The nature of our work here in Turkey means that you\u2019re going to be uncomfortable a lot of the time. It\u2019s hot, it\u2019s sticky, it\u2019s dirty. No matter how much water you drink, it never feels like enough. You burn through calories at an alarming rate, meaning you work with a growling stomach a lot of the time. And personal space? Forget about it\u2014doesn\u2019t exist here.<\/p>\n
As such, it\u2019s tempting to fall into patterns of negative thinking about the whole situation. However, I believe it\u2019s much more productive to embrace the discomfort, rather than attempt to mask it. My sweat-soaked shirt at the end of the day signifies a day spent doing productive labor in the sunshine; our constant proximity to one another means we just have that many more opportunities to bond and form meaningful relationships. I\u2019ve taken to viewing our daily work not just with a positive attitude, but with a realistic one. Yes it is hard\u2014but it\u2019s also incredibly worth every second of discomfort.<\/p>\n
Viewing our experience under this new lens also opens up opportunities to appreciate the little things that bring you pleasure. Washing your face at the end of fieldwork, feeling the breeze come through the bus window, putting on a semi-clean shirt after taking a shower\u2026 Small moments once-overlooked are now small occasions to celebrate and revel in a brief feeling of comfort.<\/p>\n
Today is my birthday, and my parents graciously sent me a big care package full of snacks and clean clothes to tide me over. To start my day today, I indulged in a few spoonfuls of peanut butter sent from home. Even this simple act brought me so much joy; I never thought that I would appreciate having peanut butter as much as I do now. Here in Turkey, seeking out the little pleasures makes the whole experience a lot more surprising and rewarding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The nature of our work here in Turkey means that you\u2019re going to be uncomfortable a lot of the time. It\u2019s hot, it\u2019s sticky, it\u2019s dirty. No matter how much water you drink, it never feels like enough. You burn through calories at an alarming rate, meaning you work with a growling stomach a lot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1409,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Iz8A-lG","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1409"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1344"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1394,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344\/revisions\/1394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}