Okay, so apparently blogging is hard to do/keep up with when you don’t have regular internet access. No worries, however – I’m stealing internet from a wireless router located somewhere near me in the SuperDorm. Thank you tsunami, whoever you are. Sorry my friends and I have made your internet connection mysteriously slow as of late.
Ritual update:
Wednesday was Spice Bazaar day. We walked across a bridge to get to the Bazaar, which, considering Istanbul is located on both sides of the Bosphorus, is a daily occurrence – crossing the water I mean. The bridge provided a beautiful view. And smelled like throwup and fish. It was a strange and confusing combination. The Spice Bazaar on the other side is infamous and smells much better. I’m sure it was used at one time mainly to sell spices, but it has fallen prey to westernization and tourism and now sells whatever the hell you want + spices. Surprisingly enough, I had a conversation with a local merchant in Spanish. He tried to tell me that his Spanish wasn’t great considering he had only been taking classes for six months. Not only was his grammar better than mine but his accent was better too. I declined to tell him that I have been taking Spanish classes for a cumulative 7 years.
After the Spice Bazaar we went to a local café for dinner and promptly got ripped off. We were not shown a menu upon entering but told the selection of food we could purchase. The selection was small. Not a big surprise considering we were told the costliest food on the menu. Ouch. We are the worst kind of tourists and it shows. Here at TIME we like to have what we call SCEs, or Successful Cultural Encounters. This was of the unsuccessful variety. Ah, hard life lessons…
Thursday was the most epic and most nude day of the trip. For the followers who don’t know me so well, I’m sorry, but you’re officially about to get a healthy dose of TMI. A group of girls decided to go to a Turkish bath. What is a Turkish bath? Come with me on an awkward journey dear reader…
We walked into the bath and decided to screw frugality in favor of having the full service bath experience. We were shown to a room after we paid and told to take off our clothes and wrap ourselves in a thin piece of cloth. We were given little wooden shoes with a strip of leather – kind of like a poor excuse for a flip flop - and guided to the bath room. The room is heated to a slightly uncomfortable temperature, sort of like a sauna, and is square with a domed top. In the middle of the bath room there is a marble table, and all around the four walls are faucets with water basins underneath. We barely had time to look at the room before large Turkish women in underwear came and yanked off our towels. So here we were, ten girls who knew each other to varying degrees, suddenly completely naked in front of each other. All we could do was sit down next to a basin and pretend to keep what was left of our modesty. Which was just not possible. Because the big Turkish women called us over to the marble table to scrub us down with an exfoliating hand towel one at a time. Goodbye modesty! Hello full frontal flash! The best we could do was grin and bear it. Or strip and bear it?
The Turkish women talked to each other while they were scrubbing. Probably about how blindingly white I am. And about how I totally hit one of the women's boob on accident. Then we got a bubble massage. And finally we got our hair washed. I felt cleaner than I have in…my entire life. After the exfoliating scrub and bubble massage and hair wash, in typical girl fashion, all ten of us congregated on the marble table and has some good old girl talk. Entirely naked. Surprise of the day? I COMPLETELY loved the experience. Women and men alike: if you ever have the chance, GO TO A TURKISH BATH. You will not regret it. And you won’t feel so awkward about asking people to check your butt for grass stains, considering they will have seen much more than your clothed tush by then.
Friday was relatively uneventful, as far as this trip goes. We had a progressive dinner in our dorm. My room was in charge of the vegetable entrée, which consisted of chopped vegetables, cream cheese and iftar bread. More iftar bread than strictly necessary, actually. When we asked the guy at the super market for “beş ekmek lütfen”, he looked at us like we were insane for asking for five loaves of bread. I didn’t think we were crazy at the time, but when 18 of us consumed only 2 of the loaves I had to reevaluate that thought. Double ouch.
Everyone here in Turkey is still really nice. Classes are still really cool – we’re learning about the political history of Turkey, which is a turbulent and radical one. To give you a sampling: Turkey was previously a Muslim state ruled by a sultan until a man named Ataturk came and completely revolutionized the broken system in the late 20s. Not only did he make the state officially secular, but he also reformed many of the institutions that had been dominated by Turkish tradition for hundreds of years. The man was truly radical and he’s immortalized in statues and monuments across the nation, but one has to wonder, with a population that’s 99% Muslim, if his extreme ideology is truly appreciated or even respected by the majority of the Turkish population. Kat and I think discovering the answer would be a cool sociological project. Minus the impossibility of conducting any sort of survey. Alas.
I won’t write about Saturday or Sunday just yet, because I think that might be overload. Know that I am still really enjoying my trip. I highly encourage traveling abroad at any stage of life. And going to a Turkish bath. Just saying.
Allahaismarladık!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
let me show you...
Merhaba!
So I don't have too much of an update this time around because we haven't gone anywhere too extravagant - everyone was busy studying for our Turkish test, which was today. And which was not hard at all. Basically, what I'm trying to say is I'm fluent in Turkish now.
Went to Bebek to study yesterday at a coffee shop. Bebek is a little part of town right along the coast where a wealthier part of the population live, and it shows. The women there look like they belong on 90210. I actually felt scuzzy. I saw only one female with a head scarf on the entire day. Quite the contrast to Sultanahmet, the neighborhood where the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque are located. Istanbul really is a modern city of extremes. Kind of like our own American cities...
Anyway, to orient you I figured I'd post a few pictures of Turkey. I don't have a large variety because I am extremely technologically handicapped and had to battle with my camera for a few days.
The pictures of the Blue Mosque during the day and at night, the picture of the inside of the harem, and the picture of Hagia Sophia belong to Jill Humble. She took them. I did not. They do not belong to me. So please don't steal them.
P.S. The food is absolutely wonderful. I am having no problem at all gorging my face away.
P.P.S. Turkish peanut butter is better than American peanut butter. Heresy! you may shout. However, it is the truth.
Allahaismarladik!
Side street near campus
Inside a market looking up into the street
Overlooking the Bosphorus - the land on the other side of the water is Asia
Looking down onto Bebek
A quad-like area on campus
Inside the harem at Topkopi Palace - the Sultan's Mother's apartments
Hagia Sophia
The Blue Mosque at night. The Muslims are celebrating their Imam (whose name is in lights) because of Ramadan.
The Blue Mosque
So I don't have too much of an update this time around because we haven't gone anywhere too extravagant - everyone was busy studying for our Turkish test, which was today. And which was not hard at all. Basically, what I'm trying to say is I'm fluent in Turkish now.
Went to Bebek to study yesterday at a coffee shop. Bebek is a little part of town right along the coast where a wealthier part of the population live, and it shows. The women there look like they belong on 90210. I actually felt scuzzy. I saw only one female with a head scarf on the entire day. Quite the contrast to Sultanahmet, the neighborhood where the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque are located. Istanbul really is a modern city of extremes. Kind of like our own American cities...
Anyway, to orient you I figured I'd post a few pictures of Turkey. I don't have a large variety because I am extremely technologically handicapped and had to battle with my camera for a few days.
The pictures of the Blue Mosque during the day and at night, the picture of the inside of the harem, and the picture of Hagia Sophia belong to Jill Humble. She took them. I did not. They do not belong to me. So please don't steal them.
P.S. The food is absolutely wonderful. I am having no problem at all gorging my face away.
P.P.S. Turkish peanut butter is better than American peanut butter. Heresy! you may shout. However, it is the truth.
Allahaismarladik!
Side street near campus
Inside a market looking up into the street
Overlooking the Bosphorus - the land on the other side of the water is Asia
Looking down onto Bebek
A quad-like area on campus
Inside the harem at Topkopi Palace - the Sultan's Mother's apartments
Hagia Sophia
The Blue Mosque at night. The Muslims are celebrating their Imam (whose name is in lights) because of Ramadan.
The Blue Mosque
Sunday, August 30, 2009
more turkish time
Time in Minnesota: 12:48 PM
Time in Turkey: 8:48 PM
More Turkish disaster today. Our professor is so energetic and genuinely funny, but she gets really confused by our questions. Often. And might possibly be deaf, because she talks over us a lot. All in all, learning Turkish was an interesting experience. And I'm sure I'll still rely on sign language when talking to the people in Istanbul. Almost all of them know English anyway.
Speaking of knowing English...
After exploring the Blue Mosque, Katie (a group mate) and I stopped to put on our shoes, with the result that the rest of our group surged ahead of us. As we were walking towards the group, a Middle Eastern man asked Katie to take a picture of him and his friend. After the picture was taken, he asked if Katie and I would be in a picture with him and his friend. We talked a bit, and found out that he was a tourist from Iran. Our conversation wasn't significant, but it was still amazing to take a picture with a man from Iran who was genuinely interested that we were from America. Even if that was the only reason he wanted a picture of us. Here in Turkey I am finding that every day old stereotypes are questioned and even broken.
The month of September is Ramadan for the Muslims, who are not allowed to eat from sunrise to sunset. Breaking the fast at sunset is called iftar, and is a celebration in its own right. A few of us decided to do iftar with the crowds at sundown, which meant that we had to stake out a spot in a park and battle crowds that would rival the Minnesota State Fair. Everyone was laughing and smiling. People were taking pictures. A band was playing traditional music in a bandstand. A man on stilts came walking by and they were selling cotton candy. It was amazing to see how much joy the people had. Personally I'd be incredibly grumpy if I hadn't eaten in many, many hours...
When the call to prayer finally came around 8, everyone in the park became reverently silent. After the prayer, the Muslims ate with a quite sort of solemnity. The mood in the park visibly changed; the people as a collective seemed to understand and respect the significance of the ceremony. It was truly an experience to be part of.
So you all know that I'm usually much less dry than I seem to be in these posts. Know that I still have a sense of humor.
Wishing you all the best!
Time in Turkey: 8:48 PM
More Turkish disaster today. Our professor is so energetic and genuinely funny, but she gets really confused by our questions. Often. And might possibly be deaf, because she talks over us a lot. All in all, learning Turkish was an interesting experience. And I'm sure I'll still rely on sign language when talking to the people in Istanbul. Almost all of them know English anyway.
Speaking of knowing English...
After exploring the Blue Mosque, Katie (a group mate) and I stopped to put on our shoes, with the result that the rest of our group surged ahead of us. As we were walking towards the group, a Middle Eastern man asked Katie to take a picture of him and his friend. After the picture was taken, he asked if Katie and I would be in a picture with him and his friend. We talked a bit, and found out that he was a tourist from Iran. Our conversation wasn't significant, but it was still amazing to take a picture with a man from Iran who was genuinely interested that we were from America. Even if that was the only reason he wanted a picture of us. Here in Turkey I am finding that every day old stereotypes are questioned and even broken.
The month of September is Ramadan for the Muslims, who are not allowed to eat from sunrise to sunset. Breaking the fast at sunset is called iftar, and is a celebration in its own right. A few of us decided to do iftar with the crowds at sundown, which meant that we had to stake out a spot in a park and battle crowds that would rival the Minnesota State Fair. Everyone was laughing and smiling. People were taking pictures. A band was playing traditional music in a bandstand. A man on stilts came walking by and they were selling cotton candy. It was amazing to see how much joy the people had. Personally I'd be incredibly grumpy if I hadn't eaten in many, many hours...
When the call to prayer finally came around 8, everyone in the park became reverently silent. After the prayer, the Muslims ate with a quite sort of solemnity. The mood in the park visibly changed; the people as a collective seemed to understand and respect the significance of the ceremony. It was truly an experience to be part of.
So you all know that I'm usually much less dry than I seem to be in these posts. Know that I still have a sense of humor.
Wishing you all the best!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
it's turkey time
To whom it may concern.
First blog ever. Want to keep up? Read.
First adventure: Turkey. Left Minnesota at around 2:30 pm on the 26th, and arrived in Istanbul around 4:15 pm on the 27th. Major jet lag. Maybe slept...5 collective hours? I thought this would help me get to sleep that night (even though my body might have thought it was still the afternoon), but I woke up to the sound of the Muslim call to prayer at 4:50 am Turkish time and had troubles falling back to sleep. It might have been worth it to hear the call in the dead of night, however. Electric.
Next day was the first day of classes at Boğaziçe (pronounced boe-a-zi-chi) University, just up the street from the Superdorm, where we will be staying until September 7th. Out scheduled class material was Turkish. Now, Turkish isn't exactly known for being easy. Especially when it sounds like a combination of Portuguese, Norwegian and Japanese. And especially when your Turkish teacher has extremely high expectations. Long story short, we mumbled out a few words, tried to learn a few grammatical rules, and ended up extremely confused.
A taste of the words I did learn:
Merhaba (Hello)
Günaydin (Good night)
Amerikaliyim (I'm from America)
Allahaismarladik (Good bye - literally, something like: Allah light your way)
This last one sounds like alas, small dick. Take from that what you will.
Today we toured. Made a stop at the Topkopi Palace first, the palace of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire. It has an amazing view of the Bosphorus, not to mention ridiculous opulence (read: crazy jewels. Most of which the Turks stole). Enough opulence, in fact, to keep a harem of 3,000 women, children and slaves.
Next stop: Hagia Sophia (in Greek, Holy Wisdom). It was once a church, way back when Constantine converted to Christianity and took all of Constantinople with him. Later, it was changed to a mosque when the Muslims took charge of the city. Now it's an odd mixture of both. Because no one can decide whether it should now be a church or a mosque, however, the good ole USA stepped in and declared it a museum. The building itself is a strange dichotomy: 4 minarets surround the church and there is Arabic writing throughout the inside, but mosaics of Christ, John the Baptist and Mary, and engravings of crosses, can be seen throughout the inside as well. Hagia Sophia is a truly gorgeous place. But its history alone would be enough of a draw.
Final stop: the Blue Mosque, so named for the blue tiles that characterize the place. The mosque sits directly opposite Hagia Sophia, so it could compete with Christianity for religious prevalence in Instanbul. The afternoon tour of the mosque was excellent. But what was really special was the experience I had inside later that night:
A few of us decided to try and sit in on a special prayer service, since it is currently Ramadan in Turkey. We weren't sure how this would turn out, since typically tourists are asked to leave when prayer services are being held, but when we arrived at the mosque (as the only non-Muslims in sight) we were told we could stay. Half of us ended up with the women on the second level of the mosque, and the other half ended up on the ground floor towards the back of the mosque (since women are not allowed to pray in the front of the mosque with the men). Although I sat viewing the ceremony on the ground floor without participating in the prayers, the group upstairs was guided by the women in the complicated process of bowing, prostrating and standing. It was a beautiful sight to hear and behold. The reading of the Qur'an is something indescribable. Very powerful, to be sure. The entire ceremony was one I'll never forget.
It never ceases to amaze me how genuinely nice people here in Turkey are. They all say hello and practice their English on us. They help us watch out for cars in the road (because driving in Instanbul is nothing short of chaos). One man even helped us cross the street. And they all put up with out terrible Turkish. I can't wait to see what more I can learn about this wonderful culture, and what other stereotypes I can examine and possibly break.
This post is much longer than the rest will be. Suffice it to say that I am alive and having a wonderful time.
Allahaismarladik!
First blog ever. Want to keep up? Read.
First adventure: Turkey. Left Minnesota at around 2:30 pm on the 26th, and arrived in Istanbul around 4:15 pm on the 27th. Major jet lag. Maybe slept...5 collective hours? I thought this would help me get to sleep that night (even though my body might have thought it was still the afternoon), but I woke up to the sound of the Muslim call to prayer at 4:50 am Turkish time and had troubles falling back to sleep. It might have been worth it to hear the call in the dead of night, however. Electric.
Next day was the first day of classes at Boğaziçe (pronounced boe-a-zi-chi) University, just up the street from the Superdorm, where we will be staying until September 7th. Out scheduled class material was Turkish. Now, Turkish isn't exactly known for being easy. Especially when it sounds like a combination of Portuguese, Norwegian and Japanese. And especially when your Turkish teacher has extremely high expectations. Long story short, we mumbled out a few words, tried to learn a few grammatical rules, and ended up extremely confused.
A taste of the words I did learn:
Merhaba (Hello)
Günaydin (Good night)
Amerikaliyim (I'm from America)
Allahaismarladik (Good bye - literally, something like: Allah light your way)
This last one sounds like alas, small dick. Take from that what you will.
Today we toured. Made a stop at the Topkopi Palace first, the palace of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire. It has an amazing view of the Bosphorus, not to mention ridiculous opulence (read: crazy jewels. Most of which the Turks stole). Enough opulence, in fact, to keep a harem of 3,000 women, children and slaves.
Next stop: Hagia Sophia (in Greek, Holy Wisdom). It was once a church, way back when Constantine converted to Christianity and took all of Constantinople with him. Later, it was changed to a mosque when the Muslims took charge of the city. Now it's an odd mixture of both. Because no one can decide whether it should now be a church or a mosque, however, the good ole USA stepped in and declared it a museum. The building itself is a strange dichotomy: 4 minarets surround the church and there is Arabic writing throughout the inside, but mosaics of Christ, John the Baptist and Mary, and engravings of crosses, can be seen throughout the inside as well. Hagia Sophia is a truly gorgeous place. But its history alone would be enough of a draw.
Final stop: the Blue Mosque, so named for the blue tiles that characterize the place. The mosque sits directly opposite Hagia Sophia, so it could compete with Christianity for religious prevalence in Instanbul. The afternoon tour of the mosque was excellent. But what was really special was the experience I had inside later that night:
A few of us decided to try and sit in on a special prayer service, since it is currently Ramadan in Turkey. We weren't sure how this would turn out, since typically tourists are asked to leave when prayer services are being held, but when we arrived at the mosque (as the only non-Muslims in sight) we were told we could stay. Half of us ended up with the women on the second level of the mosque, and the other half ended up on the ground floor towards the back of the mosque (since women are not allowed to pray in the front of the mosque with the men). Although I sat viewing the ceremony on the ground floor without participating in the prayers, the group upstairs was guided by the women in the complicated process of bowing, prostrating and standing. It was a beautiful sight to hear and behold. The reading of the Qur'an is something indescribable. Very powerful, to be sure. The entire ceremony was one I'll never forget.
It never ceases to amaze me how genuinely nice people here in Turkey are. They all say hello and practice their English on us. They help us watch out for cars in the road (because driving in Instanbul is nothing short of chaos). One man even helped us cross the street. And they all put up with out terrible Turkish. I can't wait to see what more I can learn about this wonderful culture, and what other stereotypes I can examine and possibly break.
This post is much longer than the rest will be. Suffice it to say that I am alive and having a wonderful time.
Allahaismarladik!
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