Miscellaneous reflections

Random thoughts that did't seem to fit under my other entries (and that will likely occur to me throughout the next week as I settle back into my routine at home).

*  Regrets:  That I got sick before I had a chance to get a massage and enjoy the Turkish baths, that I didn't get to spend any quality time on the beach front (although it was pretty torn up with construction).

*  There are some things that really enjoy when I travel, and somethings I don't.  One thing that is problematic is how common smoking is in many places.  This was true in Turkey.  There was a smoking ban in the hotel, but since it was raining cats and dogs most of the week, people would stand in the doorways (with the motion sensitive doors always open) and smoke.  The smell was pervasive in the lobby areas of the hotel.  It was good to get home to fresher air.

*  I find it highly ironic that my American college students were critical that there were too many short skirts and too much alcohol at a conference held in a predominantly Muslim country.  (And they were right.)  This was obviously the secular side of Turkey that we did not see so much of on our last visit.  I'm thankful that my delegates had their heads on straight and did not get into any trouble.

*  It was a little disturbing to see the amount of waste produced at the conference in terms of bottled water.  There were small single serve (pudding cup) waters on the tables in committee instead of larger jugs with glasses.  Although there were some recycling containers, it still seemed like a lot of waste.

water bottle refill spout in Chicago airport

* Its been interesting to see how different people's thermostats are set differently.  On the bus ride up the mountain we were on windy roads and people needed fresh air, the driver opened the front and back doors.  He tried to close them again and we said - please leave them open, its too hot.  He thought we were crazy (it is winter after all!), but winter was about 55 degrees in Antalya.  The same for the committee rooms, the students are in full suits and the rooms stuffy.  On a beautiful sunny day they have the windows closed and heating on!

Final day of travel

Regardless of the long flight we endured yesterday and how tired I was, I still was wide awake at 3:00 am today.  This was ok since we had to catch the 6:00 shuttle to the airport anyway.

It was a bit of a let down looking at the breakfast choices at our hotel in Chicago...

pre-packaged cinnamon buns, bagels, oatmeal, raisin bran, waffles, yogurt, OJ and coffee.  We knew we weren't in Turkey anymore when there were no tomatoes or cucumbers in sight.  These were served in some form in EVERY meal we were offered while in Turkey.

We got to the airport in good time and got checked in.  (They actually provided a shuttle what would hold all of us this time). After speaking with four different United Airlines agents, I finally got a friendly manager who waived the baggage check fee for the group since we were continuing on from an international flight.  We were grateful for that!

It was weird to walk through the airport with monolingual signage and everyone speaking in English again after being surrounded by so many different languages for the past week.  The trip really gave everyone in the group an increased awareness of different nationalities/ethnicities, particularly in the Istanbul airport where people from all over the world were in transit!  You would see some traditional clothing style and wonder...I wonder where there are from?

Arrival in Wichita was wonderful and everyone headed their separate ways.  It was a great trip with a great group of students!

"Welcome to Wichita"

The long flight home

We started our day at 5:30 am waiting for the shuttle bus to take us to the Antalya airport.  No breakfast available at 5;30, we had to wait to make it to the airport.  An hour ride later we arrived.  In Turkey you have to go through security screening twice, at first when you enter the building, and again after checking in...thus began a long day of standing in various lines.  We checked in as a group.  The Turkish Air desk was quite helpful.  One of my students had a damaged passport (electronically, but the supervisor took care of clearing him.)

We passed through security again and made it to the gate with about 10 mins to spare for some food and not many choices.  They served us cheese, tomato and cucumber sandwiches on the plane.  A short hour long flight and we were in Istanbul again.

A long walk between the domestic and int'l terminals and then a long wait to get assigned a departure gate.  We lined up again to go through passport control (this time they no longer required a slip of paper that was given to you upon entry to be returned.  I had packed this paper on my last visit and the passport controller officer had not been happy about that.)  We got lunch.  I got what I thought was pineapple pizza, but discovered it was potatoes instead.  It was ok, but I was a little disappointed.  I chose to get kayisli (apricot) juice, knowing that I wouldn't get it again until my next visit : )  I also got a box of Turkish delight (I didn't realize till I got home that I picked the fancy brand that we had discovered on our last visit.  I don't know how to say it, but we call it "guerilla glue"- ha!)

One of my students finally was able to find a prayer rug as a gift for his mother.  As a group we did not have a lot of shopping time on the trip and he just hadn't found anywhere that sold them.  I was glad he managed to get one at the airport (and that he traveled light enough that he had room to carry it on!)

We finally boarded, after going through another long gate security check (we had to talk to 3 different agents before being seated in the waiting area!)  Then a 12 hour flight.  We got lunch and dinner on the plane.  Dinner was served before landing, which was about 1 am Antalya time, so my stomach was more in the mood for breakfast than my fourth dinner for the day.  The flight was uneventful.  The lady by the window in my row insisted on leaving her blind open the entire time, so it was harder to sleep with sunlight pouring in the entire way, even when my body said it was past midnight.  The eye shades helped, but I was disappointed the sleeping meds didn't.

We arrived at 5:30 pm local time in Chicago.  Passport control had converted to electronic kiosks that speeded up the process considerably.  We waited over 30 mins for our luggage. 2 pieces arrived quickly, but our 9 other pieces were the very last bags off the plane.  Guess we were lucky they all made it.

We made it to the curb to wait for our hotel shuttle.  Weirdly we were all hungry again and I didn't remember a restaurant near the hotel from my last stay, so we grabbed some comfort food: McD's. I couldn't deal with greasy burgers, so I had to settle for an apple pie.

The hotel sent an 11 passenger van to pick up 11 of us, but then added 2 more passengers before picking us up.  There was NO WAY two more people were cramming in that van after adding all our luggage.  Two students graciously volunteered to wait for another shuttle (and eventually joined us at the hotel an hour later).  We all had a laugh that this was not a "Turkish Party Bus" with the great neon blue lighting that they all seemed to have.  After arrival at 8:00 pm (4:00 am Antalya time - 23 hours straight travel), we all crashed.

Social Events

The conference has hosted 'social events' throughout the week.  The last night was a boat cruise on the Mediterranean.  The whole group decided to go.  I was definitely NOT going.  The thought of being on a boat with my upset stomach and not getting back until 2:00 am, then leaving for the airport at 5:30 sounded like craziness to me.

Closing ceremony and awards

We arrived at the conference thinking that there were probably not awards because nothing had been mentioned on the webpage about them.  I discovered the first day that there were awards, but that there were no published criteria for them.  We were not particularly phased by this news one way or the other.  If we get awards, great!  If not, fine.  We did find out when we took the students out of committee for tours that if you miss more than 2 sessions you are disqualified and won't get your Certificate of Participation.  (This was apparently a huge deal for many participants because they all warned my students - don't be gone again or you won't get your certificate!  Most of my delegates really didn't care about a piece of paper confirming that they had been in Turkey, they had pictures to prove that.)

The closing ceremony was an interesting experience.  It was scheduled from 2:00 - 4:00. It started at 2:45 and last till 5:30.  All 100+ staffers were individually named and thanked, and each committee gave out its awards.  Interspersed with this were video highlights from the conference, all of which included clips from the various 'social events'.  (My head delegate suggested at the head delegate meeting that perhaps they should make a video highlighting the educational, academic side of the conference that would be suitable to show administration - good suggestion!)  The PR staff really outdid themselves.  The daily newspapers, twitter feed, video news updates in some of the 'future' committees, etc were very well done.  However, over 2 hours was more than enough.  I left early, after being challenged by staff at the door as I tried to exit (I suggested that I would ralph on their shoes if they didn't step aside).

The upside of the ceremony was that we won three awards:  Outstanding Delegate for Casey in the Scheidemann Cabinet (mock German govn't circa 1919) - he lit the Treaty of Versailles on fire on the last day of committee!  And Honorable Mention for Andrea in the Int'l Labor Organization - she never let Russia get away with crap in her committee. AND....Best Dancer to Casey.  Wish I had the video to load of this, but it in his own words..."it was tight".

WSU Delegation - ALL WINNERS in my book 

Andrea Honorable Mention in ILO

Casey - Outstanding Delegate in Scheidemann Cabinet (and best dancer)

A hard day

Andrea and I both ate something that disagreed with us on the next to last night at dinner.  We both started feeling miserable and threw up in the early evening then slept restlessly throughout the night.  She boldly got up and went to committee in the morning, but I chose to try to sleep some more, hopefully to feel better before our flight the next day.

I've had nothing but rice and bread to eat today and my stomach is ok, but I'm still very tired.  I think tomorrow will be a very long day as we head back home on our long trans-Atlantic flight.

Another tour with our guide

We had another sunny day on Thursday and the Heidelberg people (the other US college here) decided to go out on a similar tour to ours.  I called up our local guide again (his name is Alladin).  He brought a slightly bigger bus and we went out with 21 people, including several of the faculty advisors here.  We drove a long ways up the Tahtali foothills into the mountains  (it was too expensive to take the gondola).  There were some spectacular views, but we didn't get very many good pictures.  We saw the roman bridge again and Phasiles.

Goats wandering in front of our bus as we climbed the mountain

View of the mountain from the distance.

Our guide agreed to a price with us, and said 'if you aren't satisfied you don't have to pay'.  He really emphasized that he was honest and that was important for his business.  When I took out the money to pay him, he said he trusted me and I didn't have to count it out.

It was funny when we paid to see the ruins at Phaselis, our guide tried to negotiate a discount for us, but the gate guard wouldn't do it.  He said he would lose his job.  We said that was fine, in the US you pay the marked price and don't haggle.  Must be kind of tense for vendors and shoppers both when Turks shop in the US!

I love the chicken scratching around in front of the market.  They were all over in the smaller towns we drove through.

Resident cats

One of the surprises we had on the first day of the conference were the resident cats in the hotel.  We were eating lunch when one wandered right past our table.  It didn't beg or even pay much attention to us, it just strolled around the room perhaps looking for scraps, not with any great purpose.  A few minutes later we noticed what we thought was the same cat outside and wondered "how did he get out so quickly?".  Then we realized it was another cat.  There are at least 10 that we have been able to count and they are all over the hotel complex.  They are pretty well mannered (never on tables) and actually pretty affectionate.  This evening we actually saw one sprawled across the laps of three different delegates sitting on a couch in the lobby, soaking up all the love they were dishing out.

"hmmm...maybe I should go out for a while..."

"hmmm...anything interesting happening inside?"

The doors throughout the complex are automatic sliding glass doors.  I watched this cat to see if the sensor was sensitive enough to detect his presence.  He sat to the side for a few minutes, the moved himself directly in front of the door and voila, the doors opened and in he came.

Rainy conference day

We woke up today with the rain coming down again.  The weather report indicates that this will continue for the rest of the day.  It makes it somewhat easier for the delegates to get back to work in their committees.  We apparently created quite a stir when our delegation disappeared en masse yesterday to tour the ruins.  This morning our delegates are working to catch up on the work of their committees and to inject their own perspectives into the work that was done yesterday afternoon.

  

Rain coming down on the glass atrium in the lobby.

Kemer and the Roman Ruins

The tour that I arranged with our guide today was so much fun!  It started with a trip to the next town over, Kemer, which is larger than Goynuk.  We stopped for about 45 mins in the bazaar, which was nothing compared to the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul.  Everyone found a few more select gift items for family and friends and then we loaded up and drove up one of the nearby canyons to see an old Roman bridge.  It is over 2000 yrs old.

Main shopping street in Kemer.

Canyon outside Kemer

The river seemed low considering the recent rain. Our guide said they had not had much rain recently.  Sometimes when it rains for a long time, the river completely overflows its banks.

The 2000 yr old Roman bridge

Our group climbing around on the boulders (this would become the standard procedure throughout the afternoon).

After the canon we headed for the ancient city of Phaselis, also known as Lycia.  We first drove through the Kemer countryside and saw lots of lemon and orange trees as well as a lot of chickens running around loose.  There were also quite a few goats. 

Phaselis was first established in 690 BC.  It became part of the Roman Empire in 43 AD and was visited by the Emperor Hadrian in 129 AD (a special gate was erected in his honor).  It was devasted by several earthquakes over the centuries and eventually was abandoned around 1160 AD.

It was built on a pennisula and had three different harbors.

Remains of an aquaduct that supplied the city's water from a spring on a hill nearby.

There were no restrictions about climbing around and through the ruins. It was so cool to wander through rooms and around the foundational walls.

This was in the baths section.  You could see where the water was heated and the seats (we think) where people sat around the edge of the waters.

The sky was beautiful and the sun cast shadows on the walls.  The surrounding forests gave the whole settlement a very peaceful feel.  It was cool and there was lots of moss and other vegetation growing on the walls.

View of the valley and the stage area of the amphitheatre, as seen from the topmost seats.

Final harbor, the largest one on the opposite side of the settlement.

View of snowy Mt Tahtali.  We had hoped to take the gondola to the top of the peak (height over 2000 meters), but until the very end of the day it was shrouded in clouds.  Perhaps there will be another opportunity.

Our last stop was at this strange local site.  Its a hotel (often used by backpackers). Each of the rooms is made of crazy wood designs.  Its right on the river and has been washed away three times by floods.

All in all a great day!

Conference Day 2

The students had a good night's sleep last night and woke up ready to engage the other delegates again.  Several of us walked out to the beachfront again before breakfast.  It was beautiful.

Andrea and Autumn with the resort and pool in the background.

One of several pools

I managed to catch most of the delegates in their committees before they started up and got pictures.  There is absolutely NO opportunity to speak with them or get close enough for pictures once they are in session.  

Autumn  - UNEF

Andrea - ILO

DJ - ILO

Bryan - Shanghai Cooperation Org.

Usef - NATO

Taben - Security Council

The Security Council has the best room...bascially a veranda with a great view of the sea.

View from the Security Council room.

Cassie - Ad Hoc Expert.

Casey- Scheidemann Cabinet (Germany 1919)

Marisa - OSCE

Olivia - World Bank