Turkish Delight

Torsdag var det blevet tid til den første præsentation i trio'en (Estefania, Basak og jeg). 

Basak er sponsoreret af Thomasville Rotary, og skulle give sin præsentation til deres frokostmøde. 

I et dansk perspektiv var det ganske interessant da det indtryk man kan få i Danmark af Tyrkiet, er meget anderledes end det indtryk Basak har givet mig - til den positive side naturligvis! Det var desuden spændende at høre hvordan en tyrker ser på tyrkisk historie og politik, sammenlignet med de billeder man ser i medierne. 

Basak havde lavet en både interessant og underholdende præsentation, som dog desværre blev kortet lidt af i slutningen pga. et lidt overfyldt program. Inden hendes præsentation skulle vi først introduceres til klubben "students of the month" fra den lokale high school, og derefter var der et mindre indlæg omkring GRSP og en video-samtale med en GRSP student fra 1995. 

Om end begge indslag var gode, betød det desværre at Basak ikke helt fik mulighed for at færdiggøre sin præsentation. Det var særligt sjovt at se hvordan man i den amerikanske kultur gerne fremhæver enkelte elever for at gøre hvad de bør - nemlig skolearbejde - den var nok ikke gået i Danmark med vores forkærlighed for janteloven. 

Under Basaks uddeling af "Turkisk delight" efter mødet, blev hun dog inviteret til at gengive præsentationen til en middag hjemme hos en rotarianer som gerne ville høre det hele igen :-)

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Thursday it was time for the first presentation in our trio (Estefania, Basak and I). Basak is sponsored by the Thomasville Rotary Club, and was presenting during their lunch meeting. 

In a Danish perspective it was really interesting since the impression you get of Turkish culture in Denmark is far from the impression of Turkey I have gotten from Basak - in a positive way of course! It was especially interesting to hear how a Turk sees Turkish history and politics compared to what the media presents us with. 

Basak had prepared a both interesting and entertaining presentation, which she unfortunately did not get to finish completely due to a slightly overfilled program. Before her presentation we were introduced to the Rotary Club's high school students of the month, and after that there was an item on GRSP in general as well as a video conference with a former GRSP student from 1996. 

Even though both items were very interesting it meant that Basak did not get to finish her presentation entirely. It was especially funny to see how it is common in American culture to accentuate some students for doing what they are supposed to - that is school work - I don't think that would have happened in Denmark with our predilection for the law of jante (see here). 

During Basak's hand-out of "Turkish Delight" after the meeting, she was invited to the home of a rotarian to give the presentation again (and in its full), as they were a group who really wanted to learn more.