Saturday, May 31, 2014

Meeting Chuck Hunter, a visit to the home of the U.S. Consul General in Istanbul

Consul General
Charles (Chuck) F. Hunter and me.
Note the spectacular suzani
in the background.
This year, we have a new Consul General in Istanbul, as Consul General Scott Kilner has retired from the foreign service and his three-year mission to Istanbul was finished.

Our new Consul General is named Chuck Hunter. He was born in Wisconsin, and attended Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, like his father and grandfather. Raised in California, he attended Stanford University for his M.A. and PhD. He speaks French, Arabic, and Turkish in addition to English. 

Chuck is an openly gay foreign service officer. This *is* history. After all, it was just a few years ago, that the policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was ended in the American military. That policy required gay people to be inauthentic if they wanted to serve their country. Those days are over.

My country is actively expanding the spectrum of Americans who represent it, and I find that to be fantastic. The American economic dream may be in trouble for the lower and middle classes, but gosh darn it, our democracy is becoming more diversified. Indeed, I read just the other day that a Native American woman, a member of the Hopi Tribe, was appointed to be a federal judge. If that isn't exciting, I don't know what is.
I love being represented
by a State Department diplomat
who is a young mother
of a 15-month-old child.
Go America Go!
Pictured above, me with
Deputy Principal Officer
Deborah R. Munnuti
Me and Zlatana Jovanovic-Dicker from Kosovo.
Zlatana is an architect and
married to American
Craig Dicker,
General Public Affairs Officer
of the American mission.
and me giggling at the fun
of being two Americans enjoying
exotic Turkish divans
and Middle Eastern tables
inlaid with mother-of-pearl
at the Consul General's home.
A pinch me, "We're living in Istanbul!" moment.
Celebrating a shared moment together
as Americans in Istanbul:
and our Consul General Chuck Hunter.
A wonderfully uplifting morning!

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Friday, May 23, 2014

A Fete for Fulbrights and Friends


 My Turkish Breakfast
If someone were to ask me what I did this last weekend, I could only reply "have breakfast." Besides the uplifting breakfast I had at Olga's on Sunday, I also held a small 'Fete for Fulbright Scholars and Friends' on Saturday.
Three incredibly dynamic young women
who inspire me:
Dr. Öykü Üluçay (she is Turkish),
Caitlin Nettleson, an American
about to finish her Fulbright year,
and Cassandra Puhls,
a Fulbrighter interested in
international education policy.
When I was young, it was always older people who inspired me. Lately, I've been finding it's the twenty-somethings (including my own children) who are touching my heart and filling me with hope for the future.

In Istanbul, I realized I knew several young Fulbright Scholars. I wanted to celebrate their excellence and give them an opportunity to meet or see those who are from a different year than theirs, plus introduce them to a few other dynamic young people who also inspire me. Not all of them could come. For example, one of them was getting married that day. 
"The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of highly competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the Fulbright program, competitively selected U.S. citizens may become eligible for scholarships to study, conduct research, or exercise their talents abroad; and citizens of other countries may qualify to do the same in the United States. 
The Fulbright Program is one of the most prestigious awards programs worldwide, operating in over 155 countries. Fifty-three Fulbright alumni have won Nobel Prizes; seventy-eight have won Pulitzer Prizes. More Nobel laureates are former Fulbright recipients than any other award program. 
The program was established to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills." ~ from Wikipedia, May 21, 2014 
I was grateful for a spectacular Spring Day
so we could enjoy the garden.
American Fulbrighter
Abigail Bowman,
and her Turkish friend
Mert Tuncer.
Fellow Iowan Abigail Bowman graduates this June with her M.A. in Ottoman History from Sabancı University here in Istanbul.

When Abby was in 7th grade, she had to write a paper on a revolutionary or a reformer. Her uncle suggested the founder of the Turkish Republic, Atatürk.

Abby's paper and presentation made it all the way to 8th place nationally in America's National History Day competition. The Atatürk Society of America was so thrilled that this young student honored their leader, they sent her to Turkey to experience the country when she was a 9th grader. A lifelong interest in Turkey began to grow.

Anybody who knows Turkey can imagine how Turkish people respond to Abby when she says she wrote a paper on Atatürk in 7th grade.
I was so happy Fulbrighter
Elizabeth Rocas could come.
She brought her visiting American
friend from the States, Jacqueline.
Fulbrighter Niko Dimitrioğlu
 and Elizabeth Rocas
discovering they both speak Greek.
What else does Niko speak?
English, French, Uyghur,
Afghan Persian (Dari),
and Manderin Chinese.
Visiting Texan Shane Largo
represented another
inspiring young American
living here in Istanbul
but unable to make it to breakfast:
her daughter
Katy Herrera.


These young Fulbrighters who are sent out into the world to contribute to, explore, research and develop expertise in different countries are such a wonderful investment in America's future. Frankly, it is such a strategic investment. What could save America more money on wrong moves internationally than subject experts who can advise policy makers on given countries and cultures?

You'd think that would be an easy sell in Washington D.C. You'd be wrong. America simply does not invest as much as other countries in its international experts, even much smaller countries like Russia! For example, the Russians have over 16 ambassadors with more than five years of experience, the Americans have none! (Political scientist Ian Bremmer, Twitter, May 2014).

Salon puts current funding for the Fulbright program at around $234.5 million a year. Next year, a $30 million cut is proposed.

There is no constituency to argue for increasing the funding, save the alumni. The Fulbright Program doesn't create any jobs at home. It doesn't result in hefty contracts for American corporations. 

So this blog post is a message in a bottle to my fellow Americans. When I read about how the Fulbright program funding is in trouble, and I know the quality of the people who go through the program, I want to share with my fellow Americans a wish to keep this program not just alive, but growing.

It seems like common sense to invest in folks who understand other countries and cultures deeply via a non-militarized way. Intercultural exchange is a way to promote a more peaceful and prosperous world. I ask Americans to support continued, and even increasing, funding of the Fulbright program from now until the future.


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Monday, May 19, 2014

Enjoying Olga's #Istanbulbreakfastclub


Watching the passing ships
in the magical morning light
I knew it was going to be a magical day just from the weather. The morning light was sublime. I missed the ferry just as it pulled away from the dock and didn't mind a bit. To sit down in this beautiful little ferry terminal, and watch the passing ships, was a moment of Zen stillness.
Passing by Maiden's Tower
and the Üsküdar Mosque
The half hour of still calm was broken only by my own laughter at myself when I looked down and realized my own silliness. I was carrying dress shoes across continents to wear to breakfast, forgetting that no one wears shoes in Turkish homes.
Enjoying the passing parade
of ferries on the Bosphorus
I was on my way to Olga Tikhanova Irez's home in Moda, a fashionable neighborhood on the Asian side of the straight. Olga is originally from Russia and is married to a Turk. She used to be a strategic management consultant and gave it all up when she realized what really made her happy was exquisite food: sourcing it, buying it, cooking it, and sharing it. She blogs at Delicious Istanbul and tweets at @Delish_Istanbul. 
Olga slicing the first of four
 fresh-from-the-oven
homemade loaves of bread
served that morning.
This was the third time I had been to Olga's breakfast. Once a month, she hosts a breakfast cafe in her home and 14 very lucky people get to come to breakfast. It always sells out. It is always hard to get a reservation and be one of the 14 (you have to fill out the form on her blog, and do so immediately when she posts her monthly invitation).

The first time I went I met all kinds of interesting locals, both Turks and expats, from all over the city. It's such a small intimate gathering that everyone had a chance to learn about everyone else there.

The second time I went she was just back from Morocco where she had gone to learn Moroccan cooking and she prepared a Moroccan breakfast for us. I pinched myself for being there!

One of the things that distinguishes Olga is her standards. I tease her that she could be the princess and the pea, so sensitive is she to any product that in less than top notch, and therefore unworthy of her table. If you sense a certain snobbiness...well, you are right.
Olga began to assemble her buffet.
Turkish breakfast is famous
for consisting
of real actual food.
Look at those fresh-baked savory pastries!
And that homemade hummus
made with lentils.
Oooh, and three different kinds of jams.
And not just any cheese,
but cheese sourced direct
from the farmers themselves.
The final magnificent spread.
Afiyet olsun!
Marc Gulliet, of @TurkeyReport
deserved a great breakfast.
 He and his wife had been reporting
from Soma, Turkey
all week
on the mining disaster.
Orhan Bozkurt,
near the Küçük Hagia Sophia
in the Sultanahmet area,
gave Olga's cooking the 'thumbs up.'
This month I co-hosted Olga's breakfast with her. She cooked breakfast and I shared with our guests how to use Twitter to update and globalize your personal learning network (PLN). It was great fun to compare experiences with people. Their energy completely uplifted me for the rest of the day - actually even now, as I write this.
At the end of the meal,
Olga hand-roasted and crushed
cumin, cardamon,
and other spices to make her
final batch of tea.
"It's a wonderful detox," she said.
I floated out of Olga's home, well fed, completely and spiritually uplifted; it just seemed to me that all of Istanbul was gloriously, gratefully 'alive.' 

After a week of horrible news from Soma, I felt a sense of gratitude for the sheer gift of life. It gave me a new energy to live to the fullest and take pleasure in small things.
I stopped on the way home to
'take tea' at the Moda Tea Garden
along the Bosphorus.
It's an Istanbul tradition to while
away hours here over a glass of Turkish tea.
I was too well-fed to join the long line
at Famous Ali's Ice Cream Shop,
another Moda neighborhood
beloved, weekend
tradition in Istanbul.
The trip home across the Bosphorus
was quiet, contemplative & joyful
thinking about the
amazing friends
and food
I had experienced that day.
I was and am grateful.



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