Fox Paws and Horse Devors

I begin this post with an apology to all of you who have been checking in regularly and have noticed that I have not in fact been writing regularly. It doesn't feel like a week has past since the last time that I had written. A lot has happened in a week, and yet at the same time, so much of my time here seems to run together. I guess that is the nature of existence when there is no real reference to time and days. For the past 3 weeks time for me has only been broken into pieces by the knowledge that each Sunday brings church. Now, however, I think I will start having something resembling a schedule again. This is due in large part to the fact that classes have finally begun! I have not attended a class in almost two months and I feel as though my brain has been turning into absolute mush... I feel as though the term "gray matter" most accurately describes what my cognitive powers are capable of at this moment.

I know that some of you have asked for an address and I finally have a local address while I'm here:

6. sk. no:36 d:1 

Hisarüstü/Sarıyer, Istanbul, Turkey

Don't worry about the postal code, there really is no use for it here. They have them but no one uses them apparently so... yeah.

First day of class was pretty great. The classes I'm taking this semester: Intro to Turkish Politics, Hist of Modern Turkey, Turkish I, and Issues in World Politics. Monday sitting in my first class, talking about the historical and political importance of Turkey's retention of the Bosphoros was eye opening. Mostly because I noticed that I was sitting in what was probably the only classroom in the world where you could look out the window and see the Bosphorus as you were learning about it. Quite amazing if I do say so myself. It really has been quite amazing being here. 

After class a few classmates and I headed to a local eatery for some delicious lahmacun (La maujoon). Consistent of a thin flat bread, baked in an open fire oven with shredded lamb meat on top, and topped at our discretion with seasoned onions, lettuce, tomato slices and a squirt of lemon, it usually is a cheap meal at 2TL (1.25USD). I can usually have two of these for a good meal if there is nothing else I am having with it. So we go to order one a piece as we are going to have hors d'œuvre. One of the girls with us asks for 3 of them, one for each of us. So they bring out our appetizers and even more food after that... much to our surprise, our garson brings out three plates... each with three lahmacun on it. Oh well, it's not the first faux pas that has happened here and I doubt it will be the last. Thought you all might enjoy that.

Anyway apart from being so glad that classes are beginning and being excited to having readings soon I really don't have much to update everyone on. I really do miss all of you back home. I love it here though. I am equally pulled between desiring to be back with those I love, and being here with those God is putting on my heart TO love. I covet your prayers always and I'm so glad that I have had all of your encouragement since I've been here. I'm blessed far beyond my means. I am in Turkey... drinking from my saucer, because my cup is overflowing.

Climbing Castles and Crossing Boarders

Weekend in retrospect. So last week I decided to explore around the area which I am staying. I happen to live 3 minutes from the Rumeli Hisara fortress that was built in 1452 when the Ottomans were taking over Constantinople. This place is amazing. Not only is it one of the most beautiful sites I have seen in the world but it would NEVER happen in America. Haha we walked on stone steps that were 500 years old... no handrails people. Nothing to keep a dumb American from toppling over one of the walls to a certain and painful death. Like a bug on a windshield our soft bodies would stand no chance against the unrelenting of stones centuries old. So the climb up the handmade, narrow, uneven steps was heart racing at times. Once we reached the top, I found a new reason for my heart to race. I have seen the Bosphorus many times since I have been here but cannot keep myself from feeling somewhere between awed and humbled in its presence. As we hiked the fortress walls we were continually made small in the presence of a city that's stood the test of time. Feeling stones that have survived the centuries, looking out at a land, though touched by humanity, not bending to it in defeat. God is amazing. The thought that this is but a small part of the world, which is a small part of our solar system, which is a minute part of the universe. Wow...

 

Now on to the the weekend. This past Saturday I met people who were soon to become like a family for the rest of the day. A family I couldn't understand. Who didn't speak the same language but who I connected with on a deeper level just the same. It made me think of my family in fact. Speaking the same language yet not understanding sometimes. Yet bonded together by something intangible and infinitely deep. It made me miss them but I also found myself instantly connected to these people who were interested in me from the beginning, people who called me friend without knowing anything about me. Inviting me to their BBQ, which was delicious by the way. The trip to the Balgrad Forrest began with a ride in the back of a covered truck. All along the way joking about how we were in trouble if the Police found out about us. In the back of this covered truck, along bumps, uneven roads, the fear of rolling over in the truck we felt much of how we imagined refugees would feel fleeing their country. We felt as though we should all have instruments as we fled Mexico in search of a better home. I say that at the risk of not being PC... oh well. :) We started breakfast at the campsite with spinach and leek filled borek. It was delicious, many classic Turkish breakfast foods. We then played volleyball and on to lunch. It was so amazing, as the pictures show it, the beautifully marinated tavuk (chicken) was cooked close to the coals of still burning wood, so delicious, fire seared, heavenly. After eating we took a walk around the forest to see all of its wonders, upon returning we sung to Turkish songs as they were expertly played on the Saz or Baglama. A video of one of the songs is here.

As I sit here devouring a box of pistaccios given to me by my Iranian roommate, I am reminded that, so far all I feel like I've done here is eat. My days are spent thinking of what I can do to fill the time in between meals. I ask myself, how better to connect with the culture though, than by its food. If it's the way to a man's heart, then it makes sense to me that I should follow the heart of the Turks in order to understand them and connect with them on a level they deserve. My goal is to immerse myself as much as possible in this culture and pray that I gain knowledge and life lessons I would never before have received, from a place I have never been. Maybe then I will be that much closer to understanding humans as a species, as individuals, with hopes, dreams, appetites and desires that span cultures, languages and geography.

Fight to Make it Home

So here it is, the street I'm living on for the next 4 months or so. It's not much to look at from this point but I'm telling you, a 3 minute walk or less puts me at the most amazing spot ever overlooking the Bosphorus. It's the most beautiful place I've seen in the world so far. I'll upload some pics of it when I can. Either here or on my fb page. 

So the process for getting my resident's permit here is slow and convoluted to say the least. Frustrating as well but those are the demons we deal with. So the earliest appointment I could get is on March 22nd, that means even if I wanted to, there is no leaving the country for me :). I'm a student prisoner... is this what boarding school feels like? Anyway, as soon as I go to that first appointment I have to go back in about 8 days or so, and they will have my permit for me. So as of about April 1st I am free to travel as I please. Until then there is much of Turkey to explore. I mean this place is huge! An hour and a half bus ride, and you're still in Itsanbul. Man its quite amazing. 

Next Monday we can register for our classes. I am hoping that I am able to get the ones I am looking at. Like all things Turkish, the registration process is chaotic as well. Thought you might enjoy some quotes from the orientation session we had yesterday. Here are some of the good ones:

American Kid #1: I have a tourist visa and it says that my visa will expire in 90 days on the stamp. My question is, when does it expire?

Boss Lady: That means you should leave the country in at most 89 days to be safe.
American Kid #2: Wait, I have a tourist visa as well but my question is a bit different. When does it expire?

American Kid: Is there anywhere I can buy bacon in this city
Auditorium: Clapping and laughing
American Kid: No I'm serious


Why does it seem like few of the Americans here lack common sense? I mean the visa process and whatnot isn't easy but come on... lol. Anyway, while everyone else is trying to make a bad name for us while they're here I've been trying to keep my mouth shut, listen and learn. My Turkish is rubbish at best at this point but I've been able to survive the bazaar, shopping, ordering and the like so far so I think I'll survive at least.


I also was able to get my bag back from the airport on what my beard was telling me was the 6th day without it. It is nice to have one's things. While I had all my essentials with me in some carry on luggage, it was comforting to know things were not missing from my life so to speak. This recent blessing comes as no surprise to me as God has seen fit to rest me in the palm of his hand during this time in Turkey. Blessings and mercy have been showered at an alarming rate. I sense a purpose here. As though there is something to be accomplished in this place. I know I have a lot of growing, maturing, and evolving to do here and I get the feeling that something is happening here that will change my life. So I pray for the changes and challenges to come and that I have strength enough to see them through. I'm fighting, I am warring against the things that would keep me from the man God has intended. There are some forces over which I have no control but I will fight through.

Kız Kulesi

A Sultan's daughter was once prophesied to die on her 16th birthday from the bite of a snake was locked in a tower on an island in the water to keep her safe. On her 16th birthday her father brought her a basket of fruits and delights as he was excited he had escaped the prophesy. An asp had sneaked into the basket and the Sultan watched as she was bitten and died.

We cannot escape our asps. The fall has made us creatures of sin. We will fall and we will fail. To not prepare, to hide to pretend as though these trials are not coming leaves one wishing they had seen the outside before the bite. We are but grass in a field. We have our season in life and then winter comes. At 22 I am well into Spring and heading towards my Summer. As Solomon tells us, we will be forgotten, generations will pass and our riches will fall to the hands of fools. We have today. We are promised this very hour, this very moment and nothing more. The oldest city in the world stands as a testament to the insignificant nature of humans when compared to the universe. The Bosporus ebbs and flows the same as it did thousands of years ago. The stars laugh at out hubris as they burn so far from our reach. If we were to travel at the speed of light our entire lives we would die of old age before we could ever get close enough to hear wisdom from their years.

A Turkish woman cries about the loss of her mother and father, how she hates her job, feels her life is so empty. At rock bottom, how many people around the world have felt this same story. For a world so big, for people so different, we share the same stories. Despair, love, loss, anger, lust, happiness, hope, shared by men and women across the globe, separated only by geography and language. Separated more simply by will. The willingness to overcome that distance and dialogue. People sing to Rab, God, Isa, Jesus, Allah, all searching for meaning and a never moving anchor. Whether to a god or not, everyone in the world is in search of meaning. I intend to find out where people are searching and what they have found. If willing to listen, I'll share with them what connects me to people I have never before met, yet consider brother and sister. Shadrach, I've pondered so much about life since I've talked to you. So much about who we are meant to be, what we are meant to accomplish. I believe part of that is to bring people across the world together. To show people something that makes it impossible for them to not want to reach out to the ends of the earth and touch a fellow human being and understand.

Life is a series of dreams. Some nightmares, some heart warming, but all beautiful in their creation. We wake up from the dream and somehow it is not as tangible as it was the moment we were there. I am in an Ottoman dream, a world older than I can imagine, one that challenges my youth to overcome its naivete. I am reminded of the song "Old Man River" when I think about its wisdom. Yet, when I wake, the people, the places, the smells, tastes and sounds will all be gone, but I will enjoy every moment I am in it.

Left my heart in London

This was to be my original post I wrote while on the Tube from Heathrow. Due to shoddy wifi, i was not able to put this up until now in Istanbul. Second paragraph is today's real post.

The Lord is amazing. He cuts the time you have with your family and friends short by an evening by sending the biggest snow storm ever. You get out on the last flight to Chicago, but you’ve already missed your connection to London… this doesn’t faze Him in the least however. After a long night somewhat refreshing spent in the airport in a marginally cozy corner you’ve found that blocks most of the incessant travel advisory announcements, He holds off what is to be the biggest blizzard of the year in Chicago so that you can get out on the only morning flight. Not only that, He sees fit to put you in the last open seat in business where you enjoy quite possibly the best flight of your life, and you’ve been flying for most of it! You meet wonderful people, are kept safe through your entire journey, but can’t help but think of home and those who would make this experience that much better.  Just when you think that He cannot bless you anymore than he already has… He keeps your bags in Chicago when you’ve gone on to London! Then he keeps you at the counter as you discover they can easily get them to you tomorrow on the first flight out and will deliver them to your hostel free of charge. Not only that, but you arrive at the Tube entrance only to find that as you’re paying for your ticket the last train of the night is just pulling up. You thank Him that there is no queue and hurry to get just in time through the doors. Then it’s off to my hostel.

Life tends to happen when you're living it. It comes way too fast sometimes. As I discussed with Shadrach, one of the best single serving people I have ever met, life is a series of dreams. After an amazing discussion about life, love, family, death and the many joys of being insignificant in a universe vastly beyond our wild imaginations, he woke up this morning and I literally was not there. Leaving this morning at 7am to catch the Tube to the airport, I was gone before he woke up. Strangely it didn't keep us from making that moment the most meaningful moment of our live for it might have been our last. Living in the moment, consequences and time forgotten has its ups and downs, planning and weighing our options both limits our freedom to pursue what David has deemed vanity. Strangely enough he both condemns mirth and somber approaches to life. how true is it however that "sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of the face the heart is made glad." A harvest is due, though drought must sometimes be endured. London has the ability to show the follies of youth, how many generations have sought vanity in its wise streets and have come to ruin, to themselves, to others, to the city itself. A city so old could teach the world about maturity... how much more can i expect to be floored by my upcoming Bosporus mentor. Leaving behind friends never to see again, sleep never achieved, internet untapped, relationships never started, I brush the dust of London off my coat and head towards the Dardanelles. Ignoring her attempts to beckon me back, I turn my cheek to laughter, and embrace the sorrow that will make my heart glad someday. Turkey... I am here.