Gel-git: Comings and goings

One of the first techniques beginning Turkish marbling students learn is called gel-git, or in English "come and go." This involves pushing and pulling pigments on water in a back and forth motion to create streaks. The more times the artist drags the water using the gel-git pattern, the more finely intertwined are the streaks of pigment, until the pattern is too complex to have been created by simply painting on paper.



This week has been characterized by comings and goings as well. On Friday Natan Vigna arrived from the University to photograph our adventures. His arrival was met with a lot of enthusiasm by the group, and we have enjoyed showing him around, taking him to classes, and helping him find places for photos. We’ve only seen a small proportion of his work so far, but I, at least, am thoroughly impressed. I think he will have a lot of excellent photos to contribute to various projects and articles on honors and general PR for the University. He went to work straight off the plane, and seems to be throwing himself into the job.

Kelli’s mom and dad and her friend Steven arrived yesterday (Saturday) morning. Kelli will be traveling with them for a few days after the end of the trip, so they arranged to meet her here. Ali, our art teacher looked a little surprised that Kelli had a male friend joining her here with her parents, but I assured him that Kelli’s father was escorting Steven and was staying with him here. In this society having the father’s approval makes a lot of difference, but I think this arrangement mixes up some of the cultural conceptions a bit. Those who adopt more Western standards here would not be surprised to see an unmarried woman and man here together (particularly if the couple were American), and for those who are more traditional it would be common for a chaste woman to be under the supervision of her father, but this combination of an unmarried man and woman traveling under the supervision of the girl’s parents (father is the relevant point here) seems decidedly odd to them. There is no clear category to put them into. Our consistent refusal of alcohol (as individuals and also as a whole) also has been a bit confusing to people here, because it violates some of the cultural perceptions of Americans.

The early morning hours today saw the departure of two of the students. Both of them are residential assistants in the dorms, and needed to return to campus early for their training. We went to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner for our last night here as a group, and we are all feeling the loss of their presence here. I found myself waking frequently in the night and checking the time to see what they were doing and whether they would have departed yet. From emails and Facebook posts I’ve seen, it looks like most of their peers stayed up with them to wait for their 3 am departure from the apartment building.

Jon and Ashlee’s departure has only made more real to us the recognition that soon we will all be going our separate ways, and that although most of the travelers are going back to campus, we will sorely miss the friends we have made here. Increasingly I am hearing the sentiment that Turkey and the people we have come to know here have become integrated into our lives in ways that have changed us all and will continue to be carried with us as we move back into our old lives and on to new things. Hew commented earlier that Ali had told him that if he is homesick now, once he gets home it will be worse because he will also be homesick for Turkey. This has repeatedly been my experience here. While the changes in ourselves may be dimly seen here, when we go home we realize that in some way we have incorporated a little bit of the values and lifestyle of our Turkish friends into who we are, and in that way we can never be monocultural again, if we were to begin with. We can’t just leave Turkey behind or shed it like a coat we tried on for size. We’ve allowed our hearts to be touched by people here, and our hearts won’t ever be entirely the same again. Like the gel-git marbling, once the water has been stirred the patterns created can’t be undone.

We ask for the patience of all of you we are coming home to. I suspect the adjustment for many of us will be more difficult than we expect. We sense that we have been in some way suspended in time and space and have been richly blessed for the experience. It has been rewarding for me to watch students grow and change so rapidly and open themselves to new ways of seeing the world. We could never have replicated this in a classroom. Thank you to all the families who made it possible for us to do this, to the University for dedicating the resources and expertise, and for all those who covered for us in our absence by watering our plants, caring for our pets, taking in the mail, and most of all praying for us. Thank you also in advance for bearing with us for just one more story about what happened while we were here.

Classes

Some of our posts here have mentioned "classes," but I don't think any of us have been very clear about what we meant by that. In January when I was here in Istanbul planning for this summer's trip I met several artists who have made a career out of teaching Turkish arts and culture to visitors. I coordinated with them to set up a group of workshops for the time we would be here in the summer. After we'd been here for a few weeks and we'd all taken the first class, several of the members of our group had ideas about other types of things they would like to do or learn, and we have been able to coordinate some of these to create a few new classes as well. Each person in the group has had the opportunity to take three additional classes of their choice. I'd like to share some of what we've done here, to give all of you a better idea of some of our experiences.



One of our classes here is ceramic tile painting. Ceramic tiles are a key feature of Turkish architecture, and ceramic plates and bowls are popular household items. Betul and Ali arranged for us to learn how to transfer classic designs to bisque plates and tiles, and paint them. The finished projects have been sent off to Kutahya, a city that is one of the classic centers of tile making, to be fired, and will return to Istanbul later this week.







We also had a unique opportunity to take a music class with Serkan Çağrı, the most famous clarinetist in Turkey. He was phenomenal! Turkish music makes a lot of use of microtones and has a full notation system for them that music students learn early in their training. Serkan demonstrated various styles of music, and one of his students gave us a chance to try out playing the saz (similar to a guitar - see Justin's post). We were extremely impressed and grateful for the opportunity to work with him, even briefly. He gave us a copy of his newest CD, and permission to make copies for all of the group. I'm going to buy his earlier CDs as well.



More later - I'm off to cooking class now.

Natan=more publicity for me!

I didn’t have any classes today, so I got to wake up at 11 AM! I pretty much just sat around the room until Ashlee got back from her illumination class. At that point, it was about 3 PM. After a quick late lunch, we along with Peter, Natan, and Xander went off towards the Galata Tower to do our neighborhood project. The neighborhood project as explained in previous posts is an attempt for us to get to know Turkey not only through our own eyes, but also through the eyes of the Turkish people. Getting to our neighborhood of Begolu took a while since Natan stopped to take pictures... a lot. I didn't mind though. The more pictures he takes of me, the better the chance I'll appear on school affiliated media. Plus, he takes great pictures with that big camera of his.

After dropping Natan off at the Galata Tower, Xander, Ashlee, Peter, and I proceeded with the mapping of Begolu. We started walking on a random street from the tower until we reached the music district. This little area contained lots and lots of music stores that contained both western and Turkish instruments. We ventured further and reached what we deemed the "edge" of the neighborhood, the main street that led to Taksim. On the corner of this edge was a music CD shop. Stepping in, we found ourselves immersed in music of all kinds-- Turkish, jazz, classical; you name it, they had it. I stumbled upon the Rachmaninoff collection of the store. I remember especially enjoying one of his piano concertos, but I didn't know which one to look for. This left me very disappointed. Luckily, I had a recording of it on my computer. If any of you were wondering, it was his Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18. Specifically, it was the 2nd movement I was after. I might go back there to get it later.

We walked down another street down into the music district and found an old man in his store, shredding on the electric saz (the Turkish guitar). It sounded just like an electric guitar. We stopped to listen to his amazing skills before going into the store. I've been wanting a saz ever since the music lesson a few of us had at the beginning of the week. After asking for the prices of different sazes, the man handed me one worth 100 Turkish Lira. It was of pretty good quality. He even played a few licks on it, and thoroughly convinced me that I had to buy it. Before buying though, he brought out an old photo album and showed us some of his pictures when he was younger. Apparently, he was a professional musician and played for various music stars and TV shows back in the day. With the understanding that we were in the presence of a semi-celebrity, we took a picture with him and asked him for a little private concert.

This whole experience is something that I will miss when I go back to the U.S. Rarely will anyone encounter such hospitality as I've experienced in my time in Turkey. The Turkish people are some of the nicest people I've met. From taxi drivers to store owners like the guitarist we met today, I feel like the Turkish people are genuinely interested in other people's interests. On the streets, you'll see strangers help direct cars in and out of tight parking spaces. Taxi drivers will slow down to give each other news on the traffic in the area. Turkey as a whole has taught me so much about true community, something that is sorely lacking back home in the States.

We attempted to ask for directions on how to get to the Galata House Restaurant, but he didn't know what or where that was. After thanking the man for his time and hospitality, we embarked down another street and stopped at a little shop. This shop was super cool. It had journals disguised as VCR tapes, robot salt and pepper shakers, little wallets with the coolest designs, and more that I can't even describe! Peter particularly liked on of their shirts and eventually bought it after many minutes of excruciating contemplation. We asked the store owner for directions to the Galata House Restaurant, but he didn't know of it either. This man, much younger than the guitarist we met earlier, had a laptop nearby and searched it up on Google. Oh, the wonders of the Internet! He pulled up a map on Google and detailed the route necessary to reach the restaurant. We thanked him for his time and proceeded towards the meeting point at the tower.

Upon reaching the Galata Tower, we finally saw the Kams and Steven! After talking for a few minutes, we went to the restaurant. The food was superb, as it almost always is in Turkey. I had pulmeni which is potato-stuffed ravioli. Excellent stuff. Some of us left after dinner towards a gelato place that Ashlee heard about. We each enjoyed a cone of yummy gelato on our way back to the apartments. On the way, Natan took more pictures of us at various locations such as the New Mosque and the bridge across the Bosphorus.

I immediately whipped out my newly bought saz when I arrived at the apartments and proceeded to play it... for 45 minutes. I managed to learn a good amount of basic chords and a scale or two. I'm totally hooked on the saz. It's awesome.

Now, I wait to see Ashlee and Jon off. They're leaving Turkey early for RA training. They leave the apartments at 3 AM. We only have 30 minutes left to spend with them!!! I wish them safe travels and will miss them these last few days.

Reminiscing on the last month I've spent in Turkey has been depressing. I'm certainly going to miss this wonderful country. The apartment has become a home away from home. The friends I've made have given me emotional ties to this country. The routes I've memorized of the city will always be a part of me. I can say that this whole experience has permanently altered who I am. I've become more open and accepting of Islam, Turkey, and its wonderful inhabitants. I hope to carry the things I've learned and portray these Turkish values of friendship and hospitality to my fellow Americans for the foreseeable future. I'm glad to go home... I'm just sad that I'm leaving another behind.