A day in Eskisehir

So during Bayram (after we had managed to get our train tickets), we set off for a day in Eskisehir, just 90 minutes away from Ankara on the high speed railway.

The railway is still quite new, the section between Ankara and Eskisehir opening in 2009.  They are now working on extending this to Istanbul.  Ankara station is impressive, and very clean, unlike what I remember of stations in the UK, and the train was waiting on the platform for everyone to board, again unlike the rail service in the UK where trains are always late.  So a good start.... We boarded onto a very clean carriage, and the seats were very comfortable.  The train set off right on schedule!

The train passed (quickly) through a lot of farmland, and this gave me the opportunity to see my first sights of Kurban Bayram.  Families taking their reluctant sheep to be slaughtered.  One was really dragging it's feet as it's owner was pulling on the rope it was tied to.  While in Eskisehir I also saw families emptying the boot of their car, which was full of meat.  This is then shared amongst family, friends, neighbours and people in need.

The train arrived in Eskisehir on time.  I'm starting to like this rail travel! We set off on foot to see what this city had to offer and was quite impressed.

Kent Park was a beautiful park with lots of water and it's very own beach.  I must return during the summer! As I am from the coast in the UK, I think this will be very welcome during the summer months.


After Kent Park we headed along the river back to the old town.

 While in the old town we ate Cigborek, which is a deep fried pastry with mince meat.  Probably not the best idea for someone on a wheat free diet, but as a local dish it had to be tried!

After a couple of Efes in a bar, it was time to head off back to the train station to return to Ankara.

Eskisehir has so much to see, that a return visit will definitely be planned in the near future.

A Rainy Day in Ankara

So what do you do on a rainy day in Ankara.  My first thoughts were to stay indoors, but no, this is Bayram and I have a week off work.  The rainy season is approaching so I had better get used to it.

There is one place that the students have been insisting that we should visit, somewhere that is very important to them and the people of Turkey.  So we quickly checked the directions, and set off to catch the bus to Kizilay.  Once we had arrived at Kizilay we headed for the Metro and it was another straightforward journey just 3 stops down the line.  We got off the Metro and checked directions, and only a short walk we could see a lot of cars heading in the same direction.  We must be in the right place!  We went through the security check of the gatehouse, and was then offered lemon cologne and sweets 'Iyi Bayramlar!'  We continued following the crowds and came across this sight.....

The Road of Lions- 262 metres of Pedestrian walkway which is lined with 12 pairs of lions like the one pictured above. It was all very grand but I wasn't prepared for what was at the end of the Road of Lions. The Ceremonial Plaza was right in front of me and The Hall of Honour to my left.

I took a sharp intake of breath as I saw the sight, Wow, this really was something special.  My students were right, this was one place we couldn't miss seeing while in Ankara.  We were at Anitkabir, the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemel Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, and a man who did so much for the country during his lifetime.  I had recently held a conversation class where my students had told me about Ataturk and what he did for the country, and how respected he was throughout Turkey today.  Anitkabir confirmed this for me, even on this wet day during Kurban Bayram lots of people had turned out to visit Anitkabir.

A truly stunning place, for a truly inspirational man.  I will be back for a return visit, maybe when it's not raining so much.

Lost in Translation

So after making my decision to come to Turkey I decided to try and learn a few words to get by with in my new city of Ankara.  I can exchange pleasantries but anything beyond this is not within my capabilities.

So after receiving a wasp sting on my way to work, I faced my first trip to the Eczane (pharmacy) for some medication.  Armed with my dictionary I found the word sting, of which there were many options, so I showed the lady behind the counter the dictionary and pointed to my hand where the sting was swelling up nicely.  I was met with a blank stare.  So this resulted in myself and my flatmate doing impressions of a wasp attacking my hand.  Result!!  She understood and packed me off with a couple of tubes of cream.

Today was another interesting trip out.  We decided it was time to venture away from Ankara and as it's Bayram next week (woohoo no work!!) a day trip to Eskisehir would be on the cards.  Just 90 minutes on a high speed train.  So today's challenge was to book a train ticket.  We headed off into Ankara with our trusty post it note, with the information we needed and tried to locate the train station.  Easier said than done, so we stopped a gummy local and asked for directions, only to be met with that blank stare we have come to recognise.  So we started to fire off words we knew, and still no luck.  OK this called for drastic action, in the middle of a busy park, I looked at him seriously and did my best 'choo choo' impression!  He just looked at me as if I was crazy.  Eventually he grasped what we were trying to say and told us to follow him.  He took us to an unmanned station onto the platform.  We tried to explain that we wanted to buy tickets for Tuesday, and then came a garbled reply pointing down the train tracks.  He then grabbed another local to help.  So we eventually worked out we need to be in the main station for tickets.  Both men got on the train with us, and as we arrived in Ankara station, the first guy pointed at the other guy, so we bid out farewells and followed the second guy who took us part of the way through the station, and pointed the way for us to go, but by which time we were adopted by a third gent who took us the rest of the way.  Feeling like a pair of batons in a relay we arrived at the station at which point buying tickets was such an easy task!!

Buying fruit and vegetables at the local market is always fun and I think the stallholders probably look forward to the entertainment of the English speakers trying to communicate.  They chatter away to us in Turkish even after we tell them we can't understand them, but generally with pointing and hand signals we can generally buy what we need for the week ahead.

Students always make me laugh with some of the things they say. We were given a Turkish dessert the other day and was told it was sugar with spaghetti!?!?  I think there may have been some confusion with pasta which is the Turkish word for cake.  I was disappointed as I was looking forward to a sweet spaghetti kind of thing....

The students are very keen to tell us where to visit and where not to visit, and we are working through the list but they seem to expect us to have visited all the places by now.

I am sure there will be plenty of other challenges with the Turkish language and I will be sure to let you know......

First Impressions

My first impressions on arrival in Ankara were...... It's big!  Three weeks later and my impressions haven't really changed.  Having come from the sleepy seaside town of Llandudno in North Wales with a population of approximately 30,000 to the crazy inland city of Ankara with a population of approximately 5 million it is a little bit of a culture shock.

I arrived at 8pm in the evening, so my first sight of Ankara was the city in lights.  It was pretty daunting for this small town welshy, but I was ready to take it on.  I had travelled from Fethiye on the coast by bus, a journey that had taken 9 hours, passing through some stunning areas of Turkey.  During the bus journey I realised I should have learnt more of the language as I was unable to communicate with anyone, and there were regular announcements which I obviously couldn't understand.  I am trying to pick up more of the language but it is a very slow process, but I will succeed!  The area I am living doesn't have many English speakers, apart from a few ex-pats that I have met at the local market.  So at the moment I am getting by with the few words I do know and a lot of sign language.

The road system is interesting, it appears there are no rules of the road or at least no regard to any rules should there be any, and it can sometimes appear like dodgems in a fairground.  There seems to be a rank system where buses get priority, but I guess that is due to their size and the fact they just drive on through the traffic. The journey to work is like being on a white knuckle ride at Alton Towers.  The hills are steep and the corners are severe.  I have been known to close my eyes on numerous journeys as I hold on tight to the seat in front.  

The first morning in my new home, and I was woken up with the sounds of the call to prayer at the nearby mosque, which is a sound you would normally hear in Turkey, but it was accompanied by a sound that was a little different.  At 5.30am I was a little dazed and confused, but then I worked out what it was.  The local street dogs were joining in with the call to prayer with howling.  Now in the area I live there are a large number of street dogs so this sound is a little eerie when you first hear it.  It only happens during the morning and evening call to prayer.  I guess during the day the dogs have more important business to attend to like sleeping.

There a a lot of street dogs, but they appear to be well looked after by the locals, who feed them their leftovers.  They are often seen chilling out in the sun.  I haven't seen so many cats in the area though, which is something that has surprised me after seeing large numbers of cats in other parts of Turkey that I have visited.

Ankara seems to be a friendly city, and although there will be a lot to get used to, I think it is somewhere I could possibly in the future call my home.  Let's just go with it and see where the next few months takes me.