On my trip to China this summer, our
group leader told us that we were going to the city of Xi’an as well and for
one reason, to see to “Terracotta Soldiers.” As it is also called the Terracotta Army or the "Terra Cotta Warriors and
Horses", is the name used to talk about a site that has a huge collection
of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi
Huang, known as the first Emperor of China. This amazing site is one of UNESCO’s World
Heritage Sites. Terracotta
statues of 8000 soldiers, 520 horses with 130 chariots are the main pieces of
attraction at this site.
It was a very hot and a very humid day when we
arrived in Xi’an. The amazingly hot days
we had in Turkey in July this summer seemed very innocent compared with the
extremely humid summer days of China. I
remember feeling quite cool after I have been back in Turkey and although we
are experiencing one of the hottest summers in history in Turkey, I am not as
bothered. A week in China was enough to
change my perspective.
Back to the city of
Xi’an... Xi’an has become a centre of attraction after the discovery of this
site and everything is geared towards this historical site. I find it difficult to remember anything but
the city itself. But maybe it is
enough. May be the Terracotta Army is
more than enough.
Why would anyone go
through the trouble of making much life-size statues, in such a manner that the
face of each warrior is different than the other? Some say that The Terracotta Army is a form
of funerary art and that these were buried with the Emperor in 210–209 BC and their
purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife, and/or to make sure that
he had people to rule over. However,
since this site was discovered by coincidence by a farmer who was digging a
well in 1974, no one really knows for sure.
One of the stories we were told that these statues were built so that
the actual soldiers of the army would not have been killed and buried with the
Emperor. As far as I was told by our
Chinese local guide in Xi’an, there are only theories and since the site was
found in 1974, no official records have been found yet.
There are amazing details
about these soldiers. They are
life-sized. All of them vary in height,
size and expression. It seems that the details
also vary with the ranks of the soldiers and they are created and placed with
those taken into consideration. They are thought be painted in colour as well,
but in most of the statues the colours seem to have faded.
There are many details that make this UNESCO World
Heritage Site and its statues amazing. The
sheer amount of work and effort behind this site is more than enough to be
impressed.
*
Strange things impress me at different times. Today I was going to Şövalye Island. I realized that there were a few things that I needed to buy and I turned around to stop at Tansaş. As I was about the finish my shopping, I saw the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream refrigerator. Actually I had seen Ben & Jerry’s ice cream fridges in several of the big supermarkets in Fethiye over the years. It was obviously not the first time, but I found myself going back twenty years in time. And surprisingly almost exactly twenty years...
As I am eating my Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream, I
am still surprised by the fact that I remembered my days in Vermont, USA
exactly twenty years later. I went to
college in the US. The university that I went to, Cornell University, is one of
the Ivy League Universities in the US and is quite a good university in the
field of engineering. Cornell University
is also known in the world for its famous Medical School, which is in New York
City. The main campus of Cornell
University is near the town of Ithaca in New York State. Ithaca is about five hours driving distance to
New York City.
When I was completing my undergraduate degree at
Cornell, I was planning to stay a year or two more to get my masters degree in
engineering or maybe to do an MBA. However, after my family came to attend my
graduation in May 1992, I found myself planning to go back to Turkey to work
with my father in our family construction company. My father, who had had a complicated heart
surgery in 1989 in Indiana was not able to work like he used to and he needed
help at the family company in Turkey. Either
I was going to go back home or a partner from outside would be needed for our
company. My plans to get a masters
degree started not to look that reasonable.
It was 1992. Those years were times when we were still writing letters
on paper to our family and friends. 
I had been away from home for 18 months and I was
learning about my father’s and our company’s needs at a pace much faster that I
was willing. Life has its unique ways
and timings. I was not as appreciative of
the timings of the Universe then. It
took me a few years more to learn those lessons.
So there I was.
My parents, especially my mother, were trying to convince me come back
to Turkey immediately after graduation.
I was sure that I should be staying to complete my masters. Those were our first stands and
reactions. Actually my father was not
saying anything. He was just being his
sweet self. After the first week of
their arrival in Ithaca, I was starting to feel that I was about to make an
important decision. I was torn between
my logic and my heart. Those few days
were maybe my hardest days in life and now looking back can see why. Those few days definitely determined my
following twenty years and will probably continue to do so for the rest of my
life. Roads diverge and some of these paths
never come together again.
There was an interesting movie in the late 1990s
called “Sliding Doors” with Gwyneth Paltrow.
In the movie the main female character is at the door of a train in
London and the movies continues with two different parallel plots, one in which she misses the
train with the sliding of the door of the train and in the other she makes it
to the train in that one split second.
The effect that split second has on the possible turn of events and the
life of the female leading character has made me wonder every time I watched
this movie.
My split second was more like a day, a Sunday in May
in 1992. That decision took me to Vermont that in the month of July in 1992, which made it
possible for me to think of Vermont in a Tansaş in Fethiye on the same days in
2012. Let me tell the details of that story at
another time, yet I cannot help but share that as doors keep sliding, keep
opening and closing, we seem to be swimming in a world of endless options and
choices and every choice and every move seems so very important; yet, there is
also the feeling that as I was staring at the Ben & Jerry’s fridge at the
supermarket, oblivious of the fact that Ben & Jerry’s had been sold to
Unilever about 12-13 years ago and for that reason this quite uniquely American
brand of ice cream was able to make it to its own fridge in the supermarket in
a small town in South-western Turkey, there was also the feeling that that
moment was the only possible option for that moment. It was the only following step for all of the
millions of big and small preceding decisions.
I chose to go to China this June, I chose to apply and go to Cornell, I
chose to move to Fethiye and certainly I chose to go to Tansaş this
afternoon. Still, there is more to the
mystery of the choices that we make and choices that we cannot seem to
make. And surely these were not what I
was planning to write for this week’s Land of Lights.
There is a lot to share about China and a lot to share
about energy, decisions, fate, our callings and more. It is clear to me that for now this is more
than enough.
Let’s trust that there is time for everything and for
everything there is a time.
Wishing you a week full of love, joy and happiness. Best
wishes,
Zeynep
*
Quote of the Week:
“Love is the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing
one’s own or another ‘s spiritual growth.”
-
Scott Peck, The
Road Less Travelled
Affirmation of the Week:
From Louise L. Hay: “I am neither
too little nor too much, and I do not have to prove myself to anyone.”
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