Today I had to pick up my residence permit after class. I hopped a dolmus out there and picked it up no problem. It looks like a little passport, kinda really adorable! xD Just as I left, an ODTU dolmus pulled up to the stop a little bit away from the police place, the Ankamall stop. I flat out ran the thirty feet to get there, which kind of felt good, and when seated realized I was on the same dolmus that I took to get out there!

At Cati, the best place to get food on the academic side of the campus, you can eat outside. You don’ t have to do anything with your trays though, you just leave them out and the workers (plentiful as they are) come around and pick them up. Sometimes though, the birds get to it before the workers do!

This is the view of Ankara from the walkway from the campus gate to Yuz.yil as I was going to meet up with Claire.

We decided to make stir fry.

It was quite delicious. I also tried raki, as my sculpture professor had encouraged me to do. I don’t think it’s quite for me though, too much of a black licorice taste to it.

Boring days yay!

~Han

The weather today was absolutely amazing, so Hanne and I decided to go to Ulus to study in the park. We unfortunately got kicked off the grass, so we studied on a bench and then walked around the fair.

All the rides were 3TL per ride, which we thought was a little steep, so we just wandered. Some of the images were kind of graphic, and it was weird.

I walked around and saw SO many gorgeous flowers. You can click this to see it larger.

And I’m not sure if I just like this patch because it’s purple and white…….

Men kept stopping us to talk to us in English (or French) and invite us for cay and ask if we needed a guide. Only, they most certainly did not come across as friendly, but as very creepy. Hanne’s blonde hair I’m sure gave her away, but unfortunately made us both “targets.” At about 5:20 I wanted to go back to campus, but Hanne had some more to do in Ulus for her photography class. I was tired, so I went to the Ulus dolmus terminal. I sat. And waited.

And sat.
And waited.
And asked if the ODTU dolmus was coming.
And sat.
And waited.

After about 2 and a half hours, I started getting really upset. The guy in charge made several phone calls about the dolmus, but it still never came. One of the dolmus drivers who had seen me there for so long tried to help. It was starting to get dark and I was blubbering non-sensical Turkish words and phrases. I was upset and nervous. I had spent the last 2 and a half hours sitting by myself, being eyed at, cat called at, appraised, rubber necked and I’m positive people who walked by me were talking about me to the people they were with. It was uncomfortable to say the least.

The poor dolmus driver didn’t understand me, I didn’t understand him, someone shoved cay in my hands (I don’t think I’ve ever drank cay so fast) and a student with a small amount of English was found. I didn’t know where Kizilay was from where I was, or the metro, and I don’t have the bus tickets so I couldn’t use the buses. I was led to the guy who was in charge again, who put me on a dolmus to Yuz.Yil. Unfortunately I don’t know the stops in Yuz.Yil, but as they were metioning places, they mentioned a mall I knew of, and I KNEW there was a Kizilay>ODTU dolmus from there. The driver didn’t charge me for the first leg of the trip…I’m grateful. I was also very frazzled.

Anyway, I got home at about 8:40, exhausted and aggravated and swearing to never wear a skirt to that part of the city ever again.

Or to go there with another girl.

Or actually, to bother going there at all.

In the end, Hanne walked to Kizilay and took a dolmus from there. She and Nina came over, and we made pasta and ate strawberries with Nutella for dessert. I haven’t quite decided if that made the entire thing worthwhile P:

~Han

curious?
Oh yes.
Safe?
MOST likely not.

Anyway, we ended up finding Hanne a pair of shoes, and went to the park in Kizilay. We bought juice, som esimit and strawberries. I wanted some cay, but the guy who walked by selling it wanted 1lira, and I didn’t feel like paying 1TL for a cay I could get for 25 kurus out of a vending machine .__. So I said no. Another guy come pay, and wanted 1TL as well, but when I said no, he offered for 50 kurus. This, I didn’t mind. We got some cay, and about 10 minutes later the first guy came around and saw us with cay and asked why we had it. So we laughed and I told him I got it for 50 kurus and he seemed angry, lol.

Sorry I didn’t really get any pictures….I didn’t think snapping one of the police guys would have been such a great idea!

~Hannah

This all amuses me. =)

~Han

Random guys were playing instruments by the sculpture today. It was really fun sounding and kinda interesting to watch. xD

I had errands to run by the carsi (market/shopping area). I had to go up to the phone store to buy Kontor for my phone, and when I came back down this kitty was just like “Hey! Chillen’ on the pillows!” It was really adorable.

I went to the carsi to do some work on my proposal for Dr. D. I had this to eat. Doesn’t it look delicious? Fresh squeezed OJ and an apple…thing. xD

Cars on campus will park ANY WAY THEY CAN FIND ROOM. It’s actually kind of interesting. So in any given parking lot, there are 3 rows of cars. I swear to you, all Turkish drivers are either absolutely crazy or the best drivers that exist. They can get in and out of any and every possible situation in their vehicles. It’s kind of incredible.

~Han

I have started teaching myself to cook. Can you believe it?! Today I made pasta with tomato sauce. It was alright. We’ll see where this goes. P: All the food in the kantin seems really extra super duper fried, and I’m just tired of it.

NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!

We started our Sunday a little later than had been intended. Last night, various people got ill at the bar, and they did not make it back to the hotel until 2AM. I’m glad I stayed in. We started in a village of old Greek houses. It was famous because one of the houses was the location where a television series was filmed.

Gokhan and I went searching for the Upper Greek House (there were signs with arrows) but did not find it. Instead, we found Kemal and were going to go look at the mosqque, but I got distracted by an old beaiutiful Ottoman building still being used as a high school. It was so strange seeing modern stuff (like a room full of computers) inside such an ancient building.

Later we visited “new” ruins, only found about 5 years ago. Rotary paid for the cover of the place (likely a church or meeting location) and I thought that was awesome.

We went to the underground city as well. Not so bad when everyone was moving along, but very bad when you stopped with seventy people in a small passageway.

We visited Pigeon valley, where people carved houses for pigeons so they could collect the pigeon poop which was used for various things in the ancient times.

Then we went to a wine tasting. The wines were not very good, but Kristin and I bought some pumpkin seeds to eat on the trip home.

Then it was back on the bus and back to Ankara~

~Han

We left this morning at about 1:30AM. mad crazy early and I hardly slept on the bus, even though I had two seats to myself. We arrived in the region by 5:30AM, and drove through with the sun rising. After arriving at the hotel, I roomed with Charlotte and re-met the German girl I met in the museum with Cynthia. We ate breakfast, and I managed a quick shower before we left at 8:30AM.

(the center rock far far away is supposed to be “Virgin Mary.” To the right of her on top is a curled snake.)

Our tour guide was really sweet and I loved the way she spoke. First she took us to Imagination Valley to see shapes in the rocks, and then to another area to see and learn about the rock formations.

After that, we went to a village to explore some rock buildings. People still lived here only 60 years ago!!! It blows my mind!

After that, we saw a pottery demonstration. I took a video of it, but of course, we were all “really mature” (myself not included) about watching it happen. We had the chance to buy some pottery for 50% off, and lots of us ended up with extra discounts which was shweet.

This is their Red River, with the moving bridge…I kept singing “Red River Valley” while here, haha.

Finally we went to the Goreme open air museum. I find it most interesting that the history of this place as I know it differs from what the Turks know to be true.

Tonight’s party was to be “Turkish night,” with cultural stuff and a belly dancer. Really cool, but with the lack of sleep, I wasn’t feeling up for it. When everyone else napped and got ready, Charlotte, Kristin and I wandered through Urgup looking for wine. We bought a 6TL bottle, figuring we’d try the better wine tomorrow at the wine tasting before we leave Cappadocia. Charlotte wanted to find the way to the top of a bluff overlooking Urgup, but Kristin and I were too tired. We poked around in an antique store and then settled in a pastanesi with cay, sahlep and baklava. We both ordered in Turkish, so I’m extra proud of us! Charlotte found us there and we wanted to some other shops.

It was really strange though. The shop owners all spoke decent to relatively good English. I’m so used to talking about them and their prices right in front of them without them knowing it, so it was really strange not being able to do that!

After dinner, I was not feeling well. Charlotte, Kristin and I got together in Kristin’s room to drink wine and learn Backgammon! Charlotte taught us, and Kristin won, haha.

Moree traveling tomorrooowww~

~Han

Claire, Hanne and I went to the pizar today! Found random Slazenger socks? I thought Slazenger just did golf stuff…though I suppose socks are related to golf.

While we were there, we picked up some dried fruits, bread and nuts. After, we walked around and found a park! So we sat and had a picnic.

And this literally took up all day. It was so fun though. And I got a new, happy, green scarf! Yay!

~Hannah

The International Food Festival run by the ESN was tonight. I went to Claire’s to use her oven. We went to like 4 different places to find ingredients and I *still* forgot to buy oats. Oh, I made apple crisp! But since I forgot to buy oats, Claire let me use some of her cereal that had oats in it, haha. So I poked through and pulled it all out for my topping.

And I got creative to melt my butter, haha. This is the teensy oven I used! Ovens are really not common here, it’s odd to me, haha. For the filling, I chopped up granny smith apples and put a few handfuls of raisins and mixed in some arbitrary amount of sugar. For the topping, I used the oats that I filled out, arbitrary amounts of flour, sugar and salt, whipped together an egg and melted some butter, and threw in some honey for good measure, since I couldn’t find brown sugar. I spread it all over and then baked it.

Claire made her fairy bread while I was doing this xD

And stir fry! Yay for feeding Han

It was AWESOME smelling….and everyone who had some loved it. I am soooo proud of me, hahaha.

Hungary’s sign xD

Canada’s potatoe thing? The cheese was really good in it YAY FOOD. Hahahah <3

~Hannah