LaLa Land

After 8 days in Silopi, Bob, Selman, and I returned to Istanbul last night. All in all, it was a great trip to the Kurdish east. Bob came down with a belly bug that lasted several days but he has lived in Turkey for 5 years so it didn’t keep him down for long. By the time he was feeling better and the skip had returned to his step, we ate at a lahmacun restaurant in Silopi that served up a mean E. coli! He and I both got sick, but my Twinkie American gut really succumbed to it. I felt bad the first day, but the second day I was dehydrated and couldn’t stand without feeling faint. Since we would be traveling the next day, Bob, Selman, and Gafur took me to the doctor. There I received a shot in the bum (of what, I’ll never know) and a rehydrating IV with antibiotics from a fellow who looked all of 16 and had the bedside manner of a Rottweiler. Then they sent me home with the IV. I was so happy to be there! The whole Tatar family was so sweet and stood around my bed tsk-ing and tutting that I was so sick. Sema had taken care of her mother a few months ago when she was having serious heart problems and she took good care of me. By the evening I was feeling much better and yesterday I had much more energy to make the trip back to Istanbul.

We left Silopi yesterday morning. The sight of Selman’s mother, Leyla, standing in the doorway with tears in her eyes is seared into my memory. What a sweet woman. They were all so wonderful. It was almost uncomfortable to receive so much attention! Every morning we would wake up to a beautiful breakfast and freshly shined shoes. They constantly brought us tea, Turkish coffee, and snacks of nuts, pomegranates, oranges, apples, and breaded nutty desserts. They would throw a fit if I tried to clean up the dishes or enter the kitchen! I did manage to help make kofte and bread. My finished products were darn ugly compared to theirs. The women do amazing needle work and make beautiful crafts. They were so patient with me and my poor Turkish skills and we managed to have lots of laughs.

Selman has lots of wonderful friends and we would sit around in the evenings over snacks, tea, conversation, and music. Hardly anyone drinks alcohol in much of the Muslim world. There is one bar in Silopi and it would not do to be seen there. Selman’s friends are in their mid-20’s and have no tolerance for alcohol use. It’s very refreshing and makes me realize how ingrained it is in our Western culture. Of course, I wouldn’t want to see many of these folks without their tea and cigarettes! Cigarette smoke is difficult to escape here and generally the only places one cannot smoke are on buses and airplanes and in airports.


Yesterday we spent several hours in Mardin, a beautiful old city built on the saddle between two mesas. The city is all built in light stone with winding walkways and beautiful stone walls. The topography drops steeply to the plains below and makes for a dramatic and expansive view.





Mardin is an old Assyrian city with many old churches from 400-600 C.E. These Christians faced considerable oppression to practice their beliefs. The two churches and one monastery that we visited are still in use. They were powerful old places built out of large stones with frescoes of saints and the Virgin Mary.



We then took a bus to Diyarbakir and spent several hours visiting with Selman’s aunt, where I enjoyed a hot shower and a Western toilet! (The Turkish toilets are built into the floor and took me a little time to get used to.) Selman’s cousins and their friend Eşref (at left) took us out for künefe and then to the airport. Within four hours we were happily back at Bob’s house in Istanbul. We slept in this morning and made real coffee. I will do some work today and enjoy not going anywhere, just being in Istanbul.