Yesterday I went to see Hannah's art exhibition.
Hannah is from Maine (which Canada will be taking over... some day... when I'm queen...) and has spent her year at school working on this set and her portfolio. Her school is now proudly displaying her pieces, which are intended to (and do!) capture the contrasts in this city. Everything from the old mosques and new skyscrapers to the wealthy shoppers and poor street vendors to the fashionistas and the women in burkas.
So a bunch of us took a bus out to the middle of nowhere, where Hannah lives and goes to school. Actually, it isn't that far (like 45 minutes) but it is "past the forest!"
On our way back into the city, the jandarma (military police) stopped our bus. This is not unusual for the area. Her little suburb/town/whatever is out of Istanbul and thus does not have city police. They have the army. And apparently the army base in this area is very cautious. They had us all get ID out. Hooray for residency permits!
Carly says that when she lived in that suburb/town/whatever the jandarma would come around every so often and ask all the foreigners living there to present themselves with valid identification. How different is that from at home?!
-Maeghan
Travelpalooza 2.10
14 years ago
5 comments:
Worst you could expect here is a checkstop for drunk drivers...
And we complain about those...
Haha. You and your beanpole king will rule Maine.
I'm kind of glad we don't have those jandarma here. Although I don't see how people will be able to tell foreigners from Canadians here.
Wow, that is pretty awesome and scary at the same time. Doesn't it make you nervous to have the army check you? I know that when I saw military officers with guns on the side of the streets in Paragauy (A country bordering Brasil) I felt a little uneasy.
And that sounded like a great art exhibition!! Is she a painter? or was it photos? (Sorry if those sound like kinda stupid questions lol, but art can mean different forms. :))
That is interesting about the jandarma! I would probably have forgotten any kind of identification... It is a good thing that you are a lot more on the ball than I am!
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