cultural bridge.

Eskisehir is the only place in the world where you can find meerschaum - a white rock which is used to make all kinds of figures. So few weeks a go I took part in a meerschaum work shop. At first meerschaum masters showed us how they work and than we had a chance to make something for our selves. I mad a little horse of course :)
It was a very interesting experience, because I miss having to think creatively, now I had mu chance.

But the weirdest thing was, that there was an exhibition with erasmus student work and it was made so official that we were very surprised, but it is nice of course to see our hand made things in an exhibition. :) 

Children

Few days a go I went to my favorite bakery for some breakfast and I had to pass a school on my way to bakery. So While I was passing the playground some boys threw a ball over the fence and because I was the only person on the road they started to ask me something in Turkish. I answered that I don't speak Turkish (in English), so they got really excited, they started saying some words in English, like- ball, give, please and so on. I gave them back their ball and they said- thank you, have a nice day!
This little situation made my day, they were so happy to get to speak English, they were smiling a lot and it made me really excited too.

Bilecik.

Two weeks ago I started to teach English speaking to Turkish students in Bilecik. Every Saturday I am going to that little town and spending 5 hours with A2 and B1 group English language students. At first it was very scary because I don't speak Turkish and their English level is quite low, but than when I met them I understood that this job will bring me a lot of joy. I like working with people and I love English language so I look forward to Saturdays. I told them about Latvia, introduced my self and they looked very interested where I come from and who am I.
Last Saturday we were talking about Ramadan. We read some information about Ramadan, they told me their experience- how they celebrated the end of fasting with their families and what does Ramadan mean to them. I am a christian so hearing all thous things was very interesting to me. This Sunday in the Christian world it was Ester, so I told them about it and we had a discussion about different kind of traditions and beliefs.

Bilecik by the way is a very nice little city, I love it! Its full of nature and kind of country people, it is really great! I went to the click tower that was built in Ottoman time, by the way- Bilecik is the city where Ottoman empire was born.

Yunus Emre - The path from God to his people.

There is not a lot of knowledge about the life of Yunus Emre, still a lot of questions have not been answered, but one thing I can defiantly say - my research showed me that he is a very much loved and cherished poet and Sufi mystic among the Turkish people.
Turkey is a place where religion takes a very important role in every day life. It is a spiritual place where you can feel the presence of extremely deep traditions and respect of Muslim lifestyle even if nowadays not every body actually practice religion. Because of that it wasn't surprising to find that Yunus Emre is still a big influence on Turkish literature.
As historians say Yunus Emre was born around the year of 1238. in Sakarya Valley. Saryköy, now called the village of Yunu Emre in the town of Mihalliççik, Eskisehir. From my point of view one of the biggest contributions to Turkish culture was that he actually spoke with people in a language they understood. We can see some examples in European culture that prove the importance of speaking to simple people in language that they can understand, for example - when a priest in a christian church started to teach the word of God in the native language of local people the history changed- Bible was translated, people started to understand what they are thaught, they started to think themselves not only obey. Before that the sermon was held in Latin and that created a distance between God and his people.
Yunus Emre was a contemporary of Rumi, who composed his stories and songs for well educated people in the literary language of Persian, of course there is no need to say, that the simple people could not understand or even be able to hear this kind of poetry. But Yunus Emre traveled and taught among the poor, singing his songs in the Turkish language of the common people. That made it possible for the simple people to go into the philosophy of the great poet.

From reading his poetry, unfortunately I can do it only in English and that means that it is just an interpretation of his work, I got a feeling that it really is for people, he doesn't put him self on a pedestal, he is one of those philosophers who supports the idea of educating people of leveling everybody the same. And he brings God to people in a way that they can relate to him, he teaches to be humane, he is trying to make the world a better place.

Knowledge should mean a full grasp of knowledge

Knowledge means to know yourself, heart and soul.

If you have failed to understand yourself,

Then all of your reading has missed its call.

What is the purpose of reading those books?

So that Man can know the All-Powerful.

If you have read, but failed to understand yourself,

Then your efforts are just a barren toil.

Don't boast of reading, mastering science

Or of all your prayers and obeisance.

If you don't identify Man as God,

All your learning is of no use at all.

The true meaning of the four holy books

Is found in the alphabet's first letter.

You talk about the first letter, preacher;

What is the meaning of that - could you tell?

Yunus Emre says to you, Pharisee,

Make the holy pilgrimage if need be

A hundred times -- but if you ask me,

A visit to the heart is best of all.

The little shop a cross the street.

I have been in Turkey for more than a month now and all the time I go to the shop a cross the street for some bread or some chocolate. The owners of the shop are two man who also breed pigeons. One of them is an old men, but the other one is middle aged. The thing is that from the day one I know they don't speak English, actually a lot of Turks don't and of course I do not speak Turkish, so we always communicated with a lot of pointing, waving and smiling until one day.. I went inside the shop and saw that this time the middle aged man is behind the counter, I took some sweets and gave him some money and before going out he showed me some cards that have English writing on them, that was his way of telling me that he is trying to learn some English. Meanwhile I had been studying some Turkish, I have my on line Turkish courses and it is really not a good way how to learn a language, but at least I am starting to understand some very basic things. So next time when I went in to the shop I said - Merhaba! I took my stuff, gave him some money and said -Teşekkür ederim! And you know what he said to me? He said - Here you are! I was so surprised that I smiled while climbing the stairs to my flat.
Interesting - I was using Turkish words, he said some in English- we changed places. And I am eager to learn some more Turkish, so I can show him my respect by speaking to him in his language while I am in his country.

When I first came to Turkey I had no idea what to expect. Well that is not true, I thougt I knew what to expect, but I was wrong on so many levels. My biggest mistake was believing in stereotypes. I knew only that much about this country what I can find out from tourism commercials and wrong judgments from people around me.

I have been in Turkey for a month now and I know, this is not an Arabic land, all Turks are not Muslims, there are no camels running around, it isn't very hot here all year around, people are not trying to steal something from me all the time, it is safe and very much Europian country.

Communication is a game, it is creative act. I am not supposed to be safe, in order to communicate I should overcome the distance and let other people closer. That is what the last lesson of Cultural diversity and communication made me think about, so-  What would I be willing to give up about myself in order to achieve a valuable connection between me and other people? What is the price? I am an erasmus student in a foreign country. I have been given the chance to live for a while in a multicultural group of people, so let's see, what will I give up and what will I gain.