September 10, 2013
The morning of the big presentation! The reason we have traveled so far! Pinar and I woke up bright and early and got dolled up in our professional dress. The night before, Nazo insisted we have a fashion show to try on all of her hand crafted jewelry. I wore a beautiful white necklace in the shape of hearts and doves to the presentation. She fashioned it to represent peace and love. We finished getting ready and took the train to the university.
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| Visit to the hairdresser. |
First, however, we stopped at a hairdresser. It is Turkish custom to get their hair done professionally for big events. The presentation constituted a big event, so we stopped in and I got a nice, professional up-do. We stopped by a patisserie and got Turkish bagels (simet) and, of course, a soda to drink while we got pampered. I also got a manicure and pedicure. I was amazed at the price of the pampering. I spent 55 TL (Turkish lira) for the hairstyle, manicure, and pedicure, which is equivalent to about $25!
We headed to Bahçeşehir University. We arrived a few hours early, and decided to finish preparing for our presentation. We stopped at a restaurant called Beerpoint and I ordered five-cheese ravioli and a beer. We had a beautiful view of the Bosphorus as we made our final touches.
Finally, we made our way to the classroom for our presentation, titled “Social Entrepreneurship in Action: Prodigy Stream (Emek Pinari) Project, a Vehicle for Self Authorship Development.” We presented about a project that Pinar and Nazo initiated that empowers Turkish women to sell their hand-crafted goods online using Etsy. In the process of doing so, the women learn new technologies, such as how to use a computer and set up their own online store, and are able to communicate with one another about technology and crafting techniques. It is a fascinating project, and the audience was very interested. There were two women in the crowd that represented a grant-funded project that asked us to be a part of a case study for a journal called Erasmus Mundo, focusing on social economies in higher education. (This is a big deal, and we are planning to pursue it!) Another man in the audience spoke with us about resources in Turkey that could possibly provide funding for our project; we will be checking out the resources on that list, as well.
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| Presenting at the 2013 European Conference on Educational Research in Istanbul, Turkey. |
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| Smoking strawberry nargile, or hookah. |
Once work was finished, it was time to play! We met up with one of Pinar’s friends, Özgür. He took us to Ortaköy, a historical district next to the Bosphorus with lots of little shops and restaurants. We smoked nargile, or hookah, and drank some beer to celebrate our accomplishment. The nargile was strawberry flavored. I wasn’t very good at smoking it, and wasn’t a fan of the smoke, but it was an interesting experience!
After a few hours at Ortaköy, it was time to head back to the university for the ECER welcome reception. They served red and white wine and hor d’oeurvres. At the reception, we met two professors from the Netherlands, who were very crazy men. Throughout the night, they asked me to dance, and I actually did… that was definitely a few glasses of wine into the night! We also met a Ph.D. student named Marja from Finland. We became good friends with her, and she would later join us for several other conference-related events.
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| Daniel, Professor from the Netherlands. |
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| Ahtapot and raki at Sariyer. |
The reception ended, but our evening was far from over. Özgür drove me, Pinar, Nazo, and Ertan to a restaurant called Rumeli Kavak Balikçesi at a fancy area by the Marmara Sea, called Sariyer. The view from this area of the Marmara sea reminded me of a Disney movie. Lightpoles lit the streets, with stray dogs roaming around, digging in garbage, and the sounds of the waves of the sea. It was Lady-and-the-Tramp-like! Ertan ordered me some raki, a white Turkish alcoholic beverage that goes with fancy sea foods. This was the strongest alcohol I had ever tasted, and I couldn’t handle more than one drink! We had several courses of sea food throughout the evening, including midye dolma (stuffed clams), ahtapot (octopus), sardalya (sardines), and lakerda (Turkish sushi). We finished the meal by eating ice cream with souffle.
When we were finished eating, we loaded into Özgür’s car and he drove us home. It was a beautiful evening, one that I will never forget!