Wonderful wonderful weekend!

This weekend I spent hanging with İpek, Levent & Yiğit. They are really the best taking me under their wings! At Café Bien at friday and saturday night, the most popular bar in Ankara (and it's no problem wearing short pants), always crowded!

Sunday breakfast (and lunch.... and afternoon coffee...) me and Levent spent at a café with vue over the city. We were eating so much I felt dizzy. Later the other joined us and we met Kağan who invited us to barberque party the same night at his brothers house.

But before that we went to a sea outside Ankara and had a great time relaxing, drinking beer and watching the sunset. Need I even say that the dinner at Erkans place also was great...?

I don't want to leave Ankara now!!!!

Victory day

Today was victory day in Turkey. The origin of the day was when the Turks won the final battle against Greece in the Turkish War of Independence in 1922.
Not much fuzz today really, but everyone was hanging out the turkish flag from their windows and this morning me and my turkish family watched a big cermony with thousands and thousands of soliders on tv.

Climbing Ankara

Today Ismail (the french guy) and I desided to see the over 1000 year old castle. Or it was more my choise and I forgot that Ismail is doing Ramazan... The castle turned out to be really really high up and it was almost 40 degrees, we were melting away. But no water for Ismail, poor guy, but no complaints, impressing!

It was so worth it thoug, the vue was amazing!!

Babam

Yesterday the dad in my turkish family came back from their summer house in Bodrum, so it was the first time I met him. I did almost expect him to be really horrible, beacause everything else with this month was to good to be true, but he was just as nice as Gülnaz and Tarık!

We had tea yesterday and today breakfast and we talked about all kind of stuff and he teaches me words in turkish and control that I still remember the 5 minutes later, just as my own dad would do.

He found the snus in the fridge to my friend in Istanbul so I showed him this video: :)

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/274364/1867535

İsveç İsviçre

İsveç = Sverige
İsviçre = Schweiz

Now I understand why everyone ask if I speak french...

Construction site

This site would no way pass the security requirements in Sweden! But I was happy to see a construction site again, and interesting to see how it works here. After taking this picture there came three men and said that I could not photograph there. I smiled and pretended I didn't understand turkish.

Free time

My turkish is making huge improvments, even though it's not as fast as I would like. I wasn't aware but am (apparently) really stressed about this.

But I took a break from the homework yesterday to visit one of the biggest shopping centers here in Ankara, Ankamall. It was enormous!!! It had at least three Starbuck - (or it could have been the same three times, because) I was lost big time! Five pair of shoes later I finally found my way out...

I always speak turkish with the clerks - and they always answear in english! But I continue to speak turkish - and they continue to speak english... wtf....

I played tavla with Julian too, I discovered that I had a lot more to learn in this fantastic game...!

1. Julian playing Tavla (Backgammon)
2. Ankamall

1. Jaïra and me studying at a roof terrace-café.
2. Me and Lena saw a wild turtle when we were studying in the Botanic garden

İnstead of Red Bull...

Even though Red Bull is one think I really love about life I somethimes think that it would be good to find an alternative (Red Bull sugarfree is so hard to find here, but I finally did!!).

Fresh pressed juice on the way to school, they have it everywhere here!!! Healthy as hell.

Tarık has left the house

Tarık, the son in my family now left for holiday in Bodrum. Sad, I will miss him!

Wonderful Tarık and Gülnaz!

İpek, we miss you!

İpek was the one who took care of three lost blonds the first days in Ankara. She shared a lot of important knowledge and other good-to-know-stuff, but most of all - we had so much fun! Come back to us soon! :)

Five hour lunch at Cafe Miz, the place of our dreams!

After lunch İpek took us to the top of Sheraton Hotel

I could see my house from there!

More Eskişehir

Ramazan

Ramazan started a couple of days ago. Feels like Turkey is moving in slow motion...

30 days without eating during sunlight to burn away your sins and show Allah your belief. We were told not to walk the streets when sun sets because then people would rush home like a hord of gnus and there were risk to be trampled to death. This is not the case. Instead people are sleeping through the days and celebrating the dark with big feasts where people come togheter and eat.

This weekend we were woken up by the Ramazan drummer, who walks the streets and waking people up for last meal before dawn. Cool experience, but this month I'm going to sleep with earplugs!

Weekend in Eskişehır

This weekend I spent with my hero Musa (I would probably never arrived to Ankara at all without him) in Eskişehir. Eskişehir is his hometown so he showed me all the good places! Really idyllic city with a lot of young peole and old anatolian houses. Only 1,5h by train from Ankara.

Musa made me a really good backgammon player too! Now I'm ready to roll!

"- Romans played Backgammon, and they ruled the world."

Anatolıan houses

A boat trip on the river

The Tavla master!

Really cool night club, pity it was empty because of Ramazan..

Beautiful place to spend a sunday!

Still unclear who won the gocart contest!

Nice with a beach in the city.

More pıcs to come!

Turkısh dreams...

Yesterday after 4h lession (and lunch at Julıans anca) went home to study for 7h before I got to bed. I dreamed about turkısh frases all nıght. Got up at 6.00 today to countınue wıth my homework. Practısed glosserys durıng breakfast. Thınk I'm goıng crazy...

Beer at the University

Yesterday Alperen and Özgür took us to dinner in Tunali and then we got a tour to their old university "Middle East Technical University", considered the best research university in Turkey. The area of the campus is 25 km2 (!!, feels like half Ankara), and it was like the university was its own very beautiful city. We went to the bar there with view over whole Ankara. I got my first beer since I got here, wiho! Thanks guys, görüşürüz!

Dolmuş

Today I was able to get the dolmuş to stop right outside my door! I love the dolmuşes here, smartest transportation ever! They are minibuses without bus stops, so when you want to get on you just stand by the side of the road and wave graciously and one will stop for you. Then it takes 10min to school in Kizilay. Cheep too, 1.75 lira (0.80 euro).

The problem is when I go home. First days I didn't even know where I lived... Then I knew, but was never able to get the driver to stop in time (how hard can it be to understand "Stop please"). Now I know the area and can ask the driver to stop in turkish, huge success!

The funniest part is to pay. If you sit in the back you can give the money to the person in front and then the whole bus will pay it forward to the driver, and then they pay the change backward. It amuses me as much every time!

The big dolmuş station in Kizilay.

At school

No sunbathıng in Ankara

Today was (as usual) over 30 degrees and sunny so after class I thought I would sit in a park to do my homework. I looked at my map and picked one close to home, Dikmen Vadisi. It was a fantastic park and it was only me and some guards (why?!) there. It was forbidden to sit in the grass (I learned by experience...) so sat on a bench in the sun. Thought I was going to get some sun on my legs, but no, "Problem" said the guard. Happ. Why?!?

I love Turkey anyway.

Kapadocia

Here are some more pictures from the weekend:

People used to live inside this mountains.

In one of the 40 underground cities in the area. Used from the bronze age by christians for defense and religious purposes. Some of them are so big that a Japanese tourist got lost and died!

The lunch place.

One of the Kapadokian cities by night.




I also attended Merts swearing class level 1, waiting for my exam!