Alex and Anne go to a Mosque. (Cami in Turkish) (Pronounced JAH-MEEE)

   So a couple days ago Anne and I decided that we would have an adventure. Should we go to a bar? No. Should we go skydiving? No. Should we try to cross the Armenian boarder disguised as sheep? No. We were going to really up the stakes and go to a Mosque! There is no bigger adventure for a Baptized Southern Baptist from Alabama than going to a Mosque in a predominate Muslim nation.

     Our adventure hit a small snag when we got confused  how to enter the cami and accidently ended up in a grocery store. Honestly it could have happened to anyone...or just me. Anyway, as Anne started ascending the mosques steps she noticed my absence as I lagged behind.  Don't get me wrong I loved looking at the exterior but actually going inside scared me. Though I am gay and probably constantly prayed for by members of my former church, I still in some ways hold dear that fundamentalist  upbringing. While I know science and people in the know may have their point in saying religion is a sham, its something I still find peace in, and for some reason I felt that going into a mosque would be disrespectful . Anne urged me to come with her, and I begrudgingly followed. We had to take off our shoes to enter the mosque, Southern Baptists spend too much time and money on their church shoes to just leave them at the door, so right there was something different! When we entered the space I was in total awe of its beauty and volume..it was big. I mean really big! Like a hundred Macedonia Baptist Churches in Margaret, Alabama could have fit inside it. Anne and I spent about two hours there pacing the carpeted floors looking up at the vaulting ceiling. We eventually sat against a pillar to rest and soak up the environment. 

     While we sat an elderly Turkish man approached me and asked me to pray with him. I guess he asked me considering I was the "man". He was very encouraging and I was very tempted to. I suppose that many others would have jumped at that opportunity as another example of doing as the local do, but I took pause. While I see the beauty of the Muslim religion and respect it, had I joined the elderly man I would have been doing nothing more than being a mimic. I respected the religion too much to play along with something without really believing in it. With as much respect as I could muster with my limited Turkish I declined the kind mans offer. Anne and I then gathered our shoes, and began to plan our next adventure.

Original Draft written June 29,2012

Do You Know the Way to Safronbolu (would not have been a hit for Dionne Warwick)

My friend Anne and I went on a grand adventure to the city of Safronbolu. Safronbolu is a world heritage site known for its authentic Ottoman homes. Anne had prearranged for us to stay in a very affordable hostel. The hostel or pension as they call them was a Ottoman house since it was 150 years old and it definitely showed everyone of those 150 years. The town though was beautiful, one really feel as though you've gone back in time. Here are some photos:

Our pension from the outside.

Our humble room.

The reception/dinning area of our pension with its complimentary breakfast.

 Anne with the anne (mother) of the man that ran the pension.

 The A- team in Safronbolu

I like to sit and be contemplative.

While sitting on a bench in Kizilay (which is a the main shopping area of Ankara) I began taking random pics of people walking by. It is then that I had my EUREKA moment, Turkish people are just like us Americans. They like to walk around and do stuff. Now I understand why monks go into solitude if these are the kind of deep thoughts they get! Here's the pics.

Like a Turkish swiming cat out of water.

     In case you didn't know Turkish swimming cats love  the water. After we left Washington D.C we flew over night to Munich, Germany. This was the first time I had ever been in Europe by the way, and honestly it seemed just like Atlanta to me...well the airport did since I never left it. From Munich we then flew to Ankara. You know how there is the Red Eye that flies people from L.A. to New York over night? Well Lufthansa has something similar called the Turkish Crying Babies Make You Want To Stab Yourself In The Eye flight, I honestly think the plane consisted  of our group, 12 gangly Canadian female basketball players, a freaky German male flight attendant and 83 pissed off crying Turkish babies.  As we flew over Eastern Europe I wondered if my host family would like me. I wondered if they would have air conditioning, and more importantly if they would have internet. As the plane flew over Ankara it looked like we might have been flying over Phoenix or some other western American metropolis with its orange terracotta shingled roofs. I was left nonplussed from my first vision of Ankara. Then after we landed we started to drive through the city, and I slowly began to like it. Granted you are smacked in the face from all the non licensed Disney likenesses, but it still has a charm. A fellow CLS student, Robin, said it best when she compared Ankara to Mexico City, it really had almost central American feel to it, who would have guessed it was technically in Asia.
      From the airport we went directly to TOMER, where we were individually introduced to our host families. Mine was Emine...at least I think that's her name. Emine has the vibe of a stern southern grandmother, especially in that she almost made me cry several times during my first 14 hours. She has a cute tidy apartment that she shares with her husband Husnu and a daughter. The most important thing about their apartment is it is walking distance to the TOMER, I believe I am the only one that lucked out in that department. Emine is always wanting to teach me Turkish, but the problem is she does not speak English so regardless of what she says to me I repeat it, even though for all I know she is saying, "What time do you want up?"  Emine and I have a failure to communicate. Finally out of Frustration she would shake her head and walk away. Then when she was walking me to class she started talking about something involving the Turkish American Association that we passed, and of course I went to my old standard of repeating everything said to me, and again she shook her head and walked away.

     When I arrived at TOMER for orientation I just wanted to be away from Emine, Ankara and Turkey for that matter. All the other folks in the program seemed to have dynamic host families that lived above banks or were glamorous P.E teachers. I told my plight to all that would listen, about how stern she was, and how she would just walk away. All I got was maybe things will get better.  During orientation we would have fifteen minute breaks where a young man would take our drink orders and bring us beverages. I have to admit this made me feel a little uncomfortable, as if I was in colonial Indja or something. But then I always feel a little uncomfortable when I am waited on. During the second break I tried Aryan for the first time. For y'all that don't know Aryan is a salty cold yogurt drink. I didn't hate it.....I didn't love it either. They say Ayran is good cure for being hungover, that might be the only occasion that will bring me to try it again.  After class we had an hour to explore the area before our host families came to pick us up.  Lauren, Anne, Courtney and I began exploring the immediate area around our school and ran in to Emine who was on her way to get me. Courtney is such an awesome lady, this is third time in Turkey with the program, and she spoke to Emine telling her about how I am an absolute beginner because many universities in the United States do not offer Turkish classes. Emine told Courtney, who then told me that I should explore more with my friends and that she and Husnu would meet me in Kugu (swan) Park. When I arrived at  Kugu Park there was festival happening. I meet my host parents and we sat on a bench and with the help of the Berlitz Turkish Concise Dictionary we began to communicate. Yes maybe I for the first time started to really listen as well. We spent over two hours listening to Turkce muzik, as I would randomly point at things asking "Bu ne?" While in the park I looked over and saw my classmate Emily who looked to be doing the same thing with her host mother and grandmother. I think Emine and I have reached a turning point, and regardless of whatever happens during my stay here in Ankara I had a really great afternoon with two amazing people, and Kugu (swan) is now forever blazed in my vocabulary.