I told you it looked like Denver

Exhibit A: Photograph taken from a moving car (not too shabby, my little point-and-shoot) of one of the mountain ranges (foothills, really) surrounding Isparta. Note the brown hillside, granite landscape, low green shrubbery, and all around dryness. It could also pass for certain regions of the California valley, I suppose…but I’m still thinking Colorado. More pictures to come.

A bit about Isparta, for those of you who are curious. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Isparta is about an hour and half north (2 hours by car) of Antalya, a Mediterranean paradise. A local described Isparta to me as a transition zone between the Mediterranean and the dry, mountainous region of Anatolia, where places like the capitol, Ankara (not Isatanbul, people!), are located.

Some quick facts: The population ranges from 175,000 (posted on the sign coming into the city) to 250,000 (posted on Wikipedia). The student population at my university is around 40,000 alone (!!) and so the population really fluctuates in the fall and spring. The elevation is about 1035m/3395 feet, but since it’s so close to the sea, it doesn’t get as cold as some of the inland cities, though it may snow occasionally. My colleague, for example, has to deal with -40 ºF temperatures in her city, the name of which I can’t remember at the moment (Leanna? I know you’re reading this! Why don’t you comment and tell us the city and verify the temperature?

What do people do here? Well, it’s a college town, so a lot of commerce revolves around the students: shopping and cafes, which makes the city much more cultured and interesting, because there’s actually a decent downtown area with some great eats. Then there’s a lot of carpet making in the region. But what the city is really famous for is rosewater production. Another name for the city is actually the “City of Roses.” There is a big rose festival in May, and there are lots of shops with rose lotions and products, as well as rose bushes lining the streets. Lovely.

That’s the quick overview. One last thing–there’s no airport here, though there used to be. There’s an overnight bus connection that’ll get you to Istanbul in 11 hours (yeah, I know: Ouch), or you can catch a plane from the Antalya airport. But as for the airport, Wikipedia had this and only this to say: On November 30, 2007, an Atlasjet McDonnell-Douglas passenger jet with 57 people on board crashed on approach to Isparta airport. All aboard were killed.”

I’ll take the Antalya airport, thank you!

Okay, NOW you should be jealous

I’m having a hard time containing all my giddy energy even though it’s 11pm my time and I should probably start winding down. Why, you ask? It’s partly because I still haven’t slept more than 5 hours in about three days, and I’m a bit delirious. It’s also partly because I am hopped up on the caffeinated tea I had this afternoon and after dinner (Turks drink tons of tea in lovely little cups…more later). It’s also partly because I spent the day with my colleagues and feel like I just landed the sweetest teaching job ever (more on THAT later too)…but mostly you should be jealous of me because of where I’m going to dinner tomorrow night: Egirdir.

I dare you to pronounce it.

It’s a cross between Eardear and Eyurdear (the g’s are pronounced more like a y here, and that r at the end is rolled a bit, but don’t even GET me started on the many delights of the Turkish language. That’s coming sometime this weekend). But isn’t it incredibly beautiful?

My colleague Mehmet, one of the most generous and wonderful people I’ve met in a long while, is from this region, which is particularly known for its fish. This town is about a 45 minute bus ride/30 min car ride from my house. So, we’re going there for a fish dinner tomorrow night. Then I’ll be around this weekend studying Turkish and checking out my city (which I toured a bit today with my colleagues). I work on Monday, then at some point I’ll head to Istanbul for a few days in an overnight bus (where they serve tea and cupcakes and watch movies–on the bus, that is). Then I’ll hopefully come back for Bayram, the end of Ramadan. I’m hoping to ingratiate myself to a local family (maybe Mehmet?) and enjoy some local food. Anyway, I’ll keep you posted on tomorrow’s dinner. Life is so, so sweet.

The Guesthouse

Here’s a picture of my room, for those of you who like pictures of rooms.

You’re not jealous of me yet

So…it appears I got on the wrong plane and ended up in Denver. Yes, I’m technically in Isparta, Turkey, which you can see in the map to the left if you squint really hard (look just to the left of Turkey–you can also click on it and make it bigger). It’s about a 1.5 hour drive by car from Antalya, an incredibly beautiful tourist destination on the Mediterranean coastline. I, however, am surrounded by evergreens and low, scrubby mountains (and a patch of corn outside the front of my temporary guesthouse). It looks, much to my slight disappointment, quite a bit like a city in Colorado (no offense, Colorado, I just like a bit more lush greenery). I’m operating on five hours of real sleep in the last 48 hours. My room smells a bit like cigarettes, especially in the evening. No one who works here speaks English (which is a bit fun, actually, you should have seen the conversation the guesthouse clerk and I had when my internet wasn’t working. Somehow we managed to change my room and figure out the problem all while talking in our own languages, which neither of us understood).

(I love parentheses.)

But hey, maybe you are jealous of me. You probably should be. I’m in Turkey, for pete’s sake, and I’m on an adventure. I get to actually have a blog-worthy life again, which actually makes me super happy, because I love to share other cultures with people. I flew into Istanbul yesterday, which looked incredible, and I can’t wait to visit. Plus, there are some incredible spots to visit within a half hour to two hours, and even more within three to four. I am really in the heart of European and Middle Eastern history and culture here–I mean, the site of ancient Troy is in Turkey! Such a great return to my classical education roots. I have great colleagues, both the local and American ones in my program. I get to learn a new, super relevant language (okay, slight exaggeration there…). Finally, I feel much more grounded about this experience than I did about the Philippines, partly because my time will be structured with teaching, learning Turkish, and writing, (oh, and travel), and partly because I’m older and I’ve done this before.

That said, if you’re reading this, I probably already miss you.