The Ups and Downs of Life

After my visit to Germany with the Istanbul team, I came back to Adana determined to at least try and get a team of my own together. I love ultimate, I am here for another year, there's a large university just a short bus ride away, it all made sense.

Unfortunately, all of my friends are working people. They can't take off to play frisbee. So the first week back, it was just me and another American throwing the disc. The next week we got a boost when one of the Istanbul players was down and another American showed up. We had two random guys walk up and join us to give us enough for a small game of 3 on 3 hot box. It was fun and it gave me hope that we could build something from that. The next week I got in touch with some Americans I know that are doing some sort of exchange program on campus to see if they had people that'd like to come. Man, did I hit the jackpot! We had close to 20 people show up, with only four of us being foreigners. It was exactly what I was hoping for. Everyone seemed to have a good time and I had hope that maybe they'd keep coming back. Then, this happened.


Over the next weekend, a terrorist group called the PKK attacked and killed a dozen or more Turkish soldiers in the southeastern area of this country. That led to people taking to the streets. They were denouncing terrorism, praising nationalism, and showing their support for the troops that are trying to keep them safe. I can support that. On the other hand, there was a streak of racism throughout some of the protests and a growing feeling of distrust and even hatred towards America, since we were telling Turkey not to pursue the terrorists into Northern Iraq. Those are things that I can't agree with.

We were forced to cancel ultimate due to protests on campus. Obviously, at that point, frisbee was not the most important thing going on. It's just a small picture of how frustrating it is at times to feel like you have something going or find someone you think may be interested in what you have to say, only to have it blow up, turn sour, or be canceled due to a thousand different reasons.

I got to hand the Bartender a New Testament and then I leave for a week and have not talked to him in a month. I find a guy (the Barber) that I really enjoy talking to, is a serious, religious man, and is willing to discuss things in a friendly manner, yet he won't take a Bible at all. I meet a guy to have tea and we do the usual small talk stuff. As soon as the conversation starts to go towards some deeper, more serious issues, the house band decides to start playing. I start teaching English at our church, in support of a local NGO, and then our church leaders decide that it's not safe to have the classes there. I get invited to help lead worship at the church on Sundays and then am forced to sit on the front row and play my guitar sitting down because the pastor is afraid it would make a fuss to have an American up in front of the church during this difficult time.

Just when I think the frisbee game may become a weekly staple, politics postpone it a week. This past week, there were only 5 of us again, 2 Americans, and the 2 original Turks that came with a friend of theirs. Maybe this week we'll get back on the upward swing of things. But even as I type this, rain clouds are gathering. The way things are going, it wouldn't surprise me if we ended our 6 month drought with a deluge that washed out the field before tomorrow afternoon. That's the ups and downs of life in this country.