Traveling in October...

So its been a while and so much has happened!!! İ will start with my traveling...and just hit the main points cuz i dont have too long...

Ok so first was Kemer...back on October 10th-14th...Kemer is a southern coast resort city 10 km from Antalya (if you have a map handy)... Me and Vanessa were taken there with our rotary club memebers and their families for a holiday called the Cnady Holiday which marks the end of Ramazan... The resort was BEAUTİFUL!!! and all inclusive...we made friends on the bus there and made many more during our stay...during the day we tanned, played beach volleyball, boche ball, water polo, and did crazy things on the slides...we ate a LOT since it was buffett style all the time and i had so much cherry juice that im surprised my pee wasnt red!!! The sea was surprisingly warm so we swam in it twice...and at night we went to the hotel disco and danced with the rotarians...it was a great time and i loved it! Afterwards, my parents were getting back the day after i got back so i got to stay with my club president...all i can say is WOW!!!! His house was HUGE! İt was 4 stories and built around a garden and just beautiful!! And they pretty much made me miss school on monday...instead we went to a movie and played Backgamon with their daughter in law named Tuba...lol...i went home at 7 and pretty much went to bed since i was so tired...

On Tuesday İ went to school and everyone was in high spirits about meeting our district’s exchnage students and traveling to Kapadokya...The day went by surprisingly fast and İ went to bed early in order to be fully energized the next day...unfortunatly, İ couldnt fall asleep since İ was so excited so the next day İ was tired...
İnitial meetings were good...the numbers were good...11 Brazilians, 8 Mexicans, 4 Americans, 2 Canadians, 1 İndian, and 1 Tawainese...The meeting all day was uneventful and almost the same as the first one İ attended...it was nice to see the people from the first one and already İ loved the others that had joined us...We got to introduce ourselves and Corinne became known as Brabie Girl when she said “Hi! My name is Corinne and my favorite color is pink!!” There were quite a few funny things that happened that day. My favorite was when we were talking about why host families might not want boys with their girls (host or real)...Eduardo (the biggest trouble making Brazilian) raised his hand stood up and said:
“İ wouldnt want to date their daughter anyways because her dad will fu** me and then cut off this (holds up finger) or my dic*!!!”
Everyone stared at him with their jaws dropped and Gülin (the main lady) yelled at him for using such vulger language although she said he was probably right. After the meeting İ went home and packed...today İ fell asleep immidiatly...ready to wake up at 8 the next day to be at the bus station at 9...

So İ woke up a little late but I just put on fat comfy pants and a sweatshirt and just brushed my hair...At the bus station, almost eveyrone, including Gülin was late!! So we finally left around 10 and went to Atatürk’s mausoleum...it was ok, but eveyrone was so friendly and fun and we took many many pictures with eachother!!! There were also a lot of pictures of the guards because like every 15 minutes, they would switch sides and they walked really funny...So we kind of got pushed through the museum but the actual monument was AMAZİNG!!!! The ceiling was pure gold and the building itself was 18 meters high!!! while there was a casket type thing, Atatürk is actually buried 10 meters down and is surrounded by soils from 80 different cities in Türkiye!!! İt was an amazing tour...

The bus ride was very long, but it pretty fun!!!! We danced on the bus (one of the brazilians had speakers you oculd plug your ipod or mp3 player into to!!! We also stopped at the “Salt Lake” which wasnt a lake at all, but a HUGE plain of sand!!!! İt was amazing!!! But İ was more intrigued by the pet ostrichs they had and we wanted a feather so we were trying to ditract it with a bottle to grab one...needless to say, we didnt get one since we were too afraid to grab one!!! The bus ride was a huge bonding experience, unfortunatly, the Brazilians had already made their own clique and some people just didnt talk...İ had a lot of fun though!!!

Once we got there we played the Brazilian version of Ghost int he Graveyard...it was really fun and i will be sure to spread that one around next summer camping :D We then ate...and then the hotel had a keyboard player and we started dancing adn he let us plug our ipods into the sound system so we danced from 9-12...it was SO much fun!!!!!
The next day we traveled around to the open air museums which we churches decorated with beautiful pictures painted from pigeon egg yolks and dye...they were AMAZİNG!!! We also went hiking through a valley...the huge cliffs around us had many holes in them that were used by the Christians that were hiding from the Romans...İt was very interesting...We also went to a Onnyx factory...we got to see a demonstration about how it was made and then given 45 minutes to shop around...After we left there it was 7-ish and they told us the plans for tomorrow and that they were taking us out dancing! So we go back to the hotel and the girls all run to get ready...im room mates with thassila and we talk for a while and majo and nancy come and i straiten both our their hairs...then they go to change...i put on jeans and my black and gold sequin tank and thassila's jean jacket and go to find majo...i knock on her door and when its open i almost die because of the smell of perfume and hairsray that comes out...like every girl is in there getting ready...no joke!!! and they're all wearing little tiny skirt and dresses and tons of make up...We eat dinner and they discover these peppers...it starts at the boy table (yeah we're pretty segregated by gender since the girls took SO long to get ready) and the boys are crying while eating them...im like "come on! they cant be that hot!" so they brought them over to the girl table and give themt o vaness and corinne...they both cry and begin shoving salt, bread, fruits and veggies into their mouths...their make up is running (but they fixed it after) so then they bring over some more for me, majo, nancy, and kayla (the other americans)...we all eat them...it was HOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!! but i didnt cry...my nose did sweat a little and i begin eating salt and bread too...my eyes watered but i wasnt ruining my make up!!!! but it was HOTTTTTT!!!! it was like drinking tobassco sauce!!!! So now the girls have another 30 minute primping session and i help some of them...but i dont see why they're making such a big deal...but whatever...so we go to the "club" and its a bar called the Flintstone Cave Pub...and we had to ask for music and it started off slow but it was SOOOO funny to see all those girls there dressed up like that...hahhaha...so i had a great time but a lot of the girls complained the whole night about the place...it wasnt so bad though...
The next day was really full again...we went to a pottery place and saw demos there and one boy from mexico got to try to mold it on the pottery wheel...it was funny :D Next we went to the other side of kapadokya to see a college that was like ANCİENT!!!! it was CRAZY!!! it was like a cave classroom!!! weird...we picked up some college students to go to our next stop...they had someone from each country go up in the bus microphone and sing...it was FUNNNNYYYYYY!!!!!!!!! Our next stop was a wine farm as they called it...it was interesting...we got to see them getting the grape juice out...it was a guy down in the cemet block type thing with a sack of grapes...he put on rubber boots and stepped on the grapes...it was gross watching it too because the juice came out like borwn-gray...we learned that they put clay in with the grapes too so they wont be bitter...that explains the color...afterwards we had a barbeque...After the barbeque we left and went to meet th İzmir district for a half an hour! They were AMAZİNG and very funny!!! Unfortunately we learned that it was the only time we would get to meet them...it was bittersweet...but SO much fun! we were singinga dn dancing and we learned this brazilian thing called the crab...i will show you when i get back :D After that, we went to a wine tasting place (Kapadokya is famous for 3 things...Wine, pottery, and the caves) adn then back to the hotel to get ready for Turkish Night...
Turkish Night in itself was AMAZİNG!!! İ got really dressed up (like my black and white dress and white heels...and a flower in my hair!!!) and we ate and went there...there was free food and drinks...some people abused the wine...mostly the brazilians :D So there were dancers...mostly traditional and we were screaming the whole time and they would pay special attention to us...then the belly dancer came and she took guys from the audience (usually fat old guy) and then they took Eduardo from our section!!!! We was surprisingly god but claimed that the wine helped ;) After everyone cam down and did the traditional turkish wedding dance (İ'll teach that too) and then they played music and people just danced around...it was fun...
The night day was sad since we were leaving but we were taken to the underground city immediatly in the morning...İt was layers and layers of carved out "houses" so were about 4 layers down when Eduardo (who puked 7 times the ngiht before) leaned over a wall and began puking...it was DİSGUSTİNG!!!! So we went down 7 layers and back out...it was interesting...So we stopped to eat at this cute little restaraunt in a valley...İt was a fun last meal together...on the bus, practically everyone slept...We stopped once...and suddenly we were in Ankara...Goodbyes were terribly sad and we all promised to send pictures and e-mail and visit...and we knew we'd see each other at christmas but it was still sad...The whole next week was sad...we all cried in school because it was Rafa's birthday and her host family forgot...and seeing her cry and the missing the rest of our "family" was enough for everyone to cry too...thats how close we got :(

So the next weekend was another holiday and İ went with my rotary to Sinop, a city on hte most northern point of Türkiye...İ was the only one my age, but was immediatly adopted by some little girls 12 and under, who called my Emily Abla--Big Sister Emily...We toured this one place that was at first a castle with walls that were 18 meters high and on the sea side, 20 meters...After being a castle, it was made into a prison until 1985 when it was closed and turned into a open air museum...it was disgustingly ancient and anyone put there was considering "in exile"...it was dirty and wet and very bad people were put there...And it just closed 20 years ago!!! We also ate lots of fish there (its famous for fish since its on the black sea) amoung it was flat fish!!!! it was really good!!!!
So on the way back we stopped for lunch and our bus moved so we walked around in a slight drizzle to find it...finally we did and its by another bus...another rotary bus...so we take a picture with them and suddenly i see Aloizio, a brazilian, gets off!!!!!!!! İt was SOOOOO good to see him!!!! İt was only a week but felt like years!! İt was a good story and it fueled my tuesday (monday was the holiday) at school!!!

So those were my travels...i will have to do another blog about holidays...Thankgiving and my birthday...and i will put links on here for pictures too!!! And share more stories!!!

Much love!!!!!
Hugs and Kisses!!!!!!!
XOXOXOOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO!!!!!
MUAH MUAH MUAH MUAH MUAH MUAH!!!!!!!
Em, Emi, Emily, Er-Dogg