Tuesday, 13 August 2013; 01:28 PM; room, Orient Hostel
Well, as predicted, I didn't sleep well last night - when I slept at all. I'm in for very deep sleep tonight, though. It's been a very long day.
I woke up at 7:15 and went to shower, change, and eat. We were ready to go by the designated time of 9:15.
First we went to the AFS offices to get the orientation of the office and to learn what we'll actually be doing ths week, before we go off to our host families.
We ate lunch at the office. I don't remember what exactly it was that we had, but it was good (also, spicy). There was also this yogurt lassi-type drink - basically, drinkable yogurt - and it was really good, but really salty. Lunch, in general, was good.
Then we went to the mosque of an Islamic sect that I don't recall the name of. They're the sect with the people who dance as part of their worship (they might be the whirling dervishes, but I'm pretty sure that's not right). Anyway, this particular sect is very open-minded and is willing to serve anyone who needs help. For some reason, I think they aren't seen as a "real" sect of Islam by the other sects (I don't recall why - maybe because during the prayer service, they pray in a circle, not facing Mecca). They also call the prayer leader the Dada, which I think translates to 'grandfather' or something. The title is hereditary. You are born a Dada, and I think it's always men who hold the title.
In Islam, theres a similar concept to the Christian idea of the Second Coming of Christ. In Islam, it's Ali's last grandson (I think). (Ali is the son-in-law of Mohammad).
After that, we went to St. Georg, an Orthodox Catholic population of Austrians who are funded by the Austrian state because of their mission for education. They're a very small population, with a core of about 30 people, but they have more when bigger groups come through and worship with them. I find it kind of cool that their patron saint is the guy who killed a dragon. Of course, the dragon is a metaphor for all evil, but whatever. The point remains.
Anyway, they're trying to channel a bit of Evil Fighting by being a part of an unofficial coalition of Christian churches unofficially helping the refugees (I think they're not allowed to officially help the refugees because of legal issues, maybe - something to do abut the separation of faith and state and sensitivity and social programs and... I don't remember a lot of it). They're not technically doing "mission" in terms of "missionary," but I think they're something close, but couldn't technically call it "mission" for the sake of getting funding.
They're also a school - private high school, to be exact. They teach in German but follow Turkish curriculum when necessary. That led to a really interesting discussion about the Turkish school system.
So, basically, the Turkish students have two placement tests: one for high school and one for university. If you get a perfect 500 on the test, you can get access to the top schools and get first pick when you go for schools - you can get early enrollment, in other words. If you get a lower score, you make a list of your top schools and hope that you're matched up well, based on the score you got. When testing for college, you can always wait a year and test again, but the downside is that you put your schooling off for another year.
While we were at St. Georg, we told our guide a bit about the walk-in mission and ASP.
Then our guide told us about an ASP-type thing that goes on in war zones in the Middle East (A/N update: not sure if it's actual war zones, but it's definitely areas where people's houses have been bombed or the residents have otherwise been displaced). When people's houses are bombed, the program - an interfaith one - will send a group of youth to rebuild the houses and also build faith relationships. It was a really spiritual moment - knowing that there are people on the other side of the world who also remember that Christianity is not all about ritual and "We're The One True Faith" and all of that - that Christianity is about Love Thy Neighbor and Help Thy Neighbor.
After St. Georg, we went to Galata Tower, which was once a warning/ lighthouse way back when. It's a great view from the top, but it was kind of narrow and crowded and the platform tilted down, so it did not agree with my heights and lack of affection for them.
After that, we went to St. Antoine, which is a complete antithesis in scale to St. Georg. I think the former is French, and Gothic style, and enormous (and Catholic, I think). It's all the classic things you think of when you think of old cathedrals - stained glass, vaulted ceilings, statues, a layout like a cross on the ground. St. Georg is, as previously stated, a core congregation of thirty, and the chapel space matches that.
Afterwards, Can, Mom, Sean, Alex, and I went to the main square where all the protests have been, while Katie, Mert, and Jim stuck around and didn't walk an extra 45 minutes.
Before that, though, we ran into Batu, completely by chance. Batu was an exchange student this past year to a school in southern Maryland, and he was on his way home from working at a museum, when we were on the street getting ice cream. The ice cream sellers always do this really big show of pretending to give you the ice cream before you actually get it.
Anyway, we're going to dinner at Batu's tomorrow. He lives on the Asian side, sooo.... FIRST TRIP TO ASIA!! WOOHOO!!
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