I know I haven’t written for a
bit, but I’ve been getting my feet in Bursa (and a wifi connection for the
laptop is a 25 min bus ride away haha!)
But a quick update. I left DC on
the 8th and arrived in Turkey on the 9th. Two flights: DC-Munich & Munich-Istanbul. From there, we hopped on a bus to a ferry for
a three hour drive to Bursa. If not for
the bus, Istanbul is only an hour and a half from Bursa, but what can you
do?
In Bursa I live with a family of a
24 y/o son, Mehmet Memiş; two parents; and the Mehmet’s paternal
grandparents. Mehmet’s married sister,
Safiye is often with us during the evening as well along with her son who’s 7, another
cousin Ece (ay-zheh), and Mehmet’s
girlfriend Yağmur. We live about
25 minutes away from the city center in a village called Alaşar
(al-ah-shar). The father and grandfather are both orchard
farmers with 300 Olive trees, plus almond, walnut, mulberry, lemon, green fig,
black fig, plum, and cherry trees. Then
in the garden are these vicious peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants,
parsley, mint, grapes, and lots of other garden vegetables that I couldn’t
recognize. Plus the chickens running
around and the giant carp in the fountain.
So I live on what could safely be described as a farm, and it is
wonderful! It is far enough outside the
city to escape but close enough to be accessible.
Bursa is a fascinating city. As the first Osman (Ottoman) capital, it is
very historic. It was traditionally
known for its weaving (especially silk) and for being an oasis west of the
interior of Turkey. Bursa is known as Yişil
(green) Bursa because it really is green.
The city is dominated by Uludağ (U-lu-da’a. Literally: great/historic mountain) which is
the source of several springs, both cold and hot.
In 1970, Bursa had about 200
thousand people. Today, it has 2.5
million, and is known for manufacturing.
Fiat has a factory, and there are many other car companies here. The city is also home to many soft drink and
bottling companies, drawn to the spring water and the industrial infrastructure
already in place. With all this
manufacturing, the pollution is pretty bad, but the mountain really makes up
for it, even if it’s smoggy.
So this is the quick over view of
where I live, but I hope you keep reading to see some of what I actually do
haha!
Görüşürüz! (see you later!)
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