Having a Good Time at Home: 5 Ideas on how to Improve your Knowledge of Turkish Culture

There is probably no one, who doesn’t follow the news these days. Without any doubts, the news about the Coronavirus and virus-related city and national lockdowns are what everyone speaks about. Many people will now have to work from home, and as many schools are also closed, pupils and students will spend their time at home as well.

But what to do? How to make time pass?

Here are some ideas. Most of them, are for those who always wanted to improve their knowledge of the Turkish language and/or culture and always found an excuse for it.

1. Visit Pera Museum (Online): Yes, museums are closed until the end of March, however, technology has a power of unlocking museums for you. Google has partnered with the Pera Museum (and many many others), so now you have a chance to browse museum collections without leaving your home. And if you don’t speak Turkish, don’t worry: pieces of information about paintings are in English.
2. Read or Listen to a Book. (I know, very obvious): Now is the time to read all those books you always wanted. You can walk the streets of Istanbul with the Orhan Pamuk’s boza seller or try to resolve a mysterious murder in the Ottoman Istanbul; think about the rules of love with Elif Şafak, read a classic work of the Turkish Literature such as Memed the Hawk of Yaşar Kemal; alternatively, you can learn more about the politics or society of modern Turkey. Books are translated in many languages and you can order them online, or even better, get an instant Kindle edition of the before mentioned books. Another option is to order your book in English from a local bookstore. Do you have another book recommendation? Please write a comment under this post.
3. Now it’s time to finally start using your DuoLingo. And surprise your coworkers as you’ll be able to speak Turkish like a real local.
4. Learn to play a Turkish board game. Tawla and Okey are just the two of them.
5. Dive into Turkish cuisine. Lentil soup, menemen, dolma, sarma, künefe, Turkish tea, mıhlama, kazandibi…. and the list goes on and on. Which is your favourite Turkish dish that you have always wanted to learn to cook?