This past weekend we experienced a completely different side of Turkey than we previously had. We traveled by bus and plane, leaving the hectic city of Istanbul, arriving in Izmir and proceeding on to the picturesque towns of Ephasus and Kusadasi. After a visit to the magnificent ruins of Ephasus and the house of the Virgin Mary on the first day, we took part in a very Turkish activity that we seemed to have neglected since our arrival in the country, leisure. For one precious day we had nothing to do but sail the sea, relax by the pool, and eat great Turkish food. And yet, this wasn’t just a tourist activity, it was Turkey. It was the Turkey that you don’t hear about on the news or in textbooks. It was a small, local seafood restaurant on the coast where neighborhood friends and families lounged on the shore as they ate fresh fish, enjoying their day off from work. It was men and women sitting by the pool of the hotel, listening to the sounds of the waves from the nearby sea. It was a time when the conflicts between the secular and religious or East and the West seemed to vanish. Or did they?
Leisure is a very important and defining aspect of any culture and Turkey is not an exception. Leisure time is supposed to be a time when people can stop thinking about work, about politics, about religion, a time when people can appreciate their lives and country. Truthfully however, leisure is not a complete escape and while different aspects of a culture may be distinct, they can never truly be separated. Social, religious, and political elements still permeate these times and places of leisure. For example, at the hotel the majority of the prices were listed in euros rather than lira, a constant reminder not only of the flourishing tourist industry in Turkey but also of Turkey’s continuing struggle to enter the European Union. Will the lira one day be completely abandoned in exchange for the euro, further solidifying Turkey’s tie to Europe and the West as opposed to Asia and the East? And even in secular, leisurely Turkey, religion is still always present. On the boat, the music and the crew dance party were paused to observe the afternoon call to prayer, a practice that would never be done in the United States unless it was a specifically religious outing. The women by the hotel pool, some in bikinis, some in full clothing and scarves, further emphasized the contrast between the religious and the secular. Are the traditional, religious women envious of those splashing around half-dressed in the pool or do they view them as immoral and indecent? Is being covered viewed as a sacrifice or simply as a necessary and normal part of their religious lives? Clearly, leisure cannot be totally detached from the rest of the nation’s cultural and societal issues. Nevertheless, leisure time does seem to be a time where issues can be peacefully observed instead of debated, a time that everyone can enjoy together, whether these people may be secular, religious, Turkish or five college students from the United States.
Leisure is a very important and defining aspect of any culture and Turkey is not an exception. Leisure time is supposed to be a time when people can stop thinking about work, about politics, about religion, a time when people can appreciate their lives and country. Truthfully however, leisure is not a complete escape and while different aspects of a culture may be distinct, they can never truly be separated. Social, religious, and political elements still permeate these times and places of leisure. For example, at the hotel the majority of the prices were listed in euros rather than lira, a constant reminder not only of the flourishing tourist industry in Turkey but also of Turkey’s continuing struggle to enter the European Union. Will the lira one day be completely abandoned in exchange for the euro, further solidifying Turkey’s tie to Europe and the West as opposed to Asia and the East? And even in secular, leisurely Turkey, religion is still always present. On the boat, the music and the crew dance party were paused to observe the afternoon call to prayer, a practice that would never be done in the United States unless it was a specifically religious outing. The women by the hotel pool, some in bikinis, some in full clothing and scarves, further emphasized the contrast between the religious and the secular. Are the traditional, religious women envious of those splashing around half-dressed in the pool or do they view them as immoral and indecent? Is being covered viewed as a sacrifice or simply as a necessary and normal part of their religious lives? Clearly, leisure cannot be totally detached from the rest of the nation’s cultural and societal issues. Nevertheless, leisure time does seem to be a time where issues can be peacefully observed instead of debated, a time that everyone can enjoy together, whether these people may be secular, religious, Turkish or five college students from the United States.
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