So....What do you actually do?

To spare everyone, I gave my sort of day-by-day account to a separate post (you may now breathe your sigh of relief.)  I’ll just run through what we did briefly, but I’ve been busy.

6/8         Leave Washington DC

6/9         Arrive in Bursa, and arrive in Alaşar at around 10p.

6/10       Orientation at TÖMER in the morning.  In the evening, Mehmet, Yağmur, and I went to the Bursa Zoo and to the large city park (think Grant Park in Chicago).  On Sunday, many urban apartment families will spend the evening outside.  But the picnics are both in the park, but more strangely, can be on the grassy medians of the parking lot.  We also noticed people using the grassy areas in highway interchanges as parks.  It seems strange at first, but there is a certain sense to it, especially in Istanbul with green space at such a premium. 

6/11       Was a testing day at TÖMER.  I was exempt haha!  We all met our buddies in the afternoon and grabbed lunch together.  But in the evening, I had my first experience of çay fuelled late night conversation.  It was really a blast.  I love communicating with people, and it really is just fun for me.

6/12       First day of class which was interesting.  Turkish is very different from the languages that I know, and it was frustrating starting from complete scratch.  But in the evening Mehmet, Yağmur, Ece and I went to Kulturpark (an area that is comparable to Tivoli in Copenhagen.  Part amusement park, part park-park) where for a modest entrance fee – around 12 cents US – we went to dinner and rode on a little roller coaster.  It is much easier to enjoy Bursa in the late afternoon and evening, so this made for a nice night.

6/13       After class, I went with Favziye and her friend Mavre (it almost sounds like “mary”) to explore historic Bursa.  My feet still hurt.  It was probably about 6-7 miles in 39 C with most of it uphill.  But we saw Ulu Cami (U-lu Ja-mee), the oldest and biggest mosque in the city.  We saw the Osman citadel in the city that commanded the heights, and from there I could really see over the city.  It’s really big and just busy.  Then we walked clear to the other side of the city to see the best mosque and mausoleum complex in the city, Yeşil Cami (Yes- sheel Ja-mee) or Green Mosque.  Maybe better described as blue, the building itself really is spectacular and the view is exceptional.  Of course, I forgot my camera, but I promise I will take pictures and post them. 

There were also two beverage firsts for me yesterday.  The first was my first Ayran, a very popular beverage that every Turk drinks but has a mixed review among Americans.  Ayran is a mixture of yogurt, water, and salt which my travel book describes as “refreshing.”  I think I fall in the middle on this.  I had it and it did not taste like death as one student warned, but I wouldn’t order it again.  Something about the salt plus sourness from the yogurt plus the extreme heat just made it unpleasant.  My other first was my first kahve which was delightful.  After drinking up, Favziye, Mavre, and I tried to find shapes in the dregs like looking at clouds.  Loads of fun after a hot sweaty day of hiking. 

The day ended rather abruptly, however, as I missed the last minibus back to Alaşar.  Favziye called Mehmet to explain in Turkish what happened.  I ended getting in a different minibus that ran kind of near Alaşar and giving my cell to the driver so Mehmet could explain.  But it worked.  I was home around 10:30 and starving.  After dinner, it was homework, çay, and conversation with Mehmet, Ahmet, Safiye, and Ece. 

Tomorrow, I will be back with Favziye and Mavre to watch her friend graduate and then we will go out.  I’m looking forward to seeing what we will do because I don’t really have any idea what to expect.  Then on Saturday, TÖMER students and their buddies are all going up the cable car on Uludağ (where it can be 15 F cooler and which has a permanent snow cap) for a picnic and game day.  We are all looking forward to it very much.  Then finally next Wednesday, the TÖMER leader is giving a tour of the old city that is only for beginners, so I will be going back to the Osman center (with camera this time haha!) and I plan to post pictures next week. 

But that’s been my time so far and the near future.  Busy and hot – Favziye finds it hysterical that Sıcak (hot) was the first word I learned in Turkey – are the order of the day.  But I am beginning to kind of communicate and I look forward to improving. 

As always, comment and keep reading, and I promise to bring my camera with me from now on.