︎ Jessica Belt Saem Eldahr
Community Organizer
Cinarcik, Turkey
translated by Peng Wu
The land of germs on slides and swings
March 14, the day before we had airplane tickets to leave our home in Minnesota and fly into Istanbul, was one of the most stressful days I can remember. Thousands of questions and fears circled around in our heads and were ever present in our conversations. Was it safe to fly when just that four days earlier COVID-19 was declared a pandemic? How would we keep our two-year-old from touching everything and everyone? If we postponed our travel where would we live? How long would this last? Could we afford waiting around? I had just stepped down from my job, and we had sold our house and all our belongings, packing everything we had left into 5 suitcases (1.5 of them being filled with my husband’s instruments). Regardless if our decision was to leave as planned or stay, we were stepping into the unknown. The unknown has been our faithful friend these past four months.
We arrived at our cold and dank Airbnb in a city of 15 million people and immediately felt we needed to wait out the pandemic somewhere else. The next day my husband rented a car, got lost multiple times as he found his way to where we now call home, Cinarcik, a small town nestled on the coast of the sea of Marmara. Our short-term rental had a sliver of a view of the sea, but the rest of our view was consumed with concrete buildings, stray dogs, and lots of weeds. With a curfew on anyone under 18 or above 60, I would sneak my son out early in the morning where our only company were the stray dogs and cats, and hundreds of seagulls and pigeons. I was never so grateful for my son’s fascination with animals (and frankly, their poop) as it was our exclusive entertainment for our first three weeks. I often wonder what my son must have thought about this new Turkey; a place where everyone wears masks, we talk to no one, and where “germs” are on every slide and swing.
We are slowly settling in. We now have views of olive orchards, minarets, and huge cargo ships making their way through the Bosphorus strait. At night we can see the lights of Istanbul flickering across the sea. On our daily walks I am delighted by more flowers than I could ever imagine and the lovely breeze one feels when living by the sea. I do wonder what the long-term effects of raising a child during COVID-19 are, as my son runs away from the other kids on the playground and constantly worries about germs. Today, July 15th marks four months he hasn’t played with another child.
We continue to seek out a balance of living healthy and full lives, for ourselves and for others. There is no perfect combination. Ultimately, we are beyond grateful to be healthy. And we are finding joy in the littlest observations and discoveries; finding a new walking path to our house, watching from our window the addition of the ferry boats that have started to arrive from Istanbul, trying new flavors of ice-cream, befriending the garden snails and neighborhood cats. There is certainly a lot of fear that exists in the unknown, but it is also full of joy, discovery, and gratefulness.
︎ 杰西卡•贝尔特•赛姆•艾德
社群组织人
土耳其，西纳尔西克市
滑梯和秋千上布满细菌的城市
三月十四日是我记忆中压力最大的一天。第二天，我们最终还是决定买了从我们家当时所在的明尼苏达飞往伊斯坦布尔的机票，即刻启程。而在十四日这天，成千上万的疑问和恐惧在我们的脑海中不断翻腾。大家反复谈论着这些情况。四天前新冠病毒被宣布为全球大流行病，现在乘飞机还安全么？怎样才能防止我们两岁的孩子到处摸东西？如果我们推迟搬家去伊斯坦布尔的行程我们未来住哪里呢？疫情会持续多久？我们经济上能负担得起在这里等下去么？我刚刚从我的工作离职，已经卖了房子和我们所有的东西，把剩下的用品打包成了五个大行李箱（其中一个半行李箱塞满了我丈夫的乐器）。不管我们决定现在就出发还是留下等待，我们现在已经一步踏入了难以预料不确定中。这样的不确定性已经是我们过去四个月以来最忠实的伙伴常伴在左右。
我们抵达了目的地，拥有一千五百万居民的伊斯坦布尔，暂时在一个又冷又湿的民宿落脚。随即感到真应该在其他地方先躲躲疫情。第二天我丈夫租了车，在途中又迷路了无数次之后，终于到达我们现在的家所在的小城市马尔马拉海边的西纳尔西克市。在这个我们短租的房间里能看到窄窄的一小片海，其余视野中却矗立着水泥混凝土建筑，到处是野狗和荒草。城市正在实行宵禁，十八岁以下和六十岁以上的居民都不能外出。在安静无人的清晨，在野猫野狗四处游荡的时候，我会偷偷把我两岁的儿子带出门放放风。儿子对各种动物充满好奇（确切的说是对他们的便便）。我对这点心存感激，因为观察这些动物们是我们头三个礼拜的生活中唯一的娱乐项目。我常常很好奇在儿子的眼中这个新冠疫情下的土耳其是什么样子的：所有人戴着口罩，我们从不跟任何人聊天打招呼，所有的滑滑梯和秋千上都是“细菌”。
我们一点点逐渐在这个城市安定下来。我们远远的眺望橄榄树果园，清真寺的宣礼塔，巨大的货轮驶进博斯普魯斯海峽。夜幕降临，伊斯坦布尔古城的灯光在海对岸闪烁着。日常散步的时候会偶然惊喜的遇到难以置信的一大片花朵，在海边特有的微风中让人沉醉。而当我看到儿子会因为担心病毒而避开游乐场上的其他小孩时，我会想新冠病毒对成长中的小孩的人生会有哪些长远的影响呢？今天，七月十五号，儿子已经整整四个月没有和其他小孩一起玩耍了。
我们不断在健康安全和享受生活之间寻找一个平衡点。同时还要考虑我们的活动对其他人健康安全的影响。几乎不可能找到一个完美的模式。不管怎么说，我们对现在还算健康已经是谢天谢地了。现在生活中许多细小的发现时常给我们带来很多乐趣：比如发现一条能回到家的新散步路线；比如我们从窗口看出去发现从伊斯坦布尔城驶来的渡轮在增多；品尝新的冰激凌的口味；尝试跟花园里的蜗牛和邻居家的猫咪做朋友；虽然我们内心仍然对各种未知心存恐惧，但同时心里也时常充满快乐，新发现，和对生活的感恩。