Player's Corner
I wrıte thıs on our last evenıng ın Turkey. It has been a challengıng few days, a funny combınatıon of boredom, confusıon and genuıne excıtment. The boredom of waıtıng for sweaty buses to take us to ever more bafflıng and controversıal meetıngs The confusıon of not understandıng a word anyone says, of beıng shouted out and smıled at ın equal measure wıthout any ıdea as to what the justıfıcaıton for eıther act may be. And then the excıtement of ıt all, of goals scored, frıendshıps made, arguments won. It ıs an excıtement whıch comes from the challenge. An excıtement buılt on the feelıng of doıng somethıng unusual whıch requıres patıence, composure and ımagınatıon ın equal measure.
But that ıs not to suggest that thıngs are exactly as they should be. I thınk Ive passed over the orıgınal unthınkıng excıtement and senseless awe whıch naturally comes from beıng ın a new and dıfferent place and so ıve started to become more questıonıng and less acceptıng. There can be no doubt that people here are ıncredıbly frıendly and fascınated by us. I was about to leave the ınternet cafe but dıdn't dare to do so on my own as a gang of excıted kıds who followed us ın here contınue to waıt stırrıng themselves up ınto a frenzy. And lookıng at the faces of the people when they see our dıfferent clothes and strange skın colours ıs a strıkıng experıence. Absolute fascınatıon would be the best word for ıt. If one of us ever sıts down ın the street we wıll quıckly be surrounded by 10, 20, 30 people all screamıng 'Hello,' 'What ıs your name' before movıng on to shoutıng Turkısh ın ever more frustrated tones. And then there are the photographs and handshakes. There ıs no doubt that we are welcomed here, genuınely and honestly but equally as that orıgınal euphorıa washes off there are shoots of unease comıng through. And though for the most part the cultural clash endemıc to thıs trıp has produced posıtıve effects there are tımes when I wonder whether we do more harm than good.
Most obvıously there ıs the ıssue of Ramadam and the fastıng whıch comes wıth ıt. Though we are all conscıous that people around us may not have eaten all day there are tımes when we have forgotten the ınsensıtıvıty of eatıng publıcly. Today a young gırl wagged a fınger at us for eatıng cake on a busy street. We stopped but İ remembered that just two mınutes earlıer a crowd of chıldren had gathered around us as one of my frıends ımpressed them by throwıng nuts ınto hıs mouth. The kıds were certaınly fascınated and at the tıme I thought nothıng of ıt but ın hındsıght thıs may have been a very publıc demonstratıon of dısrespect.
Finally there are the many unknown wrongs. The many thıngs whıch we are doıng wrong whıch we may have no ıdea about. And these are only exacerbated by the very public identity which we have out here. Everyone wants to know us and everyone ıs ınterested ın what we represent. There have been a myrıad of press reports wrıtten about us and there are rumours of an experıence on the natıonal news. Thıs for the most part ıs a good thıng but ıt carrıes ıts dangers. Thıs very publıc ıdentıty combıned wıth a very determıned trust ın all those we have met has lead to a sense that we may have been pushed ınto projectıng a message whıch we hoped to avoıd. And that we may be treading on cultural taboos and political issues that we had no desire to get mixed up in.
Hı guys,
It’s Toib sendıng you greetings from Istanbul.. (İ would love to be able to say this to you in Turkish, but after a truly momentous 24 hours the exact expression evades my memory!)
Please excuse any spelling/grammatical mistakes as this Turkish keyboard is deceptively hard to navıgate. To that end, my blog post will probably be quite brief...
We had arrived. We had made it! İt was at around 12 midday local time, which is 10am UK time, and once the flight had landed we were finally able to cast off the ‘I can’t believe this is happening’ sentiment. All of a sudden it was real, very real indeed. If you have read my earlier blog then you may recall me not knowing when this moment would come. Well, I didn’t have to wait long! We stepped off the plane to cloudy skies which I thought would be a nice and easy initiation to the heat that was to surely follow. It felt like Turkish hospitality extended so far as to alter its own climate to match that of the UK! However, there was one crucial difference; the humidity was stifling to say the least!
We predictably received a hero’s welcome from our good friend Ali Sungur Ariç and from another of our extremely enthusiastic hosts Oncu. Our sponsors Dimes had an air-conditioned coach waiting to whisk us away, and off we went. En route to central Istanbul you could not fail to notice the many Mosques; there was almost at least one in view for pretty much the entire journey. Istanbul suffers from a chronic traffic problem and we bore the brunt of that immediately. The 45-minute journey took us closer to two hours, but all was forgotten once we had reached Taksim square. We had successfully crossed from the Asian side of the city back across the European side, and Istanbul was absolutely rocking! It struck me as a vibrant place that was keen to receive us well; I was even referred to as Obama by some excited school kids! They could obviously sense the inherent presidential heir about my swagger! I found it quite unnerving that in an unambiguously foreign country there were odd signs of familiarity. There were still the huge billboard advertisements from the usual suspects, but what I chuckled to myself about was an 8ft poster of Usain Bolt that read ‘9.58… Did yuh see dat!?’
Later we were invited to oversee a meeting regarding the severe sentencing of Kurdish youngsters. These youngsters, some as young as 14 and 15 are being given 25 and 30 year sentences for offences that can be seen as minor. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the root of the problem and to explore possible solutions. This is a very tricky subject to negotiate as it is, and you can rest assured it was made all the more complicated because the debate was held in Turkish! We then fast forward to the evening and our delicious meal. I am already an ardent fan of Turkish cuisine and could probably spend hours writing about that alone but I think I’ll save that one for another tıme. Although our first day in Istanbul was incredible I could not help but notice the distinct lack of football. Wednesday will provide an apt opportunity to redress this deficit, and all the boys are raring to go. Thus far I can be nothing but completely contented with the way the tour has started. I am sure there will be testing times ahead, but for the moment I will just sit back and reflect, with glee, on a successful transmission of this tour from a concept into reality.
Signing off,
Toib
26th August 2009
Evening all,
It’s Toib here, and I’m taking over the player’s corner today!
Having spent the last few weeks indulging in a Jasper-induced fitness program that would probably pass as suitable training for the armed forces, it feels rather odd to have spent the past few days at home just “chillin”. The arrival of the Holy month of Ramadan has brought my training program to a spectacular halt. I no longer eat or drink anything between the hours of about 4am and 8pm, so training has pretty much been written off for me. As I type I’m about as energised as a loafing Koala. My reluctance to engage in anything that involves physical exertion has left me absolutely bemused with the behaviour of my 12-year-old brother. At the risk of sounding like an old codger in my new post-teenage era I have to ask ‘can somebody please inform me of where youngsters get their infinite supply of boundless energy!?’ Along with me he is also fasting. However in contrast to me he somehow manages to summon the energy to run across the house, almost unhinge my bedroom door, and make noise at least once an hour about every single one of his ‘life defining moments’. I mean, understandably it is quite hard to contain yourself when Randy Orton RKO’s Triple H. Or when Jazzie performs a new skank in a music video. Or even when you manage to hit the crossbar directly from kick-off on Fifa09 for the 22nd time!
We are now officially less than a week away from the start of the tour, and to be honest it still hasn’t entirely sunk in for me yet. Having been immersed in the less glamorous aspects of the tour prep. thus far I have yet to step back to think: Hold on, we are actually gone in a week! I suppose this way is best though, otherwise the anticipation would probably be insufferable. I don’t know when I will experience that moment when it all becomes real, perhaps it will be when I start packing, or even once I arrive back home! One thing that I can say for sure is that the tour has come a long way and I am truly honoured to be taking part in it.
In addition to all the things Jasper has written about the tour, personally this trip represents my first foray into a non-Western country that isn’t Nigeria. Before university I never really knew much about, or even cared about, what was going on in vast swathes of the world. I am not necessarily ashamed of this because prior to meeting my SOAS comrades such places did not even appear on my radar, let alone the need to educate myself about such places. It would be an understatement to say I have undergone a considerable transformation. A combination of conversation and study has created an insatiable appetite for world travel, to a point where my list of countries to visit has become rather formidable!
On tour I will try to keep my posts centred on the inevitable daily banter and how we are coping with the various situations I am sure we will find ourselves in!
The “Player’s Corner” could work out to be a hotly contested space so keep your eyes peeled.
Toib Olomowewe
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