Becoming Legal Aliens, Turkish Style

We knew even before arriving in Turkey that the process for becoming legal residents would be a difficult one, but I don't think we fully grasped the extent of the craziness that is the Turkish bureaucracy until we had lived here for a few weeks.  The longer we stayed in Istanbul, the more we could see that this was not going to be a simple matter of going to the police station for a day to get a few papers stamped.  Here are the rules/events that eventually led to us boarding a non-stop bus for the Turkey-Greece border (more on that later):

1. You must apply for a student visa before arriving in Turkey.  This visa will expire after 30 days...good luck!
2. The international/exchange office in Turkey will help you in obtaining the necessary documents (ie a residency permit).  It will attempt to provide you with the paperwork needed in order to complete the process within 30 days.  You are responsible for getting print-outs of all of the forms, however.  In color.
3. Wait, you have to make an appointment?  And all the appointments are filled until 40+ days after you arrived?  Well, maybe they won't care about that whole 30-day restriction thing.  That's probably just a general suggestion, anyway.
4. Okay, you've made an appointment - great.  Make sure to get there very early in the morning so you can take a number and wait in line.  "Appointment" in Turkish actually translates to "first come, first served."  It's one of those "cultural differences" things.
5. Welcome to the police station!  Now that you've made it through security, given your camera to the guard to babysit for the day, and waited in (possibly) the right line, you can come back after 4.  Yes, 4pm.  You have an appointment for 8?  No, we changed our policy yesterday.  We only help students after 4.  But we are open until midnight, which is convenient since it will definitely take at least 6 hours before you will be able to speak with someone and an additional 2 to find someone who can translate.

Okay, that's about how it went.  Except we weren't too keen on taking the bus/tram one and a half hours each way back and forth later in the day...then again in two days to pay (the pay station is, of course, only open until 3) and maybe, just maybe, pick up the permit on a third day after that. 

This is where the part about hopping on a bus to Greece comes in!  After being thwarted by the Alien Registration Police, Adrienne and I made the slightly impulsive decision to go to Greece for the day to attempt to get tourist visas (which are valid for 90 days).  We successfully navigated to the enormous bus station in Istanbul, bought tickets for the 2.5-hour ride, and embarked on the next stage of the adventure:

Greece or bust

Our feelings about the situation

Buses are really the main form of transportation for getting just about anywhere in the country.  Unlike in the US, they are quite comfortable and very clean, and, as an added bonus, have "flight attendant"-like employees on-board who distribute hand cleaner, hot beverages, and snacks throughout the journey.  Edirne, the place we were aiming for, is a smallish town on the Turkish side of the border.  When we arrived at the bus station there we found a cab that could take us the approximately 20km to the passport control station.  This border crossing was pretty much in the middle of nowhere and therefore very quiet.  Everyone else was going through in cars, but we were able to walk up to the office, get our passports stamped, and pass the rest of the half-mile or so into Greece on foot.  It was kind of a strange experience to walk from one country to the other, but it's definitely fun to be able to say that we spent about 45 minutes in Greece!

Welcome to the Hellenic Republic!

The town on the other side of the border was very quiet - no restaurants open and only a few locals out and about, hanging laundry and chatting with friends.  We wandered around for a little bit before making the trip back to greet the now-familiar guards, who stamped our passports and sold us our highly anticipated tourist visas.  We made the most of our location by exploring Edirne for the rest of the afternoon.  The town was once home to a significant Jewish population, and the old synagogue (which at one time had a congregation of 20,000+) is still partially standing.  There is also a magnificent mosque in the center of the city; it was nice to just sit inside for a while and enjoy the peacefulness of the space.

Interior of the Selimiye Cami

The Dome

Overall it was a good day.  I now have an increased appreciation of everyone who makes it through the bureaucratic processes to settle in a new country (any country); I'm sure that the problems we faced are not isolated to Turkey and that, relatively speaking, we had significant advantages (the financial ability and time to find an alternative, the passports to make it across the border and back, and enough patience and humor to make getting through it all not only bearable, but fun) over many other people who must transition to living in a foreign place.

On the agenda for the next few days: Republic Day tomorrow (akin to Independence Day in the US), Halloween, and the Istanbul Book Fair!  Oh, and some studying and paper-writing as well...

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to check out the new photos on the right!

Intercontinental Wanderings

Istanbul is known as the "city of two continents," but there is actually only one day each year when a person can travel between them on foot.  Last Sunday was that day, so of course we had to take advantage of the opportunity to cross one of the two bridges connecting Asia to Europe.  The reason for the bridge being open was the Istanbul Intercontinental Marathon, which was advertised as being (not surprisingly, I guess) the only intercontinental marathon in the world.  We weren't able to officially register, but we decided to head over to Taksim Square at the ungodly hour of 6AM to try to get on one of the shuttles headed for the start line on the Asian side.  Luckily no one was checking numbers and we made it across the Bosphorus without any problems.  The starting area for the 8k Fun Run was absolutely crazy - someone was handing out free Turkish flags, a van was blasting Turkish pop music, and the crowd was the most diverse and enthusiastic I have ever seen at any kind of running event.  When the race actually started, we had to kind of shuffle along at first because of the size of the crowd and the fact that most people, it seemed, were concentrating more on the "fun" part and less on the "run."  There was one guy carrying an enormous deck umbrella (it was raining) and another selling Simit, a sort of Turkish bagel, in the middle of the course.  Like many things we've seen so far, we just had to laugh and say "only in Turkey!"

Adrienne and I halfway between Asia and Europe

Crossing from one continent to the other was kind of a surreal experience.  The bridge was very high and afforded great views of "our" side of the city; it was hard not to want to stop every few feet to take another picture.  At the finish line we got medals and t-shirts, which will be nice reminders of a very fun adventure.  Unlike in the US, where actually wearing a "fun run" medal as an adult seems a bit silly, everyone here (regardless of age) put theirs on immediately after finishing the race.  So we did, too, and wore them with pride:

"The Other Side of the Night"

One of the best aspects of living and studying in another place for an extended period of time is that you're not only able to see the "tourist" side of that place, but the lesser-known, local side as well. So far this has meant that I've been able to do a lot of things (like going to one of my Turkish roommates' band's concerts in a music club in Taksim, for instance) that have definitely made my time here more special. Last week, a couple of friends and I went to a photography exhibit that we had read about in one of the English-language dailies (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/). The photos were taken by a taxi driver in Istanbul who works the night shift and, over the course of three years, has used his access to the streets after the sun goes down to photograph the "darker" side of the city. The images of poverty-stricken, homeless, or otherwise vulnerable people were pretty intense and at times hard to look at, but they served as good reminders of the huge contradictions that exist within Istanbul between rich and poor, modern and developing.

Going to the photo exhibit was also interesting because it was in an area of the city where earlier in the day about 6,000 people had marched in protest of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank meetings being held in Istanbul. Although we were there after the streets had been cleared of the protesters themselves, we could definitely see the results of their actions - smashed windows on nearly every bank and many other businesses, angry red spray-painted messages on walls and doors, and lots of police in full riot gear. We felt safe, but there was a definite tension in the air; it was the first time I (and the friends I was with) had seen firsthand what violent protest can lead to - and it wasn't pretty. The issues surrounding the IMF and World Bank are definitely complex; though a lot of economists and other observers have recently written that some of the IMF's policies did more harm than good during the recent economic downturn, it's hard to deny that both organizations have done a lot of good over the past 60+ years. Turkey itself had to enlist the help of the IMF not all that long ago during its own economic crisis, so hosting the annual meetings is a huge symbol of how far the country has come since then.

This past weekend was pretty relaxed. On Friday evening a few of us went down to Sultanahmet to see the Hagia Sophia, which was absolutely incredible. The first Christian service was held there in 537 AD (after two previous churches built on the same site were destroyed by angry mobs) and the building went on to be the largest church in the world for over 1,000 years. When the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453, the church was converted to a mosque and was significantly remodeled to fit Islamic custom (mosaics were plastered and painted over, minarets were installed, etc). In 1934 Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (more on him later) converted the building into a museum. Fortunately, extensive restoration work has been done on the church/mosque/museum over the years to reveal many of the gorgeous mosaics depicting Jesus, the Virgin Mary, angels, and other important Christian figures. Seeing elements of both Muslim and Christian religious traditions in such a huge and ancient place is really amazing - I will definitely be back!

Classes are going well, and learning more Turkish has been VERY helpful. The language is so completely different from English, especially in its grammatical structure. Making sentences sort of feels like scrambling the words into an almost completely unrecognizable order; hopefully this process will become more natural over the next few weeks!

I hope all is well at home (MN) and wherever else you are when you're reading this. I can't believe that the Twin Cities got 4+ inches of snow, especially when it's been sunny and 25 degrees (Celsius, that is!) here :) It did start to rain this evening, if that's any consolation, and should continue to do so for the next few days. Make sure to check out the new pictures in my online photo album and to leave a comment if you want to...until next time, iyi geceler!

Merhaba!

Hello from Turkey! I am (finally!) blogging and have quite a bit of catching up to do...so where to start? From the beginning, I suppose, all of about a month ago when I left the US for Oslo, Norway on the first leg of my journey. Norway was wonderful; my Grandma Judy and I stayed with fabulous hosts (Eli and Steffen Qvam - Eli was my grandma's "exchange sister" in Norway over 50 years ago!), and I had a fantastic time exploring Oslo, meeting new Norwegian friends, and practicing my norsk! Look for pictures sometime soon in my online Flikr photo gallery (see the right column).

Although I would love to be able to write more about Norway, I'm afraid that I should probably get moving on to the the place where I've spent a majority of my time these past few weeks and what will be the topic of this blog: Turkey! I arrived on the 9th of September and, after spending an extremely quiet night in a hotel, moved into my dorm on the Bogazici University campus. The dorm is called the Superdorm (no, that's not a nickname - it's featured prominently on the outside of the building!), and so far it has been a good place to live and meet other students. I live in a 4-person flat with single bedrooms and a shared bathroom/living space/kitchen. All-in-all, it's not bad. I have three roommates, one from Poland and two from Turkey. It's great to be able to practice my limited Turkish skills with someone, even if so far I'm only able to say things like "good morning," "How are you?" and "What's that? That is a peach." I guess you have to start somewhere!

The first week or so of living in the dorm was VERY quiet as most of the other students didn't arrive until this past weekend (because of Ramadan and Bayram, the holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan). Luckily, however, I had several international student friends to explore the city with! This included a group of wonderful fellow St. Olaf students on a semester abroad program called Term in the Middle East (TIME). They studied at Bogazici University for a month and were great sightseeing companions in addition to being very helpful in explaining bus routes, recommending restaurants, etc. Here's a photo of five of us girls who lived together on the same corridor during our first year of college:

Kirsten, Nora, Maddie, Erin and I at Yoros Castle

I've done too many things in Istanbul for me to possibly list and describe everything, but here goes:

• Iftar (breaking of the fast during Ramadan) in Sultanahmet, the historic area of Istanbul where the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, etc are located
  
• Bosphorus cruise to the Black Sea and visit to Yoros Castle


• Synagogue visit for Saturday morning service


• Prayer service at the New Mosque (Yeni Cami)


• Visit to the Blue Mosque


• Beşiktaş vs. Manchester United soccer game
  
• Delicious meals in many Turkish and non-Turkish restaurants throughout the city
  
• Tea (Çay) in countless cafes, gardens, and restaurants
  

I know there are many more things that I'm forgetting at the moment, but at least that gives you an idea of what my days have been filled with over the past few weeks! During the last week before classes began, another friend from St. Olaf (who will be here for the entire semester as well) and I traveled to Cappadocia, a region in central Turkey known for its fantastic landscape and ancient rock-cut churches and towns. Words can't really describe how beautiful and strange it was - I will definitely have to post some pictures. We got to use so many different types of transportation during our trip - bus, train, ferry, taxi, moped, hot air balloon...yes, we actually went hot air ballooning! We weren't originally planning to spend the money to go up in a balloon, but after meeting and talking to a balloon pilot and several other people who said that Cappadocia is the best place in the WORLD to do it, we were convinced. The experience was amazing - clear blue sky, fascinating rock formations, and what seemed like hundreds of other balloons rising up into the air as the sun peeked over the horizon...simply beautiful!

The start of classes on Monday (the 28th) was a bit of a reality check after such a long and wonderful summer vacation, but I think most of us were happy to have a little more structure in our days! I'm taking five classes, including "Modern Turkish Literature," "Culture and Identity in the European Union," "Foreign Policy," "History of the Turkish Republic," and, of course, "Elementary Turkish for Foreigners." So far everything has been extremely interesting and I'm really excited to dive into the readings and class discussions. Here's to a good semester (for all of you other students at home and abroad, too!)! Check back soon, as I hope to make this blogging business a regular habit!