Istanbul has been a unique experience. If I'd been a responsible lj-friend, I would have already given you plenty of anecdotes to explain this. But, as we can see, I'm a bad lj-friend. Don't take it personally, I actually think about a number of you more than I consider normal for people I've never met before.
My work has definitely played a significant role in my lack of updates. Somehow, when you spend 50-60 hours a week editing (and by editing, I mean re-writing) news articles, you don't end up being to enthusiastic about sitting at your computer outside of working hours.
But a bigger role was played by a new person in my life: my soon-to-be wife. She started working at my newspaper as an intern about a month after I got here and now, three months later, we have just picked out our new apartment. Our engagement celebration was last weekend. It was quite wonderful, although I was sick at the time (still am, actually -- never underestimate the combined power of cold winters and foreign diseases). My closest friends are not at all surprised about this turn of events, as everyone knew I'd be the first to go. I've always been drawn to domesticity like a moth to the flame. My not-at-as-close friends, on the other hand, think I'm insane. My fiance -- her name is Rumeysa, by the way -- also tends to think I'm crazy. But I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing.
Rumeysa won my heart by turning me on to J.D. Salinger. Previously, I'd only ever read "The Catcher in the Rye," which I found rather mediocre. But she had me pick up "Nine Stories." My interest was quite piqued at the end of the first story. By the time I got to the seventh story, however, I had already gone to the bookstore to pick up "Franny and Zooey" so as not to miss a beat. "Franny and Zooey" ended up impressing me even more.
Istanbul has had a somewhat deconstructive effect on my religious attitude. I should first of all say that I love being in a Muslim country. When prayer time comes around, it is very nice to be able to step into a mosque around the corner rather than trying to find a place that is isolated and not too filthy in some parking structure. But in America, Islam is very personal. You aren't surrounded by Muslims, so your religion is yours. You might say "you determine your own level of involvement." Before coming here, I had determined a pretty high level of involvement for myself. But upon arrival, I found myself faced with a very different Islam. Here the religion is so deeply embedded in the culture and history that, in my opinion, it has lost much of its existential urgency.
A good example of this is the tarawih prayers for Ramadan. In Sunni Islam, we pray special prayers each night during Ramadan. We pray an additional twenty cycles each night (for comparison, the noon prayer is four cycles). In America, the standard practice is to recite a thirtieth of the Quran each night during these prayers, so that the entire Quran is recited over the course of the holy month. This leads to some rather long tarawih prayers. They usually last from one-and-a-half hours to two hours. They are a commitment, and for me the feeling of these prayers calls to mind the sense of purpose the first Muslims must have felt when they were praying with the Prophet -- peace be upon him. Here, however, tarawih lasts a maximum of 45 minutes. The prayers are so fast you barely have time to catch your breath. Once they are done, you head back out onto the street to join the festivities. Before leaving the US, I had been quite vigilant about the tarawih prayers. When I got here, I prayed one night of tarawih in congregation at one of the mosques and didn't bother going back for another. What's the point of doing something if it just feels like you are doing it to get it out of the way?
I don't say this to cast judgment on the Muslims here or even the Islam here. It just isn't my style. But it had the effect of loosening my grip on my own conception of Islam. It made me really appreciate the chaos that is Islam in America, with all its silly controversies and storefront mosques.
It also opened my mind and heart a bit to appreciate the Glass family, the protagonists of most of Salinger's canonical works. The Glasses reminded me of my love for eastern philosophy. They reminded me that my heart is big enough to hold a love for Confucius, Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu without neglecting my love for the Seal of the Prophets. They reminded me that life is messy business and that my religious aspirations shouldn't stop me from getting my hands dirty. They reminded me why I got involved with this whole religion thing in the first place.
So my heart has expanded -- I can read my I Ching and Basho along with my Quran in peace -- and when I set down my books there is no where else I want to be than with the beautiful woman who inspires me to pick them up.
p.s. There are pictures
here. There is an album for the engagement as well as an album for my recent trip to northern Cyprus.