Tourists' Delight

This post will be brief, but hopefully I will write more tomorrow!

Ilke picked anne and me up at home and took us to the tiny old part of the city. It was really what I had imagined all of Turkey was going to look like. There were cobbled streets and steep hills and copper vendors and scarves and rugs and pipes and jewelry. There was a big broken down old citadel at the top made out of even older scraps of Roman ruins. You could see bits and pieces of old carvings in some of the stones. There were shops all over the streets around it, as well as inside the walls. It was beautiful and crazy. But, as is the reality with many historic cities, I think, the parts that I as I tourist found most charming were considered by my Ankara-native companions to be the most out-dated and touristy. Of course. But everything was actually very beautiful and very, very inexpensive. I got a ton of presents for people and also a few nice things for myself! I hope you guys are looking forward to your Christmas mail!

We also went to a beautiful little museum that was the converted house of a very rich, early 20th c. automobile mogul family. It was very nice, pictures to follow.

I am actually hesitant to post the pictures from today (taken with Ilke's astoundingly clear camera phone) as I think it will give everyone the wrong picture of what my life has looked like so far. This trip was beautiful, but visually, it was a very outdated representation of the Ankara I've really been living in. I think I will wait until I have my other rolls of film developed. Sorry!

Tonight, we had Ilke and Kivanc over for dinner. Afterwards, starting at about eleven or eleven thirty, I goaded everyone (but baba, who had gone to bed) into playing a round of Okey. It was SO FUN. Everyone was loud and crazy there was a lot of heavy ribbing going on in a lot of different languages. Ilke and I were on one team, Kivanc and his mom on the other. Anne, of course, won a ton of games, but I am very proud to say that I either matched or beat her record. I think I won about seven rounds. It was great. BUT, at the very end, in a huge last-round tie, Kivanc got a lucky hand and WON. And it was only his second round win! Awful. He was gloating like a maniac.

I tell you all of these game details because it just ended ten minutes ago--at 2:30 a.m.! We take our Okey seriously.

Tomorrow, I am being driven by my current anne to meet my next anne to get my school uniforms. I'll let you know how it goes.

I've had a really nice day.

Love,

Natalie