So we decided this weekend, we going to go to the Asian side of the city no matter. But first we had to get through the second week of classes. This week meant the end of the add/drop period, so schedules would be finalized. Through the school, I'm taking Intro to Turkish Politics, Middle Eastern Politics, and Ceramics (more on that later). Through the Lexia program, I have a Turkish Language course (we meet four days a week) and a research seminar that will end with my field research project, Turkey and EU: Who actually Benefits?
With this, we still had a solid amount of free time to do things during the week. So on Tuesday after ceramics, we decided to head to the mall. Not just any mall but the largest mall in Europe. I went expecting madness but for the most part, the mall was pretty elegant. Built in 2005, the mall is four floors of shopping, two floors split between an Atlantis themed arcade (rollercoaster, too) and movie theater, plus a two floor food court. It was a good time. It took about four hours to walk the whole thing. There was no Macys or Nordstroms, but there was Home Depot and Supermarket as well as a dry cleaners and bowling alley. In addition it's home to the world's largest clock. The food court is home to many American staples - BK, Mickey D's, KFC, Doms, and Krispy Kreme if only if it had Wings Over.... we choose to eat a Turkish restaurant and then headed back to campus tired and full.
Later in the week, I walked down to Bebek for a lunch of waffles dipped in chocolate. Bebek is just a short downhill walk from campus. It's right on the waterfront and I love it. It reminds of the Cape and Lake Champlain. On sunny day, there's nothing better then sitting at the park of Bebek harbor and watching the boats go about their day. When sitting there, you get a beautiful view of Asia and the Russian Consulate, which happens to be the largest of all the consulates in Istanbul. Also the waffle dipped in chocolate happens to be the most amazing lunch ever. here's a photo.
So Saturday was the day we were headed to Asia. We wanted to get an early start because we had some other errands to run, thus we met up at 9:30. By 11, we were on the ferry and headed to Kadıköy, Istanbul. The morning was grey and at 43 degrees it was the coldest day we had yet. While on the ferry, we went over the plan, we get off at Kadıköy, hop a dolmus (small bus), get off at the shopping street, spend some time there, then walk over to a Mosque that was designed by a woman, get some food, stop by an amerian church and make our way back to Kadıköy. PERFECT, no problem at all.
Upon getting off the ferry and walking towards the bus stop, we encounter our first problem. Where are all the buses? What's up with all this police? Why is everyone walking? Not a car in sight, police in riot gear, and we had no idea why. So let's just walk it. We start to walk in the same direction as everyone, figuring that was best. After a short walk down the street, under a bridge and around the corner, we stumbled into a really, really large group of women (hundreds upon hundreds). Some dressed in very colorful traditional outfits, others just in headscarves, and still more just in jeans and tee shirts. They had signs, posters, banners, and some large traditional dance circles. Having absolutely no idea what was happening, we stayed to watch. We took pictures and videos in awe of what we are seeing.
Eventually, an older woman (clearly an event organizer) came me up to us and handed us each a hand band thing (see pics). We took them and thanked her. But she was not done with us. Kadin? Kadin? she kept asking us. Kadin means woman. Evet (yes) we answered and then she pulled into the crowd. She had us link arms with the other women and it was clear that we'd start marching soon. Needless to say with my height and hair, I stood out like a sore thumb, but it turned to be a rather funny thing. While waiting for the march to begin, a number of the women kept coming up to us, Nerelisin? (where are you from). Amerkaliyim ( I'm American) one of us would answer. Immediately, excitement over took their faces and they put out their hands to shake ours, some them even went straight in for the hug. All of them insisted on taking pictures of us with them on their cellphones or cameras. It was like we were celebrities. Seriously, I had never been in so many pictures in my life. They were so happy that we stood in solidarity with them.
It was pretty amazing to feel so welcomed. It was a very good reminder that all over the world, sometimes the most general things brings people together. In this case, it was gender. At the rally, Kurdish women and Turkish women marched arms linked in solidarity. The march brought together all types of political parties, varying degrees of religion and ethnicity. It was amazing to me, because I kinda of thought that being an American women that I would not be completely embraced by a Turkish woman dressed a traditional Islamic outfit, but I was. You just have to remember that big similarties (both being women) can trump little differences such as dress or even big differences such as religion and skin color.
Later, we found out the rally was not just for women's rights, but to make International Women's Rights Day a national holiday in Turkey. Here's an article about it http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=international-women8217s-day-to-be-celebrated-around-country-2010-03-07
more to follow next week, I'm headed to a cave city and maybe riding a camel...lol
