My 24 hours in Bursa turned out to be a really nice mix of work, sight-seeing, and local hospitality. My contact there grew up in the city so he was an ideal host to give me a tour of some major sites. These included the beautiful Green Mosque built in 1419 and the tombs of [...]
Entries from November 2007 ↓
Do you remember learning anything about the Ottoman Empire in school?
November 29th, 2007 — Turkey
Trip update - free wireless and a continuing flow of paper
November 27th, 2007 — Diyanet, Research in Turkey
My trip is going great so far. I’m now at the Ankara bus terminal completely surprised to find they have free wireless. I don’t think they know they have free wireless; it’s more likely that some of the bus companies have open networks, or maybe I’m catching the signal from a few of the ultramodern [...]
Trip to Ankara and Bursa
November 25th, 2007 — Research in Turkey
I’m leaving in an hour for an overnight bus trip to Ankara (once again in a suit and tie), where I’ll spend two days meeting with various officials at the Diyanet seeking permission to add another research site and access the agency’s archives.
Tuesday night it’s an overnight bus trip from Ankara to Bursa for [...]
There is much less turkey in Turkey than you might expect
November 23rd, 2007 — Personal
A Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers!
This is my first Thanksgiving in Turkey since 2002 and, unfortunately, it passed like any other day. I applied for permission to use the Ottoman archives in Sultanahmet and then spent a few hours over at the offices of the Istanbul mufti observing a sermon selection meeting and [...]
Back in Turkey with fresher breath
November 14th, 2007 — Personal
I’m back in Istanbul now after a great trip to the States. Here are some highlights:
I had a wonderful time in Brooklyn catching up with my old friend Josh (we first met in elementary school). He’s doing really interesting work managing curriculum and personnel at a new school in the Bronx.
I hung out in Manhattan [...]