Settling down

Life seems to be settling down here. Getting into a rhythm of doing things (or not doing them) and things aren’t quite as exciting as they were at first.

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

 

Blossoms and birds <3

There are cherry blossoms all over campus, and they’re all turning pink and budding and it’s so pretty!

These little sparrow-y birds are really cute, and all over the place. Sometimes there are a lot of them on the ground and they make the ground look like it’s alive <3

This little puppy is all over campus and begs for food and stuff. He’s pretty cute, but I think he was dumped

~Han

 

Adventures!

I love having adventures!

Okay, so Sunday, nothing happened. Literallyyy. So, onto today’s adventures!

I thought today was going to be dull, but it was actually fun. First off, got a good mark in Turkish. yay! Then, Claire had to pick up her residence permit, and I had yet to turn in the paperwork for mine. It’s basically a teensy passport-type-thing that just says that you do live in the country at the moment, and should you have to leave, you’ll be able to get back in. (I also stil lhave to pay for my student ID; the one I have expires soon but I need a new photo. whoops x 2)

We adventured out via the Ulus dolmus. We had to go to the polis station basically, but it’s a huge building, haha. It was also fairly cold out. First we went to the Polis kantin to purchase a very extra super specific pink folder. It was very odd! Then I turned in the paperwork with no problems. I simply have to pick up my permit in 2 weeks. Yay!

Then we took the metro. That was actually fun. The whole thing was so clean, open, fresh. So different from what I’m used to!

When we got off at Kizilay, we found some fake converse being sold for SUPERCHEAPS, so I nabbed a pair in burgundy. I’ll share a picture later. We found DOST, a bookstore, so Claire could buy her ticket for a film festival movie. There seem to be a lot of those here. We were running out of steam, so we got some cay (and I got sahlep of course). When she asked the waiter for lemon, he just laughed in her face. o.O It was strange. I bought a great fuzzy-hooded Engrish sweatshirt with a huge ? and a saying “Do you like any girlfriends?” We also tried these street-food fried potatoe-chips-on-a-stick which were quite wonderful. A guy heard us talking in English, and came over and started talking to us. It was a little awkward, but he wanted to practice his English which I can understand. But then he started following us some, so we told him we had to get back to class and kind of ditched him a bit.

On the way back to campus, we got invited to have dinner with Hanne and Charlotte, so we had potatoes, eggs and onions. It was fun. =)

After dinner I had them over to my room for cay and dessert. Very enjoyable. Next time though, I’d like to make dinner for them. ………..I just don’t know what!!! D:

~Han