Why does Istanbul have my heart? I am not sure that I can easily explain it but I am sitting in my hotel room a few blocks from the Egyptian Spice Market, the Grand Bazaar, the Blue Mosque, the Galata Bridge, the Sultanahmet Square, Hagia Sophia and the Bosporus. I am listening to my favorite tape of Turkish music and packing my bags to go back to Bellingham. While I have been gone 33 days on this trip, I am homesick for my family and friends and my dog and cats. But I also don't want to leave here! It speaks to me somehow. The people I have met are really the clue to why I don't want to leave. The Turkish people I have met are kind, considerate, love their children and are proud of their country. They are in a tough situation now with the world problems centered most days on Turkey to solve the problems of Syria. I have been here 6 times and have been a tourist most of that time and a consultant other times. So the people I have met have been in education or government positions. But I also speak to shop keepers, hotel workers, restaurant personnel and others who are proud of their country but also working long hours to support their families. The problems of the world have affected the tourist industry here for over a year and yet this morning as I had breakfast, the dining room was crowded with people from all over the world - but only a few Americans. The Turkish people are hard workers. The refugee program in place before Syria was a problem and housed Iraqi and Afghanistan refugees,received praise from the UN and European Union. Refugees then lived in dormitories with their families and went to work. They were supported by the Turkish government for two years and then had to either become a citizen of Turkey or leave. That program worked well and refugees for the most part were happy. But the big refugee crisis dumped 2 million more refugees on the shores of Turkey, it was over whelming. Can you imagine how Bellingham would handle even 1000 refugees?
While I am not a politician and hope that I have understood the situation here, I do know that the people I have met in government and education are trying their best to provide for the refugees. But back to why I am leaving my heart in Istanbul. The reason has many parts: I have prayed in all of the major mosques of Istanbul and been respected while I was doing that. So it is a spiritual experience for me. I have watched workers hustling to sell their wares and engaging me in a discussion of the US and their cousin who is in "Cincinnati" - "that is close to Seattle, no?" So I have found Turkey to satisfy my social needs. I have prayed in the Catholic Church where the Pope came at Christmas last year and blessed the small church. Turkey is a crossroads for multitudes of every religion and belief so I feel free here to worship. I have watched people in their neighborhoods renovate their neighborhood center and plant flowers and trees. I love the artistic feel of Istanbul and pride in the neighborhoods. I have smiled at beautiful little children who are so innocent of the world and smiled at their mothers and told them how beautiful their children are. I did that at breakfast when I saw a mother of 4 boys trying to keep one of them from dumping a glass of water on his brother. She smiled with a big grin when I told her how handsome her 4 sons were. So I love the family - centeredness of life here. I love to shop so there probably isn't any bazaar any better than the Grand Bazaar. Shopping makes me happy! And the other day I sat in a coffee shop with mostly men smoking" Hubbly Bubbly" pipes and discussing politics over coffee and had my coffee grounds read. I am going to be healthy again and return to Istanbul many times! It has been told in the coffee grounds and I believe! I will be back!
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