Schools and Shopping

Second full day in Istanbul was great! We started the day with a visit to a Greek school. With the tensions fluctuating between Greece and Turkey since the World Wars the situations of the Greek and Turkish minorities in Turkey and Greece respectively have changed, always to match the other. The school we visited was suffering due to a dramatically decreased population. The rule is that they can accept only students who have one parent with Turkish citizenship (which is difficult to obtain if you are a Greek citizen living in Turkey). There are 42 kids in the entire school--and it's a primary and high school combined! They'd like to open up admission to kids with Greek parents but the government won't allow it. The principal was really sweet, though, and told us all about the success of the pupils that are at the school. All of them make it through the difficult exams necessary to get into Turkish university--with flying colors!

View from the Greek School

Me and my roommate, Amy!

Amy and Julia sipping juiceboxes, after we toured the school

Our second stop was Tesev, an NGO in Istanbul, where we heard a lecture on the Kurdish question in Turkey. This is a Muslim minority in Turkey that don't really identify as Turks, which is a problem (apparently, in the eyes of many) for national unity and cohesion in Turkey. The government has repeatedly ignored the Kurdish "question" as it is called, and have insisted that the Kurds are Turkish. Kurds are fighting for the right to teach in their own language (rather than Turkish) and for justice for various human rights violations, some of which are being prosecuted in the UN Court of Human Rights.

We then had lunch at a little restaurant by the waterfront, with another great view! Except, it went from gorgeous sun to windy snow! The weather here changes by the minute. Lunch was another extravaganza, similar to our dinner the first night.

After lunch I went with Leah and Julia to the Egyptian Spice Bazar. It was really neat--all different stalls, selling mostly tea, spices, scarves, and tiles/decorative plates. The smells are incredible! The pictures speak for themselves.

Gorgeous view crossing the bridge to get to the Spice Bazar

Another mosque--the architecture is amazing!

This is the view of the side of the city that our hotel was on, with the Galata Tower sticking out of the skyline

Another view from the bridge

Spices!

Turkish Delight and other sweets

Julia, Leah, and I at the Spice Bazar

View of the Bazar--it seems pretty big, but it's nothing compared to the Grand Bazar

They have lots of little shops with pottery (of varying quality). The colors are beautiful.

Up next: Whirling Dervish "performance" on Tuesday night!