Nexus 2014

I am in Ankara for the 2014 Nexus conference, a gathering of researchers interested in mathematics and architecture.  It is being held at the Middle East Techical University (aka Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi) in the school of architecture.  As in Gaziantep, the university is an enormous gated community with security at the gate.  It is helpful because they can tell the cab driver where to take me.  The architecture building is full of interesting student projects and posters.  There is also a resident cat that attended the coffe breaks and some of the talks.

It is a small conference with about 50 attendees.  The people are friendly and there is plenty of lively discussion.  I have met a few of the other attendees at other conferences.  There are not any parallel sessions, which is nice that I can attend all the talks.

The traffic in Turkey is pretty crazy.  If a city street has lanes, they are only guidelines.  Cars pass and merge at high speed with horns blaring and pass within inches of each other.  I am amazed we have not been in an accident!  The cab I took today had a racing tachometer and model racecar on the dashboard.  As you might imagine, I got back to the hotel rather quickly.
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Emily has spent the days shopping and relaxing.  We have had dinner together the past two nights.  She was able to get some dehydration salts and a probiotic medicine.  I took my first dose tonight (Tuesday).  Hopefully it will kick in soon!

Other than Turkey tummy, we are doing well.

Church on Sunday

We spent Saturday night in Göreme, a small town in the heart of Cappadoccia.  This region was home to early christians for hundreds of years.  They used caves and undergound chambers to hide from persecutors.  There is an underground city nearby, that we were not able to visit, that was home to thousands.  The geology of the area is very unique and adds to the region's charm.

We planned to be up at sunrise to watch the balloons take to the air and so set our alarms for 5 am.  After getting up, we walked to a ridge above the town called sunset point to watch the balloons.  By the time we arrived, there were about 100 balloons in the sky.  Many were far off, but a few passed very close to our location.  The morning was very still and quiet, except for the hissing of the gas jets firing in the balloons.  We watched until most of the balloons landed, then went back to our cave for a nap.

After rising again, we had breakfast, packed, and then set out for the Göreme Open Air Museum located about 2 km from our hotel.  The museum is a small region containing dozens of man-made caves carved into the soft rock.  They were used for a variety of specific functions including food storage, burial chambers, dining halls, kitchens, and living quarters.  The most intricate were churches used for workship.  The churches were more chapel sized, but were still quite elaborate, especially for caves.  Many had carved pillars, carved domes, and detailed frescoes. They were very interesting.  Sadly, no pictures were allowed.  It still was a memorable way to spend Pentecost!  The museum is a UNESCO world heritage site because of its historical significance.

After seeing the museum, we walked back to town and did a little shopping along the way.  We had a late lunch, gathered our bags, hung out a coffe shop, then caught our bus to Ankara.  We napped a little during the five hour ride.  We made a few stops along the way and finally arrived in Ankara about 11 pm.  The bus station was quite large and packed with people.  We hopped into a taxi and were at our hotel in 10 minutes.  It is a nice place in a nice location.

Turkey by bus

Saturday Emily and I woke up both feeling a little rough.  Our GI tracts were misbehaving again. For breakfast we had immodiun, breads from the local bakery, and water. One of the breads is called simit, which is like a sesame bagel. The other was poağaça, which is a small roll that contains cheese.

We said goodbyes to David and Laurel and then we took a taxi to the bus station.  We got there in plenty of time to purchase tickets and get on our bus.  The bus station is quite big and was full of activity.

Our bus was nice, an important feature for a eight hour trip. It was closer to full capacity and we made about a stop every hour. After major stops we were offered water, coffee, and juice.

Our route took us west through Adana and then we turned north near Tarsus.  The weather was cool and rainy, making perfect for travel. After arriving in Nevşehir we changed busses to get to Göreme where we had reserved a hotel room.  Along the way we saw a wide diversity of terrain and agriculture. Near Adana there were palm trees and many fields of grains, corn, and vegetables.  Orchards were also very abundant, with what looked low cherries, olives, and pistachios. There were also mountainous regions and high scrub.  We did not see much livestock, only a few goat and sheep herds.

Our hotel room is in a cave hotel, so our room is built into the hillside.  

We had a decent meal at a restaurant with a terrace overlooking the town. We stopped at a few shops on the way back to our hotel.
 

Another day in Antep

We had planned to go to Sanliurfa Friday, but decided it would take us too long to get there and we still had many things to do.  One of those things was laundry.  The Fulbrighters pooled their money to purchase a small washer that is quite loud, but otherwise works fine.  It was one of the larger items needed to be moved later today.  We packed and then went to a late lunch with one of the English instructors from the University at a place in the local mall. I also purchased a sweatshirt, as I forgot to bring a jacket.

Emily went back to her apartment to finish moving some stuff to the University.

I decided to go back to the copper bazaar area to take a few pictures.  I walked for about two hours. It is interesting to see how many metal working shops the are on such a small area.

After getting back to Emily's, we headed to dinner with Erdem and another Fulbrighter David.  We shared some small plates of food and drank a glass of Raki.

After dinner we went to the apartment of Austin,  another American working in Antep. He and some of the other people there are part of the relief aid for displaced Syrians in the area.  Antep has grown over the past few years from 1.5 million people to about 2 million by taking in about 500,000 refugees.  Of course there are many other refugees in other cities in Turkey and other countries. Many are well educated professional people who had the means to leave, thus leaving Syria with a drained intellectual climate. Two refugees were there also and did not seem hopeful that they could return home anytime in the foreseeable future.

We came home and did some additional cleaning and packing.  David stopped by and we talked about travel plans.   Matt left early that day for travels in France with his family.  David will be heading to India for a few weeks. Laurel will be in Istanbul for a few days and then head home.  

We finally got to bed after 2 pm.

Chaos of moving

Emily's obligations for her Fulbright have ended.  She and the other Fulbrighters are moving out of their apartments, packing bags, and saying their farewells.  The apartments are in a bit of disarray with half packed boxes, suitcases, and bags of stuff.

Emily and I were both much better in the morning, but decided not to push our luck with food or adventure, so we focussed on packing and paperwork.

All four Fulbrighters living in the same building with Emily went back to the university with stuff for next years Fulbrighters and other administrivia.

On the way home, we attempted to get cash from an ATM, a feat that should not be as hard as it seems to be for me.  Finally I was able to get some cash, but not the quantity I was expecting.  Argh!

On the way back to Emily's, I was worried about rain.  Emily told me it never rains here, so I did not bring a raincoat.  Also, she said it would be very hot, so I did not bring a jacket.  Well, we got caught in quite a downpour with marble size hail!  We hid under some trees in the park and then went into a store.  That weather was certainly unexpected.  We stopped at a local bakery for some cookies and other sweets.

In the evening, the medical faculty took Emily, Matt, and me out for a very nice multiple course meal.  We had a really great feast of traditional foods.  Plate after plate came over several hours.  We left completely stuffed.  It was very clear that these faculty really enjoyed learning English with Emily and Matt.   Likewise, Emily and Matt really enjoyed having students eager to learn (who doesn't?).

Emily and I seemed to have recovered from our stomach bug and had a much better day than the previous.

Turkey tummy!!!

On Wednesday, I woke up feeling very sick to my stomach.  Emily warned me that I should be prepared for Turkey tummy, so I came with pepto and immodium.   I had a nice little vomit in the toilet, had a hot shower, then took some pepto.  I felt better, but defintely not at full strength.

Our plan was to see more of the city, so we headed out.  Emily's friend Erdem picked us up in hist car and we drove to the Zeugma mosaic museum, which has dozens of large mosaics moved from a now dam flooded excavation site nearby.  These mosaics date to the 3rd or 4th century AD and contain scenes from Greek mythology.

I was not feeling real good, and we walked slowly through the exhibits.  Luckily it was not very crowded or too noisy.  However, turkey tummy hit and I could have created my own mosaic on the museum floor, but luckily Emily had brought along a plastic bag for me.  I sat in a corner and filled it.  That made me feel better and I was able to make it the reset of the day without incident. 

After the museum, we went to a very large mall.  The parking was underground and the security guard checked the car and trunk for anything suspisicous before we entered.  We had coffee and pastries at a coffee house in the mall and made plans for the rest of the afternoon.

We decided to head to a nearby park that is popular for picknicking.  It was a pine forest that had a nice man-made lake with very nice formal landscaping.  There were many school groups there for the afternoon.  We walked around and got lots of fresh air.

We then went to Gaziantep university, where Emily has been working as one of five Fulbright scholars.  They are helping the college students learn English, which is not that common, especially in this part of Turkey.  Emily did not have her keys, but we walked through her building.

Emily has also been teaching some faculty of the affiliated medical school English with Matt, one of her Fulbright partners.  Wednesday evening was their last class and the topic was idioms.  There was a fun and lively conversation with people obviously interested in improving their English.  One of them gave us a ride home after class.

Emily went out with friends, but I started feeling sick again and decided to stay home and rest.  Emily came home late, and said she too had been struck with a stomach bug and threw up.  She came home with some dehydration salts and we both drank some to help avoid dehydration.

Sadly, I felt too sick to blog.  What a day!

A taste of Turkey

Tuesday Emily and I went out and about to see the town.

We started by walking to the Gaziatep museum, with exhibits on the history of the area and information local traditional arts and crafts.

Gaziantep is known for metal working particularly copper. There are also a number of artisans who work with mother of pearl inlay. In addition there are quite a few shops that sell and make traditional leather shoes called yemenis.

We sampled some very tasty baklava at a place deep inside the bazaar labarynth.  We continued through the maze of streets, stopping at intersting shops along the way. 

We also went to some very small museums.  The culinary museum was interesting and informative, with several rooms with displays and pictures of local traditional foods.  The glass museum had more archeology that glass with almot no information about the pieces.  The money museum was more of a personal collection of currency and coins on display from a man obviously obsessed with these things.  He invited us in and had us sit on a pretty dirty sofa in the courtyard and proceded to show us coins of all sorts and ages.  He also brought out a large tub of currencies from all over the world, all individually sealed in plastic.  We decided not to to tour some of the other rooms.  On the way home we stopped for some lahmacun, which is a flat bread with spiced meat on top.  I also tried some ayran, a salty milky drink that is a local favorite, but did not work well with my palette.

In the evening, we went out to dinner and drinks with some of Emily's friends.

It was a very fun day!

Travel travails

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Michigan: warm, sunny, and clear blue skies.  It was a perfect day for flying.  My plane from Detroit to Toronto was a Beechcraft 1900D, which holds 16 passengers plus two pilots.  I simultaneously had a window seat and an aisle seat.  There was no door between the cabin and the cockpit, allowing me to look out the windshield.  As we taxied on the ground, we followed larger plane.  I imagine the view was similar to a dachshund following a great dane.  After takeoff, we headed east over Grosse Ile and then Lake St. Clair, with a nice view of Lake Erie out my window.  Our cruising altitude was 10,000 feet as was clearly visible on the instrument panel in the cockpit.  We flew to Lake Ontario before turning toward the airport.  The multitude of sailboats on the great lakes makes them quite lovely this time of year.  I was able to watch our descent and approach to the airport through the windshield.  The yaw of the plane was quite notiecable from my mid cabin seat.  It seems like we were aimed for the left side of the runway.  Pretty interesting.

This was my first trip trough the Toronto airport.  The band Rush has a famous instrumental song named YYZ, which is the airport code.  The beat of the song is YYZ  in morse code, which gives it a fairly distinctive sound.  The international terminal area where the flight to Istanbul departed had a large Serra sculture consisting of four sections of a sphere.

I did not have a seat until about 90 minutes before  the flight departed.  I asked for an exit row, but none were available.  I offered to sit in first class if they needed my seat and the woman at the counter said they would call my name first if needed.  I said I would be willing to make that sacrifice as my seat was 53K.  How many rows does this plane (Boeing 777) have I thought?  They begam boarding and it became apparent that I would be stuck in my seat.  Iwas in the first boarding group:rows 40-53.  After walking past the first 52 rows, Ifound my seat in the very last row of the plane.  Due to the narrowness of the fusalage, the seating is 2-3-2.  I got a window seat.

The flight was run by Turkish Air. There were multiple rounds of food and service, staring with Turkish delight follwed by a full meal.

I am not sure if it was the weather or my position in the plane, but there was constant jostling during the flight.  No big bumps, but steady variablility in the direction vector.

I sat next to a Chinese student studying tourism at Waterloo.  She was a friend who sat across the aisle  from us.  They were headed to Istanbul for a conference and were going to do some sightseeing in some of the same places I plan on visiting.

I was able to take a few naps, but it is hard for me to sleep in the tight quarters and din of the plane. Hopefully I will have a better sleep tonight.

Emily surprised me by showing up at the airport.  One of Emily's medical faculty students, Mehmet, drove her to the airport to meet me and then brought us back into town.  It was nice not having to ride a shuttle and deal with all those logistics.  After being dropped off, we went out for a nice Turkish meal consisting of four styles of kebab, plus salad, and bread.  I realized Iforgot to pack the jacket Imeant to bring, so we did a little shopping at the local mega mall, but did not find anything decent.

I decided to travel without my laptop on this trip.  I purchased a bluetooth keyboard to use with my phone and have typed this post (and the previous) using it.  It seems to work well.  Ocasionally I will need to leave and return to editing mode because of a synchroization error (I think).  The keyboard is a Logitech tablet keyboard and runs on two AAA batteries.  I can also "type" with the simple phone interface, but I would rather use  keyboard if possible.

A turkey travels to Turkey

Summertime is here.  In academia that means no classes and limited formal obligations.  That allows for activities that are easy to accomplish during the school year, such as extended travel.

Today I begin the first adventure: Turkey!  I will there three weeks.  The first week I will be in Gaziantep, where my youngest daughter Emily has been the past year.  She was the recipient of a Fulbright award and has been teaching English at a local university.  The second week, I will be in Ankara attending the Nexus conference on mathematics and architecture.  The third week we will be traveling, including Izmir and Istanbul.

This is my first time in Turkey and I know very little Turkish.  However, I am very excited about seeing Emily, who is fluent.  What a great opportunity to travel the country with someone who knows the language and customs!  Especially becuse it is my daughter, whom I have not seen in six months.

Let the adventure begin!