Ankara

Because of all of the travel I have been doing and all of the things I have seen, I have been forgetting to blog. This is very sad, but what's even sadder is that it's not the only thing that I have been forgetting. I forgot to take my laundry from the dryer before I left - I'm hoping that it's all still there! I forgot to bring socks for my shoes. I also forgot to go to the bank before I left for my trip to get some cash. So you see, I suppose forgetting to blog kind of goes along with the current lifestyle I am having.

Yesterday morning I did a quick tour of Eskisehir's downtown area. It was a very charming city; there were characteristic green gates everywhere and lots of statues. I didn't get to see much but my train for Ankara left at 11:15.

I said good-bye to Gur, and off I went, continuing my central Anatolian adventure! This time I took the Yuksek Hizli Tren, the high speed train. It goes from Eskisehir to Ankara in 1.5 hrs. I was a very pleasant ride, and I hope my future train experiences go just as smoothly.

Utkucan, my friend from the dorms, met me at the train station. From there we went to the first Turkish Parliament as well as the Ankara Palace. After that we went to Anitkabir. I have to say, walking around in the 40+ degree heat wasn't very enjoyable. I don't think I've been so sweaty (without the help of sports of couse). By that time we were exhausted and needed a break with some sugar to boost our energy levels. There's no better way to do that than to eat some desserts. Mado is a popular dessert and food chain in Turkey. They have ice cream, baklava, waffles, etc. There wasn't a better place to suite our needs. I had my first Turkish waffle. Here they are same sort of bread concotion, except they are for dessert and thus served with chocolate, fruits, and nuts. I suppose we eat them the same way in America only we find it acceptable to eat them for breakfast.

Then we went to Utkucan's house. He lives in a nice apartment with his mom, dad, and younger sister, Ilgit. All of them very sweet and kind. We ate probably the best homemade meal that I've had in Turkey. His mom is a phenomenal cook. Turkish families eat later at night, so after dinner we went to bed.

This morning his mom made a wonderful breakfast which included homemade borek. YUM. It's been really hot so we've been hanging out close to his house. I am heading back to Istanbul tonight. It's been great to see other cities besides Istanbul.

I am running out of time; I have to catch the train! Will post pics tomorrow!!!

Eskisehir

I've started another road trip adventure. This time I am doing a loop of the main central Anatolian cities: Eskisehir and Ankara. This grand adventure was sparked when I was told that the trains are very cheap to these destinations. Thus, I took the Dogu Ekspresi from Haydarpasa to Eskisehir this morning. A quick note: Haydarpasa is the Anatolian Istanbul train station located in Kadikoy, roughly 25 minutes from my dorm. The Dogu Ekspresi is the laughing stock of the trains in Turkey. This train runs every morning from Haydarpasa going east and from Kars going west. It takes 2 days to make the journey between the two cities; this train is the slowest because of all the stops it makes along the way. Not only is it the slowest train it is the cheapest as well, and, of course, you get what you pay for.  I paid 7.75tl for the first part of my journey.

Now, I have always disliked trains. I can't remember a time when they didn't give me a spook. Because of this fear I have tried to avoid trains for the majority of my life. I distinctly remember the first time I rode on a subway-metro system. My mom, my older sister, Elizabeth, and I went to Washington D.C. for the spring break of my senior year of high school. Of course we had to take the subway to get around the city because having to park the car and move it so often would have been chaotic - I was forced into it. I am actually grateful for this experience because it prepared me for coming to Istanbul where I ride the metro twice a day.

As much as I would like to write that the metro in Istanbul has cured me of this abnormal phobia, I cannot. It has not. Every time the train wavered or wobbled the slightest bit I flinched and shut my eyes painfully tight. It took me 3.5 hrs to get out of my seat. I'm on the right path though because at least I got out of my seat. Unfortunately I looked like an idiot because I couldn't figure out how the doors worked to go between cars.

Once I arrived in Eskisehir I met up with my friend, Gur, and some of his friends. We went to Yazilikaya, Kind Midas' City. After that we got a bite to eat a local burger joint, and then we toured the older part of Eskisehir.

 Rock Tombs in King Midas' City

 Kind Midas' Monument

 Eskisehir is known for it's Meercshaum stone, which is commonly used for pipes. There is a museum we went to that held a lot of different styles of these pipes as well as other sculptures from the stone.

 There was also a glass art museum in the old district. This was one of the coolest pieces showcased.

Tomorrow I will see the downtown area, and then I am going to Ankara to visit my friend Utku.

Trip prep: spending the day

What can I say about today? I slept until 1 pm. Then I lazed around the dorm. I showered around 4 o'clock and slowly made my way to Kadikoy to pick up my train ticket for the morning. I then mosied back to the dorms. That concludes the activities for today. Exciting, I know.

I realize that I haven't posted pictures in a long time. I will do so soon. I haven't had too many interesting ones recently. I am going to Eskisehir tomorrow to visit my old friend Gur. Then Monday I am going to Ankara, and then I'm heading back to Istanbul on Tuesday.

Long day. Short night.

(This is the post from yesterday)

I woke up this morning feeling like P. Diddy. Although I didn't have my sunglasses because I lost them last Sunday, I hit the city. Everything was going smoothly until I was trying to do my hair. I've gotten in the habit of just taking my hair straightener to work. I don't want to wake up any earlier than I have to, and I never do anything till 9 or 10 anyways. So I was straightening my hair when I accidently straightened my ear (i.e. I burnt my ear). YOWSERS. The skin just fell off; it didn't bother to stay a blister for any longer than it had to. I got a band-aid from one of the nicest ladies in I've ever met, Aynur. Unfortunately, I sometimes have weird reactions to the matierals band-aids are made from.  This was one of those times. I ended up just taking it off. After that everything went fairly smoothly. I went to lunch and had kofte. I don't think it's something I'll miss when I go back to the states. It's just peculiar tasting. I figured though I won't be eating for a long time when I go back to the states - I better eat it now! I got back to the office to hear that some of my coworkers met up with people from Joy's company as well as Joy without inviting me. It would have be really fun to eat lunch with them (everyone between the companies knows each other because they used to be one company).

The rest of the afternoon was ok, nothing special. I left for the weekend and went to Joy's company to meet her and catch the service bus. Well, we got invited to go to Taksim with some other American students, who are leaving this weekend and wanted to have a final night out on the town. We decided to go and have fun.

We left the office and went to Besiktas where we met the other Americans, Daylan, John, and Iso. From there we went to Taksim. We ate dinner at some restaurant off Istiklal Caddesi, one of the most famous streets in Istanbul known for its shopping, clubs, bars, and restaurants. They called their Turkish professor and she came to meet us bringing her friend. While finishing dinner, the unanimous decision was to find a bar. We ended up going to Tunel, a bunch of back alleyways full of restaurants, bars, and a lot of people. Some of Joy's coworkers and one of mine were also having a night out. We called them, and they met up with us at the bar, Kose, in Tunel. That's when the real fun began. They were 5 guys, 2 of which were already well on their way to not remembering the night which made the night that much more fun - laughing at them.

We had drinks at the cafe/bar. The other Americans decided it was time for them to go because they were leaving in the morning. Joy and I stayed with our coworkers. We decided it was time to move on and go to a club. I had never really been to a club, not even an American one. I was disappointed at first because the music was weird. Let's be serious for a minute: what kind of club plays Grease Lightening from the movie Grease? As the night went on, the songs got a lot better. Everyone had a lot of fun I think.

We left around 2 or 2:30, which is why I did not post this last night. I was exhausted.

Sneaky Sneaky

Work has been really frustrating the past few days. I am supposed to enter invoices into the database. It isn't a hard job when the invoices are legible. Not only are the invoices illegible, there are 400 of them. I made some mistakes with entering the data, so I had to go back and double check every single entry. There are still mistakes with the entries, and I know tomorrow will only bring the stress back. I am looking forward to a time without data entries!

The people in my office are hilarious. They will do just about anything to take a break from work, and once one person stops working social loping occurs. Today I was told that I sneak in and out of the office; I leave quietly without telling anyone. This is not true. I do NOT in fact do this all of the time. I only sneak out when I don't want to talk to anyone or when everyone is actually trying to be diligent or when I want to leave early. Oh, I guess that is all the time.

Telling people where I'm going has always been one of my biggest pet peeves. I hate telling people I'm going to the store to buy bread or hanging out with friends. Even worse, I LOATHE telling people I am going to the bathroom. Let's be honest, once someone says they're going to the bathroom your mind starts to wander. I personally don't like thinking about other people using the bathroom, nor do I want other people thinking about me using the bathroom. Gross. I have also encountered that I forget to tell someone when I am traveling. I have so many people that I have to inform, it's inevitable that I leave someone out. 

It made me laugh, though, when my coworkers said that I sneak around the office. They're kind of right in a way. Today at lunch I went to an art museum that I found around the corner. I wasn't sneaking, just wandering. It was modern art; it reminded me of my sisters. When I announced that I had been to the museum, my coworkers looked confused. They had never even heard of this museum. I was just taking my time, smelling the roses, when I noticed the sign. It was good to just stop and enjoy the art. There were some interesting things there, but I didn't have a chance to see them all. I will go back tomorrow.

8th week reflections!

I finally got the blogger to work. I think it was the internet at the dorm. I took my computer to work with me today, and I posted using the wireless there. I'm sure you might have noticed that this will be my 3rd post of today.

After walking behind an irritatingly slow person on the bridge to work, I asked myself, "Emily, why are you in such a rush to go to work?" I thought about it all day. Why do I rush to an office to sit down, beg for something to do, and try to be a diligent worker ALL the time? The slow walker was taking their time, looking at the city in front of them. Then I thought about all of the other slow walkers I have been behind for the past 8 weeks. Why do Americans try to rush through life? Why do I rush?

At the end of the tunnel it's not going to matter who was in the office before 9. It's not going to matter who entered the most invoices or who pleases Ogun Bey the most. It's about the journey; as long as you're enjoying the ride the world is at your feet.

The most important lesson I have learned thus far is to take time to smell the roses. You only live once, so why not enjoy it while you can.

I will be venturing back to the U.S. 3 weeks from today. I'm sad to be leaving, but I'm so excited to see my family and friends that the sadness is non-existent in comparison. Bring on the hugs!!!!

Gülme

(From yesterday - 7/27)

Translations can go really smoothly or really badly.

Sometimes it's surprising to know what words people from foreign countries recognize in speech. My friends from the university as well as my coworkers use either really random words or really vulgar ones - they understand what you're saying when you use "bad words". For example, I had been working on a stack of data entries for an hour or 2 when I thought I deleted all of my work. I immediately shouted, "Oh, $*!#!" without thinking about it. It got extremely quiet for a minute, and people snickered. I turned bright red and continued my work. Some of the guys in the office were joking about it with me later.

This afternoon we were talking about my fall when one of my coworkers, Erdem, asked if I had been drinking alcohol when it happened. I said of course not. I don't need alcohol to fall. Another coworker, Murat Bey, said when he drinks alcohol he feels like he is flying. I understand that he knows how to fly planes; he is a pilot. Well, of course I then asked if he was a pilot. Everyone looked at me strangely so I typed pilot into google translate. Stupidly enough it's the same word in Turkish. They were only looking at me funny because I asked if he was a pilot. That started another round of laughter.

Another type of translation error that I have had is with the word "bored". There are some common phrases used to say that one is bored, or that something is boring. The root word is sıkmak, which means "to squeeze". The technical phrase for I am bored is canım sıktı, or my soul is squeezed. In Turkish, there are infixes to create more words. Thus another verb sıkılmak means "to be bored". It's easier and shorter to say sıkıldım rather than canım sıktı. It's an easy phrase to say, as long as you know your vowels! Notice that when I wrote it I used an i without a dot. If there were an i WITH a dot, the word would change. Sikilmek means "to fuck". I'm sure you can only guess what happened. Of course I messed up the vowels and said "I was fucked" instead of "I was bored".

I have also started teaching some English to people around the office. They can understand it, but they start to get shy when they want to speak. I told them when we first started, "Have confidence in what you say. If you mess up, people will correct you. They might have a good laugh first, but at least you'll learn the correct way of saying something. Trust me. I have a lot of experience with this!"