Week One: Ankara-tastic Adventures!

Merhaba, friends!

So I made to Turkey all in one piece! I've been here for about a week, and what a fun-filled week it has been! I should have updated this sucker in a more timely manner, but I'd be lying if I said that jet-lag wasn't still hounding me at every turn. For the first few days here in Ankara, we sat through lectures on international relations between Turkey and the U.S., Turkish foreign policy, domestic issues in Turkey, the youth population in Turkey, the public education system in Turkey, Turkish politics... I'm sure you can see a pattern arising here. Additionally, we had the unholy snot scared out of us by a representative from the U.S. Embassy's Regional Security Office; he provided some practical advice, but certainly found the most creative and alarming ways to deliver it.

Oh, also: RABIES. Unbeknownst to what seems ninety-five percent of the ETA population, rabies and the occasional friendly rabid dog is somewhat of a problem here in Turkey. Let me tell you a little tale: several weeks before I left for Turkey, my doctor recommended I get a number of vaccinations, just to play it safe. Being relatively non-rebellious, I agreed to this plan, had a renewal of my tetanus vaccine at her office, and arranged to have a number of other vaccinations taken care of at a facility specializing in international travel and medicine. I'd like you to focus on that phrase, "specializing in international travel and medicine."

I show up to this facility, which will remain nameless, and I meet with a registered nurse whose expertise is travel medicine... or something like that. She starts by showing me this fancy little booklet they've created for me regarding various medical concerns that arise when traveling to Turkey. That's sweet of them, I think to myself. Let me summarize the overall conversation I have with this alleged nurse.

Nurse Lady: "So, after looking over this information, I'm going to recommend that you have a Hepatitis A vaccination, a typhoid fever vaccination, and you take a prescription for some sort of anti-malarial medication."
Me: "Okay, wow. Typhoid fever? Really?"
Nurse Lady: "Oh yeah, it's really prevalent in the Middle East right now."
Me: "Okay, if you recommend it, I guess."
Nurse Lady: "Absolutely, you don't need to get diarrhea when you're traveling around Europe."
Me: "I can't begin to emphasis to you how much I one hundred percent agree with that sentiment."
Nurse Lady: "And it seems as though rabies might be slightly prevalent in various areas of the country, but you can get rabies anywhere, so I wouldn't worry about it."
Me: "Okay, I trust your judgement, registered-nurse-specializing-particularly-in-travel-medicine."

You can imagine that I was pretty secure in my health at this point... until we have a health briefing with a nurse from the U.S. Embassy. I'd like to say here and now that she was extremely helpful in doing two things: making me aware of all pertinent medical information about Turkey, and making me aware that this registered nurse in Shrewsbury didn't know... squat... about travel medicine.

So this lovely Turkish nurse runs through her PowerPoint regarding medical care in the country, and before I know it, the slide switches to this twenty-foot picture of a dog suffering from full-blown rabies who appears as though he might just jump out of the projected image on the wall. The nurse proceeds to tell us how attacks by rabid dogs are sometimes frequent, but in only certain parts of the country... at which point she flips to a slide depicting a map of Turkey dotted with all recent locations of rabid dog attacks. In case you're interested in knowing where most of the recent rabid dog attacks have occurred in Turkey, feel free to Google "Balıkesir province." Imagine that entire area covered in a mass cluster of red dots, which, again, DEPICTS ALL RECENT RABID DOG ATTACKS IN TURKEY.

Another fun fact: want to know what diseases have not been prevalent in Turkey for years? Typhoid fever and malaria. I should have realized this "nurse" was limited not only her understanding of travel medicine but in her cognitive ability as well when she declared that she was "unfamiliar" with the "situation" in Syria at the time.

Anyway, after this utter deluge of useful information, we took a fantastic tour of Anıtkabir, the memorial and mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic. Long story short: after World War I, what's left of the Ottoman Empire is in crumbling ruins, and this massively awesome war hero steps up to whip these kids into shape. Product: modern-day Turkey. Quite literally, Atatürk helped move Turkey into the modern world: new alphabet, last names, steel and iron... the whole nine yards.


So, without further ado, here are my very first pictures taken in Turkey!

These statues represent the students, villagers, and military men upon whose shoulders the future of Turkey rests. There is a matching set of female statues, but I couldn't get a shot of them!

This is the Row of Lions, which is paved with asymmetrically placed and spaced marble bricks. This design forces the visitor to look down so that they don't trip, therefore humbling the visitor while at the same time, causing them to show reverence for Atatürk 

Pictured: lion.

Fairly glorious.

Your ceiling will never be this cool.

View of the city from the museum.

Being a tourist, nbd.

Sans tourist and wild Turkish children.

Following this adventure, the next morning was filled with Turkish lessons and more lectures. More importantly, that afternoon the Minister of the Higher Education Council came to greet us and participate in a fancy news conference, and even MORE importantly-- I know what you're thinking, what could be even more important?!-- the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey came to hang out! (Obviously, you should read "hang out" as "welcome us to the country on behalf of the U.S. Embassy and also take part in the aforementioned fancy news conference.") So, for your viewing pleasure, here is the news conference we were all a part of... don't bother reading the article, since it's in Turkish.

We also went to a really nice restaurant named Gil's. The dinner was served in their garden, which was beautiful. Of course, I have no pictures of it... I need to learn to take pictures like a tourist.

The Ambassador also invited us to his home for a September 11th memorial service, so maybe that will be another adventure to report on soon.