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Rotary District 6110 Youth Exchange

Sam
Eureka Springs, AR to Turkey

	Nickname	Sam

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Date	Travelogue Entry
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 2:38 PM Uludag	Hey everybody, Ok, I am just going to skip over the part where I make excuses for not writing in so long. First of all because I don't have one. Second, it saves me a lot of time when I don't have to think of one. Anyways, I hope that everyone is enjoying the warmth of spring. It has probably been the longest winter of my life, and I am more than glad to leave it behind. Things seem to be passing by my eyes so fast now. I look back on it all and say to myself, "Was that for real?" I can't believe that I have actually been living here for over 7 months. It seems surreal, like it was all part of a big dream. Well, sometimes it was more like a nightmare. I know that there was a long period of time where I seriously regretted going into this. But now that I have gotten through it I can look back on it and honestly say that I wouldn't have traded it for the world. The time that I have spent here has taught me much about the world and the people within it. I have seen what the rest of the world is like outside of the bubble that America has built around itself, and I must say, I am now very greatful for being born in such a prosperous country filled with so many oppurtunities. However, I am still going to miss this remarkable country when I leave. The idea of my returning is undoubtedly one of bittersweetness. Well, I just wanted to send a letter to let everybody know I am still alive and well over here. I hope all of you are enjoying the remainder of your year, and the birth of a new spring. Peace and love, Sam
2/6/04	It was nearing the end of January, and besides the measley snowfall at the end of December, the weather had been pretty boring. My family and friends were sending me emails about the awesome amounts of snow they had been having in good ol' Arkansas and giving me estimates on the number of days they would be missing in school. I WAS SO JEALOUS!!! Well, apparently somebody heard my desperate call for unpredictable weather, because only two weeks ago, Istanbul experienced it's greatest snowstorm in over 20 years. Rolling blackouts sweeped through the city and cars that had been trapped within the storm were left helplessly on the roads until the storm cleared out. For two days I was stuck in my house, wishing that I hadn't wished for such weather. Our bustour, that I had been eagerly waiting for months to start, had been postponed from the 24th to the 26th. The 26th came slower than I thought possible, and with it came warmer weather. We departed from Istanbul early that morning with both our new exchange student from Austrailia and the whole Rotary crew from the Ankara district, which made the bus a little more crowded than I had hoped, but much more entertaining as well. Despite the early hour, everybody was in good spirits (except for when our busdriver managed to get a rock the size of a basketball stuck in between the back right wheels). Our first stop was Pamukkale (Cotton Castle) where we viewed an ancient Roman theater (one of many) and walked in barefoot down a trail of hotsprings water. At first sight it looks as though the mountains are covered with a thin sheet of cotton all over, but when you get close enough to taste it, you realize that it's actually covered in salt deposites, which isn't as good as I had hoped. After Pamukkkale, we continued down south to Antalya, where we stayed two nights in miserable weather. I honestly can't remember what we did in Antalya, because I was so angry about the weather the whole time. Following Antalya, we traveled west on the border of the Aegean Sea until we reached a small, Greek-like town named Kaº (Kash), where the streets were lined with palm and citrous-fruit trees. From our hotel, we could also see an island in the distance that we were told was actually Greek. That night we all hung out by the beach and watched the sunset paint the sky into a whirlwind of colors. I guess I need to start summing this thing up, so I will end with Bodrum, which was by far my favorite of all the places we visited. It was a small picturesque town located on the far southwestern tip of Turkey. On first glance, anybody would think that the town is actually Greek, due to its white painted buildings with royal blue trimming and it's pebble beaches. In the middle of the town lies an ancient castle built by the Ottoman Empire at the peak of their power. It is an intricate maze of gardens and pathways that one could easily find themselves lost in. There are five towers located in different areas of the castle that were built by different nations at different times -British, Spanish, German, Italian, and French. My favorite was the Spanish, but that's just my opinion. Anyways, we all made it back safely and each of us had a wonderful time, except for tourguide. That about somes it up for now though, so I will hope to hear from all of you soon. Godspeed, Sam Dudley
1/10/04	Last weekend I went to visit the tomb of the mysitical Mevlana Rumi, who is now buried in the city of Konya. Rumi was born on the 30th of September, 1207. Once an achieved scholar in the studies of religous and positive sciences, Rumi had followed closely in his father's footsteps. Then, one day, while Rumi was giving a lecture to one of his many classes, a dervish by the name of Shamsuddin wandered into his classroom, and from that point on, his life changed. Shamsuddin showed Rumi the path of the dervish and taught him the teachings that would soon form into Sufism. When Shamsuddin died, Rumi grieved deeply for his teacher. He expressed this grieving through poetry and stories. Rumi was reunited with God on December 17th, 1273. I vistied the tomb with a Rotarian friend of mine and his host family. We stayed there from Thursday night until Sunday night at his hostmom's uncle's house. (Don't ask me!) They were really cool people and always made sure that we ate more than we wanted to, or was physically possible. They also had a hamam which was awesome. It is basically a huge steam room that you go in and poor buckets of hot water on yourself for hours. If you ever get the chance, don't hesitate. Besides that, I guess I am just glad to say that I got through the holiday season without too many suicide attempts! It was hard, but now that it's over it's all uphill from here. Or is it downhill? I always forget. Peace, Sam
12/18/03	I guess all of you already have the Christmas lights lit up, the trees decorated with presents, and got your Kenny G. Christmas classics blaring full blast. Haha! Over here in Turkey everything is actually fairly similar, though the things that are pretty noticable. For instance my host mom decorated the "Christmas Tree" last night. It would have seemed just like home, if it hadn't been for the fact that it was simply a house plant with lights and bells on it. It was pretty cool all the same. We also had our first snow last night. It is still snowing right now, but obviously not enough to cancel school for the day. The sad part about seeing all the snow though is that, even if it does snow enough to cancel school, I won't be able to go sledding or do any other of those fun things I did back home. (Unless I want to sled right into a 4 lane highway and get hit by a bus, but I think I'll pass.) We are going to have a Christmas party at my school tomorrow, which I am excited about (kind of). We did a raffle to pick who would buy a present for who, like back in elementary school. After Friday we are having a 2 week vacation, which most of the other Rotary kids won't have the pleasure of getting. Hehehe!!! Also, on Christmas day (one week from today) there is going to be a Christmas party for all of us Rotary kids. I'm not sure if we are suppost to buy presents are not, but I don't think so, considering how cheap all of us Rotary kids are. Well, if you didn't already know, today is my birthday. I am not spending it in my usual fashion this year. I think my parents are going to bake me a cake tonight and all that good stuff. Along with the packet that I got from my parents yesterday, this isn't turning out to be too bad of a birthday after all. (By the way, Dad, you sent me two right handed gloves. :-)) Along with my two right handed gloves, my parents also sent me a bunch of newspaper clippings from Eureka. They were mainly about the basketball team and such. I gotta say I'm pretty impressed. My basketball team here won a tournament a few weeks ago in which we brought back MEF's first basketball trophy ever. Pretty exciting, though I miss the popularity of basketball back in the States. Anyways, I gotta get going now. I wish everyone back home a happy holiday season. And remember, this time of year is more about opening your hearts than opening your wallets. Peace, Sam
11/27/03	So I guess all of you are eating your beautifully well prepared Thanksgiving meal right now, and afterwards will be watching the NFL game while relaxing on the sofa. Hmmmm.......ok, so I'm a little angry and jealous, but that's ok. My school break was actually longer than yours so there! Right now I'm on a week long break for Bayram, a Turkish holiday. There's two of them every year, next one is in March. Hehehe. So, I guess I will just say, I wish you all an awesome holiday season in Arkansas, or whereever you might be. Thanksgiving has been hard, can't imagine what Christmas is going to be like. Oh well, after that, I get all the cool holidays. Hehehe. Once again, happy holidays to everyone. Hope they are well spent. Love, Sam
Seeing it with your own eyes Monday, November 24, 2003 10:18 AM	Yesterday afternoon, I managed to muster up enough courage to pay a visit to two of the buildings that were bombed during last Thursday's terroristic attack. Being so obviously foreign, I had many doubts how my presence would be looked upon by the natives. Before even seeing the buildings you could sense the changes of the atmosphere. I even found myself becoming a little uneasy as we approached the site. Of course, not only the people had changed, but even the usual route to get to the buildings had been changed drastically. We did not come within a half-mile of the buildings, which usually, you would pass right by. When I realized this, I asked the bus driver to go ahead and drop me off on a side road about a half-mile out, which seemed to be the closest spot I could possibably get. I started walking towards the sight and began noticing the differences immediately (I had been to this place before). There was a man on the side of the street selling 6x4 foot Turkish flags, and everywhere you turned to look, there was some form of security personel present. The main difference I noticed however, was the feeling of my own presence. I didn't feel any physical danger due to the massive amount of security, but I felt like a house dog that had been taken for a walk through the dog pound. I shouldn't have been there. When I finally got into good viewing distance of the buildings, I cautiously pulled out my video camera. I tried to keep as low of a profile as possible, and was speaking in the quietest voice I could, without being completely inaudible. The buildings themselves had been tidied up quite a bit since the attack,though there was still shattered glass and stains of blood on the street. The sideshops had undergone much more damage than the buildings. At least a dozen small shops had been nearly demolished by the impact of the blast. The owners (I suspect they were the owners) were outside cleaning up their area of the street with a seemingly glazed and unaware look in their eyes, as if they still hadn't registered what had actually taken place that day. I managed to get a few minutes of footage and a few pictures before I was asked to leave by security. On my way out, a Turkish kid about my age yelled something at me in which you didn't have to know the language to understand. Simply put, my presence was unwanted. For that is what terror is designed to do to people. It is designed to strike fear and hatred within their hearts towards anything that is outside of their own daily lives. I realised at that moment, that it shouldn't be the act of terrorism itself that we fear the most, which only lasts for a single fleeting moment. But that mostly, we should fear the effects that it creates afterwards, which can last forever. ---Sam
Terror strikes Istanbul Thursday, November 20, 2003 4:29 AM	I'm now writing to all of you from my school, where about 1 hour ealier I witnessed a series of bombs that were detenated in the areas of Taksim, Goztepe, and Levent. Apparently these 4 bombs were the work of a highly organized terror group. As you all know by now, last Saturday two bombs were detenated in the areas of Sisli and Beyoglu, killing 20 people and injuring over 300. So far, only 3 deaths have been confirmed but surely there are more considering the population density of the areas they hit, which included a major banking firm, and a popular shopping mall, which I myself visited no more than a month ago. Reporters say that the damage done is more so than the last terror strike and that the death toll will surely be higher. OH SHIT!!!! Two more bombs just went off! It seems as though Istanbul, a city free of terrorism for over two decades is becoming a war zone for terror. Sirens are sounding everywhere and it appears as though the whole city is in a state of panic. The scary part is that its happening right outside my window. You can see the explosions rise up as clouds of dust, hovering over the city as a symbol of pure pandamonium. They told all the elementary kids that the bombs were a result of subway construction for the newly developing metro system. Why they said this, I don't know, eventually they will find out, what good is it in lieing to them. The call to prayer just began, which mingled in with the sounds of helicopters and police sirens, is creating a ghastly effect. I want all of you to know, however, that I am okay. As scary as it seems, I am still safe and sound. I don't know what is going to happen to my year abroad here after these events. I think that scares me more than the bombs themselves, as selfish as that might seem. I simply don't want my year, and all the other exchange students' time here to be cut short under such conditions. It is a scary time for all of us, but we are all hoping that this won't bring about an unexpected end to our once-in-a-lifetime oppurtunity. Another bomb just went off! You can hear them as faint bursts, like someone slamming their fist on a wooden table. In a city off millions, it is easy for the terroists to move about like ghosts, invisible to the ordinary eye. I have to go now, but honestly, I'm safe. Peace and love, Sam
What a strange funny world Wednesday, November 05, 2003 3:24 AM	Hello out there, Just got done reading all the updates from kids in my district and must say that as different as all of our experiences are, we seem to all be having very similar feelings and emotions. It's nice to know that you're not alone, when you catch yourself not appreciating all the splendor of your new environment. Anywayssssssss........... I just got back from my first Rotary weeklong bus tour which took us to the magnificient Black Sea (Kara Deniz) region. It was awesome to get to see all the other Rotary kids again, seeing that I was unable to attend the last two get-togethers in Taksim. (Though, one of the girls from our group had already packed up and gone back home. Decisions decisions.) Our tour included the cities and towns of Trabzon, Samsun, Ankara (where I met up with Özhan), Cappodocia, and Amasya. All of them possessed a unique style of beauty which cannot be described with words or seen with pictures. The history of these places was almost too much to take in at times. My favorite thing that we did, was visiting the city (near Trabzon) that was built into the side of a mountain thousands of years ago. You climb up about 1000 feet on an ancient winding trail until you finally look through the trees and the heavy fog to see this beautifully designed monastery buried into the face of a mountain. It would have been breath taking if it weren't for the fact that I was completely exhausted from the hike. I had a fun time with Özhan in Ankara, it was great to see him again. He got his haircut by the way, so he doesn't look like a Turkish Jimi Hendrix anymore. The weather was miserable however, so we spent the whole time looking for a place to sit and drink some tea. It took us a few hours, in which we preceded to get drenched and nearly frostbitten. But when we finally warmed up and dried off we had a good time just talking about politics, sports, and life back in Arkansas. The world grows smaller everyday here. He told me that he will try and come to Istanbul in the near future. He wants to take me to some music clubs that he knows. The last stop on our visit was Cappidocia (Kapýdokia), where we spent 2 crampacked days of doing nothing but tourist (pardon my French) shit. It was probably the most breathtaking place of all, yet would have been a lot more enjoyable had we had a little more relaxing schedule. I can't really describe the geography very well. Basically this whole area consisted of soft, jagged rocks that ancient civilizations carved houses into, forming whole villiages. It was amazing to think of the amount of time and struggle it must have taken these people to build these places. But because of the lack of lumber, I suppose it was the most logical form for shelter. We were allowed to go inside all the houses and buildings (don't know what else to call them) that we wanted, which was really interesting because of the way their interiors were arranged. I don't think there was a single ceiling more than 6 feet in heigth, so my head was a little sore, and my neck a little cramped. It was definetly worth it though. Anywayssssss.......I'm glad to be back in good ol' Ýstanbul, it was good to see my family again. And my grandma just moved in with us, which is nice becuase she is usually always home. It sounds like everyone is having a good as time as I am which is nice to hear. Peace and love to all, Sam "Never presume The boy shining shoes May know more truth Than the man in the suit" -Sam 2003 P.S. I just started reading a book on Sufism. Look into it if you are interested in religion.
BandXrma! Thursday, October 16, 2003 9:28 AM	Merhaba, hoþ geldiniz! Well, how is everything going for everybody? I hope that you all are having a great time and truly experiencing a new life in your new culture. I have received a few emails from some of you and actually enjoy reading them. Its cool to hear how each of you are adapting to your country. Anyways, I have been having a unique time myself hear in Turkey. I have finally gotten used to the simple fact that my school "along with many other things" here make no real logical sense. (For instance, the fact that all the light switches in Turkey are outside of the room, and the fact that every single electrical outlet is in a nearly inaccessible location). My school as you might have read in my last letter, is an International school, and therefore has kids from all over the country attending there. Because of this, you would think that my school would offer some pretty decent Turkish classes for kids that are new to the language. Logical right? Well, they don't. As a matter of fact they offer no Turkish classes for beginners. Me and my other Rotary friends had to arrange special times with a most generous teacher for a measley 4 hours per week. I guess that's ok however, I'll stop whining now. Anyways, on the brighter side of things, this last weekend I went to Bandýrma to go and see a friend of myn, Sinan, that I met at a concert. I was there from Fri-Mon. I have to say it was nice to get away from this crazy city life for a little while. I never thought I would want to leave Istanbul, but once I did, I found it pretty relaxing. Bandýrma is a fairly small town in terms of size, but actually has a population of about 50,000 people. (Reminded me a lot of Fayetteville) This was pretty hard to believe when I saw the size of the city. Its simply because in Turkey everyone lives in a 4-10 story apartment building, which gives it a much larger 3rd dimension for living space. The downtown district in Bandýrma was excellent to say the least. It consisted of small shops and outside restaurants that served traditional Turkish food and snacks all day and all night. The people there were almost too friendly and all seemed very curious about me, unlike Istanbul. Everyone asked where I was from and what my impressions of Turkey are so far. I always answered with "Çok güzel!" (Very beautiful). Sinan introduced me to all of his friends and they all treated me with what I like to call Turkish hospitality. I swear its impossible to pay for your own meal here. Not one of them had very good English so it was a good time for all of us to practice up on our language skills. On Monday, Sinan invited me to go to his school with him, because he had two hours of basketball that day. I had a pretty good time, except for the fact that it was impossible to get anywhere without 20 people grabbing me and asking me to come to their next class. It was pretty flattering. All in all, I had a great time, and definetly plan to go back and visit again soon. I hope all of you are enjoying the same type of hospitality and culture shock as I am. Keep in touch, Sam
A few adventures! Wednesday, October 08, 2003 11:30 AM	Well class, today we are going to learn "How to get lost in a huge city where no one knows English". Yep, and I passed with flying colors. Today I missed school to go try and find a place to take Turkish lessons. I found one on the internet the night before that was located somewhere in Taksim, the largest and most popular place in the whole city. I know the area, but apparently not as well as I thought. So my Dad drops me off at the main bus station and I proceed to just go and have a look around at first. I walked all the way down the street, which is about 1.5 miles, and realized that I couldn't even find the street that it was on. I walked all the way back up the street, and asked a policeman in my watered down Turkish if he knew where this place was. He described to me that I should go all the way back down the street for about a mile to the Galatasaray Liseti. Suprisingly I knew what he was talking about, but was thinking how I could have missed an entire street. So I go back down the road, searching for this one simple street. I get down the place where the cop told me to go and once again found myself completely lost. Once again I walk back up the street and ask the same cop again for directions. I could tell he was a little frustrated trying to explain to me, but I just acted like a dumb foreigner, the cure for any miscommunication problems. He told me once again to go down the street and stop at the same place. By this point I myself was getting pretty frustrated in the situation, but decided I would try it just one more time. Big mistake. I didn't find jack! So I walk back up to where I first started so frustrated I wanted to scream "DOES ANYBODY KNOW ENGLISH!" I think this was the first time I really wished I had gone to school. Well, apparently, someone could read my mind, because just when I was about to give up all together, a kid, about 25 years old, asks me if I am lost in perfect English! I showed him the directions and he described to me exactly how to get there, which turned out to be the completely opposite direction I had gone. I thanked him many times and finally found what I was looking for. So what is the moral of this story kids? "If at first you don't succeed, give up and look as lost as possible." Love, Sam

Terror Strikes - 1	Terror Strikes - 2
Terror Strikes - 3	Terror Strikes - 4