TBHF…

December 21, 2009

Today, I went to the Turkish Ice Hockey Federation (TBHF) to send my transfer card to USA Hockey. We pulled up to the building and I thought it was a house. Tyler and Brittany warned me about the Federation, and to make sure to bring my camera. Of course, it was the one day I forgot it. I look to my left from the driveway and there are two telephone booths. In these two telephone booths are mannequins. The mannequins have hockey gear on, without socks, and only one has a jersey, and they had sticks. It was hilarious, funniest thing ever! Could you imagine going to USA Hockey and seeing two telephone booths with mannequins wearing hockey gear? We walked inside, after ringing the doorbell. I sat down at a desk, while one of the members filled out the papers. I don’t speak Turkish, and Gokturk was the only one who would speak English to me, so it was interesting. All who needed to, signed the paper, then that was it. We just had to wait for USA Hockey to send it back.

The transfer card is needed to process the rest of my paperwork. Without the transfer card, I can’t get my work permit, and without my work permit, I can’t get my player’s card. So this was just the beginning of the process for me to qualify playing here in Turkey. With the transfer card, USA Hockey allows me to play in the TBHF for the 2009-2010 season. Without the transfer card, I cannot play in Turkey, and considering it’s the week of Christmas, we were a little nervous. We had a small window to get everything done. Gokturk asked if I knew anyone at USA Hockey who I could call to get them to sign the paper today. I don’t know anyone, so I said no.

Will my paperwork be processed in time to play our first game?

Just call me a Pro...

December 20, 2009

After the failed attempt to sign my contract on Wednesday, our GM finally had the revised contract for me to sign. I signed in the rink while watching women’s game, less than exciting. Gokturk told me we will stage a real signing at a later date when we have our jerseys and such. But I am officially a professional hockey player!

Will I be a successful professional athlete?

Tourist Day…

December 20, 2009

Today we decided we should check out some historical and tourist spots in Ankara. After all, Turkey is the crossroads of the world and empire after empire conquered it. We took the metro to Ulus, the older part of Ankara. There we saw Roman ruins, the Temple of Augustus and Rome, which now surround the Hacı Bayram Mosque. I was confused as to why this place bustling with Turks and no tourists, then I realized that the mosque is still in use. The mosque was built in the 15^th century, and renovated in the 16^th and 18^th centuries. It looks like it is in great shape from the outside. We didn’t go inside to look because we didn’t want to intrude during prayer time. The mosque and the Roman ruins were interesting, but even more interesting was the lack of information at the ancient sites. Without the guide books, we would have had no idea that we were at such an historical site.

After the temple and mosque, we walked up the road toward the Ankara citadel. On our walk up, we noticed fencing around ruins, what we thought was an Ancient Roman bath. The ruins were littered with beer cans, trash and everything else. We took pictures, and again we were amazed by the absence of signage to notify people what these ruins were. We continued walking up the hill and there was a sign! The sign explained that the ruins were a theatre not a bath house. We read up on it, took more pictures and continued walking. When we had just passed the top of the auditorium, the fencing ended, haha. We easily could have walked down into the ancient theatre walked up and down the seating area, sat down drank a few beers, or anything else without being bothered. This just flabbergasted all of us.

We continued up the hill to a beautiful park at the base of the citadel. It had paths lined with benches and trees on both sides creating a picturesque setting. It was a nice break from the city. While walking around the ruins and then up the hundreds of step, we all had the urge to go to the bathroom. Not a good time or place. The toilets near the citadel were the worst. We walked in, the lights didn’t work and there really wasn’t any natural light because of lack of windows. And to boot, they were Turkish toilets. I know they are not specific to only Turkey, but that is what we call them because they also have normal toilets. Let me explain, a Turkish toilet has two raised platforms to place your feet and then pretty much a hole between the raised foot steps. No light, Turkish toilets, and no toilet paper. Awesome. Oh yeah, and the water didn’t work to wash our hands.

After that traumatizing experience, haha, we continued to walk up more stairs to the citadel. Once we walked past the citadel walls, it’s like we went back a century or two, but still with satellites. It was a little town within the walls. It was quaint, but smelled like burning plastic. We walked to the edge of the walls and climbed them to take a panoramic view of Ankara. It is huge and so spread out; very modern to third world. One view was dilapidated houses on the side of a hill, it was terrible, but the houses with no windows or doors had satellites for their TVs. Looking over the city there was a Ferris wheel lit up surrounded by other amusement park rides, a huge mall, and the blue mosque. It was such a clash of old and new, rich and poor.

We then tried to climb to the “top” of the citadel. From anywhere else below, you see a Turkish flag flying high in the citadel. We were trying to find that. We walked through alleys and streets hopefully headed in the right direction. We found the flag, but it was surrounded by a locked fortification. We continued to walk around to see if we could enter at any point. We found an entrance and started walking in. Then an angry dog started toward us viciously barking. Brittany and I started running. I don’t really like dogs to begin with, so my heart was racing. So we ended up not getting close to the flag, but still took some great pictures.

Will the rest of our touristy adventures be to inconspicuous, have disgusting toilets, and involve ferocious dogs?

Random Encounters…

December 19, 2009

I was on my computer sitting in Shoppe, the internet café we frequent and it also happens to be in the rink. This older man, probably in his fifties, came up to me and started speaking Turkish. I just looked at him confused and said, “I don’t speak Turkish.” He in return said, “I know.” Haha.

He then sat down with me and started to speak perfect English. He was just in Pacifica, California for an extended period of time. Pacifica is twenty minutes south of San Francisco. I don’t know why he was there, but I just moved from SF, so it was quite the coincidence.

This where is gets really funny. He asked about health insurance in California. He had Kaiser Permanente insurance while in the states. I was on my computer and he just jumped right in, asked me to look up and see if he could get their insurance here in Turkey. We were talking so I gave him my full attention, trying not to be rude by continuing my work on the computer. When I gave him my full attention, he would point to my computer and say, you can look it up, please continue looking. So I tried to carry on a conversation while looking up information for him. After a bit, he said I’ll be right back but please continue looking up the information.

I thought it was absolutely hilarious. He was trying to be nice to me, but really just being pushy. After I got the information for him, he said please e-mail me the website so I can e-mail Kaiser and tell them to cover overseas. I e-mailed him; he thanked me. Then he told me he would have his wife drive me around Ankara and left.

How many other random encounters will I have?

Ankara…

December 18, 2009

So since we’ve been here, it has been hard to find exciting things to do. There’s a lot of history here, but other than that, what can young people do to have a good time? All the guide books we’ve read have told us, you only need a day or two to see what Ankara has to offer. Not a very promising thing to read when we’ll be here for about five months. Also last night, we told the Turkish men we went out with that there’s nothing to do here and they got really defensive, but didn’t suggest anything. We were still left to believe that there really isn’t too much going on here until…

One of our teammates, Lola, asked us to go out with her and some friends. We went out a place called “Flat” with one of the Ankara University men’s players, Mattias. At first it was just the four of us, hanging out and talking. Mattias told us that his perception, and probably many others, of the United States is based on Gossip Girl, xoxo. Haha. I saw the show for the first time a day or two before this, so I thought it was hilarious.

Our beer was delivered wonderfully by different servers all dressed as Santa Claus! Everything we associate with Christmas, the Turks associate with New Years, because they don’t celebrate Christmas, as they are Muslim. We had tall and short but all way too skinny to be Santa Claus’s serving us drinks. It was great, they brought us much happiness! After a while, more of Lola’s friends showed up. Mattias, Lola, and all her friends speak English very well. So we drank Efes, a Turkish brand of beer, and hung out speaking English with multiple people rather than our usual two or three.

After Flat, we went to If, a “club” somewhere else in Ankara. At no point during the night, did we know where we were, or where we were going; we were just along for the ride. If was a nice place. After walking through the crowd of smokers on the first level, you descend the stairs to an open room with a bar and stage. Onstage was a band. The band was peculiar. They played American music but sang it in Turkish. I kept on thinking I knew the songs, but when the words were said, I was lost. Lola’s friends were great; they just wanted to make sure we were having a good time. Around three or four, we decided it was time to head home, after an intense night of dancing and attempting to sing. We were so happy to find that Ankara had life!

What other pleasant surprises will we encounter? :)

Reason to celebrate…

December 17, 2009

I woke up two days in a row before 10:30! Reason enough to celebrate.

I ran on the track today! Reason enough to celebrate.

We went for beers and coffee with a club sponsor. Reason enough to celebrate.

We randomly ran into people at the rink who were going out! And this became our real reason, or excuse, to celebrate.

At the rink Brittany and I ran into Ankara University’s two import players, Yannu and Natasha. We were shooting the shit while watching the men’s Police Academy practice. They are friends with the men’s Police players. So after they were done with practice, we all went to the Last Stop for beers. Last Stop is a bar/restaurant not too far from the rink. It ended up being the Police coach, his girlfriend, four of his players, and us four women import players.

It was the most interesting table at which I had ever been. The Police coach and Natasha are from Slovenia, Yannu is from Estonia, all the players and the coach’s girlfriend are from Turkey, and Brittany and I are from the US. All sorts of languages were being spoken. But the one language we all had in common was English, which was the only one Brittany and I understood and spoke. Natasha and the coach would have a side conversation, while the Turks laughed at one end of the table, while the rest of us sat back and listened in confusion and amazement. I’ve never been so close and fully immersed in a ten person conversation with at least three different languages.

After beers, we just had to go for food and çay (pronounced chai), which is tea. They told us, let’s go eat and drink, then we’ll take you home, which was only about five blocks away. We went to a place whose name translates as “cheap cheap.” We started out with mussels. The mussels had rice and other things stuffed in them. You eat them cold with a squeeze of lemon. After the mussels, we had a small appetizer which I have no idea what it was. It looked like ground up food, shaped into little decorative balls. And finally, we had a soup that was broth and meat chunks. It was a milky colored broth, but with the absence of milk. The appearance of the soup’s broth reminded me of the thinned out gravy we had on chipped beef on toast I used to eat growing up. The meat we learned was tongue and meat from the head, but it not brain. The two meats were easily discernable, they were two different colors and two completely distinct tastes. I don’t know which was which, but one was definitely better than the other. After the meal, we enjoyed çay.

The same tea is served across the board in Turkey. Every place I have been, it’s been the same tea served in the same glass. The glass is an hour glass shape without a handle, making it somewhat difficult to drink hot tea. But after such a meal, we sat around for a few cups of çay. Turks don’t have a cup then go their separate ways, they sit and enjoy their çay. In all the guide books we have read, it says that if you accept an invitation to çay, you should be prepared to spend at least an hour. And if you don’t have an hour, then don’t accept. So we sat around drinking our tea into the wee hours of the morning, enjoying the company and trying to learn a word or two in the other languages being spoken.

Will I ever learn enough Turkish to understand a simple conversation?

Contract…

December 16, 2009

Today was going to be the day, the day I signed my contract and officially became a professional athlete! Once Gokturk, our GM, arrived with my contract, we grabbed a jersey to mock professional signings in the states. I was beaming with excited to sign, take pictures, and make everything official. But before the flashing lights commenced, I had to read the contract to make sure I knew what I was getting what I wanted. And here’s the catch, my contract didn’t have the clause stating the club would provide my departure ticket home. All the excitement disappeared. Our improve set up was for nothing. Gokturk would have to return with the amended contract for me to sign on a later date.

When would I make it official? When will I really be a professional?

Moving up in the world…

December 16, 2009

Today is a monumental day, I moved from the couch to a room! Andre, one of the men’s players from Ukraine, went home for the holidays leaving his room vacant. Although, he went home two days ago, there are no dryers, therefore laundry takes a day or so, instead of a few hours. But one more night on the couch didn’t kill me, if anything it motivated me to wake up early and make my very own bed!

I’m on the up and up, what could go wrong?

Stuck in a rut…

December 15, 2009

Ever feel like you are in a rut? Like you’re stuck in something that feels nearly impossible to crawl out of? That rut is sleeping in late here. It’s nearly impossible to pry myself from the couch, that I call my bed, before noon. The sun sets around 5pm here. If I’m lucky enough to wake up by noon, I get five hours of light. If I’m not so lucky, I get less. The morning sun (or should I say light, because there is a lack of sun here) can pour into the room early without notice from my sleeping eyes. Multiple calls to prayer happen, while I’m still dreaming. A new foreign life experience is passing me by, and I’m too lazy to take notice.

It doesn’t sound like such a terrible rut, especially because it’s only my fourth day here, but once a habit forms it takes time to break. The first two days, I reasoned that it was jet lag and the lack of sleep I endured while at Colgate. But really, how long can I use those excuses? Not much longer than today.

So I’ll offer up one more excuse to reason with myself. The men’s team practices late, either practice starts at 12:30am or 1:30am. I live with three men’s players. So even if I wanted to go to bed early, they would wake me up either on their way to practice or when they got home, or more likely both. I’m in a tough situation, and it’ll take one smart cookie (i.e. me) to find my way out.

Will I ever break this cycle? Or will my duration of life in Turkey be lived in a voluntary shade of darkness?

First practice…

December 14, 2009

I walk into the locker room buzzing with girls talking and singing in Turkish. I couldn’t understand anything, so Brittany and I got dressed silently. After walking up the stairs to get to the rink, we waited until the practice prior to ours was over. To signal the end of an ice session, an announcement comes on over the speakers telling the practicing team their practice is over. After we heard said announcement, we went out to our 40 minute ice session.

Ice time here is hard to come by. Our practices are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 5:10 to 5:50. We have 40 minutes, three times a week to put together a team. Most of the girls on the team are new to the sport, adding to the difficulty of our time constraints. Hockey is not an easy sport. We don’t run or walk, we skate; it takes learning a new medium of moving to play. Skating greatly increases the speed of the game, hence “the fastest game on earth.” Add sticks, pucks, and all the gear we wear, you’ve got yourself quite the unusual experience for a newcomer.

On top of all that, there is a language barrier. Our coach, Keith, is from the states. He doesn’t speak Turkish; the team doesn’t speak English very well. Lola, the girl on the team most proficient in English, stands next to coach and translates for the coach while he passionately explains the drills. Although the drills are drawn on the board, little bits are lost in translation. If a mistake is made during a drill, coach can yell and explain all he wants, but the message won’t be understood until it is demonstrated or explained again back at the board. Most of the girls understand basic English, but you throw in hockey terminology (back check, stick handle, body positioning, etc), they can’t keep up. So you can understand practice can be trying, and the first one proved to be a learning experience for me. I’m excited to work with the girls, because they are all excited to improve and learn more about the sport.

Will the team stay motivated enough to commit to a great season? Will we float to continuous improvement or sink to monotonous mediocrity?

Forget something?????

My first day I didn’t do too much; I was still recovering from my epic travels halfway across the world. The men’s team had a game at 4:30pm and Brittany and I were in attendance. This hockey game was a sight to see. Some of the men could barely skate, positions were unknown, the ice was terrible with divots and holes a plenty, and the worst of it all is that all the men think they are god’s gift to hockey. I would love to say it was amusing, but with the game ending at 34-1, it wasn’t. The game never ended; with scoring every other minute and penalties galore, the game lasted a lifetime. So long, we left to get our computers to go to Shoppe for the internet.

The next day, I had my first practice. Excitement and nervousness flooded my being. I was excited to actually play again, but nervous because it’s been so long. Also, the coach said, although jokingly, that I better be good because the hope of the team rests on my shoulders.

So about an hour before practice, I was emptying my bag of everything that wasn’t hockey gear. Suddenly it hit me, I FORGOT MY SKATES! I don’t remember packing them, they would be tucked in with my socks. Then, I vividly remember seeing my skates hanging in a stall in the locker room back at Colgate. My mom had sent my gear to Colgate, and I had played in a game there, so I knew I had all my gear. For that reason, I didn’t double check my bag when leaving Colgate. So now, not only was I missing my stick, which still hadn’t arrived from the airport, but now I didn’t have skates!

What else could I have forgotten?

Getting there...

My actual trip to Ankara was the longest trip ever! I flew from Syracuse to Washington DC- Dulles. There I hung out in the airport waiting for my next flight. I flew stand-by and it doesn’t always guarantee you a spot on the flight, but there were three flights out of Dulles that night, so I thought I was a shoe in. All three flights came and went and I was left in the airport. Every flight was overbooked, so I was out of luck. Not to worry though, Kara lives outside DC and I was confirmed on a flight the next day. It was really nice to catch up with her and after such a long weekend at Colgate, it was nice to sleep in with no disruptions. I met Kara for lunch the next day in the Senate Café. I saw the ins and outs of the US government by observing the making of the office holiday video. My tax dollars are hard at work!

Then, I was off to the airport again. I flew in business class to Amsterdam. It was the best flying experience ever! My chair reclined with a foot rest so I could lie almost flat. It also had a button for Lombard support, a personal television, a kit with socks and an eye mask, and much much more. I landed in Amsterdam in the morning then had a seven and a half hour layover! Flew to Istanbul, thought I was going to miss my connection to Ankara, but made it through customs very quickly. Finally at 9pm on Saturday the 12^th I landed in Ankara. My stick was lost in Istanbul, and it was an interesting interaction explaining to the baggage people, in English, what a hockey stick was. I drew a picture and gave them my e-mail address because I didn’t have a number.

After that, I went outside to the waiting area and no one was to be found. I waited around, tried to connect to the internet but my computer was dead, so I started walking around. As I walked to the domestic arrivals, I saw someone waving to me. It was Brittany! Our team president, his friend, Brittany, and Tyler came to the airport to pick me up. It was a long ride home into the sprawling city of Ankara.

Once at the apartment, I met my other roommates, Dmitri and Andre. They are both from Ukraine and playing on our club’s men’s team. I met them, then headed over to the rink. Mind you, it was late now, around midnight, but the rink was bustling. I’ve never seen a rink so popping on a Saturday night. I e-mailed home, to let my beloved family know that I am well and safe.

Back at the apartment was another story. Brittany and Tyler had discovered a mold problem in their room the day before I arrived, therefore were sleeping in living room. Just so happens, that is where I would be staying on the couch until we were all moved to another apartment. So it was one big sleepover; what a great welcome to Turkey!

How many nights will this sleepover endure?

How it all happened...

So my first post was a bit hurried. I was just excited to start a blog. I didn't put too much thought or information in it. These next few posts are dedicated to filling in all the gapping holes of how I am currently living in Turkey and playing professional hockey.

So let's start from the beginning. Kara Leene and I played hockey together at Colgate University. Her good friend from home, Brittany O'Brien, and her boyfriend, Tyler Bilton, were the first to hear about the opportunity to play in the league over here. Tyler has been here since early October, and Brittany since the end of October. Men's teams are allowed five import players, and women's teams two. Brittany tried to recruit Kara to join her here, she declined because she thought DC offered many more cultural experiences. She is a small town girl from Vermont and never having experienced the bright lights of such a large city as Washington DC, I understand. With Kara declining the offer, it opened the door for me. If Kara would have taken the offer, the team would have fulfilled their limit of two foreigners, leaving me in San Francisco. :(

Conversation between Kara and I began at the end of October. She mentioned it on the phone, but it wasn't until we hung up that I realized I would be stupid not to explore the option more. She e-mailed Brittany for me. Brittany and I started talking a few weeks later while I was visiting my brother, Jack, in Mississippi, where he is currently playing professional hockey. Brittany told the GM of our team, Baskent Yildizlari, I was interested in joining the team. He e-mailed me on Thanksgiving Day (something I gave thanks for!) saying the team wants me. His English isn't the best so my communication about arrangements all went through Brittany and Tyler. I'm forever grateful they were here, I don't think I would be here without them.

I made my travel arrangements to leave the following Thursday, only one week after I had heard the news! I took a permanent leave from my job and said goodbye to all my friends, old and new. I was off on another adventure, without a care in the world. First stop, Hamilton, NY!

Although I had heard the hockey in Turkey wasn't first class, I decided I still needed to skate a few times before making my professional hockey debut. Colgate University, my home away from home. There, I knew I would have readily accessible ice and other people willing to skate with, not to mention the tools needed if I had any gear problems. It was also nice that I saw my team play, I saw friends and faculty still there, and other alumni were back the same weekend.

I accomplished a lot while I was there. I watched our women's hockey team play Friday and Saturday, tailgating with the parents on both occasions. The team won Friday and lost Saturday. I had dinner with other CWIH alum and our trainer. I skated with a couple of the freshmen. I attempted, and miserably failed, to run. I played a game of three-on-three with current players, from both the men's and women's teams. I made dinner for all the girls that I played with while I was there. I played in a club hockey game. I shared meals with current non-hockey playing people. And much much more.

What's in store next for me?

Turkey!

I'm in Turkey! I got here Saturday night after hours and hours and hours of traveling.

These last few days I've had the chance to explore the neighborhood some thanks to my wonderful tour guides, Tyler and Brittany. I'm excited to explore more of the capital city once I'm a little more settled.

I practiced with the team for the first time today! But it wasn't until I was getting my gear ready for practice that I realized, I forgot my skates at Colgate. Typical move by me. So I had to borrow a pair of very dull and well worn skates, which I will call mine until mine arrive. My stick was also missing. It was lost somewhere along the way from Amsterdam to Ankara. I used a broken stick for half of practice, until our GM overheard that I had a broken stick and traded sticks with me. Thankfully my stick arrived after practice. The only things I am waiting on now, are my skates.

What to do next in such an exotic and foreign city?