A new adventure

This blog was born in July 2011, in the months before I began working with the Kindertreff afterschool program in Berlin-Neukölln. Since August 2012, the blog has, however – for various reasons – remained abandoned. In the past months, I have regained an interest in posting. I even possess partially completed blog posts that I have saved among my documents. They were, however, neither completed nor posted. Now, however, the time has come to revive my blog. I am now finally ready to commit to blogging again, at least for a bit.

My adventures in the past year have been many. In October I traveled to Turkey on holiday, but mostly continued working with the Kindertreff through the end of January 2013, when my international placement there came to an end. On February 1, I returned to the U.S. and, having decided not to continue my work with Global Ministries, visited family and friends for a month and a half. From mid-March to mid-August, I lived in Amman, Jordan, where I attended an intensive Arabic language course. After a short stop in the Netherlands, I returned to the U.S. at the beginning of September. Last week I arrived in Ankara, Turkey, which, for the next two years, shall be my new place of residence. These geographical locations and my pursuits in each of them create a framework and a context for the experiences, adventures, challenges and blessings with which I am confronted.

It is impossible to concisely summarize the adventures of the past year, and doing so would not do it justice. Therefore, I shall begin with the present, with my most recent adventure.

The view from campus

I arrived in Ankara just five days ago. Turkey will be my new home as I begin a Master’s degree here in Middle East Studies at the Middle East Technical University (fittingly enough) on the outskirts of the city.  As overwhelming as my commitment to live in a new different foreign country for the coming two years sometimes seems to me, I am very excited by the possibilities that my studies and my life in Turkey hold.

Ankara, to most, is a somewhat emotionless impersonable political capital city, which doesn’t warrant a visit from most of Turkey’s tourists. For those who do decide to venture to Ankara on their journey between Istanbul, Cappadocia and the beaches of Turkey, the most notable stop is Anitkabir, the mausoleum where Atatürk (the founder of the Turkish Republic) is buried. Knowing that this is notably the most important destination for Ankara’s tourists and having spent the past two days at the university registering, I decided to fulfill my touristic duties today and also ventured to Anitkabir.

The hill on which the mausoleum is located advantageously also provides an ideal perspective over the city:

At Anitkabir

Having spent the past months mainly in Amman (population 1 million), I am rediscovering what it is like to live in a large city (Ankara’s population is 4-5 million) and all of the benefits that accompany city life. I am happy to be living in the city, but also to be in an apartment on a hill, a bit removed from the noise, dirt, and direct 'busy-ness' in the city. I am slowly exploring the city and gaining a feel for the streets around my apartment. So far, I think I made the right decision in not bypassing Ankara as most foreigners would, but instead in beginning a slow, committed exploration of the city for the next two years. I am curious to see exactly what I uncover.