Elephant in the Room Part 2

I had previous written about my experiences as a black woman in Turkey. As I say the adventure continues. I hoped/thought that things would change some when we came further south. While I have gotten less stares, people still look. One of my team members today observed that the headscarfing wearing women are the most likely to school. I have not had another person upon seeing me, scream. (this happened in Kastamonu when Sarah and I visited a school.) In Antalya, we have finally seen other Black people or should I say black men. The first occurence was at the Miracle resort. We have seen more since moving to Antalya proper. I have feeling it is because there is a U.S. military base a short hour plane ride from here. My most recent entertaining experience was yesterday. The team went to a jewelery store close to the hotel. I was minding my business when the owner? worker came up and said choksai (pretty /beautiful in Turkish) I said thank you. She had her collague translate into English beautiful. As she was talking she was coming closer and closer to me. Erin saw my predicament and intercede. It appeared that she wanted to get a closer look by rubbing skin touching skin I am not sure which. I also had one child look at me bug eyed. This has definitely been an experience.

Reflectıons on the wonderful WORLD of Rotary

After makıng the presentatıons to the Antalya Rotary Club and Olympus Club yesterday, ıt fınally began to sınk ın that our fantastıc experıences ın Turkey were approachıng an end ( or should I say begınnıng), as we all want to return. We have attended 10 Rotary meetıngs and along wıth the Dıstrıct Conference, have experıenced so much hospıtalıty, warmth , frıendshıp , not only from Rotarıans, but all of the Turkısh people we have come ınto contact wıth.

As I reflect on some of the Rotary club projects, the Falez Club and Kalecı Club buılt kındergarten schools ın two poorer communıtıes to serve the needs of theır chıldren. They also contınually provıde breakfast for the chıldren attendıng. Keep ın mınd, there was no kındergarten prevıously. The Olympus club has had a program thıs year where they brıng students from vıllages for a 'day trıp to the sea' as many students ın outlyıng areas have never seen the sea or know much about ıt. They charter a bus for the day and brıng students to a fun and educatıonal day studyıng thıngs about the sea. Theır teachers have some projects back at theır school and wınners are selected from each school. The awards wıll be presented Saturday evenıng at a receptıon that we have been ınvıted to. I happen to have 10 coın purses and gold dollars of Presıdent Washıngton and Harrıson, along wıth quarters from Indıana and Washıngton DC to provıde as an addıtıonal gıft to the recıpıents of awards. Thıs wıll be our last Rotary functıon whıle ın Turkey and we are all pleased that we can share ın thıs recognıtıon and support of Olympus Club and theır project.

At the Dıstrıct Conference , I saw many clubs receıve awards for a varıety of Turkısh projects and worldwıde projects reflectıng just how much Rotarıans ın all parts of the world are workıng for the benefıt of others. The 4-Way Test has come alıve along wıth the motto ''Servıce Above Self''. Wıth years of experıence ın Rotary and hostıng exchange teams and exchange students ın our home, I knew Rotary was ınternatıonal, but untıl you meet wıth other Rotary clubs and see the projects fırst hand ın an Internatıonal settıng, you don't really understand that. I hope all Rotarıans when they travel wıll take the tıme to vısıt Rotary clubs ın other countrıes. You wıll be treated so wonderfully and there seems to be a common ' Rotary language' even though ıt may be wıth hand gestures, smıles and hugs.

As I wrıte thıs I have tears streamıng down my face for several reasons;

Thanks to Dıstrıct 6540 for provıdıng me wıth thıs opportunıty.
Thanks to the selectıon commıttee for provıdıng such a wonderful team,
Thanks to Dıstrıct 2430, theır leadershıp, theır hostıng clubs and all the members who have made our vısıt so very specıal,
Thanks to my daughter and my offıce assıstant for theır extra effort whıle I have been gone.
A specıal thanks to my wıfe for allowıng me to experıence thıs opportunıty and I mıss you, love you and wıll be home soon.
Thanks to Erın, Katy , Vıvıan and Sarah for helpıng make thıs a fantastıc experıence ın all aspects. They are not only talented and wonderful ambassadors for theır professıons but also very personable and have been loved by all the famılıes and Rotarıans they have come ınto contact wıth. A very very specıal THANK YOU.

Pictures from Mersin - Katy

These are pictures from our week in Mersin (over a week ago).

The crazy kebap that I had our first night in Mersin with my host family. It was served on a sword.

After the official flag presentation during our presentation to the Kizkalesi Rotary Club.

Carved doorway still standing from the Roman era.

The group at the main castle with the Kizkalesi castle (maiden's castle), which is hanging out on this island just off the shore.

Our beautiful lunch spot for that day. It looks like we were in the water from the photo; no worries, we weren't.

Tripping over history, literally - Katy

I know that I've spoken about this before, but we are continually bewildered by all of the sights and scenes of ancient, and ancient, ancient, and ancient, ancient, ancient history here, specially along the mediteranian coast. During one of our adventures in Mersin, we drove an hour outside of the city to explore a couple of different cities from the Roman & Hellenistic eras; literally everywhere we looked, there were ruins. All of our Turkish friends & guides found our reactions and exclamations very amusing. For them this all so common place; what is interesting to them is our reaction.

There are some many artifacts and historical sites that it is virtually impossible for the Turkish government to elminiate all illegal excavations. From an article that I read (my numbers may be a little fuzzy here, but pretty close): between 2002 to 2007 there were 800 illegal excavations, they've been able to cut that down and there were only 200 between 2007-2008. When we toured the Antalya Museum we faced a bit of shame; a statute and ancient Christian artifact were only partially recovered, the identification sign said that the remaining portion of the artifacts had been stolen and were now on display in museums in the United States (including half of a marble statue of Hercules that is at the Met in New York). Ouch! According to the signs, the Turkish authorities are in negotiations for the return of these items.

There are just layer upon layer upon layer of civilizations that have existed in this small part of the world, from the beginning of man to the earliest Christians (Peter and Paul) to the Ottoman Empire (which existed for 600 years). Any time artifacts are discovered in the ground, the government is supposed to be notified. In Tarsus, they have severly limited any new construction because everywhere they dig they find new ruins and artifacts. Sarah's host family in Mersin owns a farm in Eastern Turkey. When they were digging in their fruit orchard they found arrowheads and other items. Because they didn't want to be subjected to government seizure of their property they just reburied the artifacts.

It is easy to understand why there is so litte protection and security of the ruins and ancient cities; there are just so many that they couldn't possible manage all of them.

Any history buffs or lovers of ancient civilizations should definitely consider a trip to Turkey. It is obvious that the Rotarians in Antalya appreciate the importance of these ancient cities, as many of their clubs are named after them.

We head to Perge on Friday, which should be another stunning site. It seemed as if about half of the items on display in the Antalya Museum came from Perge. I promise to post pictures.

Perge Rotary Meetıng - Rotarıan Dave

I wıll let one of the team talk about the vısıt to the Antalya museum as I wıll comment on our vısıt to the Perge Rotary Club. Thıs ıs an evenıng meetıng and we also added Lız and Catına from Dıstrıct 5300 to 'our team'. In a team effort, slıdes from Dıstrıct 5300 and Lız and Catına's were added to our presentatıon. Thıs meetıng was held ın a beautıful Sheraton Hotel near the bay. Thıs meetıng ıs much lıke a meetıng back home and ıs a club wıth about 35 members. Sınce they just had sıgnıfıcant responsıbılıtıes at the Dıstrıct Conference over the weekend, the attendance of members was about 18. There was a prospectıve member and one of theır members wıll be an assıstant DG thıs next year. They also have 6 women members and one wıll be Presıdent for 09-10. A very good club meetıng wıth member celebratıons, reports on awards receıved at Dıst Conf. We went through our NEW PowerPoınt wıth the 7 members , exchanged flags wıth everyone and presented and receıved gıfts. As wıth every club and every experıence, we are so warmly receıved. Several members stayed after the meetıng and vısıtred wıth the team. We are ın the habıt of spreadıng out among the members durıng the meal and my observatıons are that each member of the team ıs wonderfully sharıng ın conversatıons, laughıng wıth the Turkısh members and truly enjoyıng the experıence. Our brochures have been a great resource and are vıewed wıth ınterest, even though some cannot read them. Many are taken by the members. Thanks to all the Rotarıans on behalf of the whole team for thıs experıence.

The next rtwo days (Wed and Thurs), thıs group of 7 wıll be splıt ınto two teams as there are two clubs each day meetıng at lunchtıme. My wonderful team has splıt our presentatıon to fıt the members attendıng each club, so we won' mıss a beat. We are off to vısıt some kındergarten classes thıs mornıng and whenever we have been around chıldren....the excıtement for everyone ıs great.

Visit to the Antalya Museum - Katy

Waiting to tour the museum...us and 20 different school groups.

Marble statute from the Roman Era. It was taken from Pergue, which we will visit on Friday.

Vivian and one of several impressive sarcophaguses.

A view of the sarcophagus hall.

Pictures from Old Antalya - Katy

We were done early yesterday afternoon. Dave, Vivian, Erin & I decided to stroll through the streets of Old Antalya down to the Old Harbor. Old Antalya is, as obvious as it sounds, the portion of Antalya that is the oldest and closest to the Old Harbor, and also contains the oldest ruins of the city. Most of Old Antalya is enclosed by large stone walls, so it is easy to know when you've hit the boundary. We timed it right and were able to do a little shopping and enjoy an Efes at a bar with a beautiful view of the sunset and the sea.

The clock tower on the outer boundary of Old Antalya. The start of our exploring.

A view from down in the harbor, where tourists catch the coastline cruises.

The view from our cocktail hour location.

Vivian, Erin, & I ready for some cold Efes.

A view of the only beach in the old harbor, it is very small and tucked in at the base of a cliff.

Heaven on Earth aka Antalya by Erin

We have had a busy day so far in hot Antalya. We are sweaty. The sun is strong, the traffic a bit heavy and the pool is calling!

(May I first mention that it was so nice to reconnect with our host families this past weekend.)

Antalya is a tourist destination. (500,000 tourism bed capacity- whoa is right!) We visited the Chamber of Commerce this morning. The building is stunning. Lots of windows and simple red decor straight out of a magazine. The chamber has 25,000 active members. It is compulsory to join as a trade company. The city is in constant motion towards improvements to accomodate its growing population. They are also working to improve their city's image through marketing (Antalya is Fun-talya - pretty catchy) and the marketing of their historical sites. Tourist have a tendency to trap themselves in their all inclusive hotels, sipping Effes and forgetting about the beautiful city outside the hotel compound.

We visited the Deputy Mayor as well. . .the Turkish title, the Secretary General. He gave us gifts of citrus jam and a cookbook, in English! It has all our favorite Turkish treats.

The beaches here are clean and the water is blue. The flowers are plentiful. 90% of Turkey's exported cut flowers come from Antalya. Looking out the windows of the Chamber meeting room, we could see a field of greenhouses.

We are free the rest of the day. So the plan is to explore the city center.

On a final note, the rotary president of the Olympos rotary club is working on a project called People for People. It's a bike tour beginning September 23rd in the Mediterranean countries raising money, specifically for world peace. The tour begins at the Vatican and ends in Mecca, Christians and Muslims unite! Bikers unite!

Peace,
Erin

New Location - Anatalya city center Vivian

We finally have regular access to email again. We are sitting here in our deluxe business suite in the Best Western. We have definitely come down in the world. But don't cry for us though. We (sadly minus Sarah) each have our own room. Kind size bed, couch, side chair two writing desks( at one of which I am writing this blog). Did I mention the complimentary fruit and wine with evil eye attached? Katy and Dave have views of the mountains and Erin and I have views of the sea. Not too shabby.

It is nice to empty our suitcases and see what is actually inside. I for for one keep finding random things in said suitcases. I have by far the largest suitcase of the group. I had joked to one of our host families that a small child could fit inside. Deadpan they asked why I would want to take a small child in a suitcase. Our suitcase trauma at Adana airport has made us all reconsider what we put in our suitcase. (quick recap we each were only allowed 15 kg (about 35 lbs I think. ) for the domestic flight from Adana to Anatalya. All of us were over by at least 18 kg some as much as 28kg. Yes we had to pay the difference.) I am finally going to sit down and make sure that I have gotten presents for everyone. We are sitting in Katy's room reminiscing and missing Sarah. I keep thinking I only have a week left of this wonderful experience. I am trying to drink in the last few experiences before I have to return to "real life." Stay tuned for more adventures.

Dıstrıct Conference Revıew - from Rotarıan Dave

Let me start by sayıng what a wonderful facılıty and we were treated lıke royalty. It was great fun to re-connect wıth many of our host famılıes and club members from our prevıous vısıts. It was a lıttle dısappoıntıng to know that we had 10 mınutes for our 'presentatıon' that also needed to ınclude gıfts to the Dıstrıct Governor that I had been carryıng for 3 weeks from Gov. John.
We dıdn't get to the hotel untıl about 10:00 pm on the fırst day, whıch were most of the break-out sessıons so I wasn,t able to attend those.

Other than our presentatıon, the rest of the team dıd not attend the meetıngs. I lıstened to the Presıdent' Rep, Mıchael Abdalla, wıth a couple message from D.K. Lee. The longest speech and most ınformatıve dealt wıth the cut-backs that RI would be makıng ın some of theır program fundıng due to the sıgnıfıcant decrease ın market value of theır ınvestment portfolıo. Keep ımn mınd that thıs ıs not any dıfferent than all foundatıons and charıtable organızatıons. He ındıcated the programs for Polıo Plus and other humanıtarıan need programs would contınue. A brıght spot ıs that contrıbutıons contınue to be strong and that Bıll Gates has added an addıtıonal 150 mıllıon to hıs commıtment to RI Foundatıon. I belıeve only the fırst 100 mıllıon neds to be matched and we are over 70 % there.

The upbeat musıc durıng every slıght ınterlude, numerous awards to clubs greeeted by a rousıng applause. The dıstrıct has 90 clubs and they need to travel sıgnıfıcant dıstances to get to the conference. All of the Presıdents, Asst DG and most others had blazers wıth the Make Dreams Real Patch on and same color. Thıs made for some wonderful photos. I dıd pıck up our team photo afterwards wıth DG Azız. Our dıstrıct can be very proud of our team, the way they have conducted themselves at all tımes and havıng made wonderful and close frıends ın Turkey. I wıll mıss the famıly connectıons thıs week and we wıll be makıng some of our fırst luncheon presentatıons as all others have been at a dınner ın evenıng or ın some cases late nıght for eatıng.
I enjoyed attendıng the sessıons and wıll have some vıdeo and thoughts to help DG Floyd upon my return. In area, thıs dıstrıct ıs ther largest ın the world for Rotary. Enough for now.....just know that we all are havıng a wonderful experıence and I expect ıt to contınue for thıs last leg of thıs Rotary journal that has gıven alla greater perspectıve on the 'World of Rotary'. It truly ıs.

Our final hours in Paradise - Katy

We leave the Miracle Resort today. It is 10:30 am here in Turkey, we need to be checked out of our rooms @ 12pm. Fortunately the Rotary clubs of Antalya, who are hosting us, have arranged for us to be able to catch a little more beach time, so we won't be picked up until 3pm.

The internet connection here has been quite spotty, so we are keeping our fingers crossed for more reliable access at our next spot. I'm feeling better; no voice yet, but much better.

While our time here has been wonderful (and a great place to recuperate), I'm getting anxious to see the real Antalya. The set-up for our last week is a little unusual (we'll be here until next Sunday). Dave, Erin, Vivian and I are staying in a hotel in the city center. Sarah will be staying with a host family. We think that she is the only one that sounded interesting enough from her bio to have intrigued a rotarian and their family to host her in their home. Also, Catina and Liz from the GSE team here from California will be joining our team for the week (and will be staying with host families). There are 9 clubs in Antalya; six in the city proper and three in the suburbs. The three in the suburbs are hosting the other three members from the California team. We are excited to have Catina and Liz join us, but I can't imagine how difficult it would be to be separated from your team during your last week in Turkey. They handling it like champs, there sponsoring clubs in California would be proud.

More to come from our next destination....