Adventures in Belize

Osaka, Japan

1. Cool weather!

2. Changing leaves!

3. People riding bicycles everywhere.

4. Hardly anyone speaks any English.

5. BIG city – at least the same size as NYC.

6. Not much space.

7. Clean.

8. Tiny restaurants.

9. Expensive!

10. Fascinating History.

11. Kyoto is beautiful.

12. Not busy at work.

13. Best public transportation network I’ve ever seen.

14. I like it.

Two weeks ago I received my next assignment, which is Pretoria, South Africa.  I was blown away when I got the news.  It was number six on my list of ten posts, of which most admittedly were very nice places.  Meredith initially didn’t want to even consider going to Pretoria, as the crime is really bad.  We compromised though, and put Nassau, Bahamas as our number two, which I wasn’t that high on, and put Pretoria at six, which she didn’t really like.  I also thought the odds of us getting Pretoria were pretty low, as it’s a very desirable place to live, if you can get past the crime rate.

I’ve been told that in the African Bureau, Pretoria is the post you get once you’ve paid your dues in less desirable places, such as Chad, the Congo, Sierra Leone, etc.  The reason we got this is that the particular job slot that I’m taking is reserved for entry-level employees, of which I am one.  Had I been tenured when I bid on the job, the odds would have been stacked against us.

When I came home to tell Mer the news, she said “Oh.”, thought about it for a minute, and quickly warmed up to the idea of living there.  Our reservations with the place are the previously mentioned crime problem, and how far away it is.  The good news is there’s a direct flight from Dulles to Johannesburg, which is awesome.  The pluses far outweigh the negatives: safaris, wine tours, beaches, cheap good restaurants, English speakers (yea!), San Diego like weather, excellent housing(which will probably be a house, maybe with a pool), etc.  You can see why it’s been so hard for me to concentrate at work recently!

So we’re very excited, but the work begins shortly to actually move there, which is a painful, slow process.  In the meantime, we are going to enjoy our few months left in Turkey, which has been a great first post.

The horrible shootings at Virginia Tech on April 16th, 2007 left me with a lot of questions; I struggled (and am struggling) to come up with answers to them. The most pertinent being “How do we stop another Virginia Tech-like Massacre?”

The most obvious first thing that came to my mind was gun control. I know that Virginia, my home state, has some fairly relaxed laws on obtaining guns. But I had no idea that anyone could walk into a gun store, and after passing an instantaneous criminal background check, walk out with your firearm. You don’t even have to register the weapon. I thought there was a waiting period of at least a week or something. On the other hand, even if there was a week-long or more waiting period, that wouldn’t have stopped this lunatic. He would have just waited and gotten his gun and done the same thing.

I had a short discussion with a coworker about this, declaring that somehow we have to tighten up our gun control laws to make it harder for anyone to get guns. My friend replied “Tell that to a friend of my family who shot a man as he was breaking into his house and about to rape his daughter.” I had no comeback for that one. Nothing at all. I know that this is an oft-used argument by proponents of the right to bear arms.

While I will never own a firearm, stories such as my friend’s above are very hard to argue against in terms of gun control. Defending your family from harm is the ultimate pathos argument; appealing to a person’s emotions by putting them in yours (or someone else’s) shoes.

My friend also had another strong point to make in saying that even if this guy had been denied the guns he sought, he could have made even more damaging and lethal weapons, like a bomb, out of ingredients bought from a grocery store and/or a hardware store. Indeed, the online magazine Slate published an article recently titled “Thank God the Blacksburg killer only had guns.” Can you imagine how many lives would have been lost had he produced something even remotely like the bomb used in say, the Oklahoma City bombing? And if all he really wanted was to use guns, I imagine it can’t be that hard to get them off of the black market.

All that being said, steps should be taken to tighten up gun control in this weapon-saturated nation of ours. While that will do some good, the reality is that terrible tragedies like this are very difficult to stop. The only way to effectively reduce their number is reaching these deeply disturbed individuals before they act on their twisted thoughts. This guy at Virginia Tech put out the warning signs, with one of his professors referring him to counseling because of his macabre and twisted writings; the police being called about him stalking a girl, etc.

So what can be done about this? Our country has many, nay far too many school shootings (and regular street shootings) every year. No other country in the developed world has anywhere near as many. Why? That is the question at the root of the matter. It’s not the easy access to weapons, although that doesn’t help. No, there is something askew deep within the psyche of American society. I only wish I knew what it was.

Any thoughts?

This article is very disturbing to me. Living in Turkey, I get no hostile feelings from any Turks that I encounter during the day… But then the sentiments described in that article are supported by this survey. In talking with some of my peers here in Turkey who look at this kind of stuff for a living, they are of the opinion that most people in other countries are just waiting for Bush to leave office…. Go figure.

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted, so I have a lot to report. Many people may have heard some of these stories, and maybe they haven’t.

We have passed our 3 month mark now, and things continue to get better and better. The weather in Ankara in the Spring and Summer is very nice; currently it’s about 61 degrees farenheit. This alone has probably contributed the most to the great improvement in the moods of both Meredith and I. The people that we met at first are beginning to become pretty good friends, which of course is wonderful. We also took our first trip outside of Ankara, to a town called Safronbolu, which is known for its well preserved Ottoman era houses. Meredith’s salon has grown to the point where she says she doesn’t want to take too many more clients. Mer is also completely comfortable going out on her own, into stores and other places. That was a very difficult thing at the beginning. She has made friends with other non-working spouses and they love to go shopping together at least once a week. We have two 3 day weekends coming up, and are thinking about taking another trip down south to Kapadokya, which should be quite fun.

Yesterday I went to my first Turkish bath, called a Hamam. The guys I went with unfortunately like to go at 5:30 in the morning, but I felt like this was one experience that I needed to have, so I decided to go for it. The inside of the hamam looks kind of like the inside of an Ottoman house; they have a large courtyard-like area with chairs and a fountain in the middle of it. Surrounding the courtyard are 2 floors of small changing rooms with cots in them. You go in there, disrobe and put a towel around your waist. Then you go across the courtyard into the actual bath house. The bath house itself was kind of dark, with a domed ceiling with holes cut into it, kind of like skylights. Every thing is made of stone, from the floor to the ceiling. I don’t think it was marble, but then I was kind of in a daze… The first thing you do is go sit in a sauna, which was way too hot for me. I was very uncomfortable; it hurt my lungs to breathe the air in there. It did however make me sweat out all the beers I had the night before! Then you go out into the center of the room, which has a raised slab in the center. You lay down on that and are then washed from head to toe by a bath-guy. And no, you’re not completely naked and they stay away from your mid-section! First they use this glove that scrapes away any dead skin that you might have had on your body. Then you get rinsed off, and are then doused in soap, using this weird looking bag that I guess is filled with soap suds. Then you get a simple massage, for about 2 minutes. He also crossed my arms over my chest and pushed, cracking my back what seemed like 10 times. I was then led to these large tubs of water, and he washed my hair. I was rinsed off, and he pointed to another container, which was filled with cold water. I told him yes that I wanted the cold water poured over me, but I’ll tell you what, it was a major shock to my system. Then you leave the bath house and are dried off. We went to those chairs in the middle of the courtyard and sat there, waiting for the other guys. It was a little like a massage in that I was very relaxed, and kind of dazed. Once everyone was out, we then went and had some breakfast around the corner and I was home by 7:15 and back in bed. It was definitely an experience! I can’t quite decide whether or not I want to go again. The sauna was just too hot, but it did clean me off very well and felt very good.

A lot of other stuff has gone on since my last post, but I’ve written too much for one day!

So I haven’t posted in a while, but we’ve been really busy. Hopefully this weekend I’ll come up with something to report…

So this past weekend Mer and I went bowling. Bowling in Turkey. Who would’ve thunk. The sport that many people in the United States pass over for its ‘redneckness’ is pretty popular in the land of carpets and currently, snow. The bowling alley is called Rollhouse, and it’s not just a bowling venue. It has many pool tables, a dart-throwing area, an arcade, an eating area, and a place to watch football (sorry, soccer) on a huge projection screen. It is truly massive. And also quite nice. Unfortunately, I did not learn any Turkish bowling words, as the scoring system was exactly the same as you’d find in the AMF down the street in Anytown, USA. I also didn’t bowl all that well, but then again, it’s been like 2-3 years…

We drank Tuborg beer, which, coincidentally enough, is Danish. Why is that a coincidence, you ask? Well, in case you haven’t been reading the news for the past few days, the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Lebanon and Syria were all burned to the ground in protest over some cartoons that a Danish newspaper published that depicted the prophet Mohammed. It is against Islamic law, as dictated by the Q’uran, to show the prophet, or any other religious figure, in a picture, painting, or whatever. All over the Muslim world there were protests against any country that published the cartoons, and in a few instances, it turned violent. It’s definitely not surprising that the most destructive occurred in the previously mentioned countries, where the host government, which has a duty and responsibility to protect the property (namely, embassies and consulates) of foreign nations on its own soil, never lifted a finger to dispatch police in riot gear to do just that.

In stark contrast, the protests in front of the Danish embassy here in Ankara were completely civilized affairs. Apparently, only 10-25 people showed up over the weekend, and were buffered by double that number of Turkish police. Nobody ever tried to be violent, they just peacefully voiced their displeasure over the cartoons, as is their right in a Democratic country. This secular thing just might work out after all… The Turkish Prime and Foreign Minister both condemned the cartoons, but also stated that violence was not the way to express the Muslim world’s feelings over this wacky affair. They said that diplomatic channels were the way to begin a discourse about it.

I gotta tell you, it really makes me feel good to live in a country that is similar in a religious sense to other Muslim countries (after all, Turkey is 98% Muslim), but is also so different, so civilized. I’m almost proud, and I’ve only been here for 3 weeks!

Getting back to our lives, after our Friday night of bowling, we had to take the entire weekend to recover. The dryness and high altitude of this city is not a good recipe for curing hangovers. It took double the time that it would back home to get better. So we sat on our collective butts and watched movies all weekend on our new Turkish satellite TV, DigiTurk. They carry many English channels that show a bunch of American movies. It was great. It didn’t snow the entire weekend, which was a godsend, as it seems like it hasn’t stopped since we’ve been here. Of course, Murphy’s Law took over today and it snowed in the morning and rained in the afternoon.

We continue to be impressed by the Turkish grocery store that is right down the street from us, called Migros. It’s great! I’ve always wanted to have a grocery store right near us, and now I have it. It’s pretty small, but it has all the basics that we need, and it’s reasonably priced. Another issue this weekend was that we thought we had gotten our first cases of Turk Tummy. For the uninformed, Turk Tummy is the condition that we read about many times, and that many people here say you will get. Knock on wood, we’ve been OK so far. This past weekend seems to have passed without any of the worst symptoms of Turk Tummy.

We are longing for all of our stuff to make our place seem more like home, but we did get 2 packages from Mer’s mom (Thanks Connie!), that had a bunch of pictures and things to put on the fridge that makes it feel more homey. Mer had her first hair appointment tonight, our neighbor, Cathy came over for a simple trim, and it seems like the start of something for her. I’m very excited about the prospects, and everything I hear from people at the embassy is very positive. I think she’s going to take over the entire expat community!

Well, I’ve spouted off enough about the goings on in this snowbound land, but rest assured, we’re having a good time, and we both think that it can only get better!

We miss you guys!

Even more snow
Originally uploaded by dfarrington.

So, after 7 months of training, planning a wedding in 2 months, commuting to Northern Virginia for a while, and attending more farewell parties than a couple should, we made it to Ankara in one piece!

We’ve been here for a week now, and it’s snowed for 5 of those days. The embassy has shut down early the last 2 days, and it just keeps coming. It’s been good, because I can spend time with Mer, making our place seem more like home. We got our air freight shipment today, and we had a ball unpacking it and getting everything set up. It was like Christmas!

One of the most disconcerting things about moving to a completely alien place is not knowing where you are in relation to home. I walk out our apartment building’s front door, and I don’t really know which way the embassy is. That’s how it was for the first few days. I needed help getting to work and back home at night. Today was the first day that I actually felt confident in knowing where I was and how to get home from work. I get very stressed if I don’t know where I am. Then you throw in not being able to speak to anyone, and you really feel lost. Google Earth really helped. We found our apartment and street, then the embassy, and I could picture where we had walked or driven. It made it a little easier.

Another thing that, as an American, really seems different is the driving. We heard before we got here how crazy it was, but you’re never really prepared for actually being in the middle of it. We’ve been told several times that the traffic laws here aren’t really laws, they’re suggestions. And that really seems to be the case. People park where ever they want; on sidewalks, grass, whatever. A one lane road can be as many lanes wide as cars will fit. I was in a taxi going to work one morning, in the snow, and my driver was passing people going down this very steep hill, on a very slippery road, and he was crossing the center line, going into oncoming traffic. And this is normal. I just chuckled. Pedestrians are insane as well. They just step out into traffic, expecting you to stop for them. You might say that people do that in big American cities as well. And you’d be right, but Americans do it at a place called a crosswalk. Turks cross where ever they want. So you’ll be driving down the street, dodging people, not cars. I don’t think the word crosswalk exists in the Turkish language.

I wish that I had more pictures other than of our apartment and the view off the balcony, but all in due time.

If you want to see the pictures, go here: http://flickr.com/photos/farrington

I’m almost done with my post-specific training; today I took my Security+ test, and promptly failed by only 2 questions. 2 questions?!? I admit that I didn’t take the class as seriously as I should have. I caught myself daydreaming a few times during class. I’ll tell ya what though, it’s not exactly easy to juggle classes and tests with preparing to move overseas.

I’ve been in training since July 11th of last year, and it’s wearing on me. I just can’t focus that well in class now. I’m getting fat, too, just sitting there, every day, listening to someone talk for 7 hours, then not really feeling like doing anything once I get home. Ugh, I can’t wait to get to Turkey so that Mer and I can maybe get some semblance of a normal life. Living out of a suitcase is not fun, even though I did it for my entire school career, save college. I guess I thought that that experience in my life would make it easier to detach and move overseas, but I sometimes find myself getting emotional when I see my family these past few days. Either way, I’m getting pretty excited about going to Ankara.

Texas just beat USC to win the National Championship. Vince Young isn’t a bad football player. I’ll end on that.