I never thought of that!

Having lived in Turkey for so many years, I expected to be familiar with most of the issues presented in Aksoy and Candan's papers. While I was aware of the issues with entering the EU, I was not aware of the extremity of globalization in Istanbul. I spent most of my time in Ankara, which I wish we could see, because it's so different from anywhere I've been. The streets are always dusty and cracked by stubborn and knotted tree roots, the streets are sparsely populated, and the people are friendly and eager to offer tea. When I picture Istanbul, I do picture the busy metropolis that was described in the papers, but sadly, I don't want to picture this. Turkey is so rich with culture that I fear it's turning in the wrong direction. Why should Istanbul expand and become more of a metropolis? Yes, it will attract more tourists, and it will continue to be, as was said, a 'microcosm of Anatolia,' but will this really please visitors? Visitors who come to see the true Turkey and end up seeing the Starbucks and Burger Kings that pepper the streets of their homelands? I fear that Turkey is concentrating so much on its entering into the EU that it's forgetting where it comes from. It's forgetting that it's culture and landmarks are arguably more rich with history than many other European countries. Why would Turkey want to lose the Lira, or want to join up with an organization that is clearly reluctant to accept it? I'm very interested to hear about what the speaker today has to say, because after the readings for today, I'm left thoroughly confused. 

It's pretty cumbersome being me

I make progress daily in my research, since I'm an extremely clumsy person. More frequently than I'd like to admit, I run into people, sometimes jarring myself so hard that I stumble. Lately, I've begun to not apologize when this happens (even though this faux pas eats me up inside), and I've been met by what can only be described as genuine glares. Some have yelled at me, some have sarcastically cajoled me on my inability to walk in a straight line, but absolutely none have ignored me. 

I seek to continue my blatant lack of grace in Europe, where I expect different reactions. I seek to find the source of this ignorance of personal space. What causes people overseas to be so much less uptight? Granted, to answer this question I'll need to do a lot of inferring and assuming, but it's better to postulate than to give up.

 

Mmm... learning

I'm extremely happy to discover that Berlin has a museum festival from January 31st- August 29th. Sure, this might not sound all that special or interesting, but what's fabulous about it is that it's called the Long Museum Night festival. Visitors may enter anywhere between 6pm on  a Saturday to 2am on the following Sunday. If night-museuming isn't enough to enthuse a traveller, it's worth mentioning that these museums will provide food, theater performances, and much more. I can't wait to go!