In Minnesota at the end of the school year many schools organize trips on paddleboats on the Mississippi River. In recent years, it became my job to prevent my students from getting into mischief on those paddleboat rides, namely, to prevent their version of dancing from producing the next generation. In Istanbul, there is another kind of boat trip, one thankfully far more tame: the end-of-the-year Lise Prep Boat Trip. The worst mischief I witnessed on this trip was one student making an offensive gesture with her finger
(supposedly in response to a boy on shore's single-finger greeting), and she was quite embarrassed when she discovered me standing behind her. I spent the majority of this boat trip along the shores of the Bosphorus pointing at important-looking buildings and asking my students Recep and Cosan what they were, then snapping a half-dozen photographs before we moved on to the next important-looking building. They didn't mind, in fact,
Recep volunteered the information at every opportunity and looked relieved to have an excuse to avoid dancing with his classmates. The music was Turkish pop music; if you're interested in hearing it you should begin by listening to MFO to hear what Turkish pop music used to sound like, then move on to more contemporary artists like Tarkan. Needless to say there is quite the Turkish flavor to it, and dance moves that mimic those of belly dancers at times.
Between the dancing and important buildings I finally completed
one of the goals I've had since my first trip on the Bosphorus: taking a hundred or so pictures of the
yalis (yahl-uhs). A
yali (which should technically have a "short i" but I'm using my American computer) is a seaside home, ranging from what I would term a "normal-sized" home to a mansion in size. In Ottoman times, these homes were
mostly owned by
pashas, noblemen whose social rank afforded them certain benefits. Today, these are mostly million dollar+ homes owned by the wealthiest families in Istanbul, most of whom also own a speed boat or two for getting across the Bosphorus without having to deal with traffic. At the beginning of the year,
one of the Robert College trustees had us over to her
yali for dinner; I finally managed to get a picture of it while on the boat trip yesterday. Here it is, with the family speed boat parked out front:
(supposedly in response to a boy on shore's single-finger greeting), and she was quite embarrassed when she discovered me standing behind her. I spent the majority of this boat trip along the shores of the Bosphorus pointing at important-looking buildings and asking my students Recep and Cosan what they were, then snapping a half-dozen photographs before we moved on to the next important-looking building. They didn't mind, in fact, 
Recep volunteered the information at every opportunity and looked relieved to have an excuse to avoid dancing with his classmates. The music was Turkish pop music; if you're interested in hearing it you should begin by listening to MFO to hear what Turkish pop music used to sound like, then move on to more contemporary artists like Tarkan. Needless to say there is quite the Turkish flavor to it, and dance moves that mimic those of belly dancers at times.
Between the dancing and important buildings I finally completed 
one of the goals I've had since my first trip on the Bosphorus: taking a hundred or so pictures of the yalis (yahl-uhs). A yali (which should technically have a "short i" but I'm using my American computer) is a seaside home, ranging from what I would term a "normal-sized" home to a mansion in size. In Ottoman times, these homes were 
mostly owned by pashas, noblemen whose social rank afforded them certain benefits. Today, these are mostly million dollar+ homes owned by the wealthiest families in Istanbul, most of whom also own a speed boat or two for getting across the Bosphorus without having to deal with traffic. At the beginning of the year, 
one of the Robert College trustees had us over to her yali for dinner; I finally managed to get a picture of it while on the boat trip yesterday. Here it is, with the family speed boat parked out front:
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