Wow another day is almost done. Today was a day of travel with a few stops at differing locations on our way to and in Bursa(south of Istanbul).
First let me tell you about yesterday. July 1st was a day of learning. We got an early start and walked from our hotel through Taksim square (where riots were almost a year ago to the day) and continued our Turkish Cultural Education. We began with the chairman of the Turkish Cultural Foundation (the organization in charge of the tour) who told us about the current situation in Turkey and about his perception of US- Turkey relations. He was very informative but he and others made reference to the Turkish/ Armenian conflicts of the past. I believe that they think it is a very prominent idea in the American debates. I doubt too many people know about the events of old and of those who do I would be only 5% have a real opinion.
We continued on with the leaders of a few NGO's (non-governmental organizations). They were all very informative and interesting. One group promotes the child and parent relationships, another was a women empowerment program kind of like the micro credit organizations that are active in Africa, and finally TEMA, an environmental organization. This last group was very interesting because although they have the same international problems as the rest of the world, they have their own specific set of issues in Turkey. I also really liked that TEMA was organized by two former industrialists who have become strong advocates for environmental issues. The two men are now called leaf and soil grandfather. I want America to get an environmental figure that is water grandfather or something like that. Any volunteers?
We then sat down with the director of our trip and discussed their goals and how we (me and you too) can further their aims by embracing some part of the Turkish culture. I suggest the food, it's really good. By the way we were eating at this time so I was pretty set on mentioning the food; stuffed grape leave, the noodle cheese casserole (Borguk, I think is how it is spelled) and fresh veggies and olives.
We then went to learn more about the schooling ands education of Turkish Children. We met two very pleasant and well spoken Turkish 10th graders who gave us a tour around their school. By the way, the school was a former palace, built in the 1800's to house the wives(20 or so) and children(83) of a sultan. The school is on the Bosporus River and is in between two 5 star hotels. Itty was a bit run down but was still pretty incredible.
They told us about their schooling and about how it is very rigorous. Students take a test every year after the 7th grade and how well they do on these tests determine where they can go to school and if they move on to the next grade. Very, very competitive. The kids said that have little social life or extra curricular activities and are mostly studying all of the time.
We then walked past one of the two hotels and went to the best school in the country, also on the Bosporus and a former palace. The principal met and talked with us for an hour or so then we left to go to the Grand Bazaar. Much like true spice bazaar but it holds much more. There you can find silk, wool, toys, games, jewelry, leather goods, clothes, shoes, soap, spices, candy and a wide variety of fruit. I didn't buy anything there because our guide said other places will be cheaper for the same stuff. The sales men were very pushy though. They would get in your face and try to force you to take what was in their hand. Then they would say how nonce it was and that you obviously need it because you are holding it. A wild experience.
We ended our day at Armaggan a Turkish restaurant, museum, and art gallery. It was fancy!!! The ground floor level is antiques and fine precious metal goods. The second floor was a fabric studio and shop where they study ancient fabrics and have come up with forgotten formulas for dyes and colorings. Pretty awesome if you think about it. The have categorized some 600 different plants for making colorings. Joanna, you are not getting anything from here it was crazy expensive, like 4000 lira ($2000 for a yard of forgotten silk). They have been recreating fabrics that were made exclusively for the Sultan's from the past 1500 years. Finally, modern art on the 3rd floor by two Turkish Artists, interesting work, I'm bad at describe so I'll just post the pics sometime.
Finally we had a Turkish cuisine lecture and then a discussion and dinner with the head of the Istanbul consulate. It was very very cool to meet a head diplomat (not the ambassador, that guy lives in Ankara not Istanbul or Constantinople... haha). Beautiful culturally fitting meal after our cuisine lecture. I think I will try to recreate some of the foods when I get home.
After a great dinner, back to the hotel for our Final night in Istanbul. A swim on the roof of our hotel, and then an exciting but disappointing end to the day with the US world cup loss. Finally, to bed at 2 am. I was dead this morning, well dead tired.
Info about today will come tomorrow or later tonight. We got an hour of rest which I am doing this and then we will have dinner and hopefully a night on the town.
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