Wandering Woodwards: Meanwhile in Turkey

Roy with his Turkish staff, Doruk and Ufuk

This is Roy. I arrived in Ankara in late September and stayed in a hotel for a month while searching for an apartment. Incidentally, there's a direct Turkish Airlines flight from Houston to Ankara; fyi, Turkish Airlines is pretty good, even in economy class, and they offer some great deals to Europe and the Middle East. Getting an apartment in Turkey required that I have a local bank account, which requires that I've applied for a Residence Permit, which requires standing in line at the police station and supplying a great amount of information (mother's name...). The language is a tremendous barrier, but fortunately I had great help from my staff, especially Doruk my deputy, and lots of patience. It all worked out and by the end of October I'd found an older furnished apartment in the downtown embassy district that looks into the grounds of the Polish embassy; about a 15 min taxi ride of to work.

Market in small town near Ankara

Stream in eastern Turkey

My job is pretty much office-bound writing plans/procedures and attending meetings. We're to build a large natural gas pipeline and construction won't begin until 2015 as we're still in the planning phase; at peak the job may have 15,000 workers and could last until 2019.

In late October during the Islamic holiday of Bayram here, (also called Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice - this commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his young, first born, and only son Ishmael, in obedience to a command from God (from Wikipedia)) our office practically shut-down, so I flew to Eastern Turkey and with two drivers and two vehicles, (a project requirement) began the long 1000 km (600 mile) drive back to Ankara from Georgia (the country) along the proposed pipeline ROW (right a way). Lots of very rural villages and much of the country is high-elevation grasslands that looks like Wyoming, with tall snow-capped mountains always in the distance. It wasn't all work and no play, as I brought my fly rod and was able to stop and fish a few times and I started my Turkey bird list (now at 56 species).

I worked in Ankara for a month in 1997 and I have been amazed at the growth of the city (now about 6 million), and the optimism and good work ethic of the young people. In 1997 practically everyone smoked and did so all day long in the restaurants, on busses, and in the office, but they've passed laws forbidding smoking in public buildings that makes it much more tolerable for me. The food is great and taxi rides can be traumatic (I just close my eyes and rest or look out the side window - you don't want to know what's going on in front of you). The people are very, very friendly and helpful with a great sense of humor. Out our apartment window we can see ruins that date to the Hittites, perhaps 4,000 years ago, and also Greek (Alexander the Great stayed in Ankara on his way through), fantastic Roman structures, and crusader and Ottoman structures. The old part of the city where we live has many twisting narrow streets lined with amazing shops. Our area is relatively upscale and there are 2 Starbucks within a 5 min walk and many other European and U.S. high end stores (yes, MacDonald's is here with Burger King, KFC, Arby's and Dominoes Pizza).

Australia was great and this has been a significant change, but I needed one more adventure. Having Deb with me will be wonderful as we can explore together and find service opportunities through the small local church.