Another Bus Adventure, Three Icecream Cones, and Twelve Free Texts Later...

Good golly!  Will I ever go a week without blogging about the busses?

Wednesday was like, a Turkish Independence day or something and there were flags EVERYWHERE.  Not kidding.  Mattie and I decided to meet for lunch in Taksim, but traffic was ridiculous.  Imagine all of Medicine Hat trying to drive down Belfast Street.  Yeah.  It took my bus over two hours to get to Taksim, plus it took a different route than usual.  I don't think I'll ever understand these busses.  Anyways.  I figure I should tell you know while it's on my mind.  I think the busses may be four-wheel-drives.  I'm serious!  Every now and then the bus will be navigating a corner or turning around and it will do this freaky drifting thing where the whole bus will move (while staying at the same angle) over some.  I don't know how to describe it, but it's seriously weird. 

So I got to Taksim around 2 pm, and because texting was free after 12 noon (hooray for holidays) Mattie was waiting for me right where my bus stops.  Basically we walked up and down Taksim sampling icecream from different places (BK, some vendor, and a gourmet icecream place) and looking for a sweater for Mattie to wear with the school choir.  It was soooo busy, so after only a couple hours we opted to take the metro to Levent, and cruise Metrocity (a mall).  Then, deciding we were all shopped out, we went to Mattie's house for tea. 

Getting home was rather interesting for me.  It was only about 5:30, but after the Daylight Savings change last week, it's been dark a lot sooner.  Mattie road the bus back to Levent with me, to make sure I got off at the right place.  I was planning to take the metro back to Taksim and go home the regular way, but as I was getting off the bus, one to Taksim pulled up.  Well, traffic didn't look bad, and it was fate, I decided, that this bus should be so convenient.  So I took the bus.

Let me say- nothing in life is that simple.

We got close to Taksim, within a km, before the traffic was at an absolute stand-still.  That's when the bus driver announced something to everyone on the bus, and everyone around me stood up and got off.  Oh.My.Gosh.  I had no clue what was happening, and stood up to get off also, but then I turned around and saw there was still half a dozen people on the bus.  What?!  As I'm wavering at the door, trying to figure out what to do, a man steps up to the door and says "You look confused.  Where are you trying to go?".  So I got off the bus and told the man I was trying to get to Taksim where I could take a bus to Halkalı.  He said that he was also going to Taksim ("No really," I said in my head, "I had no idea considering that's where the bus you were just on was going..." I like that even in a foreign country, having no idea what's happening, I'm still sarcastic.  Nice.) and that he'd take me there.  So we set off (don't worry, I wasn't blindly following a stranger, I kept my paranoid eyes on the direction the other people and cars were headed as well as the street signs), on a completely uphill climb to what turned out to be a full out party.  Anyways.  Apparently this man works at the Hilton (an American company, he pointed out, as if this somehow made him completely trustworthy) and was on his way there.  When we got to Taksim the square itself was blocked off from cars and FULL of people.  There was a stage set up, and huge spotlights were sweeping the audience.  There was a band on stage and people had glow sticks and stuff.  I made my way across the square to where I had to catch my bus, stopping only to take some pictures. 

I got on the right bus and made it home just fine.  Such fun.  I really do have a skill for picking busses, don't I?  If I had just taken the metro... But it doesn't matter now.  Yet another adventure in İstanbul.

-Maeghan

PS.  I don't know what will happen to the photos when I upload them through email.  You can just guess as to where I'd put them in the blog if I had a choice.  It doesn't really matter, they don't need much more explanation that this entry has already provided. xoxo

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Testing 1, 2, 3!

Okay darlings!  I am testing out this blogging-through-email thing.  Hopefully it's as snazzy as it sounds.

Today and tomorrow are some sort of holiday thing and so we got out of school early today and don't have to go tomorrow.  After school Emily and I went out with four girls from our classes.  Nazlı, Melis, Esra, and Gökce took us to Bakirköy.  I ate at Burger King for the first time EVER and we wandered around some shops.  We also all managed to get in a taxi.  There isn't a lot to mention, but I had a really good time.  I haven't decided if I'm going to go hang out with the other exchange students tomorrow.  It takes a long time to get places from my house, and Jimmer wants us to meet at 8.30 am in Beşiktaş.  Doesn't he know that days off are for sleeping in?  That would involve getting on the bus at like, 7.20 and THAT would mean getting up around 6.30, same as every day.  Where's the joy in that?  If we were meeting at 10.00 I'd be in for sure, but I'm reluctant to give up my beauty sleep to figure out the bus schedule.  And as we know, I don't have the best of luck with those.

 

Oh!  I rode one of the double-decker busses home today!  Then I had to transfer busses (which, by the way, is not free) and that bus took me to my neighbourhood, but instead of turning in the direction of my house at the intersection down the block, it turned in the opposite direction!  I spent about a minute debating what to do before I got off and walked home.  By this time it was dark, even though it was only 7.00.  But I figured that it would be best to get off while I still knew where I was.  Heh.  The busses here really don't like me.  Or maybe I just choose bad busses.. who knows?

 

-Maeghan

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Kind of Shocked

Don't expect another post for a while. The Turkish government has blocked blogger. Just thought I'd let you know before I seemingly drop off the face of the world wide web. Hopefully they open it up again soon.

-Maeghan

Pictures (!) and Skipping School

So I didn't go to school today. There is apparently a math test tomorrow and pretty much everyone in my class was planning on staying home to study for it today. We have no heavy courses on Thursdays, so no one worries about missing anything. İdil wrote a note to my host mom, who said it was fine, and I told my bus driver not to pick me up today. Success in the minor conversations category. So I actually slept past 6:30 today, which I haven't done in nearly a month. Unfortunately I didn't get to sleep in as much as I wanted to- I was woken up just after 9 by Güner who wanted me to eat breakfast.

So nothing has happened today, but I thought you might like to see some random pictures!

My loverly school- >
(my classroom is on the top floor, dang)

<- My classroom during break.

Me in my uniform->
(looking oddly disporportionate)

Hopeful Grafitti

Just wanted to say that they switched my school bus again (back on 15 guys, but only on the way home- 28 still picks me up in the morning). On this new route, I pass "Love.is.here." spray painted on a concrete partition. The wall seperates the road from these houses that look absolutely terrible. Their yards are really dirty and the houses are tiny and the roofs sag and it's depressing. That grafitti somehow makes it a little better, whether or not it's true. I haven't really talked about it, but every now and then when we're driving or when I'm on the bus I'll pass a section of houses that look absolutely terrible. Like if you had any choice you would not live there. There was this group of them I saw about a month ago and these houses looked like shacks. With bent tin roofs and tarps strung out from the walls as if to create an extra room outside. Or dirty children playing out front in clothes that don't fit them. It can be seriously depressing. But all I was going to talk about was the "Love.is.here." It conveys hope.

-Maeghan

Don't Feed the Plants! (But the Dogs Seem Okay)

They decided to give heck to everyone not wearing the uniform sweater today. This was 2/3 of the high school student population. They weeded out the 'trouble-makers' this morning as we filed past the teachers (like every morning, only this morning it was hardcore). I happened to be wearing an American Eagle hoodie that was conveniently the same colour as the school one, so I wouldn't stand out as much (like I said, usually they aren't as strict). As everyone walked by they were saying one of two things to each of them. (Presumably "You're good," or "Go stand over there.") As I walked by they just said "Kanada" and let me pass. Lol. As if my country explains everything. I guess being foreign has its plusses.

At my house there is a plant with 1/2 inch long spikes sticking out of all of its branches. It is conveniently located exactly where my are goes when I throw things out. Today the stupid thing drew blood. It better have gorgeous blossoms, or I'll throw it out the window (not nearly as threatening as before, now that we live on the ground floor). Also, if it asks me to feed it, it's gone.

I bought dog treats on Saturday, and have been carrying them in my purse with me. I hand them out to all the stray dogs I come across. They're just so cute!

As for a random thing I haven't mentioned- there are double decker busses here. Heartbreakingly, they aren't red. I'm trying to figure out where they stop so that I can get on one. I don't care where it takes me, as long as there's an open seat on the top! I'll look into it. Round trip on the bus anyone? My treat.

-Maeghan

PS. I love hearing from you- feel free to comment!

Maeghan's Bus Adventure

So guess what guys! I got on the wrong bus today. Oh, don't worry. Here I am blogging, it all turned out okay. But basically to make a long story short I got on some bus with the number 89, which all the other busses I've ever taken have had. This bus then took me to places I had never seen before. I decided to get off of this strange bus at the busiest bus stop I saw. There I found a map and discovered that if I waited another bus may come to take me to the correct part of İstanbul. This bus took me through more unfamiliar territory and I was at the point where I was mentally comparing who it would be best to call when I saw a sign pointing in the direction the bus was turning that said 'Halkalı'!!! With renewed hope I pocketed my cell phone and watched as the bus followed all the signs pointing toward my home. When things got familiar I was practically ecstatic. AND when I finally got off the bus in front of my apartment, well I could barely contain my glee. That's right guys. Made it home by myself, fixed my own mistake, and was only three minutes past my curfew. Which it turns out didn't matter, because no one was home. Good grief! Where was my over-helpful host family? Suddenly my stress level went right back up. What ever would I do? Wait.. there's a reason Melek is on speed dial. I called her, and the connection was bad, but I managed to ask where she was (I think at her new apartment) and convey that I was at home. So hopefully she turns up soon.

My History Teacher (Everyone's Favorite)

Help! My history teacher told me to share a funny anecdote with the class today, but I had nothing to say! So he said that he isn't going to teach me history anymore, because I don't care about them (as in the class). He also said he isn't going to talk in english anymore (he doesn't speak english...) and that he's not going to draw anymore maps on the board for me (reference to the first day of his class). He's joking of course, but still. I fear the only way to correct this is to go to class next time with a story prepared and offer it to him. Somebody remind me of a funny story I can tell my class. I can think of a couple incidents, but they seem more like you-had-to-be-there moments.

As for the rest of school, I've taken Emma by Jane Austen out of the school library. I wish I spoke German. Then I'd borrow the school's german copy of The Adventures of Davey Crockett. They have som really wierd books in that library. Next I think I'll read the Illiad. But anyways.

Yesterday İdil and I were heading back to class after one of the 25 minute breaks and on our way we passed a group of kindergardeners (the boys' uniform is blue and the girls' is pink!) . I said to İdil "Aww! They're so cute!" and she replied "No. I hate those things." Those things. It was sooo funny. Probably another one of my you-had-to-be-there moments. All in all this week has been rather uneventful. I'm still enjoying myself though!

-Maeghan,
looking for ideas for her anecdote.

"Sefa knows but he is shy" "My saliva is sacred" and "No, we're not on fire"

Warning: This will be a long one.. like the title.
Sorry- I've decided I have more catching up to do. Last week was good. The hilights include a little boy on my bus sitting beside me on Tuesday aand talking to me despite the fact that "Türkçe Bilmiyorum". Then he pointed me out to his friends when our classes passed each other. İdil said to me on Thursday, "Is that the boy who talked to you on your bus?" "Yes! How did you know?" "He just told his friend he knows you." Aww. Then on Friday he sat beside me again and started naming things. "Hello means merhaba. Lion means aslan..." when he ran out of words he knew in english he started pointing at things.

On Friday İdil and I decided to count the number of times our english teacher said the word 'now' in one class. This turned out to be 121 times. She also says 'okay', 'class', and 'actually' quite a bit. The best part was, however, when she said "Okay class, now actually..." We killed ourselves laughing.

Lastly (as far as the school week is concerned), whenever no one has the answer for a teacher's question, Serbay pipes up and says "Sefa knows but he is shy!" Sefa is as outgoing as Dallas. Shy is one of the last words I'd associate with him.

As for the weekend- Saturday was one of the best nights of my life and Sunday was a day of accomplishments.
Turkish classes started this weekend. They're in Levent (nowhere near my house) and run from 10-3 on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday Güner rode the bus with me to Taksim (the center of everything) where I ment up with Con. My 8:00 bus took an hour and fourty-five minutes to get there so I was late meeting everyone else. Then we took the metro to Levent and walked about six blocks to where the lessons are held. We're divided into 2 classes. Mine includes Mattie, myself, Eve, Jimenna, John, Juliana, Derek, and Jimmer. Saturday is mostly conversational turkish, while Sunday is grammatical. We have two teachers- one for each day.
So I didn't mention that Blase got us tickets to se the Turkey-Bosnia game. He is my hero. Not only did we get to see a national football match, but we WON.
Because most of us were going to the game, everyone decided to hang out in Taksim until it was time to go. First we all headed to a café and ate waffles and nachos. This is where Jimmer said, and I'm not quite sure why, "My saliva is sacred." Insanely funny. This is also where a girl approached Mattie and said, "You're Mattie Johnson? Do you remember me? Fae- from Thailand?" That's right everyone, Mattie ran into a girl she'd been friends with while she lived in Thailand in a caf" in İstanbul. Talk about chance!
After waffles we split up into smaller groups and wandered around for a while. Those not going to the game eventually headed home. I bought myself a Türkiye shirt. It turned out that Eve had bought the same one in reverse colours! Lol.
Twelve of us went to the game, and we walked to Beşiktaş Stadium from Taksim. In the door we were handed free flags! Two of us also got t-shirts. Yay free Turkish stuff!! The game was great. Some Bosnian fans set off flares and one landed on the feild behind the goal, creating a lot of smoke. Işıl knew we were all at the came, and called Eve in a panic. "Efandım... Merhaba Işıl...No, flares... It was...The Bosnians, they... No, we're not on fire!... The Bosnian fans set off some flares... yes..."
The best part of the match was the fans cheers. I found myself watching them almost as much as I was watching the game. There weren't many Bosnian fans, especially compared to the Türkiye ones, who looked fabulous in all the red and white. After the game (THAT WE WON!!) we all headed to the busses, but mine stops running at 10 pm, and it was well after 11, so I took a 'taksi' home. (As for the picture- yes that is a marching band!)

It was killer having to get up for class on Sunday, and because the 8:00 bus had been so slow, I opted to take the earlier one- at 7:15. Dang. So I had to get up at 6. But that bus only took 50 minutes. This made me über early. I decided to take the metro right away and waste time in Levent. I got to Levent at 8:15- we were all meeting at 9:30. Having loads of time, I decided to examine the giant shoe outside Metrocity- a huge mall that's directly attached to the metro station. (I later revisited this shoe with Mattie and Emily.) That's when Blase came out of the metro. We decided to find ourselves some food- I wanted an apple, so we wandered into Levent. While eatting our apples, we found the way to the turkish class before heading back to the entrance to the metro to meet everyone. While we were waiting, we ended up riding the escalators up and down. Quite amusing- I advise everyone try it sometime, though it's highly addicting so beware.
After class we all headed to Metrocity to take a look around. I called my host mother to tell her I'd be home later than expected. That's right. Phone call, host mom, TURKISH. Go me! I told her I was at Metrocity and I would be back before 7.
Emily, Mattie, and I decided that the mall was basically just a mall, and left. Emily headed home, and we stopped at a stationary store before also going home around 5:30. I took the metro back to Taksim where I waited for an hour for my bus to come. I got home 15 minutes before 7 o'clock. Then I slept.
So, a quick recap for Sunday- I got to and from my class all by myself AND called my host mom and successfully conversed in Turkish. These may not sound amazing, but I am so proud of myself. These are milestones. They shall go down in history! Okay. I'm done.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in Canada, and to all my fellow exchange students all around the world. I'm thinking of you all.

-Maeghan, in Turkey on Thanksgiving. Hehe.

PS. That news station is playing the Pirates of the Caribbean theme in the background again. What did they play before those movies came out?

A Day Out With My Classmates

Stage 3. The last in my catch-up entries. Allow me to share with you the first three sentences out of my journal entry for Monday, October 6.

"Today was so, so, so, so, so good. So good. I am so rediculously happy right now." Apparently I was happy. Here's why- At 10:00 am Sinan came to the apartment and we walked to the bus stop. We waited for half an hour talking, but our bus never came so we booked it to another stop and barely caught the bus there. The bus took us to Bakırköy where we waited for everyone at Burger King. Let's see if I can name everyone who came. Sinan, Sefa, Serbay, Canberk, Hande, İdill, Deniz, Buşra, Nihan, Berksu, and myself. When everyone was there we walked somewhere to catch a train (like the C-Train in Calgary!) and it took us to the seaside. There we caught a ferry to the Asian side. We wandered around there looking for a place to have tea. We ended up at a "cafeteria" with a beautiful view (it sat right beside the water). The menu had English translations of everything, including the paragraph describing the place. The paragraph was near nonsense, although they get points for using the term "fish feast". Sefa had a Coke (no one drinks Pepsi here), Hande didn't have anything, and the rest of us drank tea. Once we were done we took a different ferry back to Europe (Beşiktaş, to be exact). On the way over I attempted to learn everyone's names. I always feel terrible because I can't name many people in my class. It's just so difficult because very few sound like anything.

When we got off the ferry we walked some more and ended up in Ortaköy. On this walk I saw many exciting things. The street we were on had picture after picture after picture of Atatürk displayed. We walked past Dolmabahçe Palace, Çirağan Palace and hotel, and a hotel that had a Canadian flag flying in between two Turkish flags. Obviously I took a picture. It was funny, I was looking at the three flags and it didn't even occur to me that it was unusual until İdill pointed it out to me. My classmates took me to a place that sells baked potatoes Subway style. I'll explain. You get a baked potato that's sliced in half. Then there are a dozen choices of what you can put on it. Olives (black or green), corn, peas, 'American salad', cheese, and ketchup to name some. It was good. Oh. American Salad- potato salad. It makes me wonder what they call Greek salad...

I think that after that we took a bus to Taksim where we shopped for a while. I didn't buy anything, but we wandered around. I ate supposedly famous chocolate. It was good. After we were done there we went our seperate ways. When everyone did the kiss on each cheek thing I was included. This was so increadibly wonderful. I don't quite feel like part of the group, but they seem to have accepted me, which is great. Have I mentioned how lucky I am to have been put in this class? It sounds like the other exchange students haven't been as accepted by their classes. (I love you Class 11 TM - D. Ben sınıf arkadaşlarımı seviyorum!)

Again Sinan and I found ourselves waiting a long time for the right bus. The ride home took at least an hour. We talked a lot (hooray for talking!) and I have a small list of things I have to ask him about once I speak Türkçe, including the history of a section of town because he doesn't know how to say it in English.

When Melek asked me how my day was my answer was "Çok, çok, çok, çok güzel!" By the time we ate supper, I could barely move my legs I was so tired. But it was one of the best days I've had since getting here.

-Maeghan

My Bayram

Welcome to Stage 2- My Bayram. There are actually two bayrams, and this was the sugar one. I think. Anyways. As you probably read yesterday, I got home on Sunday night and had to pack for Monday morning.



On Monday I got up bright and early to go to work with Melek. Melek doesn't actually work for a bank, as I had thought, but a government organization that helps banks or something like that. Anyways- it was a government thing and I had to give some lady my driver's license and she gave me a visiting pass which allowed me to get through the gate seperating the lobby from everything else. Intense.



Aslı picked me up from there, and we were off! Mattie, Meara and I sat in the backseat and Aslı and her husband were in the front. Elif, their daughter, was with the rest of the family, but I'll get to them. We drove out of İstanbul on the Asian side and eventually took a ferry (IN THE CAR!!) across some body of water. After three more hours of driving, we arrived at our destination.



Altınoluk is this adorable little seaside town. It is a tourist location, but all of the tourists are Greek and Turkish. I had an absolutly AMAZING time there. Aslı's entire family was on holiday together, and they had rented a school bus (one of the sweet mini-totem busses) to take them everywhere. There were 21 of us in total. There was this cool bed-and-breakfast type place where we all stayed, and each family had it's own appartment in the building. Mattie, Meara, and I had our own as well.



On Tuesday Mattie, Meara, and I decided to take a walk and ended up spending all day wandering along the beach and through the streets. There were stores and vendors everywhere, so we never ran out of things to look at. Meara was an exchange student to Turkey in 2005, and is now an English teacher at one of the private schools in İstanbul. Her Turkish is fluent, which made it very easy for the three of us to do whatever we wanted. She taught me how to ask the price of things, and translated icecream flavours so that Mattie and I could decide what to buy. Speaking of the icecream, I think I mentioned that it's different here. Well I found out why- it's made with orchid roots, and it pulls. Our icecream drips, Turkish icecream pulls. I don't know how else to explain it.

The man who sold us the icecream thought Meara was Turkish (that's how good her speaking is!) and when she translated for us, he asked her "Where are our guests from?" Our guests. Everyone here in Turkey has been doing that. It's so cute! When I went out with my classmates they did the same thing- calling me their guest, I mean. But that's for tomorrow.

On Wednesday we had 'tost' for breakfast before the bus took us to visit two nearby towns. In retrospect I don't have much to say about them, but I really enjoyed my time there. Mattie, Meara, and I did lots of exploring. It was so nice to just do whatever over the holiday. If we felt like wandering, we told Aslı we had our phones with us and went on our way. The first town seemed surreal. Everything was made out of stone, and the place seemed deserted in sections. >>>>

On Thursday we went shopping and walked some more, this time in the water for a ways. We also spent a couple hours just spending time in the appartment; Aslı brought me books in English. All murder mysteries, which made me think of my mother.

Friday we decided to head back to İstanbul- the long way. We covered nearly all of the exciting sites on the Gallipoli peninsula. Aslı's brother used to be in the tourism industry so he told us all sorts of cool stuff about the places we visited. My tour in January covers this area, so I promise you all pictures then.

When we got back to İstanbul I was picked up by Melek's brother in this totally random place and we drove (in the dark) to a part of town that is definitely NOT where I live. It was increadibly nerve-wracking. Even thought I knew Melek was moving, I had thought I would be taken to Güner's house. Anyways, after a small panic attack (half an hour sitting on a sofa)fueled by an over-inquisitive mind and lack of communication abilities, we went 'home' to Güner's appartment where we are now living.

Saturday I unpacked all of my stuff, which took a looong time. I really like this apartment. The walls are a lovely light blue that's very calming. On Saturday night I baked my chocolate chip cookies. Butter tastes different here, so I couldn't get the dough to taste right. They turned out fine in the end, but they aren't the same as the ones I make at home. Also, vanilla comes in powder.

On Sunday we went to a museum to visit Melek's cousin who's art was on display there. Her paintings were very nice. I toured the museum with Melek's brother and his two sons. I believe it was a war museum (based on the fact that I toured room such as "Cutting Weapons Hall 1"). My brother and father would like it, I think. It's housed in some military school that Atatürk attended. I was going to get my brother a souvinier, but the stuff in the gift shop wasn't very cool. Another time, Mitch.

-Maeghan

The Orientation Weekend

So I'm quite a ways behind on my blog. I'll be telling you what's been happening in stages. Welcome to stage 1- The orientation weekend.

So even though I didn't have to go to school on Friday, I still had to get up bright and early. Melek drove me to some place in Beşiktaş where I met up with all of the other exchange students living on the European side. We got on a bus and drove to the Asian side and picked up the rest of 'em there. Then the bus took us all to some 'resort hotel' just outside of İstanbul where we were staying for the weekend. We got assigned rooms, ate some lunch, and then the meetings began. I can't tell you exactly what was said the first day, it's combined with the second in my mind. I do recall that we all introduced ourselves and talked a little about how our stay had been so far.

Saturday morning was all about the rules. No drinking, driving, dating, or drugs. Go to school or else. School is a huge priority here and they gave us the "This is not a year-long holiday" speech that I got in Canada before I left. I won't lie- school is boring. But I still enjoy being there and seeing my classmates (litereally seeing. I don't talk very much here. Contain your disbelief- it's true). My chem teacher still hasn't figured out that I don't speak Turkish. Heh.

Anyways, after the rules we played some games. "My name is Maeghan and I like apples." During the free time we had (in between sessions and meal time and before bed) everyone got to know each other and I love our group. We are pretty much awesome. On Saturday night Garet and Mattie and I went swimming in the hotel's pool after convincing half a dozen adults that we would not get a cold from going swimming.

On Sunday we packed up and set off for a tour of some famous sites in İstanbul. We saw the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Pallace, the Ayisofia, and the underground cistern. It was quite the day. I suprisingly don't have a lot to say about it. The Blue Mosque is no longer completely blue inside, although it is still absolutely spectacular. The Topkapi pallace has quite a few interesting exhibits inside and took up most of our day. The Ayisofia is huge and beautiful. The underground cistern is way cool, and has this wishing column thing. I really enjoyed all of the places, but the best part was just spending time with all the other exchange students. Goodness knows I'll see those places again before I come home. My camera was dead, so I don't have any pictures (sorry!).

I have to tell you this. Eve (Australia) and I are the only two exchange students with no one else from our countries in İstanbul. This means that we have to be extra patriotic. When we were in the Ayisofia one of the patterns in one of the chambers had maple leaf-like shapes. I imediately pointed to it and told everyone "Canada's been here!". Lol.

Sunday evening we performed a talent show at my club's meeting. It was a lot of fun. Many people did individual performances, but we also did one big group one. We put together a song, and it included stuff from each of our countries, as well as a few lines from a song by Turkey's 'Megastar' Tarkan. It was pretty excellent. We got two words in and the entire crowd was laughing.

During the weekend, Aslı invited me to join her family, Mattie, and Meara on holiday over Bayram. I agreed and so on Sunday night when I got home I had to pack for the trip because we were leaving the next morning. It turned out that Melek was also moving during Bayram, so I had to pack up ALL of my stuff so that it could be moved. AND because I had wanted to have information about the orientation weekend in my quarterly report I had to finish that up and send it in as well. Crazy night.

So I guess that's it for stage 1. Tune in tomorrow for Stage 2- Bayram.

-Maeghan