Merhaba! (Hello!)
      I got an email tonight from Allie, a woman from AFS, confirming that they had received my acceptance forms!!!! I have been paranoid all weekend that they were somehow lost in the deep crevices of the internet, and that I would not be able to go, but my fears have been abated! Thank god. And we have a conference call on Wednesday, which is so exciting!! I want to get my Visa now! Until then I will still have doubts that I can actually go. I have already checked out three books on Turkey, and have TRIED to learn a few words of Turkish... I'll get there eventually :D I would post a picture of my "official" acceptance letter, (which is hanging on my wall because I just can't get enough of it) but my computer's camera doesn't work anymore, and transferring it from my camera takes WAY too much energy! To go off topic a bit here, I want to talk about something that has come to my attention in the past few days. I have heard stories quite a bit recently about girls, everywhere, but mostly in the Middle East, whose families put pressure on them to "not betray their culture." I think this is such a sad view, I mean, how can you keep a culture alive without changing it as the world develops? Modern women cannot be contained in the house and not allowed to have boyfriends or go to parties. They cannot be told what to do by the men above them who think they know best. Well, they can, but they shouldn't. Despite many people's views this puts their daughters and wives in an extremely vulnerable position of ignorance about how the world works. I will probably see this next year, and though it makes me sad, I am interested in how the girls react and how their families are. The men are not necessarily bad people, they simply have a VERY different view of the world than I do. As the wise AFS saying goes "it is not bad or good, it is just different"! So much to learn this year! Well, that's it for tonight, I have to do some homework (...yay)!
Iyi geceler (good night)
(i-yi   ge-j-eler)