05.22.2011
Personal:
- Free day!
- Turkmen Carpet Weaving demonstration – breeds caterpillars for their silk; weaving demonstration; one 8 sq. ft. rug could take about nine months by one lady; an 18’x26’ rug would take 8 ladies 1 ½ years to weave; one rug presented the story One Thousand and One Nights mentioned in one of Borges’s short stories, and that rug has 360 knots per square inch; world record rug has 6,400 knots per square inch
- Downtown Bazaar – lunch at a street café; walked through the shops; sat at a little concession stand for drinks and ice cream to people watch and relax
- Hotel – read by the pool/swam; dinner overlooked the coastline again
- Evening – Istanbul’s soccer team won, so we walked downtown to see the celebrations; stopped at a restaurant to watch everyone parade down the street with entire families waving flags on motorcycles and hanging out of the windows of cars; more fireworks; reminded me of when we were in Rome when Italy won the World Cup in 2006; more ice cream on the walk back to the hotel
Research:
- Turkmen Carpet Weaving (kilim) – marginalized workers; classes free because they are subsidized by the ministry of education of the Republic of Turkey;
- Kusadası – downtown bazaar is geared towards cruise-ship tourists, who dress and behave much differently than bus/backpack tourists and especially than locals; the shop owners expected everyone to be interested in their store and were offended when we were not fazed by their salesmanship
- Soccer Game – rivalry between Istanbul and the team from the Black Sea coast; both teams celebrating even though Istanbul won
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