Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Land of the Ottomans...
So, the Ottomans were kind of a big deal. Not that I remember learning about them in high school history classes, ever. But they were definitely there while the French and British kings were ruling the Northwest, the Ottomans ruled the South and Southeast. Some basic historical dates which are important --> in 1453 the Ottomans finally took Constantinople (Istanbul) from the Byzantines and it wasn't until 1923 when Ataturk finally did away with the Ottoman empire and established the Republic of Turkey. I know very little at this point but we will be starting Ottoman history next week. But here in Turkey it is the most important history that they teach in elementary and high schools. I don't think anyone really learns Byzantine history in high school these days....maybe a few Greeks.
Over spring break I finally made a trip to the Topkapı Sarayı (Topkapi Palace) which is only one of the many beautiful, grandiose palaces of the sultans in Istanbul. I was too cheap though to pay for the extra tour of the Harems so I only have pictures of the nice views and some of the other buildings in the complex...
İstanbul'da Lale Zaman!
Tulip Time in Istanbul!! (At least it was about two weeks ago during my spring break.) And if I missed the actual Tulip festival then what more appropriate place to enjoy this tradition than in front of the palace of the Ottoman Sultans?! Topkapı!
mmm, springtime...just waiting for the leaves on the trees...any day now...
Sunday, February 21, 2010
one (more) week down...
weather: hit the 60's yesterday! but will probably get back to the low 50s and 40s the rest of the week but looking forward to the oncoming springtime.
books: read An Education by Lynn Barber on the flight back; her memoirs on growing up in England and becoming a rather cool and in some ways radical female journalist. (Only the second chapter lent itself to the current cinema version). Then I picked up the new English translation of Elif Shafak's book: The Forty Rules of Love (Aşk in Türkçe) last monday as a 'first-day of school' present to myself. I definitely enjoyed it, it was much more religious than I expected but in a very pleasant, all about love and being nice kind of way. I would recommend both books as interesting, easy, quick reads that are much more uplifting than any Orhan Pamuk book. Next on my list should be the history of the Ottoman and Byzantine history...but we will see if I can squeeze some Zorba the Greek or maybe even some Proust (??)...
movies: the movies of note that I have recently seen, besides the 3D IMAX of Avatar while at home, have been An Education in theaters, Julie &Julia and Nine. All of which have been delightful and inspiring; making me want to cook, live in paris and italy, be a creative genius like fellini, be as gorgeous as Penelope Cruz, and of course appreciate my advanced education in place of wanting a (fake/lying) rich, older man who wants to whisk me off to paris for the weekend....hah!
sports: with my new yoga mat spread out on my floor it serves as a constant reminder of what i should do every night before bed and every morning when i wake up, something to work towards I suppose. Also, the other day I signed up for Koc's new Curling team. Not sure if this team actually exists yet seeing as there is no space (even though there is a brand new ice rink currently housing the new hockey and figure skating teams), no money, no equipment and no one at the meeting actually has experience. also, did you know there are only four curling teams in Turkey? Not surprising, huh? hah! Well, by putting my name and email down on a piece of paper I figured I was at least one step closer to my Olympic dream of being on the Nicaraguan Olympic Curling team one day:)
school: ummm, first week down, lots of reading to be done, many greek words to learn, lots of history of Byzantium to understand. Oh, and I'm going to Berlin on a fieldtrip in March, how cool is that?!
thats it for now, must stop procrastinating my homework and also finish baking my first ever loaf of bread! hopefully it'll at least be edible, wish me luck...
Monday, January 18, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
mmm, mashed potatoes...
thanksgiving in DUBLIN was lots of fun!!!
Tea and Scones with cream and jam is a Must!! (Also glad to be back in a country where it is appropriate to put milk in my tea:)
Christ Church
I think this was the Dublin Castle....sorta looks like a castle I guess...
View of Dublin and the Liffey
Tea and Scones with cream and jam is a Must!! (Also glad to be back in a country where it is appropriate to put milk in my tea:)
Statue with bullet holes remembering Irish Independence
Christ Church
I think this was the Dublin Castle....sorta looks like a castle I guess...
While Noho cooked I made napkin turkey namecards!
The Meal
the day-after Irish breakfast!
and Guiness!! (noo, Guiness was not part of the breakfast)
thanks to the delicious cooking and company of noho, jkwan, and mairtin!!
*i'll work on putting pictures complete with people on my flikr account soon...
Sunday, November 15, 2009
syllabi
well, i don't go to parties or have fun exciting adventures in istanbul to document, but i do spend a great deal of time going to school and this is what i do at school everyday...:
the syllabus of my life:
Archaeological Theories: Next semester we will actually recieve hands on training in a new archaeology lab which they are setting up, but for now we are focusing on the philosophies, intellectual developments and theoretical underpinnings of the field of archaeology. We have read articles about New Archaeology, processualism, post-processualism, Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, hermeneutics, Binford's theory of 'man's extrasomatic means of adaptation' (or something like that), and Ian Hodder's postmodern refutal and full acceptance of everyone who has an opinion, even the goddess worshippers.
Cultural Heritage Management: This semester we have been focusing on site management (as oppose to next semester where we will be studying more museum studies). We've looked at lots of examples of management plans from Turkish Arch. sites to the plan for Stonehenge. Guest lecturers come from various fields in the industry have come. So far we've covered conservations issues in Turkey, architectural restoration and preservation in Egypt as well as by the Germans in Pergamon (Turkey), the Turkish laws established for historical site preservation work, technological advances in digital restitution and augmented reality, and finally the importance and digital developments of database construction. Lots of fancy jargon but also some really interesting theoretical issues that are often hard to deal with in the real world which can be based on popularity, politics and money. It is always important to stay optimistic and positive!
Anatolian Civilizations: So far we have studied the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and are just beginning to study the Early Bronze Age of Anatolian Civilizations. Due to the specific interests of our current teacher I have a feeling we won't make it to the Hittites, Phyrgians, Greeks or Early Romans. And next semester, somehow, we will be covering Byzantine and Ottoman periods. Its a lot of history for one geographic area, not to mention for one class.
Ancient Greek: I have been reading Xenophon's Anabasis. Back in late 400s/early 300s BC a man named Xenophon, originally from Athens but with strong loyalties to Sparta, went off as a young man to help Cyrus a persian prince try to overthrow his brother. On the way down from the west coast of Anatolia in Sardis, Cyrus amasses his troops and lets the hired greek armies do a little pillaging along the way. There is also a bit of hunting by the generals in the Arabian Desert of ostriches, bustards, gazelles, and wild asses. The battle does not go so well, so the Greek troops split, and take the road north meeting the kurds and armenians along the way and eventually making it to the black sea coast. From here they can march and take boats through Byzantium (Istanbul) and back to their lovely homeland across the Aegean sea. Its a real classic of a travel narrative.
The other day I also had a unique opportunity of looking at recently found mosaic byzantine inscriptions and seeing how far my greek knowledge could actually go in the material world. Not going to quit my day job, but it was a lot fun and a good learning experience.
Turkish: Merhaba! Siz nasılsınız? Ben iyiyim. Şimdi Koç Üniversitesin'de öğrenciyim ve Sarıyer'de oturuyorum. Sarıyer İstanbul'da. İstanbul çok büyük ve çok kalabalık ama çok güzel! Siz ziyaret ediyor musunuz? Görüşürüz!
*this post has not be edited fully so please pardon any mistakes*
the syllabus of my life:
Archaeological Theories: Next semester we will actually recieve hands on training in a new archaeology lab which they are setting up, but for now we are focusing on the philosophies, intellectual developments and theoretical underpinnings of the field of archaeology. We have read articles about New Archaeology, processualism, post-processualism, Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, hermeneutics, Binford's theory of 'man's extrasomatic means of adaptation' (or something like that), and Ian Hodder's postmodern refutal and full acceptance of everyone who has an opinion, even the goddess worshippers.
Cultural Heritage Management: This semester we have been focusing on site management (as oppose to next semester where we will be studying more museum studies). We've looked at lots of examples of management plans from Turkish Arch. sites to the plan for Stonehenge. Guest lecturers come from various fields in the industry have come. So far we've covered conservations issues in Turkey, architectural restoration and preservation in Egypt as well as by the Germans in Pergamon (Turkey), the Turkish laws established for historical site preservation work, technological advances in digital restitution and augmented reality, and finally the importance and digital developments of database construction. Lots of fancy jargon but also some really interesting theoretical issues that are often hard to deal with in the real world which can be based on popularity, politics and money. It is always important to stay optimistic and positive!
Anatolian Civilizations: So far we have studied the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and are just beginning to study the Early Bronze Age of Anatolian Civilizations. Due to the specific interests of our current teacher I have a feeling we won't make it to the Hittites, Phyrgians, Greeks or Early Romans. And next semester, somehow, we will be covering Byzantine and Ottoman periods. Its a lot of history for one geographic area, not to mention for one class.
Ancient Greek: I have been reading Xenophon's Anabasis. Back in late 400s/early 300s BC a man named Xenophon, originally from Athens but with strong loyalties to Sparta, went off as a young man to help Cyrus a persian prince try to overthrow his brother. On the way down from the west coast of Anatolia in Sardis, Cyrus amasses his troops and lets the hired greek armies do a little pillaging along the way. There is also a bit of hunting by the generals in the Arabian Desert of ostriches, bustards, gazelles, and wild asses. The battle does not go so well, so the Greek troops split, and take the road north meeting the kurds and armenians along the way and eventually making it to the black sea coast. From here they can march and take boats through Byzantium (Istanbul) and back to their lovely homeland across the Aegean sea. Its a real classic of a travel narrative.
The other day I also had a unique opportunity of looking at recently found mosaic byzantine inscriptions and seeing how far my greek knowledge could actually go in the material world. Not going to quit my day job, but it was a lot fun and a good learning experience.
Turkish: Merhaba! Siz nasılsınız? Ben iyiyim. Şimdi Koç Üniversitesin'de öğrenciyim ve Sarıyer'de oturuyorum. Sarıyer İstanbul'da. İstanbul çok büyük ve çok kalabalık ama çok güzel! Siz ziyaret ediyor musunuz? Görüşürüz!
*this post has not be edited fully so please pardon any mistakes*
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