Day 6: The Bus Ride and Rumi

yesterday was slightly less eventful. we woke up early and piled all of us stuff onto our bus to drive over 8 hours to antalya, a city on the coast. the ride there were full of sleep and beautiful scenery.

halfway there we stopped in the town of mevlana, which is the most conservative city in the turkey. mevlana was named after the first whirling dervish, who is also known as the poet rumi. we went into an old mosque that was converted to a museum in the 30s where many dervishes, including rumi, are buried. it was packed, like everywhere else we have gone, but the difference here was the people. they weren't tourists... they were muslims. and they were very angry that we were there. we were all elbowed, pushed, shoved, and kicked. we were also stared at, talked about, and laughed at. it was very frustrating for all of us, especially to learn about how important rumi's philosphies are to their religion. he said that everyone should come to this place - people of all religions - because everyone deserved God's grace. how ironic that he is so important to them but they were so unhospitable to people of another culture.

this has been the first time that we have felt singled out. everywhere else, even in the smaller, less touristy towns, people have been overwhemingly friendly and helpful. this isn't going to ruin my perception of the turkish people, but it does show me a side that i don't want to encounter again.

just a little bit about dervishes: their longs, white skirts symbolize the world, which is forever spinning; their short jackets symbolize burial garments; and their tall hats symbolize tombstones. they spin endlessly with their right hands open toward Heaven and their left hands open toward the Earth to channel God's grace to mankind.

we got back on the bus after lunch in mevlana and then stopped at a small rest stop in the mountains a few hours later. the air was cool and fresh and it was hard to believe the change in landscape. from there we drove to antalya. it's literally as if the mountains just rise out of the sea. and there are palm trees!

while we were meeting for class, two turkish men sat down and listened to our conversation. they actually ended up contributing to our discussions, which was really cool. after class, they invited us to get drinks in the lounge, which a bunch of us ended up doing. we asked questions about everything turkish while they asked us questions about our lives. it's so fun getting to meet local people and hear their opinions and about their lives.

p.s. never stay at the falez hotel. they may be 5 star, but they are RUDE and HORRIBLE.