Immersion under the crescent: an exchange experience in Istanbul

By Codi Yeager
Sun contributor
“The city is CRAZY!” wrote Zambak Bayrakcan, aka Lily Springsteen. Her e-mail, dated June 10, was flowing and excited, a rush of words that, piece by piece, created a wonderful, jumbled picture of her Turkish home. For the past year Lily, a resident of nearby Long Lake Township, has lived halfway around the world, in Istanbul, as part of a Rotary Exchange program.
A culture shock unlike any other for an upcoming senior at Glen Lake High School, Lily says her exchange was, “not only U.S. to Turkey, but also small town to metropolitan city. Everything [in Istanbul] is unorganized and unexpected. The streets are in no pattern whatsoever.” Add that to the time, which seems only to exist because of the five Islamic calls to prayer, and a mass of stores, cafes and bazaars, and you have a tumbling, turbulent Eastern capital. “There’s lots of horn honking and yelling; the people are so dramatic, very passionate about everything. They worry about everyone and everything is their problem,” says Lily. “It can be overwhelming, and when I first got here it was unbearable, but I’ve gotten used to it and see now that it is because they care about everyone and want everyone to be happy and comfortable.”

Despite the initial alarm at the commotion, Lily found that she enjoyed the chaos and confusion, and especially liked the bazaars. “In each section of the city on a certain day, starting in the morning, they begin setting up their tables under big white tents. There are fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, cheese, olives, fish, knick-knacks and vacuum cleaners and hair clips and clothes … anything you could want, you can find,” she said.
In addition to sifting through the traditional bazaars, Istanbulians do their shopping at modern malls and stores, much like in the United States. However, unlike in northern Michigan, in Istanbul the right clothes are absolutely essential. “Women dress very nicely here. They wear lots of makeup, skirts, jewelry and heels,” says Lily. “It is popular and not unusual to go to the hairdresser multiple times a week.” Istanbul’s male population is also concerned with fashion. “[They] dress nicely too, but not to my liking … they gel their hair and wear lots of purple and dress shirts with jeans and pointy black shoes. And lots of cologne,” she adds.
Taking a break from the busy streets, the average Turk might stop in at one of the many tiny cafés to socialize and drink tea. “Turks drink tea 24/7,” says Lily. “There isn’t so much to do during the day, so everyone goes to the café and sits for hours and chats with friends. It’s like a wasting-time method.” Like a mini vacation, teatime is a chance for relaxation, something that an eager, first-time visitor might find as a nuisance. “I didn’t like it at all when I came, but now it is wonderful to sit down and do nothing and have no plans to do anything for the next few hours.” Of course, you can’t take the break without the tea. “If you sit down for more than 10 minutes, you will be given a little cup of tea,” she explains.
In a Turkish home, not only tea that appears in front of you, but also endless helpings of delicious food. “If you even go to a friend’s house, just to say hello, you won’t get out of there without food in your belly. They love to give and serve. It doesn’t matter whether you are best friends and have known each other for years; you are a guest, and your food will come on a silver tray,” says Lily, who fell in love with the food as well as the city. “They have fresh everything. Fruits — they make lots of sugary desserts with them — and vegetables: they cook them with olive oil at every dinner, breads, pastries, cakes, desserts …” She pauses to explain baklava, which is “thin layers of crisp pastry with crushed nuts in between and is soaked in honey or sugary syrup,” then continues with a story about her friend’s mother.
“Last night at dinner, I finished my plate and she asked, ‘should I give you more?’ I said ‘no, I’m full.’ She asked again and again and then ended up putting more food on my plate even after I explained over and over that I couldn’t eat anymore.” In Turkish culture, Lily says, people may want the food, but to be polite they say ‘no thanks’ and decline over and over, so people just give them food anyway. “I told her that when I say ‘no’, it means no. But it is only because I know her well that I can say these things to her and not eat her food without being rude.” As the hours whittle away, either drowned in tea or food, the only reminder of real time is the muezzin’s fourth call to prayer, when the day is three-quarters over. It beckons devout Muslims to stop, face Mecca, and pray; once again revealing that Istanbul is an Islamic city.
“A lot of the culture differences that I see have to do with the religion. Turkey is 98 percent Muslim,” says Lily. Walking down the street, she observed that, on average, about half the women wear headscarves. Once, Lily decided to go to a mosque along with other Muslim women. “It was on a holiday, so it was FULL,” she remembers, “I covered my head and went in, but had to go up into the loft where the women sit. They aren’t allowed to sit in the main area; they have to walk up these tiny little stone stairs and sit in their balcony and watch. It was very interesting. The prayer is sung by the muezzin on a loud speaker and is very different [than anything in the Christian world], but pretty.”
In a primarily Islamic country, women’s rights are certainly different from those in our country. “There are places I am not allowed to go because I am a woman. I had never seen anything like that in the United States, and the first time I saw it, it freaked me out. There are also places I don’t want to go because I’m a woman,” Lily continues. However, the variations in rights between men and women do little to restrict a confident, Turkish female. “These places that I can’t, and that I don’t want to go, are few. If a woman says and knows she has rights (which she does by law) then she is respected and treated equally.”
This is especially true in the school setting, as both males and females receive an equal high school education. Lily, on the other hand, is restricted by another factor: language. “At school, I don’t actually do any classes. I tried at first, but all the teachers asked me why I was trying, and what was I doing? I knew no Turkish at the time, so I spent most of my time at school learning Turkish from a book and then practicing with the kids at break.” Of the 15 Rotary Exchange students in Istanbul, only five learned Turkish, including Lily. “I’m not fluent,” she says, “I can speak and have conversations and understand, but it is a very creative Turkish. I have people who understand me, and people who don’t at all.”
She offers as a contrast speaking with her friend Damla, who understands Lily and speaks slowly so she can understand, and speaking with Damla’s mother. “Her mom has NO idea what I’m saying. So Damla translates from Lily Turkish to real Turkish,” she says. What helped her learn the language the most though, since she had no formal Turkish schooling, was when, “I started going to the library. I spend all day talking with the librarian, Ijlal, who knows no English, so I speak only Turkish with her, and it is the best Turkish class ever. She is my best friend here.”
Lily has made many friends and many memories during her stay. In another e-mail she wrote, “I’m living up my last few weeks,” before her return to the United States on July 9, which is sure to be a bittersweet journey. And though it is difficult to leave a place that’s come to be home, especially a home as unique and vibrant as Istanbul, it is only by leaving that one can anticipate returning.