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| My view as we were landing in Istanbul |
Istanbul turned out to be an atypical adventure, full of unexpected "surprises". In order to recount my experience, I'm going to break the trip into three drastically different parts...
The Beginning: Living Large
Myself and a colleague (Rebecca) traveled to Istanbul, at the expense of GWA, in order to attend a teacher's conference. Prior to the start of the conference; however, we were fortunate enough to have most of the day on Thursday to explore Istanbul.
With the recent bombing in Ankara, Turkey, we knew we had to be vigilant around the city. We were careful to avoid crowds and we were comforted by the clearly heightened presence of security. In the morning, we toured the Hagia Sophia and the Sultan Ahmed (Blue Mosque). The Blue Mosque, while we're glad we saw it, was not particularly exciting... especially in comparison to the Hagia Sophia. If you don't know much about the Hagia Sophia, it is such a beautiful piece of historical architecture. It began as a church, but was later converted to a mosque following the conquest of Istanbul by the Muslims. It is a currently a museum which showcases the preserved remnants of these two religions, side by side. Literally, there are tributes to the prophet Mohamed directly in front of mosaic images of Jesus Christ with the Virgin Mary. Adjacent to the Pope's pulpit is the staircase to the muezzin minbar.
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| Sultan Ahmed |
Inside the Hagia Sophia:
Following these tours, we made our way back to our hotel just in time to meet up with a GWA parent. Ironically, this particular parent is one of mine from last year and one of Rebecca's this year. She is engaged to a Turkish man and has chosen to alternate between living in Istanbul with her fiancé and living in Casablanca with her daughter every two months. Crazy. When we discovered that her time in Istanbul was going to overlap with our trip, we made arrangements to meet up for a quick lunch. We were not expecting much... until this parent arrived at the hotel in a fancy SUV with her private chauffeur. We were treated to an incredible lunch, and then dessert was ordered to go. We were subsequently welcomed onto this parent's private yacht, captained by another chauffeur. We enjoyed some of the best desserts I have ever had while touring Istanbul from the Bosphorus Strait. It was beautiful.
The Middle: CEESA
The primary purpose of our trip to Istanbul was to attend the CEESA (Central and Eastern European Schools Association) Conference. This was a three day conference which was was based on the theme of "personalized learning" (Re-evaulating how teachers teach in an effort to make learning more student-focused and more effective). We attended an array of sessions led by speakers all over the world. The conference was really informative and made me interested in the PYP program. Might just look into some training in that area soon...
Following the first day of conference sessions, a spontaneous trip to the Asian side of Istanbul for dinner was planned for any CEESA participants who were interested. Of course we were. We took the 7:30 PM ferry over to Kadikoy and were directed to a popular Turkish restaurant where we devoured the best kebabs, grape leaves, and homemade pita bread.
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| On the ferry en route to the Asian side |
The End: Suicide Bomber
Toward the end of the conference, our sessions were interrupted with an announcement that a small explosion had occurred just two metro stops away from where we were. A suicide bomber. Terrorist attacks have been in the news a lot lately, but the news affects you in a different way when you're there. We were hours away from the CEESA tour into the Grand Bazaar; and we had plans to visit the Basilica Cistern and the Topkapi Palace before flying back to Casablanca. Instead, we were being advised by two DC special agents to remain in the hotel because there were rumors of additional terrorist attacks through the weekend. So we did. We sent emails and Skyped our family in order to inform everyone that we were safe. Then, we ordered room service, got a hold of some junk food, and watched way too many movies in-between conference sessions.
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| Hotel lock-down |
On our last day, we left for the airport way earlier than we needed to because we felt it would be even safer through airport security (The recent attacks in Brussels, in retrospect, prove that even airports are unsafe...). During our taxi ride to the airport we saw police personnel everywhere. The stretch of highway connected to the airport was being halted in both directions so that police officers could examine every single car. Security at the airport was tight...and we were anxious to leave Turkey.
To heighten our already shaky sense of security, twenty handcuffed men were escorted into our gate and onto our plane. Apparently, these men were being deported back to Morocco after attempting to illegally escape to Germany. Comforting, eh? We breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived safely back in Casablanca... but, in all honesty, nowhere is "safe" right now. It's a scary time.
Dave did a fantastic job taking care of Aliyah for the five days that I was gone. In case you missed it on Facebook, he created a photo album entitled, "How to cope when Mama leaves for five days". It's hilarious. These were some of my favorite pictures:
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| "Getting some experience choosing her own wardrobe" |
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| "Load up on protein" |
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| "Always stay hydrated" |
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| "Ride up front to keep Dada company" |
-Nicole
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