Yesterday we didn't meet until 1:00 p.m. so when I woke up around 10:00, I had time to kill so I did some reading for our program and messed around on Facebook. At about 11:30, I went down to the corner cafe/restaurant to grab some pilav from our friend Mehmet, the owner, by myself. But Mehmet wasn't there! So I had to get it from some other guy working there. There were some Turks sitting at the small little table and stools outside and while the guy working there went to get change from one of the many electronic stores on our street, these Turks started pointing at me just chilling in the doorway.
Of course, I know like no Turkish so I have no clue what's going on. Eventually one of the guys looks directly at me and is like "Italian?"
My very clear response is "No, American." And American in Turkish is Amerikanim so it's essentially the same thing and definitely not Italyanim.
Another guy nudges the first and repeats "Italian!"
Then all of them are going "Italian!"
Meanwhile I'm looking at them kind of askance, and repeating "Hayir (no). I'm American."
By the time I got my change and my pilav these guys were still convinced I was Italian no matter how many times I said otherwise.
Alright, so it really wasn't that entertaining of a story, but still, I just don't understand why these Turks kept insisting I was Italian. I honestly didn't know what their deal was and I missed Mehmet.
At 1:00 we started class. Poor Yekta (our Turkish UNC student) had to simultaneously translate a video we were watching on railroads. She did an excellent job though. Professor Murat Ozyuksel from Istanbul University (who was also in the video) was was there to talk to us about the significance of the railroad in Turkey, urbanization, and more than anything, industrialization. We especially talked about how it effected Istanbul and attempts to rebuild it along European lines.
We eventually got into a discussion on politics in Turkey and how the party in power, AKP, has the possibility of being outlawed. AKP is way conservative and heavily identifies with Islam, but in Turkey's multi-party system, it gathered like 45% of the votes in the last election. Essentially AKP can be outlawed in Turkey for not being Turkish enough because Turkey has to follow Ataturk's nationalism. Nationalism is huge here. You see Turkish flags everywhere as well as Ataturk's image with his crazy eyebrows peering at you like Big Brother. It was heartening, however, to hear that Prof. Ozyuksel was very pro-democracy despite being extremely leftist. He did not want AKP to be outlawed despite it being far from his own views.
After contemplating some of this as a class on our terrace overlooking the great monuments and waterways of Istanbul, Prof. Shields left us. At about 6:30 we were navigating our way to her flat off Istiklal for some delicious fajitas made by William. Somehow we roped them into playing Catch Phrase which Amanda brought from the States and I think we all had a great time. At least Prof and William were laughing, so I'll take it that they were having a good time. After swapping some stories we headed back to our own flat.
Amanda, Edward, and I kind of lagged behind the rest of the group and ended deciding to stop in at a few shops on Istiklal. They were definitely not as expensive as I expected them to be. You could easily shop for shirts under 20 lira at a few stores. As much as Istiklal seems to be the it place to be, I expected more designer expensive stores.
Today was also a late day for class meeting. But Kristina and I got out the door by 11:30 to go do some research on our project on the Orient Express and Sirkeci Station. Sirkeci was up and running as the Ottoman Empire's main train station in Istanbul in 1880 so we explored quite a bit of its old architecture and history. They even had a little museum in the Sirkeci Station, but it was mostly in Turkish.
Kristina and I decided we had to eat at the Orient Express Restaurant (Est. 1890) as part of our experience. It was a little expensive, but it was delicious and my meal came with amazingly buttery mash potatoes. After lunch, we headed out to meet the rest of the group at 1:45 outside of the Museum of Islamic Art. However, we got sidetracked when we ran into this little art store this women had setup with another artist. Their paintings were amazing. I really wanted this one watercolor picture of Istanbul, but it was 100 euros, so I decided I better pass on it. It was so pretty though...
Due to getting sidetracked, we were a bit late to our meeting, but it was all good. Art historian Nazende Yilmaz from Mimar Sinan University took us around the museum and talked with us afterwards about Islamic art and architecture.
We then took a short break and Kelly, Kristina, and I decided to grab some ice cream. After getting our ice cream, we walked back through the old hippodrome that has been converted into a park outside of Sultanahmet and grabbed a bench near the Egyptian obelisk the Byzantines imported way back in the 5th century. We were just sitting there watching the people walk by and waiting until it was time to meet up again when this Asian man walks up and asks in broken English for a picture.
Thinking he meant for us to take a picture of him and his group, Kelly says sure. Before we know it, the man sits down on the bench with us while another Asian man motions for us to get together for the picture. We all smile uncertainly and then start to laugh as he takes the picture, and then they switch places so we take a picture with the other Asian man. It was so weird!
Both these guys were clearly here with their families as they watched as the picture was taken. Afterwards, one of them asked me how old we were. I responded that I was 20 and motioned with my hands. He nodded, thanked us, waved, and they all walked away. Seriously, one of the strangest things ever.
We sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out what exactly just happened. The best we could come up with was that as clearly Asian tourists, they don't see fully white people that much. Especially three young white women with three different hair colors sitting together on a bench. (Kelly's a dark brunette, Kristina's a redhead, and I'm, well, a mix between brunette and blonde). It's a rarity in Istanbul too.
We then met with Hande (I can't remember if she ever gave us a last name), a young Turkish woman that had hair I would kill for, that spent an hour and half teaching us Turkish at our medressi/cafe/art place that houses our classroom. We had a lot of fun, though I still hate learning languages in a class setting no matter how informal it was. I imagined I still looked like a deer in the headlights when called upon, though all of us struggled a bit. Just some more than others. Kevin has been practicing his Turkish daily from a book, while Yekta, well, knows Turkish.
We made our way back to our flat, taking the underground uphill Tunel subway from the Karakoy stop to the beginning of Istiklal for the experience. Plus it allowed us to walk down to our flat and not up the ridiculous hill. After a grabbing a bite to eat, an awesome pita doner for me, some of us headed out to Istiklal for a beer and to walk around a bit. We walked the length of Istiklal, chatted with two polis, saw a Turkish woman yell at the ground, and heard a very impressive belch from a man.
Bedtime now. We have to get up early tomorrow. Ugh.
