Springtime and holidays

It's been a long, nasty transition from winter into spring, with March both entering and exiting with lion's fury, and April being a soggy, spastic mess. It's almost like being back in the Midwest, to tell the truth. One day it'll be sunny and 80 degrees, and the next it's back down to 40 degrees and the sky fills with ominous clouds. The past couple of weeks it's been generally warm, but even on the sunniest morning it's foolish to leave home without an umbrella because a downpour will probably start an hour later.

However, there was one glorious, glorious day last week that was warm and sunny for an entire afternoon. And not only was it sunny and gorgeous, it was also a public holiday so I had a Saturday without my normal six hours of classes!

And as with all national holidays, the flags came out and were proudly displayed everywhere.

April 23 is Children's Day in Turkey. This is a holiday established by Ataturk in 1921 to mark the date that Parliament first opened. Turks tell me that this is an international children's day, given to all the children in the world.

Last Saturday there were no classes, but schoolkids all over Turkey went to their schools for special ceremonies, with dance performances, poetry readings, singing, and other exhibitions. The other neat thing about Children's Day is that Ankara hosts an international children's sports festival in which kids from all over the world come to show off their national sports.

These posters are hanging all over the city to advertise the games, which are going on all week. The city is also celebrating by decorating the streets with some new friends.

Ankara (or Angora, as it was known in ancient times) is famous for its special breed of white angora cats. And it is these cats that have become the mascot for this year's Children's Games. These cats are all over the street corner. This is one of the smaller ones.

I did not make it to the games, but the day off was definitely a productive one in which I got my first taste of Turkish theater! It was certainly an interesting experience, considering that by a generous estimate I could understand a third of what was going on, but the magic of live theater is the same in any language and it felt good to be in an auditorium watching actors perform their craft.

And the best holiday is yet to come. May 1 is Labor Day in Turkey, and that means we get a Sunday off. I can go to church for the first time since Christmas! Hurray! I am praying that tomorrow will be another sunny day in which church can be followed by an afternoon in the park, but we'll see how it goes. I do not trust this Ankara weather.