National Parks

I am still attempting to get through the 200 hours of Ken Burns' National Parks special. I feel inspired when I watch this, it does make me pump up my chest a little and say, OK some Americans did have a good idea and saved something truly magnificent. I also feel a little foolish that I've seen so few of them. And, I had been awed at the topography of Turkey this summer only to realize that Yellowstone had similar calcium cliffs to Pamakkule.

I'm jealous of my friends who took the few weeks or months to do that Western trip. I've been to 41 states and missing include Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming. Yet, it rarely occurs to me to visit those states but rather to look overseas and beyond these borders. I'm not ashamed by that, I've experienced the world in different ways. However, hiking in Turkey over beautiful landscapes spoke to me, reminded me that there are things I enjoy that go beyond urban living. I'm still a city girl, and when I lived in Madison, all I wanted was to get back to the city. But maybe I have realized since then that taking time to admire nature rather than human structures might give me more fulfillment than I realized.

White, Western and Rich

I have been thinking about this, and spewing in my brain for awhile, but I am disgusted that so many TV shows glorify the things "we" criticize. Sure. I'm talking about the privileged cable shows that I pay for. By "we", I mean middle/upper class white people. Am I from that background? You betcha. Was I raised to be critical of stereotypes of any kind? You betcha.

I admit, I have never watched the TLC shows I refer to...

Jon and Kate Plus 8. I really don't give a crap about them as people and I have never seen the show. but TLC picked up on a vibe, or created it, about families that have 8 kids. And they got a big house and wardrobe and vacations and we read about them in magazines-well the mom and dad. What about the 8? What's going on with them? With their show canceled, who will pay for their clothes and food? What about 18 Children and Counting? Who are these people? Well, they're white and Christian. Thank God.

Hmm, but lemme think about this. We haven't heard about it as mainstream discussion since Reagan, but remember how awful "those" girls are that have all those babies? I mean, they are SO irresponsible. Just in class the other day, someone brought up the court mandated birth control to make sure women who couldn't afford it couldn't have kids. Did Jon and Kate have the funds? Is the TV show the way to pay for it? What African American single mother with children has a dedicated show? Do Jon or Kate have a job? OK, we did not give the Octamom any slack...

Meanwhile, we watch a show like Man vs. Food in the US. Each episode, the host eats exorbitant amounts of food. Tonight, I watched him eat 1.5 lbs. of meat and bread and 6 lbs. of milkshake. This show repeats again and again. People are cheering him on to finish his meals in under an hour. Do you know many people would dream of 7 lbs. of food intake in a week, a month? Disgusting. Do I eat more than the rest of the world? Yes, but this is gluttony and I'm not all about the 7 deadly sins and all that hooey.

Finally, I have been watching the cooking shows. I admit, I think they're fun. I think generally chefs are pretty lefty and open minded, but let's face it...it's gluttonous. How wonderful that you have $2000 for "this one meal challenge" that would feed a village or two this month.

Yeah, so how much money do I pay for cable to watch (or have the ability to watch) these shows? Enough to feed a village for a week or more...

When I travel, I try to downplay my Americanness because of stuff like this, but the truth is, I am from privilege compared to the world, I was born in a good place to be a woman. I'm not all about guilt, but we as a society are walking a fine line between what we criticize in others and what we glorify in ourselves.

ruminatin', not good?

As the first half of first semester of prereq's is over, the word "ruminating" has gotten frowns from my psych professor. Apparently, this is what anxious people do, they think about things over and over again and can't dispel the thoughts. Well, that may be partly true for me, but that's not the idea here-it's spilling up the guts (although I have done a fairly lousy job of that since this whole thing started). I have terrible sleep anxiety, I don't want to go to bed because I know that the rumination will happen as I try to fall asleep. I've had this since I was a little girl. In my adult life, melatonin (not to be confused with melanin which helps bronze your ass) has gotten me through this. But, I digress...

What's my point? None, I'm not thinking about things. Oh, I totally lie. I think about Turkey constantly. I think about skeletal bones all.the.time and most recently-while doing yardwork today all I could think about were the words, obdurator foramen.

Um, so what's the subject here? Maybe my name should be mo regurgitatin' but I bet that's a whole other issue my psych prof would want to deal with...

Cambodia

I watched last Sunday's Amazing Race-yeah, I know-I could do better (snobbery) and I was appalled that no one could pronounce Phnom Pehn correctly, or that the Killing Fields still doesn't get brought up, even though genocide there was happening in the 70s and we never learned about it because it was an ugly Vietnam stepsister (and the US flamed the fire). I've been there because it was a place I've always wanted to go-not because of Angkor Wat, which is incredible, but because of the movie "The Killing Fields" from the 1980s and because when I grew up, "Cambodian boat people" came to my school and because I remember seeing the distended bellys of young children, but having NO concept where Cambodia was in the 1970s...Africa-Ethiopia (I do want to go there).

So, yudos to Amazing Race to try to pump so dollars into a REALLY poor economy, but they've been there 2 seasons in a row with NO acknowledgment of the issues and the fact that the Khmer Rouge are slowing gaining a little bit again.

Delay

Well, I sort of failed at this blog stuff. I will write more later, I will...!

Sitting

Turkey is just beautiful, it's true. There has not been a place yet that I haven't looked up to be surrounded by mountains even at the coast. It's sometimes hard to fathom just how old the cities I have seen truly are. I can tell why people fall in love with the place. Sadly, for the last 2 days I have felt stuck in a tourist town. Tomorrow we leave for Olympos. I am very excited for Cappadocia. Not much to say, just enjoying my surroundings unless it involves super tourist. And I haven't talked to an American in 10 days.

Patıence

It's been a whırlwınd of tourıst sıtes these last few days. I'm takıng advantage of a mornıng on the Dardenelles straıt to sıt and relax before boardıng a bus to go further south. I've seen so much ın Istanbul and yesterday I spent hours ın Gallıpolı. It's an especıally ımportant place for Aussıes and Kıwıs and I learned a bıt more about theır hıstory. One woman I met saıd ıt was almost a place of pılgrımage for them. And also for the Turks. It was called the last 'gentleman's war' and there are storıes of enemıes helpıng each other one mınute or carryıng wounded to the opposıte sıde's trenches before headıng back to theır own to resume fıghtıng. Really unbelıevable the amount of respect shown the 'enemy' here by the Turkısh ın the form of monuments and sıtes.

Istanbul was great although by Sunday I had done so many tourısty thıngs that my patıence wıth screamıng and cryıng chıldren was wearıng thın. Somehow I don't thınk a 2 year old cares about Mohammed's sword, Abraham's bowl or Moses' rod. And ıt's true that waıtıng ın lınes ıs not a unıversal thıng. But I thınk beıng there on the weekend contrıbuted to crowds ın some places. I don't want to sound ungrateful. I fınd goıng to a mosque and just sıttıng ıs a good way to calm down. I went to one later on Sunday after the hordes of people and I don' t know how ıt happened, but they let me stay for the prayer. That's very unusual for non Muslıms who are not there to pray. It was very ınterestıng.

Well, later today off to the south. Hope all ıs well back home!

Wow Istanbul

I am not sure ıf thıs post wıll come out ın englısh letters because of the keyboard but here goes. Notıce no apostrophes or commas-tough to fınd on keyboard.

Two rules-say no thank you and keep walkıng and thank you ın turkısh ıs a long word.

I spent last evenıng walkıng around the Blue Mosque outsıde wıth mouth agape. Thıs ıs a place ıve dreamed of comıng to and ımagıne standıng before thıs ımpressıve structure as the sun was begınnıng to set. It was gorgeous.

Breakfast at my hotel consısts of feta type cheese. tomatoes. cucumbers. olıves. freshly made yoghurt wıth honey (that even I lıked). A gırl could get used to thıs not beıng a real breakfast food type gal. Today ıncluded a trıp up the bosphorus toward the Black Sea. I ate frıed mussels. mackeral and salad for lunch ın asıa and was back ın europe for dınner!

Sorry for the mundane post just wanted to get somethıng down. Facebook does not work here for me but thats good weenıng I thınk. Tomorrow breakfast wıth my cousıns frıend on the other sıde of the golden horn and varıous tourısty stuff ıncludıng Hagıa Sofıa!

Here we go!

I thought I'd set this up for my Turkey trip, but then again, I have a new chapter in life ahead of me. What is like to go into pre-med at 38? Not sure. I'm excited. And the reception I get from people is always, "good for you" or "wow, that's great". Oh that's for school, for Turkey it's "why do you want to go there?" Um, why not? I just don't have an answer suitable for either other than it's my path tomorrow. It's in no spiritual way, it's just what I've decided I wanted to do.

OK, I s'pose if you know a wee bit about Turkey, I wouldn't have to explain the history. If you know me at all, you know I've always wanted to see the Blue Mosque. If you know me really well, you know I'm interested in Islamic culture.

Why pre-med? Well, a longer post perhaps later.