Ankara Week 1

The first thing that struck me on entering Turkey was 1. How packed the houses are. 2. How nice the people are 3. How different the culture is and 4. The toilets! Living in an all girl’s dorm, we are separated from all the guys in our group, mostly doing our own thing except for the internship and the outings. With our dorms curfew, at first the girls had to be back by 8 pm and the boys didn’t have a curfew, it now has been extended to 10 pm. Everyone dresses in a very modest fashion, while I packed for this, the clothes I brought seem quite garish in front of the dress of all the girls in the internship and at the hospital.

When everyone first showed up to the internship, the hospital seemed to be shocked, not really knowing what to do with us. They have done their best to come up with a curriculum for us to follow. However expectations versus reality, I thought that we would be sitting in on surgeries and shadowing doctors so to find we sat most of the day listening to lectures seemed to be quite disappointing. However, the enthusiasm of our mentors is unrelenting, making us engaged in the lectures.  I have not had too much time to explore, working from 9 to 5 and having a curfew at 10. Last night, we were invited to a Turkish woman’s apartment for a traditional Turkish meal. We had a yogurt soup, followed by a meat and vegetable stew cooked in a special vessel, yogurt milk, grape leaves stuffed with rice, and finally baklava and Turkish tea. Filled to the brim with food and the kindness our host provided, it so far has been the best experience here.

The next day was another long day of biochemistry lectures. Afterwards we were taken to my room-mates family’s house. Yet again we were welcome with open arms. After many rounds a food, one of her aunts offered to do a special healing. Two of the girls went, and the aunt focused her energy on them, taking any negative energy from the aura around them. After much talking and laughing, we left the house and explored the area around. We found ourselves by a carnival and a vendor did tricks with ice cream as he handed them out to the girls.

Today we toured a laboratory including rat/mouse surgery, microbiology and genomic test. After lunch we went to the International Anatolian Health Federation. There an OBGYN doctor gave us a lecture on patient-doctor communication. He was very passionate and funny with a definite affinity towards cats (seeing as half the lecture focused on cat analogies). Right after that we were sent to one of the woman researcher at the Turgut Ozal University’s friend house for dinner. We ate and played with the little kids and then came back to the dorms.

Today we did DNA isolation at the university. Afterwards we went to haji a mosque and tomb honor of a famous prophet. We toured the town and had dinner there. The next day we went to Ankara Castle and visit the back to haji for some of the students to pray. Then we went to visit the home of a famous poet and a prophets tomb.

On Saturday we went to the Ankara zoo. And then went to shop at Tsyckli. There we saw protestors in the street. While it started peaceful, while we were inside eating, police began throwing tear gas into the crowd. Things quickly began to escalate and as soon as there was a break in the gas, we made a run for the subway station. Everyone made it back safely, thankfully but we all seemed a little shaken up by it. That night we went to the Turkish Olympics. There are no tickets for the program so everyone had to be there early to fight a mob for seats. On a hot day in Turkey, nothing feels worse than having hundreds of people pushing against each other sweating and yelling for an hour. However, when the program began it was worth it. The sense of national pride and camaraderie was over welcome. All the dancing and singing was amazing and all the people sang along with them. It was amazing being able to take part in a huge celebration of Turkey.