NSLI-Y Turkey 2022 – Week 3
Week 3: Taking a Break
As week two came to a close, students were looking forward to celebrating the religious holiday with their families and taking a pause from their classes as things shut down for a few days. As with holidays in the US, Turkish families gather for Kurban Bayramı (otherwise known as Eid al-Adha or The Holiday of the Sacrifice) to spend time together, enjoy good food, and visit friends near and far. Students may have had different experiences depending on the religious observance of their host families, but they all got to see the holiday first hand, some of them for the first time.
With no classes to keep the students and their host siblings busy, this was also a good week to rest and explore parts of the city that they may have only glossed over initially. On Monday, students and host siblings were able to join an optional excursion to the Grand Mosque, the silk market, and the Irgandi market bridge. The Grand Mosque (Ulucami) is renowned for its many domes. According to legend, Sultan Beyazit I promised to build 20 masjids in the city following a victory over the crusaders at Nicopolis in 1396. Those 20 masjid never materialized, with the sultan instead opting for one mosque with 20 domes. Ulucami is also famous for its exquisite examples of Islamic calligraphy, which the students were able to explore up close. At the silk market, students had time to do a little shopping and were invited to try a local specialty: dondurmalı irmik helvası, an ice cream treat topped with warm semolina and tahini. As we arrived at Irgandi Bridge after lunch, the sky opened up and we took quick refuge in a quaint cafe with Ottoman decor. Students struck up a game of tavla (backgammon) with their Turkish peers while we waited for the rain to pass. With a view over the Gökdere stream out to the mountains in the distance, and with plenty of tea on hand, there are worse places to wait out a storm.
On Wednesday, we took the students on a more formal tour of several other Ottoman sites in the city, with stops at Bali Bey Khan, Tophane, and the Muradiye Mosque complex. Bali Bey is famous for its three story market hall built along the slopes of the mountain and the artist studios that fill the space with traditional handcrafts. A special visit was arranged with a local glass artist, and the students each received a handmade bracelet as a keepsake. From there, we continued up the slope to Tophane, which is the site of the tombs of the first two Ottoman sultans, offering views out over the plains to the north. As the story goes, while the Ottoman forces laid siege to the Byzantine citadel in these very plains, Osman I told his son Orhan that he wanted to be buried under the glinting silver dome at the top of the slopes. When the Byzantine forces surrendered to the Ottomans in 1326, Orhan (now sultan) fulfilled his father’s wish, burying Osman’s remains under the dome of the chapel of the monastery they had seen from afar. We concluded our excursion at the exquisite Muradiye Mosque complex, the final mosque complex built in Bursa by an Ottoman sultan (Murad II) before the center of attention moved northwest to Istanbul. Muradiye is dotted with tombs of Ottoman family members, and arguably its most famous resident is Cem, son of Mehmet the Conqueror, who spent the majority of his adult life in exile under the protection of various leaders (including the pope) right around the time Columbus was sailing across the Atlantic.
We concluded our programming for the week with our regular Peer Language Partner activity on Thursday. With so much time spent in their Turkish families for the holidays, this was a great opportunity to review how to describe family structures in Turkish (which thanks to its specific vocabulary for maternal and paternal relatives is a bit more complicated than English). Students would get a lot more time to practice family vocabulary over the weekend, since Friday was another holiday here.
With only three weeks left, the students are officially at the halfway mark. The second half always seems to move at lightning speed, so I hope the last week gave them time to recharge their batteries!
Students take the opportunity during a class break to nap! (submitted by Freya)
Sophia and Freya enjoy dondurmalı irmik helvası in the silk market. (submitted by Freya)
Lucia and Freya try a Turkish specialty: kıymalı pide. (submitted by Freya)
Ozan and Evan play a game of tavla. (submitted by Freya)
Students wait for the rest of the group outside TÖMER.
Lucia and Chelsea receive their bracelets from the glass artist at Bali Bey.
Evan inside Osman I’s mausoleum. (submitted by Freya)
Sophia and Ferda during our Peer Language activity.
Ozan helps Ameya during our Peer Language activity.
Freya works with Peer Language Partner Melike.