second full day at Yeditepe

We've commenced the tourist portion of the orientation. Last night they took us to a restaurant in Taksim called Sultana's, which was certainly an interesting experience. Advertising itself as "1001 Nights Restaurant" (in English of course), the restaurant was styled to supposedly resemble a Sutlan's Harem and featured "traditional" music and dancers.Turks really didn't seem to hang around there, which the restaurant helpfully indicated by placing two flags at each table: the Turkish crossed with the national flag of the guests sitting there. I wasn't sure if this was to welcome the guests or indicate to the service what language they spoke. We seemed to be sitting next to younger members of the Saudi Royal family and a glance around the room indicated guests from Iran, Britain, Canada, Lebanon, India, Sweden and Egypt. The first act was a band, playing what I assumed to be traditional Turkish music, followed by a bellydancer, who looked like she moonlighted as a stripper, then some folk dancers. They had some more acts, composed mostly of the same people, but I stopped paying attention. I was feeling a little sick from the long, hot bus ride, so I didn't eat much of the food, but it was what I have learned is the traditional tourist meal in Turkey: a plate of meze, then kebap and pilav. It is still unclear why the Turkish coordinator of the program wanted to take us here. When asked she said that Turks will take their guests out to this kind of place, but someone else suggested a far more likely answer: she has family who either owns it or works there.

Today we had an arduous, but fun day of touring around the European side of Istanbul. First, we did a bus, then a boat tour up and down the Bosphorous, which was quite beautiful. The boat dropped us off in Eminonu, and we had lunch at another place that again catered solely to tourists (the drink menu was in French, Spanish, Italian and German) and I was able to eat the meal that I couldn't eat last night. From there, we went to the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, and Topkapi palace (they all happen to be right next to each other). After spending two days in a bizarrely modern university, it was nice to see the historic parts of Istanbul.

Tomorrow, we're going to the American consulate for a briefing, then more touring and finally we travel to Bursa to meet our host families.