of the important archaeological remains for the region along with Hierapolis. Here, you may find the largest ancient stadium of Anatolia.

Also thanks to IYACA, where I can do my short EVS, I visited Antalya. The association organized a great training course about non-formal education for youth workers. Our journey started early in the morning, as we went with a car I could enjoy the spectacular view of nature. We passed a lot of mountains and some lakes, especially the view of Karacaören Barajı stayed in my mind, clear lake surrounded by mountains, it reminded me the nature of my home. After the hilly part of Turkey, we finally arrived in Antalya, seaside. I had the chance to discover Antalya as well.  Antalya is full of natural sights, we visited Düden Waterfalls, it consists of the The Upper Düden Waterfalls and The Lower Düden Waterfalls. The Upper Waterfalls are a series of small cascades in a tranquil municipal park. We could experience a fabulous view through a curtain of a falling water from a cave situated behind the waterfalls. The Lower part of Düden Waterfalls with the ending at the mediterranean sea provides an unforgettable view. Our group was lucky and we even catch the sunset. Not only I could learn more about non-formal education, also I met new, amazing people, full of new ideas and willingness to improve themselves and the educational system in their countries, to make a better world. Thanks to them this week was wonderful. Besides I learnt a lot about the cities we passed on the way from Ankara to Antalya, about the history of Turkey. By the way, did you know that there is a different between çay served in Antalya and çay served in Ankara?

First experiences in Turkey

Hello everyone, first of all let me introduce myself. My name is Sara and I came from Hungary.  Currently I am a volunteer of IYACA youth organisation for 2 months in Ankara. It is really a few time to explore everything what i would like to, but I will try my bests! This is my first time in Turkey and I hope not the last.

 What was my first expression when I arrived to this captivating city?! One word can comes to my mind: Wao!

 I left my lovely, little city behind myself and after a seemingly never-ending trip, the sight of Ankara from the airplain’s tiny window gave me back my energy. It was night, and the colorful flashing lights impressed me. Immediatelly afterwards a few spended hours in Budaperst and Vienna, I saw the Turkish capital city as a different World. On the way to my new home I was still under the city’s effect on me. The colors charmed me again and again. A great many enthralling buildings greeted me and naturally, the Turkish flag, everywhere in all forms. Maybe the lack of sleep contributed too, but I felt I dropped into a wizarding World. When I arrived to my new home, my mentor, Sinan and the another volunteer, Karolina - from Slovakia – were waiting for me awake, even it was really late at night (really thank you for them). In early morning I woke up for the singing from the mosque near by our accomodition, and I knew nothing about it,

so at first I thought it was a dream. Later i though about it a bit deeper, realised it could not be a dream so I asked my new flatmates about it, and they has informed me it is the calling for pray.   After this new revıelle, we went to the Office together. Luckily it takes only around 15 minutes on foot to approach the Office. On the way  I just faced how many people lives in this huge city. Suddenly I started to feel myself so small. I still need time to get used to the crowded streets. Before my coming I was complaining a lot about my hometown: too small, too few people on the streets. Now I can not say anything like this.

 We have beautiful  sight from the Office. Lot of huge buildings and mosque visiable.  With time i got to know how much tea run out per a day in Turkey  (a lot!!). I probably drank more çay (tea in Turkısh language) in this 5 days while I am here, than in 5 weeks I drink at home. I also have learned how to make Turkish coffee.  It is different as I expected. I do not like coffee without milk, but Turkis coffee is not so strong, it has quıte soft taste, so it is just perfect without milk, with a little bit sugar.

New Culture, New Experiences

Above Ankara (taken in the Ankara Castle)

Hello everybody! İ am Karolina and İ am a volunteer of IYACA youth organization in Ankara. Exactly 2 weeks passed since İ arrived in the capital city of Turkey for my EVS. I come from a small country Slovakia, which has the same population as Ankara has. After a long day, which İ spent in plane or at the airport in Vienna and İstanbul, İ finally found myself in Ankara. The city welcomed me about midnight with colorful buildings and rainy weather, even though I was prepared for an extremely cold city covered by snow (guys don’t believe to gossips that Ankara is sooooo cold). After a small walk we came to our apartment and my mentor Sinan shared with me very ımportant information, that we don’t have any elevator, so he had to carry my 20+ kg heavy baggage (I am really sorry for it). During my stay in Ankara İ have learnt how to prepare a turkish “çay”, I trıed to learn a turkısh card game called “Pişti”, unfortunately, I haven’t learnt how to use turkish keyboard yet (sorry for mixing the ı/i in this blog).

We live in a very city center where almost every country has their embassies, so I expected that people will be used to foreigners. But when İ walk on the street everybody knows that I am the "yabanci", maybe it is written on my forehead. Anyway, turkısh people are known world-wide for their hospitality and warmth, so is it true? Definitely. People in shops, streets or in restaurants want to help you, even if they don’t speak english. İ try to speak turkish, the reason is that İ thınk ıt ıs nıce if people at least try and İ belıeve it’s a kind of showing respect (also people in Ankara don’t speak English) and when people hear it they are so cute and polite, asking where am İ from and so on, tıll we get to level where my turkish is over (mostly the conversation is very short :D).

A part of awesome people in gorgeous İstanbul

The two weeks passed really fast, İ traveled to İstanbul where İ stayed for 5 days. The reason of my visit was On-Arrıval trainıng organized by Turkish National Agency. During this training, I had a chance to meet so many nice, talented and motivated people. İ have to mention our legendary room 228 (İ can see your smile guys). I am very thankful for this opportunity. No doubt that İstanbul is the biggest city ın Turkey, so you expect that people wıll be less caring, but the truth is the opposite. I went to a patisserie with friends of mine. We ordered 4 “salep”, as İ am a big sweet lover İ was wondering about one sweet which i have never tried (I am really bad wıth names) so İ asked the waıtor. He directly saıd me, don’t order ıt because you wıll not lıke ıt. İt made me even more curious so İ ordered it. Thıs turkısh “tatlı” was different, a bit hard, the chocolate pastry, fruits were covered by peanuts and it made a perfect combination of tastes. İ really liked it, so İ shared my opinion with waiter who was waiting for my reaction. He was so surprised and on the other hand so happy that İ liked the sweet, that he served us different kind of sweets just to try them.

Some tips:

I found the monumental Kocatepe
on the way home (yes, İ was a little bit lost)

If you don’t know the way, always ask 2 or more people. Turkısh people never say I don’t know, so they can show you the wrong way. (happened to me many times)

You can meet here one philosophy, I call it “problem yok”, where everything is okay, never seeing problems, which has of course pros and cons.

İSTANBUL STOLE MY HEART.

No small talk today, a briskly start because the naked truth does not need introduction. 
İt needs only to be shoutoff the rooftops!And which place could be better to yell from, if not Galata tower? That, for the one that do not know it, with her 63 metres of elevation allowed you to have a breath taking view on the old part of İstanbul. The tower, Kule in turkish, had an involving life: it was build by the italians and was thought as part of the defense wall surrounding their district at Galata; especially used to keep under surveillance the Harbor. Byzantine ships were awaited to engage trade relationship. Time passed and Mehemet II, after conquered Costantinopoli, put men on the tower in charge of detecting fires in the city.  7 century after, Costantinopoli swop the name to Istanbul, there is no more Ottoman Empire, no more high probability of blaze in the city but, still, the tower is there in all her beauty and majesty. A curios fact involving the building is that it inspired the first Turk, nonetheless, to fly. İt was during the Ottoman Empire when Hezarfen Ahmet Celebi staring at the imposing tower copied bird wings and, after studying the air flows, decided to climb it and…jump!. He overflew the Bosphorus and landed at Uskudar District, on the Asian side, around 6 kilometers in distance. This made him the first flying Turk of history. 

But now let me start from the beginning. İ arrived in İstanbul on Thursday evening with    ahead only(!!!) two full days to visit the city. The weather that welcomed us was not the better one. Grey sky and even greyer clouds have been the background of my picture. The cloud, thinking that ruin my photos was not enough, poured down oceans of rain most of the time.The true magic is, that, despite bad weather and a sparkly sun on my leaving day as a bad joke of destiny, anyway İ felt in love with Istanbul.

İ travelled with my two housemates. They planned to pay a visit to their friends, İstanbul students, and İ wisely sneaked in the plan. Osman, a psychology student that knew my housemates since high school, open his house to us. The apartment was set in the Asiatic part. Even if he was living since two years in İstanbul, he decided to come with us to the European part of the city the following day, because he had never visited there.

Once we took on the journey I discovered why he never head out on the mentioned travel. One hour of taxi plus fifteen minutes of steamboat. Basically it is faster to reach Ankara by flight. Obviously, for me everything was amazing. After a calm awakening, we got up in a luxury version of a taxi and we were dropped off at the steamboat wharf.

Crossing the Bosphorus Strait by boat could be worthy only for the fun the feed the incalculable number of pigeon, that İ discovered been greedy of simit; but actually the fascinating fact of the broach is the view. You see the girls tower in the middle of the water, then you gaze to the huge Blue Mosque and Saint Sophia that stand up among the house stretch out along the coast , especially at night, you can goggle at the extraordinary view of the city lights, making this visual even more mystical.Once achieved the ground we headed to the Blue Mosque. The Turkish name of this impressive architectural building is Sultanahmet Mosque named after Sultan Ahmed I who ordered the construction of what it was a unique project; in fact the Blue Mosque is the only one in all Turkey with seven minarets. Mosques traditionally have one, two or four minarets. It’s rumored that this was a misunderstanding; the Sultan had instructed his architect to make gold (altin) minarets and the architect understood six (alti) minarets. The European name derived, instead, from the color of the tiles that surrounded the inside of the building. İf you look up a thousand of tales with byzantine pattern gave you the sensation to be rounded by this intense blue color, it is like you are in heaven.

 

We wondered around İstanbul for the following two days but the right moment, when Istanbul took my heart until forever, was not involved the magnificence of the building, not even the magic and ancient atmospheres you could breathe inside them. İt was something simpler. İ was walking with these guys that tried to introduce me deeply in the Turkish culture. Made me taste strange food (like kumpir, de-li-cious!), lead me around spectacular views brought me in special pub. When they discovered İ had never tried rakı (İ think they felt nearly insulted), they exclaimed we had to fix it!We went in a narrow and crowded street and we made our entrance in this even crowded and characteristic restaurant. One bottle of rakı, one bottle of water and some appetizers: the Turkish aperitivo. You can call me Italian, but there is where İ appreciated the most the Istanbul vibe; young and funny guys with different background but all enjoying the moment and what of amazing life can give you. Even if İ was a foreign they tried to make me feel part of something, part of İstanbul. History, tradition, culture, fun and lively atmosphere all mix together. Exactly there İ overwhelmed with joy.

Leszno`dan Haberler!

Merhaba, ben Sevil.

Avrupa Gönüllü Hizmeti projesine başvurarak Polonya`nın Leszno şehrine geldim. Buradaki deneyimlerimi sizlere aktarmak için yazıyorum. AGH(EVS) serüvenim Atatrk Havalimanı`nda başladı. Size ilk tavsiyem havalimanına 1 saat değil en az 1 bucuk saat önceden gitmeniz gerektiği ile ilgili olacaktir. Çünkü ülkemizde genel itibari ile Havalimanlarında güvenlik kontrolleri var. Bu aşamada uçağına geç kalan birçok kışı ile karsılaştım. Eğer benim gibi yurtdışına ilk kez havalimanından çıkış yapacaksanız erken gitmenizde fayda var. Üç saatlik keyifli bir uçuşun ardından,  Almanya`nın Berlin şehrindeki Tegel Havalimanına ulaştım. Metro kullanarak otobüs terminaline gittim ve otobüse bindim. İkinci aktarmamı yapacağım şehir olan Poznan`a ulaştıktan sonra tren ile bir saatte Leszno`ya geldim.

Sabahın erken saatlerinde geldiğim için bana ayrılan odaya yerleştikten sonra dinlendim. Bir sonraki gugu şehri tanımak ve ihtiyaç duyacağım mağazalar, marketler ve dövizcilerin yerlerini öğrenmekle geçirdim. Proje tarihlerinden dolayı Christmas tatilini ve yılbaşını burada geçirme şansını yakaladım. Bulunduğum ülkenin, onların geleneklerine uygun bir şekilde geçirdim. Tatil için bir haftalığına Berlin`e daha sonar bir haftalığına Çek Cumhuriyetini ziyaret ettim. Yolculuk icin gerekli biletleri ya istasyonlardan yada internetten edindim. Yılbaşını Çek Cumhuriyeti`nin Brno kentinde, geriye kalan altı günü  Olomouc şehrinde geçirdim.

Gideceğim şehirlerin kendine özgü önemli alanlarını ve tarihi mekanlarını önceden araştırdığım için kısıtlı zamanda daha çok yeri görebildim. Simdi Leszno`ya geri dondum ve sanatsal çalıştaylar düzenliyorum. Çocuklarla veya gençlerle iletişim icerisine girmek ve onlara kendi deneyimlerimi aktarmak, buraya gelme sebeplerim arasındaydı. Mezun olduğum bolumun avantajlarını da yanıma alarak, kendime uygun bir projede yer aldım. Buradaki dernek çalışanları ve farklı ülkelerden oluşan diğer gönüllü arkadaşlarla ortak bir amaç için çalışmak, bir süreliğine de olsa, gerçekte var olan ülke ve dünya sınırlarını ortadan kaldırdı. İşin içerisine girdikçe ve bir bütünün parçası olduğunuzu hissettiğinizde bakış acınız değişecek ve genişleyecek. Yurtdışında yaşamayı deneyimlemek ilk baslarda zor gibi gelse de, kendi sınırlarınızı keşfetmeniz açısından paha biçilemez bir deneyim. Kısa veya uzun dönem, kaldığınız sure boyunca Faikli bir kültürü öğrenmek ve o kültürün içerisinde yasamak benim her zaman yapmak istediğim birşeydi. Eğer bir projeye katılmak istiyorsanız kendinize uygun olan bir proje seçmelisiniz. Gitmek istediğiniz ülkenin yemek kültürünü, para birimini, tarihini ve sosyo-kültürel durumunu araştırın ve öğrenin. İnsanlar yalnızken özgürdür. Gidin ve hiç bilmediğiniz bir kentin içerisinde, hin bilmediğiniz bir dilde kaybolun. Kaybolun ki yolu bir daha unutmayın…Hepinize şimdiden bol şanslar ;)

MY 11 MONTHS OF EVS (PART 1)

INTRODUCTION

I want to remind for the readers, that I am Anatolij from rainy country Lithuania and I went to Turkey to make my EVS. 11 months already passed, my EVS comes to the final end, but it is so nice to come back to time and remember what interesting happened with me in this long term. Of course it is not a short story, but I will try to mention the most important moments in this period.

COMING TO KAYSERI AND ADOPTATION

I came to Kayseri in February, to be concrete February, 4. In the beginning nothing strange happened to me, I have been in Turkey already 2 times before my EVS and more or less knew what is waiting for me. Just I haven’t been in the center of Turkey, in Kayseri, but I didn’t expect how important for me this city will become. Kayseri is exactly the city in which I would like to stay, it is not big, not overcrowded like other big cities in Turkey, it has a soul and I also left my heart in this city. ❤ Even now I am living in Ankara, but use every chance when I have free days to go to Kayseri. Also I have personal reasons why Kayseri is so important for me, but it is too personal and I don’t want to share about it in this blog. Just can say, that who knows me closer, they understand me what I mean… J (Photo Nr. 1)

What is interesting in Kayseri for me? It is located near Erciyes mountain, just 45 min to Cappadocia, also has Ali mountain which I like to climb sometimes, has really picturesque places and the most interesting place for me is Talas – a district of Kayseri. I am proud to say that I lived in the center old town part of Talas, in konak (Photo Nr. 2) – a very old building, made of stone bricks. I spend here more than 4 months, but pleasant memories about this place will stay with me forever! Every time when I was going outside of the building, I felt like I am in a medieval place, everything is so old, massive and beautiful at the same time. Of course there were some challenges for me also in this place, like toilet and kitchen in the part of the building, that can be reached only by going outside, but this memories now became not more than funny adventure. I am not the person, who needs special conditions to live, so I easily adapted to all small difficulties and spend really nice time and moments in this lovely place… J I had some weeks to meet with my new living conditions and in the end of February I had my first vacations.

GAZIANTEP, ADANA AND ISTANBUL VISIT

During my first vacations I decided to visit my friend from previous Erasmus+ project. I went to unknown for me before city named Gaziantep. I was not so calm in the beginning because this city is very close to Syria.  I had some fears about this war situation in Syria and calm down only then finally came to this city. I went to Gaziantep by bus.  I liked it, it was the end of February, but the weather was so warm that I could easily walk just with shorts and t-short. It was really big contrast for me, because when I left Kayseri, it was completely winter with a lot of snow and minus 5 degrees below zero. On the way from Kayseri to Gaziantep in the mountain temperature outside sometimes were even minus 20 degrees below zero (Photo Nr. 3). But when I came to Gaziantep everything there were green, trees with a lot of leaves, even with yellow mandarins and oranges. I spend just some hours in Gaziantep, saw the Gaziantep castle (Photo Nr. 4), city center, tried the most tasty baklava, bought Antep pistachios and went to next city called Adana.

By weather conditions, Adana is similar with Gaziantep, also so warm and sunny. I stayed in Adana in my new friends house for some days, but I can’t say it were simple and ordinary days. With my friends we ate every time in different places, went to live music concert, visited many picturesque places along all Adana lake, also botanic park in Adana (Photo Nr. 5), a lot of activities. But the most interesting thing happened when my friends were busy and I had whole day to explore Adana by myself. I like walking so much, so I went by foot. In the beginning nothing special, I was walking along the Adana lake, making photos, admiring nature… When suddenly I reached Adana dumb. There was no way for pedestrians to walk, so I went by grass. I walked till the end of dumb and noticed beautiful big flag of Turkey. It was the biggest flag that I saw, so I made photos of it (Photo Nr. 6) and went further. I noticed near me a fenced and secured territory with cameras, signalization and other staff. 

I went along this fence when suddenly a policeman called me and asked to come. I came and he started to ask a lot of questions, who am I, what I am doing here, asked to show my ID card, passport, my bag pack. But the funniest moment was when he asked me to stand near the fence, told to put my arms on the wall and he started to check me like I am a criminal. He asked do I have something like knife or a gun in my pocket… J Honestly, it was first time somebody checking me like that, in the airport it is different, but I was so calm about it. Two more officers came, we were talking, smiling, they tried to check by my ID and passport all info about me, they also called my friends. Also they checked all my photos and deleted some. When checking finished they explained what was the problem. In Turkey after July 15^th accident, when military wanted to take power in the country government started special security situation. A lot of people were sent to jail, situation is still difficult. So this check was because of this. In the end we smile to each other, shacked each other hands even two times and they wished me good stay in Turkey, but warned not to make photos of military or important governmental places. Later, I explained my all adventure to my friends, sometimes we laughed, sometimes it was not so funny, but it is good that finished without any consequences. Even when I was going home for my vacations to Lithuania, I was afraid that in the airport they will ask something about this situation or I can have problems. So my adventure in Adana finished, I packed my staff and went to Istanbul to meet with my colleague Mindaugas, who also was a volunteer like me, came to Kayseri some days later and had on-arrival project in Istanbul in that time.

I came to Istanbul by plane, my friends leaded me to the airport of Adana early in the morning and before 12 I was already in Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen airport on the Asian part of Turkish capital. I needed more than 1 hour to reach Istanbul city center called Taxim to meet with my colleague Mindaugas. We met at about 14 and directly went to the hotel which we booked before. The stayed in Fatih district, most touristic place in Istanbul. In Turkish capital I was not the first time, I knew the city and was like a guide to my colleague. I showed some interesting places, we went to Grand Bazaar, were sitting near Blue Mosque and Ayah Sophia, made 2 hours Basehor tour (Photo Nr. 7), a lot of activities in these short 3 days. I felt really pleasant, relaxed and happy to have these vacations just in the beginning of my EVS. I came to Kayseri on February 27 in the evening and next day February 28 I had my 31^st Birthday.

Tunus'dan Merhabalar!

Merhabalar Ben Başak. Bu yazıyı EVS projesi ile geldiğim Tunus’un Sousse kentinde yaşadığım tecrübeleri aktarmak için yazıyorum. Kuzey Afrika'nın incisi Tunus’a vardığım ilk gün, gece yarısı olduğu için kendi imkanlarımla Tunus şehir merkezine giderek daha önceden tanıdığım Tunuslu arkadaşlarımda konakladım.

Ertesi gün büyük bir merak ve heyecanla 2 aylık proje boyunca kalacağım Tunus'un Sousse kentine geldim. Sousse kenti Tunus'un başkenti Tunus’a nazaran daha az kalabalık ve daha sakin bir hayatı olduğunu söyleyebileciğim bir yer burası, sahil kenarında muhteşem bir çarşısı olan tarihi ve Tunus'un geleneksel mimarisinin olduğu camileri, kalesi ve müzesiyle çok güzel bir kent burası. Tunus halkını ise  genel anlamda çok cana yakın yardımsever ve misafirperver insanlar olarak gözlemledim, ancak Tunus’ta Arapçamı geliştirmeyi umut ederken Tunus'un kendi lehçesinin Arapça'dan uzak oluşu ayrıca ikinci dil olarak Fransızca'nın yaygın oluşu halkla anlaşmayı kısmen zorlaştıran konulardan biri.

Tunusluların yerel kültürlerinde Berberiler önemli bir yere sahip, yeraltı evleri ve farklı kıyafetleri yüzlerine ve vücutlarına yaptıkları sembolik dövmeleriyle oldukça ünik ve muhteşem bir kültür, bunun yanı sıra çölde yaşayan bedevi yaşantısı ise yaygın, şanslıydım ki bedevilerle ve Tunus'un güneyinde ki berberilerle tanışma fırsatı bulup onların sosyal ve kültürel yaşayışlarına tanıklık edebildim. Burada geçirdiğim bir ayın en önemli ve en güzel geçen anları bu anlamda bir bedevinin kılavuzluğunda çölde geçirdiğim üc günlük seyahatimdi.  Bugüne kadar gördüğüm en farklı ve en değişik yaşam tarzlarına tanık oldum ve bu noktada Tunus'un köylerinde ve çöllerinde Tunus'un merkezine nazaran daha farklı ve daha içten bir yaşam olduğunu söyleyebilirim. Ayrıca Tunusluların Türklere karşı olan sevgisi ise çoğu zaman benim için büyük bir avantaj oldu. Türküm denince onlar için akla ilk gelen şeyler İstanbul, Muhteşem Yuzyıl ve Polat Alemdar;bu sebepten genellikle size daha da içten ve ilgiyle yaklaşıyorlar, çünkü burada ki televizyon kanallarında genel olarak Türk dizileri izleniyor. Sosyal yaşamımız da Tunus halkının bize olan benzerliği ve samimiyeti Tunus’a alışma sürecimi gerçekten çok hızlandıran bir etken oldu. Buraya geldiğim ilk haftada bile, sanki yıllardır burada yaşıyormuşçasına çabuk alışmamı sağladı. Tek farkı çevrenin daha önce görmediğim bir çevre olmasıydı diyebilirim. Sousse daki Evs aktivitelerimiz ise yoğun geçiyor ve aktiviteler çoğunlukla çocuklarla ilgili, bu da projemizin daha da keyifli geçmesinde etkili; izin günlerimiz ise pazartesi ve salı günleri. Kalan zamanlarda ise farklı aktiviteler gerçekleştiriyoruz. Faaliyetler kapsamında  gençlik merkezine gidip Türkçe dersi de verdiğimiz oluyor, ki bu aktivite sayesinde yaşıtlarımızla iç içeyiz. Aynı zamanda gençlik merkezlerindeki imkanlar doğrultusunda müzik, resim ve spor alanında faaliyetler de gerçekleştiriyoruz. Bir diğer aktiviteler ise kreşler; birkaç tane aktivite dahilinde gittiğimiz kreşlerde çocuklarla oyunlar oynayıp onların iyi vakit geçirmesini sağlıyoruz. Bu da sanırım beni yaptığımız faaliyetlerde en çok eğlendiren kısım oluyor. Başka bir gönüllülük hizmetim ise, Tunuslu kadınların çalıştığı bir serada yaptığımız faaliyet.

Bu faaliyette serada ki çalışanların işlerine yardımcı oluyoruz, tabi bitki ve çiçeklerden hiç anlamayan biri olarak bayağı bir şey öğrendiğimi söyleyebilirim. Çalışanların ise yaşça bizden büyük olmaları aslında bana Tunus'un kadın hakları konusunda da gözlem yapma fırsatı verdi; ki zaten şöyle bir trafiğe dahi baktığınızda kadın sürücülerin oranının çok olması hatta Tunus merkezde kadın makinistlerin oluşu aslında kadınların Arap dünyasında daha az söz hakkı sahibi olduğu gibi genellemeleri çürütür nitelikte.

Tabi ki Tunus özelinde bir gözlem olarak bilakis bu topraklarda kadınların giderek haklarını ellerine alan yapıda gelişmeler göstermekte olduğunu düşünüyorum, ama yine de Türkiye’den daha az gelişmiş bir ülke ancak gelişime çok açık bir yapıya sahip. Buraya gelirken bir kadın olarak giyim kuşam ve sosyal yaşam anlamında sorunlar yaşayabileceğim endişesi vard. Ancak sanılanın aksine modern bir ülke olduğunu söyleyebilirim. Etkinliklerin haricinde izin günlerimiz ülkeyi keşfetmekle geçiyor. Gezmesi en kolay ülkelerden biri sanırım, çoğu kez tek başıma yaptığım seyahatlerde yolda yerel halkla tanıştığım ve hatta misafirleri olduğum birçok zaman oldu,  bu da ev yaşantısını ve yemeklerini tatmak adına iyi bir fırsat oldu. Tunus mutfağının en tipik yiyeceği kuskus hatta bu Kuzey Afrika genelinde böyle Cezayir ve Fas’ta da meşhur bir yemek olan kuskus Berberi yemeği olmakla beraber bir Tunuslu ailenin neredeyse her gün tükettiği yiyecek. Tabii farklı versiyonlarıyla  bunun dışında Tunus’ta bir diğer meşhur şey ise hurma. Tunus'un güneyinde bolca hurma ağaçları ve hatta çölün ortasında hurma ağaçlarıyla çevrili vahaları bile var. Sonuç olarak bu ülkenin farklı dinamikleri bana birçok şeyi tecrübe etme ve tanıma fırsatı sundu. Burada geçirdiğim bir ay boyunca edindiğim tecrübelerim genel anlamda bunlar. Bana bu imkanı sağlayan IYACA’ya çok teşekkür ederim. İyi ki varsınız.