Fog Rising, Sun Shining, Lake Steaming (And Dinner with Turks)

Kemal Kirisci and family

6:55

Up at 6:45, the sun filling the living room, some fog on the lake because of the cool temperature, 49º and another perfect day forecast.  I am back to my Saturday morning routine, listening to Only A Game on NPR and I hope to take in a yoga class at 9:00.

With Kemal Kirisci

Yesterday was an interesting day, starting off with a brief but invigorating kayak paddle just as the fog was lifting, over to Long Point swimming area and then back home to Woodlawn.  Sometimes just being on the lake in the morning acts like an elixir, buoying one's spirits...it was that kind of paddle. When I returned, we again drove over to the CI to hear the final talk, by Kemal Kirisci, a former Head of the Political Science Department at Bosporus University in Istanbul. Now he is the Tusiad senior fellow and Director of the Center on the United States and Europe's Turkey Project at the Brookings Institute. He was by far the most interesting speaker of the week, a true academic with a realistic view of Turkey.  He did emphasize what a miraculous economic change has taken place in Turkey since the 1970's when I lived there.  Turkey is now an economic power, not only in the Middle East but the world, in deed, a model for the Middle East.  But he also warned that many of seemingly draconian, conservative laws passed by the current Erdogan government have led to protests like those that took place in Taxsim Square a couple of weeks ago.  The movement towards a more conservative and Islamist, less secular government challenges Turkish image as a model for the Middle East.  Only time will tell if Turkey returns to its roots, a secular, modern looking government, the kind envisaged by Ataturk when the Turkish republic was created.

Sinan Catches Bass

After the talk, we met briefly, and I mentioned I had taught at Robert College, left him my phone in case he wanted to get together, never expecting him to call.  Well, we had met his children earlier, towards the end of his talk because they were standing outside the Amphitheater, just like us.  I guess they told him about us, wanted to come and see our home, so he called to say they would love to come over late afternoon. So, Evie and I got busy, preparing for their visit, Evie making baklava, me picking up some local micro brews for Kemal, along with some Utz chips and dip for his children.  I picked them up at 5:30 and brought them to our house, where we sat on the porch talking about many mutual friends in Turkey. Both Kemal and his wife, Candan, are lovely people, and we really hit it off, perhaps because of mutual experiences  Their son immediately wanted to fish, so Evie took him out on the dock(he is fourteen) and he dropped his line and to his delight, he caught the largest bass of the summer, amazing.  Sinan later told Evie this was one of the best things that has ever happened to him. We then cruised over to Bemus in our boat, had reservations at the Seezurh House.  Evie called, told them we had special friends coming, so they held a table for us.  All Kemal wanted was a burger, fries and micro brew, so the Seezurh was the perfect choice.  They all ordered burgers and fries, enjoyed them. and loved the busyness of both Bemus and the restaurant.  A real American experience, quite different let's say from what they passed up, dinner at the Chautauqua Institutes's Atheneum and a evening with Billy Collins and Paul Simon.  We boated home at dusk, and they jumped at Evie's suggestion of a fire, so I built one in our fire pit while Evie made Turkish tea.  We had tea and baklava, which they loved, thought it was the best they have had in awhile, and sat outside around the fire, once again reminiscing about our lives in Istanbul, their children and ours, and how Turkey has changed. They are now living in Bethesda, outside of DC since Kemal will be at the Brookings Institute for the next five years.  Their two children go to the French International school in Washington, both are fluent in English and French as well as Turkish.  Neat kids.

Kemal with Sinan and Eta

Dinner at Seezurh House

I dropped them off at the CI around 10:00 and we now have become fast  friends; they have invited us to come see them in Washington and we would love to see them come back to this area.  They loved the CI, of course, were shocked by how beautiful it was.  There reaction to the the American Utopia: they felt it was more like Turkey, where houses are close together whereas the image of America is often of wild open spaces, with homes isolated from each other.  Interesting.

It was a great day, not what we expected when we got up.