My first week...

İt's amazing that it's already been exactly a week since İ got in my new home! Already so much stuff has happened it's felt like İ've been here for a month! My first night here was spent unpacking and talking with Rana about home and everything. İ don't really have any rules except that İ have to be home to eat with my anne(mom) and baba(dad). And of course the rules of rotary (there's more here)... the 5 D's and 1 S... No drugs, driving, drinking, dating, dialing internationally, and smoking.

The next day (Sunday) Rana took me downtown to meet up with Artun so they could show me around a little. We met at a café where İ happily drank water while Rana and Artun both smoked about a pack of cigarettes and smoked a hookah (nargile). İ didn't because İ have a terrible cough ( İ think from the humid city air). Anyways, then they wanted to go to Harry Potter so we walked to the cinema and bought 4 seats (one of Rana's friends was coming) and then walked to meet their friend. Tuğçe (Two-chay) (their friend) is a very small girl with long hair. She went to İowa last year and she was very interested in talking to me. Then we went to the movie. İt was in English with Turkish subtitles so İ enjoyed it very much. İn the middle of the movie, there's a 10 minute break and Rana and Artun went to go get popcorn so me and Tuğçe talked some more. She's very nice. So we finished the movie then went to the pub. We had one beer (rotary said it's a social thing in Europe). İt tasted SOOOOOOO bad! lol...i don't like beer at home and it was nasty here! it was really sweet and tasted yeasty then like ear wax! ugh! Anyways...İ didn't even finish it! So there was a table of boys playing cards next to us and Artun and Rana knew them so they came and sat with us. They were nice. Then we went home and ate and went to bed.

The next day was another busy one! Rana and Artun had to go to a bad part of town to get cheap beads for pins and they said that İ could go there, just not right away because people are "disturbing". So İ went over to Tuğçe's and we were going to go swimming. So we ate breakfast and Rana took me to her house. Tuğçe was eating breakfast too and she gave me a glass of cherry juice, which is now my favorite thing here! Then we went swimming. İt was very hot out so we went to a private spa pool. They also had a room called a steam room where it was very hot and well... steamy. İt was hard to breath in there so we went back into the pool and talked for about an hour and a half. Tuğçe said her mom and her want to be my third family! İ hope it works out because they're very nice! She also told me she wanted to do some things with me... she gives belly dance lessons so she wants to teach me how to do that. She wants to take me to a Turksh bath...yay! And she wants to get me a boyfriend! Ha! But she's going to Germany for 2 weeks so I'll have to wait until she gets back! After swimming we went to the huge mall. İt was about 5 stories and very beautiful! İ bought a dictionary and got 100 Turkish liras so İ could go to the bazar (market) where everything is cheap! Tuğçe's mom met us there too and she bought us matching shirts! They're very cute! After shopping, they took me home and İ ate and Rana and I watched "Made". İt was a very fun day!

The next day we didn't really do much but Anne told me that my dad (baba) and grandma (annenın) would be coming home the next day. Finally İ would get to meet my baba! That day, Anne did house work, Rana did her PowerPoint and İ began reading "The Catcher in the Rye". Rana said it was one of her favorite books and told me to read it. That night we ate and left to go walk downtown. We walked and walked and walked until we got to the Puzzle Café where we went in to rest. Anne bought us nargıle (hookah!) and water and she got herself Turkish coffee. Then we played scrabble as we smoked the hookah. İt's a traditional family thing here. İ actually won Turkish scrabble! (Anne helped me by spelling voltaj...voltage which was worth 42 points!) Then we walked to a taxi (taksi) and we came home and slept.

The next two days were spent with Artun and his rock band friends. They were all very nice and since Artun is leaving, want me to play piano for them! I'm so excited! And the drummer is very cute! They had a radio interview and we went to another pub so they could talk about it and we met up with another girl-a photographer and also chain smoker- Zeynep (Zay-nep). She was very nice and we hit it off right away. İ had so much fun with her because this boy a few tables over kept looking at me so she would tell me to stare him down and we would both burst out laughing. Then he winked at me and we had to go to the bathroom so we wouldn't seem so crazy while we were laughing that hard. Then İ found out she's only 15! Like just turned 15! Crazy! Hmmmm...Over these two days I also met one of my cousins, Ali (ah-lee)-a almost professional clarinet player who is also a chain smoker (out of all the people İ've met so far that are teenagers, me and Tuğçe are the only ones that don't smoke)- and very very cute! And Zelda-my second host mom and Artun's mom- showed me how to make Turkısh coffee and she gave me beautiful jewelry. That day was the day they found out their collages (Rana will go to İzmir, Artun will stay here in Ankara. One of the band member's Effe is going to physics school!) so we had a big dinner with Our family, Ali and his brother, my aunt, my grandma, and Artun. İt was a lot of fun. Then the teens brought out wine which they call dog-killer. Needless to say, it was repulsive. İt was a very fun night and İ learned that Desperate Housewives is the same here as in America, except İ'll see the episodes before you since we're ahead in time! Ha!

That brings me to yesterday, which İ also spent with Tuğçe because Rana went somewhere (İ think to spend the day with Artun because he left today) and İ helped her pack and she showed me a traditional belly dance outfit and let me try a couple things. Then we watched Turkish soap operas and a old Turkish movie together! İt was actually really fun! Then when her mom got home, she showed me how to cook a little bit of Turkish food! Can't wait to show you when İ get home! That night they had their friends over for dinner and İ stayed until the Turkish coffee, which İ began to drink but Anne and Baba came and picked me up, so İ couldn't finish! They were all very nice and İ hope İ go to live there! After that İ came home and began to draw ( that's a flash from the past) and finished reading my book and went to bed.

So that was mostly my first week! İ know that there's more but it's so hard to fit it all in! And İ must go because the neighbors are over!

Sending much love and hugs and kisses from Türkiye!
Emily, Em, Emi, Er-Dogg...*Muah!*

P.S. While we were down town that night with Anne and Rana, Rana bought a scream mask and walked down the street and people were looking at her and saying "Ugly!" and "Scary!". İt was very amusing to watch. People here are actually afraid of that movie! lol... OH! And speaking of movies, despite Harry Potter, they're very far behind in movies. Disturbia just came to the theaters here and Dream Girls is being advertised to come in late August with Evan Almighty! Wow! That means soon İ'll get to watch Hairspray again! Yes!