Day 4

Before going into the day's activities I must mention first what an awe-inspiring experience I’m having. First, I don’t know if I’ve ever been to a country where the people at every turn are so friendly and so interested in cross-cultural learning. Second, thanks to all of the people we’ve meet with and particularly Bulent (an IU assistant professor) our guide I’ve learned so much about Turkey, the culture, Islam, the educational system. My mind and spirit are spinning with elation.

So here’s the quick run-down of the day (I’ll have to turn in early because we got up at 5:00 AM and we have to be on the road again tomorrow before 8:00). As soon as we were ready we drove from the European side of Istanbul to the Anatolia (Asian) side to catch a flight to Kayseri. The weight limit for bags in Turkey is lower than US flights so a number of people had to pay an overweight fee. Luckily I wasn’t among those – yet! Landing is Kayseri was a little different. First, they took a very long approach – it seemed like we were descending for half the flight. We boarded and disembarked from both the front and the back of the plane and you just walk out onto the tarmac. The luggage claim was a single straight conveyor but they might as well have handed you the luggage because the baggage handler was only three feet away from the first person in line. The toilet was an experience as well. There was a door off the area where we got our luggage but when you open the door there were three port–a-potties. Families waiting to pick up loved one just waited in the parking lot from where you could see people getting off the plane.

After dropping the luggage we went to the underground city of Kaymakli (in the Turkish language there are “i’s” that are dotted and undotted in both upper and lower case this should be undotted but I can’t find that on my Mac). From the 6th to 9th century thousands of people would live in this city for several months at a time to avoid the prevailing wars of the day. The Hittites were believed to be the first to carve and inhabit this city. The ground is mostly volcanic ash so it is relatively soft though hardens with exposure to air.

Next we explored some cliff dwellings carved in the same area, some of which are still inhabited or used for food storage. In fact, we ate in a restaurant that was carved out of a hill.

Then it was off to see Avanos along the Red River. The Red River and the volcanic ash in the area provide local artists with ample material for pottery and ceramics. We wished a shop that had been in the same family for two hundred years. It currently had 40 workers though only 7 were family members. (Sorry Jim, I may have splurged.)


At the end of the day we ate with some local sponsors at a banquet hall on a bluff with a magnificent view of the valley (Kayseri) and the snow capped Mount Erciyes (an extinct volcano). More importantly we had a great conversation for several of the city's business leaders – even through an interpreter I felt like I was in the presence of so much life and wisdom. I happen to also had the pleasure of sitting next to a young Pakistani college student who is in Turkey studying chemistry. We talked about college life, future plans, and he translated for me the call to worship that we could hear from two different Mosques in the city below (thank you, Iqbal). Enjoy the pictures - this part of Turkey reminds me so much of southwest Texas, New Mexico and Arizona where I grew up.

World Cup Stadium video

We interrupt this Turkey trip to bring you a Google Earth video of the World Cup stadiums. We will see matches in Green Point (Cape Town), Ellis Park (J'burg), Soccer City (J'burg), Free State (Bloemfontein), and Royal Bafokeng (Rustenburg). Leaving ONE WEEK from TODAY! World Cup begins tomorrow!

Day 3

Yesterday was a day to talk about current affairs and today was a day to explore the history of Turkey and particularly Istanbul. If you are like me you may not know or remember that Constantinople/Istanbul has served as the capital city of three different empires: Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman. There are artifacts in the Antalya area dated back to 20,000 BC but I’m sure I’ll share more about that when we visit Antalya. Today I’ll focus on Istanbul and a few other bits I learned today.

Our day started with a trip to the Haghia Sophia, which means holy wisdom, which is built on the site of a church from the 4th century. In doing excavation they did however find remains of the 5th century church that burned in AD532. Because of potential damage to the current structure excavation has been halted. The current structure was inaugurated by Emperor Justinian in 537. Until St. Peter’s was built in Rome, Haghia Sophia was the largest church in the world. It was used during the crowning and as final resting place of Emperors and Sultans. The patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church still resides in Istanbul. When the Ottoman’s captured Istanbul the church was turned into a mosque. Because Islam recognizes the holy books of Christians and Jews and shares a common history they didn’t destroy the church or the mosaics of Jesus, Mary, John the Baptist, Archangel Gabriel, or the Christian Emperors but covered them with plaster because images are not allowed in mosques. Minarets have been added and later large calligraphic roundels were added. Today many of the mosaics have been uncovered and work is ongoing. As a side note, I learned that in Turkey there is a Minister of Religions that appoints all Imams and writes the text for each week's Friday service. The minister is a political appointment.

Our next stop was Topkapi Palace built by Mehmet II between 1459 and 1465. It was used as the center of government for the Ottoman Empire until the 16th century and the sultan built a new palace in 1853. Topkapi became a museum in 1924. The palace was more than just a residence for the Sultans; it included school of the army and civil service, a hospital, public parks, food vendors, stables, homes for all the government ministers, a library and other businesses – the sultan’s residence has a beautiful view of the Bosphorus.

Next we had a great roof top lunch with a view of the Sea of Marmara and the Blue Mosque that we visited after lunch. Known for its blue Iznik tile work, it was commissioned by Sultan Ahmet I and built between 1609 and 1616 by Mehmet Aga. Most mosques are allowed to have only one minaret and the other special holy places have four, but the Blue Mosque has six which was seen at the time as a sacrilegious attempt to rival Mecca. While the mosque is open to visitors it is still an active mosque. Three times today we heard the calls to worship from three mosques in this area of the city. That could have been quite ear bending but they seemed to have a system where one started and the others came in after the first had set the pitch. At times it sounded like a call and response and was unbelievably pleasant and calming.

Dinner followed (it seems like we are constantly eating) at a lovely “community festival” (a restaurant in a public park owned by the government) overlooking the Bosphorus. There was plenty of sun, a cool breeze, a constant flow of ships from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and even a school of dolphins. After the typical starters I had the grilled Sea Bass that came whole (head and all) and was perfect.

I’m trying to learn a few words in Turkish which seems like it shouldn’t be that difficult as they adopted the same alphabet we use in 1928 (with the addition of six characters) but it’s not coming easily. So Tim King’s mom had my mouth watering when she recently described the taste of watermelon here in Turkey as better than anything in the US so I was really looking forward to it. We’ve had it almost every day but I don’t think it quite compares to some of the best melons from Texas. On the other hand, the tomatoes are outstanding and fruits and veggies are dirt cheap.

Tomorrow we pack our bags and fly to Kayseri that is southeast of Istanbul in the middle region of the Asian side of Turkey.

Day 2

Today was busy with visits to a private university, a newspaper, a little “free choice” time (I had a Turkish bath), and dinner at a family’s home. We started at 8:30 AM and got back to the hotel at 10:30 PM so it was a long day. We were to have a boat trip on the Bosphorus River today but once again it rained all day.

So in my growing up and what little I remember about the history of this part of the world I somehow missed the part where you connect all of the dots. I read about Troy (I even saw that bad movie), I know something about St. Paul and the Letter to the Ephesians as well as Mt. Ararat, I vaguely remember hearing of the eastern spice route/trade, the Ottomans and the Hittites, and from my fraternity world (Phi Mu Alpha) and some play I barely recall being a part of in high school I’d heard about Thracians. What I didn’t realize was that all of these things are a part of Anatolia and modern day Turkey. My apologies to any history teacher that tried to teach me these things. Enough of my confessions of ignorance for one day.

This was final exam week at Fatih University so the students were a little sparse and looked ready for a holiday. Fatih is a private university started in 1996 – up until 1980 all institutions of education had to be run by the state and still to this day all public and private institutions are governed by the state. Fatih has a student population of roughly 11,260 and they pride themselves as an international university and in fact, they have about 700 students from outside Turkey. In part they accomplish this by only charging international student half the tuition that Turkish students pay (basically opposite of what we do in the U.S.). Here high school students take exit exam in general knowledge and then the subject areas that they are interested in. Based on those exams they are given a spot in a public university (the university has no real say in who they get) or are accepted into a private university. There is no tuition charge for those lucky enough to make it into a public institution, which is only about 10% of those taking the exams. Many of things I accustom to where similar here in that they have student affairs professionals; they have residence halls, which at Fatih they call hostels, and there are lots of student groups and organizations. One slight difference is its against the law to have religious groups/clubs, though when the different cultural groups hold their Spring Festival as a celebration of all cultures many have components of their faith traditions. This did lead to an interesting topic that came up several times today and that’s the philosophical approaches to secularism. Dr. Yel described them is a French approach of “distance from all” and an American approach of “equal inclusion of all.” We did clear up some misconceptions for our hosts as well because he thought that everyone in the US was religious – no atheist or agnostics. I wonder where people here would get that understanding? There are so my other things I learned but too much for this entry.

We had a fascinating visit as well to Zaman, the largest print newspaper in Turkey. The readership of the Zaman (which means Times) is around 850,000 per day. Not large by U.S. standards perhaps but Mr. Yilmaz explained that not very many in Turkey read the paper. We talked in depth about the freedom of the press here and the difference between the elected “government” and the “state” or as he defined it as the judiciary, the lobbies, and the military (even with a democratic government Turkey has had 6 military coups in modern times). Our discussions also focused on the current reactions in Turkey and the surrounding Muslim countries to the Israeli attack on the aid flotillas. As usual I was struck by the multitude of perspectives on any given situation or action and the need to honestly listen and validate these sometimes dramatically different experiences and perceptions. We ended the day with a lovely dinner and in the Istanbul home of a current IU political science doctoral student. I loved the food but as usual I really loved the involved and dynamic cross-cultural dialogues.

It’s past midnight here and we start tomorrow at 8:00 so I better turn in. Oh, did I tell you we’ve had cucumbers at all three meals each day and that I love cucumbers – I’m sure Jim’s glad to be missing out on those.

Turkish Tea included after every meal.

IST Old City Walls

The Trip Begins

I’ve arrived in Turkey, or T¨rkiye (hey I got the dots but the "u" is missing - I'll work on that) as it’s generally seen here. Some airport delays but both me and my luggage made it here. Three others from the IU delegation where also on the same flight out of Indy through JFK to Istanbul. I sat next to Murat and had a wonder conversation. He has just finished a year as a post-doc at UC San Bernardino in Communication and Culture studying Muslim representation in US films and TV shows. So friendly and a great intro for me to Turkey. So before going too far I should say when it was all decided that I would travel to Turkey, I was dumbfounded at how little I knew about the country or it’s history. Given a world map I might have been able to point it out but other that that I remembered something about it once being a part of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul was once Constantinople (thanks to that catchy They Might Be Giants song), more than 99% of the population is Shiite Muslims though they have a secular government, and that they were a NATO ally. So I had a lot of reading up to do. I’ll share some of what I’ve learned as the trip goes on.

Day 1
We arrived at the hotel – a posh International style hotel – and took a two hour power nap. Then it was off with lunch at a street café just outside the Sokollu Mehmet Pasa Masque (the ‘s’ should have a little tail under it but I can’t find that special character) built by Sinan, and Istanbul University, founded as a theological and environmental sciences school in 1453. Lunch consisted of a wonderful salad made of cucumbers, hot peppers and loads of wonderful fresh tomatoes. Then came some rice mixed with some kind of wheat and a some spicy large white bean – very tasty. Then came the Turkish teas I’d heard about. They don’t use tealeaves but grind it down to a fine powder. It’s strong, hot, and requires sugar – they only have sugar cubes here. Unfortunately it rained all day but we walked around the University and the grounds of the mosque. Then it was off to the Chora Church (Kariye muaesi) the fabric of which was laid in 1077. The Ottoman converted the church into a Mosque but just covered over the mosaics and frescoes and today many have been uncovered and building serves only as a museum. After another rest at the hotel it was off to dinner of delightful lamb, chicken and beef kebabs. At the end of the meal was something I’d never tried – Peynirle Kunefe – cheese between two shredded pasty crusts, covered with warm syrup and chopped pistachios and served with goat milk ice cream. Unbelievably sweet and delicious. Now it’s off to bed. Our first real university tour tomorrow morning.

Off to Turkey!

I dropped Barry off at the airport about 15 minutes ago! His flight leaves at 12:45. He packed just a small bag, since he has five flights in Turkey. Goodbye Barry, have a great trip and post lots of updates.

Countdown...

Barry leaves for Turkey in three days! He's not ready.

We leave for South Africa two weeks from today. While in the Cape Town area, we will have about two days to visit wineries. The South African Wine site lists 21 wine routes. I printed maps for four we might visit. Those four maps list 200 wineries - no kidding!

We bought these wines the last time we were there.