Saturday, June 28, 2008

Wednesday, June 18

Dislcaimer to the Reader: Sorry once again for the barrenness of this post. Per my usual luck with cameras, I accidentally deleted all my pictures from Pamukkale.


We went from Selcuk to Pamukkale today in a rented minibus, and arrived at our next beautiful guesthouse, The Venus Hotel, right before lunch. After playing with the two very cute dogs there and throwing our luggage into our respective rooms, we struck out on the town to hunt down some lunch. We quickly realized that Pamukkale is the definition of a one-horse town. After lunch, we swam/napped at the hotel as we waited for the temperature to go down a bit before hiking up the calcium deposit-encrusted mountain.

After a bit of class time, most of us went up the mountain to go to the Antique Pool, which is a thermal pool with ancient Roman columns submerged in it. There was even one column that we could swim underneath, thanks to Yekta’s goggles. The water was effervescent and bubbled around your skin – and the top of the water looked like Coke fizzing in a glass. Also, on the way up we got to see the hot springs that run over the mountain, depositing calcium. This makes Pamukkale look like a glacier in Antarctica. There are also pools all around the mountain, but we only saw the man-made concrete ones. But they still looked legitimate because the water flowed over them and deposited calcium on top of the concrete. There were some weird foreigners doing a whole shoot in one of the waterfalls into the pools – the guy was in a Speedo and did about 80 different poses.

After the Antique Pool we actually entered into Hierapolis. To clarify, Hierapolis and the Antique Pool were on top of the calcium-deposited mountain. It was the perfect time to poke around Hierapolis, right as the sun was setting. This city was not as intact as Pergamum or Ephesus, but the theatre was amazing and we sat in there for a while.

When we got down the mountain the sun had already set (the pools looked very cool on the way down) and we had a wonderful dinner at our hotel. We tried to back to the mountain to go swimming in the hotsprings at midnight, but the guards told us that it was closed, so we went back to the hotel for some much-needed rest.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Tuesday, June 17


Prof. Shields wanted to give us the day off today for rest and relaxation in Selcuk, but we had other plans. There were so many sights that we wanted to see and things that we wanted to do that we had to spend a long time just planning out how we were going to fit it all in! We ended up leaving for the first of our excursions, Ephesus, at 8:30 AM after a traditional Turkish breakfast on the terrace. The Turkish breakfast includes tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, olives, a ton of bread, jam, honey, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, and of course, Turkish tea.

Ephesus was even more intact than Pergamum – it had been reconstructed, which means they had placed the original columns found scattered all over the site in the places they were supposed to be according to records. We kind of gave ourselves tours with books that Prof. Shields got for us, and it was so neat just to walk around the city. I almost immediately found the relief of a caduceus and the health clinic that it pointed to and was very excited about that.

We also found the baths, the public toilets, the library, and the brothel. On the marble road, there was a carving of a foot, a heart, and a woman and it is said that this pointed the way towards the brothel.

ancient graffiti leading the way to the brothel

the Marble Road

the Library of Ephesus

the latrines

After Ephesus, we headed up to the House of the Virgin Mary. Although it is not certain that it was actually Mary’s house, there are several pieces of evidence in the Bible and in some mystical visions of a nun that led the Pope to declare it part of the Catholic pilgrimage. We were moved through the house pretty quickly, but once outside there was a place where you could light your candle and put it with the other candles as a sign of your devotion or as a physical embodiment of a prayer. It was beautiful and moving, especially to me after seeing so much Islamic religious sites that are of no real religious value to me. They also had a prayer wall where you could write a prayer and stick it in, and that was also very moving.

the prayer wall

Then we stopped at the archaeological museum and saw some awesome friezes and statues, even some medical instruments used in Greek and Roman times. Then it was on to lunch with a friend of Emily’s family who lives in Izmir, Mrs. Gurel. We had a wonderful lunch in the garden of a medrese that had been converted into a center for nomadic art.

After that, it was on to the beach – finally we would get to take a dip in the Aegean! After playing in the waves, Edward and Clayton calling to us in “humpback whale” language, chicken – fighting, and burying Clayton in the sand, we went back to ANZ Guesthouse for a quick shower before dinner.

one of my few pictures of the Greek village

For dinner we went to this Greek village up the mountain. We got there at the perfect time, right before sunset when the light is golden and perfect for picture-taking. And of course after about three pictures, my camera battery died. But my fellow classmates got some awesome photos, and the views from the village were amazing. We went up there after the buses had stopped running, so we were really the only tourists there – there were only villagers around. We ate dinner there too, and tried some of the fruit wine that they are famous for.

Monday, June 16

Today we left Canakkale at 8 AM and hit the road for one of our longest trips. On the way out of Canakkale headed to Troy, we saw the Trojan Horse that Warner Bros used in the film – the Trojan Horse that Brad Pitt touched!

When we got to Troy, we saw another fake Trojan Horse, and then it was on to the excavation sites. I had learned a little about the excavation of Troy in my Classics class, so I was excited to be able to see it right in front of me instead of on a Powerpoint. Although it was tough to visualize as a real place because it is just an excavation site, unlike many ancient ruins where you can see things like a library, baths, and temples, it was still very cool to think that we were standing in Troy.

the six layers of the ancient city of Troy


After that, it was on to a more intact ruin – Pergamum.

This city was both Greek and Roman, and it was amazing. Like many ancient cities, it was built on the top of a hill, and the views were incredible. It was a training ground for soldiers, and also housed the Asklepion, which was one of the first health clinics in the world. The most mind-blowing fact that I learned was that not only did they treat patients with mental disorders (in the West, this pretty much didn’t happen until the late 19th century – until then they were just put away), they treated them in very advanced ways. First of all, they began using lithium in the 3rd century BC, which is still used today to treat some disorders. They also placed the mental patients’ rooms near the very steep theatre, which allowed them to use musical and theatrical therapy to help in their treatment. Amazing.

the theatre - as you can see the stairs were very steep

remains of a temple

After a somewhat long bus ride, we made it to Selcuk, which is a small town right near Izmir on the coast. There, we stayed at the Australian New Zealand Guesthouse, which was a very beautiful and funky little pension. After meeting us on his moped as we were dropped off by the Fez Bus, the owner zoomed up the hill to the guest house, where he had a wonderful dinner waiting for us on the terrace along with a great view of the sunset.

Saturday/Sunday, June

Saturday

Today was our last day in Istanbul before our two-week excursion through the Turkey. We pretty much spent the day preparing for it, but went to Ortakoy for dinner. Ortakoy is this awesome part of Istanbul on the water, where you can get the best kumpir and Turkish waffles. These are no ordinary waffles. They are the dessert counterpart to kumpir, where the potato is completely stuffed with every kind of topping you could imagine. The toppings for these waffles include about 12 different kinds of Nutella-like flavored spreads, 6 different types of nuts, 4 different types of fruit, and of course, sprinkles and coconut. Pretty much when you go to Ortakoy, you can bet on consuming half your body weight in toppings.

When we returned to the flat it was time to pack for our trip. However, after only about an hour after being home, the power went out in our entire neighborhood, which made packing a little difficult. So of course, we lit our little Pottery Barn lanterns with tea candles in them and went outside to check things out. We made it as far as Mehmet’s pilav shop, chatted with him long enough to ensure that he thought we were completely insane, and then headed back to the flat. We tried to pack for awhile by candlelight and then resorted to the entertainment of Never Have I Ever.

It was really one of the first times that I realized we were definitely not in a first-world country – Istanbul seems so modern that we sometimes forget that. Like when they shut our water off for a few hours, the city sometimes just shuts things off if they don’t have enough. I tried to imagine what Americans reactions would be if their electricity and water were suddenly shut off for no apparent reason. I have been without power because of a natural disaster, but never because the water or electricity was just running out.

Sunday

Today was the big day! We left our flat at 6:05 AM in order to make it to the tram stop for the 6:25 tram. It was late, so we decided to take taxis to Sultanahmet instead. We got to our lovely little (emphasis on little) Fez travel bus and loaded on. Despite the slightly cramped quarters, we were excited and ready for our trip to begin. We were joined on this bus pretty much only with Aussies and Kiwis, with the exception of another two Americans, one Canadian, and a family of four Singaporians who I swear never said a word the whole trip.

And then we were off to Gallipoli, the site of Ataturk’s famous World War II victory. Along the way, we stopped for gozleme (kind of like a cheese crepe) and saw some very primitive farming methods that would definitely NOT be seen in the US. We got to Gallipoli and had a very thorough tour of all the sites. The first site we visited had a very ugly statue that looked like a 3rd-grade art project. However, later on we saw a statue of this park ranger who had apparently stayed on the mountain during one of the big fires and died there. Instead of depicting his dedication to the park while he was alive, they instead decided to depict his horrible death by including flames lapping at his knees in his statue. Classy.

Some of the sites we saw at Gallipoli included the landing site of the ANZAC forces, battle sites and trenches of the ANZACs and the Turks, and both of their memorial sites. Interestingly, both the New Zealand and Turkish memorials had statues of Ataturk. Although I was surprised to see that Ataturk’s victory was not built up that much, but that probably had a lot to do with being respectful towards the ANZACs.

After Gallipoli, it was on to Canakkale, where we would be staying the night. After a lovely dinner with all of our Aussie and Kiwi friends, we headed to a nearby sports bar to watch the match between Turkey and the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic was the favorite for this match, and true to form, Turkey trailed 2-0 with only about 15 minutes left in the game. Finally, they scored one goal, although a victory was still looking doubtful. But in the last 5 minutes of the game Turkey scored 2 goals to beat the Czech Republic 3-2! The Turks (and the Americans!) went crazy, and there was even rioting in the streets of the tiny town of Canakkale. We saw Taksim on the news, and it was even crazier than when we rioted with the Turks after they beat Switzerland. This game was also important because it means that Turkey now moves on in the next round. Maybe they are the Cinderella team of the Euro Cup 2008...

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Thursday, June 11

Gather round children and I will tell
About a camera that made a living hell
For Yekta and Kristina, two lovely lasses
That went to Turkish customs to kick their asses.

Sorry for the vulgarity, but that is the best introduction for the Tale of the Camera. For you avid readers who have been following along with my blog, you will 1) have noticed its barrenness and 2) have been hearing about my situation with cameras. For those not-quite-so-avid readers, my camera broke last Monday (the day of walking the walls) and I have been unable to get it fixed. I relayed my plight to Thomas, who agreed to send me his (very nice) camera - what a wonderful boyfriend! Long story short, FedEx wanted $1500 to get the camera, and I wasn't even sure if I would be able to send it back to the US for any cheaper. So today I took Yekta with me to get to the bottom of this very un-fun Turkish mystery.

We headed to Ataturk Airport to get to the FedEx warehouse. Let me tell you, it is quite a journey using public transportation. First, we rode the tramline all the way to the end, then transferred to the metro and rode it to the end of the line, which was the bottom of the airport. From there, we had to take a taxi to the FedEx warehouse. We found an official-looking guy and asked him about our issue - and by "we" asked him, I mean Yekta did in Turkish. He told us that the 1500 lira was the fee for using a broker to get through customs, but since we were here, we could do it for 350 lira. I told him I couldn't pay that much, and then he said that I could send it back to the US for $875. I, getting a tad bit frustrated, said to him, "No, I am NOT paying almost $900 to NOT get my camera."

Then he went to his supervisor and came back, telling us that FedEx would drop their $250 fee for the necessary paperwork but I would probably still have to pay the $100 to customs. I said that was fine, so we headed back towards Ataturk Airport to customs. What a scary building that is - after about an hour of copying my passport like 5 times, getting about 10 pages of paperwork, and paying only 30 lira (YES!) we headed back to the FedEx warehouse to give them the customs paperwork and get Thomas's camera via a private (which translates as illegal, or pirate) taxi. After checking through my package and Yekta telling one of the cashiers that her supervisor had said we didn't need to pay (haha) we made it back into our pirate taxi to go back to Ataturk Airport to go back home! Yay!!!!!

When we got back to the flat, it was time for our party on the terrace with Robin (our landlady), Hande (our Turkish teacher) + her flatmate, Prof. Shields + William, Katie (Prof.'s daughter) + one of her friends, and a lot of Robin's friends. We had quite a spread of fruit, nuts, and other appetizers, and an even bigger spread of drinks. It was a great time, and after they all left, we had a private DARTY with just us on the terrace. Note: DARTY is a store on Istiklal, but we use it to mean party.

Wednesday, June 11

Wednesday

Today was a work day for our final projects at the end of the course about cultural identity in Turkey. I decided to talk about women's dress, as I have been fascinated with the varied dress that we have encountered in Istanbul. This has included clothes that would easily be found in the US to covered women (women who wear headscarves and wear clothing that cover their entire body), and even women who wear burka-like things called çarşaf (the Turkish word for sheet). Emily was interested in the same thing, so we will be partners.

In the morning Emily and I went to Prof. Shields for some breakfast and advising on our project. I thought I was going to go to customs to get my camera, but alas Yekta's uncle had contacted some people that he knew in customs that told him it would be just as expensive for me to send the camera back as it would for me to pay to get it. By the way, FedEx had told me that I would have to pay 1500 lira, which is equivalent to about $1200. So that was obviously not going to happen.


When we got back to the flat, we saw loads of ambulances, helicopters, airplanes, and even several jet skis rushing over Galata Bridge. What could it be? A national emergency, like an assassination or riot? Or perhaps a natural disaster, like a fire or earthquake? So oviously, we went to go check it our firsthand. Sadly we were either too late or nothing was really happening, so this Turkish mystery remains unsolved.

Slightly depressed about my camera situation and definitely exhausted, I napped for about 2.5 hours before our Turkish lesson with Hande. After that, it was time to forget about my worries for awhile and watch the Turkish national football (soccer) team play Switzeralnd in the Euro Cup. We went to a sports bar off of Istiklal to watch the game, and were very surprised with how quiet the Turks were as they were watching! Switzerland scored first, and then Turkey responded with a goal of their own in the second half. Then, in the last few minutes of the game, Turkey scored again to win!

This time the Turks were not quiet at all, and as we were walking down Istiklal back to our flat we realized that the crowd was going the other way, towards Taksim Square. Naturally we joined them, shouting "Turkiye! Turkiye! Turkiye!" just like real Turks. At Taksim, the shouting, singing, and jumping around continued, and we met some more mystic Turks (one of our hobbies) and although I went back to the flat, Amanda, Clayton, and Edward went with them to Ortakoy to sit on the pier and drink Efes.


Tuesday, June 10

Today we went to two more site projects.

After losing Kevin on the way to Aksaray tram stop (pretty far down the line) we finally met up0 with him and headed to Kariye Camii, a Byzantine church-turned mosque-turned museum via dolmus! YAY WE LOVE DOLMUS! This one was different from the last dolmus because it was a little bigger and more like a short bus than a large van.

Kariye Camii is beautiful - its like a little Hagia Sophia, and has some even more pristine and amazing mosaics. It's far smaller, which makes it a little easier to fathom than the huge Hagia Sophia. Whereas in Hagia Sophia I was amazed mainly by the architecture, at Kariye Camii, the mosaics are what grabbed my attention. Almost every wall (and ceiling) had a mosaic depicting the saints, Jesus' life, or Mary's life. The most interesting thing about Kariye Camii to me was the fact that the Virgin Mary's life was depicted so much, because there are no stories about her life apart from Jesus in the Bible. The stories of the mosaics came from lost books of the Bible.

After that, a taxi ride to Kalenderhane Camii. I had seen this mosque on Scavenger Hunt Day and loved it, so I was very excited to learn about it and go inside. Another Byzantine church turned mosque, Kalnderhane Camii had the same Byzantine structure of repeating domes and arches built with brick - beautiful. The outside was far more impressive to me than the inside, which had pink walls and red and green carpet - not the most aesthetically pleasing...

This was Zoe and Kelly's project, and they gave us a worksheet to color in different parts of the mosque. So here we were outside of a working mosque (the midday call to prayer started as we were sitting outside the mosque) coloring. I'm sure a few Turks were very confused.

Afterwards, it was time for lunch and then to figure out about the camera that Thomas had sent me - it was being held at customs for ransom. Unsuccessful, we headed back to the flat and then to Istiklal for dinner.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Monday, June 9

This morning we met at our medrese for a discussion of how Turkey's most recent history has affected its culture and people. Afterwards, we headed to the Grand Mufti's headquarters, where we met up with some other American students who were studying religion in Turkey. For those of you who, like me, had no idea what a mufti is, I'll explain. A mufti is an Islamic scholar trained in the interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia. We met with the government-appointed mufti for all of Istanbul. We started in his office, which was definitely European in its decoration, plus two pictures of Ataturk thrown in for some nationalist pride. We were too big of a group, so we went to an auditorium which looked more like a press conference room.

When we got there, Yekta was asked to translate for the Grand Mufti, so she got to sit right next to him on the panel. Then, per Turkish tradition, the assistants of the Grand Mufti came around and served us all tea. Yekta started calling on people for questions, and the other groups asked some pretty dumb ones. One guy asked two questions, both of which were fairly antagonistic and rude. They were really more like accusations with questions marks attached on the end. His first question wasn't too bad, but his second question was ridiculous. It went something along the lines of, "All across the world, Patriarch Bartholomew I is recognized as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Istanbul in the Greek Orthodox Community, and is the spiritual leader of millions of Greek Orthodoz Christians. Why isn't he recognized as the Ecumenical Patriarch by the Turkish government?" And Yekta didn't really understand his question, because it was far longer and more confusing than the way I put it, so he was very rude and condescending to her when she asked him to repeat his question. The Grand Mufti answered that he and Bartholomew were friends, and that it is not his department that deals with that, and that hopefully this issue will work itself out. Then, Rudey McRudeface said quite rudely, "Can I quote you on that???" Yes, because I'm sure you will be writing a very enlightening article which will be published worldwide, idiotic college student...

The Mufti, ever so diplomatic, replied, "Of course; why would I say something that couldn't be written down?" That shut Rudey up. Ha. Some more dumb questions included asking the Mufti (keep in mind that he deals with the religious affairs of Turkey) what was being done to create jobs for Kurds in Turkey (an ethnic group, not a religious one).

After that disheartening look at America's young people and maybe a clearer understanding of why Americans sometimes carry the international reputation of being rude and stupid, we went to Yildiz University to meet with a professor of sociology and history ( he held two Ph.D's). We had a great continuation of our morning discussion and then walked around the university. We ended up having to take a dolmus, a large van that functions as a group taxi, back to Taksim Square. As always, hilarity ensued. Imagine four Turks in a van. Now imagine a group of ten Americans cramming into that van with them.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Saturday/Sunday June7/8

Saturday

Today we went to Cihangir, which is the bohemian neighborhood of Istanbul. We had found it in one of David's guidebooks and had seen some interesting places that we wanted to visit, such as the supposed best pizza place ever, a pickle store that contains over 50 different types of pickles, a cafe where the local film stars hang out, and various antique/vintage stores. We decided to eat lunch at the best pizza place ever, called "Miss Pizza," where a tiny puppy was napping on some pamphlets in the window. How much is that puppy in the window? we asked, and for a minute, I envisioned keeping the puppy in our flat, taking it on our "Hop on, Hop off" bus tour throughout Turkey, and even taking it back to the US with me. Some other interesting events in Cihangir included: having a delicious bananas foster-ish dish, meeting our landlord who is an amazing lady, David getting pooped on by a bird and his ensuing ironic comment ("Are you sh***ing me?!?!?"), and cats who try to find the weirdest spots ever to hang out (the top of an umbrella, a moped's floorbed).

After that, I attempted to make falafels, which was quite a struggle as Turks apparently don't believe in canned chickpeas. We watched the Turkey vs. Portugal football (soccer) game which ended in our defeat, and then headed to our favorite bar, Darkness, to meet up with our American friend and Turkey connoisseur, Joe. Then we headed out to a club, which actually had real dancing - maybe a byproduct of the American songs that they played.

Sunday

Today we slept in and then some went to the mall, apparently one of the biggest in Europe, while the rest of us (minus Emily, intently watching the French Open) went to go explore around our neighborhood. We found some awesome things, including an ANCIENT mosque built by Mimar Sinan, Mimar Sinan Universtesi, a very European-looking mosque, a great tea place overlooking the Bosphorous (which was rainy and beautifully foggy at this point) that was out of this shack in a parking lot (legal??), a huge room full of watermelons, a cat that looked like it was performing prayers towards Mecca, some cute kittens that were actually domesticated by this family who lives in a beautiful house (the kitten that I got to hold climbed up their fence multiple times as we were chatting with them), and a pastry shop where I purchased a delicious muffin/cupckake thing for 1 lira (77 cents). Then it was time for pilav from Mehmet, my love, and watching Federer get destroyed by Nadal.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Friday, June 6

Big day today! First, we went to Sultanahmet, or the Blue Mosque (or is it Muss, Emily?) with a historian that Prof. Shields knew. He was very knowledgeable, and since the only other time we had been there had just been us exploring by ourselves, it was very useful to have someone tell us about it, especially because the sultan who built it, Sultan Ahmet II, was a very interesting ruler. He came to the throne at age 13, and ordered to have Sultanahmet built (later in his life) despite the fact that he had not achieved any military victories, which was the traditional reason/criteria for a sultan to build a mosque.

After lunch we headed to the true gem of Istanbul after a full two and a half weeks in the city - Hagia Sophia. This Byzantine church-turned-mosque was built about 1500 years ago, and you can feel its antiquity immediately. It has a quiet but powerful presence that I imagine comes from its history steeped in religious significance. Although any outward sign of prayer is forbidden, I couldn't help but feel the compulsion to at least think about the amount of religious devotion, both Christian, Islamic, and otherwise that has occurred in this building. Not to mention its unmatched size - Hagia Sophia is by far the most impressively big building in which I have ever been.

So after visiting two of the biggest attractions (not necessarily best, but certainly biggest) that Istanbul has to offer, we decided to tack one more on: going to a Turkish hamam. Now, clearly most of us are seasoned hamam-goers after our experience with the very authentic Bursa hamam, but it was very exciting to go with the whole group to a hamam in Istanbul this time, and especially with the excellent information with which Amanda and Edward provided us, as it was their site project.

Hamams are the Turkish equivalent of Roman baths. Built on a smaller scale so as to better comply with the Islamic standard of cleanliness (less people = less gunk in one pool for everyone to swim in), hamams still served the social purposes that are also associated with the Roman baths. They provided an especially important role in the lives of Muslim women, as they were cloistered and secluded in a way that European women were not. Sometimes brides were even chosen in these important social places.

The hamam we went to was called Gedikpasa Hamami, commissioned to be built in 1475 by the Grand Vizier of Sultan Mehmet II. So we were taking a bath in the same place that Ottomans did more than 525 years ago! Pretty cool. Edward and Amanda gave us their presentation in the waiting place of the hamam, before the women and men are segregated. When we were trying to determine how the guys and girls would meet back up after our respective baths, one of the Turkish men who worked there informed Yekta that the women would probably take longer since "women like water more."

After entering into the women's hamam and playing around in the hot water, we were instructed to lay on the marble slab to receive our massages. As soon as I lay down on my stomach, my masseuse/bather came by, said "Hello!" and untied my bathing suit top. Then she proceeded to give me a wedgie so she could better exfoliate my entire body. It was worth the discomfort, though, and after only the exfoliation process my skin felt the softest it had felt probably since I was a baby.

Then the washing/massaging began. My bather squeezed what looked like a huge shopping bag full of suds (although it was really some sort of washcloth) onto me. After a good rub, I was sent to wash off and we spent the rest of the time in the hamam having water fights, swimming in the cold pool, and singing songs for the Turkish women who worked at the hamam. We were the only customers there, so the women kept coming in, banging on plastic bowls and instructing us to sing for them. We happily complied, and they later told Yekta that they loved us and wanted us to come back.

After our rebirth from our dead skin cocoons at the hamam, we decided to head up to Istiklal for some kumpir. I'm not sure if I've described this wonderful Turkish dish before, but in case I haven't, it is a baked potato with its insides mashed with salt, butter and cheese. Then, you choose from a buffet of options what you want on your potato. It's magical. For the first time it started raining while we were at the kumpir place, so we had to run from there to the our favorite nargile place, where we spent hours in deep discussion.

Thursday, June 5

This morning we met at Taksim Square and traveled to Bogazici University to speak with a professor of Ottoman economics (and current economics). He gave us an overview of the Turkish economy, especially how its changed since the end of the Ottoman Empire. Then we asked him some questions, especially about the court case against the current government. He assured us that the only thing that would happen if the government were banished would be their reorganization under a different name. We also asked him about Turkey's current bid into the EU, and he offered some interesting insight into that.

After that, we ate a delicious lunch at the faculty cafe and then went to try to find contact information for the 5 Bogazici students who will be coming to Carolina next year. We got their phone numbers, and hopefully will be meeting up with them to talk about how awesome Carolina is, even provide them with a Powerpoint presentation!

We went back to the flat for another Turkish lesson on our terrace - we can make sentences now!

Wednesday, June 4

We went to Dolmabahce Palace and the Military Museum today. Dolmabahce is the sultan's palace built in 1853 by Sultan Abdulmecid at the cost of 35 tons of gold. Although not the sole reason for its demise, this frivolous use of the Ottoman Empire's revenue certainly contributed to its ultimate downfall. It has been called "the Versailles of Turkey," and I would most certainly agree with that statement but qualify a little bit - to me, it was not as beautiful, and that may have to do with the excessiveness of it, especially that it seemed more cramped than Versailles. It was designed in the Rococo style - which means LOADS of gold leaf, cherubs, horrifying amounts of decoration, nothing left untouched by curlicues and other decorative touches. Basically, GAUDY. But it was fun to photograph, as David, understanding my withdrawal from my own camera, so kindly allowed me to use his camera.

After that, the group took taksis (our first taksi experience in Istanbul!) to the Military Museum for Kevin and David's site project presentation. We watched the janissary band perform, which was very cool, as they were dressed in the uniforms of the time (complete with fake mustaches - janissaries were not allowed to have beards in order to distinguish them from other guards/members of the military). Then we headed into the Museum, where we saw an incredible collection of weapons, saw a mock-up of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans (a full room was dedicated to this), and observed interesting descriptions of Turkish military actions, aka propaganda. The Armenian conflict is a huge issue for Turks, and the room dedicated to this was the most fascinating to me. Although it was formally recognized by the UN as a genocide in 1977, the Republic of Turkey does not recognize the use of that word. It is apparent in their exhibit on the conflict, which focuses on the "massacre" of Turks by the Armenians. The plaque describing this, along with horrible translation, was full of phrases that were clearly nationalist and biased. Far different from the US.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Tuesday, June 3

"Sufi Day" was today. Not sure if the prof planned it this way, but this morning we traveled to go see a Sufi mystic who had started an NGO and then made it to an actual Sufi dhikr.

Sufism is the most mystical branch of Islam, and is based on the "inner-meaning" of the Qu'ran. It is what some may consider the "hippie" branch,foucsing on the philosophical nature of love in the Qu'ran and the individual "spark" of every person. I think it is a very beautiful religion, especially after speaking with the Sufi woman today. She said "Masala" about every other word, which means something along the lines of "Thank God!" and also has a connotation to mean kind of like "Thank God you have that - I'm not jealous!" We asked her several questions about Islam and other issues in Turkey, and all her answers were very philosophical, poetic responses. Although sometimes I think we were hoping for more concrete answers, it was very cool to speak with an actual Sufi mystic, and especially one who has started her own NGO.

After that, we headed to Sirekeci Station for Emily's and my presentation. After giving the history of the building and poking around the museum, we treated our classmates and professors to tea and chatted about the Orient Express.

Then it was time to go to our ultra-secret Sufi dhikr. Prof. Shields and William had happened upon this religious ceremony performed by Sufis under the pretense that it would just be a "jam session" for these musicians. For Sufis, the dhikr consists of singing, instrumental music, and recitation of God's name. Since the secularization of Turkey by Ataturk, the Mevlevi Sufis (the whirling dervish sect of Sufism) was outlawed. Now the sema, or the Mevlevi dhikr which includes the whirling dervidsh dance, can only be performed as a folkloric event, e.g., you have to buy tickets to see a show. Prof. Shields told us that she thought this was almost derogatory to the religion, to make a very sacred religious ritual into just a show for tourists to watch. I completely agree with her, especially after observing the dhikr.

So we made it to the address on the business card that the prof. had given us, and to our surprise, we found William, who then, in his usual way, led us to Prof. Shields and the Sufi dhikr. Like I said, they hold their dhikr under the pretenses of it being just a musical session, which is easy for them to do because they hold it in a music store that restores and makes traditional Turkish instruments. They played many songs, distributing the words and music to everyone so we could follow along. I even got to beat on a tambourine-like thing! After a while, the dervish came out in his traditional garb and began to whirl. I was sitting on the floor, and I was so close to him that his skirt kept hitting my legs. He was amazing - I have no idea how he was able to turn for so long staying in one spot. Clearly, everyone there was moved by this dervish and I could tell that the Sufis were really able to complete their devotional practice through him. After that was over, it was one of the musician's birthday, so we stayed for dinner, dessert, and dancing. Once, again, we were overwhelmed by Turkish hospitality.

Monday, June 2

Today we walked the Theodosian walls, which encircle the city of Istanbul. Well, they encircle the part of the city that was established during the time of Theodosius II, who built the walls from 408-413 AD. The history that had been played out along these walls (the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453) was enough to make them exciting, but their true uniqueness came from their untouristy nature. First of all, at the fort where we started our journey, there were no railings, signs, anything that made it seem like a monument. And we were the only people there. So we started exploring. We went up long, winding staircases that were pitch black, because obviously there were no lights, we went into a dungeon and saw the hole where they pitched the decapitated bodies that went out to the sea, and we climbed up a tower to get one of the best views in Istanbul.

Oh, and my camera broke, which is why the past few posts have had no pictures. Hopefully, that problem will be rectified soon.

One of the coolest things about the walls is that they went through some interesting neighborhoods; mainly low-income areas and even some Gypsy neighborhoods. We stopped and spoke to several children, who as always, were eager to test their English on us. We climbed several other towers to get even more awesome views; one which was like climbing up Mayan ruins because the steps were so steep you had to climb them like a ladder. Amanda and I were a little scared on the way down, and thank God for Clayton's singing skills (as Bon Qui Qui) or we may not have made it down.

After walking the walls, we were all very tired and made it back to our flat just in time for us to get some fruit and tea to host Hande, who came to our flat and gave us a Turkish lesson on the terrace.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Saturday/Sunday

Saturday

We woke up early today, ready to go explore Bursa, which I think took the tired Turks by surprise. None of us had gotten much sleep because we had gone to bed pretty late and, after all, there were 10 people sleeping in a 12 x 12 rhombus room. So we first headed to Yesil Cami (Green Mosque) in Bursa, which gets its name from the gorgeous green tiles that line its walls. After that, we went to Ulu Cami (Great Mosque). This mosque was so different from any other mosques we have seen before - it was almost cathedral-like. Instead of the ornateness of the tiles, the inside of the mosque was painted a beige-ish color. Bold, black calligraphy was splashed throughout the many columns, and several walls were painted to look like the view from a window. Different from the gorgeous colors of the tiles and gold inlay that we are used to seeing in mosques. It also seemed to be more partitioned than others, and there were tons of kids running around in it, yelling and screaming, which was definitely not an aspect of any of the other mosques we have been to.

After that, it was on to the tomb of Osman, the father of the Ottomans, where some kids were running in and out of his tomb tent-like thing. For the final resting place of the father of the whole Ottoman race, I was surprised not to see a little more pomp and circumstance. But then again, Turkey has been trying to shed its Ottoman image since the days of Ataturk.

After that, we walked through some bazaars with some gorgeous silks (Bursa is known for their silks, and apparently like 1000 other things like knives, eskender, and hamams). And then after about 3 cheese toasts, we headed to our first hamam trip! We got in the taksis, and headed out to the edge of town. The taksis dropped us off at this dirt road that curved down into a valley - it was beautiful. We walked down the hill and spotted this huge building with gorgeous domes - I asked Selmon if that was the hamam and he said it was! I was overjoyed and we excitedly went up to the entrance. The boys went in, and Selmon said that we had to go to the ladies' section. Amanda, the hamam expert because that's what her site project is on, told us that there was probably a women's entrance. Oh how wrong we were.

We were led to the back of this gorgeous building, built for Suleyman the Magnificent, to what looked like a penitentiary: the womens' hamam. It was a weird hybrid of sorts, because on the inside it looked like a mental institution. Lovely. Needless to say, it was definitely the real thing: we were the only non-Turks there, and got some very weird looks when we walked in. We think some people actually used the hamam as their real bath, because we didn't see a shower at Eyup's house, and the hamam was only 7 lira. Anyways, we played around a bit in the hot water, and when we ventured back outside, our Turkish friends told us that they had a surprise for us.

We were driven to a beautiful apartment, where Taner's adorable greeted us with excited smiles and "Merhaba!" 's. They led us up to their terrace, which had absolutely gorgeous views of the mountains and the city of Bursa. Then the feast began! We started with fresh cherries, apricots, bananas, erik (sour green plums), and Ayran - Turkey's national drink which is salty and yogurt-based. After that, we moved on to tomato corba (soup), cicek (yogurt and cucumber soup), eggplant pilaf, lahmacun (Turkish pizza), potato salad (which is literal - its salad with potatoes in it), and Turkish coffee to top it all off. It was delicious, and every time Taner's mom would bring us a new dish, she would say, "Afiyet olsun!", which is the Turkish equivalent of "Bon Appetit!"

After dinner, Selmon said we were going to Orhan's house, so we all geared up for another trek across Bursa, only to be informed that Orhan lived on the first floor of the apartment building. Taner and Orhan are cousins, and in the Turkish tradition, their whole extended family lives in one apartment building, with one individual family unit per floor. Again, we hung out and listened to music - earlier that day I had given my iPod to Taner and Eyup to listen to, and they loved the music on it. They kept scrolling through and saying things like, "CCR! Doobie Brothers!" with their thumbs up and huge smiles on their faces. Orhan's mom came in and brought us sunflower seeds and Coke on a tray - everyone here is so hospitable and as Selmon explained several times, "the guest is very important." Then Orhan and Taner's aunt came in and gave the three girls gifts of nail polish! They are the happiest, closest, and sweetest family.

At one point in the night, Selmon changed and came back in a muscle tee and shorts and said, "Now, I am very sexy. Everyone calm down." The language barrier always adds to the hilarity of Turkey. But it can also be a very poetic thing - Selmon also told me that I had "hair the color of evening sunshine."


Sunday


We had a great sleep, and woke up in the morning to an AWESOME traditional Turkish breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, bread with rose and cherry jelly, cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, sausage, and cay and Turkish coffee. After a lovely send-off from the families, including Taner's mom communicating that now she was our Turkish aunt, we headed back to the bus station and back to Istanbul, already looking forward to hosting Taner, Eyup, Selmon, and Orhan in Istanbul.

One more funny story from the bus ride to Istanbul - we got on a small shuttle bus to take us back to Taksim Square, and as we were waiting to leave, the bus driver came up to us and launched into a long string of Turkish. We thought he may want our luggage to put underneath the bus, but he pushed it away and continued his Turkish rant. He must have finally recognized the incredibly blank looks on our faces, because he stopped and said the first phrase that we understood, "Turkce yok?" which means, "No Turkish?" "Evet (yes)," we replied, "Turkce yok." He looked at us incredulously and asked "Turkce yok?" again. Again we replied. Then he went to his driver's seat, looked back and with a shrug of his shoulders at us said, "Turkce yok!"

Turkce yok is now our favorite phrase.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Friday, May 30

This morning we discussed our readings over cay (tea) and homemade cookies (delicious - almond and cinnamon) in our medrese. First, Prof. Shields wanted to hear our take of Istanbul after being in the city for 10 days. I brought up how I felt about appropriate dress. Now, when I see a woman wearing a dress above the knee I'm appalled by her lack of clothing. Many times, the clothing that I would think of as inappropriate here could be considered fairly conservative dress in the States. I even notice myself feeling weird going up to our terrace to get my laundry in just athletic shorts and a t-shirt, something I would regularly wear around town at home. I wonder if this is because I don't want to offend anyone or if I have truly began to internalize this idea.

We kept the discussion fairly brief because we were headed to Bursa for the weekend. The prof had planned on taking us there with her, but when Murat, our Turkish friend from Bursa who lives on the third floor, invited us to stay with him, she decided that it would be better if we went alone. So after several conversations of broken English and broken Turkish, we somehow formed some semblance of a plan of getting to Bursa. It was quite a complicated plan, as Murat was not traveling with us but was coming later, so we were being picked up at the bus station by his friends who we had never met before. So after packing up our communal toiletries, blankets, pillows, and towels, we headed down Istiklal, feeling very "college." I was feeling like a hardcore backpacker too, until the boys assured me that my bag was too stylish to be a backpacker's (Thanks Mark and Marybeth!)

After frantically searching for the station in order to make our bus, we finally found it - although it was too full for us, so we had to wait an hour until the next bus. We finally got on, and Mama Yekta bid us goodbye like we were her kids heading off to our first day of school, saying "Call me when you get there!"

And we were off. With barely any Turkish, having no idea who this mystic friend of Murat's actually was, and with generally no idea bout Bursa. An adventure was definitely in store for us. I sit here now at the back of the bus, squished between Clayton and a Turk, getting my first taste of outside of Istanbul.

Turkish Traffic

I must insert here a small blurb about Turkish drivers/traffic. I don't think I have provided a good enough description of Turkish drivers. Up until now, I could only speak as a pedestrian forced to dodge cars every day, which is terrifying enough. But speaking from the back of an otobus, I can make a few observations. 1) these bus drivers drive the buses like mopeds, weaving in and out of traffic and 2) street lines are barely a suggestion and probably more of an invitation for drivers to ignore every traffic law.

The bus ride to Bursa was punctuated by several interesting things: a Turkish au pere who had been sent to Denver, getting told not to use a cell phone on the bus because it would interfere with the brakes, foreign car companies like Saangyong, American cars but weird makes (Ford Fiesta?), a Turkish version if the Oreo (America wins on this one), and a bus attendant who was not amused with the seven Americans sitting in the middle of his bus.

So 3.5 hours of travel time and we just passed Sibanci University, which took 1.5 hours yesterday. Then the random Turk sitting next to Amanda told Kelly that her face looked like George Bush, then told us that the maps of Bursa that David had to piece together from our 1978 guidebook were used by Marco Polo.

And the hilarity of the bus ride continues. We go around this curve in the mountainous road we had been driving on and we are at the end of the road at the edge of the sea. We all were wondering what the heck would happen - are we taking a ferry?!? Our entire group erupted into laughter as we imagined that all the announcements that the bus driver had been making (in Turkish, of course) went along the lines of "Ok folks, remember that we WILL be getting on the ferry here in a few minutes."

So we got on and walked around the boat for awhile, got some cay and then Amanda and I decided to try a Turkish phenomenon called "Corn in Cup." Which, in fact, is corn in a cup. We saw this Turkish guy get his before us, and he got pomegranate syrup in his, so we decided this was the Turkish thing to do and asked for pomegranate in ours. And lemon. It was ok, but not something I would get again.

After getting back on the bus and on dry land, we only had about an hour until Bursa. I made friends with the woman sitting on the bus behind me, who was a Muslim Turk living in Germany. Our friendship began when I dropped my hairclip and she made it her personal mission to find it for me. Kevin was able to actually able to converse with them in Turkish (that's how we found out about where they were from). I got out some chocolate and offered it to her and showed her that it was German chocolate, but she declined, laughing and patting me on the back. I offered it to the Turk that was sitting next to Amanda, and he took it but had a terrible look on his face when he bit into it. Prof. Shields had told us that there is basically no dark chocolate in Turkey, and this happened 70% cocoa, so I assumed that he thought it was bitter and asked him. He said yes, and then said that it was as sweet as my face. Great, I thought, my face is as sweet as really bitter chocolate. But then, using Kevin's handy Turkish-English dictionary, he clarified, explaining that what he meant to say was the sweetness of my face made him believe that the chocolate would be sweet. Much better.

We finally arrived at the bus station, wondering how in the world we would find Murat's friends. Luckily, they were right there waiting for us, asking us "Americans?" "EVET!" we replied joyfully (evet = yes in Turkish). Another bus ride and a slight walk, we arrived at
Eyup's house. We were ushered into the room where we would be sleeping - 12 x 12 rhombus. Amanda accurately quipped, "When do you ever use that shape?" She was right - this was the first I've ever seen a rhombus in action. The Turks brought the party to us with a mixed drink of sarap (wine) and Gazoz, a soda that kind of tastes like Sprite. Surprisingly, it tasted pretty good. Funny thing - the boys all got Efes and the girls got the fruity wine drink. Typical.

After some of that, some music, and about 3 packs of chainsmoking cigarettes for each Turk, we finally got to bed. We finally had figured out sleeping arrangements between the long skinny futon, the short fat futon, the twin bed, and the floor, when Selmon came in and announced that the three Turks would be spending the night in the room also. So now ten of us were sleeping in one 12 x 12 rhombus. Adventure.

Thursday, May 29


a view of the campus of Sibanci University

Today we headed to Sabanci University on the outskirts of Istanbul to meet up with some students our age. After an adventurous 1 1/12 trek, we arrived at Sabanci. The university has a beautiful campus, but in a very different way than the campus of UNC. While UNC is the oldest public university in the US, Sibanci was only just opened eight years ago. Its newness is definitely reflected in the architecture and layout of the university. Sibanci is also the only interdisciplinary university in Turkey. The students that we met there were in the English program that precedes actual university studies, and they had prepared a presentation for us about Turkish culture. It was very informative and interesting, but the highlight had to be when one of the students made a slight mistake in word choice when talking about the Islamic sacrifices and explained to us that they sacrificed “coaches, bullocks, and calves.” I think she meant “cows, bulls, and calves…”


After lunch in their cafeteria, we got a tour of the University – very nice facilities, although I think we got them on the basketball court! We showed them a picture of the Dean Dome and they were less than enthused about showing us their gym.

We exchanged e-mails and phone numbers, promising to meet up with them sometime next week. They were so welcoming and eager – right in line with the Turkish hospitality that we have experienced since we arrived here.

the library - far less crowded by both chairs and people than UNC's



another view of campus, from an outdoor amphitheatre