Turkey in a Tangent

It begins to seem as if I was in Turkey a long time ago, not a week ago. So here I go blogging about it! It was amazing to visit Turkey because of all of the history (old e.g. the Hagia Sophia and somewhat new e.g. the pictures of Ataturk everywhere and very new all of the colorful billboards spread around like in New York City), the obviously patriarchical nature of the place (e.g. men were more visible on the streets than women. It was common to have male shopkeepers put your coat on for you or flirt with you to get you to come into his store; there were also many more male shopkeepers than female shopkeepers it seemed), and the hospitality culture. It was cool to see Mosques mixed in with skyscrapers, which created the feeling that the place was a blend of East and West, in keeping with the fact that Turkey straddles the Bosphorus. While the culture and landscape of Turkey was breathtaking in that it was so obviously different and wonderful from what I was familiar with, some of the politics made me sad.

In Turkey the poverty gap, the inequity between genders, and the education gap is strikingly apparent.  It was refreshing to see that inequality was not hidden the way it is in the US; there is no "Turkish dream" like the American dream, or claim that women have equal rights to men when they in fact don't (eg. lawyers in the states who are women often have to work harder to have their points believed. Women also continue to have a lower income than men even in Denmark which is the most socially equitable place I know). By having the issues out front it is perhaps less questioned why women might do such a thing as march for their rights on National Women's Day, a celebration which I have never seen happen on that day in the US, perhaps because of this illusion of full equity. Sadly, however, transparency does not make the issues go away or be addressed, perhaps in part because the Turkish government is unwilling to hear any complaints about it? So women continue to have much lower levels of employment than men, and individuals unable to afford private school can guarantee that they will not get well paying jobs later in life.And most individuals can't afford a cup of coffee: a luxury only rich Turks and foreigners from wealthier countries can afford.


So, that's all for philosophizing on Turkey (for now). And on another date I will try to describe some of the attractions in detail. For now, here's a list of my experiences as well as some places of interest:


CULTURAL experiences:

1) Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque (inspirations for the Taj Mahal. Contains pillars from one of hte old temples that was one of thte seven wonders of the world). Both places (especially the Hagia Sophia) were so diverse and intricate in color and pattern that your eyes never knew where to look. The Hagia Sophia took 100s of years to rebuilt when it was remade the second (or third?) time, but it only took five years the first because it used about 11,000 people including slaves (10,000) and free workers---this gives you some sense of its size.

2) A serpent statue made from melted weapons from the battle of Sparta


3) The Grand Bazaar (several central gates and 50 + sidestreets of shops). It dates back to the 1500s?

4) The Topaki Palace where the Ottoman Empire's ruler lived and his concubines (I visited the Harem)

5) The Chemberlitas Baths (public baths where you can pay to get washed, massaged by another, and also enjoy a sauna type atmosphere followed by a luke warm jacuzzi)

6) A boat ride on the Bosphorus (a long channel of water separating the Asian and the European sides of Tureky) with seagulls flying overhead while eating Baklava

7) Istikal street (a main shopping street in Istanbul that extends for what seems like "forever." Blue lights hung above us and could be see periodoically all along the walking street

8) The Tunnel (a 140ish year old tram that carries you 200 meters up a hill/down. It was once used to carry animals and when it was first made it was constructed of wood? And had oil lamps swinging off its sides)

9)An amazing mall that had 4-6 stories and a small amusement park/arcade inside. Maja (my instructor) paid for us to go on the roller coaster! (it was a small one so luckily I got to enjoy the thrill minus any stomach trouble)

10)Buying 50 cent giant pretzels (that had less salt and butter but was delicious) and eating them while walking along the street

 11) Watching pomegranate juice be made fresh. You could find fresh juice everywhere!

12) A morning buffet that always included tomatoes and cucumbers (every meal seemed to have some sort of vegetable or fruit in contrast to in Denmark)

13) Live Turkish music on the streets and in restaurants--hard to define but I noticed it tended to involve a mix of the drums, wind, and string instruments (haha like many other genres but it DID have a distinct sound)

14) Pictures of Ataturk everywhere, especially in every building with ties to the government (including private schools---I am not sure why?)

15) Turkish coffee brewed so that you are drinking essentially undiluted ground coffee beans (it's very rich and has a grainy texture. It was delicious and kept me going for hours!)


EDUCATIONAL experiences:

1) The Marmara University Department of Preschool Education. We learned about its requirements for teacher education and preparation (training teachers take 8 courses per semester and the requirements and workload per course is apparently much greater than at most American universities)

2) Isik Foundation Schools (teach English starting in early elementary school); a private school which includes lower and upper grades. Its focus included lessons on democracy and lessons based on living real life
e.g. using a hop scotch square to learn how to count
using fake ballots to practice learning about the vote.
Creating and collecting key chains to learn about what you can collect.
Learning morality through being presented with quotes by Hitler turned upside down to emphasize that they were in hte wrong

3) The Education Reform Initiative which focused on advocacy, research, and teacher training to support improvements in education (at the moment they were contesting the 4+ 4 = 8 law which asked kids to start first grade at the age of five without any early education preparation)

4) ACEV, an organization foucsed on promoting literacy and awareness and practices involved in optimizing early childhood development


Hope you don't mind the long-winded tangential nature of the above. I hope even moreso that it made sense. That was Turkey in a long nutshell except there is one more thing. One of my favorite parts of the adventure was the Turkish traditional dance performance we went to. The marriage dances were beautiful but what was stunning was the scarf dance which as the black lights came on turned the dancer into a flowing chamelion. There were also two separate acts by a male then female belly dancer; while the female was slightly more skilled the male dancer was incredible himself and many of the girls in the audience (including myself) were quite taken with him (it was bizarre while the dance seemed feminine he was so clearly masculine and confident that it was hard not to admire him and be attracted to him on some level)