Adventure is waiting...travelling around Türkiye for 3 weeks

My work {teaching} has finished three days ago and I have already been missing children. Today I went to school to say good bye and received so many kisses from them as they did every day in school to greet us. I will miss those smiling small faces, their kissing, calling my name... anyway, something new will start.

I haven't published much news on my blog sofar and unfortunately it won't be better {I promise I am going to publish everything when I came back to the Czech Republic}.

Today {actually in 6 hours} I am going to leave Izmir for 3 weeks "adventure". Of course not alone, with another brave girl:o], Lucka, my friend from Prague, who just came to Türkiye because of this travelling. Imagine: 3 weeks, two girls, one tent, only one bottle of becherovka :o[, maybe hitchhiking - depends on travelling expenses. Our plan is following: 5.9. - Fethiye, 7.9. - Antalya, 11.9. - Konya, 12.9. - Gazi Antep, 14.9. - Trabzon {Rize}, 18.9. - Istanbul, 24.9. - Çanakkale and 25.9. back in Izmir. On 26th September you can meet me in Prague again and this is the real end of my traineeship:O[[[.

... a reason for thinking ...

Every Tuesday there is a trainee presentation in AIESEC office. Afterthat the hard core (all trainees and some of AIESECers) go to sit and have a chat on the grass on a bench of the sea. There are a lot of street sellers shouting, going around and trying to sell their staff – quite obvious for Izmir. But this Tuesday was somehow different. One of street sellers who came to our group was small girl offering us a package of chewing gum for 1 YTL (app. CZK 15 or 0,5 euro). The real price that you can bye it in the shop is 0,25 YLT.

She even was able to say the price in English. We start joking with her. It didn´t discourage her from continuing selling. The girl started talking with the only Turkish guy (Onur) who was at that time (11 pm) with us. We find out her name (actually firstly she told us fictitious name, later she confessed her real one), her age – only ten years old, the occupation of her father (a waiter) and mother (house wife). Of course several of us bought those chewing gums from her and she even sang a song for us and we took pictures with her. Smiling happy small girl. Then a trainee from China (Cassy) started playing with her.


To see a small child selling something on a coast during night is not sporadic case. When I imagine that my nieces (the same age as this girl) can devote their hobbies, can do almost everything they want, needn´t to work (except helping with household work), needn´t to go out during evening and sell something to earn money for their family…. a lot of questions comes to my mind. What´s wrong that this girl has to work like that? Can we somehow help such kind of children? If yes, how?!? – by buying a stuff from them? Is it enough, maximum we can do? Maybe play with them, spend some time together? Too many questions without correct or wrong answers….and the memory still in my mind

Pamukkale

Small town situated in the Aegean region app. three hours way by car to the south-east from Izmir.I went there for Sunday trip (13. 8.) with my colleague from work, Onur, and other trainees: Anna from Austria, Christina from Greece and Dima from Russia.


First experience: as regards entrance fee foreign students are treated differently than Turkish ones that can enter for free. Anyway this small handicap didn´t discourage us. The average age of our group was 22 years but as you can noticed from pictures we behaved like small children playing in 30 centimetres deep swimming pools.




For “experts” in history the town used to be called Hierapolis. It was established during the second century BC by “Pergam” king, Eumen II.


The town is especially known for its therapeutical hot spring and travertine terraces. You can find there terraces of various shapes as a water-lily, shell or look like rice terrace on oriental engravings. According to this appearance Turkish called this place Pamukkale which means “Cotton castle”. Not every place are available for tourist because of protecting this beauty (if they are, you have to go there without shoes) but you can also visit the local thermal swimming pool.




Nowadays springs rise from the place where the centre of Hierapolis was situated. Still you can find ruins of this Roman city commemorating his previos glory and visited museum.

Kapadokiya tour

Kapadokya tour (21. – 23. 7.)

Three days trip organized by AIESEC Ankara. The world is so small. I met Jarda from AIESEC Praha there, who was as a CEED in AIESEC Istambul. First possibility to use Czech language after fortnight:D Sometimes I had a problem to remember words in Czech.



First day (Friday) we spent in the capital, Ankara, situated in the central Anatolia. It became the capital of the new Republic of Turkey in 1923, mainly because of its strategic position and its important role in the War of Liberation, when Atatürk chose it as a military base. It looks like a new modern city, I didn’t notice almost any old house and everywhere some construction sites.



We visited Anitkabir – Atatürk’s mausoleum there (small notes for those who didn’t pay attention during lessons of hisory as me: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – founder of the Republic of Turkey). I have noticed before that Atatürk was for Turkish nation really important person (is almost impossible not to notice some statue, picture, monument of him on “every corner” in Izmir). Sometimes it seems like an idol. And in Anitkabir it was even much more visible. I was passing around a family with a small boy – he could be app. two years old, almost couldn´t speak but his mother taught him Atatürk’s name. Topic “Atatürk” is really sensitive to discuss with Turkish, they either absolutely adore him or hate him.







After Anitkabir AIESEC tried to educate us in Analolian history by means of visiting The Museum of Anatolian Civilization. I resisted successfully :D, only took several pictures of “stones” (for lovers of history it has to be paradise).





According to the agenda we spent 5 hours in front of a shopping centre in open space having a glogal village. AIESEC was really prepared, I have never seen so many materials about Czech Republic before. The only things that didn't fit were: duration (5 hours) and the stalls situated under the Sun, most of them without shadow. Nevertheless we enjoyed it...





Overnight we stayed in some dormitories. I am really sorry for those students who have to stay there whole year. It looks like barracks for soldiers - 8 metal beds, 8 metal wardrobes - everything in blue. We were supposed to take a shower in another building but unfortunately the water was cut that day. So you can imagine unsatisfied crowd of app. 100 trainees that wanted to wash themselves after whole day spent under the Sun.

On Saturday we set on a journey to Kapadokiya. As a first stop we visited Salt lake - a huge plain and salt everywhere.





Then we stopped for a sight-seeing in one of the underground cities (Kaymaklı, Mazı, Derinkuyu, Tatlarin, Özkonak - I don't remember exactly which one - the names sound all the same for me). Underground cities were used by Christians during 7th century, who were fleeing from persecution. These cities were a complete and self-sufficient environment, including rooms for grain storage, stables, sleeping chambers, kitchens and air shafts. We went through eight underground levels to the deep of several tens metres. In last levels the temperature was quite low with comparison outside and I finally felt cold after such a long time - that's why they probably stayed there only from spring to autumn.







At the end of that day we admired the beauty of sunset in Kapadokiya valley. There are amazing rock formations, in some of them were hollowed chapels, monasteries or just houses for living. That's the place worth seeing again. If I ever come back to Turkey, I will go there to see it one more time.

















On Sunday we started our trip in The Göreme Open-air Museum (a monastic complex of rocks churches and chapels covered with frescoes). Most of them dated back to the period from 10th to 13th century. Those guys really liked digging :o]



Our last stop was Awanos, town especially known for its handcraft - pottery. We visited one manufactory with a demonstration of making pot and even could buy something there. I "fell in love" with one piece of pottery, unfortunately the price was as high as my rent in Prague for one month :d(.









Over night - 8 hours travel from Ankara to Izmir, quick shower in the morning and "enthusiastically" go to work.

Arrival in Izmir

When I was getting on a plane in Prague’s airport [08.07.2006], I immediately noticed an obvious change: most of people traveling with me were darker skin, speaking strange language – it sounded like a swearing [actually still it sounds like a swearing :o]. On the board I started with learning of Turkish language but it didn’t work.

In Istanbul I had to change plane for Izmir. First obstacle: how to get from the international arrival hall to the domestic departure one – no signs anywhere. So let’s ask somebody :D. Lucky girl – learning of sign language in the Czech Republic really came to handy a lot at that moment. I asked “only” three times and then finally found my departure hall.

At the airport there already was waiting an AIESECer [Ekim] to take me to an international house. Nice experience happened to me: I spent my first hours on Izmir airport, no bus stop, no timetables, no one who knew when our bus should have left, sitting on a pavement and waiting for some sign of service bus,…. We were waiting there for almost 3 hours. At 3 a.m. we finally reached the international house in Karşıyaka [that’s one of the parts in Izmir] and were standing in front of the house, ringing the bell and praying that somebody will wake up. Because Ekim hadn’t a key. Yee, after long ringing one of trainees opened the door and invite us inside. My only wishes were to take a shower and sleep. Ups, shower was such a disgusting place I have never seen before [maybe only in movies but this was real] – 15 centimeters deep “swimming pool” for cockroaches and other hardly recognizable objects. Whatever, I gave up shower for that moment. Another surprise, trainees didn’t know about my exact arrival time and Ekim also didn’t know where I should sleep. Thanks God there were several free sofas. Finally sleeping accompanied by cats’ miaul and dreaming about my traineeship :D.