Flipping The Sphere: "You Look Like an Avatar"

"You should be more humble..." That's what my roommate told me. We had been in the dormitory management office and one of the workers behind the desk had stared at me for five straight minutes, then told me that I looked like an Avatar. No, not one of the cute little Wii avatars, or the Last Airbender avatar. Like the freakishly tall blue creatures with the long faces. I guess I took it a little too seriously.

The Turkish people have this implicit understanding that individual frustrations are not to be displayed. It is frowned upon or viewed are prideful when one places a precedence on his own problems. Thus, to be offended or angry means that one cares too much about himself and needs to relax. This is a hard difference because when something is frustrating me, I am usually confrontational or intentional about addressing it. But the Turkish mentality sees very little excuse for this. And that is precisely why, after an entire month of being here, I have yet to see one angry person. I have viewed reserved frustration, but not anger. Living in New York City this summer, I don't think I ever walked a block without seeing someone screaming into a cell phone or bitching out a deli worker for inadequate service. We value our expression in American (and of course, freedom of speech) but I think it can often be a deconstructive expression and largely based in pride. Many Americans, myself included, run their mouths and give very little thought to what comes out of them. In Turkey, reservation entails thinking twice before you speak and ensuring that when the time comes, your words carry weight. So the whole Avatar thing, carefully premeditated as it was, became the man's way of testing my pride level. I flunked the examination.

Last week, my friend Sam and I visited the castle walls in Old City Istanbul. The Christians erected these walls during the crusades to keep the Ottoman's out. There was the natural sea barrier on two sides but they needed another bulwark and built this wall as a means to protect the third side. During the crusades, Constantinople was the commercial and governmental head. Its protection was vital. But the walls proved conquerable as the Muslim's sacked Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade. It was incredible to climb up these walls and look out over the city. Just thinking about how many people fought and died right where I was standing was a bit eerie but incredible at the same time. For those of you familiar with Lord of the Rings, imagine the battle of Helms Deep where Legolas and Gimli are tallying their ork kills. It was that badass.