Istanbul meeting March 2014

Istanbul - dance and music!

What a great meeting! We enjoyed the city, the people, the nice weather, the culture, the interactions between students and teachers, and felt very welcomed! Thank you!

Have a look at Zilles great video from Istanbul!

Zille's video Istanbul

The aim of this meeting was to discover own and others folks dance and music traditions. From the first evening, when we were met by the school band and traditional Turkish music and dance to the international presentations at school later, we were impressed by the many talented students and the rich traditions in every country.
In Istanbul they even have an own subject called Turkish folks dance, while in Denmark and Norway, most students don't know the dances. In Germany, folks dance has a growing popularity, especially in Bavaria, and the typical Lederhosen and Dirndl are more and more popular even by the youth.

 Welcome evening

Contributions:

Germany's presentation was called "Popular German music today", and afterwards they showed us how to dance a typical Bavarian dance! Very difficult! And fun!

Denmark showed us how to dance a traditional Danish folks dance, and students were invited on the stage to try it! We could discover similarities with the Norwegian folks dance. 

Not every Dane has his or her roots in Denmark. One of the Danish students had an amazing "bollywood dance", it was incredible!

And at last, but not least: One of the Danish students was a former professional ballet dancer. Fascinating to see! Young and talented students showing us a piece of dancing in Denmark.

Norway's contribution was bringing a video where the class 10B showed a traditional folks dance which they had learned from some students who took part on a folks dance course in their home city. They are wearing their traditional dresses and filmed their dance at school. The whole class took part in this work, in addition to other Comenius students. 

School visit

We were invited to the French school, the Saint-Joseph High school, in Istanbul, also on the Asian side of the city. It is a private high school, founded in 1870. Classes are taught in Turkish, French and English. We got a guided tour at the school.
The school has a huge library, where all the books are in French. They have well equipped science rooms, a own science museum and 36 school buses. Because this is a private school, the students have to pay school money.

Food

Food is an important part of the culture. The school offered us lunch at school on two days, and it was interesting to taste it! Especially the sweet desserts, which are very typical for Turkey. Maybe a bit too sweet for us?

The first evening, the parents had made a huge buffet with a lot of delicious food. Together with the live music, the dances, the people, the excitement, it was a wonderful evening. 

And on our last evening together, the school and the staff had prepared a very special dinner for us. 

Istanbul - the European side

We were lucky to visit the European part of Istanbul, as well, travelling by the new sub-sea metro line which connect China and Western Europe. It is 55 metres deep and is the deepest sumerged railway tunnel of its type int the world. 

We visited the Basilica Cistern, which is the largest of several hundred ancient cistern that lie beneath the city. The cistern is located 150 m away from the Hagia Sophia and was built to priovide a water filtration system for the Palace of Constantinople and other buildings. 

We also visited the Hagia Sophia. This building was originally built as a Greek orthodox church, but was turned into a mosque (in 1453, when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks), and today it is a museum.