From Eskişehir—

To all of you who have been checking, I apologize for my hiatus. A combination of a mild case of jet-lag, work, and electrical troubles (I will detail below) have prevented me from blogging. I hope to begin blogging regularly. We both know that it's not going to happen, though.

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

Cell Phone Mishap

When I woke up this morning around 10:00, I could not find my cell phone. I spent a good thirty minutes looking all over the house. About then, mom gets home. When I asked her about my pants from yesterday, she said they were in the wash. As I'm sure you've already guessed: my cell phone was washed. 

In a mad rush, I purchased the Droid Charge (the salespeople at the Verizon Store were very convincing). Tomorrow, I'll get to experience the 4G LTE coverage in Chicago. Apparently, it's supposed to blow my mind. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to the layover. 

Aside from that minor setback, today has been pretty laid back. Finished the last minute financials, finished packing, cleaned my room, sent some business e-mails... that sort of thing. I'm going to attempt to upload video footage from my Flip sometime today. 

Packing!

Yeah, yeah, I know. I've been severely neglecting my blog. In my defense, I've been incredibly busy. I've finally finished high school, and I'm officially finished at the Wellness Centre. A lot of endings, but a lot of new beginnings as well. 

These past few days in particular have been ridiculous. Thank you notes consumed my life for much of the time, and when I wasn't doing thank you's, I was trying to cram this whole summer into two weeks. I applied for and have obtained my business visa for Turkey, and yesterday I worked out most of my financials for the trip (which was more work than you'd think). We've purchased a small pharmacy, pictured below, for my trip. Essentially, any minor ailment or mild discomfort that may occur on this trip is covered. 

   

My own personal Pharmacy

I've slowly begun to pack. I'm laying out my clothes and such, trying to decide what is necessary and what is not. It's really hard to decide. I feel like I'm going to forget something really vital. Like underwear. 

I've packed all of my pharmacy into one suitcase. My mom thinks that I need two. I'm not sure that I do. I'm almost positive I can fit all of my belongings into our one giant suitcase, but whatever. Two works just as well. 

Tomorrow at 11:00 at have a meeting with Lisa. We're going to chat about the trip. I'm still fuzzy on some of the finer points of this trip, but overall, I'm pretty excited. 

Here's the low down so far:

Friday, I depart from Des Moines at 18:10. We're going to arrive incredibly early. My friend and fellow intern, James Lindgren (Bangladesh), said that his flight from DSM to Chicago was cancelled, so we want to ensure that I have ample time to drive to Chicago if that becomes necessary. I flight out from Chicago around 22:00 and arrive in İstanbul at about 17:00 the next evening. I finally arrive in Ankara, my final destination, around 20:00. From there, my schedule becomes much more fluid. I'm not sure about what will happen the first few days as I acclimate and am orientated. I'll be sure to post things for you to read and follow along with. I'll likely post a video later tonight or tomorrow to see if I can get it working. I'm not nearly as tech savvy as I appear. 

I'll post some more about my schedule tomorrow with the video.

İyi geceler!

Andrew

27 Days

Holy neglectful. I apologize for my hiatus. I had intended to post on here more frequently to accustom myself to posting everyday, but my busy schedule has prevented me from doing so. Presently, it is a a little past midnight on the morning of the 7th, the day of Orientation. I'm anticipating all of the things I'm going to learn about my trip later today. I will update with details as soon as I can, which may or may not be soon at all.

I've finally received my letter of invitation to my host center, the last piece of my visa application puzzle. After asking Lisa a few questions tomorrow, I will be able submit my visa by Monday and hopefully receive it during the week.

On Wednesday, I received my typhoid vaccine injection. Very, VERY painful. More so than Gardasil. It still is a little achy and it's early Saturday morning. The week before I obtained my visa photos. Much like those on my passport, the look like mug shots. I appear a hardened and bloodthirsty criminal. I apparently cannot take a good serious photo. There go my dreams of being a model...

Unrelated to my internship, I have finished 2 of my classes in the past week. Most recently, today in fact, I completed the graduation speech that I had to submit to Connell for selection. Senior year is drawing to a close far too quickly. I have a many things to do before the year is up and I feel I'm running out of time.

For anyone who is curious about my Turkish, it is almost non-existent at the moment. I intend to pick it up later tomorrow. I have some serious catching up to do in the next couple weeks. Let's hope that I can fly through the program like I did Italian and still retain all the vital information.

Teşekkürler,

Andrew

Visa Application and Health Information

I received a large packet of information today from Lisa. It's, well, a lot of stuff to take in. I have a lot of reading and preparation to do.

For you folks concerned with my health, there are relatively few health concerns:

• Measles (I'm up to date on my MMR... I think)
• Highly Pathogenic Avian Flu — H5N1 (that's 4 more than H1N1!!!) <-- that's sarcasm... it has nothing to do with the number and H5N1 rarely infects humans.
• Hepatitis A & B (Vaccinated!)
• Typhoid (I may need to get this one)
• Rabies
• Your typical African/Middle-Eastern mosquito-borne diseases:
• Malaria
• Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever
• West Nile (I'm from Iowa. I can handle this one)
• Lastly, your standard Middle-Eastern water- and vector-borne parasites:
• Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
• Visceral Leishmaniasis (rare!)
• Schistosomiasis

Yes, to answer your question, I'm doing this to scare you. I will be fine. I promise. We have health insurance and everything. Plus, who wouldn't want a few souvenir Leishmania to share with their friends when s/he got back?

I don't know if you any of you have applied for a work visa, much less to Turkey, but let me tell you, it's a daunting process. It is a very formal application, and just reading it makes me nervous that I'm going to screw something up. At the moment, I'm reading the paperwork and preparing to begin the application; however, I cannot submit my visa application until I receive the formal invitation letter from CIMMYT.

This whole process is making this internship a reality for me. I think with high school coming to an end, I'm becoming more aware of what I am doing this summer as I have more time to think about it.

As I mentioned before, intern orientation is on the 7th of May. Lisa has submitted a list of frequently asked questions to the centers and we should be receiving answers that day. If you have any questions, just let me know. I'll be happy to answer if I can. Otherwise, I will find out much more on the 7th.

40 days!

Çok Teşekkürler,

Andrew

42 days...

Let the countdown commence!

I have 42 days before I depart for Ankara. 

For those of you who are curious, here is my itinerary:

June 3rd, 2011

Des Moines to Chicago O'Hare

Departure  18:10

Arrival  19:30

Approx. Time Elapsed  1:20

Chicago O'Hare to İstanbul

Departure  20:20

Arrival  17:05

Approx. Time Elapsed  10:45

İstanbul to Ankara

Departure  19:00

Arrival  20:05

Approx. Time Elapsed  1:05

Now that the travel dates are set, I'm expecting my visa application materials from the World Food Prize Director of Youth and Education Programs, Lisa Fleming. You will likely see references to Lisa later.

Further, on May 7th, we have an internship orientation. It will be great to have more specifics about the internship (I'm still as fuzzy as you on some things). I'll be sure to update as I learn more.

Lastly, I'm sure most of you are aware of my Turkish-learning endeavors. Let's just say it sucks. With its noun harmony, irregular syntax and lack of articles, Turkish is far and away the most difficult language I've attempted to learn. I don't expect to be remotely fluent by the time I depart. Hopefully, I can catch on quick once I'm there. Much of my Easter weekend will be devoted to study of Turkish.

More to come—

Teşekkürler,

Andrew