Hi all, Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great Xmas and New Year! As for me, I made it onto an interesting list with the Courier Mail. 2011 looks to be an interesting year!

Here’s the post I’ve been meaning to do about my week-long trip to Istanbul, Turkey last November. I had to do all this work for Odd Thomas 3 first, and now that I’ve done it, I can finally say that the trip was fantastic and the hospitality of the Turks was wonderful.

I was in Istanbul from the 31st October to the 8th November, as a guest of the Turkish International Book Fair (which I visited to do a workshop on the 7th). I was brought there by publisher Tudem, who published the Turkish version of “The Dreaming”, called “Okuldaki Sir”, which translates to “The Secret of the Schools” (The name change is customary for Turkish versions of international works). The series was quite a success in Turkey (which is why they flew me over there), and I even made it into the biggest-selling newspaper! Other than that, most of the time there was spent doing workshops at schools and museums, with a bit of time leftover for sight-seeing. Oh yes, plus a lot of great Turkish food!

While I’ll talk a bit about Turkish schools, sadly I didn’t manage to take any photoes there. All my snap-happy moments were on the sight-seeing trip, which involved me (and my kind shepherd/guide Arden) making a bee-line for the closest tourist-friendly mosque. Like the New Mosque, also known as the Mosque of the Valide Sultan, located right next to the Spice Markets:

 

 

 

 

Turkey is predominantly a Muslim country (with some Armenian Christians and Jews mixed in), so it has calls to prayer five times a day. However, apart from the mosques and some architectural differences, it looks much like any other European city. I lived near Taksim Square, one of Istanbul’s city centres, and the place is full of Starbucks, designer shops and thriving clubs and restuarants. The Turks (especially the guys) are red-blooded folks who like to drink, eat and have a good time. I guess nothing much has changed from the day of the Ottoman Empire, where Turkey ruled much of the Middle East as one big Islamic Empire. Some of the fruits of that Empire can be seen at the Topkapi Palace, one of many palaces in Istanbul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What has changed is that modern Turkey is a strictly secular country, something that Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, enshrined in the nation’s constitution. Ataturk was a military man whose legacy lives on in the Turkish Army, who takes it upon themselves to initiate a coup if the civilian leaders of the country gets any funny ideas. The last time that happened was many years ago, but while no one wants a military dictatorship, no one wants Sharia law either. Just before I flew to Istanbul, I read an article in the Gulf Times discussing the impropriety of the Turkish Prime Minister’s wife wearing a hijab to the reception of a state function. Much consternation and suspicion abounded. Were Turkish liberties being challenged? Considering you can walk down a street in Istanbul and not see a single woman wearing a hijab, you can imagine the alarm over this seemingly innocuous gesture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the best and most important part of the trip were meeting the students at the (expensive) private schools. Turkish private schools, oddly enough, were mostly run by large Turkish corporations, and many have K-12 classes on the same campus. It was mighty strange seeing 17 year-olds on the same campus as 6 year-olds. I imagine the children go straight onto university, and the brightest ones are head-hunted by the corporations sponsoring their education. Thus the education standards are all very high, and nearly all of the older students speak very good English. I had my translator Abdul and Kemal with me, and sometimes they weren’t needed because the children had no trouble understanding my English at all.

The students ranged from kids who knew what manga was, and many who didn’t, but then all of the older students I spoke to knew what “One Piece” and “Naruto” was. I did a series of drawing workshops with them, and they were all talented and enthusiastic (some exceptionally so), and I can imagine a few future Turkish manga artists emerging from there. The savviness of the older kids especially surprised me – since they are fluent in English, they probably read a lot of manga from English manga sites, which is why they seem so up-to-date with the latest releases. I also sold quite a few books of “The Dreaming”, and doodled a little dog in most of them as well (Tudem’s logo is a dog’s head, and I drew the body on it).

 

 

 

All in all, I had a fun time in Istanbul, and wouldn’t hesitate to go back for another visit. The city is so big, so cultured, and with so much to explore, that it would be a pity if I didn’t get to go again. Next time, I would definitely spend more than a week there. In closing, I drew a picture of Jeanie and Amber from “The Dreaming”, taking inspiration from a Harem book I bought at the Topaki Palace.