Happy Christmas/New Year!

It's Christmas/New Year in Izmir and I feel a few pictures and comments are in order to help me explain how my family and I celebrated "Christmas" along with the Izmirian version of the Turkish New Year.

Lobby Decoration at the Hilton

The Christmas season officially began for me on the first weekend of December when I was in Istanbul at a student conference. We were at Uskudar American High School, an international school decked out with Christmas trees in all the buildings and an organ in their performance hall. I was fascinated by the number of Christmas trees decking the halls and the Christmas books lining the shelves of the library This is a Turkish School after all.

Additional Christmas cheer was added when I taught my 9th graders the "Twelve Days of Christmas." They were super enthusiastic and great participants in learning and singing this song on stage in front of the entire high school.

The arrival of Ellen and Eric signaled more happiness. Eric always comes loaded with good ideas and it was his suggestion that we find a Christmas dinner at a major hotel. The 31st floor of the Hilton for Christmas Eve dinner fit the bill. (Keep in mind,  December 25th is a normal work day here. So there were no activities on Christmas Day.) The view was stunning and the four course, 3 hour long meal was delicious.

Decorations at Bodrum fish restaurant

I was supposed to work on Christmas Day but thanks to one of our British teachers who had the nerve to ask if all the native speakers (I'm one of those..) we were granted a "day off." Of course, our Turkish counter parts had to cover our classes so treats and many thanks were in order, but I was so grateful to NOT be working. I'm not sure my emotions could have survived working on Christmas Day.

Festive red and green cheese plate

Sightseeing to Pergammon and Bergama, the site of one of the seven original churches of the ancient world and a magnificent well-preserved Roman City were our "presents" for the 25th. We ended the tour of historical sites at one of our favorite restaurants in Bostanli,  called Paprica, where the owner remembered it was Christmas and treated to a lovely appetizer with a candle to make it festive.

On Friday afternoon, the English department hosted the High School New Year's Party. My 9th graders sang and passed out 240 candy canes that Ellen had brought from the USA. Both the singing and the candy canes were big hits.

Konak New Year's Lights

Last night's outing to Konak brought the surprise of beautiful New Year's Lights illuminating the path along the Aegean Sea and the Clock Tower Square. It was spectacular.

Ali and Ellen in front of the Virgin Mary's House

Today's trip to Ephesus followed by a visit to the Virgin Mary's House which was decorated in olive greens, poinsettias, and an elaborate nativity scene was also "Christmas" festive. In case you're wondering, the Virgin Mary's House is supposedly the place where she spent the end of her life. It may or may not be true, but the fact remains that the three of us felt a peacefulness and presence there.

Tonight  as I dropped Ellen and her friend off at the mall and could only find a parking place 2 blocks away, I was reminded of the frantic last hours of Christmas shopping. Not all, but many people in Izmir exchange gifts on New Year Day and, because Monday is a work day, that leaves this weekend for shopping. Life-sized singing toy Santas with their hips shaking and their bellies jiggling were greeting shoppers at numerous store fronts. Toy stores were filled to the brim with games, stuffed animals, and candy. Grocery shoppers were greeted with bins filled with lacy red panties, rows of Lindt chocolate and an Absolute Vodka display promising a free pink, blown glass, music box Christmas tree for purchases of extra large holiday cheer.

There are a couple of things I don't understand about Christmas in Turkey:
1) Santa - they have displays but I don't think the kids write letters, hang stockings, or understand the difference between naughty and nice. They can however buy little Santa suits and dress up like Santa....kind of like a Halloween costume.

Hotel Lobby in Bodrum

 2) Christmas trees - They have them everywhere and they call them "Christmas trees" but I don't think they associate Christmas with Christ...although they do believe Jesus was a prophet like Mohammed...just not the last or most important prophet.
3) Their love of Christmas music, secular and religious. Michael Bubble's Christmas album (Thank God they have good taste) has been playing in the hallway of our school every day for the past two weeks.

4) Wrapping Paper or Gift boxes - or the lack thereof..I cant' find any anywhere...

So as I sit here reflecting on the past week of Christmas, sure I had to work 4 out of 5 days. Yes, I miss my family terribly. No, it's not the same as Christmas in America. But, yes, I can say I survived, with most emotions in tact and with the balance on the scale tipping towards the positive.

Christmas Breakfast

Finding Christmas Spirit

Volumes have been written about  the excited-for Christmas expectations not meeting the reality-based Christmas actualities. So far this year is a poster year for anticipated vs. actual including, but not limited to, travel-preventing snowboarding accidents and travel-delaying absence of airplanes. Add to those problems the idea of working in a country that does not celebrate the Christmas I've grown up with or honor the traditional one-week "holiday" between Christmas and New Years and it takes some extra effort to stay "jolly."

I've been trying to keep my spirits up including exercise, eating well, getting plenty of sleep, and looking for  Christmas cheer in different places. Someday it's hard to find but today it showed up in a very unexpected place...my 9th grade class. Here's the background...

About two weeks ago our department head informed us that the English department plans a New Year's party for all the high school students. This includes some songs and games, Santa Claus, a Christmas tree (yep, they call it that), and gifts... I'm not sure about food. Anyway, I volunteered to get a group of students together to sing a song (easy and appropriate considering my experience in the States..) Anyway, I  thought I could teach the 12 Days of Christmas and we could even use the song for an English lesson where students could write their own modern version....But, then I got nervous..I've been teaching young students and I wasn't sure if the older ones would want to stand on the stage, wave silly posters around, and...even more importantly...sing.. We'd had a "run-though" in class and it went OK. Most everyone either sang or pretended to sing. And, like most students, they seemed pretty willing (eager is more like it) to take a class period, head to the performance hall and practice.

Upon arrival on the stage -  my first time there - we were greeted with not one, not two, but probably 9 live microphones. Once I saw the students fighting to be "live" and be "heard", I knew there would be no problem. Most of them are "hams" (interesting pun that popped into my head) O I knew there would be no problem.

I would also thrilled to see a real piano! I had planned on accapello but the sight of a piano was another Christmas present. Thank goodness playing the 12 Days of Christmas is like riding a bicycle. Practice is not necessary. Anyway,  I gave a loud, peppy introduction and the students launched into the song. They were amazing...their loud, joyful, silly, English-with-Turkish-accent voices filled the concert hall...and they gave so much "spirit" and "joy" to a tradition that is not even part of their "culture" that I almost forgot where I was. We had a blast and I was filled with Christmas spirit.

By the way, these students also wrote some great lyrics with their friends. One of the funniest, albeit inappropriate, was the group who wrote On the ....day of Christmas my principal gave to me...and then they listed all the things they can't have at school including: shots of tequila  make-up, painted nails, short skirts, and no homework.

Man on the Ferry

Making myself visible to automobiles by wearing a bright yellow reflective bicycle jacket has its pros and cons. For the positive I think drivers see me better than when I'm dressed all in black. On the flip side, the strangeness of a female dressed in neon yellow and carrying a mountain bike onto the ferry empowers total strangers to strike up a conversation.
Today I met a gentleman probably age or older. He asked me a question about my bike in Turkish and when I replied in Turkish that I don't understand he was not discouraged. He smiled, shortened his sentences, spoke more slowly, and kept at it, trying to converse with a yabanci (foreigner). The conversation was so pleasant. It's common for the Turkish to ask"how much?" "Where did you buy it?" "where are you from,"etc. So, I'm honest and don't bat an eye even though we don't generally talk so freely about money. I'm frustrated with myself because my vocabulary is so lacking. But we managed.

As the ferry pulled away from the port, he pulled out his cell phone and called his daughter in Istanbul. I was eavesdropping (my listening far exceeds my speaking) and I'm pretty sure the conversation went something like this:
"Hi honey. How are you? how's it going? I've met an American. I thought you might like to talk to her."

"Hi dad, I'm fine. What am I supposed to say to her?"

"Well, you could say 'hello.' "

(he passed the phone to me)

So we said hello. And it actually turned out quite well. She lived in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York so her English is quite good. I told her she has a very nice, friendly dad. She agreed that he's never met a stranger (I hope my kids are reading this...Im pretty normal ) Anyway, I've got a name and phone number for a new fried in Istanbul, and I'm once again reminded of the joy in making personal, human connections wherever I am.

The neon yellow attention grabber.