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
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
4 comments:
Vanilla powder? Orchid roots? Different tasting butter??!?
Everything sounds so fun and interesting there!
I'm glad you lived through the panic attack! Hope you're having a blast! Miss you, love you! Bring me back a present!
Just kidding! <3
That ice cream really does sound sweet. Oh man. I mean it sounds great, that is... Oy. Anyway, that town looks SO nice! You should take pictures of EVERYTHING, even if you think we won't be interested. Because we WILL be. I am just going to live vicariously through you now.
You know that this sounds so sweet it is hard to believe it's real. It's like you're writing a story. It is SO COOL though!
Those are really awesome pictures!
OH! You have to write a book about your adventures when you get back! Well, no, you don't have to. But it would be sweet.
Wow that sounds amazingly awesome. I want to try that ice cream.
They rented a school bus? How cool.
Agreed to the obsessive photographing. And Savannah and Cassandra might like some obsessive photographing that includes Jimmer (I think thats his name). They had a little freak out session over him in Tim Hortons the other day.
Wow. Nervewracking rides remind me of Laura driving with her abrupt stops and driving onto curbs. And slanted parking.
Mmm, is it like vanilla sugar? That's really good.
My impression of your brother is him with his big goggles and trying to blow stuff up in the garage, while Sanders is asking him if he is crazy.
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