Life's a short trip...

4) The Blue Mosque - clearly the most famous on the list. The Blue Mosque is the largest in Turkey. I love blue so its cool with me.

Of all the places, though, my favorite is the Chora. I can not rave about it enough. It is astounishing that such old mosaics can be recovered and seen in today in such fantastic shape. If there was one place I would recommend visitors of Istanbul to attend that be would it. When I ever go there, I wish so badly that my Aunt Anna could visit me. I cannot help but think how much she would love love love Istanbul- it's history, it's architecture, it's respect for religion and culture. She would take in every sight and be able to offer insights on all of it. I just know that Chora would be her favorite as well as.

I think what I love about Istanbul the most is how well it has preserved its' history. Through fires and earthquakes, many of these monuments have held up. If they haven't, they have been rebuilt to perfection. How many cultures do that? A profound sense of the importance of history and culture is the best part of Istanbul!






Since flickr limits the amount of pictures one can post (LAME), I have changed the picture website to http://picasaweb.google.com/aregan3343 .... it is taking some time to get all the pics up with descriptions and such but I'm working on it and it's being organized better as well. I'm looking to post some videos there too. sooo here's to another week Istanbul!

Well I'll posting a lot more about the week a little later tonight, for now I have Turkish homework to attend to.

As many of you know, Turkey is an Islamic country. Turkey is also a secular country. Turkey has both a Christian and Muslim past. As a part of the Roman Empire, Istanbul and much of Turkey was Eastern Orthodox. Some of the finest Christian art is displayed in Istanbul just as some the finest Islamic art is as well.

When the Ottomans conquered Turkey and Istanbul, they did not force the Muslim religion on anyone. They wanted a successful empire, thus they allowed people to practice what customs they wanted too. However, Sultans wanted build their legacies. Often this meant expanding the empire or building a Mosque. Sometimes they took the Christian churches (famously, the Aya Sofia and Chora) and turned them into Mosques. Covering all Christian art, the Mosaics of Jesus, the paintings of angels, all of it. They added minarets to the churches as well as Sultan's worship stations and Muslim art. This is what makes Istanbul Mosques so unique, they have domes from Roman architecture unlike the rest of the Middle East.

Moving on, Turkey today is a secular nation. They are around 80,000 Mosques in Turkey. The call to prayer goes off at 5 am and then 4 more times during the day and yet, Turkey is secular, women have lots of rights, and men can whatever breads they want.They have taken some of the churches that were turned into Mosques and made them into museums (i.e - Aya Sofia and Chora). They have gone under great restoration. The Muslim decorations remain as the Christian art is being uncovered. It is amazing. Islamic political parties are not happy about it, just like human rights groups are not happy the headscarves are banned at government sponsor schools (to promote secularism).

There are little things like that happening all over the world as well as big things like terrorist attacks. All because of religion. I must say I do not understand it. I am catholic and I take certain elements of that very seriously and others not so much. For example, I believe and accept the trinity on faith alone, but I also believe in a woman's right to choose. I understand that in some peoples eyes that may make me hypocritical, but I argue what right does religion have to dictate every aspect of life. I believe in God and I also believe in karma- good things should happen to good people because thats God blessing them. I don't believe God when put limitations on love.  What right does a God have to tell that one cannot use birth control nor can one get an abortion? Where in the bible does say that living together before marriage is bad? The bible says love thy neighbor, feed the hungry - this is the religion I believe in.

That's me though. There are others who take religion much more seriously and thats fine. But I just wished that before they judge me, they would understand this. There are lots of religions, three of them - Christianity, Judaism and Islam- are all breed from the same ancestry line. They all believe Abraham was the father, Ishmael the son, King David was a prophet, Moses saved their people from Egypt, Israel is the promise land. So someone tell me what's the fight about? I believe Jesus is the savior, Muslim believe in Muhammad, and the Jewish people are still waiting for theirs. Its just seems childish to fight over something so similar. Sure, the Muslim extremists (its a very small group of Muslims) preach against America and Western Culture, because it's liberal and full of sin in their minds. But are we really that different? America has a Christian right sect that is very strict, very judgmental, and very weary of American culture. So really what is different between us and them? Honestly, is it really worth all the destruction it has caused not just recently but over all of history? We are far too similar to be arguing over details.  

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

Well it's been quite the week here in Istanbul, due to rain and more rain, I never made to Asia (sad face), but there still were some pretty memorable experiences.

First let's start with my first encounter with a Turkish Futball (a soccer match). There are three soccer teams in Istanbul:Besiktas (black and white), Fenerbahçe (yellow and purple), Galatasaray (yellow and red). That's just Istanbul, not Turkey. So needless to say they take it seriously here. How serious? Riots are expected every game. It is like a scene out of Greene st hooligans only with Turks instead of Brits. I was quickly told that I would be a Besiktas fan. Galatasaray was the richest team, but Besiktas is the funnest. Personally I have a soft spot for Fenerbahce and their gold and purples color scheme (SMC, anyone) but they are the least popular team and hardly win the rivalry matches. That day it was a match for the ages Besiktas battling cross town rival Galatasaray.  The match would not start till seven but anywhere in Istanbul one went, one could feel the tension brewing. Jersey, scarves, hats displaying one's alliance were worn by all. Traffic was unusually bad, even for Istanbul. If I closed my eyes, I didn't feel the tension of soccer match but that of a red sox/yankee game in late September racing toward the AL East Crown.  It was awesome.

Days before the game, we realized it would just be too hard to gets tickets. Thus, we decided let's head to Taksim, the causal nightlight capitol of Istanbul. At 5 pm, five of us (Rachel, Cole, Arielle, Zach and I) headed to the bus stop. A quick note on the Istanbul transit system, there really is no schedule. One just heads to the bus stop or metro station and eventually, usually at very fast pace, your ride shows up. I have no idea how it works but its very impressive. Back to the story, by 5:15 we were on our 559C Bus and headed to Taksim. The bus ride usually takes about a half hour (45 minutes in during Istanbul rush hour). Its weird I hardly even notice the length of the bus rides here, after a couple weeks, its just normal. Not on this day. It took about an hour and forty- fives minutes to get to Taksim. The traffic was awful plus the route drove right past the stadium, where a scene of absolute mayhem was playing out.

Finally, we were there - Taksim- the place I had heard so much about. I wasn't sure what to expected I heard mixed things about the place. Great shopping, good bars, hold on tight to your bag, always go in a group blahblahblah. First impression, Taksim has incredible stores and numerous bars, definitely the young section of New Europe. A couple blocks in we went took a right and then a quick left and behold what seemed like an alleyway was as outdoor cafe and rooftop bar central. After trying to get into three bars, we finally found one that had room and was cheering for our team. It was a very surreal experience. At times, you could have heard a pin drop in the room. Then a bad call or goal and you couldn't hear yourself think. The game ended in a tie. On the bus ride back, as we drove past the stadium, you could see the damage of the game. Trash everywhere, police all over the place and little scuffles breaking out everywhere. All in all, it not only showed the sheer power sports have over humans and it was pretty fun to cheer when Besiktas scored.

The rest of week has prompted me to talk about some cultural differences. Let's start with food. Because Istanbul is large city filled with neighborhoods, you can honestly get any type of food in the world- some of it incredible, some of it not. 

Everyday food is very interesting. For snacks, there are the usually chips, peanuts, sunflower seeds. In addition they are all types of little bread treats and fresh hot sandwiches similar to hot- pockets. Sometimes you just don't know what you're going to bite into. There will always be some type of meat, some form of tomato, and peppers. In addition, there could be cucumbers, pickles, and mushrooms. Main dishes will be one of three things - kabobs (my personal favorite!!!) with rice, lettuce, and tomatoes on the side, secondly there is a meat, rice, yogurt dish (fyi the yogurt here is salty and usually comes with weird orange sauce) and lastly, there is the pasta dish with yogurt and the orange sauce sometimes a little meat. Traditional Turkish food (in my very few experiences) consist of grape leaves wrapped around rice, fried meatballs and kabobs among many other dishes. The meat here is always top quality. At restaurants there is always chicken, meatballs and lamb. It's really good and for the most part the food is very inexpensive. Each meal whether its in the caf, a cafe or restuarant comes with bread, tons of bread, and tea. If you can believe it, they drink more tea then my dad! For desert, they always serve apple tea or regular tea and chocolate. 


In the restaurants that serve other types of food or any of the restaurants in the tourist areas, American girls in groups often receive a discount either for being a student or so "you came back with more american tourists, you tell home the Turks take good care of Americans" its very funny. Along the river, many of restaurants are fish only and they pride themselves on this. In the old city, we ate at a rooftop restaurant that was Indian, it was the best lamb I ever had, so tender and wonderful. Turks take pride in their cooking and their ability to impress tourist. At another restaurant, I order the chicken wings on the advice of our tour guide. Now these chicken wings were not wings over, but they were so good, grilled to perfection. Just before that our waiter brought out Pita bread and a special humus dip from southern Turkey (on the house of course). I've never liked humus in my life, until this dish. I can't wait to try again in Bodrum.

Next up weather. It rains a lot here, but also its been 50 degrees for almost two weeks now. You can always count on a little bit of sunshine during each day. When the sun does shine, it highlights the walk to class that's amazing. The Bosphorus River, the Bridge to Asia, and even the Asian waterfront are all beautiful in the sun. In couple weeks, the rain is supposed to let up and temperature will rise and there will be no mud season for me.


Moving on brings to me classes. My schedule is still a bit up in the air, but it looks like I staying with Turkish Politics and EU, Middle Eastern Politics in the World, Turkish, Ceramics, and my research project. My research project is what I'm the most excited about. Its a field project about the EU and Turkey. There's a lot of debate within Turkey about entering the EU. Turkey's economy is thriving especially compared to ten years ago when inflation was almost 100%, will it be still thriving on the Euro? In Europe, the debate continues as well. There are human rights concerns as well as religious. So it's very interesting to study and even more awarding to be able to witness it.


One last story from the week, it was sunday nights hockey game. After experiencing the Turkish soccer match, some decided to show the Turks a hockey game. So we invited Ibrahim and Bahtiyar to Superdorm to watch it with us. Throughout the game they kept asking if it was cold in the rink or why was it a big deal that we were playing Canada, they weren't communist. The whole thing was a riot. We tried to teach them the USA USA USA chant and they taught us that in Turkish would be ADB ADB ADB. It was probably one of the funniest nights in a while. It didn't matter the Canada won, we got to share in a cultural exchange.

 mosque in my neighborhood

 Don't forget pictures are posted on flickr almost every other day. Here's the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/47744895@N05/.... more to follow in a couple days