The Name Change!

So apparently this blog is not from Ankara to Berlin, but also Munich too!

A year ago I applied for the Fulbright scholarship on a very grey day in Berlin with lots of help from lovely professors at Whittier and magically around the end of February I got an email saying I got it!

The Fulbright is an enormous organization with many different types of scholarship programs, but the one I'm a part of is the English Teaching Assistantship (ETA). As an ETA I am assigned to a German high school (also known as a Gymnasium, don't worry there'll be more on the complicated German school system later) and I help the English teachers with lessons. I'm supposed to teach about 12 hours a week. 

The best part is you get asked early on to choose three different Bundeslander (German states) and then maybe you'll get placed one. I choose Berlin, Bavaria, and Baden-Wurttenburg because I'm crazy haha. I obviously lived in Berlin all last year, but I'd never really spent any time in Bavaria or Baden-Wurttenburg. I was mostly afraid of getting placed in a very sterile, cold, sad West German small town so I went for the places I thought I might get medium sized town like Nuremburg, Freiburg or Augsburg. Most people get placed in the middle of nowhere and I was really ready for that and actually surprised when the letter came and I got Munich! 

Munich is the real opposite of Berlin. Berlin is alternative  diverse, dirty, and a gigantic college campus full of people looking for a good time. Munich... is not. Haha Munich is known for being extremely rich, clean, conservative, and safe. Munich is also part of Bavaria which is best explained as the Texas of Germany. Bavaria is extremely regionally proud and was once a powerful kingdom. Last year there was a book by a Bavarian author that claimed Bavaria could be it's own country. Bavaria also has it's own regional dress, aka the dirndls and lederhosen best known by Americans as the outfits people wear to Oktoberfest. I also have a theory that Germans are known to be embarrassed to be German, a fact that is easily explained by their role in WW2, but Bavarians are not embarrassed to be German. I would argue that one of the many reasons other Germans hate Bavarians is because they're some of the only people proud and unembarrassed to be German. Just a thought.

Anyways I've been in Munich a month now and I'm working on loving it. It was extremely weird at first to be in a German city that I didn't know at all! I've been in Berlin for a year and feel comfortable functioning (for the most part) in German, but in Munich I was really another world. The U bahns were different, the streets were different, the apartments were nicer. Everything was so weird! But not in a bad way, I'm making an effort to get to know Munich and try all the little things there are to do here. There are tons of places to visit around Munich and many cool museums to explore. 

My school has been awesome. I'm actually at two schools, but my main school is in a 100 year old building right in the center of Munich. I have an advisor who is just the best. She's been teaching and living in Munich for 30 years. She has been wonderful and so helpful. I've already had dinner with her twice and we made applesauce together last week. She also has a daughter, named Cristina too ha, and she's hooked me up with her so I won't feel so lonely in Munich. Also I'm borrowing her daughter's old bike so I'll have a new way to explore the city. 

The other teachers have also been so nice and welcoming. Tomorrow we're going on a 'wandertag' where every class goes on a field trip, usually hiking, with their homeroom class. I also went to the teacher's day at Oktoberfest last Wednesday which was hilarious because all the teachers came to school in their dirndls and lederhosen and we walked to the Wiesn, where Oktoberfest takes place. I haven't taught so many classes because I'm just supposed to be observing  but it'll come soon enough. So far I'm just soaking up the Bavarian-ness of everything in Munich. More to come later!

My Own Special Panopticon

Michael Foucault has recently become a major figure in my life. We've spent all semester reading and interpreting governmentality in the context of the EU. I won't go into detail because Focault's ideas are extremely complicated and I'm already avoiding writing about in my papers as evidenced by the fact I'm writing in my blog instead of on a blank Word document. But for people interested I've found this article here and this awesome youtube video here nicely explain the main ideas, although I won't pretend to have an extra firm grasp on his ideas. 

The panopticon is a prison layout conceived by Jeremy Bentham in the 1790's and is a circular structure in which the cells are in the walls and the guards tower is in the center of the building. The prisoners are never be able to tell if the guard is in the tower watching them. The aim of the structure is to psychologically ingrain the idea that as a prisoner, you are being constantly observed and therefore constantly monitoring themselves. Typically it is considered inhumane because of psychological stress. 

Below is a photo of a version of the panopticon built in Cuba.

Foucault often uses the panopticon to describe how society is constantly under an invisible surveillance by others in the society that pushes individuals to monitor even their tiniest behaviors. As he puts it, "The Panopticon is an ideal architectural figure of modern disciplinary power. The Panopticon creates a consciousness of permanent visibility as a form of power, where no bars, chains, and heavy locks are necessary for domination any more."

So that's Foucault's panopticon, now I'd like to show you my own panopticon, the Grimm Zentrum library at Humboldt University.

Yeah, its a panopticon. 

In the photo you can tell that from any of the desks you can monitor your neighbors and basically anyone in the study desk area to MAKE SURE THEYRE STUDYING. The peer pressure will keep you from watching TV shows on your lap. 

Ahhh so yes I've been living in this panopticon because its (finally) finals. 

[Edit]: Apparently not everyone thinks this library is a physiological torture chamber. Guess what library made it into a list of the most beautiful libraries in the world. And ha ha ha Seattle Public Library is the third photo down... also an ugly uncomfortable library. Sigh, modern libraries are so ugly and feel like doctor offices, where are the comfy chairs and soft corners? 

WWII everywhere!!

So in an effort to not loose all mobility in my body I've decided to start running again... yay... but seriously I was out in a blizzard yesterday running in the snow while thoughtful Germans were pulling their children on sleds probably thinking that I was going to get sick because in Germany having a head that is exposed and therefore cold = getting sick.

(What the park looks like currently)

The point is I've been running in Volkspark Friedrichshain which is extremely close to my apartment. I've been telling everyone (aka Duncan) lies about how it was made in the DDR time to be a park for the people, hence the name Volks (people's) park. Lies, all lies. Today I read the placard to discover that the park actually dates back to 1848 and is the oldest park in Berlin. Oops!

The cool news is that the hills that I've been trying to avoid because they KILL MY LEGS/HEART/MIND are actually parts of an old bunker and an air raid tower. During WWII the Nazis made a only few above ground bunkers which were often meant to look like normal buildings but actually had 3 meter thick concrete walls. All of this was concealed even more by the trees, leaves, and bushes in the park. After the war basically everything in the area was destroyed and the allies decided to make Trümmerberge (literally, rubble mountain) out of the old bunker. Two hills were created with help from a sizable amount of the surrounding area's war rubble. Imagine my surprise when I realized I'd been running over the rubble from WWII.  Currently they look just like normal hills that have been highly manicured, but I can't wait for the snow (yes, snow in March) to melt and then I'm going digging for WWII relics in the mountainside.

Also I've lived in my apartment for five months and sadly have never been to the park before last week! It's so bad! Sometimes living in another country gets so wearing that you forget you're supposed to be interested or amazed at the color of the tram or the punctuality of German buses or the beautiful buildings or even the war rubble you've been running over for three days. Well seeing as I'm moving soon I should really enjoy the park while I can.

Here's the Wikipedia page if you're interested Volkspark Friedrichshain.
First photo from this website and the second from the Wikipedia page.

Spring and Cemeteries

So yes it is only January 30th, but I can't wait for Spring and sunshine! 

OH MY GOD THIS WINTER IS SO LONG. I'll stop complaining now, but first I just want to say this winter, darkness, coldness, rainy wetness, and semester seem to have gone on fooooor foooooorever. 

However five days ago, as documented by Facebook, I saw the first sunshine since November! Yay!! Then the temperatures have been going up (note: from between -12 to +5 all the way +9 to +12, yeah I'm such an ass now because I'm using Celsius. People don't understand me here unless I use it! I've been peer pressured into learning the weather in Celsius!) and although this sounds silly I can feel myself getting happier and happier as the sunshine and brightness begins to overtake the dreary dark winter.

Today I was almost giddy when I realized I could walk around without gloves and let the wind blow on me without huddling and turning against the cold. I was happily strolling down the street after my morning German class when I was struck with the lovely idea to finally go to the cemetery that is literally out my window. Seriously, I could throw a rock from my window and it would land in the cemetery. Some people might be freaked out by this, but I love walking around old cemeteries. In Europe cemeteries are almost always surrounded by big brick walls and have entrances that close at night.  

The cemetery near my house is so lovely. I live right in the center of the city, extremely close to the bustling Alexanderplatz. I'm right in the middle of DDR ugly high rises and busy huge streets, but this cemetery was adorably not terribly well kept up and full of overgrown trees and bushes. There were even birds singing! Singing! The signs of Spring! I felt like the little girl in The Secret Garden because there was no one else there and it was overgrown to the point of getting lost in some parts. Also because only weird little girls from rainy places can appreciate walking around in nature when its overcast and 12 degrees outside. It was also not as old as I thought, perhaps sometime I can strike up a conversation with the caretaker, but the oldest grave I saw was from the 1740's. Okay yeah that's before the US was a country, but here in Europe I feel like people don't get excited unless its from the at least the 16th century. There was  even bullet holes in some of the older and grander headboards, most likely from WWII and the battle of Berlin. It was weird to be sadder thinking that probably some Russians and Germans died in this cemetery rather than thinking how its sad anyone dies and are buried in this cemetery in general. Berlin's history is so crazy. You'll just be in some random place and then there's bullet holes in the building's facade or you realize you're walking over the old wall line or walk over some of the stumbling stones and realize someone who used to live in that house was killed in a concentration camp (full story on the wonderful memorial for Jews here) and if you just keep going and going you'd never even notice that there was once a battle here that left most of the city looking like this:

(Source is here. Click here to check out that website. If you click on the tabs: "WWII: Battle of Berlin" you can look at six pages of war photos... or don't because it's horribly depressing)

After that dreary photo, I'll just end this post by saying I love Berlin's complicated history and the sunshine, especially when I get to experience those two things at once. The sunshine is coming and I can't wait!

Drama in the Harem: The Magnificent Century

So I'm going to stop apoogizing for never writing muhaha. Sorry everyone.

So my dear friend Martin sent me an email the other day with this youtube video attached:




It's the first episode of the Turkish series Muhteşem Yüzyıl (in English, The Magnificent Century) with ENGLISH SUBTITLES! 


((This link will send you back to youtube where you can watch it. It's the only link of the show for a whole episode with English))

Basically the show is about the rule of Süleyman I (also known as Süleyman the Magnificent) over the Ottoman Empire and the extremely catty situation in his harem. For those who don't know much about Ottoman history the brief story is that Sultans of the Ottoman Empire had a harem where the women of his house lived. The term harem actually just refers the women's section of the house so the mother of the Sultan (known as Valide Sultan, or Queen Mother) or any of his sisters were also part of the harem, they were just at the top of the harem pyramid. The pyramid then trickles down to the top four women the Sultan would want to sleep with on a regular basis and have children with. At the bottom were slave girls who were often sent to the Sultan from non-Muslim lands since it's illegal in Islam to enslave other Muslims. These slave girls would take care of the favorites, dance and play music for entertainment, or just clean up the harem area. The Sultan could sleep with anyone he wanted and the status of these women went up based on the Sultan's favor with the women and if they bared him sons. I'm sure you can see now how this makes a great TV drama. 

The Magnificent Century follows the story of Süleyman I and the ups and downs of his harem. Basically the story of jealous women all making suspicious looks across the room at each other every time the Sultan even gets near them. To be fair, if the Sultan liked any one of them enough, they'd become the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire because their sons become the Sultan. However, it's not always so easy. Once a woman becomes the favorite and has kids with the Sultan, she then has to maintain the interest of the Sultan and make sure none of the new women gain a high position.

I mean imagine that one time someone led you on and took you on great dates and then didn't call you back. Wasn't that sad? Yeah, imagine that, but then you loose all your money and your children are murdered because they're threats to the hereditary line of the Ottoman Empire.

 The cool part is that Süleyman's harem does have a good historically true story. (Warning Spoilers, but also it's history so everyone in Turkey already knows how this one ends) Süleyman becomes the Sultan at age 26 and already has a favorite harem woman (who already has a child) in the city he's ruling. Süleyman becomes the Sultan and his favorite and her son, and heir to the Ottoman Empire, move to Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. Somewhere along the way Hürrem, a slave captured and sold to the palace from the outlying Ottoman territories (probably Poland or Ukraine), becomes Süleyman's new favorite and ends up being freed from slavery and becomes the first woman to officially marry the Sultan. Seriously. This really happened. In real life. In the 1500's.

The TV show is a total dramatization of the events of Süleyman and Hürrem and the millions of mini dramas that were all probably completely embellished and imagined up just for this show. My Turkish friend rolled her eyes when I told her I watched and loved it. She made the very good point that the benevolent, forgiving, handsome, and generally perfect  representation of Süleyman is just another part of Turkish nationalism pretending the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire were perfect rulers. ((Oh the US ever does that... a cough, a cough, that movie LINCOLN)) Actually there's a lot of current discussion in politics about the role of Turkey and its attempt to reestablish its influence in the region and many comparisons to the Ottoman Empire are being made. This sort of rhetoric is said by international communities and by some Turkish leaders, although perhaps not quite so explicit. Even The Magnificent Century and it's glorification of the Ottoman times is part of the current trend within Turkey to discuss the country as strong and powerful.

Besides the inaccuracies and inflated attempts at revisionist history, the costumes and the sets are worth a watch. I went to Topkapı Palace last year and it was AMAZING. I actually went through the harem and saw the bedroom of the Sultan. It was sooo cool. What's even cooler is that The Magnificent Century's sets are so similar to the actual palace that I can actually recognize where they are in some scenes because I've been there too!

Here's the Sultan's bedroom with two beds and that thing in the middle is the fireplace. 

This is where the Queen Mother, the mother of the Sultan lived. Also with some lovely dressed up mannequins.

 

Beautiful room, I think for one non-first born sons of the Sultan.

Here's me standing in a hallway in the harem.

Here is where all the women hung out staring at each other and make lots of judgments.

What I find really AWESOME is the blood line of the Sultans. During the start of the Ottoman Empire most of the Sultans married royalty from the surrounding kingdoms or empires, but as the Ottoman Empire aged, the Sultans started exclusively having children and continuing the Sultan line with women from the harem. So women would be brought into the harem as slaves from non-Muslim areas in the Ottoman Empire (who were then taught Islam) or as gifts from willing (or not so willing, mostly just demanded from their parents to sacrifice themselves) poor Muslim women in the Muslim parts of the Ottoman Empire. The women who ended up in the concubine section of the harem were taught religion, story telling, and "love." Eventually one of them would become the mother of the next Sultan. So we can conclude here that most of the Sultans from the Ottoman Empire were actually the products of poor or slave women. What?!?? Isn't that AWESOME?? The most powerful man in the Ottoman Empire was the child of a slave or poor person!The Western world was so obsessed with blood lines that both genders had to be wealthy, but the Ottoman rationality was that slave/concubine women weren't really people (because they're slaves) so therefore their children don't count as legitimate unless the Sultan wants them to be legitimate. I mean talk about rags to riches stories!

So if anyone wants to watch The Magnificent Century the first episode is online (and on this page) so enjoy! And if not, at least watch for five minutes from 0:19:30 to see some cool outfits and Topkapı Palace scenery. 

Sources
So I've had some confusion about if the Sultan really only had heirs with the women from the harem and I've looked in a lot of different places online. Most websites just talk about the women once they're in the harem, but not where they came from. This website, was one of the only websites that talked about this issue so if you're interested check it out and the stuff about lineage is on page 4. Here's another website that was nice, but didn't talk about the heir issues.