Hoşça kalın, Türkçe

Sunday 1 July 2007

Well, I didn’t expect to get internet access for a while, but obviously I have… we’re still in Istanbul and have had an extremely pleasant day. Ngaire and Paul have gone in search of a beach (and Paul is hoping to spot a submarine or two) and we decided to have a low key day. Our flights are at 3am tomorrow morning, so we thought that a siesta (can’t spell the Turkish name) would be in our interests.

We ended up having several really interesting conversations during our morning stroll… First, we came upon Mehmet (from a shepherding family in Mt Ararat) and a fabulous rug shop named Tugra. Mehmet speaks outstanding English, partly because one day an American couple came into the carpet shop and bought $100 000 dollars worth of carpets. In the course of the transaction, Mehmet got to know the couple who then invited him back to the USA. They took him to the US Embassy in Istanbul, got him a 10 year visa and off he went. After living with them in Seattle for a while, they told him that his English wasn’t good enough, so they sent him to an American College for nine months. Great story, eh?

After we met Mehmet (which, by the way seems to be the Turkish equivalent of John), we met Jennifer (see previous entry). I have been really interested in the state of politics in Turkey and so it was great to talk to a foreigner about her perspective. The general consensus is that the current government is here to stay, but amongst the more educated people, there is a sense of concern about the current Prime Minister becoming the President.

Finally, we spent half an hour talking to our host, Elif, here at Marmara Guest House. She seems about 22-23 and her family runs the pension. She is, I guess, a modern Turkish woman: she learnt English at school; does not wear a scarf; and seems to travel alone. Once again, I asked about the government and it was interesting to hear that Turkey is undergoing reforms very similar to New Zealand’s in the 1980s. The government has been selling off state-owned assets and land is now up for grabs to anyone. Elif was saying that quite a lot of property in Turkey is being bought up by Israelis. I guess that you can understand how that could be a concern, given Israel’s relationship with its Muslim neighbours!

All in all, a great day hanging around and learning a bit more about Turkey!

We’ve now had our last meal in Turkey and are getting packed ready to head in different directions. I’m really looking forward to my 3:45am flight and knowing that I don’t get to Nice until lunchtime tomorrow (NOT!).

Hoşça kalın, Türkçe!