Am here in Bursa, Turkey!

Things have been quite the experience so far! Both good and bad of course. Even though I have gone through the intercultural communications class, some things I can never get used to and the culture shock between Turkey and Japan has been a lot wider than that between Japan and Singapore.

That said, I must say I have begun to appreciate both Japan and Singapore even more despite my constant complaints about the little things. At the same time, I am also very appreciative of the good points that Turkish culture and people have over what Japanese and Singaporean cultures have to offer.

Turkish weather in winter is to say the least, dreadful. Its been raining non-stop here in Bursa. Miserable, wet and gloomy. Thats how i would describe the weather here. I have taken ill, with a cough and a sore throat. Thankfully I have an (overly) caring host family, fussing over me, even though i just requested for an early night, cough mixture and lozenges. -_-'''

I unilaterally decided to take the day off, instead of travelling to goodness know where, 2 schools, where me and my foreign friends will undoubtedly be treated with the warmth of prized fantastical creatures they have only read from story books. Because I am the only Asian guy in the group, it seems Im the most "prized." I have had girls running up to me and proclaiming they like me and they want to take me home. 0_o... Of course i enjoyed by 15 minutes of fame and my Facebook friends probably jumped 30 percent because of the hordes of high schools kids trying to get me on their list, kids I probably wont be able to maintain contact even if i want to because most of them can't speak English and I can't speak Turkish.

Haha! Of course, i don't think its a bad thing. If not I wouldnt be doing it. I realized that so many people in this world are ignorant. Especially myself. To discover the ignorance of people and being their to enlighten them (and in so doing myself), I feel accomplished. As if I have made the immediate world around me a little better. I just hope that my relating own experiences when i go back home will also do the same for those i will come across in my life.

the cocoon that governments weave over to protect their own people are so strong. That of Singapore, of Japan and of Turkey, each utilizing the many political and ideological tools to forge that national consciousness. Everywhere i go and everyone i ask, they only wish to be the nationality they were born with. The Turk wants to be Turk, the Japanese wants to be Japanese and the Singaporean wants to be Singaporean. What do you think this means for international cooperation? To deal with global issues? Just wondering how can we strengthen this avenue of international politics. Because thats why im here isn't? To promote intercultural understanding and global consciousness.

I just hope we will be in time, considering the huge mental barriers i witness here in Turkey. On the one hand Turkish men see us on streets and try to heckle at us, on the other, many stare at us like aliens, while some do smile when I smile back at them. Its going to be a hard task, as I see it.

Hey Peepz!

Its been a while since I put up an entry! So im putting one up now!

I have been really busy of late, rushing my deadlines, completing my examinations and doing up my preparations for my 2 month trip to Turkey, and here I am in the apartment of some Turkish friends in Istanbul!

Was put up here for the night before we will move on to Bursa where I will be going around Turkish high schools telling them about Singapore and Japan, as well as facilitating them with discussions of global village.

Took an Aeroflot flight from Tokyo to Istanbul, transiting in Moscow. The trip was rather pleasant. The food was pretty decent and the inflight entertainment system too. Watched Ratatouille. Funny show! "Anyone can cook!" Such a positive show. On the whole, i still prefer SIA though with its smiling crew and KrisWorld with a wider variety. I must say there were some very pretty Russian stewardesses and people on board. Sake-san was remarking that the young Russian girls seem to jump right out a model magazine.

Moscow's transit airport was a little below expectations for me. I don't know where we docked but we had to get onto a bus transiting through a few minutes of minus 7 degrees temperatures. Sake-san and I tried to take some photos with the aeroplane but were (rather rudely by Japanese standards) asked to get onto the bus by Russian security. Getting through security took a long time because there was only one metal detector for our flight and there were quite a number transiting. Food was exorbitant, as expected of EU countries really. Two sandwiches and 1 drink came up to 15 Euro, or 1780 Yen or 23 SGD. I changed my mind on buying any Russian postcards thereafter... -_-''' And there was no internet access either wireless or computer terminals at the transit area. So Sake and I were rather bored. Luckily we met a Turkish man who spoke Japanese because his wife was Japanese. He spoke Japanese very fluently and he was only in Japan for 8 months! I have been in Japan for 6 and I can barely hear a word exchanged between Sake and him! So embarrassing! I could participate somewhat in the discussion though and I thought it was a pretty interesting conversation. So the transit didn't turn out to be all that bad. =)

Getting to Istanbul meant completing our 18 hour journey from narita. But of course the journey started a lot longer before that. By the time we got to Istanbul it was 0020 local time. Was so glad that Arda and Mune came to pick us up at the airport, provided a much needed sense of security. Then a Brazilian girl, Maria Fernanda joined us shortly and proved to be a crazy burst of Latin American energy to fatigued travellers.

We spent the night at the airport before setting out on the public transport that starts running at 6 in the morning. Traffic is crazy. Much like Japan. Expect more cars. One interesting thing about Turkey is that one of their bus services, the Metrobus has a dedicated bus lane, so it sped through its stops pretty quick and I got to see a good view of sprawling buildings and residences that spread over all the way to top of the rolling hills, and frequently spotted by the two distinctive spires of the many mosques.

Got to the apartment of Arda's friends. The apartment was huge by Japanese standards. Shall try not to stereotype the Turkish people, but the housemates love a few things: playstation, especially winning eleven, soccer, drinking and smoking. They are a relaxed, spontaneous and friendly bunch of people. After waking up in the afternoon trying to get over the jet lag, (Istanbul is GMT +7, singapore is GMT +8 and Tokyo is GMT +9), one of the housemates, Deniz, Maria and me started talking about Turkey and Deniz was so passionate about Turkey. He reminds me of Michi. Michi said he would always want to be Japanese. and Deniz proclaimed he wanted to be nothing other than Turkish. And on the spot, Deniz said if we wanted to go to look around Istanbul, and we did!

we met two more of his friends, Kagen and Rasit and we all had dinner at Taksim, which was the shopping street of Istanbul. 2 million people come here everyday. The Shinjuku of Istanbul. And boy was it crowded! We had a meal at a place called "Barcelona Cafe" and had crepes and cake. It was sooooo filling! The crepes were like chicken meat wrapped up in crispy bread with french fries. Deniz treated me to dessert which turned out to be this HUGE slice of strawberry with chocolate cake!

Then we went to Bosporus Bridge, a popular tourist spot to look at the glittering lights of the Bridge that joins Turkish Europe and Turkish Asia. It felt a little existential to be standing at the point that is said to divide two continents.

Another interesting things about Istanbul, is that the place features the Ataturk, or the Father of the Turks everywhere. He was the founder of the Turkish Republic and was responsible for many modernizing efforts as well as the establishing of a secular Republic amidst the majority Moslem population. Because of him, civil law, rather than the Shariat law was instituted and the Turkish could wear western clothes, smoke and drink alcohol. I would dare say that Turkey is so much more a modern developed religious country than say certain "neighbours" that seem to be trying so hard to put religion into their constitution if they havent already. My Turkish friend seemed a little shocked by the fact that there was an Islamic police force in that country, trained to catch Muslim adherents that drink alcohol or wear anything that reveals the slightest bit of skin.

Other than that, Istanbul is a popular destination spot for tourists. And it is definitely worth a trip if you wish to catch a glimpse of the mystique of middle east in a relatively safe environment. Of course, turkey does have its weakness and social and political issues like the extremist Kurds and their invasion of Turkish Cyprus, but I will need to do more research on them.

All right! Thats all for my report on my first day in Turkey! Hope to do more when I do have the time and internet access!

Take care everyone!

The difference one can make...