July 29 - The First Day of the MTT Tournament

Today kicked off the 3-day long MTT Tournament, the conclusion to the educational part, and indeed the entire 2011 Youth Forum. Preliminary rounds continue tomorrow with one limited preparation round and two extended preparation rounds about the MTT topic. The Brother Rice debaters have all been reassigned to mixed teams with other debaters from around the world. We have heard the nationalities of the debaters that Yuri is with, and Nicholas has been teamed with a Ugandan and a Czech.

Overall, the teams have been varied degrees of success this first day, the day 1 standings are posted below:

John: 1-2 (picking up 4 ballots and dropping 5)
Nicholas: 2-1 (picking up 5 ballots and dropping 4)
Yuri: 2-1 (picking up 6 ballots and dropping 3)

Now, a couple of interesting, but unrelated notes:

This evening, we travelled once again to Bağdat Caddesi, with Mark, to grab some fast food. The guys went to Burger King, while Mr. and Mrs. Tolksdorf and I went to McDonalds. There is nothing new to speak about here, other I got an opportunity to practice a few words in Turkish at the counter, and the cherry (and apple) pies are actually different than in the United States. The pie crust is a deep-fried crispy, flaky shell with a taste similar to that of a churro. The filling is far richer in cherry taste and contains many more actual cherries than one would find in McDonalds pies you would find in the United States. On the way back, Mr. Tolksdorf and the guys actually got a cab driver that could speak good English, so on the way back, they chatted about the trip, where we were from, and the weather.

Cabs in Istanbul, as with most vehicles, have manual transmissions. This may be a small point, but it does represent some larger differences. With the immense traffic, small and winding roads, crowded avenues, and small parking spaces (spaces that are large take up too much room) necessitates smaller vehicles. Automatic transmissions make cars physically larger because the additional mechanical equipment required for a automatic transmission makes the transmission larger, and consequently, the car larger. The cars are therefore, also cheaper, require less maintenance, and get better fuel milage. All of these attributes are quite beneficial in Istanbul; but cars or cabs with manual transmissions in the US is generally uncommon. I suppose we have the luxury of using automatics and the wider roads and parking lots that can accomodate them.

Lastly, words I have learned in Turkish. While I am not actively studying Turkish, you would be surprised at how many words one picks up simply through immersion.

TURKISH WORDS LEARNED (Updated July 29, 30, 31)

Post: Alex