It's a Zoo In Here!

Most of us students have gotten into the habit of sleeping in during the morning hours. While each student’s waking time varies, some students wake up later than others. Some wake up pretty early on a consistent basis, such as myself. I like to go running every other morning by the Sea of Marmara. It’s not too crowded, but there are pretty of runners so one does not feel as though they are alone in the universe. The peacefulness of the ocean along with the steady pitter-patter of footsteps on concrete creates a soft lullaby unlike any other. But this morning was different. We had to wake up early in order to go to the Aquarium. One may ask how the aquarium is remotely educational to those who are studying the exotic culture of Turkey. We have noted a strikingly disturbing trend in Turkey (other than the crazy driving); the behavior of most children in Turkey is, on average, marginally acceptable at best. In America one often hears the scolding of parents, telling little children why they can’t wipe sunscreen on walls, or why it isn’t ok to draw on the walls with crayons. In Turkey this scolding behavior is absent and it’s a zoo. What the kids want to do they do and the parent’s just shrug their shoulders. Perhaps this parenting style is just the remnants of past parenting and they don’t have any other parenting skills. There is (as we were informed) a lack of books of proper parenting (if there such a thing) in Turkey. So what we did at the zoo was study the interaction between Turkish children and their parents and if possible, try to come up with any hypothesis as to the reason for that interaction. Some thought that the kids seemed much more independent than kids in America and it was just an adaptation to that behavior. Others (as in I) seemed more like the kids friends than parents. Regardless, the fact there was a lot of really cool swimming stuff was just an innocent coincidence. Along with the really huge mall outside the aquarium with lots of cloth shops and IKEA. Alas, all things must come to an end and we left. We thought the adventure was over but in reality it had just begun. The tram and metro was packed and it was a struggle to go anywhere. We made it back to our temporary home and had class. We discussed Article 301, which dictates that it is a crime to insult Turkishness. There are other laws that we discussed as well but in general that law in used more than others to try people the state finds troublesome. After that we went to Doy-Doy where Aydin showed us some card tricks and we ate really great food and called it a night.