Hamams, hospitality, and memories of Istanbul

“Follow him,” the woman at the counter said and pointed at the young man walking down a graffitied alley. When we decided to go to the hamam, or Turkish bath, during our free time on Saturday, we were expecting something relatively similar to an American spa. We were surprised to find ourselves wandering down a back street from the office to the women’s section of the bathhouse, where we were greeted at the entrance by a poster of women lounging in the bath playing the mandolin. The bath itself was a large, open room with low sinks around the periphery and a large marble platform in the center. Women would take turns laying on the hot marble, being scrubbed and washed by the ladies working. It was a scene you would never find in America, where people love their privacy and personal space far too much to be washed in a room full of strangers.

It was little moments like these that made my ten days in Istanbul such an amazing experience. Moments like visiting my first mosque and hearing the azan (Muslim call to prayer) ring through the city streets for the first time. Moments like crossing continents and spending the evening sitting along the Bosphorus on the Asian side of the city drinking tea and looking out over the water. Moments like bargaining forever at a bazaar trying to reduce a price by a single Lira.

One of the things I will remember the most, however, is the incredible hospitality of our Turkish hosts and tour guides. Take the family, for example, that let us into their home for dinner on Sunday night. We were connected with them through a contact in a local foundation, but we were still complete strangers to one another. They spent the entire day cooking an incredible, multi-course meal for fifteen young Americans they knew essentially nothing about. We stayed at their home for hours, drinking Turkish tea, eating baklava, and joking with the hosts long after the dinner was over. And then there were our student guides, who showed us around the city but stayed with us long after their tours were over.

It made us all think about how we live our lives here in the States. It would be much more difficult to find people willing to drop everything and spend the day (or days) with a group of young strangers from abroad, letting them into their homes and into their lives. We never seem to have time for anything in America besides working, and seeing how generous the Turks were with their time made this even more glaringly obvious. One night in the cab back to the hotel we all realized that this experience has made us want to be as hospitable to others as our new Turkish friends were to us. At the end of the day, that is one of my favorite things about traveling – highlighting cultural differences that make me want to live my life in a better way. I am so grateful to the Global Engagement Summit and everyone who made this trip possible. I cannot possibly think of a better way I could have spent my senior spring break, and this trip has truly been one of the highlights of my college experience.

-Liz

via Hamams, hospitality, and memories of Istanbul « Northwestern.