NSLI-Y 2025 Turkey – Week 5
Our student Norah continues to share her travel writing for week five of the program, with co-writing by Sanya:
Our fifth week started slow but quickly picked up pace with the excitement of things to come. Returning from a lively weekend, students brought various stories of camping by the beach, visiting family villages, and much more.
School this week was extra entertaining, not just because we learned a plethora of vocabulary and intriguing grammar lessons, but due to the special conversations and activities in which each class participated. For instance, on Tuesday, one class enjoyed ice cream (dondurma) from a local vendor, and on Friday both classes sampled freshly picked peaches and pears brought by Sanya’s host family. With many students preparing for the upcoming school year, there have been quite a few impromptu math lessons on trigonometry and calculus.
On the topic of our Turkish lessons at TÖMER, students are becoming increasingly confident in their language ability, improving from speaking sentences to reading full paragraphs and reciting anecdotes. With the new ability to converse in past tense, students were able to share exciting stories regarding the days prior.
Monday concluded with an RD meeting to discuss Turkish film. Starting with movies from the Yeşil Cam period — a golden age of Turkish cinema between the 1950s-70s where 250 to 350 films were produced annually — we watched clips of famous and impactful films in Turkish history. A few clips the cohort delved deeper into were from Susuz Yaz, Hababam Sınıfa, and The King of the Street Cleaners. Additionally, we learned more about well-known actors and actresses from the Yeşil Cam period, such as Kemal Sunal and Ayşen Gruda. In the midst of watching clips from films ranging from the 1980s to the 2010s, we had stimulating conversations (e.g. does culture influence movies or is it the other way around? Are movies an accurate representation of culture? Who gets to choose the storyline of movies?). Altogether, we learned an important and vivid lesson about Turkish film.
Tuesday brought a flurry of excitement and thrill from morning to night. After a day of working with the past tense, students attended a cooking class taught by professionals. We helped make a big pot of süt helvası (a milk-based pudding caramelized on the top) and crafted our own cantik with fresh dough and a ground beef (kıyma) mixture with tomatoes and onions (vegetarian students opted for cheese). The class concluded with students eating their cantik and trying the süt helvası.
With stomachs full from our culinary creations, the majority of students attended a surprise birthday party for Berkay, Norah’s host sibling, hosted at Saira’s host family’s home. Before the party, everyone ran around frantically prepping the cake, decorations, and fun jump-out surprise. The party went great, even with only 24 hours of preparation. After eating the delicious lahmacun and chocolate cake, students sat on the balcony and roof for hours, having deep conversations about studying abroad, friendship, and the collective dread of leaving. Interestingly enough, our last night in Bursa is a full Sturgeon moon, a wonderful coincidence and conclusion to our life-altering study abroad trip in Bursa.
On Wednesday afternoon, we got to meet with an American diplomat from the American Consulate in Istanbul and discuss his career in the foreign service. We had the chance to ask many questions and learn about what it means to be a diplomat. As NSLI-Y students in Türkiye, we spend most of our time involved in the language and everyday culture, trying to absorb everything we can. As we near the end of our summer adventure, our Wednesday meeting was a good look at where our language skills and newfound cultural knowledge might take us in the future.
On Thursday afternoon, we headed to the Bursa Karagöz Müzesi for the first part of our language partner activities. There we learned about traditional Turkish shadow puppetry and observed a variety of handcrafted shadow puppets made by different puppet masters (Hayali). The stories told in this form generally revolve around Karagöz and Hacivat, a pair of Ottoman-era men, one a jokester, one more sophisticated. Originally intended for adult audiences, these puppet shows are now more for children (one host sibling mentioned that their elementary class put on a Karagöz show). Our language partner activities continued at Kültürpark where we read a famous Turkish poem, “Istanbul’u Dinliyorum,” (I am listening to Istanbul), examined different sensory details the poet used, and created our own stanzas (with help from our Turkish partners) about Bursa. Skittles were handed out for the completion of a poem, but perhaps the real reward was getting to showcase our language skills in a new way.
Friday afternoon brought another museum! We went to an Ottoman house museum to see some of the customary living practices and style of the late 19th and early 20th century. Mangala, a kind of traditional board game, was also brought out, and an extremely intense 30-or-so minutes of competition ensued. Rain clouds began coming over the Bursa mountains on Thursday, leading to cooler, cloudier weather in the last few days. In a respite from the usual heat, Saturday morning even brought thunder and rain.
Heading into our last week in Bursa, there is certainly a sense of sadness in the air. A great group of friends, Turkish and American alike, has truly been formed in our time here. This week will conclude the work on our culminating projects, for which students have been conducting interviews, and give a chance to showcase our language growth with Oral Proficiency Interviews. Though we will soon be headed back home, a sixth of our trip still remains. With the time we have left, we hope to continue learning, exploring, making friends, and having fun.
As Norah mentions above, students have made a lot of progress with their Turkish after five weeks. As part of our language activity this week, students worked with their partners to write a poem about Bursa based on a famous poem about Istanbul by Orhan Veli Kanik, “Istanbul’u dinliyorum.”
Here are two examples of student poems in Turkish for your enjoyment, with rough translations in English.
Students line up at their cooking stations for a live demo.
Hankyu shows off his Cantık-making skills.
Group photo with the finished product, seconds before they get eaten up.
Sanya stirs the pot of süt helvası under the watchful eye of pastry chef Müge Tükenmez while Puru observes.
Group photo with our visitor from the US consulate in Istanbul, Foreign Service Officer Marvia Alfaro.
Students work hard to learn the past tense during classes this week. Inci Hoca checks their work.
It’s not all work though. Inci Hoca’s class pauses for an ice cream party. (photo credit: Andrew)
Students and language partners pose outside of the Karagöz shadow puppet museum,
(Right to left) Norah, Griffin, and Griffin’s host brother Emre check out the Karagöz puppets that have been donated to the museum by master puppeteers.
Puru learns about the instruments used for the puppet show with language partner Berkay.
Students pose outside of the Bursa Living Culture Museum, the 150-year-old mansion of a former Ottoman leather manufacturer. The tour organizer/Mangala coach/Hankyu’s host mother Emel hanım is pictured at left.
Andrew takes a moment to appreciate the Hamam room, complete with takunya (bath clogs) and peshtemal (traditional Turkish bath towels).
Students get a guided tour of the museum, including the Gelin Odası (Bridal Room). Ottoman brides from wealthy families would show off their needlework as part of their trousseau (çeyiz). On the shelf to the right of the frame, you can see a little piece of America in an Ottoman household: a Singer sewing machine. (photo credit: Sanya)
After the bath and wardrobe, some of the students take a moment to pose in front of an antique mirror (left to right: Kahina, Norah, Sanya, Hailey, Henley) (photo credit: Sanya).
In the upstairs parlor, students are able to view a 120-year-old gaming table made with traditional Turkish mother-of-pearl inlay. The table would have taken about 1 year to complete and includes boards for backgammon, chess, and card games. (photo credit: Sanya)
Nearby, students face on in their own tabletop tournament of Mangala, a traditional Turkish game that has been played for hundreds of years. Here, Henley and Griffin go head-to-head.
Caroline prepares to challenge Griffin.
Christian observes Turkish opponent Efe’s move
Norah maintains her poker face in a match up with her host brother Berkay.
Mangala champions (and host siblings) Talha and Puru congratulate each other on their victory. Winners receive their own Mangala set as a prize.
This week, our student Sanya has again provided a student’s perspective with another collection of photos:
Enjoying our time on the bus, while on our way to Saira’s house. Christian, Sanya, Caroline, Norah, Christian, Hankyu, Griffin, Kaitlyn, Saira.
Swimming in the Marmara!
Group selfie at Tophane. Kaitlyn, Hailey, Norah, Henley, Sanya.
Me holding the cantik I made.
Henley’s cantik creation.
We held a surprise birthday party for Berkay, one of the Turkish host brothers.
Yeliz Hoca’s class took some inspiration from Inci Hoca’s class and had our own ice cream party
After our language partners activity on Thursday, Beren, Norah, Henley and I went to grab Tahinli Pide at a historic bakery near TÖMER.
Kahnia, Hailey, and I shopped for jewelry on the Irgandi market bridge. We met a nice storeowner who we conversed with in Turkish.
Norah and I took a visit to the Muradiye complex over the weekend, and were surprised by the stunning architecture and the history of the massive grounds.
On the roof of my host-grandmother’s house, my host-mom and grandma make fresh pasta for the weeks to come.