Welcome to Ankara, where this weekend kind of rocks.

Well this weekend in Ankara is the festival of the fests....

all the universities in the city are having a spring festival, which includes rides, games, food and concerts at night!! It already has been a redeeming quality of the city. Last night we went to the festival at METU which i can only refer to as Turkish Woodstock. METU stands for Middle East Techonology University, and its an American affiliated university. This was apparent when we stepped onto campus and felt a much more american like vibe. We looked around and saw people dressed gothic, like hippies, like preps, like any other typical clique. Then, gasp, we saw minorities! Asian, black, hispanic, white, it was one of the most amazing things! The concert was awesome, the first band being a turkish/irish sounding fusion band. Naturally I bought devil horns to wear for the night, and jamar got an angel halo, and together we single handedly started chaos in the dust pit. there were fire spinners and hamburgers, and i thought to myself, as awesome as this is, i am a bit homesick.

Since Gil left, I have been feeling a little bit homesick, which is an a-typical feeling for me. so, i have decided to make a list of things that i miss from home (im sure more will be added).

WHAT I CAN'T WAIT FOR IN THE US (in no particular order)

1) Bacon/ pork products
2) My family
3) My Friends
4) Gil-time
5) Cool Whip
6) Fluffernutters/ good peanut butter
7) English
8) Diversity
9) Angry people who hate tourists and foreigners
10) concerts
11) Barbecue
12) Cheeseburgers
13) Potato and Mac salad (and all other bbq essentials)
14) Kraft Mac and Cheese
15) Kellogg Cereal
16) Hershey's Chocolate
17) Good chinese food
18) fried chicken
19) Political correctness (never expected i would miss that)
20) People acting their age
21) HULU
22) No internet websites being blocked
23) Blondes who dye their roots
24) People with 2 seperate eyebrows
25) Sour Cream and Cream cheese
26) Ben and Jerry's not being 10 lira a pint
27) Lack-o-Ataturk
28) Freedom of Speech
29) People thinking I am spanish, not turkish
30) cheap alcohol
31) House parties
32) Bonfires
33) S'mores
34) The Cape
35) ground beef that is NOT kofte
36) A1 steak sauce
37) Milk that is purchased cold
38) the legal system
39) threats and blackmail
40) lack of techno music
41) Mike Lee parties
42) Peking Garden
43) Mini-golf
44) driving
45) not being treated like a baby
46) no subtitles
47) substantial conversations
48) Oprah
49) Vinnie
50) clam chowder



thats all for now

G

Welcome to Ankara, yup...it stil sucks.

Back in Ankara.

This morning I dropped off Gil at the airport :( I was very sad to see him go but we had a great vacation together.

Then I went back to TOBB for the day.

Then one of the students called me fat.




I hate this place.

Welcome to Romania, where everything is almost perfect, minus all the poverty, pollution and weirdness.

So Gil officially brought my charger with him when he came to visit so I have computer power once again!!!

He arrived safe and sound, even though an Icelandic volcano threatened him and all the germans aboard his flight from taking off. Apparently the germans got angry about the hour delay….and the power of angry germans is stronger than any volcano.

Anyways, Gil arrived and in 5 minutes I showed him all around Ankara as we promptly planned our escape. A few days later we boarded a 4 and a half hour express train to Istanbul. 6 and a half hours later we made it. We made our way to taksim where we knew we would instantly befriend the Hotel Marble staff with their quirky attitudes and sarcastic humor. We spent the next few days exploring some of the sights, while continuously encountering the same asian man who kept motioning for us to photograph him by various statues, buildings, fountains and/or flower beds. In fact, I kind of miss him….

Finally the day came where we boarded a plane to our next destination…ROMANIA!

Random, I know, but you know how I have been all about the economically depressed countries this past year. Plus, Romania is super cheap, and Gil loves metal, so we figured a solid Transylvanian trip was in order. We landed in Bucharest and immediately got accosted by a horrendously annoying taxi driver who took us to our hotel and then tried to scam us out of tons of money. We got dinner, and noticed how Bucharest strongly resembled purgatory, so we swore we would wake up early to get the hell out of dodge in the morning.

If only it had been that easy…..

After traveling about an hour in the wrong direction, a young high school age romanian openly laughed at our misfortune and helped get us back on track. We finally made it to the train station and headed over to Brasov…probably the best city in the world.

No seriously, that’s their slogan.

Brasov is a famous Transylvanian town, evident by its gothic churches, towers, and Hollywood like sign that looks down upon the city from a mountain top…strange.

One of the hotel reception men had mentioned how he had traveled to boston last year….boom another hotel friend. We climbed to the top of the towers, went into the oh-so-creepy Black Church, and walked up and down the medieval streets eating some of the best (and cheapest) food I have had in a while. Shout out to the Bellagio restaurant, I miss you guys and thanks for the free shots!

One day we decided to travel slightly outside of Brasov to a town called Bran. There lies a eerie Castle, often called “Draculas castle” (even though the Real Vlad Tepes lived in the southern area of Wallachia). However the winding tunnels and creaky boards made me worried that a vampire would jump out at any time….and by vampire I mean tourist.

Naturally I forced Gil to wear the vampire teeth I had purchased for the majority of pictures we took. In fact the phrase “Put ya teeth in” is now synonymous with “Oh Gil, this scenery looks pleasant, perhaps we should capture this moment with a photograph”

We then made our way to quaint little sightsoara, the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler. Talk about medieval Transylvania, this town loved Dracula like Mackenzie loves greasy rattails. We climbed up to a citadel, walked around the town, and stayed in a hotel that was over 400 years old! If I had woken up in the middle of the night to a vampire sucking my blood, I wouldn’t even be mad.
After sightsoara we made our way to the underground, subterranean cavernous nightclubs of cluj. Cluj actually rocked pretty hard, it was a student city with tons of people our age….who (gasp) rode bikes and jogged on the street. This is something I had not witnessed since leaving the good ol US. We were walking around the botanical gardens (which looked like Jurassic park mind you- trust me, I spent the entire time imitating various prehistoric creatures) when all of a sudden it began to rain, we took hiding in a café and then decided to just walk around for a few hours until we needed to catch our train…at 11 at night.

As luck would have it, we stumbled across a reptile exhibit!! Seeing as how I miss my Vinnie so much, I begged Gil to go inside (actually he happily agreed, though I felt the term “begged” more accurately showed my excitement to enter the reptile exhibit). We walked into a sketchy underground room, where two 12 year old romanian girls appeared to be caring for over 30 reptiles, including multiple poisonous varieties. They seemed unphased as they started thrusting snakes into our open arms. There was a giant rattler, a few boas, a corn just like Vinnie, and a bunch of other cool creatures. Luckily, the responsible adults showed up and one girl spoke perfect English. Her and I instantly bonded over our weird serpent obsessions, and she led us into another room with a huge boa constrictor AND a 20 foot long Burmese python!!! She took out the python and let me hold it! It was awesome……later on gil and I would be sitting at a café watching fear factor and noting how the waitress cringed as contestants were forced into a box full of snakes….weird how life works sometimes.

we now sit waiting for our airplane in Bucharest, a city that makes Ankara look like Paradise. We enjoyed Transylvania and all its creepiness tho! Also all the crazy Romanian people and their fun little accents and love of WWF wrestling memorabilia. Certain things reminded me heavily of when the characters in the movie "Eurotrip" travel to Bratislava. The exchange rate is ridiculous, everything is unbelievably cheap (Gil and I felt like royalty). Also, certain things are still really behind. Scream masks are a popular souvenir here, and you often hear people saying "WAZZZZZZZZZZZZ UPPPPPPPPP" on the street...bizarre.

However it was nice to be able to cross the street without fearing that people will run you over (They actually stop at crosswalks!!) and knowing that there would be people that would at least speak a LITTLE english wherever we went! I actually used some of my french to get by too! All these languages are messing with my brain though, i swear i cant even speak english anymore!!!!

Well, i guess we should get out of this cafe now, seeing as how we have been here for over 2 hours...oops!!

Peace,
Annie G

Welcome to Ankara, sorry for the disapointment Gil.

TODAY IS THE DAY! I went to pick up Gil from the airport for a 3 week adventure to Istanbul, Romania, and maybe some other places in Turkey. Needless to say I'm pumped.

AND he brought me my computer charger so I can post stuff!!!

I think I might even have some posts stored up...let me dig around.

PEACE!
G

Welcome to Ankara, where everything is broken.

Dear loyal followers,

I apologize for the lack of posts, my computer has been broken. I will update again soon?

Love,
Me

Welcome to Ankara, where I can see political unrest from my house!

NOTE-OLD AND DELAYED ENTRY


So most times I write about the ridiculous antics I seem to get myself into. I know that many people are entertained by some of the stupid things I have been doing. Sometimes my individual actions seem to be acceptable. For example, singing karaoke in front of the entire student body that I teach might seem like a good idea. Lady Marmalade is a catchy and fun song. Singing Lady Marmalade in front of the entire student body that I teach…..well you see how I could mess this kind of thing up.

Regardless of my antics, there are some really serious things that go on here too. Probably only 3 people in the whole of the United States society have followed and or cared about the politics of Turkey. I know this, because despite being an International Relations Major, I was one of these people…that is until I had my own invasion of this country. Of course I knew the basics before arriving, United Nations country with a quest to enter the European Union but a pesky Armenian problem that has been holding them back. However, living in the capital city, and right down the street from the headquarters of AK Parti, the conservative party in power, has given me insight into politics of a country that many people could never experience.

I guess it all started about a month ago. I was sitting in my apartment on the 11th floor when all of a sudden I heard loud beeping and shouting outside. I went to the window only to see the lights of what appeared to be hundreds of cars piled up in the road, seemingly en route to AKP headquarters. The cars were at a standstill, blocking the road and causing commotion. There were police lights everywhere, and I thought to myself “this is odd.”

This was the same thing I thought while walking through a labor union hunger strike in Kizilay a few weeks before. Granted, they sure had a lot of barbacues going on for a hunger strike, but in the dead cold people gathered and camped out in the square, trying to make a statement to prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Soon enough the police would break that gathering up also.

The incident outside my window was because of something called “Operation Sledgehammer” a controversial and often denied coup d’etat attempt. When The Holy Ataturk took power and created the modern Republic of Turkey, the strongest tenant of his new nation was secularism. Even though the overwhelming population of Turkey is, like Ataturk himself, Muslim, the country thrives on secular beliefs. While it is obviously Islam influenced, most people pride themselves in their modern secularism, thus relating themselves politically closer to Europe (even though their traditions and societal beliefs are much more middle eastern). Because of this, the government must always be wary of becoming too Islamist.

Picture Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the George W. Bush of Turkey. Not only is he very conservative, he has a strong religious background and is widely disliked by most of the Turkish population. Because of this, there has been much speculation of a Military Overthrow of the government.

As badass as that sounds, and as much as I would love to be a part of a revolution, it is not quite that way. Military coups are not a new idea here in Turkey, and in fact, they have happened quite a few times before. Think of it as a more hostile form of checks and balances. If the military feels that the government in power is becoming too islamist, than they take over, kick the current leader out of power, rule for two years until everyone calms down, and then conduct a new vote. Usually it works, and everyone is happy…except for the deposed leader I guess.

However, in Sledgehammer, military officials deny any coup attempt, however Recep had them arrested anyways. In my opinion, this even further tarnishes his image, as many people are viewing him more along the lines as a dictator thirsty for power, than a conservative democratic leader.

Needless to say, it has been very interesting to follow, and I’m sure more will develop.



BY THE WAY- went to istanbul - BEST PLACE EVER!!!!!!!!

g-out

Welcome to Ankara, where it is imperative that you wish me a happy birthday.

Doğum günü!!!

The Big Day was finally here!! and the best way to tell you about it....is through a poem.

Twas the night before birthday and all through the town
everyone knew what was going to go down.
I had students sing me a Happy Birthday with care,
and give me advice on what to do and where.

I had heard their requests, and recommendations to drive,
To Tunali, to Park Street, Just not Kizilay!!
So I knew one place, where students I would not see,
and I decided the party would be at EskiYeni.

The event had been detailed, who, what, where and when.
The invite list made, and checked over again.
While students all asked "Can i go! can i go!"
To which i replied and overwhelming "Hell no"

The invitations were sent out to all my friends instead,
As visions of facebook invites danced in their head,
The RSVPs began to take flight,
This was going to be a great Saturday night.

Piotr the Pole had also planned to have fun,
for this was his last weekend being an Ankaran,
He had to return to Poland withing a few days,
So a combined birthday/farewell party was well on its way.

Then Saturday morning i jolted awake!
To see something better than any birthday cake!
My dear friend Katie came as a surprise,
And said "I will cook breakfast as you open your eyes!"

The omelettes were great, and the chatter was fun,
When from the door we heard a knock from someone.
Twas our stupid neighbor who came to complain.
"It's 10 in the morning, i must sleep for i'm vain!"

We closed the door on this ridiculous lass,
because after all, it was she, who was the pain in my ass,
so we gathered our selves and went to the mall,
to get cute outfits and shoes to make me look tall.

While leaving the mall, disaster had struck!!
I tripped on the pavement and shouted "OH ....no"
My ankle was sprained, but i was still walking,
No way would my ankle stop me from rocking! \m/

The night finally came, and all through the house,
everything was a mess, i thought i saw a mouse.
The Nargile lit, and smoke in the air
I would dress like a peacock, so you'd know i was there.

"IT IS TIME TO GO!" I yelled to the crowd!
for some reason vodka makes me talk very loud.
"On William, on Julia, Mackenzie and Zach!
Before we go, i must get a snack!"

"Now Kutay, Now Warren, Jamar and Katie!
WAIT lets take a shot before we all leave!
And to the nightclub, try not to fall!
Lets Dash away Dash away Dash away all!"

The air was bitter and filled with cold,
And men stared who were creepy and old,
but we went to the club and to our delight!
The music was bumpin all through the night!

We met with the poles, the dutch and the turks,
and avoided the people who i thought were jerks.
I spent all night dancing and ignoring the pain,
of my poor little ankle's inevitable sprain.

The techno was loud and the tables my stage,
I think 22 will be a very good age.
I'm sure my crazy dancing was quite a sight,
But happy birthday to me!! and to all a good night!


peace- G