Language, Lectures and Live Music

Well, I can introduce myself, ask for the bathroom, find the bus stop and order soup, all in Turkish. It's not much, but it's a start! It was very exciting, in a most nerdy way, to be in a language class this morning after such a long time. I had no shame and found great pleasure at being able to identify the grammatical nuances to the language as we learned new words and phrases. I know, you're rolling your eyes - I don't care!

After an intense morning of language instruction, our afternoon went by quickly. We had two guest lecturers present to us about the Roman/Hellenistic period and the Ottoman Empire, covering what little I remember from 9th grade social studies in 2 1/2 hours. Although I could recall that the hub of civilization was between the Tigris & Euphrates rivers (is that still a sure-thing question on the Regents exam even now?), everything else suddenly had such relevancy. In just a few short weeks, we'll actually be in the very places to which they referred: Myleas, Troy, Ephesus... We reviewed the series of Sultans during the Ottoman Empire and traced the Turks' patterns of conquest, which was fascinating. Did you know that during his reign from 1451-1481, Mehmed the

Conqueror established a "millet system" that promoted religious tolerance to all pe

ople of Turkey: Muslims, Christians and Jews alike? That his successor Bayezid II invited the Spanish Jews to Turkey to escape persecution during the Inquisition in 1492? This is a far cry from the West's fundamentalist portrayal of the "Muslim World"...

After a break and a great meal at Z-Tejas Grill (happy birthday, Martha!), half the

group returned to the b&b and the other half ventured forth to find live music. 20 minutes and

an

$8.00 cover later, we found ourselves in a great venue called Antone's and heard some bluesy tunes from some hairy men. What a great end to an overwhelming, yet rewarding day.

So, now I can tell you that "az turkce biliyorum" and "tesekkuler" for reading. Bye!

Today's Pictures:

Remember the 1966 Texas University shooting that killed 16 people? There's the infamous tower...

This is the lobby of the Student Union, which apparently has quite the endowment.

See that tree? Yeah, that was a gift from the Dali Lama.

And here we are at Antone's, unwinding after a demanding day - me and my new friend

Wendy, a history/sociology/women's studies teacher... how cool is that?