Rich Stuart, a history teacher at Shorewood High School, returned July 31 from an educational trip to Turkey he took with other teachers in July.
He met with the Enterprise this week to talk about fried mussels, Turkish Hip-Hop and whirling dervishes, among other things.
What was the best meal you ate? I ate better than I ever have in my life. My favorite was the fried mussels, but that was one star in a million-star galaxy of foods. Just the fresh apricots, cherries, tomatoes, figs… The desserts were amazing. There was honey-soaked baklava, with fresh honey.
What was the funniest thing that happened?
Kind of like, “Wow, the foreigner survived?” Yeah.
I heard they drink a lot of tea there. They drink tea like water. This guy’s job on the bus was to make tea and coffee for people. That’s all he did – and help the driver.
Do they have a high tolerance for caffeine, or take more antacids than we do? You’d think the real national sport is soccer, but the real national sport is smoking…(so) I’m not worried about the tea and coffee.
(He points out the red Turkish soccer jersey he’s wearing, with “Arda” and “14” on the back.)
(Arda) is the best soccer player in Turkey. I bought this at a bazaar and kids, grown men would yell at me: “Arda! Arda!” They just made it all the way to the semifinals in the European soccer championships. It was unexpected.
What’s the bazaar like? It (the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul) makes Northgate (mall) look like the corner store. There are over 4,000 shops. They sell everything.
What do they sell? Everything. They’re the best salespeople in the world. (The salesman comes out and says) “Let’s have tea! It’s free…You are from Seattle, I have a cousin in Redmond,” and he whips out a card with the address of the guy in Redmond. Then I say I’m originally from Texas and he whips out a card and says, “I know someone in Texas!” and there’s the address of the guy on the card. (The bazaar) is an unbelievable sensory overload.
Did you see anything troubling? I was there when there was a bombing in Istanbul, on the outskirts — they don’t know who was responsible. There were 17 killed and over 100 injured. I wasn’t nearby.
While I was there the Supreme Court was deciding whether to ban the ruling party. This would be (the U.S. equivalent of) throwing the Republicans out, throwing Bush and Cheney out. The court ruled they could stay, but also cut funding. It could have been an explosive situation.
Also troubling: The Kurds in the east want their independence — there’s a war between the Turkish government and the Kurds.
What was your favorite site? The Blue Mosque in Istanbul. It’s just overwhelming. It was built in the 1600s by one of the sultans and is just beautiful, aesthetically. Into the late evening there were probably 1,000 people just looking at it lit up at night. They’re there because it’s an important place for Islam but also a place to gather, meet and socialize and for tourists.
What are your perceptions of life here after coming back? A salesman (in Turkey) said, “What’s the difference between America and yogurt? Yogurt has more culture.”
What songs do you get stuck in your head in Turkey? “On the road again…” We’d be on the bus 6:15, 6:30 a.m. getting a lecture and be on the bus all day — 7 a.m. was a good morning. It was a working trip.
How about that song “Istanbul – not Constantinople”? (“Puttin’ on the Ritz,” by They Might be Giants.)
I tried hard to keep out that song.
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