Gaziantep

Relaxing on top of a flooded mosque on the banks of the Euphrates

Walked back into the Erasmus Sarayi about 2 hours ago from my journey to Antep and I know that I must blog now or I'll be too busy/lazy to talk about it. 

So, for those of you who read this blog to learn about the daily day of a Fulbrighter traveling in Turkey, here's one for you-- just a travelogue, with minimal commentary. Also, I forgot my camera, so all photos are courtesy of my friend and fellow Fulbrighter Ryan.



This weekend was Cumhuriyet Bayrami, or Independence Day, so we had a half day on Friday and I cancelled my morning lit class to make it a full day off!  I left for Antep on an 11 pm night bus Thursday evening, and slept fitfully due to a screaming child, body odor, and cramped seating until our stop in Adana, at around 2 am.  There, our bus apparently broke down.  I spent the next two hours at the Adana bus station (from 2-4 am) trying to get onto another bus of the same company (so I wouldn't have to pay for another ticket), and after getting kicked off one bus which got packed so full it was standing room only, was ushered onto another 30 minutes later and enjoyed three final hours of sleepy travel to Gaziantep.  I arrived around 7:30 am and dolmused across town to Gaziantep Univeristy, home of seven Fulbrighters (by far the most of any placement).  My friend Ryan met me at the bus stop, ushered me to his apartment, and then left for a meeting with the Turkish Fulbright director.  I took advantage of this time to fall promptly asleep.

Cassidy's students cooking some kebap on our picnic

After his meeting, I got to see most of the other Antepers (Cassidy, Didem, Julia, Kelsey, and Ryan) for lunch (I wouldn't get to see Celeste or Wally, or Kathleen- Wally's wife, until the next day) near the university.  Afterwards, Ryan boldly went with me all the way across town to the world famous Zeugma Mosaics Museum.  The horrible bus ride the night before was made worthwhile in just a few short hours at the museum, which had some of the most amazing mosaics I've ever seen.  More beautiful than the mosaics at the terraced houses in Ephesus, the collection in Antep was absolutely amazing.  I'm sure we'll be finding a similar collection at Omrit soon!  The mosaics came to Antep from nearby Zeugma (on the Euphrates) due to a huge hydro-electric project recently completed in SE Turkey.  Thousands of km of land was flooded, included hundreds of amazing archaeological sites, many of which ended up being only partially excavated (at best) before being swept away by flood waters.  Many of the mosaics in the museum bore water damage from the dam flooding, and while much has already been said about this project and its effects on history and arcaheology(just google it for some basic info on the debate), it left me with some thoughts to mull over-- I'm beginning to start thinking about researching how cultural heritage/pubic history is marketed and packaged in Turkey- both to tourists and to Turks.  This museum was wonderful, but Zeugma itself must have been infinitely more so.  The flip side to this is I probably would've been unable to arrange transport for myself to Zeugma to see the site on my slim Fulbrighter's budget.  And this reasoning is completely ignoring any possible benefits the dam might bring to SE Turkey.

Well, other than eating at a Popeye's in Gaziantep (weird?  yes.  delicious?  yes.), the rest of the day was uneventful.  We went with some of the Antepers' Turkish friends to a crazy club/bar for a halloween party, which was awesome and ridiculous, and very un-Konyalike.  On Saturday, Cassidy's hazirlik students had organized a picnic to Rumkale and the Euphrates.  It was beautiful weather, and the trip was fantastic.  We had a cookout on the shores or the Euphrates, saw some endangered Bald Ibises, and witnessed the effects of the dam project firsthand.  The whole outing was orchestrated by Cassidy's student Sinan, and it was wonderful to enjoy sunny weather and delicious food, along with good company.  The students were great, fun to talk to, and had done such a wonderful job of organizing a very impressive outing complete with cay and nargileh on our river cruise.  Afterwards, Julia, Ryan, Didem, Kelsey, and I went to see Gaziantepspor play Trabzonspor along with (Turkish chaperone and) friend Erman.  Gazi lost, but it was a fun game to see.  Unfortunately, Konyaspor is in the second division right now, so no good teams come through Konya... although the quality of play in Turkish soccer isn't always great, the games are fun, the fans are ridiculously dedicated, and I got to see Trabzonspor, currently one of the best teams in Turkey and Turkey's representative in the Champions League.

Note the flooded village in the background- minaret coming out of the water

Sunday involved more eating, including some of Gaziantep's famous baklava, and some sightseeing in the city center.  I Visited the city kale (citadel), a Gaziantep Kitchen/Cuisine museum, and Antep's famous copper-working bazar.  Overall, the visit to Antep was great-- and it was once again wonderful to experience such hospitality and such positivity from Turks and Turkey.  It is no fun to be back in Konya, at a university that couldn't care less about me, but seeing how my colleagues in Antep are thriving and how much support they get from each other, their city, and from the university was great to experience.  I can't wait to return and relax by the Euphrates while munching some pistachio dondurma again.