Further investigations and discussions
The last two days have been occupied with more in depth investigation of the city in smaller groups, during which time we are supposed to have begun forming plans about the sort of work we would like to be producing. In honesty I am not very good at collaboration, and these days have been quite tough. I think though really that something has to be difficult sometimes to be worthwhile, and I’m trying to look at things positively. Hopefully as we begin to actually make some work over the next few days things will sort themselves out.
We have had some interesting lectures during the last two evenings, during which among other things we have learned that the letter “W” is banned in Turkey. No joke; it occurs in Kurdish but not in Turkish, so this ban is a way of getting at the Kurds by the back door. Weird and also tragic.
Last night (Thursday) we met a very friendly guy who took a few of us to a restaurant outside of the centre, which was once again something of a contrast in that it is the sort of place I would be busy working on during my previous existence as an interior designer; very European and certainly having little in common with the places we have been otherwise eating in. What is very noticeable is how polite and friendly people are – on two occasions I have been with locals who have not only ensured we knew where we were but who insisted on walking us right to the door of our hotel.
People take every opportunity possible here to stop and drink tea, and the waiters in our hotel seem to automatically bring a tray whenever we sit down for a minute. It’s a very strong kind of black tea which really needs sugar, and is always served in a small figure-8 glass as can be seen in some of the earlier photos. It’s a nice ritual which I could certainly get used to.
