Izmir, Turkey
My 21st Birthday
It is a great tradition among my peers to celebrate the 21st birthday
as if they were celebrating their last birthday. Wild parties and
drinking orgies tend to be the norm as a rite of passage of the newly
found right to drink alcohol (because as we all know, no one drinks
underage). Though they all boast of having a wonderful time, most have
no idea how their birthday went and what they did. But I remember in
great detail how I spent my 21st birthday, and to date I have not yet
heard of a better way to spend it than the way that I did.
I spent the summer of 1999 in Izmir, Turkey, the third largest city in
Turkey located on the Aegean Sea. I spent most of my time in the
company of the local Aiesecers, other trainees and other people who
lived in the same hostile that we did. We spent the weeks working and
lounging and spent the weekends on pre-planned trips across Turkey. As
the summer was winding down a free weekend lurked on the horizon. Boat
trips were very popular among us, and we decided to take a three-day
trip off Bodrum, a resort town in southwest Turkey. As destiny had it,
the trip was planned in August, from the 13th to the 15th. The 15th was
by 21st birthday, a fact that was not lost on anyone of us.
The boat trip was pure magic. There is simply no other way to describe
it. There we were, thirteen of us floating on the Aegean Sea with the
sun bathing us. We played backgammon (a Turkish favorite) and drank
beer while swimming in the Sea. Not until I arrived in Turkey had I
ever seen water so blue and clean. I still smile thinking about jumping
off the side of the boat into that water. It was such an experience.
On the evening of the 13th, we celebrated the birthday of our
Macedonian counterpart, it was her 26th. And on the 14th, as the clock
struck midnight signaling the beginning of the 15th, they all sang
Happy Birthday to me, on the deck of a yacht, anchored off an island in
the Aegean Sea. We spent the night dancing to music and staring at the
sky, where for the first time I saw a shooting star (I never bothered
looking up before). We all ate and drank, shared stories and grew
closer as friends. It was a magical, special night, one that I will not
forget. The next day, after a morning filled with swimming, we anchored
and left the boat. Needless to say, we were all saddened but we left
closer than when we arrived.
We had a few hours to kill before we had to catch our bus to Izmir.
Some of us ended up in an outdoor bar on the Aegean where my astute
American comrade acutely observed that it was my 21st birthday, and
that we must have a customary American drink - a beer. The bartender of
the bar was a very nice man, and he let us play "bartender". We all
took pictures as we pretended to by Tom Cruise in cocktail. While I was
up there, a rather large Turkish man came in, wanting a drink. The
bartender nodded his head, giving me permission to serve him. I greeted
him in Turkish and shook his hand. The large man mumbled something and
then made a threatening gesture to me. Upon hearing and seeing this,
the bartender quickly kicked him out. I asked him what was the matter
and he calmly said that he wanted to kill me.
What a 21st birthday! Can you top it?
Devesh Tiwari, USA
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