Follow Me As I Discover Land, Language and Self...
I seem to be avoiding my blog these days. Actually, I’m still busy unpacking and teaching. I did have some time alone in the house this past week, and I’m feeling more calm and settled. I can only write when I am calm and settled. I thought I’d tackle the relatively light-hearted topic of culture clashes in this post. Actually, I witnessed a lot fewer cultural problems between Turks and…
The protests in Turkey started on May 31, just as we began the move to Minneapolis. No sooner had we unpacked our toothbrushes when I started a summer teaching job. It was a perfect storm of busy adjustments, and thus I haven’t attended to my blog. The other night, however, Sankar and I were privileged to have dinner with one of the smartest, most perceptive Turks we know. I will…
I left my full-time teaching job at the end of January, 2012. It had been a relentless amount of work. Four hours every day in the classroom and the same amount of time each day to prepare for the next lesson. I loved my colleagues and felt my department was well-managed. I was understanding and working well with my students. Still, their incessant talk while I tried to teach was…
Dear readers, I seem to be posting every two or three weeks, less frequently than before. I apologize. As summer comes and some of my other commitments lessen, I hope to post more often. Here are some topics I can write about. Would you let me know which you find most interesting? 1.I have been thinking about separation of church and state, and the fact that most Muslim countries have…
Last Sunday I saw a film called Museum Hours. Part of the 2013 Minneapolis Film Festival, the movie centers around a visit to Vienna by a Canadian woman. The woman meets a kind museum guide and he shows her around the city. I was expecting a Vienna travelogue, and in some ways the film provided one. But I was surprised that Turkey entered in. In one scene people are buying…
Three years ago today I was visiting Istanbul, where Sankar was already hard at work. We decided to take a day trip to one of the Prince’s Islands, a popular destination in the Sea of Marmara that features well-preserved Victorian homes. As we sat on the ferry waiting to leave, a family arrived and sat down next to us: mother, father and three daughters. The mother and two older daughters…
One of the interesting distractions of moving to a different country is becoming familiar with a completely different set of national debates and controversies. You might ask why anyone would want to take on a second set of problems. Simply because I could play the role of an uninvolved bystander, that’s why. I could leave my own country’s seemingly intractable problems far away and sit on the sidelines as a…
Sooner or later, experiences have to be packed away. Certainly emotionally, as we move on to new places, activities and friends, but sometimes also physically. Sankar and I are in the process of selling our house, and thus packing away the “stuff” from our recent Turkish experience has become necessary. The people that advise us on how best to market our house recommend “blandifying” it. Neutral paint colors, limited family…
A Costa Rican friend once told me never to compare countries. That is probably good advice, but I can’t follow it these days. I am constantly comparing my life in Turkey and my life in Minnesota. Things I like better in Minnesota: -Female hairdressers -Enough parking spaces for everyone -Target! Sometimes I think of all the magnificent, glorious, historical buildings in Turkey and then I put them all up against…
The actual number of flight hours from Istanbul to St. Paul-Minneapolis is about fourteen. But for us the trip home began in earnest when the movers descended on our apartment. And it lasted almost a week after landing at MSP, suspending us in the Jell-o-like lethargy that is jet lag. In some ways, however, I started leaving Istanbul months ago. I started to leave when I began saying goodbye to…
