An Opportunity Denied

Talas Tidbits

Now that summer is here, life slows down considerably.  At least for the volunteers it does.  So, there may not be much to report until school starts in September.  But, what I do think of or come across, I'll send to you.  Starting with the next email, I'll send some of the photos I took during my first year here.

But, Dad!!!

One of the best English speakers I've met is a university bound girl named Baktigul. She attended the Turkish Lyceum in town and placed 3^rd in the country at the English Olympiad in Bishkek in March. She wanted to attend college in Malaysia, but her father said nyet. Then she asked if she could go to school in Turkey.  Again, dad said jok. When she asked if it would be okay to attend our summer overnight camp for a week to serve as a translator, once again, dad said no. Here's my question. The Lyceum is the best secondary school in Talas. It's also expensive, too expensive for most families. So, if Baktigul's father made the financial sacrifice to make sure his daughter get the best education possible, why is he stifling her further advancement? Baktigul will attend the Turkish university in Bishkek this fall. While it's a good school, I'm sure she could've attended better if dad had been more agreeable.

After I wrote the above paragraph I took a walk to buy some food and I got to thinkin' maybe I was too hard on the old man. Denying his daughter's request for Singapore might have had something to do with distance or finances. It's one thing to come up with high school tuition, quite another for a university in another country. As for the summer camp, that could've been a cultural decision. Maybe he didn't want his beautiful 17 year old daughter in a co-educational environment for a week. (The Lyceum is divided into two campuses, one for each gender, and they are nowhere near each other.) But the Turkey decision baffles me a bit. One of the benefits of attending the Turkish schools around the world (they're in at least 110 countries) is that you can study at a Turkish university for free.

This email revealed my lack of knowledge about Asia, Singapore, in particular. That would change a few years later during my second trip to Turkey where I met two lovely young women from Singapore. We stayed in contact and I spent two days with them as part of my Malaysia holiday several months later. Singapore rivals any expensive city in the world. When I asked the girls about teaching there, they told me to forget it, that I’d have to give up my traveling as the bulk of my salary would go towards my rent. Food was high, too, except for Chinatown. I paid $20 for a medium cheese pizza. (The Singapore $ is equal to the USD.) Now, I can see a very valid reason why Baktygul’s father denied her the opportunity to study in Singapore. Even with free tuition, he likely didn’t possess the wealth to handle living expenses and air travel. Her father was a lawyer, but he wasn’t super wealthy. Nobody is in Kyrgyzstan unless you’re related to or a good friend of the president.

Also in the book, opportunities for girls in Kyrgyzstan. 

The President is Coming to Town

May 24, 2009

Preppin' for the Prez

A countrywide sports competition for teenagers who live in villages is taking place in Talas.  Opening ceremonies were last evening and the games begin today.  All week the word was the president of Kyrgyzstan would be here for the opening.  So, in preparation, many classes at the technical college and the university were canceled for the week so the students could make the stadium sparkle.  And it wasn't only the stadium.  Seems like everybody was out sweeping and picking up litter (a HUGE problem in our city).  Residents whitewashed walls and curbs and miracle of miracles, potholes were filled.  Guess when the mayor thinks the president is coming to town, the money for road repair magically appears.  It's a safe bet that without the sports games, they wouldn't have been.

The city is the cleanest I've ever seen it.  I'm thinking the last time it was this clean was the last time the president was rumored to be visiting. 

The opening ceremonies were pretty cool.  Each of the seven oblasts paraded their athletes past the crowd just like in the Olympics with Talas getting the loudest welcome, naturally.  There were singers and dancers dressed in traditional Kyrgyz costumes.  The few speeches we had to endure were short.  I was glad to see female athletes will be participating in volleyball. (This is such a male dominated culture that I would not have been surprised if there weren't any girls.)  I hope to get out to see some events before Wednesday when the games end.

And the president?  He sent his Minister of Sports instead.  Big letdown.  Really wanted to see him in person.

You’ll notice I haven’t talked much about politics in my emails, mostly because I figured if the Kyrgyz government really was reading them, I’d err on the side of caution. No sense calling the president a callous corrupt jerk, thereby ending my PC service with a comment everybody knew and most agreed with.

In the book I talk about the peoples' attitudes regarding their president and compare it to what I experienced in China.

My New Favorite City

June 21, 2009

Turkey Tidbits

--I was surprised to see women in traditional Muslim attire sitting in the park smoking cigarettes.  I also saw some younger women, traditionally dressed, cuddlin' and smoochin' with their boyfriends/husbands as they sat on park benches.

--Seems like everybody—at least everybody I encountered over the course of two weeks—could converse in English to a certain extent.  Many are fluent.  Now, since I spent most of my time where tourists typically stay, that could be expected.  But, I also walked in non-tourist neighborhoods and talked to shop keepers.  Most of them spoke English, too.  And since there are myriad English language schools in Istanbul, there has to be a desire for the Turks to learn it.  Someone told me his version of why this is.

“Turkey exports goods to many countries.  Clothes, shoes, carpets, food products.  If the sales person has customers in China, France, Russia and Germany, for example, the odds are low that they will be conversant in all those languages.  So, the language they could all have in common is English, the universal language for business.  I was told that many Turkish companies foot the bill for their employees to take lessons.” 

--We ran into 4 volunteers from Kyrgyzstan.  I also saw many young Americans traveling in groups of 3 or 4.  I have a feeling many of them were PC Volunteers from other Central Asian or Eastern European countries.  Turkey is centrally located and easy to visit.  You buy your 90-day, multiple entry visa at the Istanbul airport for $20.  How much easier can it get?

--Turkey is notorious for credit card fraud.  I had to email Citibank with the dates of my stay so they wouldn't automatically close down my debit card.  Many banks, if they don't know you'll be in Turkey, will do just that if they see a transaction from there.  I had to use an ATM twice and because there are Citibanks in Istanbul, I knew I'd have no problems.

--I don't mind growing old.  Honestly, I don't.  But, I don't need to be reminded of it.  Three times I was asked if X was my son.  Excuse me?!

--I never thought I had a universal look, but perhaps I was mistaken.  Three times I was approached by salesmen with “Habla Espanol?”  Two guys asked me if I spoke English.  I was also taken for Australian and Greek.  The best one though, was the guy who stopped his car to ask me for directions.  He asked in Turkish.  

Istanbul. The city on two continents. Something about the European side reminded me of Manhattan. Maybe it was all the yellow cabs, I don’t know, but something about it, the energy, a cosmopolitan atmosphere, well, I simply fell in love. After three days of soaking up as much of the city as I could, the sights, the food and talking to the people, I had found a new post-Peace Corps “top of the list” city. Of course, I knew more research needed to be done, so I did it.

In the book: why Istanbul was a great city to visit, but not where I wanted to teach.