So, here's the trip thus far:
I arrived in Des Moines more than early enough to fly to Chicago. I had heard from my friend James that his flight was cancelled. It made me a little worried. Apparently, though, with good reason. My flight from DSM to ORD was cancelled. They stuck me on a later flight. So—my once three hour layover to trek Chicago O'Hare was shortened to fifty minutes. Greeeeat. I sprinted (I'm not remotely exaggerating, mind you. We arrived late, so I had even less time, and I had a long way to go) the entire way to internat'l terminal. Arrived just barely in time only to hear, "Give me your ticket, please. We're overbooked."
Thankfully, I got a seat on the plane. 6A. THY (Türk Hava Yolları—Turkish Airlines) is great. Really nice people. I must admit, part of it may have been that seat 6A is in Business Class. It was fantastic. I ate so much. You will see a lot of pictures of food here to come. This is mainly because Turks are so proud of their food (and rightfully so—it's delicious).
I arrived in İstanbul (pronounced i - STAN - bool, not I - stun - bull) at about 17:00. At 19:00, after wandering around the airport and getting lost a number of times (surprising for me) and finally finding my gate, we departed for Ankara (AHN - carr - ah).
I arrived 20:00ish, after being fed another meal (Thus far, 5 course dinner on the plane, 3 course breakfast on the plane, 1 more dinner on the domestic flight). I was greeted by Dr. Amer Dababat, my mentor, and the driver/logistician from CIMMYT, Murat Ergüney (moo - RAHT AR - guun* - ay). They took me out for dinner. Again. Really, though, it was worth it. I ate Çorba (CHOR - bah—soup—lentil with some lemon) and İskender (Iss - Can - Der**). Delicious. Lezzetli! That night, I stayed with Dr. Dababat. I slept in his son's room. Quite comfortable. I slept very well (and continue to... my ability to sleep anywhere could prove to be a curse, though). The following day, I was acquainted with the typical Turkish breakfast—Ekmek (bread), Nar Suyu (Pomegranate Juice), some sort of delicious hazelnut spread (other than Nutella, though we had that as well), Beyaz Peynir (white cheese—we say Feta, but really, it originated in Turkey during the Ottoman Empire—so did "Greek" yoghurt), and Çay ("chai" - Turkish word for tea). It was excellent. We then went to the office and I got a brief tour of the CIMMYT/ICARDA office. Afterward we ate lunch at the park across from Dr. Dababat's apartment. It is called Göksu (Gerk***- Sue). I had Köfte (Kerf***- Teh), or meatballs. Very Turkish. After spending time in the park, we got food and went back to the apartment, ate, then Dr. Dababat left for Adana. I stayed in his apartment that night, and Murat collected me in the morning.
Monday, I had my official orientation at the office. It was great to meet everyone. I remained with Seher Türkyilmaz-Sinclair for most of the day. Was responsible for me. Mainly, I acquainted myself with Cereal Cyst Nematodes (mostly my research) and Small Cereal Pathogens—especially, fungi. Yes, yes, I find it very interesting. That night, I ate with Seher in the mall. Later, I met with Didem Sağlam (Saaaaah**** - lam). She and I took the train to Eskişehir that night. That's where I am right now.
Tuesday was reasearch orientation. I began using the microscopes digging through dirt samples to collect cysts. Juvenile nematodes burrow into the roots of plants and feed. When the females begin to reproduce and are fertilized, they swell into white, misshapen spheres. Like a lemon, you could say. Eventually, the turn brown. That's what I'm looking for. I could really only compare them to popcorn kernels. You know, the brown part on the inside? Except really really tiny. They look like specks of dust to the naked eye. Didem and I and Erdoğan (another researcher) are harvesting cysts (the egg filled female bodies) to hatch the eggs and research the juveniles.
That pretty much has you up to date. I will be sure to upload pictures to the blog tomorrow. For now, it's late and it takes way to long to upload them here.
İyi geceler—
Andrew
Notes on Turkish pronunciation:
* ü - close to oo as in boo. If you know any French, exactly the u in tu.
** r's at the ends of words are rolled, but in such a way that you're almost whistling. I suggest you try and listen to it on the internet or something
*** ö - pronounced like "er" in water as a British person would say is. Like Harry Pott(er=ö).
**** this g is not pronounced. Extends the sound before it.
People you should know:
Lisa Fleming: Program Director
Dr. Amer Dababat: My mentor—a research scientist
Murat Ergüney: CIMMYT driver and logistician—funny guy
Seher Türkyilmaz-Sinclair: She handles all the business for CIMMYT
Alex Morgounov: Russian-American—director of CIMMYT and head of IWWIP
Didem Sağlam: Ph.D. Student—I am effectively her assistant
Erdoğan Tuğsuz: researcher with Didem—hysterical
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