Hello all!
The main thing about not posting for 4 days (besides the guilt that comes from stressing you, loyal readers) is that I have no idea what to title this thing. This is Istanbul; every corner of this huge city is completely unique, and every day is equally distinctive for so many reasons. There's no way I could sum up what we've experienced (especially last night) in some pithy witticism. I guess I'll just go day by day. Sorry if it's a little text-heavy, I've forgotten to bring my camera the past couple days.
We started Monday in class with an extended discussion of modern Turkey, especially politics since 1945. To call this period ‘chaotic’ is an understatement, with military coups in 1960, 1972, and 1980 (and, some would argue, 1997, the world’s first ‘postmodern’ coup). Turkey, therefore, is overdue for a coup, and at some points last year, observers set the probability for a coup in 2007 as high as 50%. While a military coup is not very feasible at this point, the proposed disbanding of the governing AK Party would amount to a judicial coup. The people of Turkey are relatively used to having their governments removed from power, but never has a party with such widespread support (AKP won 47% in the latest elections, a landslide for a multiparty system) been outlawed. We split over the issue of whether the military has been a stabilizing or destabilizing force in Turkish political life (I think stabilizing, given the vast polarization in Turkish politics and the degree to which extreme leftists and rightists used violence and terror in the 60s/70s), and then went to go pay a visit to the Grand Mufti of Istanbul. If you're impressed by that title, good; you should be. The Grand Mufti is the chief Muslim religious figure for Istanbul and the surrounding regions. As such, he (and his extensive office) is in charge of the religious affairs of around 20 million people. He also hosted Pope Benedict XVI on his groundbreaking visit to Istanbul a few years ago. So it was quite an honor to meet him (no pictures- sorry!) and even more exciting for a member of our own group, Yekta, to translate his remarks for us. They even gave us goody bags at the end!
After meeting the Mufti, we dashed across town to Yilidiz University to meet with the eminent sociologist and political scientist Haldun Gulalp. Like Sevket Pamuk, he dismissed the notion that the disbanding of AKP would lead to violence in the streets, a prospect I find hard to grasp. I pressed him, asking what recourse an ordinary voter, who had supported various disbanded parties culminating in the AKP, would have in the wake of such a decision except to protest in the street. He said that AK supporters will simply form another party, and life will go on as it always has. That's Turkish politics for you. We ended the day with another delicious William-cooked meal at the Shields'.
The next day (Tuesday), I was sick. As people have dropped like flies over the past week or two, I fancied that I, somehow, was immune. And, excepting a brief encounter with what may be termed 'Osman's Revenge', I was. Then I woke up Tuesday with a throbbing headache and queasy stomach. Of course that was the day Yekta and I were to present our site, Kariye Camii. I felt better an hour or so after waking up, made it to the Kariye okay, and then went immediately back downhill. Our presentation was, as you might imagine, somewhat underwhelming I think. The building, however, did not disappoint. Rather unassuming on the outside isn't it?
Inside, however, are veritable galaxies of frescoes and mosaics. Dating from the early fourteenth century, these mosaics, while incomplete, are the finest (after Hagia Sophia of course) surviving examples of Byzantine church decoration. A small sample:
I wish I had been well enough to fully appreciate it; I may have to go back before we leave here.
After Kariye, we went to another Byzantine church-turned-mosque, Kalenderhane Camii, where Zoe and Kelly gave a great presentation. As soon as they were done, I had to get back to the flat- I was exhausted. I proceeded to sleep for about 6 of the next 8 hours. Then I watched the Russia-Spain game, and went to bed. Wednesday was a work day, which worked out phenomenally well, giving me enough time to really rest up. These sicknesses that are going around never last much longer than 24 hours. Hopefully, now that I've paid my dues, I'm in the clear for the rest of the trip.
Feeling much better even by Wednesday afternoon, I decided to go out with everyone to watch the Turkey-Switzerland game. If you remember, Turkey lost to Portugal a few days ago; this game was pretty much a must-win for Turkey to advance to the playoffs of the Euro Cup. What a game it was. The game was held in Basel, Switzerland, and the Swiss scored the first goal. Turkey scored about 20 minutes later, and the game was tied at the end of 90 minutes. Turkey scored 3 minutes into the 4 minutes of stoppage time, winning 2-1. It was exhilarating, to say the least, but things seemed a bit quiet, especially compared to our expectations of craziness in the streets.
At first we didn't think much was going on in the streets. After a couple minutes, the bars and restaurants emptied, and a tide of people (with varying levels of spirit and/or intoxication) began spilling down Istiklal toward Taksim Square.
(NARRATIVE BREAK: So I just took an hour to deal with the fact that apparently a pool of water has been building for who-knows-how-long under a lot of my stuff, including laundry and the piece of paper with my name in calligraphy (destroyed). I think it has to do with the AC? I've been trying to fashion some kind of pipe to divert the water outdoors, as opposed to, you know, my room. Despite my vast stores of plumbing/AC-related knowledge, I am lost. Awesome.)
Anyways, I'm a bit tired now, so I'll be kind of short: last night was great. Again, I forgot my camera, to my utter dismay; I might be able to post other peoples' pictures in the next day or two. Once in Taksim, we decided throw ourselves entirely into the celebrations. Not sure how smart of an idea this was, but it was incredibly fun. 6 Americans joyously celebrating the Turkish soccer victory was quite a spectacle for some of the Turks, so we attracted a bit of attention. Somehow, in the course of events, we made some mystic (the adjective we attach to basically everyone here) Turkish friends, none of whom spoke English. As the celebrations wound down, we made arrangements to take the party elsewhere. How, if they didn't speak English? Well, we speak a good deal more Turkish than we did in, say, Bursa. Thanks to Hande's lessons, we are approaching a 2-year old's comprehension of the language- this is actually quite considerable, as we did hang out with these people for about 3 hours last night. To get to our destination, the pier at Ortaköy, we took a taxi. Yes, a taxi. 3 Americans (just Dream Team at this point, everyone else had melted away) and 5 mystic Turks. In one taxi. Hilarious doesn't even begin to describe the ride.
Ortoköy has an almost unearthly beauty at night, with the ornate 19th century mosque on one side, the Bosporus in front (obviously), and the huge Bosporus Bridge (which changes colors!) on the other. We had a great time reenacting our Turkish classes, doing Turkish and American folk dances (Soulja Boy, anyone?), and, of course, drinking Efes. About 3 we decided to head back, with plans to meet again tonight at 11. This blog session has gone on entirely too long, so thanks for reading, and I'll talk to you soon!