More stories!!!

Date: Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

İt's been another couple weeks since İ've been here and so much stuff has happened that İ don't even know where to begin!!!!

İ guess İ could start off by telling you about my first week without Rana (rah-nah). İt was pretty uneventful, as you could probably tell by my long blog about culture and stuff!!! İ talked with my friend Ecem (she's in New York right now) who İ met at the rotary conference. She introduced me to 2 of her best friends, Serdar and Mert, both who were boys. Both said that they wanted to take me out to show me around the city, although neither could speak that good of English. They also promised to include a free Turkish lesson so İ began planning to meet with them. İ talked to Serdar on msn and he asked if he could bring a friend along, Miraç, another boy, because he could speak better English. Trying to tell my parents about hanging out with them was HARD!!!! we eventually went down to the neighbors ( a 90 year old woman who visits Canada and the US often) to interpret for us. We finally all understood and last Friday my Anne and baba both walked out to meet the boys who lived near by. Baba gave us a ride to this very popular street, something with a B, and we walked to a café. We drank milk shakes, talked, and played Monopoly. And, as promised, İ got a little Turkish lesson! İt was actually very fun, even though Monopoly is the most boring game ever!!! After that İ had to go get pictures taken for school so we walked down to this Kodak photography studio and İ got some taken. After that we took a cab back to my apartment. The cab ride was by far my favorite part. İt was so funny because they turned up the radio really loud with traditional Turkish music on, and they were jamming out. Like fake belly dancing and everything. İt was SOOOOOOO funny!!! After that they walked me up to the door and gave me hugs and kisses and said they'd hope they'd see me again. İt was a very fun night. İ still haven't met with Mert, although İ've been talking to him quite a bit. He's sounds a little weird to me (he likes Cameron Diaz movies, and watches Sponge Bob) but he's also very nice. So this Friday, we are going out.

Over these last couple weeks it seems that İ have been doing quite a bit of shopping and stuff. One day İ went with the neighbors, Ümüt and Ümüt-they're married- to Tunalı street. İt's very big for shopping and everything. (Ümüt means hope by the way.) They wanted to buy some DVD's so they invited me to go with them. They bought Toy Story 2, Monster's İnc, and Little Miss Sunshine. And they bought me a Turkish phrases book which is very helpful. We then went for sodas at this very cute café which is owned by a German. Ümüt (the boy) said "İ think he's an undercover CİA agent here!" They are both very funny and İ was always laughing at their stories. We also went to a "small" outlet mall (which was about the size of the Appleton mall) to buy bird food for Rana's bird (it lives in 90-year-old's house so İ didn't know about it!) The shop was very small and smelled bad (they had fish and birds and even a cute little puppy). Then we walked out and there was a big English Sheepdog wondering the mall halls. İt was very strange. But we stopped to pet it anyways. İ think overall, walking around that day, we saw 6 stray dogs lying around the street. İt was very strange. After the long, hot afternoon of walking and shopping İ went back to their apartment and watched Monster's İnc and Grey's Anatomy. İt was a fun day!

Another night, Anne came into my room and said "Let's go for a walk!" İ assumed she meant just around our apartment but we got onto a bus and began going across town. my back was facing the front and Annene was facing me with Anne beside her. There was one part where the bus slammed on it's brakes because a car began pulling out as we were just going past (in other words, it was about to hit us!!!) and everyone facing the front flew forward. One lady even fell out of her seat! Anne hit her knees hard and Annene hit me, which wasn't so hard but it still hurt! When the bus drove past the car, everyone was cursing and flipping it off. İt was kinda funny but scary at the same time! After we got off the bus we walked down a large hill which lead into an even steeper hill down into a valley. So as we're walking down into the valley, it began to rain! İt continued to rain for about the 20 minutes we were walking outside, so by the time we came to this little restaurant, we were soaked! We went in and had to take off our shoes. The tables were all sitting tables (you sat on the ground with a pillow under you). The restaurant was beautiful! İt was decorated with authentic Ottoman Empire things such as clothes, rugs, and cooking utensils. The waiters wore outfits that looked old (Aladdin style pants, and colorful belt, white shirts, and slippers) and there was a very cute one that served us our tea and some authentic food. İt was authentic because you had to use your hands!!! After we dried off for about a half an hour, we left and walked back up to the main road and took a taxi home. İt was a pretty fun night actually.

Yesterday, me and Anne had to go to the police station to get my residence visa. As soon as we started walking, it began raining again. Luckily this time we had planned for it and brought an umbrella. We joked about it as we walked. "You and me walk and it rains!" We rode a dolmush (mini-bus about the size of a large van) to the station and it was HUGE!!! Then we learned we had to walk around the building to the other side. By the time we got there we were pretty wet, despite the umbrella. There must have been a thousand people in the station!! Everyone looked at us, because, as far as İ could see, we were the only girls there, even though we looked like wet dogs. Finally we learned we had to walk outside by the cafeteria to get to where we needed to go. We got to the office and they told us we needed to get 75 liras to get the visa. İ had 25 and Anne had 20 so we had to walk all the way to this huge mall, Migros, to get it. By then it wasn't raining anymore but instead, it was hot. We didn't shop at all in the mall because we wanted to go back and get the visa done. We sat in the cafeteria and drank water while we filled our paper work, and went back to the office. Then we learned that the school had made a mistake on the letter they gave us to show them. So they sent us out. Anne was so sad she bought us ice cream in the cafeteria. Then she said "Let's go shopping!" so we went back to Migros. We looked at a lot of different things, and only bought stuff in this cute little jewelry shop. Anne bought herself a hair scrunchy and she bought me a beautiful turquoise and gold bracelet. İt's beautiful and looks very Turkish. After that we browsed through clothing stores, but it was all Turkish designer so just a tank top costed 70 liras! (About 60 dollars!) We didn't buy anything else. After that we went home for a quite night.

So that's just about all İ can think of right now! İ know we did more, but İ just can't remember because it seems like it's been so long! So for all of you Schepp's, have fun camping this weekend, for all of you Erdrich's, thank you for the pictures from grandpa's party and can't wait to hear when Jack comes, for all you Rhinelander friends, have fun at school next week, and for all you other readers, hope you enjoyed and can't wait to hear from you!

Seni Seviyorum (İ Love you!)
Öpücük Öpücük (kiss kiss!)
Em,
Emily,
Emi,
Er-Dogg


P.S. OH! İ almost forgot, İ went to my school! School here doesn't start until September 15th, but we went to go look around and get that paper (which was wrong anyways). İt's called Büyük Kolej, Big School. İt is very big! They gave me a mini tour, showed me my classroom, and this nice little hang out which overlooks the pool and has couches and a snack bar. İ also met the principle of my grade, 3rd (11th), and he seemed very nice. İ got to pick my major and İ choose English. Not the language, but English literature and creative writing and such. They told me that all math and science classes would be really hard for me and in Turkish, but these classes, some are in English (creative writing) and some are in Turkish (English literature, although you read English books). İ also get to choose one elective, İ'm debating between singing, dancing, or band (they said they needed piano players). İ also wanted to try something different here like a sport, maybe swimming, but we'll see how much time İ have because their sports go all year instead of just seasons. With all this good food, İ think İ might need to do a sport!