Chronicles of a Wandering Mind

I’m writing this post from Findikli, Turkey, a small town on the Blacksea coast of Turkey, near Georgian border.  Sitting in the terrace of my grandfather’s house, connected to the Internet via broadband. I keep repeating this fact to myself (and others) likely due to some level of disbelief. It is indeed remarkable how things changed.

25 years ago, this town was not connected to the phone network. It was possible to call someone by “registering a call” with the operator.  One would have had towait in front of the phone for hours for the operator to connect the two parties. It all changed with Ozal, starting 1983, opening up the country and the economy to the world. And now, I’m sitting here with a broadband connection, integrated with the rest of the world, as I would be back home in Switzerland or anywhere else in the developed world.

I sit in the terrace and looked around to the sea, to mountains, yet people insight often capture my attention. A remarkable transformation is happening and one does not have to look very hard to see it.  Couple of women are carrying down tea leaves down the hillside with huge baskets on their back. Tea farming is hard work.  Three harvests a year and the terrain here is mountainous. One of the women has a mobile phone in her hand, clearly texting (and quite fast), mobile penetration is very high. Houses here have all the amenities, from dishwasher to satellite TV. Tea factories still the biggest employers.

The coast is much better connected to the rest of the world. 40 years ago, taking the ferry was the best option  to travel to far away cities.  Once could have arrived to Istanbul in about a week!, IF there were no weather problems. Now there are numerous flights, and coastal highway connect the towns to each other.

There has been significant migration from these towns on the coast to large cities as my parent have done a long time ago. Migrating to larger cities has been the only viable option for many to move out of the agricultural lifestyle and join the industrial era. Now, people here are not only better connected physically but also technologically.

I’m curious to see how the information wave will alter this society once again. One thing is sure, people here are accustomed to change and adapt to new things with ease, and this is their strongest suit.

It’s been 4 years since my last visit here. This year, I’m able to stay over three weeks, because I can continue working here!

I was so jealous of TravelGal’s Swiss medical experience that I’ve decided to give it a try myself, and proceeded to fly over my bike while descending “La Dole”. Seemingly minor cut in my knee turned out to be a lot deeper and stuffed with pieces of gravel, and after a reluctant visit to the ER in Hospital Nyon, I’ve ended up a tube that goes into my knee with a drainage and a full leg cast to prevent me from moving my knee. Not what I had in mind for Sunday!

They’ve just removed the drainage but the cast needs to stay for another 10 days apparently. After that they’ll check whether the bourse is infected and close the knee for good if all is well.

As far as the Swiss hospital experience goes, it was quite nice indeed. I was quite puzzled to put it mildly watching them get ready for what seemed to be a surgery and using words like anesthesia where I was just expecting them to clean the wound and put some stiches. We’ve started talking in French where I tried to figure out what on earth was going on and was told about risk of bourse infection. After a while, noticing that my french is not exactly fluent and I did not understand what bourse is, the doc asked what language I spoke and switched to English with ease. Turns out bourse is bourse in English as well but he described what it is and I got the general idea, and resigned to watch him work on my knee with some disbelief, slowly realizing that my injury may be a tad more serious than I thought initially.  Little later I glanced at his name tag and saw that he had a Turkish name! Not sure what the odds are to running into a Turkish speaking doctor in an ER in Switzerland, but I’d imagine not that high. It turns out he was born in Germany, quite impressive individual to say the least.

Now, I’ll have to figure out how/whether  I can make it to London next week for a project. Are you allowed in a plane if you have a full leg cast and can’t bend your knee? wonder what I have to do ..