I really don’t think I’ve ever been this popular in my entire life. (journal five)

So I meant to write this a week ago, or a week before that or the day before that... or something. But I didn’t. I hope you didn’t miss me too much. I actually want to write everyday, but the schedule is so crazy here that it’s almost impossible to. So, no promises but I’ll attempt to be slightly more regular. This post might start out a little rant-y, but I promise it will become more positive. It also could seem incredibly long.

It’s almost Friday, which means that the kids go home for the weekend today (thank goodness). It’s been a bit of a struggle to ensure that Friday was the day they actually went home, however. When we “signed up” for this camp, we were specifically told that we would have weekends off. In the first week, they stayed Saturday and we were completely confused and disappointed. Having only Sunday to recover and visit other cities and explore at the same time is just simply not enough time. We’re teenagers, on weekends we sleep. A lot. We somehow convinced them that we needed another day off (Lindsay and Flore were sick for two days because of exhaustion, that likely helped) and we gained Saturday the next week. HURRAH! Oh, just wait... Yesterday they asked us again if the kids could be here Saturday to “practice” but we wouldn’t have to do anything... Considering we are the ones they actually practice with this makes no sense at all. We prevailed once again and home the kids go today at five!

Sidenote: I just got super depressed and sad because I was looking through pictures of friends having lots of fun without me. I want to come home. The end.

Okay, so we’re getting a little tired of the meetings, but at least they’re happening. The problem is definitely communication. For example, yesterday we had a meeting with most of the organizers, and we told them that we need to know beforehand (at least a week before) if an event is coming up. They agreed that they would do this, yet, at dinner just a few hours later we heard (and not even from the organizers, that there was a band coming last night. We learned this an hour before they were to play. ... ... ... And umm, why exactly weren’t we informed before this? Who the heck knows. It’s needless to say we’re a little frustrated. We haven’t been payed for our plane tickets, we’re tired, blah blah blah our life sucks. Haha.

So our lives do not suck. To support this statement I can give several examples of non-suckish activities. Last weekend we actually had a very nice surprise. On Saturday at about eleven we left for a picnic, we just no idea where we were going... at first. About an hour of driving and the location was getting more and more remote, we were in the mountains and the only people around had herds of sheep and other equally exciting animals, mostly in villages. We stopped for our picnic at the prettiest bridge, with a mountain and a broken-up castle behind it. Stunning. Where we actually ate was below this, by the river in our own personal Eden. It was absolutely amazing. We went swimming in the middle of the mountain area while lunch was being made... and lunch was likely the best meal I’ve ever had in Turkey so far (and, don’t shoot me... but the best chicken I’ve ever had in my entire life, like OMFG YES). Wow. We played some cards and just chilled out in the sun. If there’s one thing that you should be jealous of me for so far, it’s this day. We left our little picnic area and headed to a different bridge, which actually attracts many tourists called Devil’s Bridge (or some crazy Turkish name I can’t pronounce, haha). Flore and I climbed up to take pictures, and a few random guys made us take about 10 pictures of them, with our cameras. Every time we went to turn around and leave, they would yell something in Turkish, demand more photos, and change poses. We had to cross the river to get to the cave area that we were heading to, and the current was extremely strong. We almost fell over a few times but somehow made it. We then climbed into a cave where there was a lot of glass (and we had no shoes on our feet...) so it was pretty dangerous. Flore took pictures for our “album cover” for our brand new band: “The Noexpects” or something like that... we’re definitely an interesting band with our first single coming our soon “Beer Me Çay”. I’m not sure I should even try to explain that one. After a long day of adventure, Bullshit (the card game which the Turks love because we taught them the word), an incredible amount of food and some great bonding, it was definitely time to head home.

Okay, if you need to take a break, I suggest now as break time, then continue...

The kids, as terrible as they may be at times, are actually really awesome. Last night we had our “opening ceremony” (I know, three weeks after the camp started, haha...) and they did so well. I felt so proud of them. They sang five songs, my group performed Cinderella (with me being one of the Narrators.. which might have been the only part anyone could understand) and just had a lot of fun showing off to their parents. Of course I have a few favourites... they’re just really sweet. And who doesn’t want to be the camp counsellor / teacher’s favourite anyways? One thing that happens when I’m around them is I actually talk much differently. I adopt an accent, but only when I speak to the kids, it seems to help their comprehension. It’s actually pretty entertaining to even hear myself speak in broken, Turkish-accented English. It’s too bad Liam (from Birmingham) couldn’t have been there for the opening ceremonies, it was a lot of fun and he would’ve gotten the kids even more excited for it. Crazy Brits having to go home and graduate from University.

Their dancing is pretty insane. I’ve taught them some very sweet hip-hop moves, but they teach me much more. It’s sort of middle-eastern in my thoughts of what middle-eastern dance consists of.. and the music is similar to that. I actually find the music quite annoying, but it’s something that I get used to. I find the traditional dances a little repetitive, but they’re fun when you’re all together... and I add my own spice to entertain the masses.

Which brings me to my popularity. Sure, sure, I was important enough at home. I guess you could say that I had cred. But here... it’s a whole other story. I feel like if I wanted to become famous, I should become famous in Turkey. I’m pretty sure I’d be super popular and everyone would love me. The following are the reasons they love me so much: my hair (not many men have curly hair, and NO man has curly and blonde hair), I have blue eyes (hardly any Turks have blue eyes, and Ataturk (look him up, this is key) did.), I laugh, I dance and I sing. Here, these things make me pretty much the coolest person ever (ha) and everywhere we go I get stared at and talked about all around me. It’s pretty cool I guess.

Yesterday, we spent the entire afternoon by the pool... in the pool... at the bar of the pool. It was so nice, and reminded me or North America. Pretty much anything that reminds me of NA makes me happy. For example, the bank HSBC... which I’ve never been to in my life makes me happy because I’ve seen it before. It’s kind of pathetic how excited I get, actually. I really miss multigrain Tostitos...

I’m looking forward to the next two weekends... it really sounds like we’re going to see some amazing places in Turkey... and I get to see (and swim in?) the Mediterranean Sea! Yay! Apparently I should be super excited for this... and I think I am, it just confuses me as to why I need to be so excited. Oh well, I’m pumped! There are many more trips planned before the end of the summer (which for me is August 15th, btw) and I still will have yet to see Istanbul!

So, coming home... coming home... Well, I’ll be in Toronto at 7:51PM on August 15th, which is earlier than I had expected. Before I leave entirely though I’d really like to spend a few days in Istanbul. I think I might be coming back next year anyways, so it wouldn’t be a huge deal to not too too much of it, but still... I can’t come to Turkey for the entire summer and not go to Istanbul! I’m still not sure who exactly will be picking me up at the airport when I get home, but I guess I’ll find out soon. I do really love being here, but I’m also excited to come home and bit early to get ready for school and hang out just a tiny bit more with everyone before it’s time to be off to U of T! I’m getting nervous already... and course selection is coming up in the next few weeks. Eep, I need to get ready for this. Speaking of Toronto, some random Toronto number called my cell this morning, which I wasn’t picking up because it costs over $4 a minute... no thanks. I shall call back using my unlimited Skype! Which, if you’d like to Skype me, my username is luke.albert... or you might just get a call from me at a random time on a random day. You never know :)

Well, thank you for reading this mumble of nonsense and thoughts. Let’s hope my mumbling becomes more regular... haha. See you all in just over a month (isn’t that insane?! It’s so soon!).

Oh, and one more thing.... I have an address for you to send things to me now! I could really use some good, wholesome Canadian anything, really... so send what you wish!

The address is:

Luke Albert

Adıyaman Anadolu Öğretmen Lisesi

Cumhuriyet Mahallesi Kerkişin Yolu Üzeri

Adıyaman, Turkey

Yeah, pretty sweet right? So send, send, send away!! And send me your address if you haven’t already for me to send you a postcard... I swear I will!!

-Luke

Comments

[Alyssa]

PLEASE CHANGE YOUR BLOG TO DARK TEXT ON LIGHT BACKGROUND. PLS.

[Alyssa]

P.S. My eyes are basically permanently damaged.

And can`t wait til you come home!