Hey!
Today we had two meetings, one with Women for Women’s Human Rights and the other with the LGBT rights organization SPOD. The first meeting was with Women for Women’s Human Rights, which started from 10am. It was a very nice and interesting meeting. The organization gave us a very detailed introduction about what they are doing. In the meeting, we discussed the current women’s situation in Turkey and what the organization did to help Turkish women to raise their social awareness. Good time always runs fast.
Our first study visits
People listening with interest
When we finished the meeting, it was lunchtime already. We decided to have lunch together. We are a big group. And most of the restaurants are small and crowd. It is difficult to find a proper place to hold all of us. Finally we found a place with cozy environment, nice food and reasonable price.
Good food and company
The other meeting with LGBT guys was at 2pm. Their office is in an old building located in Taksim. This organization is young which was founded in 2011. They experienced some hard time. But comparing with several years ago, LGBT people in Turkey have more liberty now. In the meeting we also introduced our UPF and tell them what we had done in Lund. They were very interested in our organization and we exchanged our contact information to keep contact. It was a long meeting. When we finished the meeting, it was already 4 pm. The weather in Turkey is changeable. It was sunny in the morning but when we walked out of the LGBT office, it started to rain. But walking in the rain is also romantic experience in Istanbul.
Todays second study visit
After some relax in the hostel, we went to Taksim, trying to find some nice food. Takism is situated in the European part of Istanbul, which is a major tourist and leisure district famed for its restaurants, and shops. However, like all the other tourist areas, the restaurants there are expensive and taste like the same. Okay, since we are the tourists here, then let us do what the tourists do. Eat, drink and enjoy the nightlife in Istanbul. Night just begin.
/ Elaine