Bosphorus Chronıcle

IN THIS ISSUE
Bosphorus Chronicle bids a fond
farewell to departing teachers,
Paul Gay, Elizabeth Molton, Marita O’Neill, Jason Shulha and Ja-
son Simpson. We wish them well
in all their future endeavors and
hope to see them back at RC.
Retiring teacher
Diane Özbal
interviewed on
page 2.
Ms. Özbal in 1963
Bosphorus Chronıcle
supplementary Issue JUNE 2010
Bosphorus Chronicle is the quarterly newsletter of Robert College
Adil İzci To Retire
Dilara Kanca
Bosphorus Chronicle recently spoke to Adil Bey who
will be retiring from teaching this year.
BC: Why are you leaving us all alone by ourselves, like
lost little lambs? :)
A.I.: Teaching requires constant responsibility over
things and therefore is a job with lots of fatigue. From
the beginning of 2008 I have been feeling the weight
of overwhelming duties beginning to wear me out. But
by my leaving I am not abandoning you since the heart
preserves what’s precious and loved within its depths.
Over the course of years, beginning in 1980, the smiling faces, cheerful voices and memories-- even the
hand writing of students have been engraved into my
mind. This is not a good-bye,as we shall meet again.
The streets, cafes in Beyoğlu, and most importantly my
house, await my beloved students.
BC: How did you become interested in literature?
A.I.:When I was in Niğde Lisesi my Turkish Expressions
and Literature teacher, Orhan Culfa, a person I love
wholeheartedly for encouraging me into reading the
classics, provoked me into the appreciation of literature. Frankly, for years I have taken him as a model and
consulted him when encountering problems.
BC: What was your first impression about RC? What
about now?
A.I.: Arriving at RC for the first time on the 10th of September, 1980, on a Thursday after a long climb uphill,
and going around the school with Mehmet Çamoğlu,
the Turkish principle at the time, I can remember my
fear of getting lost in the never-ending corridors. I
supplementary ıssue
started duty on the 2nd of October in Bingham Hall,
in a class of 27 students whose faces and questions I
can vividly recall. I remember it as if it were yesterday.
How has my perception changed? Well, despite the fact
that technology has provided endless opportunities, it
has led to the decaying of some values and customs
which I observed mainly in the class beginning in the
year 2000.
vya’s effort to save herself with a smile every time she
is late. Feyza, Özgün, and Semih, in short the whole
boarder crew’s tardiness after breakfast. Onur Can
finding something to object to in every test and much
more. Additionally, I will miss our library and its lovely
staff, the Plateau, chatting with our gardener Veysel
Bey, our school’s falls and spring, mostly everything
except the exams.
BC: Could you please tell the most awkward/funny
thing you witnessed in RC?
BC: What are your plans for the future?
A.I.: One of my plans is to write a book called “My Thirty
Years in Robert College”, about which I am excited even
now due to your questions serving as inspiration. A
fun moment? On April 1st,1988 I began receiving calls
perpetually about an ad concerning my car which was
supposedly on sale for a bargain price. The following
day as I was fed up, I answered the calls claiming that
my car was sold already after which I began to receive
a string of questions: Why did you sell it? Do you have
other cars on hand? etc etc. One man even went as
far as to offer me partnership in his sales business! It
turned out that all this turmoil was my Orta III class’s
doing as an April fool’s joke, which I still remember
with a faint smile on my face and a mischievous glint
in my eyes. Oh, how sweet those days were! Memories
of Aydın Boysan, Aydın Urgan, Münir Aysu and Fatma
Banat, our beloved retired teachers, flood my brain
upon the reminiscence.
BC: What will you miss the most about RC?
A.I.: A lot of things actually, but mostly my students.
The small talk, football discussions, “Evladım susun
artık!”s and saying, “do whatever you like” with Ahmet
in the mornings. There are so many examples. This year
alone, I remember Abdullah coming on time to homeroom once in a blue moon, Ömer’s baritone voice, Sil-
A.I.: I have quite a long list of future plans; however,
how much of it I will accomplish, only time will tell.
What I know for sure is that I desire to read loads of
splendid books. I have books to be published, to be
written... After the summer holiday, I would like to
begin the forth book, “Mevsimler Kitabı”(Book of Seasons), of my series. Also, as a part of my plan concerning RC, I am thinking of writing a book about students
who had an impact on me and my life in RC between
1980 and 2010. In addition to the eleven books I’ve
written, seven of them published and the rest waiting
for their turn, I would be glad to leave at least twenty
books for the generations to come as my legacy or work
at a publisher which has been my dream for some time.
Most importantly, time won’t restrain me anymore and
tie me down, but I shall have control, spending it however I want.
BC: Will you be visiting us?
A.I.: Now it is your turn to visit me. There are tons of
things to be talked about and shared... Books, movies,
expositions, daily life, football, Fenerbahçe... Moreover,
even if I decide on visiting, you will be in your classes
minding your own business. You are welcome to my
house and heart at all times. Additionally, you are my
last students. The RC phase of my life will come to an
end with the graduation of the class of 2012.
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
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NEWSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWSNEWSNEWS
Farewell to Ms. Özbal
Ceren Acar
Dilara Kanca
Year 2011. It is a bright warm day in May, and the
clocks are striking thirteen. With the stress of the Advanced Physics test you are about to be late for, you are
rushing from Mitchell Hall to Gould Hall and a magnificent smell strikes all your senses as “rough winds do
shake the early buds of May”. For one second, you leave
behind all the burdens, forgetting all you have left and
whispering to your friend, perhaps for the 239,342nd
time: “How lovely is the smell of these wisterias!” You
spend your lunch breaks in the forum, gazing enviously at the green, embroidered with innocent daisies
and wishing that you could just take a little nap in the
midst of these beauties. And then you pass by Gould
hall, heading onto Mitchell, once again dazzled by the
festive colors. As you amble towards the Art Studio for
your next class, your head may rotate a bit to the right,
leaving a bittersweet smile on your face as you remember that the lady inside with a great sense of humor
who amazed you with her wealth of RC stories gleaned
from almost forty years here, is not there anymore:
Mrs. Özbal’s gone.
Year 2010. Hopefully, we will still be cheered by her
familiar face when we encounter her in the campus as
she has promised. “I will still be doing this testing job.
APs, SATs… You will see me around. PSAT, SAT as much
as other tests, I’ll be around but I will not be teaching.
My husband is a university professor at Boğaziçi, so I
am in town. I will not be moving away and it will be
easy for me to stay and do these things.”
Of the thousands of memories she has of Robert College and Istanbul, she begins at her arrival:
“When I came to Turkey in 1971” she says “it was a very
different place. Turkey didn’t import cars, Turkey didn’t
make cars; the only car you could bring is if you lived
abroad for at least 3 years, you could bring a car back
with you. You always saw 6 people riding in a car. You
wouldn’t think of going to work without taking your
neighbors that lived near you. You were stopping on
the way and getting them. Now you see one person
driving in a car. How things have changed! You couldn’t
buy many things. Turkey didn’t import them or make
them, something like that, even an automatic washing
machine. Yeah, it didn’t exist. You couldn’t have it. You
couldn’t buy a bag of potato chips or a package of cookies. They didn’t make it. You hardly found pretty new
clothes. You needed a dressmaker. Turkey has changed
a lot. When I first came, there were a million and a half
people living in Istanbul. It was so nice with no traffic.
Now there is everything but you can’t go there because
there is so much traffic. Now it’s a modern European
supplementary Issue
city. You might as well be anywhere, except it’s beautiful with the Bosphorus, but they are doing their best to
build something ugly every place that they can but it’s
still a nice place to be in.”
Probably, she has lived the most RC-focused life possible. She is the wife of an RC graduate, who is the
brother of a graduate, and the son of a graduate and
she is the mother of two graduates and she has been
a valuable member of the faculty for 38 years and yet,
as if she had not had enough of little rascals like us, she
will still be devoting her time to the RC community
even after her retirement.
As a member of the faculty, she has held so many roles
and taken so many different responsibilities on here
as part of her life, in addition to being a teacher. She
was in charge of Bosphorus Chronicle for 15 years for
instance. “There was a journalism class,” she says, “that
met four times a week, mostly consisted of seniors who
were like the big editors and there was a club as well
which wrote the articles. What the journalism class did
was editing, trying to make it more like news writing
and so I did the layout and put it together. It got terribly
busy because I had this testing thing, but it came out
once a month then because there was the class so I had
eight issues in a year.”
She has a rather interesting story of getting “the testing
thing,” as she refers to it. She reflects, “the person doing
it left and I was still here minding my own business. I
used to teach the prep, orta prep, when there was the
orta school and I was a test writer. They had common
tests every month. We all had the same period and we
went to a big test room and we all had this test and I
was writing the test which is very different than giving
somebody else a test, but I was writing the test for the
prep.” Then she adds, “the person giving the test left
rather suddenly without giving any warning and the
headmaster said ‘Oh, test! Oh, Mrs. Özbal likes test!’
and he gave this job to me and so it was a completely
different thing than writing an English test and that
was 1984. Then, the person who was the AP tester left
and they said ‘Oh, well it is also from ETS (Educational
Testing Service), it is another kind of test, and they
gave me that one. It just happened. There is something
about me that’s versatile. You need an orta prep teacher, I’ve done it. Lise prep, I’ve done it. Orta 2, yes, I’ve
taught it. Orta 3, yes, I’ve taught it. Lise, yes, lise 2…
Then the new lise came: Oh yes. Whenever they need
somebody: ‘Oh my goodness, we have too many prep
sections, nobody can teach prep computer!’. I did that.
‘Oh too many students signed up for ASL’, I’m suddenly
an ASL teacher. I’m a Business English teacher, I teach
English for Technology. Oh, they need a modern novel
teacher… I mean every elective I taught, every year I
taught. So I guess versatile is the word if they are stuck
and if they don’t have anybody to do it they say I can
manage and students are complaining like, ‘Oh dear, I
had ASL with Mrs. Özbal, I couldn’t learn anything.’ It
was neither my specialty nor did I really like it, but I did
it. I’m doing Business English now and I actually think
it’s really boring.”
If today, people can take non-literature based English
electives, they owe a “thank you” to Mrs. Özbal. “I really like English for Technology.” she says. “I invented
it, I got it approved. When I came here, all the English
courses were literature based. You should read Shakespeare, you should read poetry, you should read novels
and I discovered that there are lots of people in the
world who loved to read but don’t like fiction. My husband is a chemistry professor at Boğaziçi and he never
reads fiction. My brother is a nuclear engineer and he
never reads fiction. He reads all the time: he reads biographies, he reads science, he reads news, he reads
history… My son, he is a toxicologist with a PhD from
MIT. He doesn’t read fiction either. I can’t live without
fiction but there is a whole group of people that do not
enjoy it. My husband says, ‘Why should I read the fake
problems of fake people when I have enough problems
on my own?” It’s very bad that he feels that way, that
fiction is fake. Anyway, I said that we need a reading
course for people who like reading but do not like fiction, like my husband who is a graduate, like my son
who is a graduate, who think that fiction is not useful
in their lives. They read it because the test was coming not because they loved it, so I invented English for
Economics. It was called Business English. I invented
English for Technology where you read but it’s non- fiction, it’s an article about new technology or it’s an article about business. So they are basically forms of the
same thing and plenty of people will read them for the
rest of their lives; thus, they have to learn the reading
and thinking techniques that go with it. I think that’s
my favorite course because I invented it. Nobody else
likes to teach that because most English teachers are
crazy about literature and don’t want this non-fiction,
you see, but most of our graduates are not going to be
English teachers. They will be businessmen, scientists,
or doing something with technology or computers, so
I think it was a good idea to make these non-fiction
electives for enticing those people into the world of
reading.”
As an RC teacher for 38 years, Mrs. Özbal has loads of
great memories that just makes one laugh, even on
the most difficult days. “When an American gets up
to leave the lunch table and other people are still eating, we say ‘excuse me’ and we leave. When a Turkish
person gets up to leave the table and people are still
eating, he says ‘afiyet olsun’ and so on,” she says for
example. “There was a former RC teacher learning
Turkish by just listening. One day, he was on the bus
and it’s very crowded. He wants to go to the back and
so he says, ‘Afiyet olsun! Afiyet olsun!...’ because he
thought that ‘afiyet olsun’ means ‘excuse me’ because
that’s exactly what we say when we leave the table.”
She adds: “There was another person. There used to be
a ferryboat from Arnavutköy, now it only comes once a
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
2
NEWSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWSNEWSNEWS
day but there used to be a ferryboat from lots of places
along the Bosphorus. I don’t know why, if you have a
city right along the Bosphorus, you stop all boats and
make everybody go by car and then say,‘There’s too
much traffic’. Anyway, there used to a boat and someone standing there, one of the teachers, and his umbrella fell in the water. He remembered the word for
umbrella and he said, ‘Hemşire! Hemşire! Hemşirem
düştü!’ but he remembered it wrong, he missed it.”
She has thousands of funny/weird/awkward/eggplant,
feel free to choose, student memories as well. Indeed,
she says “I can’t go anywhere in the city, you see, my
husband is a teacher as well and we can’t go anywhere
without seeing someone we know. We go to the airport
to meet somebody and either somebody there says,
‘Hello Mrs. Özbal!’ or someone says ‘Merhaba Hocam!’
to my husband. Thousands of people recognize us because they pass through the university or RC. Luckily,
I am with my husband. If I was having an affair with
another man or something, in about 2 days he would
hear it because everywhere you go, to the restaurant
for instance, someone says ‘Hello Mrs. Özbal’ or ‘Merhaba Hocam!’ so it is nice that we are behaving ourselves because there is no privacy at all in the teaching
profession here and really I can’t go anywhere without,
someone recognizing me on the street. Sometimes I
don’t recognize them. I mean, I say ‘Were you fat and
old when I taught you?’ He responds ‘No, I was eleven,
I was orta prep and now I’m 45.’ So of course I don’t
recognize them, particularly the boys. They look very
different when they lose their hair especially. So I have
lots of students everywhere, students everywhere.”
There is much about Ms. Özbal that makes her a fascinating person. She is a lottery winner, for example. Not
the national one of course, but she has won a cruise to
Alaska with her husband “Thanks to Cevahir Shopping
Mall,” as she states. It will be beginning on June 24;
therefore, she will be missing the graduation on June
28. “Well, they can fire me if they want but I’m definitely going on that trip. It’s like a retirement present
for me,” she adds. Moreover, she is rather happy that
she is retiring from teaching and consequently will
have more free time and actually will be able to visit
her child and grandchildren in Boston for 2-3 weeks
instead of only a week. Furthermore, on the SAT weekends, the PSAT weekend, before and during the APs
week, we will continue eating up her free time with
ingenious thoughtful questions.
SATs, APs, students, headmasters…. all the various
aspects that make up our school and the memories
we take with us. Seasons come and go. The walls of
RC have witnessed many a departure with tears and
goodbyes, some happy and some anguished. The
school, like its people, copes with partings eventually,
growing used to inevitable change and consoling itself
with trivialities. The pain is remedied by replacements,
but how can the devotion and experience of a 38-year
career ever be replaced? Farewell Mrs. Özbal! Farewell
to a legend!
supplementary Issue
The BC Staff
Editors-ın-chief
Ahmet Ali Arslan
Layout EDITOR
Şeyda Sarıbaş
Ogün Yurdakul
Layout Crew leader
Göksenin Akdeniz
Copy Editors
Ceren Acar
Dilara Kanca
Ece Oba
Elif Erez
Esra Şefik
İlknur Aliyev
Melis Özsoy
Nil Karahasanoğlu
Pırıltı Özcan
Miray Palaz
Övgü Bozgeyik
Öykü Bozgeyik
Öykü Esen
Uğur Koçak
Yağmur Çınar
Yusuf Kumtepe
Advısors
Jonathan Rau
Karla Page
Publisher: Birmat Matbaacılık
RC adına sahibi ve yazı işlerinden sorumlu müdürü: Güler Kamer
Bosphorus Chronicle is published monthly during the academic year by Robert College students. We welcome letters to the editor,
feedback, and articles by students. However, we reserve the right to edit all materials for reasons of appropriateness of length.
Give your submissions to the advisor or one
of the editors or send it to us via e-mail.
All photographs published are taken by
the writer unless otherwise credited.
How to contact us:
By mail: Robert College, Arnavutkoy 34345 Istanbul, Turkey.
By e-mail: [email protected]
Yerel Süreli Yayın
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
Sinan Kazaklar
desıgn
Yiğit Ergeçen (RC’10)
Writers
Aslıhan Asil
Banu Develioğlu
Bengisu Güçkan
Burcu Bakaç
Dilay Yerlioğlu
Hande Tuğrul
Pınar Uysal
Nur Cebi
Nur Yazır
Zeynep Kahveci
Pırıl Özgit
İpek Batum
Cem Tecimer
Buse Aktaş
Bihter Akyol
Güzel Su Bali
Murat Genç
Müge Oral
Neşem Petek Özbey
Özdemir Vayısoğlu
Pınar Ziyadanoğlu
Mehmet Gürsoy
Deniz Şenyuz
Gül Ayhan
Irmak Aybartürk
Merve Gülgün
Didem Kaya
Setenay Gel
Orhun Timur
Gül Ayhan
Layout crew
Irmak Aybartürk
Övgü Bozgeyik
Öykü Bozgeyik
Mehmet Gürsoy
Yusuf Kumtepe
3
NEWSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWSNEWSNEWS
KÜR for Sure
On the 16th of April, Robert College hosted a very unusual ball, welcoming students from outside the RC
community. KÜR, an unofficial association between the
student councils of Üsküdar American Academy, Koç
School and Robert College, organized its first collective
activity on our campus. Contrary to having their high
expectations met, some of the students were disappointed due to unfortunate problems in the organization of the activity. It would seem that the factors that
led up to these disappointments were not KÜR’s fault:
BC reveals the reasons behind the “so-called” problems
of this year’s second ball.
Nazlı Danış (L12) explained the reason for wanting to
hold an associated activity with ÜAA and Koç School:
“KÜR had been assembling for three years in order to
exchange ideas and views, but we had not brought up
closer relationships between the school communities.
The main problem seems to have been the relative
inexperience of the other schools’ student councils. As
Volkan Sipahioğlu, the president-elect of RC’s Student
Council, stated, our guests were not familiar with the
concept of RC balls and the Student Council had to
guide them throughout the organization process. Nazlı
added: “We had some problems at the very last moment. According to our plans, there would be three DJs
representing each school; and our DJ, İgal Benardete,
would share his turntable with ÜAA’s DJ; but unfortunately he had to leave after school, thus ÜAA’s DJ could
not perform because of İgal’s absence. At the end, we
were left with only one DJ for the whole night.” As we
have observed, it would have been very hard for him to
handle the whole party; so he had to make some spontaneous changes in the program, finishing the party
earlier than planned. As a result, the available repertoire was considered unsatisfactory by many students.
Those who got bored of the techno music that was
played throughout the evening spent their time outside the Bubble. Especially the students from Koç and
ÜAA preferred to hang out in the garden enjoying the
any projects until our very last meeting. This year, we
decided to hold some tangible activity as KÜR and put
our best foot forward in terms of organising a collective
ball.” Ömer Şerifoğlu (L11) emphazised their main intention, saying that the ball aimed to make these three
schools’ students get to know each other, establishing
RC campus with friends, instead of the clubbish ambiance inside that apparently depleted the participation.
Ömer Şerifoğlu said that this time they wanted to see
what they could do as KÜR and that he found it quite
successful considering the fact that this was their first
attempt. Also, Volkan Sipahioğlu heralded the good
Özdemir
Vayısoğlu
supplementary Issue
news that in the upcoming years they will repeat similar KÜR activities, promising to bring up more interesting and amusing themes after a first experience that
enabled the other schools to learn our organizational
system.
Another very important objective of the ball was
community service. The KÜR aimed to raise money to
donate to the project H2O FOR LIFE, a campaign committed to supplying clean drinking water to Africa
along with education projects in water, sanitation and
hygiene. Volkan explained the reason of their donation
to the H2O FOR LIFE project which encourages the students to engage in creating a better global community:
“Water is a very vital need and drought in Africa is a
basic problem to be solved.” We also know that some
members of the KÜR wanted to use the profit of the ball
in a charity work held in Turkey; and therefore have decided to set aside some portion of the money to donate
to TEGV as well. As announced by Volkan Sipahioğlu,
with the ball, KÜR has raised approximately 3000 YTL
which was more than they had expected.
During the preparation process,
the RC school
administration
was concerned
about the activity with regard to
the maintenance
of security on the
school grounds,
since students
from outside the
RC community
would be let into
the campus. Other than that, all
the students had
a positive outlook on the idea
of such a party.
Having seen that
there was no
problem regarding security, the
administration
also
eventually supported the project. On the 16th of April, the RC
Campus hosted approximately 590 students of which
240 were from Koç School and ÜAA. Despite some
unexpected problems, the KÜR Ball was successful in
initiating a tradition between Koç School, ÜAA and
Robert College.
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
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NEWSBOSPHORUSCHRONICLENEWSNEWSNEWS
RC Theater Company Goes Green
Devoting yourself to something requires effort and
time, but creating a masterpiece from scratch by altering your accustomed ways of doing things demands
courage and love for what you do. Driven by outstanding ideas and having a unique plan in mind, Ms. Şamlı,
together with Mr. Shulha, bravely took on the challenge of bringing another dimension to the theater
experience, by moving the show outdoors.
Despite being scheduled to take place on the 28th,
29th and 30th of April to celebrate the life of Shakespeare, the show was postponed until the following
week due to unfortunate weather conditions. This
mischance did not stop Ms. Şamlı, nor did it hinder the
cast’s enthusiasm.
To start from the very beginning, the “Shakesmania”
began with the arrival of a very special guest from
the Royal Shakespeare Theater Company: Louise Bangay. By various techniques and exercises, Ms. Bangay
aided the process of cracking those tough lines written
heart, nor did Hande start cackling and pulling on
people’s hair with wickedness right in the middle of an
MUN conference. After the participation of Ms. Oneill’s
English class, who were the winners of the ninth grade
Romeo and Juliet contest, the energy was at its extremes. Eventually while practicing the Elizabethan
dance known as the pavan in timely costumes and
wearing the masterpieces of the make-up club led by
Ms. Lajam on our faces gracefully, the final realization
took place: the time for the show had come.
Using the lovely scenery of our campus, staging scenes
from some of Shakespeare’s best-known plays such as
Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice,
and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at different venues,
the play presented a physical challenge for both the audience and the actors. Despite the struggle to be heard
over the sounds of the buzzing bees and to keep warm
under thin layers of costume during rehearsals, playing
outdoors was an educational and enlightening experience. The rush began in the green room at 5:15 P.M.,
viewing a color scheme ranging from green to pink on
the faces of actors and reflecting off of mirrors lighting
the room, the smell of hairspray filled the lungs with
its pungent smell. With the lines on our minds and
the catch phrase of the occasion “Get your pavan on”
circulating the room, all troubles were overshadowed
in verse and filled with big, scary words. Rather than
making actors memorize and dryly utter those words
without any meaning, she stimulated them into seeking understanding and believed in the gradual progress from actions to words, which proved to be successful. Upon completion of the workshops, the rehearsals’
pace increased, becoming more intense and focused.
Day by day, one began to notice slight changes in the
movements; a different air came to the words. Each of
the actors were bit by bit becoming their characters,
except for the fact that neither did Bekir go around demanding a piece of flesh nearest his biology teacher’s
joyously. It was time to step on to the stage, namely
the whole school. With the sound of the fanfare, the
entrances were made into the Maze and in a dignified
air the pavan began under the gaze of curious eyes.
Once a show starts, the right of talking about it passes
to the audience. After entering the Maze admiring the
fantastic costumes and make-up, one could not help
but imagine how spectacular it was going to be. A whispering cloud of gossip appeared to take over the campus, which was blown away with the opening speech
of Mr. Welch. A traditional Elizabethan dance followed
by splitting in groups washed away all the possible
Ceren Acar
Dilara Kanca
supplementary Issue
qualms from the audience’s mind, as if it was saying:
“We know what we are doing and we ensure you that
it will be awesome. Just walk around the campus following your guides, enjoy the show and leave the rest
to us.” Despite the splendid surprises of the guides, the
excitement of guessing the next venue was priceless.
After witnessing four scenes coming true, there was
a short interval to find your performing friends and
congratulate them, eat snacks and enjoy the Elizabethan ambience on the campus. Following the interval,
all the groups were combined together, watching an
astonishing scene from Henry IV and moving towards
the entrance of Gould Hall. Once more, whispers were
spreading, everyone proudly and confidently telling
the other that “The Balcony Scene” was going to be
performed. Index fingers were directed towards the
windows or the balcony, as a support to the audience’s
guesses. When the scene began, “The Balcony Scene for
sure”ers were tricked completely by the performance of
the 9th grade’s Romeo & Juliet contest winners. However, it did not take any longer than 5 seconds for the
bitter taste of broken confidence to leave its place to
stomach-hurting laughter. Although the performing
class was not from the RC Theater Company, they were
simply amazing! This fun cover of Romeo & Juliet was
pursued by a classic yet romantic and dramatic scene:
The Balcony Scene, in which a real balcony was used!
The only complaint of the audience was that they experienced slight difficulties sometimes, while trying to
understand the scene. Perhaps, if the audience were
told the plot in more detail, especially for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice and Henry
IV, it would be easier to catch the puns, the jokes and
the twists in language.
Another realization from the evening was the fact that
the famous saying “I am a Turk/man/potato, I will be
okay” does not protect one from the cold. The posters
warning people about the chilly air and suggesting to
them that they wear coats were a great idea; however,
as a nation, it seems that we still have a trouble listening to advice. The RC Theater Company must have foreseen this, so that they even thought of rental blankets.
Anyway, a Shakespearean play is both hard to direct
and perform. Now, imagine it with multiple Shakespearean plays instead! The challenge of carrying the
stage on the green shall not be skipped as well. Despite
the high level of difficulty, the result was ultimate success! Art needs creativity and indisputably, drama is an
art, so it ought to be creative for maximum impression.
The RC Theater Company appears to agree with that, in
search for the novel and achieving that in the noblest
way possible, ending the season with a unique performance: Shakespeare on Green! Too bad if you missed
it…
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Missing Rose Exclusive Interview with Serdar Özkan
Öykü Bozgeyik
Özgü Bozgeyik
When you step into a bookshop, the pink covered international bestselling book, Kayıp Gül (Missing Rose),
attracts your attention immediately. Kayıp Gül is one
of three books in Turkey which have been translated
into thirty five languages. The author of that book is
a Robert College graduate, Serdar Özkan, who studied Psychology and Management at Lehigh University
in Pennsylvania. The Bosphorus Chronicle has interviewed him to satisfy the curiosity of readers about the
bestselling book and its author.
Bosphorus Chronicle: Kayıp Gül is an impressive book
with an unexpected ending. How did you decide on the
theme of the book?
Serdar Özkan: When I was a child I used to think about
the way life is, and my perspective of life was based on
understanding the meaning of life. People usually think
that they cannot find the meaning of life, and they give
up seeking the answer. I continued to ask questions
to myself. As a result, the story of the book started to
develop. A year before I wrote the book, certain ideas
began to occur to me: The effort – or the instinct - to
seek approval by the people in our social life steals our
individuality. We sometimes concede our own system
of values. Getting deeper into these kinds of thoughts
and utilizing a narrative point of view helped me.
BC: Your fluency in wordcraft makes the events easy to
visualize. Reading the book is like watching a movie.
Have you ever thought about your book as a movie?
SD: The great majority of writers do not want to see
their books as movies. It can easily disappoint both the
writers and the readers . I would not prefer Kayıp Gül
as a movie. However if professional and successful producers are going to make a movie of the book, I would
think about it; because I would like it to be a good and
well-crafted movie. Some foreign directors may stay
faithful to the book.
BC: Do you read a lot? What kind of books do you prefer?
SD: I do read a lot. I mostly read types of books that I
like. Of course there are people who read more than I
read. Rather than reading books by certain authors, I
have my favorite books. The most impressive fictional
book I have read up to now is Oscar Wilde’s The Happy
Prince. All Robert College students should read it.
BC: The psychology of the characters of your book are
explored very well. Do you think your degree in psychology helped you in analyzing the characters of the
book?
SD: Yes, it affected the book in different ways; in different portions. Besides I am the kind of person who
is ready to question life; so this helps a lot. Kayıp Gül
supplementary Issue
is read in Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, and in the Middle
East too, and the readers feel similar things all around
the world, which is a sign of its universality. Modesty,
love and the personalities of the characters made the
book universal. This is why Kayıp Gül is compared to
books known worldwide such as The Alchemist, The
Little Prince and Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
BC: When we are going to read your second novel?
SD: My second novel, Hayatın Işıkları Yanınca (When
the Lights of My Life Come On), is about an extraordinary relationship between a boy and a dolphin. It is an
experience of learning mutual love. The book will be
published in October.
BC: You were also a Robert College student. Could you
share a memory from your days at RC?
SD: I spent seven years at Robert College, because of
the old system of Orta and Lise classes. I have very nice
memories of those days. What I like the most about
those years was the relationship between the Turkish teachers and the foreign teachers. RC was a great
assistance for me. Alongside of the discipline and opportunities provided, RC created free thinkers and the
students were open to the new aspects provided by RC.
BC: Can you tell us something about yourself?
SD: I am a writer because stories impress me. Being
alone in front of a magnificent view can even make us
sad. These are the stories that are necessary to share.
Some readers send e-mails telling me that they want
tural knowledge come from your school years? Did you
research these references specifically for the book?
SD: Diana and Artemis are explorations of literature,
they represent two different aspects. Ephesus and the
cult of Artemis is like a metaphor for human beings. It
is also an important point for us that it is in Turkey. Of
course, I researched a lot for the subjects of the book,
but the majority of the research came up in the writing
process.
BC: Which clubs were you in when you were at RC?
SD: There were a lot of clubs, I remember. At RC, I
wished to start a new club about surfing, because I
loved surfing. However, it was hard to organize.
BC: Did you decide to be an author during your RC
years?
SD: No, I did not. When I was in college, I thought that
I might write a book, but not specifically a novel. After
my college years, while writing Kayıp Gül, I realized
that being a writer is just the perfect fit for me. Now I
have completed three books. They are going to be published in the coming months.
BC: Recently it has become popular to have a manager.
Do you work with a manager?
SD: You have to work with a manager if you want to
work with big, successful publishers overseas. I have a
manager to take care of the connections with foreign
publishers.
to meet me. The first book of an author usually includes
some autobiographical details, therefore those who
are curious about aspects of me should read Kayıp Gül.
BC: How do you engage in the writing processes? Do
you write day and night, or just at times when you have
an inspiration?
SD: Those who write only when they have inspiration
are not professional writers. There are different phases
of writing a book. For the first draft of the book, I write
eight to ten hours per day. I have breaks after two hours
in which I walk along the shore. And then comes the
time to revise and edit, which is a completely different
process.
BC: In the book Kayıp Gül you mention mythological
characters and the famous philosopher Socrates. You
feature a great deal of culture allusions. Does your cul-
With Kayıp Gül, Serdar Özkan has reached readers
worldwide and has had a great impact on them. The
Middle East, Asia, Europe, North America,... Evidently,
people feel the same in all these places based on their
response to this single book. The theme of the book
is universal, that’s why the book is embraced around
the world. Love, modesty, humility, and individualism
are universal concepts that one can also find in The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
by Richard Bach, and The Little Prince by Antoine de
Saint-Exupéry. Now Serdar Özkan has joined these universally admired authors. You can find more information about Serdar Özkan and Kayıp Gül on the website
www.kayipgul.com. The Bosphorus Chronicle thanks
Mr. Özkan for sharing his time and thoughts with us.
BOSPHORUS CHRONICLE
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Interview with Volkan Sipahioğlu
Aslıhan Asıl
The Bosphorus Chronicle had a chance to speak with
the recently elected Student Council President, Volkan
Sipahioğlu. Here are answers to questions we all might
have had about the campaign process, the election and
his plans for the 2010-2011 school year.
BC: How did you decide to become a candidate for SC
presidency?
V.S. It was a hard choice. It really was a hard choice because I was planning on doing it for a couple of months.
BC: How did the campaign process go, especially in
terms of competition?
V.S. It was a difficult competition especially with my
friend Ömer because he was probably the toughest
candidate I could have faced. It was a very nice competition. In general, it was pretty tough because he was
talking to people, I was talking to people, and we tried
to talk with everyone we could see. Also it was really
hard for us too, because normally in an election you are
able to predict the outcome, but our situation was kind
of different, it was very had to predict.
BC: How did being a member of the Student Council
contribute to your life?
V.S. The Student Council helped me to build a character for myself. It actually taught me to be responsible
. Also, instead of talking and just producing ideas I
learned to actualize them and make them happen.
BC: What were the messages that you wanted to convey with your campaign?
V.S. That’s a hard question. There was a similar question asked during our speeches. Someone asked about
the campaign process.The thing is, especially with my
stickers and the posters, the only message I wanted to
convey was that I was a candidate for the presidency
and with my posters I didn’t say what I was planning
to do. Instead, I left that for my speech and hoped that
people would listen to my speech. With my posters
I wasn’t very serious because no one actually writes
what he or she wants to do—this is usually revealed
with the candidates’ speeches
BC: What are your plans for the next year?
V.S. I actually talked about that during my speech. My
main plan is to have a really nice year. Also the relationship with the administration is very important.
Moreover I’m planning a sport tournament in Robert
College for next year. I believe those are the things that
I’m going to go for.
BC: What do you think about the Student Council’s
place in school life?
V.S. In the school the Student Council is not like a governing thing. It actually contributes to school life. For
example, when you are tired or when you get bored
with the lessons, having an activity like dances where
you could hang out with your friends really helps, and
they are organised by the SC. I believe these events
help the school life , they make it more bearable.
We hope next year will be productive for the Student
Council and enjoyable for the students. Conratulations
to Volkan for his new office.
RC Students Meet Ban Ki Moon
Miray Palaz
“I am leaving the school early today.”
“Why?”
“I will go and see Ban Ki-Moon at Boğaziçi University.”
“What is a Ban Ki-Moon?”
On Friday, May 21st, this awkward conversation was
heard many times in the corridors of Robert College. For
those asking “what”, or hopefully “who” Ban Ki-Moon
is, let me explain: Ban Ki-Moon is the current Secretary
General of the United Nations, or in easier terms, “the
successor to Kofi Annan.” Mr. Ban has actually been in
the office since 2007, but he chose to be less popular
compared to the previous Secretary General, which is
why he is not well known by many people.
The Secretary General paid a visit to Turkey towards
the end of May. He met with a number of executives,
including the Prime Minister and the Head of State.
By special request he also agreed to deliver a speech
at Boğaziçi University. Fortunately, Robert College also
got an invitation and a small group of RC students had
the chance to attend this exclusive meeting.
supplementary Issue
The meeting was scheduled to start at 15.15 p.m. in
Albert Long Hall, the concert building that many RC
students are familiar with. However, due to the unending line in front of the door and the tight security
precautions, it took an extra half an hour to organize
everything. Finally at about 4 o’clock, the Secretary
General entered the hall with an enthusiastic round of
applause.
Mr. Ban started his speech first by formally greeting everyone, and then by saying “İyi günler.” After winning
the audience’s heart with this nice gesture, Mr. Secretary General proceeded with his speech, in which he
underlined the importance of Turkey in today’s world.
“Before coming here, I asked someone how the things
are going in Turkey. He answered me by teaching me a
Turkish saying: “Eski taş, eski hamam! - Same old bowl,
same old bath!” After the laughter, Mr. Ban said that
this could be changed and he advised: “Turkey has the
potential and the right to speak on world issues. Let
your voice be heard.”
Given that Turkey is currently a temporary member of
the Security Council, Mr. Ban advised us to raise our
voice on issues of peace and security, too. He personally thanked the Turkish people for the army’s support
in the Korean War, and commemorated their great sacrifices for world peace. He also mentioned the KoreanTurkish football match in the previous World Cup, and
how the two nations managed to celebrate the victory together. He quoted fromYunus Emre: “Don’t look
down on anyone, never break a heart, the mystic must
love all seventy-two nations,” and added that cooperation can be the hope for today’s world. Mr. Ban stated
that he wants a united world for peace and prosperity,
and that he trusts today’s young and energetic Turkey.
The Secretary General ended his speech with a kind
“Teşekkür ederim.”
After the speech, Mr. Ban also received questions from
students. Robert College student Can Soylu (L12) was
also lucky enough to get recognized and he asked the
Secretary General if the United Nations is still effective
enough in today’s world, where the understanding of
war and peace has changed drastically. Mr. Ban answered this question by stating that the United Nations
is changing too, and that it will overcome the changes
with the cooperation of all the states.
After about 45 delightful minutes, Ban Ki-Moon left
the Boğaziçi campus for another appointment. The
participants considered themselves lucky to have the
chance to listen to such an important leader in person.
While getting on the bus riding back to our beautiful
campus, every single attendee secretly wished to be
like Mr. Ban, not necessarily by becoming the Secretary
General, but by becoming an influential person in the
world.
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A Club beyond Dispute: Debate Society
Pırıl İpek Özgit
Debate Society is a fresh, new club compared to the
settled clubs such as MUN or EYP. To give you an idea
about the club, firstly, it was started in 2008 with a
generous endowment by Mr. Feyyaz Berker. Mr. Royce
is currently the club advisor. There are around thirty
people in this club consisting of students from the
Robert College Debate Society and the Robert College
Junior Debate Society. Where RCDS is open to all freshmen and above, the Junior Society is open only to the
preps. The purpose of this junior society is also to prepare the students indebate training and speaking for
debating.
The main purpose of this club is simply to seek and
compete in international competitions and to develop
the debating culture by freely discussing the issues that
are of great importance in the world. As Cem Zorlular
said, “Robert College Debate Society was founded in
order to develop the culture of debating in RC and
society in general, as well as to raise teams that can
compete internationally.” To find out more about this
fascinating club, I conducted an interview with a member of this club.
BC: First of all, what is advantageous about this club
and why should students prefer this?
>Debate is very useful in terms of politics and international relations. Many prominent political figures
were debaters in their youth; Tony Blair was one of the
world’s best debaters. Most of the House of Commons
consist of former debaters. Other prominent debaters
include; Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Kofi Annan,
the former secretary general of UN. I also know that a
proportion of the members of our parliament also are
former debaters.
The scope of people you can meet in debate tournaments also is very broad. You can meet people from
South Korea, Botswana, Oman, Namibia, Sri Lanka as
well as people from the USA, Germany and so on. You
also can travel to such places, especially in universi-
supplementary Issue
ties. The next Universities World Competition will be in
Botswana and the World Schools Debating Championships will be held in South Africa in 2012.
Debating is also the world’s most popular non-sporting
student activity. A great number of students do participate in international schools debating event; however
it is most popular at the university level. Along with Oxford and Cambridge Union, Yale, Harvard or Columbia
universities have the world’s most prominent debate
societies. Also, Turkish universities are very interested
in debating. In that sense there also are a lot of university competitions which are open to all, including us (as
long as we are over eighteen). So RCDS also has older
debaters who go to university tournaments. Three of
our debaters will go to Durham, Eliat, Rotterdam and
Cork this summer to compete with university level debaters
BC: What qualities should students have to join this
club? Or what they should they do to be a member of
“Debate Society”?
>The qualities we need are: quick thinking, selfconfidence and intelligence. We don’t need people to
memorize information. In order to join RCDS you need
to take the test that we give each spring which tests
your ability to formulate arguments, spot flaws in arguments and demonstrate that you follow what is going on in the world.
BC: As a new club, I have heard you have many accomplishments in tournaments, can you mention a little
about these?
>In our two years we have had some considerable
successes. We currently have 4 of our members in the
Turkish National Debating team who represent us in
selective international events, three of which are the
founding members and also the captain is from RC as
well. The national team has joined three big tournaments; World School Debate Championships in 2009
and 2010, and also the national team went to Stuttgart
for the European Open. The national team which went
to Stuttgart clinched the first international success for
Turkey by qualifying to quarter finals after a group
stage of eight matches (namely you have to rank in top
8 on 36 teams in order to qualify) by finishing 7th. Also
we have some domestic successes in Domestic Tournaments, Kaan Ülgen was awarded as the best speaker
of İstanbul Debate Tournament in İstek and Robert
College qualified to finals stage in Turkish Championships by winning 8/8 of our matches. The finals will be
debated in 26th of May.
Are there any differences or similarities with those
popular clubs such as MUN or EYP?
There are some important differences as well as some
similarities. For debating we do need to be aware of
what is happening in the world, however not much in
depth. Although we can have a month to prepare for
one debate motion, the others we only have an hour
before the match starts to prepare. So, if a motion like,
This House Would Not Allow Tamil Tigers to participate
in the elections, we need to know what Tamil Tigers is.
However in order to know, you don’t need to have a
great general culture, following an international newspaper is enough. Some of our topics are chosen from
current international events; however we also debate
other question societies ponder such as social issues,
which include banning smoking. Another thing about
debating is that we need to discuss principle as much
as practical issues. For example in terms of banning
smoking, yes we know that smoking is very malicious
however odes the government actually have right to
ban such a freedom, as a matter of fact we are allowed
to eat fast food which is equally malicious then what
is the difference of smoking? You have to prove that in
order to win such a debate. Also debating is also a lot
about listening, as in order to win a debate you have to
listen and respond the arguments.
One difference that I can think of is that the most important international tournaments are incredibly selective. In World Championships only 58 national teams of
five were eligible to participate and the members of
these teams were selected in national selections where
nearly 400 students compete. So you have to be really
good in debating to go to World Championships.
What are your plans for this year?
We are striving to increase the number of our tournaments we go to. This year we have been in Germany,
Qatar and three Turkish tournaments. This summer the
representatives of the society will go to, Czech Republic, Israel, England, Ireland and Holland. For next year
we have approximately 5 or more international tourna-
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It Does Not Rain On The RC Olympics Day
Setenay Gel
“It does not rain on the RC Olympics days, trust me,”
said Dave Philips, keeping his fingers crossed. He is
the big man who changed the direction of the wind by
sending the tall ships to the Bosphorus, as Mr. Chandler
said, but we were sure that it was not because of the
ships that the weather was changed; it was because of
the spirit. After thirty years of experience, Mr. Philips
created the best RC Olympics day ever with the other
members of the P.E. office and the Student Council,
especially by opposing the rain. We got the challenge
of hard work on that Tuesday, mixed with excitement,
joy and happiness and it made the day even better. The
marathon, the football and volleyball finals, the tugof-war, the basketball match between the teachers
and students, and finally, the Dunking Booth… When
all of them came together, we had the RC Olympics, a
hilarious fairy tale.
Unlike previous years, we had the Dunking Booth,
which provided us with the most entertaining mo-
Ms. Pool; winner of the women’s marathon
ments of this great day. The new president of the
Student Council, Volkan Sipahioğlu, said that he was
thinking of using a Dunking Booth in one of the SC
activities, but there was none suitable for it. However,
they learned that Mr. Welch had already got it ready
for the summer school, so they decided to use it on RC
Olympics day. Even the teachers who jumped in the
cold, icy water were happy about this decision because
it was so much fun. When we first saw Mr. Lovely climbing up the stairs to sit on the chair with a magazine in
supplementary Issue
his hands, we were so excited to throw the ball and
make him fall into the water, but he was overconfident
of the “fact” that no one would be able to throw the ball
exactly at the target. After nearly hundreds of trials, he
was still laughing, but the end of his confidence was
approaching. After a moment, we saw his hand-made
flower crown falling into the icy water before his body
did, and all the people who were watching this fall
doubled up with laughter. We all said: “He who laughs
last, laughs best,” but also sincerely congratulated him
for his courage and good humor.
After Mr. Lovely, Mr. Becker took off his shoes and
climbed up the stairs of the Dunking Booth. He seemed
more confident than Mr. Lovely and when I asked him
how he felt while sitting on the chair, he said, “While
sitting on the chair, my thoughts ranged from wondering whether the water was clean to whether cantaloupes were in season yet to whether Robin Hood was
starting this weekend or the next weekend, and also
as to why they weren’t selling that delicious lemonade
this year on the plateau.” From this quote we understood that even he was a little bit concerned about the
water, about its coldness and cleanliness, but more
concerned about other things, such as Robin Hood and
delicious lemonade. However, just as everything has an
end, a student threw the ball at the target and brought
the fearful moments to a successful end. He was in
the water.
Finally, we saw Süheyla Sogancılar mount the platform, in spite of our struggles and efforts to discourage her from climbing up the stairs. We did not want
to see her sitting on that chair because we were sure
that no one would want to hit the target and make her
fall into the water, but she was eager to do so, and she
went ahead. Some of the girls threw the balls far away
from the target deliberately because they did not want
to see her in the water, but one of the boys hit the tar-
get and that was the end. She was in the water. When I
asked her how she felt, she said she was happy because
of the fact that she contributed to this great day by creating an absolutely fun occasion for her students, and
also happy for being able to feel the passing between
falling into the water and sitting on that chair. At the
end, she added, “Everyday you build castles in the air
but few of them come true, but one day you live a moment which is worth any dream.” which explicitly tells
us that the Dunking Booth was worth fun for everyone.
Apart from the Dunking Booth, the marathon was
great fun on its own. Watching the teachers who were
running to take the first place in spite of their fatigue
was so entertaining, and it must have been equally
great for the ones who placed in the first three. In
the male teacher category, Mr. Becker took first place,
while Mr. Shulha took second and Mr. Dew third. When
I asked Mr. Becker to tell me what kind of a feeling it is
to be the winner among all the teachers in the marathon, he said, “I was thinking how happy I was to be
able to live in one of the few clean places in Istanbul,
where I can run whenever I want. It was a short race,
but I loved it; I feel like I am part of a secret society,
running with Selcuk and my former students like Yusuf,
Arda, Deniz and Gorkem. Maybe when RC gets a pool,
we can do a triathlon.” Among the female teachers, Ms.
Pool was the winner, Mrs. Heinz was second and Mrs.
Kozlu third. As we can see, the Olympics was fun from
all perspectives, for both the students and the teachers.
As I have said, it was a hilarious fairy tale.
There are lots of things which provided us with an a
lot of fun stuff to talk about, such as the tug of war,
water battles among the students, basketball matches
and tournaments, but I want to talk more about the
ceremony, the time in which we really felt the Robert
College spirit. It is true that Robert College has always
been successful in every part of its social life, but we all
know that physical education has such a different place
in this category because it requires team spirit. We all
have it inside us and it provides us with the ability to
have the tens of successes that we saw in the ceremony. Apart from this, we experienced other parts of the
social life in the ceremony, such as dance and music.
The Drum Club, the Latin Dance Club and, Levent Kız
Meslek Lisesi gave us great performances during the
ceremony and we all watched them with admiration.
All in all, we should say a great thanks to Mr. Philips
and the P.E. team, the Student Council and all the
people who contributed in order to make this day a
fairy tale. This day belonged to us, as its name implies:
“Youth and Sports Day,” and by making the day absolute fun we proved that the RC spirit is sufficient to stop
the rain.
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Iceland Crisis
Neşem
Petek Özbey
How much do you think a volcanic eruption can change
your life? Quite a bit, indeed. Not many people consider
a volcanic eruption as a reason for their flights to be
cancelled, especially if they have something urgent to
do. Think for a second, that you have made the best
travel plan ever, you have packed your suitcase, you
have called a cab, and you have arrived at the airport.
Then suddenly on the board in which the flight information is given you see in capitals that your flight to,
let’s say England, is CANCELLED. You continue skimming over the board and you see that you are not
alone, perhaps not a good way to feel relieved under
these circumstances. There are many other countries
and flight numbers that have the word CANCELLED
next to them. You are mad--mad at the airport officials
who cancelled the flights, mad at the airplane which
perhaps needs repairing, you are even mad at the pilot
who does not have anything to do with this cancellation. You ask the personnel at the airport about the reason for these cancellations. Their answer is simple but
quite unbelievable: “A volcano erupted in Iceland and
the whole airspace of the northern European countries
is closed.” You struggle to understand but then realize
that you have no choice but to believe in what these
men say and return home, all the enthusiasm gone.
This was the case for most of the people on the day of
April 15, 2010. But of course it was merely a holiday
plan that was cancelled if you were lucky. Many people
had to travel because they had ill people to look after,
or their babies waiting at home or urgent meetings
to attend. When the volcanic eruption in Iceland cancelled all their plans, they had to wait for some time so
that the airplanes could operate again. But some did
not wait and they had their 15 minutes of fame with
that. They went by train, or bus, or even by taxi if they
were lucky enough to find a free seat. But of course
if your plane was going to England, then you did not
have anything to do but wait.
Members of the Robert College community were also
among the victims of the Iceland volcanic eruption. The
EYP club, who planned to go to Norway, was not able to
go because of the volcanic eruption. Individually, many
RC community members suffered inconvenience. Ms.
Altıntaş had her husband and daughter stranded in Europe, but finally they made their way back home. Ms.
Altıntaş’s daughter was stranded in Germany. As far as
Ms. Altıntaş said, it was really upsetting for her daughter: “My daughter was with her uncle and his family
supplementary Issue
in Germany -- they took a trip to Paris together -- and
was supposed to fly out of Germany back to Istanbul on
Saturday. Her flight was cancelled. She then waited
in Germany until she could fly out -- the first flight out
was on Thursday night. She missed a whole week of
school right before her exams, so she was very upset to
be stranded in Germany like this. We were all relieved
when she finally made it back to Istanbul.” If she had
not been able to come to Turkey just before the exam
time she was ready to undertake a very long journey
form Germany to Istanbul: “If she hadn’t been able to
fly out of Koblenz on Thursday, her uncle was prepared
to drive from Koblenz, Germany to Vienna, Austria and
try to get her a place on a plane out of Vienna. Luckily,
he didn’t have to do this. It would have been a very long
drive for him!” says Ms. Altıntaş, also adding that they
were all comforted when her daughter finally came
back to Istanbul. Her husband was also trapped: “My
husband was in Italy on business. He was supposed to
fly back on Monday, but all flights out of Bologna were
cancelled that day. And the next day. He was finally
able to take a late flight on Wednesday night. He was
that spread from the volcano to the air can seriously
endanger a flight by disrupting the motors of the airplane, so it is a really crucial threat that can destroy all
the mechanics of a plane. The case applied to the volcano Eyjafjallajokull (a real tongue twister) in Iceland.
However, this was not the first eruption in world history that caused such a mess, naturally. At the beginning of the 19th century, some major volcanoes such
as Mount Tambora in Indonesia erupted, creating huge
dust clouds. These eruptions caused Northern Europe,
North America and Canada to simply miss the summer
(thankfully there was no air traffic at that time). The
particles let out to the air created a barrier between the
sun and the earth, and eventually this deprivation of
sunlight caused summer time to vanish, and the winter
time to be really harsh, causing crops to freeze, deeply
affecting agriculture at that time.
If we imagine a worst-case scenario like that, considering the fact that scientists expect more eruptions from
this volcano Eyjafjallajokull, the predictions won’t be
very soothing. The eruptions might cause air spaces to
be non-functional again. This will cause many people
Eyjafjallajokull’s ashes
also upset to be stranded in Italy for days because he
had important meetings in Istanbul that week and had
to miss two days of work. We were also relieved when
he finally made it home.”
This example from Ms. Altıntaş clearly shows what it
means to be left with no transportation in the middle
of a place far away from your home. There were many
people like that in the European airports, who were not
fortunate enough to have a place to sleep other than
the benches in the airport. They were stuck in between
the country they visited and their homeland because
of a volcanic eruption, a reason that seems to be so
unlikely to cancel your flight. However, the particles
to get stuck in between their countries of departure
and their destinations and other than that-- most
importantly-- miss their flights to the countries where
they need to do something urgent. A total state of chaos could take over, leaving people desperate and bus
and train companies smiling. The people might feel
the scarcity of resources such as food, petrol, and many
other resources since they all rely on international
transportation. The whole agriculture and mercantile
operations would be terminated due to the volcanic
crisis. It might also affect the seasons, creating colder
winters and cancelled summers, so perhaps the worstcase scenario would bring more snow to our winters.
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FAREWELL RC’10
Bosphorus Chronıcle
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