A Life: Makarna, Türkçe, Kayseri oh my!!!

Merhaba arkadaşlarım! (Hello my friends)

I have officially been in Türkiye for one week (bir hafta), but (ama) I only got to Kayseri yesterday (dün). It has been a crazy time getting here and there was no better feeling than walking out of the airport (havalimanı), and finally meeting my family (ailem). I love them (onları seviyorum) already, and my host siblings, Selin and Ahmet, could not be sweeter (tatlı). The plane ride had been short, but nerve racking. All four of us were scared, and when we got off the plane we had a group hug before heading into our adventure. Today was a chill day spent at home with my mom (annem). I start school (okul) tomorrow (yarın). I want (istiyorum) to explore Kayseri soon, but I don't know (bilmiyorum) when I will. Maybe Zoë and I can figure out the bus system together one day (bir gün).

The past week has been crazy, but relaxing and incredibly fun. Due to MORE delays, it took about thirty-two hours to actually get from New York to Isanbul with absolutely no sleep on my part. However, we had an eight hour layover in Amsterdam, and our chaperone took us into the city for a couple hours. So now we have Dutch stamps in our passports (pasaportlar)!!! And some good pictures to go with it :) We landed in Istanbul at 12:30 A.M., and then waited for two German girls until 2:15. We dropped the tuition AFS kids off at their hotel in Istanbul and then took a very fast, bumpy bus ride to our hotel in Polonezköy, Istanbul. By the time we got settled into our rooms and in bed it was 5:30 A.M., and we were allowed only six hours of sleep before we started our Türkçe (Turkish) lessons. Six hours a day of Türkçe lessons!!!! For seven days!! I know (biliyorum) so much more than I did a week ago, but there is SOOO much more that I can learn. My family (ailem) speaks a little english, but not a lot, so I will learn Turkish, without having absolutely no way to communicate. Big relief!! I owe my little amount of Türkçe to Ipek, ögretmenim (our teacher). She was fantastic. Beyond fantastic. I was awed at the amount of patience she had with our abysmal Türkçe, and her ability to teach us the language IN TURKÇE!! That's all she spoke to us! Çok güzel (very awesome).

The hotel (otel) itself was fantastic. It had a beautiful pool that we swam in once, and due to the fact that it is a new hotel, we were pretty much the only people there. We became friends with (ile) the waiters, the cooks, and the manager, and played ping pong (masa tenisi) and fusbol (langert) with them. They got to know us too. They knew to place two (iki) extra chairs at the table so the eight YES students could sit together, and they knew to put out coke and ice for Alden. They were also incredibly patient with our embarrassing Türkçe skills. We messed up so often!!! The hotel, although a hotel, gave us pretty good food, and introduced us to the Türkçe concept of food. DAHA (MORE)!!!! Especially towards the end of our stay when they were more comfortable with us, they would joke with us by piling our plates (tabaklar) with more and more meat and laugh as they walked away, knowing we couldn't finish it. Ahhhh, good times. The first day at the hotel we experienced a classic exchange student miscommunication. Zoë and I woke up (we were roommates) and went down to have lunch. The AFS staff told the waiters that she was vegetarian, but apparently that's not really a thing here, because they were extremely confused. Instead of the main course, they brought her a plate of pasta (makarna). A plate FILLED with pasta!! Completely filled. To the edges! But that's not it :D There was some confusion with my plate as well, so as I was cracking up about Zoë's plate, the waiter placed the exact same plate of food in front of me. All we could do was laugh. Because (çünkü) that's what we do as exchange students when there is nothing else to do. We laugh at ourselves!!! The rest of the week was filled with fun and many more laughable mistakes (although none so big as the makarna incident)!

We thought we were a close group at the PDO, but last week surpassed anything we had expected. The hotel had an astroturf lawn with umbrellas (şemsiye) and huge multicolored pillows that was perfect for lounging about on. On the last night we took all of the pillows and piled them into a huge nest/bed. We almost fell asleep there, but forced ourselves back to our rooms. Bu hayat (this is life)!

So one week after we landed in Türkiye, I boarded another plane with (ile) Zoë, Tommy, and Christian, and a short fifty-eight minutes (elli dokuz dakika) later, we were in our new home. Scared out of our minds, but unbelievably excited. Last night I met my grandparents, one of my aunts, and one of my cousins. To my grandparents I performed the respectful gesture of kissing their hand and then putting it to my forehead. I couldn't understand anything they were saying, but I kept hearing tatlı (sweet), so I guess I was ok! I met one of my mom's (annem) friends (arkadaş) this morning (sabah), and her sister. Another aunt! Lots of people (insan)! My apartment is on a big street, and we are on the top floor. I can see a mosque out of window, and a little bit of Mount Erciyes! I will get used to this someday, but that's not today :)

The highlight of my day was dancing with my mom, brother and sister to Gangnam Style sonra (after) dinner, and all the times my mom and I understood what the other was saying. It's these little things that you take for granted back home that matter so much here when you are so out of your comfort zone. Çok güzel <3

I write this blog while listening to the absolutely beautiful call to prayer (ezan) from the multiple mosques (cami) near my apartment. It seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Like it is sounding from the heavens themselves. It will be a long time until I stop admiring this sound (even when it wakes me up early in the morning like it did today!).

Ok (tamam), I must go to bed now so I can be ready for school tomorrow (okul). First day. Ohmygosh!! Görüşürüz! (goodbye)

Xoxo, Izzy