dinsdag 20 april 2010
Latin Dance Festival in Boğazıcı
Together with Marina, she studies at Boğzıcı, we went to the Latin Dance Festival at Boğazıcı. I wasn’t really sure what to expect and I was really surprised to see how many students came to this event. Even though the theatre was really big, there were not enough seats for all. So it was all a bit messy and crowded and I thought it might be the same for the dancers… but on the contrary. Almost all of them were really good and it was fantastic to see all those Turkish people dancing the samba, salsa, rumba etc. on such a high level! It was a fantastic show!
Concert in an Armenian Church
Thursday there was a concert in the Üç Horan Ermeni Kilisesi (The Armenian Church of the Three Altars) and together with Sabrina and Hubert we had a wonderful musical evening. There were three youth choirs performing that evening. One from Barcelona, the other from Budapest and the third was from the Armenian church. They were all very very good and I was really impressed by the beautiful songs. Of course the acoustic was absolutely perfect, but the second group treated us with an even more experience of their songs. At one point they spread all over the church, standing all around the church benches and started to sing. This was like a dolby surround sound system and absolutely amazing. Unfortunately my recordings were pretty bad so I can’t share it with you. Nevertheless you can see some pictures.
How to get there: On the Istiklal Cad. you should go to the Çicek Pazari and take the first street: Sahne sk, there the entrance is hidden behind a huge iron door. Just ask one of the shopkeepers on Sahne sk. if you can’t find it.
How to get there: On the Istiklal Cad. you should go to the Çicek Pazari and take the first street: Sahne sk, there the entrance is hidden behind a huge iron door. Just ask one of the shopkeepers on Sahne sk. if you can’t find it.
woensdag 14 april 2010
Summary
As you may have noticed I haven’t written much lately, so now I will just give a short summary of the nice things I did last 2 weeks.
One of the positive parts of being a Dutch exchange student is that you are invited to all sorts of interesting events. Wednesday the 31st of March were very lucky though! We were invited for a Business Cocktail at the Dutch Consulate on Istiklal. For those who know how the building looks like may understand how excited we were to go there. It was a very fun and interesting evening. Some of us did some networking, others just enjoyed the superb snacks and desserts and the good atmosphere. It was really nice to be surrounded with so many Dutch people all of a sudden.
Later that week I joined Marina and her friends who came to visit her for a walk in the old Greek and Jewish neighborhoods; Fener and Balat. We were very lucky it was great weather, I think the nicest day since I’ve been here. For some reason the sun won’t show itself so often…I can’t wait for the weather to be warmer! But anyway our walk to Fener and Balat started with a visit to the Greek Patriarchate all the way up to the Chora Church and other Byzantine churches some turned into mosques, some not.
The first week of April the first guest from Holland arrived. Well not exactly from Holland, let’s just say he’s Dutch but his last stop before Turkey was Georgia and before that…well…he almost traveled the whole world those last 6 months. We did some sightseeing together but unfortunately I also had to study as well, so in the end I could join him 2 days.
In between the walks, visits and studying I really like to spend time at our nice apartment. I’ve been trying lots of new recipes since I came here. And since it was Easter I thought we couldn’t do without a real challah bread. They turned out pretty well if I say so myself…unfortunately I didn’t taste them because I gave them away to friends. At least I have a good excuse to make them again ;)
For pictures scroll down.
One of the positive parts of being a Dutch exchange student is that you are invited to all sorts of interesting events. Wednesday the 31st of March were very lucky though! We were invited for a Business Cocktail at the Dutch Consulate on Istiklal. For those who know how the building looks like may understand how excited we were to go there. It was a very fun and interesting evening. Some of us did some networking, others just enjoyed the superb snacks and desserts and the good atmosphere. It was really nice to be surrounded with so many Dutch people all of a sudden.
Later that week I joined Marina and her friends who came to visit her for a walk in the old Greek and Jewish neighborhoods; Fener and Balat. We were very lucky it was great weather, I think the nicest day since I’ve been here. For some reason the sun won’t show itself so often…I can’t wait for the weather to be warmer! But anyway our walk to Fener and Balat started with a visit to the Greek Patriarchate all the way up to the Chora Church and other Byzantine churches some turned into mosques, some not.
The first week of April the first guest from Holland arrived. Well not exactly from Holland, let’s just say he’s Dutch but his last stop before Turkey was Georgia and before that…well…he almost traveled the whole world those last 6 months. We did some sightseeing together but unfortunately I also had to study as well, so in the end I could join him 2 days.
In between the walks, visits and studying I really like to spend time at our nice apartment. I’ve been trying lots of new recipes since I came here. And since it was Easter I thought we couldn’t do without a real challah bread. They turned out pretty well if I say so myself…unfortunately I didn’t taste them because I gave them away to friends. At least I have a good excuse to make them again ;)
For pictures scroll down.
dinsdag 13 april 2010
Easter in Istanbul
Even in Istanbul it was hard not to notice it was Easter. The city was packed with Greek tourists and in my neighborhood, Şişli, a lot of shops sold matzot, challot, colored egss, easter chicks and bunnies. Even the local municipality hung out banners wishing all the Christian citizens a happy Easter! I also had my share of Easter experience. Normally we don’t do more than a nice Easter brunch with matzot and chocolate egss, but this year I got to experience the religious part of Easter. My Greek friend Marina invited us for dinner at her place and at around 11 pm she took us to see the ceremony at one of the Greek Orthodox Churches, Avia Triada, on Istiklal. It was extremely crowed but somehow we managed to get inside the church and watch the special moment which takes place at exactly 12 o’clock midnight; this is the moment when all the lights go off and the holy light is lit and is passed on by candles which everyone brought with them. Than the patriarch walked outside and did another ceremony, of which I unfortunately forgot the meaning of. But all together it was a very interesting and fun experience! Just to look at the interior of the church was worth coming there. If you’re in Istanbul around Easter really make sure you go to one of the ceremonies.
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