“You like this? ‘Oh, I don’t need it...” We buy this for you. This too.” (journal two)

Make sure you pronounce that blog title with a Turkish accent.

This morning started out like just about any morning starts. You know, wake up in some random Turkish teacher’s house to the sounds of live birds flying around in the room... have a shower with hot water that comes from a tank that is solar powered... go eat breakfast that consists of tomatoes, hot peppers, olives, tea and bread (another item that is eaten at every single meal... and it’s also delicious)... then start your day off! Sounds pretty typical to me... pause NAWT.

So after the crazy morning that will likely repeat itself tomorrow, we all met in a courtyard area for some more tea and to meet one other volunteer from Washington. She’s super cool and nice. So far, everyone is. I met the daughter of one of the leaders of the camp and she was so cute! All Turkish children are extremely adorable from what I’ve seen so far.

After talking for a while in Turkish (which means that I did no talking and the understanding-what’s-going-on part was not working well) we were told that we needed to go shopping. “Okay?” we both said. DC and I (and 3 directors) went to a few stores... we were told that we needed “sports shoes and things”. The first one only sold a brand called Lescon which is apparently really popular and a huge deal in Turkey (huh?). We both tried desperately to tell them that we were not in need of them (we had both brought runner type shoes) and thanked but it would not be necessary. That wasn’t happening at all. After what I thought was me telling them I didn’t need them and I had my own, we walked out of the store with some very, very good shoes that were ridiculously expensive, some socks and a really nice polo style gym shirt. Then at another store which also sold sporting goods we got some sandals as well as a pair of track-ish pants. It was crazy how much they would have spent in total, this stuff was not cheap. Just one of the many things that have happened that were completely unexpected. I am thinking that these shoes will become a quick favourite though... like Puma’s, but not. They’re fun and I’m sure not complaining... though now I have to make room for them to take with me on the way home.

After our shopping endeavor, we (again randomly) stopped for ice cream which we apparently had to try. Well, you ate it with a fork. I’ve never eaten ice cream with a fork. It was strange. ...Anyways, it was delicious, and had pistachio. Picture is below with baklava. It is quite sticky... and quite a thing to dry, but definitely worth it.

Once we were done our delicious treat we set out again, this time to the school that we’ll be doing the summer camp at. Well, it was absolutely beautiful. It’s just outside the city and the view is incredible and breathtaking. I’ll get lots and lots of pictures out there, trust me. They were still cleaning and that’s why I’m not there now. One potentially bad thing is that I may not have internet right in my room, which is kind of sad. Hopefully they will set up some WiFi goodness for us. There is ethernet around but it’s not so easy to find.

We started to head back to the city, but of course stopped for food again (which wasn’t surprising). More kabobs, bread, strange yogurt drink, salad, soup, grilled vegetables... and tea. It was honestly the best non-vegan meal I’ve ever had, ever. Not a single complaint about it, and again it was a very high-end restaurant. I have no idea how they afford all this for us when their city is so poor (these are government officials we are working with) but we just go with it.

As about the 15th random thing of the day, we stopped at a TV studio, simply because Flore mentioned that she took Journalism in school. We got a tour, stayed a while. It was interesting and I got a few shots there.

Finally, we get to head back to where I’m sleeping tonight, at a hostel in the middle of the city. When I normally think of hostel, I think of: small bed, shared washroom (if not shared room), no internet, basically nothing. This hostel is an amazing exception. We have nice rooms, large beds, a fridge, our own washroom (with a North American toilet... thank goodness. If you want to see a Turkish toilet, look it up. Not pretty) and the rooms are large. Just another wonderful surprise.

At about 8:30PM we went and met again in the outside courtyard (it’s right by a children’s primary school). We talked about what we’d be doing the next day. This is also where we learned that we’d be doing all the planning for each day. There was essentially no plan given to us, just that we were to play games and have fun with the kids to teach them English between 8AM and 11PM. Wow, that was definitely the biggest shock we’d gotten so far. We quickly brainstormed things for the next day and the days to come... we’re now going to need to plan two and a half months of lesson plans, essentially. Crazy.

Anyways, I really need to get to bed. It’s so late, and I need to get up soon. So, off to bed I go. I really hope to keep up with daily blogging but... I’m honestly not sure if that will happen. I guess I’ll have to see how it goes. It’s just going to get busier from here... but I know I’ll enjoy reading these in the future. If you let me know that you enjoy them too, I’ll likely be more inclined to continue.

So, tashakur and goodnight.

A shot of Flore (from Quebec) at the school.

I'll add more later... for some reason SquareSpace is only allowing me to add one.

Ta!