Turkish teen learns about Christmas

By Gary Tomlin

GALESBURG —

As a young Turk in America, Batu Ekineigoly (e-kin-jo-la), 15, is comfortable with the similarities of the two cultures and courageous in understanding the differences. Batu is an exchange student from Istanbul and a sophomore at Galesburg High School.

“Christmas in Turkey is like New Year’s. We have Santa Claus and give gifts and do all those things, but I never knew that we celebrate it because it is Jesus’ birthday,” he said.

Ekineigoly’s host parents are the Rev. Jake and Rachel Chastain of Galesburg. Jake is youth minister at First Church of the Nazarene. Rachel is a nurse at Galesburg Cottage Hospital.

Ekineigoly has a passion for the performing and visual arts. He is on the swim team and performs or plays the piano whenever there is an opportunity. He has to decide if he wants to do the spring musical or go out for tennis.

In swimming he competes in the freestyle and backstroke and hopes to get his 50-yard freestyle time to under 30 seconds. His best time in the event is 37 seconds.

Academically, he said, “I’m good in math. I did pretty well in physics in Turkey but haven’t taken it here yet. I’m good at art and am taking drawing from Ms. Blakewell.”

His English is excellent, but it comes with a lot of work. He studied the language for seven years before coming to America and his family provided him with tutors along the way. “I watch English movies with subtitles in Turkish. That helps me understand the language.”

He cites American Studies with Mr. Bennewitz as an influential teacher. “I’ve read three novels and he taught so well that was interesting.”

Jake said Ekineigoly would read the work then go through the Sparks Notes on the Internet to get the synopsis to pull the meaning together.

He is interested in the American west and can speak about the westward expansion. “We learned about the Civil War. I like to watch cowboy movies with horses and bank robbers,” he said. “I learned that they are called Indians because Columbus thought he was in India when he discovered America.

“I learned about Jessie James and did a presentation on him. I dressed up like him and Jake and Rachel came and played and sang ‘The Ballad of Jessie James.’ ”

He also has done a study and presentation on Amelia Earhart in which his partner was Austin Strader.

“I’m really proud of collaborating with Austin on that project. I have a lot of knowledge of her childhood.”

Ekineigoly is also proud of his Turkish heritage and has learned well his history – from Genghis Khan’s conquest from the east to Constantine’s conquest from the west and more recently Mustafa Ataturk’s successful revolution against the Allied powers following World War I. He sees Ataturk as a great hero and founder of the Republic of Turkey and who brought democracy to the people in the early part of the 20h century.

“Ataturk could have declared himself King but he said, ‘our war is now,’ and he worked to modernize Turkey. He changed the language from Arabic to Turkish. He separated the public and business things from religious things.”

Ekineigoly’s father is a mechanical engineer with the German company Mann, and his mother is in the landscaping business that her father started. “We sell plants and design gardens.”

“My mother raised me freely and I hate people who try to restrict me,” he said.

The Chastains are from Green Bay, and while he doesn’t understand American football, he is being exposed to it.

“One of the first things we taught him was to say, ‘Go Pack Go,’ ” Rachel said.

Other differences he notes between Istanbul and Galesburg are the homes are in order and so proper. “It is so organized and flat. In Turkey, nothing is organized or planned and it’s not flat. The cars are pretty much the same.”

He will finish his studies on June 6, and return home.

“He’s a good kid. We love him. He has come a long way,” Rachel said.

via Turkish teen learns about Christmas – Galesburg, IL – The Register-Mail.