Adventures In Türkiye!: November 2010

I just returned from an AFS Trip to Kapadokya (Cappadocia). It was my second time going and we actually stayed at the same hotel as I did before! The whole point of the trip was mainly for orientation/session purposes. We spent the majority of our time (4 students from Samsun, and us 4 from Trabzon) at the hotel discussing different things; about our past, present, future, etc. How we were doing in our exchange so far, any problems or issues we faced, conflict & resolution, stereotypes, and so forth. All the sessions were very interesting. In one session, we talked about our childhood memories. Embarrassing moments, how we used to act. It was weird because I remembered how shy I really was as a child. How I'd often hide behind my parents whenever I'd meet new people, how I wouldn't talk with anyone unless I knew them well. During recess while other kids were playing together I'd usually be hiding behind some bushes talking or singing to myself. Of course I completely changed and have become a very outgoing person, although I still can be shy sometimes, I guess I just hide it pretty well. When I looked back at how different I was- I think to how far I've come. All those years, I never thought that I'd be living in a foreign country. That I'd become this outgoing. I figured I'd be extremely shy here considering the language barrier, but I'm actually not shy at all. I know I may sound stupid when I speak, but I've just become so comfortable. Its a great feeling. On the second to last day, we went adventuring around Kapadokya. We saw lots of beautiful things, including the underground city where the Christians used to live and hide from their enemies. We had lots of interesting meals together, especially at the hotel considering the massive amount of food served. During our stay we all decided to go get a Hamam. Now this was pretty hilarious. For all of you that don't know what that is, its basically a Turkish bath. So all of us went (even the guys..hahaha) and we swam in the pool and went in the sauna first. There was a French guy chilling in the sauna. We tried to communicate in French. Considering I've taken it for 3 years I'd figured it would be easy, but none of us could remember how to speak it! It was hilarious but scary at the same time. Everything I tried to say I'd automatically translate into Turkish. Anyway, the actual Hamam part was us going into a big room with lots of bowls, soap, and water. Let's just say that was a lot of fun, and we were all very clean after! The last day together we went back to the U.S. Embassy for a check-up. We got some American candy to celebrate Halloween which was very comforting:) Heading back to Trabzon was sad because I knew it would be a little while before I saw my Samsun friends again, especially since Cristina went to Istanbul. It's a holiday here in Turkey, starting on Tuesday they sacrifice animals and feed everyone for free, including all the poor. The moral of the holiday is good, but I hate to see animals die, especially since I'm a vegetarian. So I suppose this will be interesting. LuckilyI have this whole week off from school and turkish class so I'll get to sleep and relax. Yay! Soon I'll be taking belly-dancing classes and traditional turkish art classes....SO EXCITING! That's about it for now. FOTOĞRAFLAR: