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Banks and Planes
I got up bright and early today to make another run of the banks and travel offices. My Amex card never did arrive at their local office, though I don't think the card would have been much use to me. The first bank I went to would not cash my travelers checks because I had already signed them a couple days earlier at a bank that wanted to charge me ten percent commission. I went down the street to a different branch of Akbank and they were happy to cash them signed or not. Then there was the KLM office where they informed me that the date change that I made while in Munich would cost me a cool US150. I still have to get back to them on that one. Finally, I still needed some more cash to get me through the week. I didn't want to leave for the countryside without a little more dough. Finally the local Citibank was happy to give me some money. They wondered why my new card was sent to Kocbank instead of Citibank and I wondered the same. I got all that done in just enough time to run to Vakko.
Vakko
Every grand city has at least one good meeting place for those who want to rendezvous downtown. Gamze told me to meet her at this famous store at precisely noon. There were a few other familiar-looking people standing around there, but finally at a little past the hour, Gamze and Irfan showed up. It has been three years since I saw them, but they really haven't changed much. With my long beard and disheveled hair, I was a little worried that they may not know me. We were well met and away in Irfan's car in no time.
Eymir Lake
As if the fortress of METU's main campus is not enough, the school also owns a quiet little lake in the countryside. We showed our IDs and got entrance to one of the restaurants which sits right on the water. Fish and chips were the meal of the day, but the conversation was more important.
Gamze and Irfan
When I first met them, Gamze and Irfan were preparing for their first semester at the prestigious METU or ODTU. They were worried about whether their language skills would be sufficient to get them through the all-English classes held at METU. Now, three years later, they are looking at their last year at the big institution. They still worry about their lack of proficiency in English, but with a little luck, Gamze will be a chemistry teacher soon. Irfan may get a masters somewhere before he settles into an engineering-business type job. They seem to be pretty happy with their lives and I am happy for them.
Economics
Some things have changed a lot since I saw them last, though. The Turkish lira, for one, has gone from about 40,000 to the dollar to over 270,000. They told me that people must change their money into dollars or marks if they intend to keep it very long. Still, Gamze and Irfan say what I have heard before: Turkey is a great country. It is a beautiful country with a lot of great things going for it, but there are just a lot of messed up people. The rich and powerful horde their riches and power. The poor try to steal wherever they can. It is not always pretty.
Even after Gamze left, I continued to steer the conversation with Irfan toward depressing subjects. I remembered how I used to dwell a lot on religion, trying to find the right one to set the world right. Religions generally are just bad painkillers, though. The real problem is economic. Nothing can take away the pain of being poor and knowing the rich don't deserve it. For every rich person in Turkey, there are five more who are poor. For every rich person in America, there are five more that we have stepped on somewhere else. I don't think that the balance can last too long in a system like this.
Revisit
All serious subjects aside, our short visit was quite nice. I truly hope that they can visit me in Chicago some day so that I can repay the favor. Until then, Gamze and Irfan will be in my mind every time I hear news from this side of the world. It makes the evening news seem a little more real when I can imagine one of my friends being there.
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