Tuesday, August 19, 2008
turkey...more than beaches and baklava...
...but i seem to be enjoying these trappings the most while here! istanbul is an absolute feast for the senses - each and every one engaged fully at all times - and i am in sensory overload most of the time. for someone who is detail-oriented and fascinated by color/texture/fragrance, this place is a bonanza. the bazaar alone, regardless of any purchases, is enough to entertain one for hours, just perusing the modern wares in an ancient covered market. and the tea...everywhere i go, i am kindly and warmly offered a cup of tea...on the ferry ride across the bosphorous, by shop owners, and at fire departments (i happened to be passing by a rural firehouse near a beach along the black sea in the town of agva yesterday, and there were 2 firefighters trying their luck at table tennis - i would surmise they have been inspired by the olympics - and as the ball bounced away from them and toward me, i retrieved it, and the fire chief offered me some tea!).
long having wanted to visit turkey, and now here, i am thrilled. here is a non-sensical thought: china is not mongolia, turkey is not china, but mongolia and turkey share significant history and linguistic roots. it's true. both languages share a genesis in the altaic-turkic language group. although turkish uses the latin alphabet (very similar to the english one), and mongolian uses cyrillic (conveniently accessible to me as a former student of russian), some of the words and vowel harmonies are similar to identical across both languages.
and the history...while turkey has been home for the roman, byzantine, and ottoman empires, mongolia under the rule of CHINGGIS KHAN (not genghis...mongolians would not approve of this malignment of their cherished leader's name - it's CHINGGIS) dominated most of the asian steppe plateau, as far west as turkey - the largest empire in all of history, larger than the former soviet union, i believe. so, really, i am coming full circle here. throw in some russian influence as well (quite prominent here) and turkey encompasses all i've ever studied, where i've lived, and everything that interests me.
now on to mosques...i have never seen so many in my life, all in one place. in fact, i don't know that i have ever visited a place which is predominantly muslim. i have been to russia (orthodox), mongolia (buddhist), china (officially atheist but largely buddhist-influenced, with confucian as well)...so this is a new experience all around for me. places of worship always fascinate me, with their ornate facades and awe-inspiring caverns. the acropolis, parthenon, temple of nike, st. basil's cathedral, notre dame, st. peter's basilica, sistine chapel, church on spilled blood, forbidden city, aya sofya, the blue mosque, selmiye camii...and my simpler churches at home, all designed to bring us closer to worship...it is so interesting to me how different religions and faiths evolve, and how the places of worship have been designed to reflect and channel adoration of and for God. really, i think anthropology is looking better and better...languages, cultures, religions, traditions, beliefs...there's so much to explore.
long having wanted to visit turkey, and now here, i am thrilled. here is a non-sensical thought: china is not mongolia, turkey is not china, but mongolia and turkey share significant history and linguistic roots. it's true. both languages share a genesis in the altaic-turkic language group. although turkish uses the latin alphabet (very similar to the english one), and mongolian uses cyrillic (conveniently accessible to me as a former student of russian), some of the words and vowel harmonies are similar to identical across both languages.
and the history...while turkey has been home for the roman, byzantine, and ottoman empires, mongolia under the rule of CHINGGIS KHAN (not genghis...mongolians would not approve of this malignment of their cherished leader's name - it's CHINGGIS) dominated most of the asian steppe plateau, as far west as turkey - the largest empire in all of history, larger than the former soviet union, i believe. so, really, i am coming full circle here. throw in some russian influence as well (quite prominent here) and turkey encompasses all i've ever studied, where i've lived, and everything that interests me.
now on to mosques...i have never seen so many in my life, all in one place. in fact, i don't know that i have ever visited a place which is predominantly muslim. i have been to russia (orthodox), mongolia (buddhist), china (officially atheist but largely buddhist-influenced, with confucian as well)...so this is a new experience all around for me. places of worship always fascinate me, with their ornate facades and awe-inspiring caverns. the acropolis, parthenon, temple of nike, st. basil's cathedral, notre dame, st. peter's basilica, sistine chapel, church on spilled blood, forbidden city, aya sofya, the blue mosque, selmiye camii...and my simpler churches at home, all designed to bring us closer to worship...it is so interesting to me how different religions and faiths evolve, and how the places of worship have been designed to reflect and channel adoration of and for God. really, i think anthropology is looking better and better...languages, cultures, religions, traditions, beliefs...there's so much to explore.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
yunnan...the ceiling of the world
if tibet is the roof of the world, then its neighboring province yunnan may be the ceiling of the world. not quite the top, but i prefer to think of it as pretty close. i ventured to yunnan with a chinese tour group of ~50, and subsequently spent too much time on a bus with earplugs wedged into my auditory canals to obscure the obscenely loud microphone into which the tour guide seemed to be screaming, and too little time exploring the natural surroundings of the tibetan plateau's 'foothills' (?). for an independent-minded traveler, this could have been a truly miserable experience...and parts of it did indeed skirt the edge of insanity (countless visits to 'companies' producing tea, jade jewelry, traditional herbs, silver jewelry and utensils, coffee, dried flowers, and cosmetics - all in order to supplement the tour guides' incomes - they receive a cut from the companies' profits for bringing visitors and buyers in), perhaps the piece de la my insurmountable resistance being a droning singer attempting to reproduce 'my heart will go on' in (?) english. my least favorite tune on earth while trapped on a bus. so. my humor has thankfully returned after arriving back in humid changsha early this morning (1 am) after spending a pleasant day in kunming, or spring city, which offers eternally springlike weather complete with beautiful blooming flowers, eucalyptus trees (!!) and FRUIT! pomegranates, figs, ginseng (?), and a slew of produce i didn't recognize but devoured nonetheless. i have resolved to return to yunnan some day, sans tour, so i can adequately explore all the spots that appeal to a nature lover.
one really amazing facet of the tour, however, was the introduction to china's minority populations. the predominant 'ethnicity' of people in china is the han chinese, but there are an additional 56 minority communities calling china 'home'. yunnan province is home to a large concentration of minority peoples: naxi, bai, dai, hui, miao, tibetan, and mosu, to name a few. each has its own unique cultural traditions, and perhaps dialect, and the naxi lay claim to the only hieroglyphic written language still in use on earth. at this point, i will pose a question: if you can wrap your mind around the concept of minorities in china, where all people are considered 'chinese' and thus 'minority' does not infer nationality, race, or ethnicity per se, than what precisely does it mean to be a minority individual in china? from what i can surmise, there is very little in the way of phenotype or appearance of minority peoples, but i swear i can spot perhaps subtle differences in skin tone, facial structure (especially cheek and jaw lines), and eye color. the more obvious differences are in style of dress, head coverings, and methods to carry the adorable munchkins along through the narrow streets and bustling markets. i purchased a DVD of an amazing dance and music performance, a sort of rendition of each minority's traditions, along with some heart-rending music which i can't understand linguistically but feel that my soul has been singing for my entire life.
i am now back in changsha adjusting to the fact that i will be departing in less than 36 hours, flying high over the arctic en route to newark, where i will enjoy a brief rendezvous with my parents (God bless them, the saints, they are driving from VT to NJ to serve as a welcome wagon and pack horses to retrieve some of my luggage before i traipse immediately over the atlantic to turkey for a 2+ week vacation - as if spending the summer in china hasn't been enough...). so, as i pack frantically and contend with the blazing reality of excess baggage, i am also trying to be mindful of my impending separation from colleagues, friends, and a culture which continues to captivate but evade me in equal measure, its dance with the preservation of its heritage and the enormous momentum of an industrial revolution attempting coalescence around every corner.
one really amazing facet of the tour, however, was the introduction to china's minority populations. the predominant 'ethnicity' of people in china is the han chinese, but there are an additional 56 minority communities calling china 'home'. yunnan province is home to a large concentration of minority peoples: naxi, bai, dai, hui, miao, tibetan, and mosu, to name a few. each has its own unique cultural traditions, and perhaps dialect, and the naxi lay claim to the only hieroglyphic written language still in use on earth. at this point, i will pose a question: if you can wrap your mind around the concept of minorities in china, where all people are considered 'chinese' and thus 'minority' does not infer nationality, race, or ethnicity per se, than what precisely does it mean to be a minority individual in china? from what i can surmise, there is very little in the way of phenotype or appearance of minority peoples, but i swear i can spot perhaps subtle differences in skin tone, facial structure (especially cheek and jaw lines), and eye color. the more obvious differences are in style of dress, head coverings, and methods to carry the adorable munchkins along through the narrow streets and bustling markets. i purchased a DVD of an amazing dance and music performance, a sort of rendition of each minority's traditions, along with some heart-rending music which i can't understand linguistically but feel that my soul has been singing for my entire life.
i am now back in changsha adjusting to the fact that i will be departing in less than 36 hours, flying high over the arctic en route to newark, where i will enjoy a brief rendezvous with my parents (God bless them, the saints, they are driving from VT to NJ to serve as a welcome wagon and pack horses to retrieve some of my luggage before i traipse immediately over the atlantic to turkey for a 2+ week vacation - as if spending the summer in china hasn't been enough...). so, as i pack frantically and contend with the blazing reality of excess baggage, i am also trying to be mindful of my impending separation from colleagues, friends, and a culture which continues to captivate but evade me in equal measure, its dance with the preservation of its heritage and the enormous momentum of an industrial revolution attempting coalescence around every corner.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
genius at last...
fyi - i finally figured out/took the time/made the effort to put my photos in a web album, rather than overload you, gentle viewers, with images here. please tune in to: http://picasaweb.google.com/Erin.Loskutoff
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
